Daily Current Affairs Quiz: March 17, 2023

Solution: option a.)
Axar Patel became the quickest Indian to take 50 Test wickets in terms of balls bowled during the fifth day of the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Axar, with the wicket of Travis Head in the 51st over in Australia’s second innings, overtook Jasprit Bumrah (2465) to take 50 wickets in just 2205 balls on Indian soil.
The left-handed all-rounder has had an ordinary outing with the ball in this series so far, taking only three wickets in four Tests at an average of 60.33. However, he shone with the bat and scored 264 runs at an average of 88.00 in five innings to be the third-highest run-getter in this series after Usman Khawaja and Virat Kohli.

Solution: option d.)
Star Indian batter Virat Kohli on Saturday surpassed legendary West Indies Brian Lara to become the second-highest run-scorer against Australia in international cricket.
Kohli achieved the landmark on Day 3 of the fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Ahmedabad.
Virat Kohli, The maestro hit 59 not out to end his half-century drought in the longest format. Kohli’s last fifty came back.
With the unbeaten half-century, Kohli went past Lara’s record of most runs against Australia.
Kohli, who loves playing against Australia now has 4,729 runs in 89 matches across formats. The 34-year-old has scored these runs at an average of 50.84 and has 15 tons and 24 fifties to his name with the best individual score of 169.
Lara, on the other hand, scored 4,714 runs in 82 matches (Tests and ODIs) against Australia. He notched up 12 tons with the best score of 277.
The leading run-scorer against Australia is legendary Sachin Tendulkar. In 110 matches and 144 innings, Tendulkar scored 6,707 runs at an average of 49.68. With 20 tons and 31 fifties, Sachin had the best individual score of 241* against the Aussies.

Solution: option c.)
Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das has been named the ‘Governor of the Year’ by the international publication Central Banking. Das, who has been at the helm of the central bank since December 2018, faced multiple crises starting from the pandemic and then the war in Ukraine, and now the inflation. He has been given the award for captaining the financial markets through turbulent periods.
Das has become the second governor to get this award after Raghuram Rajan, who was awarded back in 2015. Awarding Das, the publication said the governor helped manoeuvre the ship as it faced multiple obstacles, such as the Covid pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war, which fuelled inflation globally that in turn prompted central banks to raise hikes.
RBI ESTD: 1935

Solution: option c.)
Noted Hindi writer Dr Gyan Chaturvedi’s 2018 satirical novel, Pagalkhana, has been selected for the 32nd Vyas Samman, 2022.
Noted Hindi writer Dr Gyan Chaturvedi’s 2018 satirical novel, Pagalkhana, has been selected for the 32nd Vyas Samman, 2022. (File)
Instituted by the KK Birla Foundation in 1991, the annual Vyas Samman is given to an outstanding Hindi literary work by an Indian citizen published during the last 10 years. It carries award money of ₹4 lakhs.
After considering the works published during 2012-2021, a selection committee headed by eminent litterateur Prof Ramji Tiwari picked Dr Chaturvedi’s Pagalkhana (mental asylum) for the prestigious Vyas Samman.

Having started his writing career in the 1970s, Dr Chaturvedi received India’s fourth-highest civilian award Padma Shri in 2015. He has also won the Madhya Pradesh government’s Sharad Joshi Samman for outstanding achievement in the field of satire and essay, besides the Delhi Academy Award and the Indu Sharma International Katha Samman.

Born in Uttar Pradesh’s Jhansi district on August 2, 1952, Dr Chaturvedi is a well-known cardiovascular disease expert in Madhya Pradesh. He recently retired as the head of a BHEL-empanelled hospital after working there for over three decades.

Solution: option c.)
In what may come as welcome news for female clientele for Suryoday Small Finance Bank, the bank has launched a women-centric savings account – Blossom Women Savings Account which will provide up to 7 per cent interest on the saving account. The bank’s female account holders can easily avail the benefit of Debit Card offers, discounts, and free unlimited RTGS/NEFT/IMPS transactions through Net Banking. The bank is also providing its female customers Doorstep Banking facility.
Suryoday Small Finance Bank, Blossom Women Savings Account: Benefits
According to the bank’s official website, women will get the following advantages:
– RuPay Debit Card with :
i) ATM withdrawal limit of Rs. 40,000 per day.
ii) 20 free transactions on other bank’s ATMs in India
iii) Unlimited number of transactions on POS
iv) Personal Accidental Death Insurance or Permanent Total Disablement cover of Rs 2 lakhs
-Debit Card offers and discounts.
Competitive cash deposit limits
-Free unlimited RTGS/NEFT/IMPS transactions through Net Banking
-One complimentary Savings Account Aditya variant for a family member with no charges for non-maintenance of minimum balance
-Doorstep Banking facility (basis availability at branch)
-Monthly e-mail statements free of cost
-Half-yearly physical statement free of cost.
About Suryoday Small Finance Bank:
ESTD 2017
HQ Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra
MD & CEO Baskar Babu Ramachandran
Tagline A Bank of Smiles

Solution: option b.)
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) infused liquidity amounting to ₹82,650 crores into the banking system on Friday via the 14-day Variable Rate Repo (VRR) auction amid tightening liquidity.
Against the notified ₹1 lakh crore under the VRR auction, banks borrowed ₹82,650 crores at a weighted average rate of 6.53 per cent.
“The RBI is preparing to ensure that there is no liquidity crunch in the system. Now onwards, tax payments will be coming up, SDL (state development loan) borrowings have to go through, and maturing LTROs (long-term repo operations) have to be repaid.
“RBI may conduct one more VRR auction after today’s VRR gets reversed,” said Madan Sabnavis, Chief Economist, Bank of Baroda.
At February 8th bi-monthly monetary policy review, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das noted that in the period ahead, while higher government expenditure and the anticipated return of forex inflows are likely to augment systemic liquidity, it would get modulated by the scheduled redemption of LTRO and TLTRO (Targeted LTRO) funds during February to April 2023.

Solution: option b.)
The government has appointed Deepak Mohanty as chairman of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). He replaced Supratim Bandyopadhyay, whose term ended in January. Before this, Mohanty, a former executive director of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), served as a member of PFRDA.
The central government hereby appoints Deepak Mohanty, former whole-time member, of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), to the post of chairperson, PFRDA, a government notification dated March 14, 2023, said.
He will get a consolidated salary of Rs 4.50 lakh per month without the facility of house and car with effect from the date of assumption of charge of the post till attaining the age of 65 years or until further orders, it said. Mohanty was appointed PFRDA member (Economic) in August 2020 for three years or till attaining the age of 62 years.

Solution: option b.)
Honeywell International Inc. HON, +0.54% has appointed 34-year company veteran Vimal Kapur to succeed Darius Adamczyk as CEO. Kapur will assume the company’s reins on June 1 and was appointed to the company’s board of directors effective March 13, 2023, Honeywell said, in a statement released before the market opened. Adamczyk will continue to serve as the industrial company’s executive chairman.
Honeywell’s stock rose 0.5% before the market opened. Kapur has been Honeywell’s COO since July 2022 and has also served as president and CEO of Honeywell Building Technologies and president of Honeywell Process Solutions.

Solution: option d.)
Indian Coast Guard Region (North East) conducted a fourth edition of the Tabletop exercise under the aegis of Colombo Security Conclave which was held at Hotel Novotel, New Town, Kolkata. Apart from Indian Coast Guard, representatives from various national stakeholders in the maritime domain also participated in the exercise.
The Colombo Security Conclave was formed in the year 2011 as a trilateral maritime security grouping of India, Sri Lanka and Maldives. The roadmap of activities was further expanded in the year 2022 and adopted by the member countries i.e. India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Mauritius with Bangladesh and Seychelles participating as observer countries.

Solution: option c.)
Key Points:
The exercise may be hosted in Perth, but a final decision has not been made yet.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong will visit India in March 2023, and new defence plans may be unveiled during their visit.
The Quad Foreign Ministers will convene after the G-20 summit, and Australia is slated to host the Quad meeting later this year.
The Malabar exercise has increased in size, scope, and complexity, with a focus on increasing interoperability between the four participating nations.

Solution: option d.)
Union Minister (FAHD) Shri Parshottam Rupala unveiled the department’s annual publication, the ‘Basic Animal Husbandry Statistics 2022’ on 15th March 2023 in presence of the Minister of State of both Animal Husbandry & Fisheries Department along with Secretary (AHD) and other Senior Officers of the Ministry. The Minister congratulated Animal Husbandry Statistics Division for coming out with this publication. He said the book has become a traditional and important source of information in the field of Livestock.
The publication gives an overview of the Animal Husbandry sector briefly in terms of important livestock statistics on livestock population, livestock production and other information like animal diseases, infrastructure etc. It is the primary source of data on production estimates of four Major Livestock Products (MLPs) like Milk, Egg, Meat and Wool for the year 2021-22 and other technical aspects of the Integrated Sample Survey (ISS).
The major highlights of “Basic Animal Husbandry statistics 2022” are given below:
Total milk production in the country during 2021-22 is 221.06 million tonnes.
In the current year 2021-22, milk production has registered an annual growth rate of 5.29%.
The top five major milk producing States are Rajasthan (15.05%), Uttar Pradesh (14.93%), Madhya Pradesh (8.06%), Gujarat (7.56%) and Andhra Pradesh (6.97%).
In 2021-22, the total egg production in the country is 129.60 billion nos which has increased by 6.19% as compared to the previous year.
Total five major egg producing States are Andhra Pradesh (20.41%), Tamil Nadu (16.08%), Telangana (12.86%), West Bengal (8.84%) and Karnataka (6.38%).
The total meat production in the country is 9.29 million tonnes for the year 2021-22 with an annual growth rate of 5.62%.
The total five major meat producing States are Maharashtra (12.25%), Uttar Pradesh (12.14%), West Bengal (11.63%), Andhra Pradesh (11.04%), and Telangana (10.82%).
The total wool production in the country during 2021-22 is 33.13 thousand tonnes which have declined by 10.30% as compared to the previous year.
The top five major wool producing States are Rajasthan (45.91%), Jammu and Kashmir (23.19%), Gujarat (6.12%), Maharashtra (4.78%) and Himachal Pradesh (4.33%).
The per-capita availability of milk is 444 gram/day during 2021-22 increased by 17 grams/day over the previous year.
In 2021-22, the per-capita availability of eggs is 95 nos/annum increased by 5 nos/annual over the previous year.
The per-capita availability of meat is 6.82 kg/annum during 2021-22 increased by 0.30 kg/annum over the previous year.
During 2014-15 and 2020-21, the value addition of the sector grew at a compound annual growth rate of 7.93%.
In 2020-21, the share of Livestock at constant prices in the Agriculture Sector and total GVA was 30.13% and 4.9% respectively.

Solution: option a.)
Gujarat might soon become India’s premiere state to boast of running a bullet train between Surat and Bilimora in another four years. It will cover a stretch of nearly 63 km within Gujarat.
According to Union Railway Minister, Ashwini Vaishnaw, good progress has been made in the Ahmedabad-Mumbai High-Speed Rail Project. He addressed the media saying, “I am confident of running India’s first bullet train in Gujarat in 2026.
The pillars for the bullet train have been put up along 61 km of the route. Other works are underway along 150 km of the stretch at a good pace,” the minister said. The minister visited the bullet train project near Vaktana village in Choryasi Taluka in the Surat district. He was there to inspect the operation of a segmental casting yard.

Solution: option a.)
A P8I aircraft of the Indian Navy arrived at Guam, USA on 14 Mar 23 to participate in ‘Exercise Sea Dragon 23’, the third edition of the coordinated multi-lateral ASW exercise for Long Range MR ASW aircraft, conducted by the US Navy.
The exercise scheduled from 15-30 Mar 23, would stress coordinated anti-submarine warfare amongst the participating countries. The complexity and scope of these exercises have increased steadily over the past years to include advanced ASW drills.
Ex Sea Dragon 23 will test the capabilities of participating aircraft in tracking simulated and live underwater targets, whilst also sharing mutual expertise. The Exercise would witness representation by an Indian Navy P8I, along with P8A of the US Navy, P1 from the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force, CP 140 from the Royal Canadian Air Force and P3C from the RoKN.

Solution: option c.)
Denmark inaugurates on Wednesday a project to store carbon dioxide 1,800 metres beneath the North Sea, the first country in the world to bury CO2 imported from abroad.
The CO2 graveyard, where the carbon is injected to prevent further warming of the atmosphere, is on the site of an old oil field. Led by British chemical giant Ineos and German oil company Wintershall Dea, the “Greensand” project is expected to store up to eight million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2030.
Still, in their infancy and costly, carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects aim to capture and then trap CO2 to mitigate global warming. Around 30 projects are currently operational or under development in Europe.

Solution: option a.)
The ground station of the jointly developed India-Bhutan satellite has been inaugurated in Thimpu, the capital city of Bhutan. It is a ground-based facility that helps communicate with and receive information sent by satellite. Ground stations, the major component of which is the parabolic antenna, communicate with satellites by transmitting and receiving radio waves.

Solution: option d.)
According to a report released by the Sweden-based think-tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on Monday morning, countries including Qatar, Australia, China and Saudi Arabia hold the fourth position as global importers of weapons.
The third position is held by Russia (16 per cent), France (11 per cent), and the US (40 per cent) of the global share. The assessment report which is released by the SIPRI is made for five years (2018-2022) and is titled `Trends in International Arms Transfer -2022’.
The report has compared the trend based on five-year blocks – 2013-2017 and 2018-2022 and has indicated that there has been a decline in Indian arms imports in global share. “Despite this, India was the world’s largest importer of major arms in 2018-22 and accounted for 11 per cent of total global arms imports in the period.