Current Affairs Quiz - October, 2021

Notes:
Anshu Malik created history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to reach the final of the wrestling World Championships.
The 19-year-old wrestler is the reigning Asian champion. Only four Indian women wrestlers have won medals at the Worlds- Geeta Phogat (2012), Babita Phogat (2012), Pooja Dhanda (2018) and Vinesh Phogat (2019) and all of them have clinched bronze. Anshu has the chance of becoming only the second Indian wrestler to become a world champion, after Sushil Kumar (2010).

Notes:
Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries, topped the rich list for the 14th year in a row, as per Forbes Rich List, with a total wealth of $92 billion,
He has added $4 billion to his net worth in the year 2021. Gautam Adani, with a wealth of $74.8 billion, is the second richest in India with only $17.9 billion short of Ambani. Shiv Nadar of HCL was number three in the list with a wealth of $31 billion. Radhakrishnan Damani, founder of Avenues Super-mart, and Cyrus Poonawalla, Chairman of Serum Institute, were placed fourth and fifth.

Notes:
October 9th of every year is observed in India as the Indian Foreign Services Day (IFS Day). It was on this date in 1946, the Indian Foreign Service was established for the purpose of India’s diplomatic and commercial representation in overseas nations.
This day is being observed since 2011 to recognize the important role played by IFS officers.

Notes:
From the images captured by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, a team of astronomers led by Timothy Hamilton have discovered an unusual gravitational lensing configuration.
Named as ‘Hamilton’s Object,’ it consists of two images of a spiral background galaxy in a fold configuration and a third resolved image of the same spiral galaxy. Together, they create a tangential point configuration.

 

Notes:
Darwin’s ground sloth (Mylodon darwinii), lived in South America between 1.8 million years and 12,000 years ago.
Though the six living sloth species are relatively small and herbivorous tree-dwellers, some species roamed from Alaska to South America. As per findings of a recent study, the extinct species was between 3 and 4 m long and weighed between 1 and 2 tons. The study also contradicts that all sloths were necessarily herbivores.

 

Notes:
Under the Italy’s G20 Presidency, an Extraordinary Leaders’ Summit has been convened, to discuss the situation in Afghanistan. The meeting would be held in a virtual format.
India has been invited by Italy, to take part in the meeting for discussing the humanitarian needs in Afghan and to review the livelihood requirement in the country.

Notes:
Rajnish Kumar, former chairman of State Bank of India (SBI), has joined the board of Fintech firm BharatPe as its Chairman.
Rajnish Kumar earlier retired from the country’s largest lender SBI after four decades of service, in October 2020. He was previously appointed as a non-executive director for the Asia Unit of HSBC.

 

Notes:
The Central Government has accorded “Maharatna” status to Power Finance Corporation (PFC). PFC is the 11th state-owned entity to get the status, joining the elite group of ONGC, Indian Oil Corporation, SAIL among others.
“Maharatna” status is granted to a company which has recorded more than ₹ 5,000 crore of net profit for three consecutive years, an average annual turnover of ₹ 25,000 crore for three years or should have an average annual net worth of ₹ 15,000 crore for three years.

Notes:
Former bureaucrat Amit Khare, who retired recently as higher education secretary, has been appointed as advisor to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He has been appointed for two years on contract basis, as per a personnel ministry order issued. Mr Khare is a 1985 batch (retired) IAS officer of Jharkhand cadre.  The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment in the rank and scale of secretary to government of India.

Notes:
As per the International Monetary Fund’s ‘Fiscal Monitor’ Report, the global debt has jumped to a new high of USD 226 trillion. Advanced economies and China contributed more than 90 per cent to the accumulation of world-wide debt in 2020.
India’s debt increased from 68.9 per cent of its GDP in 2016 to 89.6 per cent in 2020. It is projected to jump to 90.6 per cent in 2021. The debt of governments, households and non-financial corporations added up to USD 226 trillion in 2020.This is the highest increase on record.