current affairs 17 february 2022

Dabur becomes 1st Indian plastic waste neutral FMCG company in India.

• Dabur India has become the first Indian consumer goods company to become completely plastic waste neutral.
• It has done this by collecting, processing and recycling around 27,000 metric tonnes of post-consumer plastic waste during FY21-22.
• Dabur has achieved the landmark of surpassing its plastic packaging usage with recycling.
• Dabur has also announced the launch of a new Save the Environment campaign in Himachal Pradesh to create awareness within communities on managing plastic waste within their households.

India ranks 3rd globally in LEED Certified Green Buildings outside US in 2021.

• India has been ranked 3rd in the world in the US Green Building Council’s annual list of top 10 nations and areas outside of the United States for LEED-certified green buildings in 2021.
• Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is the most widely used green building rating system in the world, and provides a framework for healthy, highly efficient, and cost-saving green buildings.
• In 2021, India had 146 LEED-certified buildings and spaces.
• This is nearly 2.8 million gross area square meters (GSM) of space, marking an increase of around 10% in LEED-certified space from 2020.
• China has topped the list with LEED-certified space of more than 14 million GSM.
• Canada is at second position having more than 3.2 million GSM.
• Though the United States is not included in the list but remains the world’s largest market for LEED with more than 26 million GSM certified during the year.

ICICI Bank’s Sandeep Bakhshi named Business Standard Banker of the Year 2020-21.

• Sandeep Bakshi has been named Business Standard Banker of the Year 2020-21.
• He is the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ICICI Bank.
• The winner was selected by a 5-member jury headed by SS Mundra, former deputy governor of the Reserve Bank of India.
• For 2020-21, ICICI Bank reported a net profit of Rs 16,193 crore as against Rs 7,931 crore during the previous financial year.

Israel becomes first-ever country to allow drones in civilian airspace.

• Israel has become the first country in the world to allow unmanned aircraft vehicles (UAVs/Drones) to operate in civilian airspace.
• This means that the drones in Israel will be allowed to fly in civilian airspace, just like any other civilian airliner, rather than being restricted to unsegregated airspace.
• Hermes Starliner drone will fly in civilian airspace for the benefit of agriculture, environment, fight against crime, the people and the economy.

Vedanta forms joint venture with Foxconn to manufacture semiconductors in India.

• Indian mining major Vedanta has signed an MoU with Taiwanese electronics manufacturing company Hon Hai Technology Group (popularly known as Foxconn) to form a joint venture (JV) to manufacture semiconductors in India.
• This is the first joint venture in electronics manufacturing after the government announced a Rs 76,000 crore Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for semiconductor and display manufacturing to create an ecosystem of local semiconductor production in India.
• Vedanta will be majority shareholder in the JV while Foxconn will hold minority share.
• Anil Agarwal, the non-executive Chairman of Vedanta, will be the Chairman of the JV company.