Daily Current Affairs Quiz: August 17, 2023

Centre has appointed R Doraiswamy, Executive Director of Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) as Managing Director of the insurance behemoth.
•Doraiswamy will replace Ipe Mini, who is currently an MD of LIC and is due to superannuate at the end of this month.
•Doraiswamy has been appointed from the date of assumption of charge of the office on or after 1 September 2023 and up to the date of his superannuation (31 August 2026) or until further orders, whichever is earlier.
•Currently, LIC has four Managing Directors — Mini Ipe, M Jagannath, Tablesh Pandey, and Sat Pal Bhanoo. The Centre appointed Bhanoo as MD of LIC last month.
LIC founded, HQ: 1 September 1956, Mumbai

Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has launched the state government’s Annapurna Food Packet Scheme which seeks to distribute food packets to more than 10.4 million families for free every month.

The scheme that was launched on Tuesday, on the occasion of Independence Day, is part of the ₹19,000 crore ‘Inflation Relief Package’, which was announced by the chief minister in February during the state budget for 2023-24 to provide relief to the public from rising prices.

Rajasthan Capital: Jaipur
Rajasthan Governor: Kalraj Mishra

The G20 Film Festival began in New Delhi today.
India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant inaugurated the festival. Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali was the opening film.
The festival aims to celebrate and showcase a vibrant and collaborative partnership existing amongst the G20 and invited countries in the field of cinema.
The festival is organized by the India International Centre (IIC) and the G20 Secretariat of the Ministry of External Affairs.
The event will continue till the 2nd of September.

The first-ever crude oil transaction under the newly implemented Local Currency Settlement (LCS) system took place between Abu Dhabi National Oil Company and Indian Oil Corporation Limited.
Both Indian Rupees and UAE Dirhams were used for the transaction, India and UAE have a strong oil and gas relationship and the UAE is a key partner for India’s energy security.
The transaction involved the sale of about 1 million barrels of crude oil.
UAE is the fourth largest source of crude oil and the second largest source of LNG and LPG for India.
UAE Capital: Abu Dhabi
UAE President: Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan

Australia’s star all-rounder becomes the first-ever player – male or female – to win the ICC Player of the Month Award in consecutive months.
There’s no stopping Ashleigh Gardner at the moment after the Australian all-rounder won the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for the second time running.
This is the fourth time Gardner has won the coveted monthly award, beating fellow all-rounders Ellyse Perry and Nat Sciver-Brunt to the title.

Online travel company MakeMyTrip said it has joined hands with the Ministry of Tourism to showcase 600-plus offbeat destinations.
The online travel firm has launched a microsite, ‘Traveller’s Map of India’.
The site provides an interactive platform for travellers to discover lesser-known tourism gems that lie within the country’s borders based on their preferences.
MakeMyTrip is an Indian online travel company founded in 2000. Headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana, the company provides online travel services including airline tickets, domestic and international holiday packages, hotel reservations, rail, and bus tickets.

The Indian Air Force has inducted its latest Heron Mark 2 drones, which have strike capability and can carry out surveillance along the borders with both China and Pakistan in a single sortie itself.
The four new Heron Mark-2 drones, which can be equipped with long-range missiles and other weapons systems, have been deployed at a forward air base in the northern sector.
The induction of Heron Mark-2 is a major boost for the IAF’s surveillance capabilities.
The drone will be used for a variety of missions, including intelligence gathering, border patrol, and counter-insurgency operations.
It will also be used to support the IAF’s combat aircraft, providing them with real-time imagery and targeting data.

Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) Secretary Shri Alkesh Kumar Sharma launched the ‘Graphene-Aurora program’ at a function in Maker Village Kochi, Kerala.

The program shall be implemented by Digital University Kerala with joint funding from the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), the Government of India and the Government of Kerala and Industry partners, with a total budget outlay of Rs 94.85 Crore, wherein, Carborundum Pvt Limited joined as one of the main industry partners.
Along with the startup products developed, the technologies and products also developed at research and development centres like India Innovation Centre Graphene (IICG), set up at Makers Village, Kochi shall be considered for commercialization.

Nick Taylor became the first Canadian in 69 years to win his national Open, holing a 72-foot eagle putt on the fourth playoff hole to beat Tommy Fleetwood in the RBC Canadian Open.
Taylor tossed his putter into the air and jumped into the arms of his caddie after the longest-made putt of his PGA Tour career, and fellow Canadian players Mike Weir, Corey Conners and Adam Hadwin were among those who ran out to the green to congratulate him.

In line with the Prime Minister’s announcement at COP26, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is working towards achieving 500 GW of installed electricity capacity from non-fossil sources by 2030.
So far, a total of 172.72 GW of capacity from non-fossil fuel sources has been installed in the country as of 31.10.2022.
This includes 119.09 GW RE, 46.85 GW Large Hydro and 6.78 GW Nuclear Power capacity.
This has a share of 42.26% of the total installed generation capacity in the country.
India stands 4th globally in Renewable Energy Installed Capacity (including Large Hydro), 4th in Wind Power capacity & 4th in Solar Power capacity (as per REN21 Renewables 2022 Global Status Report).

Hasaranga, 26, made his Test debut in December 2020 against South Africa, and since then has featured in only four Tests.
His last Test was against Bangladesh at home, more than two years ago in April 2021.
Hasaranga informed Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) of his decision to retire on 15 August and the board accepted it.
Hasaranga has been Sri Lanka’s white-ball specialist since his ODI debut in 2017 and is a vital part of their limited-overs set-up.
The all-rounder has featured in 48 ODIs and 58 T20Is for his country, picking up a total of 158 wickets and scoring 1365 runs.

In a first, the Tamil Nadu government launched the Chennai Formula Racing Circuit that will host India’s first-night street circuit races – Formula 4 Indian Championship and the Indian Racing League – on December 9-10 later this year.

Youth Welfare and Sports Development Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin signed a Memorandum of Understanding of three years with race promoter Racing Promotions Pvt Ltd (RPPL), during the launch of the street circuit.

Tamil Nadu CM: MK Stalin
Tamil Nadu Capital: Chennai
Tamil Nadu Governor: R N Ravi

Eminent scientist, former head of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and a key player in the weaponisation of India’s nuclear programme, V S Arunachalam, has passed away, his former colleagues said. He was 87 and was undergoing treatment for pneumonia and Parkinson’s.

Arunachalam, who served as DRDO chief and scientific adviser to the defence minister for ten years between 1982 and 1992, passed away in the United States where he had been living the life of an academic for a long time.

IT major Wipro has launched a new Center of Excellence on Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi.

The Wipro CoE on Generative AI is anchored within the Yardi School of Artificial Intelligence (ScAI) at IIT Delhi and will support foundational and applied research, nurture talent, and expand the state of the art in this critical field.

The partnership underscores Wipro’s commitment to driving ongoing innovation in emerging technologies and is part of the company’s $1 billion commitment to accelerating AI-led innovation as part of the Wipro ai360 ecosystem, said the company.

Padma Shri awardee and former President of Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Prof. M.R. Satyanarayana Rao passed away at his residence in Tata Nagar in Bengaluru on August 14 night.
He was 75.
Born in Mysuru, Prof Rao obtained his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees from Bangalore University.
He got his PhD from the Indian Institute of Science and did his Postdoctoral Research at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.