Current Affairs is the most important area in all competitive exams. But the difficulty level is very high. That’s why; many aspirants get confused, how to select Current Affairs for Preparation of Competitive Examination? In this Post, Daily Current Affairs 16 March 2023, we have tried to cover each and every point and also included all important facts from National/ International news that are useful for upcoming competitive examinations such as UPSC, SSC, Railway, State Govt. etc.
So, here is the Top News of the Day for 16 March 2023 to help you prepare the Latest Current Affairs part. After reading this section, you can successfully attempt Current Affairs Quiz.
Current Affairs for Competitive Exam – 16 March 2023
ICC Player of the Month for February: Ashleigh Gardner & Harry Brook
ICC Player of the Month for February: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the winners of the ICC Player of the Month awards for February 2023, with Ashleigh Gardner of Australia receiving the ICC Women’s Player of the Month and Harry Brook of England reclaiming the ICC Men’s Player of the Month titles. The outcomes of the ICC Player of the Month Awards for February are a carbon copy of those from December 2022, when both winners received their first awards following successful months for their respective teams in both the short and long formats of the game.
March 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
ICC Women’s Player of the Month, February 2023: Ashleigh Gardner
Following a string of brilliant performances that helped Australia successfully defend their Women’s T20 World Cup title in South Africa, Ashleigh Gardner is named the ICC Women’s Player of the Month for February. She continued to solidify her position as the top-ranked T20I all-rounder in the MRF Tyres ICC Women’s Player Rankings by taking consistent wickets and contributing significant runs throughout the match, and she eventually won the Player of the Tournament award to cap off a fruitful campaign.
Gardner defeats Nat Sciver of England and Laura Wolvaardt of South Africa, both of whom were nominated for outstanding performances and two other ICC Women’s T20 World Cup stars, to win the award.
ICC Men’s Player of the Month, February 2023: Harry Brook
Brook wins his second award as the ICC Men’s Player of the Month after once again showcasing his burgeoning reputation in international cricket. The prolific hitter has excelled across all formats, and recent Test matches for a resurgent England have demonstrated his immense potential. Brook’s quick and gutsy strokeplay was a highlight in a thrilling Test series, and he scored big again in New Zealand last month.
In order to win his second ICC Men’s Player of the Month title, Brook defeated fellow nominees Ravindra Jadeja and Gudakesh Motie. He joins Pakistan’s Babar Azam, the 2022 ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year, as the only players to receive the honour twice.
India & World Bank signs loan agreement for construction of Green National Highway Corridors Project in 4 States
India & World Bank signs loan agreement for construction of Green National Highway Corridors Project in 4 States: The Government of India and the World Bank have signed an agreement for the Green National Highway Corridors Project, with the World Bank providing $500 million in loan assistance against a total project cost of $1,288.24 million (Rs 7,662.47 crore).
March 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
Which 4 states covered under this agreement:
An aggregate length of 781 km will be constructed in the states of Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
Aim of this agreement:
- The objective of the green highway corridor is to demonstrate safe and green highways keeping in view climate resilience and use of green technologies by incorporating the provisions of conservation of natural resources using cement treated sub base/reclaimed asphalt pavement, the Rajya Sabha was told.
- Use of local/marginal material such as lime, fly ash, waste plastic, bio-engineering measures for slope protection such as hydroseeding, coco/jute fibre etc., will enhance the ability of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to bring green technologies into the mainstream.
- In order to promote environmentally friendly modes of transportation and decarbonize the transportation sector, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued mass emission standards for the introduction of alternative fuels.
India Hosts SCO International Conference on ‘Shared Buddhist Heritage’
India Hosts SCO International Conference on ‘Shared Buddhist Heritage’: The two-day international conference of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) on “Shared Buddhist Heritage” was launched at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi, with a focus on India’s civilizational connections with the SCO states. This historic gathering brings together Central Asian, East Asian, South Asian, and Arab nations to discuss “Shared Buddhist Heritage” and is the first of its kind. It takes place for a year under India’s leadership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) (from September 17, 2022 to September 23, 2023).
March 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
Shared Buddhist Heritage Conference 2023: Participation
China, Russia, and Mongolia are among the SCO’s Member States, Observation States, and Conversation Partners. Scholars from the SCO are submitting research papers on the subject, including those from the International Theravada Buddhist Missionary University in Myanmar, the State Museum of the History of Religion in China, and Dunhuang Research Academy.
Who organised this conference?
The Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the World Buddhist Confederation are organising the two-day event (IBC-as a grantee body of the Ministry of Culture). Participants in the event include a number of Indian Buddhist experts. The goal of the conference is to re-establish cross-cultural connections and look for similarities between Central Asian Buddhist art, art forms, archaeological sites, and antiquity in SCO museum collections.
Aim of the conference:
The purpose of the conference is to reestablish cross-cultural linkages and look for similarities among Central Asian Buddhist art, art movements, archaeological locations, and antiquity in various SCO nation-state museum collections. The Conference is a one-of-a-kind gathering of minds where nations from various geographical areas but with a common thread connecting them based on a shared civilization legacy, strengthened by Buddhist missionaries who played a significant role in integrating various cultures, communities, and regions in the entire Indian subcontinent and Asia, will discuss various themes for two days, outlining ways to maintain the centuries-old ties into the future.
International Day of Mathematics or Pi Day observed globally
International Day of Mathematics 2023: Every year on March 14, the International Day of Mathematics, also known as Pi Day, is observed to honour the mathematical constant Pi, which expresses the circumference to diameter ratio of a circle. The value for Pi is 3.14. Every year, all nations are welcome to take part in events that are open to the public and students in schools, museums, libraries, and other locations. The Executive Council of UNESCO declared March 14 to be the International Day of Mathematics at its 205th meeting.
March 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
International Day of Mathematics 2023: Theme
According to the celebration’s official website, the theme for Pi Day 2023 is “Mathematics for Everyone,” which was suggested by Marco Zarco Rotairo of Trece Martires City National High School in the Philippines.
International Day of Mathematics 2023: Significance
The purpose of the holiday is to recognise and celebrate the value of mathematics in our daily lives. Pi is a fundamental constant that is important for calculations, and scientists have studied and employed mathematics. Also, Albert Einstein’s birthday anniversary falls on this day. On this day in 2018, the renowned theoretical scientist Stephen Hawking died.
International Day of Mathematics 2023: History
- In 1988, American physicist Larry Shaw recognised the day by planning a major party at the San Francisco Exploratorium. The initial celebration was carving a pie into the shape of pi and reciting the number pi to all possible decimal places.
- Syracuse mathematician Archimedes is credited with discovering Pi’s value for the first time. The scientific community eventually accepted the sign of Pi when Leonhard Euler used it in 1737.
- Pi Day will be recognised as International Mathematics Day in 2019 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) at its 40th General Conference.
IDFC Mutual Fund (MF) has rebranded itself as Bandhan Mutual Fund
IDFC Mutual Fund (MF) has rebranded itself as Bandhan Mutual Fund: Bandhan Mutual Fund has replaced IDFC Mutual Fund. The name change will take effect on March 13. All the schemes of the fund house will be renamed to replace the word ‘IDFC’ with the word ‘Bandhan’.
March 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
More About The Rebranding of IDFC to Bandhan:
- The rebranding includes a change of the name and the logo. According to the fund house, the name and ownership change will have no bearing on the investment strategy and processes of the schemes.
- The Securities and Exchange Board of India had cleared the Bandhan-linked consortium’s proposed acquisition of IDFC Mutual Fund in December 2022.
- In early 2022, a consortium led by Bandhan Financial Holdings GIC and Chrys Capital agreed to purchase IDFC AMC and IDFC AMC Trustee Company from parent IDFC for Rs 4,500 crore.
- The company, which was earlier a part of the IDFC group, was acquired by a Bandhan Financial Holdings-led consortium in April 2022. The deal was approved by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) in November 2022.
Atal Innovation Mission launches ATL Sarthi
Atal Innovation Mission launches ATL Sarthi: The Atal Innovation Mission is establishing Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATLs) in schools across India to foster curiosity, creativity, and imagination in young minds, as well as to instill skills such as design thinking mindset, computational thinking, adaptive learning, physical computing, and so on. As of date, AIM has funded 10,000 schools to establish Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs).
March 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
About ATL Sarthi
AIM is continuously strengthening this ecosystem by developing tools and frameworks to enhance the performance of ATLs and achieve the desired objectives. One such initiative in this direction is ATL Sarthi. As the name suggests, Sarthi is a charioteer and ATL Sarthi will enable the ATLs to be efficient and effective. The initiative has four pillars ensuring the performance enhancement of ATLs:-
through regular process improvements like a self-reporting dashboard known as ‘MyATL Dashboard’ and Compliance SOPs for schools to ensure financial and non-financial compliance, on-ground enablement of ATLs in collaboration with relevant local authorities through a Cluster-based Approach and providing ownership to schools to analyze their performance through Performance-Enablement (PE) Matrix.
The ATL Cluster aims to provide a self-sustaining model for enablement and monitoring in which ATLs and local governments collaborate on the ground to form clusters of 20-30 ATLs in a specific region. These ATLs can learn from each other through training, collaborations, events, and best practices. As a pilot, AIM executed ATL Sarthi with different partners in regions like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat.
OpenAI launches ‘GPT-4’ with higher accuracy
OpenAI launches ‘GPT-4’ with higher accuracy: The artificial intelligence research company, OpenAI has unveiled its new and more advanced model called GPT-4.
The latest version is more creative and accurate in its response. It has better problem-solving capabilities than ChatGPT (developed by OpenAI). GPT-4 is a large multimodal model, which cannot outperform humans in real-world scenarios but can exhibit “human-level performance on various professional and academic benchmarks.
March 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
What’s new in GPT-4?
Unlike ChatGPT, GPT-4 can accept both text and images as inputs. It means that the AI system can generate a response to an image or inputs consisting of interspersed images and text. The new feature can be used to get captions for photos while users can also ask the model to describe or recognise a picture for them. The model also accepts documents containing photographs, texts, and diagrams and can give analyses and classifications.
OpenAI says that GPT-4 has similar capabilities in generating response to text-only input and when it is given an image as input. However, the image inputs feature is currently being tested and is not made publicly available yet.
13th edition of Exercise Bold Kurukshetra concluded
13th edition of Exercise Bold Kurukshetra concluded : The 13th edition of a bilateral armour exercise, EX Bold Kurukshetra, between India and Singapore was concluded on March 13, 2023, at Jodhpur Military Station, India.
March 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
The ten-day-long joint training that commenced on March 5, fostered a common understanding of mechanized warfare in emerging threats and evolving technologies. It involved soldiers from the 42nd Battalion, Singapore Armoured Regiment and Armoured Brigade of the Indian Army.
History of the Exercise Bold Kurukshetra
Exercise Bold Kurukshetra is carried out in accordance with the bilateral agreement between the Indian Army and the Singaporean Army for joint army training and exercises. This exercise, which was first carried out in 2005, highlights the long-standing bilateral defence connection between the two nations and strengthens coordination between the two forces. Regular interactions between the two defence establishments also take the form of high-level visits, policy discussions, courses, and other professional exchanges.
CCI approves Reliance’s acquisition of METRO Cash & Carry India
CCI approves Reliance’s acquisition of METRO Cash & Carry India: The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved Reliance Retail Venture’s (RRVL) acquisition of the food wholesaler METRO Cash & Carry India. RRVL is a subsidiary of the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries (RIL). The competition body confirmed the development in a tweet. In December 2022, RIL said that RRVL signed agreements to fully acquire METRO Cash and Carry India for a total cash consideration of Rs 2,850 crore.
March 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
The CCI tweeted, “C-2023/02/1000 Commission approves acquisition of METRO Cash and Carry India Private Limited by Reliance Retail Ventures Limited.”
On 22 December 2022, Reliance Retail Ventures Ltd (RRVL) signed definitive agreements to acquire a 100% equity stake in Metro Cash & Carry India Pvt Ltd. Metro started operations in India in 2003 as the first company to introduce a cash-and-carry business format in the country.
Microsoft inks licensing deal with cloud gaming provider Boosteroid
Microsoft inks licensing deal with cloud gaming provider Boosteroid: Microsoft has reached an agreement to make Xbox PC video games available on the Boosteroid cloud gaming platform, the company’s latest move to appease antitrust regulators who are investigating its acquisition of game maker Activision Blizzard.
March 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
More About The Microsoft’s deal with Boosteroid:
The US tech giant said the 10-year agreement would also include Activision Blizzard titles like the popular Call of Duty franchise if or when the acquisition gets approved.
Significance of this deal:
Microsoft intends to increase its firepower in the booming videogames market against leaders Tencent and Sony, as well as lay the groundwork for its investment in the metaverse.
Also, Microsoft has been announcing new partnerships as it tries to persuade regulators in the U.S. and Europe to allow the $69 billion all-cash transaction to go through.
Microsoft and Boosteroid:
Ukraine-based Boosteroid’s access to Call of Duty is conditional on regulatory approval for the Activision deal. The agreement will also bring Microsoft’s Xbox PC games to Boosteroid’s cloud gaming platform.
Microsoft’s Push towards bigger deal:
Microsoft has similar licencing agreements with Nvidia, Nintendo, and Valve Corp, the owner of the world’s largest video game distribution platform, Steam, in the United States. EU antitrust regulators are expected to approve Microsoft’s takeover of Activision conditional on such licensing deals. The UK watchdog however could be more difficult to convince.
In addition to Ukraine, Boosteroid also has gamers in the United States, the United Kingdom and EU countries.
