Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2023

Notes:
National Stock Exchange (NSE) launched India’s first municipal bond index, the India Municipal Bond Index (IBMX).
The Nifty India Municipal Bond Index was launched at a SEBI workshop on Municipal Debt Securities at Bengaluru. It tracks the performance of municipal bonds issued by Indian municipal corporations across maturities and having investment grade credit rating.

Notes:
The 8th Edition of the Raisina Dialogue is India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-strategy. It is organized by the Ministry of External Affairs in collaboration with Observer Research Foundation.
Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni joined the inaugural session as the Chief Guest. The theme of the 2023 Edition of Dialogue is “Provocation, Uncertainty, Turbulence: Lighthouse in the Tempest.

Notes:
The United Kingdom signed a deal regarding post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland, with a view to remove the border between Britain and Northern Ireland running through the Irish Sea.
The ‘Windsor Framework’ is set to replace the Northern Ireland Protocol, which had created political and economic issues between the UK and the EU after Brexit.

Notes:
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has recently launched a new security mechanism for Aadhaar-based fingerprint authentication.
UIDAI is a statutory body that was established by the Indian Government in January 2009. It comes under the aegis of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

Notes:
In Women’s Cricket, Australia lifted the ICC T20 World Cup Trophy for the sixth time.  In the Final match, they defeated South Africa by 19 runs in Cape Town.
Australia posted 156 for 6 in 20 overs while Beth Mooneyc scored an unbeaten 74 runs for Australia.

Notes:
Karnataka and Gujarat are among the major states making the most progress in transition to clean electricity.
This is according to a new report on ‘Indian States’ Energy Transition’, prepared by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) along with EMBER. The report has analysed 16 states, which together account for 90% of India’s annual power requirement.

Notes:
Axis Bank completed acquisition of Citigroup’s India consumer business for an overall consideration of ₹11,603 crore.
The Private sector lender completed acquisition of Citibank’s consumer business and non-banking financial company (NBFC) consumer business. The sale excludes Citi’s institutional client businesses in India.

Notes:
The Supreme Court said it will set up a six-member panel to look into regulatory mechanisms to protect investors’ interest after a report by a US short seller Hindenburg on the Adani conglomerate led to large investor losses.
The shares of Adani group firms nose-dived last month after the short seller Hindenburg Research alleged a massive financial fraud. The Adani group strongly denied the allegation and called Hindenburg’s report a “calculated attack” on India, its institutions and growth story.

Notes:
Fossils of the oldest known insect and the world’s first plant pollinators called tillyardembiids was discovered recently in Russia.
Tillyardembiids are earwig-like insects. The specimens found in Russia were estimated to be around 280 million years old, predating the previously-known pollen-covered insects by about 120 million years.

Notes:
Iran has claimed to have discovered a lithium deposit in the western province of Hamedan. It is found to contain around 8.5 million metric tons of lithium ore.
Lithium is a soft, silver-white metal belonging to the alkali metal group of elements. It is highly reactive and flammable, and it is stored in mineral oil or other liquids to prevent it from reacting with moisture or air. It is commonly used in rechargeable batteries for electronic devices and EVs.