Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2023

Notes:
PARAKH, India’s first national assessment regulator, aims to standardize assessment for over 60 boards in the country.
ETS (Educational Testing Service), which conducts key tests like TOEFL and GRE, has been chosen by the National Council for Education Research (NCERT) to set up the regulatory platform PARAKH. PARAKH will establish norms, standards, and guidelines for student assessment and evaluation.

Notes:
Comptroller and Auditor General, Girish Chandra Murmu has been selected as External Auditor of the International Labour Organization in Geneva
He has been selected for a four-year term from 2024 to 2027. CAG will take over from the incumbent External Auditor of ILO, Supreme Audit Institution of Philippines. ILO had earlier shortlisted three Supreme Audit Institutions – India, Canada and UK, for technical presentations.

Notes:
Argentina captain Lionel Messi has been named the best player in men’s football by FIFA, at The Best FIFA Football Awards in Paris.
Messi won this award for his outstanding performances in men’s football from August 2021 to December 2022. France’s Kylian Mbappe, also nominated for the award. Spain’s Alexia Putellas won the best women’s player award for the second year in a row.

Notes:
The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has been granted approval by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for a new variant of the Hindustan 228-201 LW aircraft.
The recent DGCA approval will enable commercial pilots to fly the aircraft with a reduced qualification requirement, increasing the availability of pilots for the aircraft.

Notes:
The first round of negotiations concerning the amendments to the WHO International Health Regulations 2005 concluded recently.
More than 300 suggested changes were proposed for this document. The International Health Regulations 2005 is being implemented by 196 countries across the world. It is the binding instrument of international law that entered into force in 2007.

Notes:
The Debt Forgiveness Plan was announced the US Government in August last year. This plan vowed to cancel 10,000 USD of student loan debt for individuals earning less than 125,000 USD or for households earning less than $250,000 per annum.
Under this plan, those who are receiving Federal Pell Grants will be given an additional 10,000 USD in debt forgiven.

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:
Bola Tinubu has been recently elected as the President of Nigeria. The country’s current president, Muhammadu Buhari, will step down after serving two terms.
Tinubu is known to be a long-term political kingmaker. He helped the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari with two terms in office in 2015 and 2019. He served as a Logos governor for two terms after a military rule ended in the region.

Notes:
The Jerdon’s narrow-mouthed frog has been rediscovered by zoologists in the Western Ghats of India.
It was last studied by a British scientist in 1934 and has not been seen since. The frog is known for its long snout and shiny brown skin with spots. The species is classified as ‘Near Threatened’ in the IUCN List while researchers are campaigning for the frog to be reclassified as ‘Endangered’.

Notes:
The Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) or Acute Renal Failure (ARF) is the sudden failure of kidney’s functioning that occurs within a few hours or few days.
An investigation led by the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Gambian scientists has linked the acute kidney injury (AKI) cluster among children in The Gambia to Indian cough syrups contaminated with diethylene glycol (DEG) and ethylene glycol (EG).