Current Affairs - February, 2023

1 .

Which companies are launched (7th Feb 2023) a digital skills programme initiative to train rural women in India?

A)

BSNL and GSMA

B)

Reliance Jio and GSMA

C)

Bharti Airtel and GSMA

D)

Vodafone Group and GSMA

Correct Answer : Reliance Jio and GSMA

Reliance Jio and global mobile network operators' organisation GSMA on Tuesday (7th Feb 2023) announced the roll-out of their digital skills programme to train rural women in India.

* The programme aims to provide need-based training to rural women and individuals from marginalised/low-income groups to help them make meaningful use of digital access.

* The national roll-out phase is now underway, with the programme being rolled out across 10 states.

* "We are proud to partner with GSMA in this programme to take digital skills training to the women across India and be the wind beneath their wings," said Isha Ambani, Director, Reliance Jio.

* As per the GSMA's 'Mobile Gender Gap Report 2022', women in India are 41 per cent less likely than men to use mobile internet.

* A total of 330 million women in India still do not use mobile internet, compared to 248 million men. Lack of literacy and digital skills is one of the top reported barriers to mobile internet use.

* As a part of the programme, the GSMA and Jio teams worked together to assess prevalent digital skill gaps and develop need-based digital skills training toolkits that are India-specific.

* Over 1,000 rural women and men from Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu participated and provided inputs for the refinement of the digital training toolkits during the trial phase..

Source : Business Standard

Published On : February 8, 2023

2 .

Which company has launched a service that will allow the fintech firm's Indian users traveling abroad to pay foreign merchants using Unified Payments Interface (UPI)?

A)

Google Pay

B)

PhonePe

C)

Paytm

D)

Amazon Pay

Correct Answer : PhonePe

PhonePe said on Tuesday (7th February 2023) it has launched a service that will allow the fintech firm’s Indian users traveling abroad to pay foreign merchants using Unified Payments Interface (UPI).

* 'UPI international' supports merchant outlets in UAE, Singapore, Nepal and Bhutan that have a local QR (quick response) code.

* Users will be able to make direct payments in a foreign currency from their Indian bank, like they do with international debit cards. Walmart-backed PhonePe said it is the first Indian fintech app to launch the service.

* PhonePe, with a recent $350 million investment from General Atlantic and a $12 billion pre-money valuation, became the most valuable fintech company in India.

* According to a report by Bain and Company, the money will enable PhonePe to expand its business and compete with Google Pay, Paytm, and Amazon Pay in the $350 billion Indian fintech market by 2026.

* Users of PhonePe can use the PhonePe App to authorise their UPI-linked bank account for the service at the merchant location or in advance of their foreign travel.

* To activate the service, the customer would need to enter their UPI pin.

* Since its launch in December 2015, PhonePe has grown to become India’s top payments app. With 435 million registered users, PhonePe is currently used by one in four Indians...

Source : Business Standard

Published On : February 8, 2023

3 .

Who has launched the 'Yuva Sangam' registration portal in New Delhi on 6th Feb 2023?

A)

Amit Shah

B)

Hardeep Singh Puri

C)

Smriti Irani

D)

Dharmendra Pradhan

Correct Answer : Dharmendra Pradhan

Union Minister of Education, Skill Development, and Entrepreneurship "Dharmendra Pradhan" has launched the Yuva Sangam registration portal in New Delhi on 6th February 2023.

The Yuva Sangam is an initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to build close ties between the youth of the North East Region (NER) and rest of India under the spirit of Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat.

Under the initiative over 20 thousand youth will travel across the country and gain a unique opportunity of cross-cultural learning.

On this occasion, Minister of DoNER, Culture and Tourism G. Kishan Reddy said that the Yuva Sangam program will work to connect the youth of my Northeast with the whole country.

He added that the program is an opportunity for the youth of the North East to explore the country.

Mr. Reddy stressed that this Wide Cultural Exchange Program will also give an opportunity to the country's youth to celebrate the ancient culture and natural diversity of India. He said that out of one thousand, 300 students will be from the North East region.

Addressing the event, Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur. expressed confidence that through 'Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, Yuva Sangam', the youth of 18 years to 30 years will get an opportunity to see different states of the country, to understand their art, culture and languages.

Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju and other dignitaries also graced the event...

Source : AIR

Published On : February 7, 2023

4 .

Which company launched its conversational artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot named 'Bard' on 6th Feb 2023?

A)

Microsoft

B)

Apple

C)

Google

D)

Twitter

Correct Answer : Google

Google CEO Sundar Pichai has announced that the tech giant will soon launch an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered chatbot called "Bard".

"Bard" aimed at countering the popularity of the ChatGPT tool backed by Microsoft.

According to a blog post by Pichai, the conversational AI service will be assessed by a group of trusted testers" before being rolled out to the public in the coming weeks.

Bard can be an outlet for creativity, and a launchpad for curiosity," Pichai, the Indian-origin CEO of Google and parent company Alphabet, said on Monday (6th February 2023), adding that Google's chatbot will be able to explain complex subjects like new discoveries from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to a nine-year-old.

Google's announcement follows wide speculation that Microsoft is about to bring the AI chatbot ChatGPT to its search engine Bing, following a multi-billion dollar investment in the firm behind it, OpenAI.

ChatGPT (Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer), which was launched in November 2022, is capable of generating speeches, songs, marketing copy, news articles and student essays or human-like text based on the input it is given.

Bard, built on Google's existing large language model LaMDA, "seeks to combine the breadth of the world's knowledge with the power, intelligence, and creativity of our large language models", Pichai, 50, said in the blog..

Source : Business Standard, Google Blog

Published On : February 7, 2023

5 .

Veteran Indian painter, BKS Varma When did passed away?

A)

4th February 2023

B)

5th February 2023

C)

6th February 2023

D)

7th February 2023

Correct Answer : 6th February 2023

* Veteran Indian painter, BKS Varma passed away in the early hours of Monday (6th February 2023) at the age of 74 in Bangalore, Karnataka.

* The subject of his paintings was mainly environmental and social issues presented in a surreal form.

* He was trained in art by the legendary art teacher A.N. Subbarao at the art and culture institution.

* He was honoured with the Karnataka Rajya Puruskar (2001), Rajyothsava award (2001), and Honorary Doctorate by Bangalore University (2011)..

Born: 5 September 1949, Bengaluru

Died: 6 February 2023, Bengaluru

Source : India Times

Published On : February 7, 2023

6 .

Former US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton announced a Global Climate Resilience Fund of ________millions for women to fight climate change.

A)

$50 million

B)

$70 million

C)

$85 million

D)

$100 million

Correct Answer : $50 million

Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton on Monday (6th Feb 2023) announced a Global Climate Resilience Fund of "50 million dollars" for women to fight climate change.

* The fund will empower women and communities to fight climate change and help provide new livelihood resources and education, she said addressing salt pan workers near Kuda village in Gujarat's Surendranagar district.

* "Clinton Global Initiative with the American Indian foundation, SEWA (Self Empoyed Women's Association) founded by late activist Ela Bhatt and other organisations, I announce 50 million dollar Global Climate Resilience Fund for women"..

Source : India Today

Published On : February 7, 2023

7 .

Which companies are unveiled (6th Feb 2023) India's first Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (H2-ICE) technology solution for heavy duty trucks?

A)

Larsen & Toubro and Eicher Motors

B)

Bharat Petroleum and Ashok Leyland

C)

Adani Group and Mahindra & Mahindra

D)

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and Ashok Leyland

Correct Answer : Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and Ashok Leyland

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and its vehicle partner Ashok Leyland on Monday (6th Feb 2023) unveiled India’s first Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engine (H2-ICE) technology solution for heavy-duty trucks.

The two companies, along with their other technical partners, have been engaged in developing this technology since 2022, with the first engines running in early 2022.

The hydrogen tech solution will emit near zero emissions, deliver performance on par with conventional diesel trucks and reduce noise and with projected reductions in operating costs thus redefining the future of green mobility, Reliance said in a statement.

Reliance will first extensively test and validate the H2ICE technology for heavy-duty trucks before its first commercial deployment at scale initially across its captive fleet.

Green hydrogen is hydrogen generated by renewable energy or from low-carbon power.

India’s Niti Aayog said that green hydrogen is critical to India’s economic development and net-zero ambitions, adding that the technology can help abate 3.6 gigatons of cumulative CO2 emissions by 2050..

Source : Arabianbusiness

Published On : February 7, 2023

8 .

With whom is ISRO planning to develop astronaut training module?

A)

IIT Bombay

B)

IIT Madras

C)

IIT kharagpur

D)

IIT Guwahati

Correct Answer : IIT Madras

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, to build training modules for Indian Spaceflight Program, using augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) technologies.

* The modules will be built at IIT Madras’ Experiential Technology Innovation Centre (XTIC), and will also be used to train engineers at Isro’s Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) to establish a laboratory based on extended reality (XR) technologies.

* The project will include building virtual models and simulations of human physiology, as well as space systems, which will be key to understanding how the human body reacts and adapts to long duration spaceflight — such as a journey to the moon.

* Other aspects of the project include visualizing and optimizing the design and architecture of space-faring equipment, such as the interiors of a mission’s crew module.

* The project will also tap into XTIC’s network of industry and startup associations, in order to attract interest in building applications and solutions using XR technologies.

* XR, to be sure, includes an amalgamation of AR, VR and MR solutions to simulate a physical object. Using XR technologies can help manufacturers and researchers visualize how an object would work in the physical reality, before it is built and applied..

Source : Mint

Published On : February 7, 2023

9 .

Who inaugurated the VFS Global Visa Application Centre in Lucknow on 4th Feb 2023?

A)

Amit Shah

B)

Yogi Adityanath

C)

Narendra Modi

D)

Nitin Gadkari

Correct Answer : Yogi Adityanath

Uttar Pradesh CM, Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the VFS Global Visa Application Centre in Lucknow on Saturday (4th Feb 2023).

* Aim : To enable citizens of the state to complete the formalities related to the visa application process for 10 countries with ease.

* 10 Countries : Austria, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Estonia, Hungary, Portugal, Germany, Italy, and Saudi Arabia

* VFS Global (Visa Facilitation Services Global) was launched in Mumbai in 2001.

* VFS Global is the world’s largest provider of outsourcing and technical services in the field of visa processing to various governments and embassies/High Commissions. Presently, it is looking after passport and visa services for India in 12 countries around the world..

Source : Indian Express

Published On : February 7, 2023

10 .

Which University will soon receive the 'heritage' tag from UNESCO to take the distinction of world's first living heritage university?

A)

Banaras Hindu University

B)

Jawaharlal Nehru University

C)

Visva-Bharati University

D)

Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University

Correct Answer : Visva-Bharati University

Visva-Bharati University will soon receive the ‘heritage’ tag from UNESCO to take the distinction of world’s first living heritage university.

* This university was founded by Rabindranath Tagore in 1921.

* It is one of India's major Central Government funded autonomous universities.

* Normally heritage tag is given to a dead monument. For the first time in the world, a living university which is functioning is going to get the heritage tag from UNESCO.”

* When founded in 1921 on 1,130 acres of land, it was named after Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore until Visva-Bharati Society was registered as an organisation in May 1922. Rabindranath donated some of his property, including land and a bungalow, to the society.

* The institution was given the status of Central University in 1951 through a central Act.

* The Vice-chancellor of the University is appointed by the President of India..

Source : Indian Express

Published On : February 7, 2023