• Indian military contingent comprising of an all arms combined force of 200 personnel is participating in an Exercise titled as ‘Peaceful Mission 2021’.
• It is a Joint Counter Terrorism Exercise between Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states.
• It is being hosted by Russia in Orenburg Region of South-West Russia from September 13 to 25, 2021.
• 2021 is the 6th edition of biennial multilateral Exercise.

• International Day for the Preservation for Ozone layer (World Ozone Day) is observed every year on September 16 to spread awareness about the depletion of the Ozone Layer and search for solutions to preserve it.
• Theme for 2021 World Ozone Day: Montreal Protocol – keeping us, our food and vaccines cool.
• UN General Assembly proclaimed this day in 1994 commemorating the date of the signing, in 1987, of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.

• NITI Aayog, with RMI and RMI India has launched ‘Shoonya Campaign’ to promote zero-pollution delivery vehicles by working with consumers and industry.
• Aim: To accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles in urban deliveries segment and create consumer awareness about zero-pollution delivery.
• As part of campaign, corporate branding and certification programme is being launched to recognize and promote the industry’s efforts towards transitioning to EVs for final-mile deliveries.

• Union Minister, Nitin Gadkari has launched an Artificial Intelligence-powered project, titled as ‘iRASTE’ to help reduce road accidents, understand the factors responsible for these events and come up with solutions to mitigate them.
• iRASTE: Intelligent Solutions for Road Safety through Technology and Engineering.
• The project is launched jointly by Centre, Intel, INAI, IIIT-Hyderabad, CSIR-CRRI, Mahindra & Mahindra and Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC).

• United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has projected India’s economic growth rate as 7.2% for calendar year 2021 in its Trade and Development report.
• India’s economic growth rate for the calendar year 2022 is projected to be 6.7%, while India’s economy shrank by 7% in Calendar Year 2020.
• UNCTAD expects the global economy to recovery in 2021, growing at 5.3%.
• UNCTAD also expects South-Asia region to expand by 5.8% in 2021.

• India is set to host first-ever Global Buddhist Conference in Nava Nalanda Mahavihara campus, in Nalanda, Bihar on November 19 and 20, 2021.
• It is being organized by Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR).
• It focuses on making India the centre of Buddhism, by promoting Buddhist activities.
• Theme: Buddhism in Literature.
• Conference will be conducted at Dharamsala, Gangtok, Sarnath, and Telangana in India and overseas in Cambodia, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand.

• South Korea has successfully tested indigenously developed submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM).
• South Korea is the first country without nuclear weapons to develop SLCM missile system.
• With this, South Korea joins only a handful of countries to have successfully developed SLBM.
• Other countries that have tested or developed SLBMs: United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, North Korea, and India, which have typically designed them to carry nuclear weapons.

• Tata Steel has commissioned India’s first carbon capture plant that extracts CO2 directly from the blast furnace gas, at its Jamshedpur Centre.
• With this, Tata Steel has become the country’s first steel company to adopt such a carbon capture technology.
• It can capture 5 tonnes of CO2 per day (5-tonne per day (TPD)).
• The company will reuse the captured CO2 on-site to promote a circular carbon economy.
• CEO & MD of Tata Steel: T. V. Narendran.

• Sri Lankan fast bowler Lasith Malinga (38 years) has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket.
• Prior to this announcement, he took retirement from Test cricket in 2011 and then from the ODIs in 2019.
• He played 30 Tests, 226 ODIs and 84 T20Is for Sri Lanka in which he took a total of 546 wickets (101 in Tests, 338 in ODIs and 107 in T20Is) across all formats.
• Malinga holds the record for most hat-tricks in international cricket.

• National Mineral Development under Ministry of Steel has won highest and most prestigious award, Rajbhasha Keerthi Puraskar during Rajbhasha Diwas Samaroh in New Delhi.
• Award was received by Shiva Shanmuganathan, Executive Director (Corporate Affairs) on behalf of NMDC.
• NMDC has been winning this award for the last 3 years in a row, which goes on to show its dedication towards the implementation of Hindi as the Official Language.

Download Daily GK PDF of 16 September 2021