Daily Current Affairs Quiz: Feb 19-20, 2023

The 49th GST Council meeting took place on Saturday, 18th February 2023, in New Delhi.

It is the next GST Council meeting held after two months since the last one happened on 17th December 2022.

Union FM Nirmala Sitharaman was the chairperson, and this meeting was the first one soon after the presentation of the Budget 2023.

The 49th GST Council meeting was the third meeting to occur almost immediately in the same month as the Budget presentation. The years 2017 and 2019 saw similar meetings where crucial decisions were taken.

Tata Motors announced that Rajan Amba, who previously held the position of Vice President for Sales, Marketing, and Customer Care at Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles, has been appointed by its subsidiary Jaguar Land Rover India.

Over the last two and a half years, Rajan has been a key contributor to the development of the commercial teams, the new zone organization, network expansion, customer experience improvement, and the growth of TMPV’s market share.

At Tata Motors, he played an active role in cross-functional teams that were dedicated to promoting culture and diversity & inclusion programs.

The UAE and India have launched the UAE India Business Council – UAE Chapter (UIBCUC) to strengthen economic ties and support their joint mission to increase bilateral trade and investment. His Excellency Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al Zeyoudi, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Trade, launched the UAE India Business Council – UAE Chapter (UIBC-UC) on February 18, 2023 in Dubai.

With a shared goal of increasing bilateral trade to $100 billion and attracting $75 billion in investment from the UAE to India, the UIBC-UC is well positioned to assist the two governments in achieving their goals and realizing the full potential of the UAE – India relationship.

UAE Capital: Dubai

UAE Currency: Dirham

Lieutenant General (Retd) Kaiwalya Trivikram Parnaik took oath as the 20th Governor of Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday.

He was administered the oath of office by the Judge of Gauhati High Court, Justice Nani Tagia in a ceremony held at Raj Bhavan in Itanagar.

Chief Minister Pema Khandu, Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein, Speaker Pasang Dorjee Sona were among the dignitaries who attended the swearing-in ceremony.

Capital: Itanagar

CM: Pema Khandu

Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar was sworn in as the 41st Governor of Bihar.

He was administered the oath by Patna High Court Acting Chief Justice Chakradhari Sharan Singh at a function at Raj Bhawan.

Arlekar succeeded Phagu Chauhan who is now the Governor of Meghalaya.

Capital – Patna
Chief Minister – Nitish Kumar
Governor – Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar

India has been ranked fourth out of 51 countries in having a quality entrepreneurship ecosystem, a new global report said today, reflecting the steady rise in the nation’s business environment over the years.

The ranking of India in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) National Entrepreneurship Context Index (NECI) report is a drastic turnaround following a much lower score in 2021 which was 16th overall.

India’s latest score of 6.1 reflects a steady increase in the country’s overall entrepreneurial environment over the years.

Lt General MV Suchendra Kumar will be appointed Vice Chief of the Indian Army, the Ministry of Defence has announced.

He will replace incumbent Lt Gen BS Raju, who is being shifted to take control of the Indian Army’s South Western Command. Lt Gen Kumar is presently serving as the Deputy Chief of Army Staff (Strategy), an appointment he received on July 1 2022 after succeeding Lieutenant General SK Sharma.

Neal Mohan, an Indian American who is all set to become the next Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of YouTube, on Thursday said that he is excited to continue this “awesome and important mission” and looking forward to a new future.

After Susan Wojcicki announced her resignation, Mohan became the new CEO of the online video-sharing platform.

Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance (ABSLI), the life insurance subsidiary of Aditya Birla Capital Limited (ABCL), has announced the launch of ‘ABSLI Anmol Suraksha Kawach’, to address the short-term protection needs of the policyholders.

It is a non-linked, non-participating individual, life, pure risk premium, term insurance solution for policyholders’ short-term protection needs offering a life cover for up to 5 years.

Former Union Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla on Saturday took oath as the 29th Governor of Himachal Pradesh at Raj Bhawan here.

Mr Shukla was administered the oath of office and secrecy by acting Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh High Court Justice Sabina. He took oath in Sanskrit.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu was also present at the swearing-in ceremony. Himachal Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena read out the warrant of appointment.

1. General Kaiwalya Trivikram Parnaik- Governor of Arunachal Pradesh

2. Lakshman Prasad Acharya- Governor of Sikkim

3. C P Radhakrishnan- Governor of Jharkhand

4. Shiv Pratap Shukla- Governor of Himachal Pradesh

5. Justice Abdul Nazeer- Governor of Andhra Pradesh

6. Gulab Chand Kataria- Governor of Assam

7. Justice (Retd) Biswa Bhusan Harichandan- Governor of Andhra Pradesh appointed as Governor of Chhattisgarh.

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel Friday launched the sixth edition of Sujalam Sufalam water conservation drive from Khoraj village in Gandhinagar Friday.

The drive to deepen and desilt water bodies and to conserve runoff water, ahead of monsoon, will be undertaken for 104 days, an official statement from the state government stated.

Ministry of Education’s Innovation Cell, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D, MHA) and Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C, MHA) have collaborated to launch a national-level hackathon named KAVACH- 2023 on February 16, 2023.

The hackathon aims to identify, innovative ideas and technological solutions for addressing the cyber security and cybercrime challenges of the 21st century. Interested people can submit their ideas between March 1 to April 15, following which they will be evaluated till May 15.

The grand finale of the hackathon is scheduled from July 12-14.

According to the latest report, released by TomTom, Bengaluru’s traffic has made it the second slowest place to drive through in the world in 2022 with about half an hour of travel time by road to cover 10 km.

While London ranks first with an average of 36 minutes and 20 seconds to travel 10 km in 2022.

Dublin (Ireland), Sapporo (Japan’s town), and Milan (Italy) rank third, fourth, and fifth respectively

The decision was made to increase the use of Electric Vehicles. The main objective is to achieve zero emissions.

To execute the plan successfully, the European Commission will prepare a report on the progress every two years starting from 2025. ▪

Manufacturers welcome the move. Automakers like Volkswagen have already started producing EVs only.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, CAG, is hosting the 6th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) SAI Leaders’ Meeting in Lucknow beginning tomorrow, February 6.

Out of the eight SCO Supreme Audit Institutions (SAI) member country delegations participating in the event, the heads of SAIs from four countries – Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, alongside the CAG of India, are expected to take part in the three-day multilateral event.

The National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (NBFID) is set up as the principal development financial institution (DFIs) for infrastructure financing.

NBFID is set up as a corporate body with authorised share capital of one lakh crore rupees.

Shares of NBFID may be held by entities like central government, multilateral institutions, sovereign wealth funds, banks and any other institution prescribed by the central government.

Initially, the central government will own 100% shares of the institution which may subsequently be reduced up to 26%.