Daily GK Update: 5th February 2023

Sports

Indian golf player, Aditi Ashok clinched her fourth Ladies European Tour (LET) title at the Kenya Ladies Open 2023 golf tournament held at Vipingo Ridge, Kenya.
She last won a Ladies European Tour golf tournament in 2017.
She carded a 12-under to win ahead of Alice Hewson (England) and April Angurasaranee (Thailand), who finished with identical final scores of 3-under.
Meanwhile, India’s Avani Prashanth finished tied-ninth and Amandeep Drall came tied-52nd.

National & International Appointments

Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd's Board of Directors appointed Raul Rebello as managing director (MD) and chief executive officer (CEO) designate.
He will replace Ramesh Iyer, who will be retiring on April 29, 2023.
Currently, he is serving as the chief operating officer (COO) of the company.
Before to joining Mahindra Financial, he worked as the executive vice president and head of rural lending and financial inclusion at Axis Bank Ltd.

National & International Appointments

The President of India, Droupadi Murmu approved the appointment of five new Supreme Court judges.
The strength of judges in the Supreme Court will be increased to 32 (sanctioned strength:34).
They will take oath on 6th February by CJI DY Chandrachud.
Five appointed judges are:
- (1) Pankaj Mithal (CJ of Rajasthan)
- (2) Sanjay Karol, (CJ of Patna)
- (3) PV Sanjay Kumar, (CJ of Manipur)
- (4) Ahsanuddin Amanullah (judge, Patna HC)
- (5) Manoj Misra (judge, Allahabad HC)

National Affairs

Union HM, Amit Shah laid the foundation stone of a ₹ 450-crore nano urea plant and township of the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (IFFCO) in Deoghar, Jharkhand.
It will be the fifth nano urea plant in India.
In 2022, Prime Minister, Narendra Modi inaugurated the world's first nano urea plant in Gujarat.
Nano urea improves crop productivity, soil health, and the nutritional quality of produce.
Aim: To address the imbalanced and excessive use of conventional urea.

International Affairs

Sri Lanka celebrated its 75 years of Independence from British rule on 4th February 2023.
Theme: Namo Namo Matha - A step towards a century.
The main ceremony of the National Independence Day Celebrations was held at Galle Face Green in Colombo.
A special cultural arts festival Lankaralanka was also organized at Independence Square in Colombo.
The event was attended by Union Minister of State for External Affairs, V. Muraleedharan.
President: Ranil Wickremesinghe

National Affairs

Indian Railways has introduced Bharat Gaurav Deluxe AC Tourist Train under the ‘Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat’ Scheme.
This “Garvi Gujarat” tour will depart on 28th February from Delhi Safdarjung Station.
Aim: To showcase the heritage of vibrant Gujarat
Major attractions: The Statue of Unity, Champaner, Somnath, Dwarka, Nageshwar, Beyt Dwarka, Ahmedabad, Modhera, and Patan
IRCTC has also tied up with payment gateways for providing EMI payment options to customers

National Affairs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will dedicate a helicopter manufacturing plant of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in Tumakuru (Karnataka) to the nation.
The 'Greenfield Helicopter factory' will manufacture the Light Utility Helicopters.
It has Heli-runway, flight hangar, final assembly hangar, structure assembly hangar, air traffic control, and support services.
It complies fully with Industry 4.0 standard tools and techniques for its operations.
Area: 615 acres

Science & Technology

NISAR, a joint satellite of NASA and ISRO, is planned to be launched in 2024.
NISAR refers to NASA-ISRO SAR, is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) observatory.
It will also provide spatially and temporally consistent data for understanding changes in Earth’s ecosystems, ice mass, vegetation biomass, sea level rise, landslides, etc.
Radar systems in NISAR: L – Band SAR and S-Band SAR
- L-Band SAR: Designed and Created by JPL of NASA
- S-Band SAR: Designed and created by ISRO

State Affairs

The Punjab Cabinet under the chairmanship of CM Bhagwant Mann approved new industrial and electric vehicle policies.
Electric Vehicles:
- Incentives for those switching over to electric vehicles under the vehicle scrapping policy.
- Charging stations will also be installed.
The new industrial policy pitches Punjab as a favorite investment destination.
Introduction of public mining sites to ensure that sand and gravel are available at reasonable rates to common people.

National Affairs

Department of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (DA&FW) under the Ministry of Agriculture signed an MoU with the Development Innovation Lab (DIL) at the University of Chicago.
Reason: To explore the opportunities to harness innovation to improve food security, address climate change, and allow farmers to increase their incomes
It will look into innovation opportunities related to agriculture and food security in the context of climate change.