GK Snapshots on 17 May 2021 

International Day of Families 2021 – 15 May

The International Day of Families is annually observed across the globe on 15th May to promote the awareness of the issues related to families and to educate the social, economic and demographic processes affecting families.

The theme of International Day of Families 2021 is “Families and New Technologies”.

The theme focuses on the impacts of the new technologies on the well-being of families.

Y Nuklu Phom Became the only Indian to win Whitley Award 2021 for “Biodiversity Peace Corridor”

Y Nuklu Phom, a church worker from Nagaland, won the Whitley Award 2021 for his efforts toward creating “Biodiversity Peace Corridor”, a network of community-owned forests in Nagaland and protecting the Amur Falcon. He is the only Indian to win the prestigious award.

• Biodiversity Peace Corridor is an extension of the “Yaongyimchen Community Biodiversity Area”, a ten-sq-km area in Yaongyimchen, Phom’s ancestral village in Longleng district, where he set up a community-based conservation model.

• The award to Y Nuklu Phom was donated by the MAVA Foundation.

• The Whitley Award is also known as the ‘Green Oscar’.

Biodiversity Peace Corridor:

i.The biodiversity peace corridor incorporates 16 villages across 4 districts of Nagaland.

ii.The team ensures that the area supports both biodiversity and livelihood by adopting the sustainable and non-extractive land-use practices.

Fortune’s List of World’s 50 Greatest Leaders:NZ PM, Jacinda Ardern tops; Adar Poonawalla in Top 10

Fortune Magazine released its ‘World’s 50 Greatest Leaders’ list for 2021 which is topped by New Zealand(NZ) Prime Minister(PM) Jacinda Ardern.Serum Institute of India’s CEO Adar Poonawalla is on the 10th spot and he is the only Indian among the top 10 names on the list.
 

Gunjan Shah – Appointed as New CEO of Bata India Ltd

India’s largest footwear retailer Bata India Ltd., appointed Gunjan Shah as its new chief executive officer(CEO).He will succeed Sandeep Kataria who was elevated as the global CEO of Bata Brand.
 

i.He has been appointed as a whole-time director of Bata for a period of five years with effect from June 21, 2021.
ii.He will take over the new position in June and will be based in Gurugram,Haryana.
iii.Before this Gunjan Shah has been working as chief commercial officer in Britannia Industries Ltd.
iv.He has also worked in Asian Paints and Motorola.

Google partners with SpaceX to provide Starlink Internet Service

Google Cloud is set to partner with SpaceX to provide Cloud services to help deliver high speed internet through SpaceX’s Starlink satellites.

• As part of the partnership, SpaceX will install Starlink terminals (ground stations) at Google data centres across the world.

• The Starlink Terminals will help in delivering high-speed broadband internet through Google Cloud.

• The service will be available to enterprise customers before the end of 2021.

SpaceX’s Starlink

• It is an initiative by SpaceX to provide Satellite Internet access.

• It removes the necessity of the need for cell towers, customers’ devices will communicate to satellites, which will link up to Google data centers.

‘Defence National OPD’ Launched on e-Sanjeevani Portal

 ‘Defence National OPD’ was launched in e-Sanjeevani Portal. Earlier, ‘Defence National OPD’ was launched as ‘Ex-Defence OPD’ on 07 May 2021 in a phased manner in 3 States(Uttar Pradesh ,Rajasthan ,Uttarakhand).

• Objective-It facilitates free online medical consultation to all citizens of India, as well as provides for online prescription of medicines.

Working of ‘Defence National OPD’:

Through the ‘Defence National OPD’ in e-Sanjeevani Portal, veteran defence doctors will answer the queries of the citizen & will provide free online consultation services.

Zhurong : China’s 1st Mars Rover Lands on the Utopia Planitia, Mars

The Chinese Spacecraft Tianwen 1 carrying rover Zhurong landed on Utopia Planitia region, Mars successfully.This makes China only the second country after the US to send a rover to the surface of the Red Planet.

Key points:

i.Tianwen 1was launched in July 2020 on a Long March 5 rocket and it has been orbiting Mars for three months now.

ii.The lander that carried the Zhurong rover touched down the Martian surface successfully and it landed in the Utopia Planitia region.

iii.However, when the lander entered the Martian atmosphere, the spacecraft endured “Seven Minutes of Terror” as that of the Mars Perseverance rover of NASA.

iv.The EDL phase, called the Entry Descent Landing, is called the “Seven Minutes Terror” phase. The phase happens faster than the time taken by the radio signals to reach the Earth from Mars.

v.The rover, which weighs 240 kilograms, can last three Martian months, about 92 days on Earth.

New Shepard: Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin Sets 1st Space Tourism Flight in July 2021

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s rocket company, Blue Origin, announced the first flight that aboard its New Shepard rocket, and crew capsule which is designed to carry up to 6 tourists per flight, beyond an invisible line, known as the Karman line, which separates Earth from space.

• The first flight is scheduled to take place in July 20,2021 and one seat was auctioned off to the highest bidder.

Five Deeps Expedition measures Extreme Depths of World’s 5 Oceans

The Five Deeps Expedition has measured the extreme depths of the World’s 5 Oceans – Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic & Southern ocean (also known as Antarctic ocean).

• The Challenger Deep (10, 924 m) in Mariana Trench in Pacific Ocean remains the Deepest Trench in the world.

• The 2nd Deepest Trench in the world is the Horizon Deep (10, 816 m) in the Tonga Trench, Pacific Ocean.

Ocean & Deepest Points

• Atlantic Ocean – Brownson Deep (8, 378 m) in Puerto Rico Trench

• Southern Ocean (Antarctic ocean) – Factorian Deep (7, 432 m) in South Sandwich Trench

• Indian Ocean – Unnamed Deep (7, 187 m) in Java Trench

• Pacific Ocean – Challenger Deep (10, 924 m) in Mariana Trench (deepest trench in the world).

• Arctic Ocean – Molloy Hole (5, 551 m)

US to help India to achieve its Target of 450 GW of RE by 2030

The United States (US) is set to partner with India on climate change, it will assist India to achieve its target of deploying 450 GigaWatts (GW) of Renewable Energy (RE) by 2030.

• It was stated by US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry.

• The US will provide finance and technological assistance to India to meet its target.

• John Kerry is the 1st American climate change envoy with cabinet rank.

• India is the 3rd CO2 emitter after China, USA.

According to a recent report by the International Energy Agency (IEA), India’s CO2 emission declined by 7% (or 160 Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide) in 2020.

Verisk Maplecroft Report-India has 43 of the World’s 100 Most Environmentally Riskiest cities; Jakarta Topped

According to the ‘Environmental Risk Outlook 2021’ released by Verisk Maplecroft, India has 43 of the World’s 100 most environmentally riskiest cities. Jakarta in Indonesia was ranked as the most riskiest city in the world, followed by Delhi & Chennai (Tamil Nadu).

• 99 of the World’s 100 riskiest cities are in Asia (43 in India and 37 in China).

• Lima, Peru is the only non-Asian city to be listed in the World’s 100 Riskiest cities.

• Glasgow, Scotland was ranked as the safety city in the report.

World’s 3 most environmentally riskiest cities

Malerkotla becomes 23rd District of Punjab

Amarinder Singh Chief Minister of Punjab announced Malerkotla as the 23rd district of Punjab. The district was created by carving the only Muslim majority town from Sangrur district.

• The formation of the new district was announced during the state level event on Eid-ul-Fitr.

• The district Malerkotla includes the subdivisions of Malerkotla and Ahmedgarh and the sub-tehsil of Amargarh.

History of Malerkotla :

i.Malerkotla was established by Sheikh Sadruddin-i-Jahan from Afghanistan in 1454 and later the State of Malerkotla was established in 1657 by Bayazid Khan.

ii.It was later merged with the neighbouring princely states to create Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU).

iii.During the 1956 reorganisation the territories of the State of Malerkotla became part of Punjab.

News Detail