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 18 January 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.
Current Affairs for Competitive Exam – 18 January 2022
States’ gross fiscal deficit set to fall in 2022-23: RBI
States’ gross fiscal deficit set to fall in 2022-23: RBI- The finances of Indian states are expected to improve in 2022-23 with the consolidated gross fiscal deficit to gross domestic product ratio seen falling to 3.4% from 4.1% for the previous year, the Reserve Bank of India said on Monday.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
“The fiscal health of the states has improved from a sharp pandemic-induced deterioration in 2020-21 on the back of a broad-based economic recovery and resulting high revenue collections,” the central bank said in the State Finances Report that is released annually.
While states’ debt is budgeted to ease to 29.5% of GDP in 2022-23 as against 31.1% in 2020-21. But, it is higher than the 20% recommended by the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Review Committee in 2018. The RBI has also advised governments to set up a fund for long-term expenditure when revenue collection is strong.
Paytm Payments Bank received approval from RBI as BBPOU
Paytm Payments Bank received approval from RBI as BBPOU: Our associate Paytm Payments Bank Limited (PPBL) has got the final approval from Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to operate as Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU) under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. As an entity under Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), our associate bank has got the final authorization to conduct bill payment and aggregation business as a BBPOU. PPBL had been undertaking this activity so far under in-principle authorisation from RBI.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
Under Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS), a BBPOU is allowed to facilitate bill payment services for electricity, phone, gas insurance, loan repayments, credit card bill, and municipal taxes. Conceptualised by RBI, BBPS is a one-stop ecosystem driven by NPCI that provides an interoperable and accessible bill payments service including electricity, phone, DTH, water, gas insurance, loan repayments, FASTag recharge, education fees, credit card bill and municipal taxes. With Paytm, users can pay for services in a seamless, secure and superfast manner.
BBPS is owned by the National Payments Corporation of India. So far, Paytm Payments Bank was undertaking this activity under in-principle authorization from RBI.
SPIC MACAY, Culture Ministry collaborate for ‘Music in the Park’ series
SPIC MACAY, Culture Ministry collaborate for ‘Music in the Park’ series: The Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth (SPIC MACAY) on Saturday organized its very popular ‘Music in the Park’ series this year under the name ‘Shruti Amrut’ in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and the New Delhi Municipal Council.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
Under this series, the first event of 2023 was organized in Nehru Park, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.
The concert started with a Sarod performance by Aman Ali Bangash (7th Generation musician from Senia Bangash Gharana). He was accompanied by Anubrata Chatterjee (Tabla) and Abhishek Mishra (Tabla). Following this, a Hindustani Vocal performance by Padma Bhushan Begum Parween Sultana of Patiala Gharana accompanied by Akram Khan (Tabla), Shrinivas Acharya (Harmonium) and Shadaab Sultana (Vocals) was performed. SPIC MACAY is a voluntary youth movement.
MoU signed to facilitate low interest rate loans to farmers
MoU signed to facilitate low interest rate loans to farmers: In order to facilitate farmers in providing low-interest rate loans, Warehousing Development Regulatory Authority (WDRA) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the State Bank of India (SBI), India’s largest public sector bank on Monday.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
Reason: To promote awareness about the new loan product called Produce Marketing Loan to exclusively fund against e-NWRs (electronic Negotiable Warehouse Receipt). It also aimed to provide information to depositors about the benefits, besides doing further outreach activities to improve agricultural pledge finance in India.
It is envisaged that the low-interest rate loans to farmers would have far-reaching consequences with regard to the acceptance of e-NWRs among small and marginal farmers. It has the potential to make a significant impact on the finances of rural depositors by preventing distress sales and releasing better prices for the produce.
‘RRR’ wins Best Foreign Language Film at Critics Choice Awards 2023
‘RRR’ wins Best Foreign Language Film at Critics Choice Awards 2023: India’s ‘RRR’ directed by SS Rajamouli has won the Critics Choice Awards 2023 in the Best Foreign Language Film category and Best Song category for ‘Naatu Naatu’.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
The official Twitter account of RRR shared the news and also shared a video of MM Keeravaani’s acceptance speech. “Naatu Naatu Again!! Extremely delighted to share that we won the #CriticsChoiceAwards for the BEST SONG #RRRMovie Here’s @mmkeeravaani’s acceptance speech!!” read the caption. In the video, the RRR composer can be heard saying, “Thank you so much I am very overwhelmed with this award. I am here to receive this wonderful award by the critics. Thank you all the critics, on behalf of my chorographer, lyrics writer, my singers, my programmers and of course my director.”
Television:
Best Actor: Bob Odenkirk (Best Drama Series: Better Call Saul)
Best Actress: Zendaya (Euphoria)
Film:
Best Actor: Brendan Fraser (The Whale as Charlie)
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett (Tár)
Best Director: Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (Best Movie: Everything Everywhere All at Once)
Writer K Venu received Federal Bank Literary Award 2023
Federal Bank Literary Award 2022: Federal Bank Literary Award 2022 was given to renowned author K Venu for his autobiography, “Oranweshananthinte Katha.”Venu received the award from Balagopal Chandrasekhar, Chairman and Independent Director of Federal Bank, at a special event held as part of the Kerala Literature Festival. The judging team, which included author and literary critic KC Narayanan, as well as Sunil P Ilayidom and PK Rajashekharan, selected “Oranweshananthinte Katha.” Judging panel member P K Rajashekaran commented that the essence of the book brought back the memory of the most intense political timeline in the modern history of Kerala.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
This is the first-ever literary award constituted by the Federal Bank. By constituting the award, Federal Bank aims to celebrate the diversity of contemporary literature and recognise writers for their cultural contributions.
Important takeaways for all competitive exams:
Federal Bank Headquarters: Aluva;
Federal Bank CEO: Shyam Srinivasan (23 Sept 2010–);
Federal Bank Founder: K.P Hormis;
Federal Bank Founded: 23 April 1931, Nedumpuram
Retired DG of BSF Pankaj Kumar Singh appointed Deputy NSA
Deputy National Security Adviser: Pankaj Kumar Singh, a retired director general of the Border Security Force (BSF), was selected for a two-year term as the deputy national security adviser in the National Security Council Secretariat. Singh, a 1988-batch IPS officer of the Rajasthan cadre, has been appointed on a re-employment contract. On December 31, 2022, Singh stepped down as the BSF’s chief. When Singh took charge of the BSF on August 31, 2021, he had created history of a son and a father holding the top post of a paramilitary force during their services. His father and retired IPS officer of the 1959-batch, Prakash Singh, had also headed the BSF from June, 1993 to January, 1994. Singh holds LLB and MPhil degrees, besides MBA from the IIM, Ahmedabad.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
Currently, retired IPS officer Dattatray Padsalgikar, former R&AW chief Rajinder Khanna and retired IFS officer Pankaj Saran also served as Deputy National Security Advisors.
Earlier Posting
- Singh had earlier served with the Union government as Inspector General of the CRPF in Chhattisgarh and IG (Operations) at CRPF headquarters in Delhi.
- Before becoming BSF DG, he also served in the BSF as chief of the Eastern Frontier, he played an instrumental role in bringing down cattle smuggling through West Bengal and Assam borders.
- Cattle smuggling over the Indo-Bangla border decreased 87% between 2015 and 2021. When he became DG of the BSF, he had to negotiate the contentious amendment to BSF jurisdiction which was increased to 50km from the border as many states opposed it.
- He has served in the Rajasthan Police as well as in the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), during which he cracked an infamous sex scandal that had rocked Jammu and Kashmir, besides being involved in solving several cases related to corruption.
- The government was so moved by his proposal to hold the BSF’s Rising Day in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, in 2021 that it has now ordered all paramilitary groups, including the Army, to hold their founding and raising days outside of Delhi.
Gogoro, Belrise to Bet $2.5 bn on Battery-swapping Infra in Maharashtra
Gogoro, Belrise to Bet $2.5 bn on Battery-swapping Infra in Maharashtra: Gogoro, an electric vehicle and infrastructure business with its headquarters in Taiwan, is moving forward with its intentions to set up a battery swapping network in India. The company along with Belrise Industries (formerly known as Badve Engineering) has inked a strategic energy partnership with the Maharashtra government to establish a battery swapping infrastructure. This follows up to Gogoro’s earlier announced partnership with Hero MotoCorp and Zypp Electric among others.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
More About This Agreement:
According to the understanding, Gogoro and Belrise Industries want to invest roughly $2.5 billion (Rs 20,617 crore) over the course of eight years in a 50-50 joint venture to create energy infrastructure throughout the state. The non-binding MoU agreement was signed at the Maharashtra pavilion, World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The battery swapping infrastructure expects to begin deploying across the State of Maharashtra in 2023 which will leverage Gogoro’s smart energy ecosystem including smart battery stations, swapping technologies, network management solutions.
Significance of This Agreement:
The joint venture comes at a time when the government is finalising the draft swapping policy, which is aimed at greater interoperability. By opting for battery swapping rather than paying the full cost of the battery (which makes up 40–50% of the cost of the car), it also aims to lower the initial costs of buying an electric vehicle.
The partners plan to build a smart energy infrastructure in Maharashtra that is open and accessible and establishes battery swapping and smart battery stations as a leading source for mobility and energy storage. The deployment is also expected to accelerate job growth throughout the smart energy, electric vehicle, and sustainability value chain. In addition to the infrastructure, it is also expected to foster smart electric vehicle manufacturing and assembly in the state.
Italian film legend Gina Lollobrigida passes away at age 95
Italian film legend Gina Lollobrigida passes away at age 95: Gina Lollobrigida, a legendary figure in Italian cinema, died at the age of 95. She was the diva who, in the 1950s, came to symbolise Italy’s vibrant recovery from World War Two. She was dubbed as “the most beautiful woman in the world” after the title of one of her movies. Born to a working class family in a poor mountainous area east of Rome, she studied sculpture then got her break in the film world after finishing third in the 1947 Miss Italia beauty contest. (The winner that year was Lucia Bose.)
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
Besides “The World’s Most Beautiful Woman” in 1955, career highlights included Golden Globe-winner “Come September,” with Rock Hudson; “Trapeze;” “Beat the Devil,” a 1953 John Huston film starring Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones; and “Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell,” which won Lollobrigida Italy’s top movie award, a David di Donatello, as best actress in 1969. Following the war, she collaborated with several of Italy’s greatest filmmakers, including Vittorio De Sica, Mario Monicelli, Luigi Comencini, and Pietro Germi.
ISRO ‘Shukrayaan I’ mission to planet Venus reportedly shifted to 2031
Indian Space Research Organisation: P. Sreekumar, the Satish Dhawan Professor at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and advisor to its space science programme, stated that the organisation has not yet received approval from the Indian government for the Venus mission and that, as a result, the mission may be delayed until 2031. The ISRO Venus mission, Shukrayaan I, was slated to take off in December 2024. The concept was conceived in 2012; five years later, after the Department of Space got a 23% increase in the 2017–2018 budget, ISRO started preliminary investigations. The organisation asked for payload suggestions from research institutions in April 2017.
January 2023 Current Affairs Quiz
Why this decision taken?
ISRO received an allocation of 13,700 crores for the fiscal year 2022-2023, a little rise from the year before. Gaganyaan, the human spaceflight mission, received the majority of it. Various industry groups have created a wishlist ahead of the upcoming budget announcement and in response to recent reforms in the private spaceflight sector, which include increases in local manufacturing and procurement.
What is the best time to launch this mission?
It is recommended to launch from Earth to Venus every 19 months or so. ISRO has “backup” launch windows in 2026 and 2028 in case it misses the 2024 window. But every eight years, new better windows present themselves that further cut down on the quantity of fuel needed for takeoff.
Key points
- The VERITAS and EnVision missions of the American and European space agencies, respectively, both have Venus missions scheduled for 2031, but “China might go anytime: 2026, 2027, whenever they want to go.”
- ISRO cited the pandemic as the cause for pushing back the launch of Shukrayaan I from mid-2023 to December 2024. Delays in manufacturing and obligations to commercial launch services have also had an impact on other ISRO projects, such as Aditya L1 and Chandrayaan III.
About the Shukrayaan-I
Shukrayaan- I shall serve as an orbiter’s mission. Its current scientific payloads include a ground-penetrating radar and a synthetic aperture radar with exceptional resolution. From an elliptical orbit, the mission will likely research Venus’s geological and volcanic activities, emissions on the surface, wind speed, cloud cover, and other planetary features.
Important Takeaways for All Competitive Exams:
ISRO Chairman: S. Somanath;
ISRO’s foundation Date: 15th August, 1969;
ISRO’s Founder: Dr. Vikram Sarabhai
