Current Affairs Quiz - March, 2023

Notes:
A petition was filed by Telangana Government against Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan for creating a “constitutional impasse” by refusing to act on several Bills passed by the State legislature.
The Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud agreed to urgently hear the petition. Telangana urged the court to “declare that the inaction, omission and failure to comply with the constitutional mandate qua the assent of the Bills by the Governor is highly irregular, illegal”.

Notes:
The United States recognises the McMahon Line as the international boundary between China and Arunachal Pradesh, according to a bipartisan Senate resolution which sees Arunachal Pradesh as an integral part of India.
The bipartisan Senators’ resolution condemns additional China’s provocations, including the People’s Republic of China’s use of military force to change the status quo along the Line of Actual Control.

Notes:
The US government has appointed former Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti as the new ambassador to India, two years after his name was first announced for the role.
Mr Garcetti, who is a close ally of Joe Biden, was nominated for the post by the US president in 2021. But his appointment was held up after allegations that he had overlooked accusations of sexual harassment against an aide when he was Mayor.

Notes:
The recently concluded Japan-South Korea Summit resulted in the two countries deciding to resolve a trade dispute, which is seen as a major step towards improving the bilateral economic and defence relations.
The summit was held in Tokyo, Japan and was attended by South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Notes:
Ganeshaiah’s dwarf gecko (Cnemaspis ganeshaiahi) is a newly discovered species of gecko endemic to the Male Mahadeshwara Hills (MM Hills).
It is named after KN Ganeshaiah – a famous agricultural scientist and a Kannada writer.

Notes:
V.V. Giri National Labour Institute (VVGNLI) is an autonomous civil service training institute under the Union Labour Ministry.
It is responsible for research in the field of labour. VVGNLI recently entered a strategic alliance with the ASSOCHAM to promote professional and organizational development in areas related to jobs and labour.

Notes:
Technology Innovation Institute, Abudhabi, UAE has launched Falcon LLM, a large language model (LLM) with 40 billion parameters.
The model outperforms GPT-3 and requires only 75% of its training compute, as well as lower percentages of other large language models’ training compute. The UAE is aligned with the UAE’s National AI Strategy, which aims to make the country a leader in the knowledge economy, driving progress and prosperity.

Notes:
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) opened the strategic Zojila Pass located on the Greater Himalayan Range at an altitude of 11,650 feet which acts as a gateway between Union Territories of Ladakh, and Jammu & Kashmir.
It remained closed for only 68 days this year as compared to 73 days last year and 160-180 days in the past.

Notes:
Euoplos dignitas is a new species of giant trapdoor spider. It was found by researchers in Queensland, Australia.
The tarantula-like creature is a type of golden trapdoor spider belonging to the genus Euoplos.

Notes:
Albatross Amphibious Aircraft is a 28-seater aircraft capable of landing and taking off from land, snow and water.
An Indian defence firm – Hawking Defence Services – has entered into a procurement cum partnership agreement with Australia-based Amphibian Aerospace Industries (AAI) to manufacture this aircraft.