15th March 2023 Tnpsc Current Affairs in English
1. Madhav National Park, which was seen in the news, is in which state/UT?
[A] Tamil Nadu
[B] Madhya Pradesh
[C] Gujarat
[D] Kerala
Answer : [B] Madhya Pradesh
Madhav National Park is among the oldest national park in Madhya Pradesh. It forms a major connection between Madhya Pradesh’s Panna Tiger Reserve and Rajasthan’s Ranthambore Tiger Reserve. To re-establish the tiger population, Madhya Pradesh Forest Department has built three enclosures to house five translocated tigers from other reserves. Recently, a male and female tiger were released into the specially constructed enclosures by government officials.
2. Which Union Ministry is set to host the ‘World Food India-2023’ event?
[A] Ministry of Agriculture
[B] Ministry of Food Processing Industries
[C] Ministry of Rural Development
[D] Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
Answer : [B] Ministry of Food Processing Industries
The Ministry of Food Processing Industries will host the second edition of ‘World Food India-2023’ in November 2023 in New Delhi. WFI-2023 will focus on promoting India as a global food processing hub, highlighting culinary diversity, attracting investment, and exploring business opportunities. Five key elements of WFI-2023 include Millets, Innovation and Sustainability, White Revolution 2.0, Making India an export hub, and Technology and Digitization.
3. Which Union Ministry launched ‘LEAN Scheme’?
[A] Ministry of Civil Aviation
[B] Ministry of MSME
[C] Ministry of Defence
[D] Ministry of Commerce and Industry
Answer : [B] Ministry of MSME
The MSME Competitive (LEAN) Scheme was launched by Union Ministry of MSME to improve the global competitiveness of India MSMEs. The scheme will encourage MSMEs to adopt LEAN manufacturing practices, such as 5S, Kaizen, KANBAN, and Visual workplace. The scheme aims to transform Indian MSMEs into world-class manufacturers through LEAN manufacturing practices.
4. Which institution released the ‘Landslide Atlas of India’?
[A] DRDO
[B] NABARD
[C] ISRO
[D] NITI Aayog
Answer : [C] ISRO
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) recently released the Landslide Atlas of India, which identifies landslide hotspots in the country. It includes a database of landslide-prone regions of India based on events during 1998 – 2022, mainly along the Himalayas and the Western Ghats.
5. The Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) is an alpha-numeric number with how many digits?
[A] 10
[B] 12
[C] 14
[D] 18
Answer : [C] 14
The Unique Land Parcel Identification Number (ULPIN) is a 14-digit alpha-numeric number generated based on latitude and longitude of land parcels. Its purpose is to provide the authoritative source of truth on any parcel of land or property. The Department of Land Resources will be organizing a national conference in New Delhi to discuss the implementation of ULPIN or Bhu-Aadhaar.
6. NASA has partnered with which country to launch Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) mission?
[A] Israel
[B] Italy
[C] France
[D] Japan
Answer : [B] Italy
NASA and the Italian Space Agency will work together to launch the Multi-Angle Imager for Aerosols (MAIA) mission. The mission will last for three years and focus on studying 11 cities worldwide, including New Delhi, Beijing, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Rome, to examine the health effects of air pollution. The mission is set to launch before the end of 2024.
7. Which institution launched the ‘Undernourished and Overlooked: A Global Nutrition Crisis in Adolescent Girls and Women’ report?
[A] UNICEF
[B] UNESCO
[C] World Bank
[D] NITI Aayog
Answer : [A] UNICEF
A new report title “Undernourished and Overlooked: A Global Nutrition Crisis in Adolescent Girls and Women” was released by the UNICEF. According to the UNICEF report, 7.3 million adolescent girls and women in Nigeria aged between 15 and 49 are undernourished, which is putting new-born babies at risk. This number has increased from 5.6 million in 2018.
8. Which institution released the ‘Global Report on Sodium Intake Reduction’?
[A] WHO
[B] UNICEF
[C] NITI Aayog
[D] World Bank
Answer : [A] WHO
The WHO Global Report on Sodium Intake Reduction allocates a sodium country score to each member state to estimate the impact of policy progress on population dietary sodium intake and cardiovascular disease. According to the report, the WHO recommended policies to reduce sodium intake can prevent 2 million deaths by 2025 and 7 million deaths by 2030. The world is not on track to achieve the global target of reducing sodium intake by 30% by 2025.
9. India recently signed the ‘Audio Visual Co-production Agreement’ with which country?
[A] Australia
[B] USA
[C] UAE
[D] Japan
Answer : [A] Australia
The Australia-India Audio Visual Co-production Agreement was signed recently by India and Australia. This deal enables private, quasi-governmental, or governmental agencies from both countries to collaborate and produce films together. Under the recently signed agreement, co-produced works will be entitled to all the benefits available in both countries, and the contributions from the producers of each country may range from 20% to 80% of the final cost.
10. Which country hosted the 146th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)?
[A] India
[B] Bahrain
[C] UAE
[D] USA
Answer : [B] Bahrain
The 146th Assembly of the IPU was held in Manama, Bahrain in March 2023. India’s Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla arrived in Bahrain’s capital Manama, leading an Indian Parliamentary delegation, to attend the Assembly. The Indian delegation will participate in the Asia Pacific Group meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Union.
11. Which state/UT hosted the ‘Divya Kala Mela’ fair?
[A] Gujarat
[B] Madhya Pradesh
[C] Bihar
[D] Jammu and Kashmir
Answer : [B] Madhya Pradesh
In Madhya Pradesh, Governor Mangubhai Patel inaugurated the third Divya Kala Mela at Bhopal. The 10-day fair was held to enable Divyangjan to become entrepreneurs and artisans. The four finance corporations under the Social Justice and Empowerment ministry, NHFDC, through various channel partners such as NBCFDC, NSFDC, and NSKDFC, provide financial assistance to artisans and other skilled beneficiaries through term loan schemes and microfinance schemes.
12. Which is the first Indian documentary to win an Oscar award?
[A] Stranger at the Gate
[B] How do you Measure a Year?
[C] The Elephant Whisperers
[D] All that Breathes
Answer : [C] The Elephant Whisperers
India won an Oscar for The Elephant Whisperers which won in the Best Documentary Short film category. The documentary, which tells the story of a couple who care for an injured baby elephant after it gets separated from its herd, is the first Indian document to win in this category. The song Nattu Nattu from the Telugu-language film RRR also became the first Indian film song to win an Oscar.
13. Which state/UT hosted the ‘Supreme Audit Institutions-20 (SAI-20) Engagement Group’ meeting?
[A] New Delhi
[B] Assam
[C] West Bengal
[D] Odisha
Answer : [B] Assam
Comptroller and Auditor General of India, Girish Chandra Murmu chaired the ‘Supreme Audit Institutions-20 (SAI-20) Engagement Group’ meeting. It was held in Guwahati, Assam. The delegates from the SAI20 member broadly agreed to the Zero draft of the Communique and provided their thoughts and suggestions to bring out an inclusive, decisive, and action-oriented Communique for the SAI20 summit scheduled to be held in Goa.
14. Li Qiang has been named as the next Premier of which country?
[A] China
[B] Japan
[C] South Korea
[D] North Korea
Answer : [A] China
China named Li Qiang as the country’s next premier. Li, the close confidant of top leader Xi Jinping, was nominated by Xi and appointed to the position at the session of National People’s Congress, China’s ceremonial parliament. The appointment came a day after Xi Jinping secured a norms-breaking third five-year term as state leader.
15. Silicon Valley Bank, which was shut down recently, is based in which country?
[A] Russia
[B] Ukraine
[C] USA
[D] UK
Answer : [C] USA
The US regulators have shut down Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and taken control of its customer deposits in the largest failure of a US bank since 2008. The firm, which was a key tech lender, was scrambling to raise money to plug a loss from the sale of assets affected by higher interest rates. Silicon Valley Bank faced inadequate liquidity and insolvency.
16. TLMAL is a joint venture between India’s Tata Group and which country’s counterpart?
[A] Israel
[B] France
[C] USA
[D] Japan
Answer : [C] USA
The Tata Group and US Aerospace Lockheed Martin have agreed to produce fighter wings at their joint venture, Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructures Limited (TLMAL) in Hyderabad. The MOU allows the production of 29 fighter wing shipsets and includes an option for additional shipsets. Deliveries will start in 2025.
17. ‘Eliminating Backlogs Act of 2023’ is associated with which country?
[A] USA
[B] Japan
[C] Canada
[D] New Zealand
Answer : [A] USA
The Eliminating Backlogs Act of 2023, a bipartisan bill was introduced in the US House of Representatives. It aims to effectively utilize the employment-based visas allocated each year under existing federal immigration law. The legislation seeks to put an end to the country-based discrimination in high-skilled immigration and ensure that visas allocated under the law are properly used.
18. Who is the first woman in India to receive the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) award?
[A] Jyotirmayee Mohanty
[B] Ritu Karidhal
[C] Tessy Thomas
[D] Minal Rohit
Answer : [A] Jyotirmayee Mohanty
The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is a global federation consisting of National Adhering Organizations. Jyotirmayee Mohanty, a scientist at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, is the first woman in India to receive the IUPAC award. She received the IUPAC 2023 Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering in recognition of her works in the field of chemistry.
19. National Film Heritage Mission was created by Union Ministry?
[A] Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
[B] Ministry of Communication
[C] Ministry of Commerce and Industry
[D] Ministry of Culture
Answer : [A] Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
The National Film Heritage Mission (NFHM) was created by the Indian Government’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to save and protect films and related materials in India. The mission aims to preserve and digitize Indian films for the next hundred years. As part of this mission, three major projects are ongoing: digitization, conservation, and restoration of films. So far, over 1,200 films have been digitized in high quality, and over 1,400 celluloid reels were conserved.
20. Dusky tetraka, which was seen in the news, is a?
[A] Robot
[B] Bird
[C] Satellite
[D] Malware
Answer : [B] Bird
The dusky tetraka is a rare bird that lives in the forests of Madagascar. It was last seen in 1999, and it is one of the top 10 most wanted species by the Search for Lost Birds. The species was discovered recently in two remote locations. It has a dark olive-green plumage with a pale yellowish throat and a ring around the eye. It is endemic to Madagascar’s subtropical and tropical moist lowland forests. It is threatened due to the destruction of its natural habitat.