Current Affairs 13th March 2023

95th Academy Awards announced

• The 95th Academy Awards  were held on 12 Mar’23 in Los Angeles.
• Everything Everywhere All At Once won Best Picture.
• Michelle Yeoh won Best Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once.
• Brendan Fraser won Best Actor for The Whale.
• Daniel Kwan and Daniel Schienert won Best Director for Everything Everywhere All at Once.
• All Quiet on the Western Front won Best International Feature Film.

India creates history by winning two Oscars

• In 95th Academy Awards ceremony, India’s ‘Naatu Naatu song’ from SS Rajamouli’s film RRR made history by becoming the first Indian film to win an Oscar for best original song.
• The film inspired is from the lives of freedom fighters Komaram Bheem and Alluri Sitarama Raju.
• Another Indian entry ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ also won an Oscar in the Best Documentary Short Film category. 

NITI Aayog releases a Task Force report

• NITI Aayog has released the Task Force report titled “Production and Promotion of Organic and Bio fertilisers with Special Focus on Improving Economic Viability of Gaushalas”.
• The Task Force was constituted to suggest measures to make Gaushalas economically viable, address the problem of stray and abandoned cattle, and effective utilisation of cow dung and cow urine in the agriculture.

4th Asian Kho Kho Championship to be held from 20-23 March

• The 4th Asian Kho Kho Championship for Men and Women will be held at Baksa district in Assam from the 20th to the 23rd March 2023.
• The event is being organised by the Kho Kho Federation of India in association with the Assam Kho Kho Association and Bodoland Territorial Region government.
• Altogether 12 countries and the host India will be participating in the competition. 

Axar Patel becomes first to take 50 wickets

• Axar Patel clean bowled Travis Head in the second innings against Australia in March 2023.
• With this wicket, Akshar has become the bowler to take 50 wickets by bowling the fewest balls for India.
• Before him, the record of taking the fastest 50 wickets for India was in the name of Jasprit Bumrah.
• Akshar played only his 12th match and has made this big record.
  

SOFIA makes first detection of Oxygen-18 in Mesosphere

• The GREAT instrument onboard NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) measured the ratio of main to heavy oxygen in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere.
• This made the first spectroscopic detection of heavy oxygen outside a laboratory.
• Heavy oxygen (18O) is so called because it has 10 neutrons, rather than the normal eight of main oxygen (16O), the form we breathe.

Centre sanctions eight floating jetty projects in Karnataka, TN

• Under its Sagarmala Programme, the Ministry of Ports, shipping, and waterways has provided in-principle approval to four floating jetty projects in Karnataka.
• These projects are located primarily on Gurupura River and Netravati River and shall be used for tourism purposes.
• It has also given in-principle approval to another four floating jetty projects in Tamil Nadu.

Six new railway stations to be opened in Mumbai

• Six more suburban railway stations catering to Mumbai local trains will be opened for the public.
• These include five on the new extension of the Uran line and Dighe on the Thane-Vashi corridor.
• All six are in their final stages of completion.
• The stations on the Uran line are Gavhanpada, Ranjanpada, Nhava-Sheva, Dronagiri and Uran itself.

PM Modi inaugurates 118 Km long Bengaluru-Mysuru Expressway project

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 11 March 2023, inaugurated the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway in the Mandya district of Karnataka.
• The 118 Km long project has been developed at a total cost of around Rs 8480 crores.
• It will reduce the travel time between Bengaluru and Mysuru from around 3 hours to about 75 minutes. It will act as a catalyst for socioeconomic development in the region.

India’s trap shooter Prithviraj Tondaiman wins bronze medal in Doha

• India’s Trap shooter Prithviraj Tondaiman won a bronze medal at the ISSF Shotgun World Cup 2023 in Doha, Qatar on 11 March 2023.
• Oguzhan Tuzun, a two-time world champion from Turkey, shot 33/35 to win gold, and Matthew John, a bronze medalist from Great Britain at Tokyo 2020, won silver with a score of 30/35.
• It was India’s first medal at the ongoing ISSF World Cup.

Virat Kohli becomes 2nd-highest run scorer against Australia

• Virat Kohli surpassed former West Indies cricketer Brian Lara to become the second-highest scorer against Australia in international cricket.
• In 89 matches and 104 innings, he scored 4729 runs against Australia at an average of 50.84.
• He accomplished this landmark during India’s fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia at Ahmedabad.

Central Railway achieves 100% electrification of entire broad gauge

• Central Railway achieved 100% railway electrification on all Broad Gauge routes which is almost 3825 Kilometres in March 2023.
• The last non-electrified section of Central Railway, Ausa Road- Latur Road on Solapur Division was electrified in Feb 2023.
• The electrification has helped in reducing carbon footprints of 5.204 lakh tons every year and also saves Rs. 1670 crores annually. 

IIT Roorkee scientists discover new antibacterial molecule ‘IITR00693′

• Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee have discovered a new antibacterial small molecule (IITR00693) that could help in the fight against drug-resistant infections.
• The molecule has shown potent antibacterial activity against a wide range of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, including some of the most problematic drug-resistant strains.

SCO Supreme Courts Chief Justices’ meet held in New Delhi

• Eighteenth meeting of Chief Justices of the Supreme Courts of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Member States was held in New Delhi from 10-11 March, 2023.
• It was held under the Presidency of Chief Justice of India, D.Y. Chandrachud with an aim to foster effective judicial cooperation among the Member States.
• It was a 2-day session wherein all SCO member states had taken part.

Ayush Ministry to organize Yoga Mahotsav 2023 in New Delhi on 13 March

• Ayush Ministry is going to organize Yoga Mahotsav 2023 at Talkatora Stadium in New Delhi from 13-15 March 2023.
• The Yoga Mahotsav is an event to commemorate 100 days countdown to the 9th edition of International Day of Yoga.
• During this Mahotsav, mass yoga demonstrations will take place in one hundred places in Delhi – National Capital Region (NCR) to celebrate the countdown.

Li Qiang confirmed as China’s new Premier by Chinese Parliament

• China’s Parliament on 11 March 2023, appointed Li Qiang as the country’s new Premier or Prime Minister.
• He succeeded Li Keqiang who held the post for the last 10 years.
• The annual session of the National People’s Congress (NPC), a ceremonial body that passes the proposals of the Communist Party of China (CPC), approved Li Qiang’s candidature.

First Supreme Audit Institution (SAI20) meet to begin on 13 March

• The first Supreme Audit Institution 20 (SAI20) Senior Officers Meeting (SOM) is going to begin in Guwahati, Assam on 13 March 2023.
• The themes of the meeting are, ‘Blue Economy’ and ‘Responsible Artificial Intelligence’.
• The SAI20 is aimed at bringing together an ecosystem wherein SAIs are active partners in governance, promoting transparency and accountability.

PM Modi unveils world’s longest railway platform in Hubballi-Dharwad

• PM Narendra Modi on 11 March 2023, inaugurated the longest railway platform in the world in Hubballi-Dharwad.
• With this, the city has registered its name in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the longest railway platform in the World at Shree Siddharoodha Swamiji station.
• The 1,507-metre-long platform has been built at a cost of about ₹20 crore.

IRCTC to start ‘Bharat Nepal Ashtha Yatra Tour’ from 31 March

• Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) announced to run on 31 March 2023, “Bharat Nepal Ashtha Yatra” tour package.
• It will run under the Bharat Gaurav Tourists train which will showcase four important pilgrimage and heritage destination in the 10 days tour.
• It is in line with India’s initiative “Dekho Apna Desh” to promote special interest circuits in domestic tourism.

Nitin Gadkari unveils first methanol run buses in Bengaluru

• Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on 12 March 2023, unveiled Bengaluru’s first methanol-run buses.
• The project is aimed at reducing the level of emissions and the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) NITI Aayog, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Ashok Leyland are conducting the project together.
• As part of the project, the IOC will provide free methanol for three months.

Asia’s largest tulip garden in J&K to open to the public on 19 March

• The Indira Gandhi Tulip Garden, which is Asia’s largest tulip garden in Kashmir, will open to the public on March 19, 2023.
• The garden spread between Dal Lake and Zabarwan Hills.
• Besides 1.5 million tulips of various colors and hues, the garden, also known as Siraj Bagh, will display other spring flowers like hyacinths, daffodils, muscari and cyclamens.

Karnataka government to start Bengaluru Health System

• Karnataka government announced the start of the Bengaluru Health System by bringing all Primary Health Centres and laboratories under one command to effectively face the health challenges.
• CM Bommai inaugurated the Smart virtual Clinic and Central Clinical Command Centres at Sadashivanagar on Saturday.
• Under the initiative, experts will start treatment and suggest additional treatments.

Joe Biden appoints two Indian-American CEOs to Advisory Committee

• US President Joe Biden on 12 March 2023, named two Indian-Americans to the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.
• Revathi Advaithi, CEO of Flex, and Manish Bapna, CEO of the Natural Resources Defence Council were appointed as member of the committee.
• Prior to Flex, Advaithi was President and Chief Operating Officer for the electrical sector business for Eaton.

Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano erupts again

• Indonesia’s Mount Merapi erupted again on 12 March 2023, with avalanches of searing gas clouds and lava
• Mount Merapi is one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes and was already on the country’s second-highest alert level.
• Merapi last violently erupted in 2010, killing more than 350 people.
• Located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, Indonesia has more volcanoes than any other country. 

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