Daily Current Affairs 15th February , 2023

Daily Current Affairs 15 February 2023 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

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NATIONAL NEWS

Govt launches app ‘Khanan Prahari’ and CMSMS to curb unauthorized mining
The government has launched a mobile app namely ‘Khanan Prahari’ and a web app Coal Mine Surveillance and Management System (CMSMS) for reporting unauthorized coal mining activities so that monitoring and taking suitable action on it can be done by concerned Law and Order enforcing authority.

• 462 cases have been reported on the Apps till January this year. Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said this in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.

Namami Gange Mission-II approved with budgetary outlay of ₹22,500 cr till 2026
The government has approved Namami Gange Mission-II with a budgetary outlay of Rs.22,500 crore till 2026, including projects for existing liabilities of Rs.11,225 crore and new projects/interventions of ₹11,275 crore, minister of state for Jal Shakti, Bishweswar Tudu said.

• The minister said that the Namami Gange Programme was launched in June 2014 for a period up to 31 March, 2021 to rejuvenate River Ganga and its tributaries with a budgetary outlay of Rs.20,000 crore.

Bihar and Chattisgarh among States that allocated more towards education
Among the big States in the country, Chhattisgarh and Bihar allocated the most proportion of their budget towards education in FY23. While Chhattisgarh allocated 18.82 per cent of the State’s estimated net budget expenditure to education, Bihar allocated 18.3 per cent.

• The States/UTs that have spent a higher portion of their budget expenditure on education are Delhi, Assam, and Himachal Pradesh, which allocated 22 per cent, 20 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively, of their budgets on education this fiscal year.
• Even in terms of absolute numbers, Telangana’s expenditure towards education was a mere ₹16,043 crore in FY23. As per the Budget for FY24, even though the state has allocated ₹19,093 crore for education, it is just 6.57 per cent of the net budget expenditure. Telangana is among the few states that have presented the budget for the upcoming financial year.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Air India signs agreement to acquire 250 aircraft from Airbus of France
Air India will buy 250 aircraft from France’s Airbus, in what is billed as the world’s largest aviation deal in history, announced. The deal includes 40 A350 wide-body ultra-long-range aircraft. The rest will be narrow-body aircraft.

• Addressing a virtual meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on the agreement, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the deal as historic and expressed confidence that India will emerge as the third-largest global market in the aviation sector in coming years

SPORTS

Eoin Morgan announces retirement from all forms of cricket
World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan, former England white-ball skipper, has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. Morgan announced his retirement from international cricket last year and has now decided to retire from other forms of the game as well.

• Morgan last played competitive cricket in January for Paarl Royals in the newly formed SA20 League. He will now continue his career in cricket as a broadcaster.
• Morgan captained England in a record 126 One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and 72 Twenty-20 Internationals (T20s) in 2019. His 118 victories as captain in both formats is also a record. He leaves with a slew of records, including the most ODI runs for England (6,957), the most T20I runs for England (2,458), and the most sixes for England in both formats.

FIFA confirms US, Mexico, Canada automatically in 2026 World Cup
The U.S. men’s national team, along with Mexico and Canada, will automatically qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The three countries won the right to host the World Cup in a united North American bid.

• FIFA historically has given host nations the right to play in the World Cup without going through the usual qualification tournaments, though this is the first time FIFA had to set aside three host bids.
• The tournament is set to expand from 32 teams to 48 in 2026. Another three berths will be awarded to CONCACAF nations via qualifying.

Akshdeep Singh, Priyanka Goswami win National Race Walking Championships; Qualify for 2024 Paris Olympics
Tokyo Olympian Priyanka Goswami and Akashdeep Singh qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics and World Athletics Championships 2023 after meeting the qualification mark in the women’s and men’s 20km race walk, respectively, at the National Open Race Walking Championships. 

• In the women’s 20km race walk event in Morabadi, Priyanka clocked 1:28:50s to beat the qualifying standard of 1:29.20s set for the Athletics Worlds in Budapest and Paris Olympics and clinched the top spot.

APPOINTMENTS

Sania Mirza to mentor Women’s Premier League team RCB
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) has roped in tennis legend Sania Mirza as the team’s mentor for Women’s Premier League (WPL) 2023.

• Mirza retired from the sport after the Australian Open earlier this year, where she and her partner Rohan Bopanna finished runners-up in the mixed doubles event.
• She has announced that the ATP Dubai Open later this month would be her swansong tournament as she’s expected to join the franchise after that.

AWARDS

Egyptian President bestows Global Best M-GOV Awards on IIT Indore students
Students from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Indore, India, won AED 1 million by winning the gold medal at the World Government Summit in Dubai.

• Niyati Totala and Neel Kalpeshkumar Parikh of The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Indore, were awarded the prestigious medal by Egyptian President Abel Fattah Al-Sisi.
• These students were the creators of the ‘Blockbill’ app.Blockbill is a blockchain-based receipt generation app that generates digital receipts for all of its users’ transactions.

OBITUARIES

Noted painter Lalitha Lajmi passes away
Noted painter Lalitha Lajmi passed away at the age of 90. She was sister of late actor-filmmaker Guru Dutt.

• Lalitha Lajmi was born to a poet father and a poly-linguist writer mother in Kolkata in 1932. Coming from a family involved in the arts, Lajmi was very fond of classical dance and painting. She found her calling in painting. An unparalleled water-colourist, through her works she narrates a layered history of the modern Indian woman in the decades that followed Independence.
• Often her works reflect the hidden tensions that exist between men and women, captured in the different roles they play. Yet, her women are not meek individuals, but assertive and individualistic, with a strong autobiographical element.

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