Daily GK Update: 16th October 2021

Honours & Awards

Satya Nadella (CEO Microsoft), along with three other top leaders of Microsoft awarded the prestigious 2021 C K Prahlad award for Global Business Sustainability Leadership.
Three other Microsoft leaders are Brad Smith (President), Amy Hood (CFO) and Lucas Joppa.
They were awarded for their collaborative leadership aimed at transforming Microsoft into a carbon negative company by 2030.
The award was created in 2010 by the Corporate Eco Forum (CEF).

Important Dates

World Food Day is celebrated all over the world on October 16.
It is an initiative by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.
This year, the World Food Day commemorations was jointly led by the FAO, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the World Food Programme (WFP).
The theme this year is “Our actions are our future. Better production, better nutrition, better environment and a better life”.
World Food Day was Estd in Nov 1979.

National & International Appointments

A K Goel, (MD & CEO) of UCO Bank has been elected as new chairman of Indian Bank's Association for 2021-22.
He succeeds Rajkiran Rai G, MD & CEO, Union Bank of India.
In September 2021, Banks Board Bureau (BBB) had recommended the name of Goel for the forthcoming position of managing director and chief executive at Punjab National Bank (PNB).
Goel has been heading UCO Bank, Kolkata-based public sector lender, since Nov 2018.
Moto UCO bank: Honours your Trust

National Affairs

‘Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Prerana Sthal’ was inaugurated at Naval Science & Technological Laboratory (NSTL), Visakhapatnam.
The NSTL is the premier naval research laboratory of Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO).
Dr Kalam’s Prerana Sthal will motivate the people particularly young minds from Dr Kalam’s life and his impeccable achievements.
A statue of Dr Kalam was also unveiled by Dr Samir V Kamat, Director General (Naval Systems & Materials), DRDO.

Summits & Conferences

The Ministry of Food Processing Industries, under the PM Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises Scheme, organised Food Tech Summit 2021
The Food Tech Summit 2021 aimed at setting the stage for all food-tech stakeholders to impart, discuss and acquaint micro enterprises on the new emerging trends in food processing and technological innovation
PMFME Scheme has been launched under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
Minister Incharge (MoFPI: Pashupati Kumar Paras

Science & Technology

NASA launched Lucy spacecraft, the first space mission to study the Trojans Asteroids.
Lucy will journey for 12 years, observing one main belt asteroid and seven Trojan asteroids.
The swarms of Trojan asteroids associated with Jupiter are thought to be remnants of the primordial material that formed the outer planets.
These primitive bodies hold vital clues to deciphering the history of the solar system.

National Affairs

India has slipped to 101st position in the Global Hunger Index 2021 of 116 countries.
18 countries, including China, Brazil and Kuwait, shared the top rank with GHI score of less than five.
India is behind its neighbours Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal.
GHI was prepared jointly by Irish aid agency Concern Worldwide and German organisation Welt Hunger Hilfe.
The GHI score is calculated on 4 indicators -undernourishment; child wasting; child stunting and child mortality

Banking & Finance

The BPCL has launched an automated fuelling technology -UFill- to ensure better customer experience at outlets.
The tech obviates the need for looking at zero or final reading and such offline manual interventions.
The new automated fuelling technology is secure, fast, and smart.
The new U-Fill outlets have been launched in 65 cities and are likely to be launched soon across the country.
The customers need not download any app to use the U-Fill technology.

Banking & Finance

According to World's Best Employers rankings 2021 published by Forbes, RIL is among the top four Indian companies to work for.
Mukesh Ambani-owned RIL was placed at the 52nd position in the overall ranking of 750 global corporates.
Other Indian companies that made it to the top 100 rankings include ICICI Bank at 65, HDFC Bank at 77 and HCL Technologies at 90.
The top place in the Forbes rankings was occupied by Samsung Electronics followed by IBM, Microsoft and Amazon

Defense

The 17th edition of the Indo-US joint training exercise “Ex Yudh Abhyas 21” commenced at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson in Alaska.
The 14-day exercise includes activities on joint training in a counter-insurgency/counter-terrorism environment.
The Ex YudhAbhyas is the largest running joint military training and defense cooperation endeavour b/w India and US.
The earlier version of this exercise was held in India at Mahajan Field Firing Ranges in Bikaner.