current affairs 21 May 2022

India overtakes Germany to become 4th largest vehicle market.

• India has overtaken Germany to become the fourth largest automobile market.
• This report has been released by the Organization Internationale des Constructors d'Automobiles (OICA).
• China has been placed at 1st position in the terms of the largest vehicle market in the World.
• Followed by the US and Japan are at the 2nd and 3rd place.
• India sold 3,759,398 vehicles in 2021 as compared to 2,973,319 vehicles in Germany.

Ajay Piramal conferred with "Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)" award.

• Ajay Piramal, Chairman of the Piramal Group, has received an honorary Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) award from Queen Elizabeth II.
• He received the award for his services to the UK-India trade relationship as the Indian Co-Chair of the UK-India CEO Forum.
• Piramal had contributed to the Joint Economic and Trade Committee (JETCO) meeting in London in 2019, the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2018, and the visit of the UK Prime Minister to India in 2016.
• The Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) is awarded for having a prominent role at national level.

Tamil Nadu's Nanjarayan Tank Declared 17th Bird Sanctuary of the State.

• The Nanjarayan Tank, a bio-diversity hotspot, has just been announced as the 17th bird sanctuary of Tamil Nadu.
• The Nanjarayan Tank also known as Sarkar Periyapalayam Reservoir, is located on the outskirts of Tirupur city near Koolipalayam, about 60 kilometres from Coimbatore.
• The tank, built by the then local King Nanjarayan as a source for irrigation, is a haven for migratory birds.

Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel inaugurates "Vadnagar International Conference".

• Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel inaugurated the Vadnagar International Conference at Mahatma Mandir in Gandhinagar on the occasion of World Museum Day.
• The 3 day conference has been organized jointly by the Ministry of Sports, Youth and Culture of the Government of Gujarat and the Union Ministry of Culture.
• UNESCO representative from Bhutan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka Eric Falt was present on this occasion.
• The archaeologists, historians, students from different universities and history and archaeology enthusiasts from 6 different countries are also attending the event.
• Vadnagar was one of the shining cities of Aryan civilization and has not lost its essence even after trials and tribulations of time.

India's 1st indigenously developed naval anti-ship missile test conducted by DRDO with the help of Seaking 42B helicopter.

• The Indian Navy, in association with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), successfully conducted the maiden flight test of the first indigenously developed anti-ship missile launched from Seaking 42B helicopter.
• The test was conducted at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Odisha's Balasore.
• The missile followed the desired sea-skimming trajectory and reached the designated target with a high degree of accuracy, validating the control, guidance and mission algorithms.
• The test-firing of this missile comes a month after an anti-ship version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile was successfully test-fired.