Daily Current Affairs for Competitive Examinations: February 15, 2023
This article covers the Current Affairs MCQs on National Affairs, International Affairs, Economy, Banking Affairs, Polity, Geography, Environment, Sports, etc., for competitive examinations viz. UPSC, SSC, Bank PO, Bank Clerk, IBPS, Railways, Government Jobs, UPPSC, MPSC, and other state exams. Follow Embibe to enhance your preparation for the Current Affairs section and ace the examination.
Pulwama Shaheed Diwas 2023
Today, Tuesday, February 14, marks the fourth anniversary of the gruesome Pulwama terror attack that claimed the lives of 40 CRPF members.
In Pulwama district, Jammu and Kashmir, a suicide bomber attacked a group of vehicles carrying security personnel on the Jammu Srinagar National Highway. As a result of the attack, 40 jawans of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed.
“Let us bow our heads and thank all the soldiers of the Indian army who have made our country proud”
Jai Hind!
Current Affairs: Defence
HAL hands over advanced light helicopters to Mauritius ahead of schedule
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) handed over the advanced light helicopter mark-3 (ALH-Mk3) to the Mauritius Police Force.
This order is in line with the Union government’s vision to boost defence exports to friendly foreign.
About ALH Mk III:
ALH Mk III is a multi-role, multi-mission versatile helicopter in the 5.5-tonne category.
More than 335 ALH have been produced to date.
Logging a cumulative of more than 3,75,000 flying hours.
About relations with Mauritius :
India and Mauritius established diplomatic relations in 1948.
Mauritius maintained contacts with India through successive Dutch, French and British occupations. From the 1820s, Indian workers started coming to Mauritius to work on sugar plantations.
About Mauritius:
Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island nation, is known for its beaches, lagoons and reefs.
Mauritius remained a primarily plantation-based colony of the United Kingdom until its independence in 1968.
Mauritius adopted a new constitution, and independence was proclaimed on 12 March 1968. Mauritius achieved the status of a Republic 24 years later, on 12 March 1992.
Prime Minister- Pravind Jugnauth
Capital- Port Louis
Currency- Mauritian Rupee
Question:
Recently, which of the following types of helicopters has been handed over by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to Mauritius ahead of schedule?
A. Rudra helicopter
B. Mil Mi-25
C. ALH-Mk3
D. HAL Prachand
Answer: C
Check out the Highlights of the Economic Survey 2022-23 by clicking on the link given below: Economic Survey 2022-23
Current Affairs: Sports
India’s first frozen lake marathon is set to be held in Ladakh’s Pangong Tso
India’s first frozen lake marathon is set to be held on 20 February, with the Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) tasked with executing a “proper action plan” for the event in Ladakh’s Pangong Tso.
About the Event:
The 21-kilometre marathon, with Lukung as its starting point, will end at Maan village.
Seventy-five selected athletes from India and abroad are participating in the run, allowing them to make a bid for a Guinness world record for the world’s highest “frozen-lake marathon”.
The marathon is being called the “Last Run” to highlight the issue of climate change.
It is being organised by the Adventure Sports Foundation of Ladakh (ASFL) in collaboration with the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Leh, the Tourism Department and the Leh district administration.
About Ladakh’s Pangong Tso Lake:
The lake is 5 kilometres wide and 134 kilometres long, with one-third of it lying in India and the other two-thirds in China.
It is the world’s highest saltwater lake.
The lake is also very deep and reaches a maximum depth of almost 328 feet.
It is also known to change colours, appearing blue, green, and red at different times
Question:
Consider the following Statements
India’s first frozen lake marathon is set to be held at Ladakh’s Pangong Tso Lake
Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) are the main executing bodies for this event
Pangong Tso Lake is the world’s highest saltwater lake, with one-third of it lying in India and the other two-thirds in China
Which of the above statements is/are correct?
A. Only 1 and 2
B. Only 2 and 3
C. Only 1 and 3
D. All are correct
Answer: D
Current Affairs: Technology
MeitY May soon integrate ChatGPT with WhatsApp for key government schemes
Even as the battle between Google and Microsoft over the future of Internet search intensifies, WhatsApp could soon become a major search engine on key government schemes for India’s estimated 150 million farmers.
Powered by the hugely sensational AI chatbot ChatGPT and an ambitious national-level program that aims to build vast datasets containing samples of Indian voices in several local languages through a crowdsourcing model.
How does it work?
The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) is currently building a WhatsApp-based chatbot that relies on information generated by ChatGPT to return appropriate responses to queries.
Essentially, voice memos could be used to make requests to the chatbot, which would then respond with a voice-based response produced by ChatGPT.
What is Bhashini?
Digital India BHASHINI is India’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) led language translation platform.
Bhashini aims to build a National Public Digital Platform for languages to develop services and products for citizens by leveraging the power of artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies.
What are the limitations?
ChatGPT is occasionally found to generate incorrect answers to queries.
This can potentially produce harmful instructions or biased content.
The chatbot’s knowledge is limited to events before 2021.
It is also unable to provide answers to country-specific questions.
It is only capable of providing generalised answers, unlike Google Assistant and Amazon Alexa, which are more focused on giving specific answers to user queries
What is ChatGPT?
ChatGPT is a chatbot powered by AI that can be used to ask queries.
This chatbot is designed in such a way that the replies to the queries are both technical and jargon-free.
It is a natural language processing (NLP) model that uses a large corpus of conversational data.
Question:
What is the name of the AI system which the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) is currently building that uses a WhatsApp-based chatbot that relies on information generated by ChatGPT?
A. Bhashini
B. Awaz Mitra
C. Bharat Bhasha
D. Lokvaani
Answer: A
Current Affairs: Technology
The microLED display technology
Apple’s shift to microLED display technology is reportedly under process.
Considered the next big transition in display technology, the microLEDs are self-illuminating diodes that have brighter and better colour reproduction than Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display technology.
What Is microLED?
MicroLEDs are self-illuminating diodes with brighter and better colour reproduction than Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) display technology.
Principle: The basis of microLED technology is sapphires, which can shine on their own forever.
A microLED screen is filled with such small but strong light.
The picture in a microLED screen is generated by several individual light-emitting diodes.
How does this technology work?
Each of these microLEDs is a semiconductor that receives electric signals.
Once these microLEDs are gathered, they form a module. Several modules are then combined to form screens.
Benefits:
MicroLED displays are brighter, have better colour reproduction and provide better viewing angles.
MicroLEDs are resolution-free, bezel-free, ratio-free, and even size-free.
They have limitless scalability, and the screen can bely resized in any form for practical usage.
In addition to being self-emissive, microLEDs also individually produce red, green, and blue colours without needing the same backlighting or colour filters as conventional displays.
Question:
According to the recent news, which of the following tech giants will shift to microLED display technology for future production?
A. Huawei
B. Sony
C. Apple
D. Samsung
Answer: C
Current Affairs: National
Delhi to house India’s first National Metro Rail Knowledge Centre
In New Delhi, the creation of the first National Metro Rail Knowledge Centre is underway.
GA Infra has been given a contract by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for the facility’s design and construction.
Near a projected cost of ₹460 million, the centre will be built under a public-private partnership (PPP) model and would be located at the Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station in Delhi.
Details:
The building is intended to serve as a hub for information and innovation for the Indian Metro train networks. It will give all parties involved a platform for dialogue and collaboration.
India’s metro rail sector has seen significant growth as a result of the opening of various new metro projects around the country.
The centre will additionally act as a hub for research and development activities. This will give the resources needed for future metro system growth in terms of construction, services, and technological advancements.
Question:
India’s first National Metro Rail Knowledge Centre is being developed in which of the following cities?
A. Jaipur
B. Pune
C. Delhi
D. Mumbai
Answer: C
Check out the Highlights of Union Budget 2023 by clicking on the link given below: Union Budget 2023-24
Current Affairs: Awards and Recognitions
Angela Merkel receives Félix Houphouët-Boigny UNESCO Peace Prize in Ivory Coast
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently received a UNESCO peace prize for her decision to welcome more than 1.2 million migrants to Germany despite resistance at home and among European partners.
Organisers said that Merkel showed political courage when Germany welcomed refugees in 2015-2016 who had fled conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Eritrea.
The 68-year-old centre-right politician, who led Germany for 16 years, has kept a relatively low profile since handing over to successor Olaf Scholz in December 2021.
What is Félix Houphouët-Boigny UNESCO Peace Prize?
The Félix Houphouët-Boigny UNESCO Peace Prize is intended to honour living individuals and active public or private bodies or institutions that have significantly contributed to promoting, seeking, safeguarding or maintaining peace in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations and the Constitution of UNESCO.
The Prize was established in 1989 by a resolution supported by 120 countries and adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO at its 25th session.
It is in line with the philosophy of UNESCO’s founders who, in the preamble to the Organisation’s Constitution, solemnly declare that: “Since wars begin in the minds of men and women, it is in the minds of men and women that the defences of peace must be constructed”.
Factbook – 14-02-2023
PM Modi inaugurates the first phase of the Delhi-Mumbai expressway
The first phase, i.e., 246 km Delhi – Dausa – Lalsot section of DME, reduces travel time from Delhi to Jaipur and boosts the entire region’s economic development.
DME will be ‘eight lanes’ of India’s longest greenfield expressway with a length of 1,386 km.
It will reduce the travel distance between Delhi and Mumbai by 12% and travel time by 50%, i.e., 12 hrs.
It will pass through six states—Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra and connect major cities.
It will have India’s first-ever animal overpasses (3) and underpasses (5) to facilitate the unrestricted movement of wildlife.
Russia supplied India with arms worth $13 billion in the past 5 years
Russia supplied India with around $13 billion of arms during the past five years. New Delhi has orders placed with Moscow for weapons and military equipment exceeding $10 billion, as per Russian state news agencies.
India is the world’s biggest buyer of Russian arms, accounting for around 20% of Moscow’s current order book.
Annual arms exports were about $14-15 billion, and the order book has remained steady at around $50 billion.
According to data firm Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, India was the top importer of Russian arms from 2017 to 2021, and Russian equipment made up 46% of India’s arms imports.
Swayam tops other eLearning platforms
With 2.4 crores enrolling for courses which yield credits and over 26 lakhs having earned them, the government-run Swayam Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) has outperformed any other eLearning platform by a big margin.
Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM) is an Indian Massive open online course platform.
SWAYAM is a programme initiated by the Government of India and designed to achieve the three cardinal principles of Education Policy, viz., access, equity and quality.
Millet International Initiative for Research and Awareness (MIIRA)
India (during its G20 Presidency) is planning to propose the launch of a global initiative (MIIRA) to encourage the consumption and production of millets.
It will coordinate millet research programmes at the international level.
It is in line with the UN declaring 2023 as the International Year of Millets and the Centre’s plan to make India a global hub for millets.
For MIIRA to take off, India will contribute the “seed money”, while each G20 member will later have to contribute to its budget in the form of a membership fee.
Shubman Gill and Grace Scrivens named ICC Men’s and Women’s player of January
The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced the winners of the ICC Player of the Month awards for January 2023, with England’s Grace Scrivens claiming the ICC Women’s Player of the Month and India’s Shubman Gill being crowned the ICC Men’s Player of the Month.
Gill was nominated with New Zealand’s Devon Conway and fellow countryman Mohammed Siraj for his outstanding performance in white-ball cricket in January.
Scrivens bagged the award after her all-round brilliance in the inaugural ICC U-19 Women’s T20 World Cup. Equally, the England captain excelled in her leadership role, guiding her side to the final, only to lose to eventual title winners India.
Journalist Dr Prasad bags Raja Ram Mohan Roy National Award
Veteran Journalist Dr A.B.K. Prasad has been chosen for the prestigious “Raja Ram Mohan Roy National Award” for excellence in Journalism 2020 for his outstanding contribution towards journalism.
Dr Anne Bhavani Koteswara Prasad, popularly known as ABK, has his journalistic career spread over 75 years and has the singular honour of being the editor of all the mainstream journals of Andhra Pradesh. He also served as the Chairman of the Official Language Commission during the period 2004 to 2009 in the united Andhra Pradesh.
The award was conferred by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai, Chairperson of the Press Council of India, and the award will be presented on 28 February at Deputy Speaker Hall, Constitution Club of India, Rafi Marg, New Delhi.
Indian Golfer Aditi Ashok won Kenya Ladies Open Title 2023
India’s Aditi Ashok won her fourth Ladies European Tour title at the Kenya Ladies Open 2023 golf tournament at Vipingo Ridge, Kenya.
Her first LET title comes after winning the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open in Abu Dhabi in 2017.
She finished with a score of 12-under 280 at the Vipingo Ridges after shooting a final round of 67-70-69-74.
Aditi Ashok turned pro in 2016 and also represented India at Rio 2016 Olympics.
In the same year, Aditi Ashok won the Women’s India Open to become the first Indian to win a LET golf title. She also clinched the Qatar Open that year.
In 2021, Aditi Ashok narrowly missed out on becoming the first Indian golfer to win an Olympic medal after finishing fourth at Tokyo 2020.
Qualcomm announces the world’s first satellite-based two-way messaging solution
Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. introduced the world’s first satellite-based two-way capable messaging solution for premium smartphones, called Snapdragon Satellite, at the CES 2023.
The company revealed that the Snapdragon Satellite will offer global connectivity using mobile messaging from around the world, beginning with devices based on the flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform.
Snapdragon 5G Modem-RF Systems power the latest two-way messaging service, and the operational Iridium satellite constellation supports it. Snapdragon Satellite will enable OEMs, and other service offers to provide global coverage.
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