Daily Current Affairs – 18 April 2023

This post contains the current affairs for 18 April 2023. These current affairs are important for banking exams, insurance exams and other competitive exams like IBPS PO and Clerk, SBI PO and Clerk, RBI Assistant and Grade B, etc. You can also attempt our Current Affairs Quiz after reading our daily current affairs.

National

India holds 100th G20 Meeting Under its Presidency in Varanasi

• On April 17, 2023, India marked a milestone achievement, as the country was hosting the 100th meeting of the grouping, under its G20 presidency.  This is the largest number of meetings ever hosted by any country as G-20 President so far.
• The 100th G20 meeting under India’s Presidency was the Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists (MACS) in Varanasi.
• Under India’s G-20 Presidency, the 100 G-20 meetings have been held in 41 cities, covering 28 states and union territories of India. Over 12,300 delegates, from over 110 nationalities have attended these meetings.
• Further, India plans to hold more than 200 meetings in 60 cities across the country.
• India took over the G-20 Presidency from Indonesia in November 2022.
• The chief coordinator of India’s G20 presidency is Harsh Vardhan Shringla.
• The 2023 G20 Summit is the 18th meeting of Group of Twenty (G-20) to be held in New Delhi in September 2023.

Ministry of Panchayati Raj celebrates National Panchayat Awards Week from 17th April to 21st April 2023 to commemorate Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav 2.0

• The Ministry of Panchayati Raj is celebrating the National Panchayat Awards Week from 17^th April to 21^st April, 2023 to commemorate the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM) 2.0.
  • It must be mentioned that the National Panchayati Raj Day is commemorated on 24^th April every year.
  • The theme for National Panchayat Awards Week in 2023 is “Panchayaton ke Sankalpon ki Siddhi ka Utsav” (पंचायतों के संकल्पों की सिद्धि का उत्सव).
• A series of five National Conferences covering nine themes under Localization of Sustainable Development Goals (LSDGs) through Panchayati Raj Institutions and Way Forward for 2047 have been organized during the National Panchayat Awards Week Celebrations.
• The Union Minister of Rural Development & Panchayati Raj, Shri Giriraj Singh launched a new mobile application named GS NIRNAY, as a part of the occasion.
• GS NIRNAY stands for Gram Sabha National Initiative for Rural India to Navigate, InnovAte and Resolve PanchaYat.
  • The app Gram Sabha NIRNAY has been developed to  further strengthen Gram Sabha for ensuring participatory democracy and making empowered people and accountable Panchayats.
  • The app will enable recording and uploading Gram Sabha proceedings open for public view.
• The National Panchayat Awards 2023 were awarded under four categories, namely
  • Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Satat Vikas Puraskar (DDUPSVP)
  • Nanaji Deshmukh Sarvottam Panchayat Satat Vikas Puraskar (NDSPSVP)
  • Gram Urja Swaraj Vishesh Panchayat Puraskar
  • Carbon Neutral Vishesh Panchayat Puraskar

Kerala becomes first Indian state to adopt a Water Budget

• The state government of Kerala, under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has adopted a Water Budget, a first-of-its type initiative in India.
• The Public Water Budget initiative would help in properly utilising the resource and preventing wastage through proper Management.
• The first phase of the Water Budget will cover 94 grama panchayats in 15 block panchayats of the state.

DRDO Industry Academia Centre Of Excellence (DIA-CoE) inaugurated at IIT Hyderabad

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Industry Academia Centre of Excellence (DIA-CoE) has been inaugurated at the Indian Institute of Technology -Hyderabad, at Sangareddy in Telangana..
• The facility at the campus of the IIT-Hyderabad was inaugurated by DRDO Chairman Dr Samir V Kamat.
• The DIA CoE IITH is the biggest facility of its kind in the country. IT is the largest centre among all 15 CoEs in India.
• The DRDO team will work with IIT-H to take up futuristic projects towards long-term directed research needed for DRDO and execute to complete in a period of 3-5 years.

Nepal joins India’s initiative of International Big Cats Alliance as founding member

• Nepal has been designated as the founding member of the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA), an initiative by the Government of India.
• The IBCA was launched by Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi  on 9th April 2023, at Mysuru, Karnataka, to commemorate 50 years of Project Tiger.
• The objective of this alliance is conservation of seven big cats namely Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Cheetah, Jaguar and Puma.
• The Indian Initiative of IBCA was launched in Nepal recently.
• The letter mentioning Nepal’s association as founding member of the alliance was handed over by Nepal’s Minister for Energy Shakti Bahadur Basnet to Indian Minister for Forest and Climate Change Bhupendra Yadav.

India appointed to chair Commonwealth Group on reform of financial architecture

• India will be the chair of the Finance Ministers Working Group for a Commonwealth Call for Reform of the Global Financial Architecture.
• Meanwhile, Nigeria has been selected as the the deputy chair for this Working Group.
• The Finance ministers from various Commonwealth countries have called for a systemic reform of the global financial architecture to enhance access to development financing for vulnerable countries.
• The collective call for reform was put forward at the inaugural Commonwealth Finance Ministers High-Level Working Group Meeting in Washington D.C., held on the margins of the 2023 World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund (IMF) Spring Meetings.

Banking & Economy

China to be top contributor to global GDP in next five years, India second: IMF

• AS per the data by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), China will be the top contributor to global growth over the next five years, and its share is set to be double than that of the US.
• The report by Bloomberg, based on the data of World Economic Outlook of IMF, reveals that China share in the global gross domestic product expansion over the next five years, through 2028, is expected to represent 22.6% of total world growth.
• India is on second spot, representing 12.9% of the total growth.
• The US will contribute 11.3%, which is half than that of China.

Razorpay forms 4-member advisory board to strengthen corporate governance; Head-former RBI deputy governor NS Vishwanathan

• Fintech unicorn Razorpay has set up an advisory board that will focus on setting up standards to strengthen customer experience, governance, compliance, and risk management practices.
• NS Vishwanathan, the former deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been roped in as the chairperson of this 4-member advisory board.
• The  other member of this board are:
  • Arijit Basu – former managing director of State Bank of India;
  • Aruna Sundararajan – former telecom secretary
  • K.P. Krishnan – former secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship

Sekhar Rao appointed as interim MD & CEO of Karnataka Bank

• The Karnataka Bank has appointed Sekhar Rao as the interim managing director and Chief Executive Officer (MD & CEO), with effect from April 15, 2023.
• He has been appointed for a period of three months or till the appointment of regular MD and CEO whichever is earlier.
• Prior to this, Rao was the Executive Director at the bank.
• He replaces the incumbent MD & CEO, Mahabaleshwara M S, who successfully completed his second term of three years on April 14, 2023.

Important Days

International Day For Monuments and Sites 2023: 18 April

• The International Day for Monuments and Sites is observed on 18th of April each year. The day is also known as the World Heritage Day.
• The basic objective of this day is to promote awareness about the diversity of cultural heritage of humanity, their vulnerability and the efforts required for their protection and conservation.
• The International Day for Monuments and Sites was proposed by the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) on 18 April 1982 and approved by the General Assembly of UNESCO in 1983.
• Theme 2023 – HERITAGE CHANGES.

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