Daily Current Affairs Today MCQ : 04 March 2023 Quiz

This World Wildlife Day 2023 fell on the 50th Anniversary of CITES coming into being.

Since its inception, CITES is stood at the junction of trade and conservation.

World Wildlife Day 2023: Theme

World Wildlife Day will be celebrated in 2023 under the theme "Partnerships for wildlife conservation", honoring the people who are making a difference.

History -

In 1973, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) was adopted.

Its aim was to ensure that international trade does not threaten the survival of wild fauna and flora species.

On March 16, 2013, the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CITES (CoP16) was held in Bangkok.

It was during this meeting that the Kingdom of Thailand sponsored a resolution.

This resolution designates March 3 as World Wildlife Day.

The Secretariat of CITES, along with other relevant United Nations organizations, is responsible for facilitating the implementation of World Wildlife Day.

CITES, with 183 member states, remains one of the world’s most powerful tools for biodiversity conservation by regulating the trade in wild fauna and flora.

Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Rashmi Shukla has been appointed as the Director-General of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

SSB is the border-guarding force deployed along Nepal and Bhutan border.

Rashmi Shukla, a 1988 batch IPS officer of the Maharashtra cadre, was posted with the Central Reserve Police (CRPF).

She was heading the State Intelligence Department in Maharashtra Police when the phones of Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut and Nationalist Congress Party leader Eknath Khadse were allegedly tapped in 2019.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Home Affairs for appointment of Rashmi Shukia, presently Additional DG, CRPF, as Director General, Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

Joblessness as measured by the CMIE All India unemployment rate remained elevated in February 2023 and rose to 7.45% from 7.14% in the previous month.

The urban unemployment rate decreased for the second straight month and was at 7.93% in February as against 8.55% in January.

It touched a record high of 10.09% in December 2022.

But more worrying the rural unemployment rate spiked to 7.23% last month from 6.48% in January.

India’s GDP growth rate declined for the second consecutive quarter in October-December (Q3FY23), coming in at 4.4 per cent, according to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.

Jishnu Barua has become the new chairperson of power regulator Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).

Barua has been appointed chairperson of the CERC on February 27, 2023.

Barua was chief secretary of Assam from October 2020 to August 2022.

Prior to this, he had been additional chief secretary to Assam looking after various departments of the state from August 2017 to October 2020.

Post-retirement, Barua held the charge of chairperson of Assam Power Distribution Company Ltd.

About Central Electricity Regulatory Commission -

Established by: Government of India

It is the Central Commission for the Electricity Act, 2003 which has repealed the ERC Act, 1998.

Composition: Chairperson and four other Members including Chairperson, Central Electricity Authority who is the ex-officio Member of the Commission.

Functions: (1) To regulate the tariff of generating companies owned or controlled by the Central Government; (2) To regulate the inter-State transmission of electricity; (3) To determine tariff for such transmission of electricity.

CERC also advises the Central Government on the formulation of the National Electricity Policy and Tariff Policy.

The Supreme Court ordered an experts committee to be set up headed by a retired Supreme Court judge AM Sapre, after a batch of PILs was filed on the recent Adani Group shares crash triggered by the US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research’s allegations of fraud.

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court also told the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to finish the probe into the Adani Group-Hindenburg saga within a period of two months.

The Supreme Court bench, led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, has appointed six members as part of the expert committee.

It includes OP Bhatt, Justice JP Devadhar, KV Kamath, Nandan Nilekani and Somasekhar Sundaresan and will be headed by Former Supreme Court judge Justice AM Sapre.

Union Minister of Ayush and Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal inaugurated the first B2B Global Conference & Expo on Traditional Medicine under Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) at Guwahati.

The Union Minister informed that India has made the best use of available natural resources through Ayurveda and other traditional systems of medicine to provide healthcare to people as well as towards achieving the goal of Universal Health Coverage.

The Global Center for Traditional Medicine of the World Health Organization (WHO-GCTM) being set up at Jamnagar with the support of India will help member countries to take enabling steps in their respective countries to strengthen education and practices of Traditional Medicine.

More than 150 delegates from 17 countries including India are participating in this event, which includes high-level delegates such as Health ministers, official delegates, and foreign buyers from SCO & partner countries.

A total of 75 foreign officials and business delegates from 13 countries are participating in physical mode. Official delegates from China, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan joined virtually.

Sashidhar Jagdishan, managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) of HDFC Bank, has been chosen as the Business Standard Banker of the Year 2022.

This award is given to him for his successful navigation of technology-related challenges while maintaining the bank’s strong performance.

Jagdishan took charge of HDFC Bank on October 27, 2020, after his illustrious predecessor Aditya Puri demitted office upon attaining the age of 70 years, the maximum age for a CEO in a private sector bank.

The International Yoga Festival 2023 is held in Rishikesh from 1st March to 7th March 2023.

The International Yoga Festival 2023 is the main attraction of Bharat Parv this year.

The six-day event of the International Yoga Festival 2023 promotes the rich heritage and diverse natural wonders of the state.

It is a significant point of discussion among those visiting the Uttarakhand Tourism pavilion at the event held in Red Fort.

The International Yoga Festival seeks to promote Uttarakhand’s rich legacy of yoga and the importance of leading a holistic and spiritual way of life.

Apart from these sessions, there are free medical sessions, expert-led consultation sessions, and pulse tests by Ayurvedacharyas.

Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh has been honoured with Player-of-the-Year award by the Asian Chess Federation (ACF) for clinching the gold medal with a record-breaking score of 9/11 in the 44th Chess Olympiad at Mahabalipuram.

Gukesh became only the sixth Indian to break the 2700 Elo-rating mark, and the youngest Grandmaster from the country to be rated above 2700.

Other awardees -

The All India Chess Federation (AICF) bagged the "Most Active Federation" award conferred during the ACF annual summit, which is underway here.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has been conferred with Man-of-the-Year award for his effort in the successful hosting of the FIDE Chess Olympiad in August last year within a short notice of four months.

The Indian women’s team, comprising of Koneru Humpy, D Harika, R Vaishali, Tania Sachdev and Bhakti Kulkarni, was adjudged the ’Best Women’s team of the Year’ for its bronze-winning effort.

Grandmaster R B Ramesh bagged the men’s Coach-of-the-Year award and Grandmaster Abhijit Kunte won the Women’s Coach-of-the-Year awards.

India’s top triple-jumper Aishwarya Babu has been banned by the National Anti-Doping Agency’s (NADA) disciplinary panel for four years for using a prohibited anabolic steroid.

Aishwarya Babu, 25 years old, was dropped from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022, along with sprinter S Dhanalakshmi after testing positive for the steroid, which is on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) prohibited list.

Key Points -

Aishwarya previously won the triple jump gold in the championships with a national record-breaking lunge of 14.14 meters.

She tested positive for Ostarine — a drug that falls in the category of selective androgen receptor modulator (SRAM) — during the National Inter-State Championships on 13 and 14 J in 2022 in Chennai.

Aishwarya was provisionally suspended in July last year and she has already served six months of her four-year ban.