CURRENT AFFAIRS OF 16th MARCH, 2023

CURRENT AFFAIRS OF  16^th MARCH, 2023

1. National Vaccination Day, also known as National Immunization Day or ‘Polio Ravivar’, is annually observed across India on 16 March to create awareness about the importance of vaccines in human health. 
2. The first-ever Meghalaya International Film Festival was held at State Central Library in Shillong from 14-18 March, 2023.
3. According to India State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021, India’s forest and tree cover has risen by 2,261square kilometres in the year 2021.
4. Tamil writer Sivasankari has been selected for Saraswati Samman for 2022 for her book ‘Survya Vamsam’.
5. An Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS) officer from the 1995 batch and NMDC Director (Finance), Amitava Mukherjee, has been given the additional charge of Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of NMDC for a period of 3 months upto 31 May, 2023.
6. Uttarakhand’s Agriculture Minister, Ganesh Joshi, launched the country’s first ‘Resham Keet Bima’ programme to safeguard its sericulturists.
7. Denmark inaugurated a project to store carbon dioxide 1,800 metres beneath the North Sea, the first country in the world to bury CO₂ imported from abroad.
8. Microsoft has struck a deal to make Xbox PC video games available on the Boosteroid cloud gaming platform.
9. Ujjivan Small Finance Bank’s Hello Ujjivan app won the 13^th Aegis Graham Bell Awards in the ‘Innovation in Consumer Tech’ category.
10. Delhi ranked fourth on a list of 50 of the world’s most polluted cities in terms of PM2.5 levels in 2022, according to the World Air Quality Report prepared by IQAir.
11. The 13^th edition of the bilateral exercise ‘Bold Kurukshetra’ between the Indian Army and the Singapore Army was held at Jodhpur Military Station from 6-13 March, 2023.
12. NASA has unveiled a new generation of spacesuit for humanity’s return trip to the Moon.
13. The Ministry of Education hosted the 2^nd Education Working Group (EdWG) meeting at Amritsar in Punjab from 15-17 March, 2023.
14. Gianni Infantino was re-elected as FIFA president during the 73^rd Congress in Kigali, on 16 March, 2023.
15. The second meeting of the G20 Sustainable Finance Working Group (SFWG) will be held in Udaipur, Rajasthan from 21-23 March, 2023.
16. Veteran actor Sameer Khakhar, who is most remembered for his portrayal of the character ‘Khopdi’ in the popular 1980s TV series ‘Nukkad’ passed away on 15 March, 2023 at the age of 71.