Daily GK Update- 18th Oct, 2021

 

NATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. MoRTH launches “Rewarding Scheme for Grant of Award to the Good Samaritan”: The Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has launched a “Rewarding Scheme for Grant of Award to the Good Samaritan”. The scheme aims to motivate the general public to help the victims of road accident in emergency situation, as well as inspire and motivate others to save innocent lives on road. Under this Good Samaritan scheme, a cash award of Rs. 5,000 per incident will be given to those who save the life of a road accident victim by administering immediate assistance and rushing him/her to hospital within the ‘golden hour’ of the mishap, i.e. within 60 minutes of the incident, to provide medical treatment. An individual Good Samaritan can be awarded maximum 5 times in a year. The Scheme would come into effect from October 15, 2021.

 

2. Varanasi to become first Indian city to use ropeway services for public: Varanasi of Uttar Pradesh will become the first city in India to use ropeway services in public transportation. Overall, Varanasi will be the third city in the world after Bolivia and Mexico City to use ropeway in public transportation. The total cost of the ropeway project is Rs 424 crore. The total distance of 4.2 km will be covered in just 15 minutes. The project will be executed on a public-private partnership model. The cost of the project will be divided between the Centre and the state government at 80:20. Four stations of the ropeway services pilot phase will be at the height of above 11 meters.

Note: UP Capital: Lucknow; UP Governor: Anandiben Patel; UP Chief minister: Yogi Adityanath.

 

3. Telangana develops India’s first smartphone-based eVoting solution: Telangana has developed India’s first smartphone-based eVoting solution considering the Covid-19 pandemic. The system will undergo a dry run in the form of a dummy election being conducted in Khammam district with the registration on the application open from October 8-18 and the dummy voting on October 20. The eVoting solution has been developed by Telangana State Election Commission (TSEC) with the implementation support of the Emerging Technologies Wing of the IT Department of the State and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC).

Note: Telangana Capital: Hyderabad; Telangana Governor: Tamilisai Soundararajan; Telangana Chief minister: K. Chandrashekar Rao.

 

4. Department of Biotechnology launches India’s first ‘One Health’ consortium in post-COVID times: The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) under the Ministry of Science and Technology has launched India’s first mega consortium on ‘One Health’, in post-COVID times. The ‘One Health’ project was launched by Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary, DBT through video conferencing. The Consortium comprise of 27 organisations, and will be led by DBT-National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, Hyderabad. The ‘One Health’ is “where man, animal, plants and environment are considered complimentary to each other for maintaining ‘health of all’”.

 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

 

1. Russia-China holds naval drill “Joint Sea 2021” in Sea of Japan: The Russia and China joint naval exercises “Joint Sea 2021” has kicked off at Russia’s Peter the Great Gulf, in the Sea of Japan, on October 14, 2021. The exercises will culminate on October 17, 2021. During the war game, the combined force would practice shooting at targets designed to imitate enemy surface ships and hold air-defence drills. The drill is being carried out as part of ‘Joint Sea’ 2021, the series of bilateral naval exercises that have been taking place between the two services since 2012. The exercise is being held from 14–17 October, Russian state news agency TASS reported. The PLAN is participating in the exercise with the Type 052D destroyer Kunming

 

2. Reliance Industries tops in Forbes World’s Best Employer 2021 Ranking: Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries has topped the Indian corporates in the World’s Best Employers 2021 rankings published by Forbes. Globally, Reliance is placed at 52nd position among 750 global corporates. South Korean giant Samsung Electronics has topped the overall ranking as World’s Best Employers 2021, followed by US giants IBM, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Alphabet and Dell Technologies.

About the World’s Best Employers 2021:

(1) The World’s Best Employers 2021 has been prepared by Forbes in partnership with market research company Statista.

(2) The ranking is based upon surveying 1,50,000 full-time and part-time workers from 58 countries working for multinational companies and institutions, where employees rated their employers on numerous points.

(3) Parameters used during the survey for the ranking include the image, economic footprint, talent development, gender equality and social responsibility.

 

OTHER UPDATES:

 

SPORTS

 

1. Divya Deshmukh becomes India’s 21st Woman Grand Master: 15-year-old Divya Deshmukh became India’s 21st Woman Grand Master (WGM) after achieving her 2nd International Master (IM) at Grand Master (GM) in Budapest, Hungary. He scored five points in the nine rounds and ended up with a performance rating of 2452 to secure her final WGM norm. Divya also secured her second IM-norm and is now a norm away from becoming an International Master. Apart from three wins, she played out four draws while losing two games in the tournament.

 

BANKING AND FINANCE

 

1. SEBI constitutes 4-member high powered advisory committee on settlement orders: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), has constituted a four-member “high powered advisory committee on settlement orders and compounding of offences”. The Chairman of the committee will be Vijay C Daga, retired judge of the High Court of Bombay. The terms of reference of the Committee will be as per “Securities and Exchange Board of India (Settlement Proceedings) Regulations, 2018”.

The other members of the panel include:

Former law secretary in Ministry of Law & Justice: PK Malhotra

Ex-Chairman of Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP: PR Ramesh

Advocate, Partner, Raval & Raval Associates: DN Raval

 

2. UCO Bank chief A K Goel elected as Chairman of IBA: A K Goel, managing director and chief executive (MD & CEO) of UCO Bank has been elected as the chairman of Indian Bank’s Association (IBA) for 2021-22. He has replaced Rajkiran Rai G, MD & CEO, Union Bank of India. IBA is a representative body of management of banking in India operating in India and is headquartered in Mumbai.

Note: Indian Bank’s Association Headquarters location: Mumbai; Indian Bank’s Association Founded: 26 September 1946.

 

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

 

1. BPCL launches automated fuelling technology UFill: The Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) has launched an automated fuelling technology called “UFill”, to provide a swift, secure and smart experience to its customers at outlets by providing them with control of fuelling. The new digital technology obviates the need to look at zero or final reading or any such offline manual interventions, to give complete control to customers over Time, Technology and Transparency in fuelling experience.

What is Ufill: (1) The UFill functionality can be used with any payment app like GPay, PayTM, PhonePe etc as well as offers real-time QR and voucher codes through SMS.

(2) Additional if customers make payment in advance, and the amount paid in advance is partially used, the balance amount is immediately refunded to the bank account of the customer.

(3) The UFill technology has been launched in 65 cities across India and will soon be launched in the rest part of the country.

Note: CMD of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd: Arun Kumar Singh; Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd Headquarters: Mumbai; Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd Founded: 1952.

 

2. Airtel, Ericsson conducts India’s first rural 5G trial: Bharti Airtel and Ericsson conducted India’s first 5G network trial in a rural location in the first week on October 2021. The trial run was done in Bhaipur Bramanan village on the outskirts of Delhi-NCR using 5G trial spectrum allocated to Airtel.

 

AWARDS AND HONOURS

 

1. Microsoft team wins 2021 C.K. Prahalad Award: Indian American Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella has won the prestigious C K Prahlad award for Global Business Sustainability Leadership for the year 2021, along with three other top leaders of Microsoft. The four top Microsoft leaders have received the Award for their collaborative leadership to transform Microsoft into a carbon negative company by 2030 and remove all its historical emissions by 2050.

Apart from Nadella, Microsoft’s President and Vice-Chair Brad Smith, Chief financial officer Amy Hood and chief environment officer Lucas Joppa have shared the award for Global Business Sustainability Leadership.

About C K Prahlad Award: The award was created in 2010 by the Corporate Eco Forum (CEF) in honour of its founding Advisory Board member C.K. Prahalad. The award recognizes winners for exemplifying the fundamental connection between sustainability, innovation and long-term business success in a globalizing world.