Daily GK Update: 19th September 2023

National Affairs

The famed Hoysala temples in Karnataka have been added to the UNESCO World Heritage list.
This inclusion marks the 42nd UNESCO World Heritage Site in India.
The sacred ensembles of the Hoysalas, constructed during the 12th and 13th centuries are represented here by the three components of Belur, Halebid, and Somnathapura.
All these three Hoysala temples are already protected monuments of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

Sports

Indian shooter Elavenil Valarivan has won the gold medal in the women’s 10-metre air rifle event at the ISSF World Cup 2023 in Brazil.
She defeated France’s Oceanne Muller.
This was Elavenil Valarivan’s second individual ISSF World Cup medal.
The third position was grabbed by China’s Jiale Zhang, scoring 229 points.
At the ISSF World Cups staged so far in 2023, Indian shooters have won a total of 23 medals – seven gold, four silver, and 12 bronze.

National & International Appointments

Nihar Malaviya, an Indian-origin publishing executive, has been appointed as permanent CEO of New York-based international publishing group Penguin Random House.
He had replaced Markus Dohle, who departed after Penguin Random House's failed bid for Simon & Schuster 2022
He has served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Penguin Random House US since 2014.
He spearheaded the creation of a variety of industry-first capabilities in data science and supply chain

National Affairs

The 10th meeting of the India-Malaysia Joint Sub-Committee on Defence Science, Technology and Industry Cooperation was held in New Delhi.
During the meeting, the existing defence cooperation between the two countries was reviewed and wide-ranging discussions were held on issues of mutual interest.
Both sides explored effective and practical initiatives to further expand the bilateral defence engagements.

National & International Appointments

Digital Infrastructure Providers Association (DIPA) has appointed Dhananjay Joshi as its new Chairman and Sandeep Girotra as Vice-Chairman.
He currently serves as the Managing Director and CEO of Summit Digitel, and has previously held the position of COO at Bharti Infratel. He will be succeeding Akhil Gupta, Chairman of Bharti Enterprises.
Sandeep Girotra, currently serves as the current CEO of American Tower India

Sports

MotoGP Bharat is set to host the IndianOil Grand Prix of India at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida.
It is the first time Moto E (electric race) is organizing a Grand Prix outside Europe and MotoGP Bharat will raise the curtains for Asia region.
It is scheduled to take place at the Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida from 22 to 24 September.
MotoGP Bharat announced IndianOil as its title sponsor for the top-tier international Bike riders event.

Honours & Awards

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade has announced the issuance of the Geographical Indication tag to "Atreyapuram Pootharekulu."
It is a sweet made of rice and jaggery
The production of the sweet is confined only to the Atreyapuram village on the banks of the Godavari in Andhra Pradesh.
The tag was allotted after Sir Arthur Cotton Pootharekula Sahakara Sangham, a cooperative society, applied to secure a GI tag for the Pootharekulu sweet.

Agreement

India and Russia agreed to train Indian seafarers in polar and arctic waters in this far-eastern Russian port
Aim: To widen maritime cooperation including the possibility of usage of new transport corridors like the Northern Sea Route as well as the Eastern Maritime Corridor.
The two sides also agreed to train Indian seafarers in Polar and Arctic waters at the Russian Maritime Training Institute, named after GI Admiral Nevelsky.

Defense

The 2nd Edition of the Indian Navy’s Naval Innovation and Indigenisation Seminar – ‘Swavlamban 2023’ is scheduled to be conducted on 04 – 05 Oct 2023.
In the maiden edition, PM launched the 75 challenges for the start-ups/ MSMEs as a part of the 'SPRINT' initiative.
Aim: To give a boost to the usage of indigenous technology in the Indian Navy, and the Navy is committed to developing at least 75 technologies/ products as part of the 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav'.

Banking & Finance

Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) has signed a MoU with Bank of Maharashtra to provide a robust financial ecosystem for Green Energy projects.
Aim: To promote and facilitate co-lending and loan syndication for a diverse spectrum of Renewable Energy projects across the nation.
Under this agreement, Bank of Maharashtra can invest in the Bonds issued by IREDA in accordance with the specified terms and conditions of the offering.

Agreement

United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay have signed a MoU for contributing towards improving food security, nutrition, climate resilience, and livelihoods.
Objective: To focus on ecosystem development for technology and innovations to bolster government food safety net programs.
It will involve identifying and analyzing relevant data, research, and evidence generation related to food and nutrition security.

Important Dates

International Talk Like a Pirate Day is a day for everyone to talk like a pirate, and it was thought up by John Baur and Mark Summers of Albany, Oregon.
They were playing racquetball on June 6, 1995, when they began to talk like pirates.
It is a day when everyone should talk exclusively in Pirate lingo, whether you're talking to your friends or ordering a coffee, keep the piratical language alive