Important days:
1. May 22- International
Bio-diversity Day is observed every year to
increase understanding and awareness of biodiversity issues. The theme of 2018 is ‘Celebrating 25 Years
of Action for Biodiversity’. It marks 25th anniversary of entry into force
of Convention on Biological Diversity (at United Nations Environment
Progamme Headquarters, Nairobi on 22 May 1992).
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National:
1. The state government of Assam decided to provide pension to 16
lakh senior citizens of the state who are 60 years and above. The pensioners would get 250 rupees per month which would be
transferred online. Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has directed the
Panchayat and Rural Development department to take necessary step in this
direction in a bid to empower the senior citizens.
2. Chatra Parivahan Suraksha
Yojana is a scheme for safety of girls was launched
by the state of Haryana. The main objective of the scheme is to ensure that the
girls feel secure at public places, workplaces and while traveling. Under
the scheme, all the girl students will get free travel facility from their home
to their educational institutions.
3. India received first
consignment of 2 million barrels of crude oil from United Arab Emirates (UAE)
for its strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) at Mangaluru (on West Coast),
Karnataka. Under agreement between Indian
Strategic Petroleum Reserves Ltd (ISPRL) and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company
(ADNOC) this first consignment from UAE fill one of two strategic reserve
caverns at Mangaluru.
4. Under UDAN scheme the
first commercial flight (42-seater ATR aircraft of the Alliance Airlines) of
Arunachal Pradesh landed at Pasighat airport or Advance Landing Ground (ALG) in
East Siang district. Alliance Air, a subsidiary of
Air India, will operate flight services on Kolkata-Guwahati-Pasighat route
thrice a week – on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
5. A new software called
Nidaan for disease monitoring and strengthening tele-medicine services in the
government hospitals was launched by the government of Rajasthan. Nidaan Softwarre will facilitate online entries for monitoring
of as many as 46 diseases and healthcare services available for their treatment
in different institutions. The software will help for providing presumptive
diagnosis and monitoring of seasonal and non-communicable diseases as well as
trends of ailments found in specific areas.
6. An ordinance to set up the
country’s first national sports university in in Imphal (west), Manipur was
approved by the Union Cabinet. The
specialised university will be the first of its kind in the country and adopt
best international practices. Manipur government has already allocated land for
the proposed university.
7. A Draft Passenger Charter
defining rights for air passengers has been notified by the Union Ministry of
Civil Aviation. It aims to improve hassle-free
air travel experience of air passengers in the country. The salient features of
draft Passenger can cancel air ticket within 24 hours of booking it and if
provided travel is to take place after 96 hours, then passenger will be able to
cancel ticket without any charge. The cancellation charges will be not more
than sum of basic fare and fuel surcharge. Passenger must be informed about
flight cancellation between two weeks and 24 hours before flight, etc.
8. The worsening air quality
in last two decades has emerged as one of major reasons for high numbers of
premature deaths in India according to recent research conducted by Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT)-Delhi in collaboration with environmental NGO
Centre for Environment and Energy Development (CEED). The study was conducted 11 north Indian cities i.e. seven in
Uttar Pradesh (Allahabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut, Varanasi and Gorakhpur),
three in Bihar (Patna, Muzaffarpur and Gaya) and one in Jharkhand (Ranchi).
9. The draft Model
Agriculture Produce and Livestock Contract Farming and Services (Promotion
& Facilitation) Act, 2018 was unveiled by the Union Ministry of Agriculture
and Famers Welfare. The draft Model Act seeks to
create regulatory and policy framework for contract farming and servives. It
not only covers contract farming in agriculture crops but also in livestock,
dairy and poultry products. It is aimed at reducing farmers’ risks by creating
assured market for their produce at pre-agreed price, while encouraging
investment from agribusiness and food processing industries by enhancing productivity
and cost efficiency.
10. Model Code of Conduct
Violation Reporting App - multi-lingual mobile application was launched by the Election
Commission of India (ECI) ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Through this mobile app, ECI intends to encourage larger public
participation in checking corrupt practices in elections and ensure free and
fair election process. The app will be launched across the country as part of
steps taken by ECI to prevent abuse of money and muscle power.
11. India ranked 145th among
195 countries in terms of Healthcare access and quality (HAQ) index in the year
2016. The index was released as part of Global
Burden of Disease study released by Lancet, one of the world’s oldest and best
known peer-reviewed general medical journal. The study used index to measure
quality and accessibility of healthcare, based on 32 causes of death which
should be preventable with effective medical care. Each of 195 countries and
territories assessed were given score between 0 (lowest)-100 (highest). Top
five countries with highest levels of healthcare access and quality in 2016 are
Iceland (rank-1st, score-97.1 points), Norway (2nd, 96.6), Netherlands (3rd,
96.1), Luxembourg (4th, 96.0), and Finland and Australia (5th, each with 95.9).
12. Various measures to
simplify Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) was approved by the Defence
Acquisition Council (DAC) chaired by Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
These measures will be incorporated in DPP-16, the manual
governing defence procurement procedure. These amendments form part of ongoing
Business Process Re-engineering in Defence Capital procurements of armed
forces.
13. 'My MP Rojgar Portal' has
launched by the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Shivraj Singh Chouhan to
provide jobs to youths as per their educational qualification, skills and
interest and ensure availability of able candidates to employers as per the
need of their business.
The portal was launched as a part of the 'Ham Chhu Lenge Asman'
Mukhyamantri Career Counselling programme ‘Pahal' in Model School of Bhopal.
14. NCRB Chief Ish Kumar on
May 21, 2018 announced that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is
in the process of creating a national registry of crimes against women at a
seminar organised by the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) in
New Delhi. The records will be sourced
from the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS).
15. The 'National Convention
on Rejuvenation of the Krishna River' organised by the Indian Water Council
(IWC) was held on May 22, 2018 in Hyderabad, Telangana. The convention was IWC's first event which saw the participation
of over 300 delegates of government organisations including Rajendra Singh, the
'Waterman of India'.
16. LED Solar Street Lighting
system for Arunachal Pradesh has sanctioned by National Bank for Agriculture
and Rural Development under its Rural Infrastructure Development Fund with a
grant of Rs 87.83 lakh. It would be implemented
in 4 districts of the state Tirap, Longding, Namsai & Tawang.
17. The introduction of National
Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) textbooks in the Madrasa
Board was approved by the Uttar Pradesh cabinet. NCERT books in Urdu, Hindi
and English languages will be introduced to give students a better training and
enhanced skill set in madrasas.
18. The implementation of
Comprehensive Telecom Development Plan (CTDP) Project for North Eastern Region
(NER) in Meghalaya to improve mobile services was approved by the Union
Cabinet. It will be funded by Universal Service
Obligation Fund (USOF). Cabinet also approved enhanced cost of CTDP Project for
NER for amount of Rs 8,120.81 crore. CTDP aims to strengthening of telecom
network that will result in increase in penetration of mobile connectivity in
Meghalaya.It will provide affordable and equitable access of communication,
information and governance to people. The project has provision of 2G and 4G
mobile coverage in identified uncovered areas of Meghalaya and seamless mobile
coverage along National Highways in state.
19. The proposal of setting up
4,072 mobile towers to improve telecom connectivity network in Left Wing
Extremism (LWE) Areas was approved by the Union Cabinet which was recommended
by Ministry of Home Affairs’ (MHA’s). These states
are Jharkhand (1,054 towers will be installed), Chhattisgarh (1,028), Odisha
(483), Andhra Pradesh (429), Bihar (412), West Bengal (207), Uttar Pradesh
(179), Maharashtra (136), Telangana (118) and Madhya Pradesh (26). This network
would be used by security personnel deployed in LWE affected areas. The project
will also provide mobile services to help residents in unconnected inhabited
villages which will improve economic activities in region.
20. To bridge the gap between
theoretical and practical learning the Indian Railways will spend around Rs 350
crore to train 1.5 lakh drivers and assistant drivers through virtual reality
techniques. The training will be conducted
in 47 centres across zones and the national transporter will soon float a
global tender to acquire about 40 simulators for the purpose.
21. VIKALP scheme for
passengers in wait-listing to provide berth in another train has been
introduced by Indian Railways Catering and Tourism Corporation. Under the scheme, passengers from all classes & trains
would be able to select 5 trains. However, the scheme does not guarantee a
confirmed berth. The passengers would also need to be prepared, as they
could be shifted to another train leaving even 12 hours prior to the booked one.
22. The Odisha government has
decided to introduce a special mobile application to provide advance
information on lightning which has claimed at least 61 lives between April and
May 2018. The aim of the initiative is
to reduce death toll due to lightning. The mobile application will be
developed to alert smart phone users if they are in a lightning zone. The
people using smart phone will get information regarding possible lightning in
their areas at least one hour ahead of the calamity.
International:
1. The first ever Shanghai
Cooperation Organisation-Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS) legal
experts meeting in Islamabad was hosted by Pakistan since it became a permanent
member of the organisation along with India in June 2017. The three day meeting saw participation of legal advisors from
eight SCO member states including China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, India, Russia,
Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Pakistan as well as representatives of the SCO-RATS
executive committee.
2. A first-of-its-kind
collaborative research programme on HIV/AIDS has been launched by Governments
of India, Netherlands and Sweden. The
collaborative research programme will focus on accessing relevant populations
of research interest, and leveraging next-generation technologies and advanced
predictive analytics to better understand geographic diversity and different
clades of HIV/AIDS virus.
3. Paraguayan President
Horacio Cartes has inaugurated his country’s embassy in Jerusalem. Paraguay is now the third country to move its embassy to
Jerusalem, following the United States and Guatemala.
4. The United States uninvited
China from one of the world's largest international maritime warfare exercises on
May 23, 2018. The exercise, held in every two years in Hawaii, involves
more than 20 countries from across the world including India, Australia, Japan
and the UK. An official statement from Pentagon read that “China's
behaviour is inconsistent with the principles and purposes of the RIMPAC
exercise and so, it has disinvited the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy from
the 2018 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) Exercise.”
5. Nepal became the first
country in WHO’s South-East Asia Region to eliminate trachoma, world’s leading
infectious cause of blindness. It is an eye
disease caused by infection with bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis. Infection is
particularly common in young children. The eye disease was second leading cause
of preventable blindness in Nepal in 1980s.
Science & Technology /Defence:
1. BrahMos supersonic cruise
missile was successfully test-fired from mobile launcher from Integrated Test
Range (ITR) at Balasore (Chandipur), Odisha to validate
some new features aimed at increasing its life from 10 to 15 years. It has been
named after two rivers Brahmaputra and Moskva (river in western Russia).
2. The state of Chhattisgarh
would soon be getting a specialised anti-Naxal combat force called the ‘Black
Panther’. The force would be set up on the lines of Greyhounds unit,
a special force in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh that is dedicated to
anti-insurgency operations against Naxalites and Maoists.
3. Under Navika Sagar
Parikrama expedition, after circumnavigating around globe in 254 days Indian Navy’s six-member all-women Navy crew
onboard of INSV Tarini vessel reached Panaji, Goa on May 21,2018. The expedition was originally scheduled to return in April 2018
after stopovers at four ports, but it was delayed after steering gear was
damaged and was forced to take fifth, unscheduled stop at Port Louis for
repair. The expedition had started on September 10, 2017 in Goa was aimed at
promoting women empowerment aligned with Government of India’s thrust for ‘Nari
Shakti’. It was first-ever all women Asian and Indian circumnavigation
expedition of globe. Under this expedition, the crew covered 21,600 nautical
miles in Indian-built sailing vessel INSV Tarini that visited five countries
and crossed Equator twice. It sailed across four continents and three oceans
and passed south of the Great Capes – Leeuwin, Horn and Good Hope. The vessel
was skippered by Lieutenant Commander Vartika Joshi, and other crew comprised
of Lieutenant Commanders Pratibha Jamwal, P Swathi, and Lieutenants S Vijaya
Devi, B Aishwarya and Payal Gupta. The expedition was completed in six legs,
with five stopovers at Fremantle (Australia), Lyttleton (New Zealand), Port Stanley
(Falkland Islands), Cape Town (South Africa) and Port Louis (Mauritius).
4. The use of artificial
intelligence to control air circulation, to issue emergency alerts and also for
supervision and maintenance work in a 10.28-km-long tunnel in Imphal was
launched by the Indian railways for the first time. It will also alert the passenger in case of fire and help in
quick evacuation in case of an issue. This system will also be used in
the Hyderabad, Mumbai and Ahmedabad metros.
5. A twin NASA satellites
GRACE-FO (Follow-On) that will track Earth’s water Cycle i.e. water movement
and icemelt have been successfully launch by Space X ( Elon Musk’s). It was
launched onbaord of SpaceX’s preflown Falcon 9 Rocket from Vandenberg Air Force
Base in California, US. GRACE-FO is joint project
between National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and German
Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ). It is follow-on mission to original
GRACE mission, which had mapped Earth’s water and ice by measuring changes in
Earth’s gravity field from 2002 to 2017. GRACE-FO will pick up where GRACE left
off to continue study of rising sea levels, melting of glaciers and polar ice
caps and other changes in distribution of water on Earth. The two GRACE-FO
satellites will orbit together at 490km altitude near-polar orbit, circling
Earth every 90 minutes.
6. An asteroid named Oumuamua
(or (514107) 2015 BZ509) nestling in Jupiter’s orbit that had migrated from
another star system have been discovered by the scientists. The asteroid Oumuamua was actually first discovered in 2014,
but after four years of tracking it, scientists were able to determine that it
had arrived in our solar system some 4.5 billion years ago – just as Earth was
beginning to form. It confirms suspicions of scientists’ that
asteroids from other stars have arrived in our solar system.
7. India is preparing to hold
a naval exercise with the Southeast Asian nation Vietnam. Three Indian warships– INS Sahyadri, INS Shakti & INS
Kamorta entered the Tien Sa Port in Vietnam on May 21. On completion of
the harbour phase, warships from the two naval forces would conduct their first
joint naval exercise.
8. Union Home Minister Rajnath
Singh announced that it is the duty of the Border Security Force (BSF) to
protect the boundary of the nation, but their duty have no boundaries. The Home Minister also announced that the family of
each paramilitary jawan who dies in action will not be given a compensation
less than Rs one crore.
9. SURYA KIRAN-XIII- the joint
military exercise will be conducted between India and Nepal at Pithoragarh,
Uttarakhand from May 30 to June 12, 2018.Exercise SURYA
KIRAN is a biannual exercise which is conducted alternatively in Nepal and
India. Notably, among all the military training exercises undertaken by India
with various countries, it is Exercise SURYA KIRAN with Nepal which is the
largest in terms of troop participation.
Economy:
1.
Pakistan is listed among top three sources for money laundering
in the country in the report released by United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency
(NCA). The other two countries are
Nigeria and Russia. UK is prime destination for foreign corrupt and politically
exposed people (PEPs) to launder money. It has identified trade misinvoicing as
one of the key mechanisms used for such operations. Investment in UK property,
particularly in London, continues to be attractive mechanism to launder funds. The
NCA is non-ministerial UK government law enforcement agency.
2. Multi Commodity Exchange
of India Limited (MCX) - India’s largest commodities exchange platform launched
country’s first copper options contracts. The
copper option contracts were launched with lot size of 1 tonne in three
contracts expiring in June, August and November 2018. The option contract will
provide physical market participants additional instrument to hedge their price
risk.
3. A Statement of Intent
(SoI) to help India leverage power of advanced technologies, including robotics
and artificial intelligence by NITI Aayog and ABB India. NITI Aayog will work with ABB across various sectors of economy,
such as power and water utilities, industries like food, heavy industries and
transport (rail and metro), electric mobility and infrastructure to suggest
solutions for digitalization, incorporating Internet of Things (IoT) and AI
technologies. Under it, two parties will work towards making key sectors of
Indian economy ready for digitalised future and realise potential of AI, big
data and connectivity.
4. The ordinance to amend the
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC), heaving a sigh of relief to
homebuyers who have invested in housing projects of real estate companies that
have gone bankrupt was approved by the union cabinet. Once the ordinance gets the President’s approval and the
proposed changes are incorporated in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016,
homebuyers will be treated on par with financial creditors in terms of their
legal rights.
Appointments/ Resignations:
1. Former Supreme Court Judge
CK Prasad has appointed as Chairman of Press Council of India (PCI) for second
term by the Government of India. He was
earlier appointed to post in November 2014 after Justice Markanday Katju
stepped down. His nomination was approved by three-member committee headed by
Vice President Venkaiah Naidu. PCI is a statutory body with mandate to act as
watchdog to oversee conduct of the print media. It adjudicates complaints
against and by the press for violation of ethics and for violation of the freedom
of the press respectively.
2.
JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy was sworn in as the 18th Chief
Minister of Karnataka on May 23, 2018. Kumaraswamy
was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Karnataka Governor Vajubhai
Vala. Karnataka Congress leader G Parameshwara was sworn in
as the Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka.
3.
The New York Stock Exchange has appointed Chief Operating Officer
Stacey Cunningham as its first female president. She will replace Tom Farley.
4. Pravin L Agrawal has appointed as
the part-time official director on its board by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited.
Awards:
1. Polish author Olga
Tokarczuk won the Man Booker International Prize 2018 for her novel ‘Flights’,
becoming Poland’s first ever writer to win the award. The novel was first published in Polish language in
2007; and in 2017, it was translated into English by Jennifer Croft. Tokarczuk
won the prize for the English translation of her novel ‘Flights’, which
narrates multiple journeys in time, space and human anatomy. Tokarczuk
shared the prize money of 50,000 pounds with translator Jennifer Croft.
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