Correct Answer :   R. K. Singh

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Union Minister of Renewable Energy & Power, R. K. Singh informed (16th March 2023) in the Lok Sabha, that Solar projects of aggregate capacity 64,380 MW have been installed in the country, as on 28.02.2023, including 106 MW in Ramtek Parliamentary Constituency.

* The solar capacity of the country has increased from 21,651 MW to 64,380 MW i.e. increase by 197% in last 5 years.

* The Government has set a target of achieving 500 GW of installed capacity from non-fossil fuels, including around 270 GW of solar capacity, by 2030.

* The Government has taken several measures to promote renewable energy, including solar energy, in the country. The details are given at Annexure.

* Solar projects of capacity 3772 MW are installed in Maharashtra. These projects provide   several benefits, including electricity generation, direct and indirect local employment, etc.

MEASURES TAKEN TO PROMOTE RENEWABLE ENERGY INCLUDING SOLAR ENERGY IN THE COUNTRY :

* Waiver of Inter State Transmission System (ISTS) charges for inter-state sale of solar and wind power for projects to be commissioned by 30th June 2025;

* Declaration of trajectory for Renewable Purchase Obligation (RPO) up to the year 2029-30;

* Setting up of Ultra Mega Renewable Energy Parks to provide land and transmission to RE developers for installation of RE projects at large scale;

* Schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM), Solar Rooftop Phase II, 12000 MW CPSU Scheme Phase II, etc;

* Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) up to 100 percent under the automatic route continued;

* Laying of new transmission lines and creating new sub-station capacity under the Green Energy Corridor Scheme for evacuation of renewable power;

* Notification of standards for deployment of solar photovoltaic system/devices;

* Setting up of Project Development Cell for attracting and facilitating investments;

* Standard Bidding Guidelines for tariff based competitive bidding process for procurement of Power from Grid Connected Solar PV and Wind Projects;

* Government has issued orders that power shall be dispatched against Letter of Credit (LC) or advance payment to ensure timely payment by distribution licensees to RE generators;

* Notification of Promoting Renewable Energy through Green Energy Open Access Rules 2022;

* Notification of “The electricity (Late Payment Surcharge and related matters) Rules (LPS rules);

* Launch of Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM) to facilitate sale of Renewable Energy Power through exchanges;

* National Green Hydrogen Mission approved with an aim to make India a Global Hub for production, utilization and export of Green Hydrogen and its derivatives. This will help in setting up of additional RE capacity including solar.

Source : PIB 

Correct Answer :   Ravi Chaudhary

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On 15th March 2023, the United States Senate confirmed Ravi Chaudhary, an Indian-American, as the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Energy, Installations, and the Environment.

Chaudhary won the mandate with a vote of 65-29, making him one of the top civilian leaders in the Pentagon. He is the first Indian-American to serve in this position.

Chaudhary's nomination was supported by US Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), who released a statement congratulating him on his achievement. She shared that Chaudhary had dreamed of serving the United States as an Air Force pilot, and that he had dedicated his career to public service.

She expressed confidence in his qualifications and experience for the role and looked forward to working with him to support the men and women of the Air Force.

Who is Ravi Chaudhary?

Chaudhary served as an active duty Air Force pilot for over two decades, between 1993 and 2015. He conducted numerous combat missions in Afghanistan and Iraq during this time. After his retirement from military service, Chaudhary served as a senior official within the Regions and Center Operations and Office of Commercial Space at the Federal Aviation Administration for five years. He was also appointed by President Obama to serve on the President's Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

As the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Energy, Installations, and the Environment, Chaudhary will be responsible for the Air Force's sustainability and operational readiness. This includes developing installations and basing strategies, as well as ensuring the quality of military housing..

Source : Mint

Correct Answer :   Ministry of Ayush

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The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) and the Ministry of Ayush signed an MoU for the skilling of rural youth and empowering women.

* To collaborate in developing skilled personnel by imparting training for the Ayush healthcare system. The course will also include training of rural youth as panchakarma technicians, which will be started on a pilot basis.

* The proposed training will be imparted under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya-Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), which is the Ministry of Rural Development’s flagship program, charged with the dual goals of diversifying the incomes of rural poor families and catering to the career ambitions of rural youth.

* MoA will aid its institutes to conduct courses, training, and provide certification to the candidates. The Ministry will also depute nodal agencies across the country, who will ensure mobilization, counselling, training, placement, and tracking of candidates as per DDU-GKY norms in their respective designated states.

* This agreement focuses to make Lakhpati Didis (Women with annual earnings of Rs. 1 lakh +) from the SHGs, more empowered and skillful. Addressing the event, Union Minister of Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal said, “Both the Ministries will collaborate in boosting the spirit of self-employment and will enable the empowerment of rural youths and women.”

* The collaboration between the Ministry of Rural Development and the Ministry of AYUSH will ensure that 22,000 rural poor youth will be trained in National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF)-compliant courses such as Panchakarma Technician, Panchkarma Assistant, Ayurvedic Masseur, Kshara Karma Technician, Cupping Therapy Assistant, etc...

Source : News on Air

Correct Answer :   March 16

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Every year on March 16, National Vaccination Day or National Immunisation Day is observed to raise awareness regarding the importance of vaccinations for human health. It focuses on the relevance of vaccinations in the battle against deadly diseases.

* It appreciates the hard work of physicians and frontline healthcare professionals to ensure that every individual gets vaccinated.

* Vaccines are designed to prevent the body from being exposed to the same infection again and again in the future. Many of these vaccines have been successful in preventing the spread of various terrible diseases, including measles, chicken pox, tetanus, rubella, polio, and, most recently, Covid-19.

National Vaccination Day 2023 History & Significance : The day was first observed in 1995 when the Indian government began the Pulse Polio Immunisation programme in an attempt to eliminate polio from the country. The first dose of oral polio vaccination was provided in India on March 16, 1995, as part of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Polio Eradication Program, which occurred in 1988. A countrywide campaign named 'Do Boond Zindagi Ki' helped to popularise the immunisation programme.

* Children aged 0 to 5 years are given two drops of the vaccine orally. The World Health Organization (WHO) proclaimed India Polio-free on March 27, 2014.

* National Vaccination Day is held to raise public awareness about the advantages of immunisation for both children and adults. Vaccination is the most efficient means of preventing and controlling highly infectious diseases.

* Even when other varieties took over, India recently experienced how one vaccination enabled practically every person in the country to become immune to Covid-19.

National Vaccination Day Theme 2023 : Every year, the day is commemorated with a different theme. 'Vaccines Work For Everyone,' was the theme in 2022. The theme for this year (2023) has not yet been announced...

Source : India Today

Correct Answer :   United Arab Emirates (UAE)

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The Technology Innovation Institute, Abudhabi, UAE has launched Falcon LLM, a large language model (LLM) with 40 billion parameters, trained on one trillion tokens, and built by the AI and Digital Science Research Center's AI Cross-Centre Unit.

* The model outperforms GPT-3 and requires only 75% of its training compute, as well as lower percentages of other large language models' training compute.

* LLMs have a wide range of applications, including chatbots, virtual assistants, language translation, content generation, and sentiment analysis.

* The implementation of LLMs in businesses or departments can help to streamline customer service operations, improve efficiencies, cut down labor costs, identify new revenue streams, and safeguard data privacy.

* The UAE is aligned with the UAE's National AI Strategy, which aims to make the country a leader in the knowledge economy, driving progress and prosperity.

* Dr. Ebtesam Al Mazroui, Director, AI Cross-Centre Unit at AIDRC, and project lead of LLMs, stated, “This achievement serves as a testament to the UAE's forward-thinking approach and the importance it places on innovation and technology. The development of this model is part of our journey towards realising the country's economic vision and strategic plan ‘We the UAE 2031’."

* The Technology Innovation Institute (TII), a leading global scientific research centre and the applied research pillar of Abu Dhabi’s Advanced Technology Research Council (ATRC)...

Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   Anup Bagchi

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ICICI Bank's executive director Anup Bagchi will take over as the CEO of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance on June 19, 2023, subject to regulatory and statutory approvals.

* He will replace the present CEO, NS Kannan, who will superannuate on June 18, 2023.

* He has been working with the ICICI group since 1992 and was appointed as an executive director of ICICI Bank on February 1, 2017.

* He worked as the Non-Executive Director of ICICI Prudential Life since October 2018...

Source : India Times

Correct Answer :   K Krithivasan

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Tata Consultancy Services Ltd on Thursday (16th March 2023) appointed company veteran K Krithivasan as CEO designate after Rajesh Gopinathan resigned.

* Gopinathan, who completed six years as CEO of the Indian IT behemoth in January, was reappointed as CEO till 2027 last year. Gopinathan will continue with the company till September 15, 2023 to provide transition and support to his successor, said the IT firm.

* TCS Board has nominated K Krithivasan as the CEO designate with effect from March 16, 2023. "Krithivasan will go through a transition with Rajesh Gopinathan and will be appointed as the Managing Director & CEO in the next financial year,"

* K. Krithivasan is presently President and Global Head of the Banking, Financial Services, and Insurance (BFSI) Business Group at TCS.

* "During his long tenure at TCS, Krithivasan has held various leadership roles in delivery, customer relationship management, large program management and sales. Krithivasan has been part of the global technology sector for over 34 years, having joined Tata Consultancy Services in 1989," said the IT firm.

* After a stellar career of over 22 years with TCS and a successful stint as Managing Director & CEO during the last 6 years, Rajesh Gopinathan has decided to step down from the company to pursue his other interests, said TCS in a stock exchange filing. Gopinathan has been with TCS since 2001 and has held multiple leadership positions, including that of chief financial officer. Under his leadership, TCS shares have nearly tripled, revenue has almost doubled and profit has risen about 60%, as of last quarter.

* Gopinathan took the reins of TCS from Chandrasekaran who was elevated to the post of Tata Sons Chairman in February 2017...

Source : Business Today

Correct Answer :   Vimal Kapoor

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Honeywell (NASDAQ: HON) 14th March 2023 announced that Vimal Kapur, President and Chief Operating Officer, will succeed Darius Adamczyk as Chief Executive Officer on June 1, 2023.

* Adamczyk, who became Chief Operating Officer in 2016, Chief Executive Officer in 2017 and Chairman in 2018, will continue to serve as Executive Chairman of Honeywell. Kapur was also appointed to the company's board of directors effective March 13, 2023. These moves ensure a seamless leadership transition and position Honeywell for continued outperformance versus peers.

* Vimal is absolutely the right person to lead our company to the next level of growth and stellar performance," Adamczyk said. "Vimal brings 34 years of deep knowledge about our businesses, end markets and customer needs. His ability to drive our key sustainability and digitalization strategic initiatives, along with his advancement of our world class operating system – Honeywell Accelerator – throughout the organization, gives him an outstanding platform to drive continued outperformance for our shareowners.

* Honeywell's next operational evolution, under Vimal's leadership, will be the incorporation of Accelerator and standardization of global business models to enable maximal performance in each business segment.

* "Vimal is also uniquely capable to drive Honeywell's sustainable innovation and solidify our position to lead in the energy transition. Now more than ever, our customers need our solutions to help their businesses be more efficient and more sustainable, and under Vimal's leadership, Honeywell's sustainability technologies will help our customers achieve their goals, today and into the future."

* In his role as COO, Vimal has driven continued operational execution on our proven value creation framework, all of which is underpinned by Accelerator. We have also made significant strides in advancing our digital solutions – both to enhance our own internal operations and decision-making and in support of our customers to benefit their digitization transformations. The rigor of our digital solutions is a real differentiator for Honeywell and will enable us to achieve consistent and sustained outperformance...

Source : Honeywell

Correct Answer :   Four States

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India and the World Bank have signed a loan agreement for the construction of the Green National Highway Corridors Project in four States.

* These States are Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

* The agreement has been signed for the construction of 781 kilometers in these States, with loan assistance of 500 million dollars.
 
* In a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said, the total project cost is over seven thousand 662 crore rupees.

* The objective of the Green National Highway Corridors Project is to demonstrate safe and green highways keeping in view climate resilience and use of green technologies.

Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   Deepak Mohanty

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* The government has appointed Deepak Mohanty as chairman of Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

* He replaced Supratim Bandyopadhyay, whose term ended in January 2023.

* Prior to 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, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), to the post of chairperson, PFRDA, a government notification dated March 14, 2023.

* 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.

* Mohanty was appointed PFRDA member (Economic) in August 2020 for a period of three years or till attaining the age of 62 years.

* Besides, the government has also appointed Mamta Shankar, IES (1993), Senior Economic Adviser, Department of Food and Public Distribution, to the post of whole-time member (Economics).

* She has been appointed for a period of three years or till she attains the age of 62 years, or until further orders, whichever is the earliest.

* The total assets under management under National Pension System and Atal Pension Yojana stood at Rs 8.81 lakh crore as on March 4, 2023..

Source : Money Control