Top Current Affairs 15 October 2021

Top Current Affairs 15 October 2021

Top Current Affairs 15 October 2021: This post contains the current affairs for 15 October 2021 that are important for competitive exams like IBPS PO and Clerk, SBI PO and Clerk, RBI Assistant and Grade B, other Insurance exams. You can also attempt our Current Affairs Quiz after reading our daily current affairs.

National

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.

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’”.

Varanasi To Become India’s first City to Start Ropeway Service in Public Transportation

• 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 cost of the project will be divided between the Centre and the state government at 80:20.

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).

Assam launches app ‘Fishwaale’, India’s first e-fish market

• App named Fishwaale has been launched in Assam and it is India’s first e-fish market.
• The launch was done by Minister for Fisheries, Environment and Forest and Excise, Parimal Suklabaidya.

Banking & Economy

RBI grants small finance bank licence to Unity SFB

• Reserve Bank of India has a granted small finance bank licence to the consortium of Centrum Financial Services Limited (Centrum), and Resilient Innovations Private Limited (BharatPe) named Unity Small Finance Bank.
• The Unity Small Finance Bank will take over the assets and liabilities of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank.
• RBI had given in-principle approval to Centrum Financial Services Limited to set up a small finance bank in June 2021.

Punjab National Bank launches ‘6S Campaign’ under customer outreach programme

• Punjab National Bank has launched ‘6S Campaign’ under the customer outreach programme. The objective of the ‘6S Campaign’ is to extend financial services to its customers at a concessional rate during the festival season.
• The ‘6S Campaign’ encapsulates different schemes such as – Swabhiman, Samruddhi, Sampark and Shikhar, Sankalp and Swagat.
• It is a financial inclusion campaign.

Business

Tata Sons wins bid to acquire Air India for Rs 18,000 crore

• Talace Pvt Ltd the wholly-owned subsidiary of Tata Sons has won the bid to acquire Air India for Rs 18,000 Crore. Tata Sons is the holding company of Tata groups.
• Now Tatas will own:
  • 100% stake in Air India (a full-service airline operating in domestic and international markets),
  • 100% in its subsidiary Air India Express (a low-cost carrier airline that focusses on short-haul international operations especially in the Middle East market) and
  • 50% in the joint venture Air India SATS (airport services on ground and cargo handling)
• It must be noted that Air India was founded by JRD Tata in 1932, but the Jawaharlal Nehru government had taken over 100% stake in Air India from Tata group through nationalisation in 1953 for Rs 2.8 crore.
• The second bid to acquire Air India was for Rs. 15,100 crores by a consortium led by SpiceJet chief Ajay Singh.

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.

Defence Exercise

17th Edition of Indo-US Joint Military Exercise “Ex Yudh Abhyas 2021” organised in Alaska (USA) from Oct 15 to 29

• The 17th edition of the Joint Military Training Exercise “Ex Yudh Abhyas 2021” between the Indian Army and the United States Army, is scheduled to take place from October 15 to 29, 2021 at Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, Alaska in USA.
• The Indian contingent will comprise of 350 personnel of an Infantry Battalion Group.
• The exercise will further enhance understanding, cooperation and inter-operability between the two Armies.
• The previous version of the exercise was held at Mahajan Field Firing Ranges in Bikaner, Rajasthan in February 2021.

Award

Satya Nadella-led 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• C K Prahlad award for Leadership by an Individual Executive : This award has been given to Ecolab Chairman and former CEO, Douglas M. Baker, Jr. for his efforts to educate the business community about corporate responsibility and the business risks of global water scarcity and the need to account for the true value of water in financial decision making.
• 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.

Appointment

Ritesh Chauhan appointed as CEO of PM Fasal Bima Yojana

• Senior bureaucrat Ritesh Chauhan has been appointed as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and Joint Secretary, Agriculture under the Department of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.
• Chauhan will have a combined tenure of seven years up to September 22, 2023.
• He is a 2005-batch IAS officer of the Himachal Pradesh cadre.
• He will succeed Ashish Kumar Bhutani, who was appointed in 2018.

Days

World Students’ Day: 15 October

• World Students’ Day is observed every year on October 15 to mark the birth anniversary of former President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.
• In 2010 the United Nations declared 15 October “World Students’ Day”, due to Kalam’s love for students and who himself was a dedicated teacher and identified himself foremost in that role before anything else.
• 2021 marks 90th birth anniversary of the former president and ‘Missile Man’ Dr APJ Abdul Kalam.

Global Handwashing Day : 15 October

• The Global Handwashing Day (GHD) is observed on 15 October every year.
• It is an international handwashing promotion campaign to motivate and mobilize people around the world to improve their handwashing habits.
• The day was established by the Global Handwashing Partnership (GHP) (formerly called “Public Private Partnership for Handwashing” (PPPHW)) in 2008
• Theme of GHD 2021 is “Our Future Is at Hand – Let’s Move Forward Together”..

International Day of Rural Women: 15 October

• The International Day of Rural Women is observed on October 15 each year.
• The United Nations General Assembly established the day on 18 December 2007 and was observed for the first time in 2008.
• 2021 theme:  “Rural Women Cultivating Good Food for All”
• The day recognizes the crucial role of women and girls in ensuring the sustainability of rural households and communities, improving rural livelihoods and overall well-being.
• In India, the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare observes the day as the Rashtriya Mahila Kisan Diwas since 2016, to increase the active participation of women in agriculture.