current affairs may 2019 - Exambazaar.com

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CURRENT AFFAIRS MAY2019

Important Current Affairs for IAS, SSC, Bank, RRB and Other

Government Exams

WITH SYNOPSIS

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Current Affairs Digest May 2019


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APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

02 May AAI president Rao resigns after Supreme Court ruling

02 May Air Marshal SK Ghotia takes over command as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief training command

03 May K.Kadiresan takes charge as LIC South Zone head

05 May King Maha Vajiralongkorn crowned Rama X of Thailand

06 May Pakistan appoints ex-IMF official Dr Baqir as new State Bank of Pakistan governor

07 May Cortizo declared ‘virtual winner’ in Panama president race

09 May India's Jagjit Pavadia re-elected to International Narcotics Control Board

11 May Actress Dia Mirza, Alibaba chief among 17 new 'SDG Advocates' of UN

11 May P S Reddy takes charge as MD and CEO of Multi Commodity Exchange

12 May Justice Oka takes oath as 30th Chief Justice of the High Court of Karnataka

12 May ANC win closely-watched South Africa poll with absolute majority

12 May Daughter M R Jyothy steps out of the shadows to become MD at Jyothy Labs

17 May Ilapuram Raja sworn in as Information Commissioner

18 May P. P. Kulkarni appointed as the new ED for NTPC Ramagundam

19 May Australian Opposition leader Bill Shorten concedes defeat

21 May TV comedian Zelenskiy sworn in as Ukraine’s president

22 May Pakistan appoints Moin-ul-Haq as new High Commissioner to India

23 May Vistara appoints Vinod Kannan as chief strategy officer before global foray

23 May South Africa lawmakers re-elect Cyril Ramaphosa as president

24 May BJP wins Lok Sabha election 2019

25 May Theresa May to step down as British Prime Minister on June 7 amid Brexit pressure

28 May L.V. Navaneeth appointed next CEO of ‘The Hindu’

29 May Former Voda CEO Arun Sarin joins Ola Electric board as Independent Director

30 May Scott Morrison sworn in as Australia's prime minister

30 May Naveen Patnaik takes oath as Odisha Chief Minister, 20 ministers also sworn in

30 May Military tribunal allows Karambir Singh to take charge as new Navy Chief on Friday

30 May Pema Khandu sworn in as Arunachal Pradesh CM

30 May Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa receives Baton of Chairman COSC

31 May Admiral Sunil Lanba the Chief of The Naval Staff retires tomorrow 31 May 2019

31 May




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31 May Vice Admiral Atul Kumar Jain takes over as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, ENC

31 May Modi takes oath as PM for second time

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

02 May People Lifetime Achievement Award for Sobha Naidu

04 May SportsPrajnesh Gunneswaran was the winner at the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association’s annual day

function

06 May International University of Houston renames building after Indian-American couple

08 May International Trump awards highest US civilian honour to Tiger Woods

18 May National UNDRR confers Dr P.K. Mishra with the prestigious Sasakawa Award 2019

19 May National Achyutanand Dwivedi’s short film wins at Cannes

22 May National Indian peacekeeper Jitender Kumar to be honoured posthumously with UN medal

24 May Books & Authors Jokha Alharthi becomes first Arabic author to win Man Booker prize

24 May People Gopal Shrestha becomes first HIV-infected climber to scale Mount Everest

27 May Sports Lewis Hamilton wins Monaco GP, extends championship lead

27 May Sports Gold for Apurvi in women’s air rifle on the opening day of the shooting World Cup

28 May Sports French Open: Serena Williams survives scare, wins 800th match

30 May Books & Authors Indian writer Annie Zaidi is 2019 winner of the $100,000 Nine Dots Prize

IMPORTANT DATES

08 May National 59th BRO Raising Day celebrated today










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1. National

GOVERNMENT POLICIES & SCHEMES

08 May Tamil Nadu, Telangana among 10 states to get incentives from Centre for success in police

reforms

The Central government has released Rs 7.69 crore each as incentive to 10 states, which successfully

carried out police reforms such as filling up of vacancies, use of technology in tackling crime and

welfare of police personnel.

POINTS TO NOTE

The amount was released to states under the Modernisation of Police Forces scheme in the last fiscal.

The states that received the incentive are Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha,

Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

Police reforms have been on the agenda of successive governments almost since Independence. However,

progress has been slow which led the governments to incentivise the states which perform better.

The chosen states had shown tremendous progress in fulfilling vacant posts, use of emerging mobile and IT

applications, GIS based computer-aided dispatch, online complaints system and electronic record keeping

among other practices.

Also, these states progressed in the procurement of modern weapons, equipment, vehicles, CCTV surveillance,

data centres and control centres.

09 May CIC asks CBI Chief to sensitize staff as allegations of corruption are not exempted from RTI

Emphasising that allegations of corruption are not covered in the exemption given to the CBI from

the RTI Act, the Central Information Commission has advised the agency director to sensitise its RTI

processing officers about the provision.

POINTS TO NOTE

CBI cited exemption given to it by the central government and said that the provisions bringing information about

allegations of corruption under the RTI Act was limited to allegations against its own officers and not every record

pertaining to corruption held by it.

Like the Intelligence Bureau, the Central Bureau of Investigation has also been listed in the list of organisations

exempted from the Right to Information (RTI) Act.










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14 May There cannot be any reservation in qualifying examinations, says SC

A vacation bench of Justices Indira Banerjee and Sanjiv Khanna said that reservation of any class

comes into play only during admissions.

POINTS TO NOTE

The petitioners, who claimed to be belonging to economically weaker section of society, are candidates aspiring to

appear in CTET-2019.

The Constitution (One hundred and third amendment) Act, 2019 was passed by Parliament and came into

force on January 16.

The petitioners in their plea challenged the notification issued by the CBSE on the ground of violation of the

rights guaranteed under the Constitution.Under the amended Act, the Centre has provided for a 10 per cent

reservation to the citizens from general category belonging to the economically weaker section of the society,

in addition to the already existingreservation policy for the benefit of other reserved categories such as

Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Other Backward Class and Physically Handicapped.

19 May Insurers can’t deny cover for mental illness, adventure sports enthusiasts

Insurance regulator IRDAI on Friday came out with new rules that Insurers henceforth cannot decline

coverage to those who have used opioids or anti-depressants. Nor can they exclude those with a

history of clinical depression, personality disorders, sociopathy, psychopathy, or neurodegenerative

disorders.

POINTS TO NOTE

Insurers henceforth cannot decline coverage to those who have used opioids or anti-depressants. Nor can they

exclude those with a history of clinical depression, personality disorders, sociopathy,

psychopathy or neurodegenerative disorders.

They cannot exclude kids suffering from development disorders such as Down’s

syndrome, cerebral palsy, dyslexia, stammering and other disorders of speech

and language. IRDAI has said that insurers cannot discriminate on the basis of gender and identity. Insurers cannot refuse to provide

coverage or reject claims if a person is on life support. Insurers can reject claims only if the patient is certified as being

in a vegetative state, but even then insurers will be required to provide coverage/pay expenses till that date.

OTHERS










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01 May Cyclone 'Fani' intensifies into extremely severe cyclonic storm

The IMD has issued a formal cyclone alert for Odisha, West Bengal and parts of Andhra Pradesh

and suggested evacuation of costal areas.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Cyclone Warning Division of the IMD said Cyclone 'Fani' (pronounced Foni) lays southwest and adjoining

westcentral and southeast Bay of Bengal about 760 km south-southwest of Puri (Odisha) and 560 km south-

southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and about 660 km north-northeast of Trincomalee (Sri Lanka).

'Fani' is very likely to move northwestwards till May 1 evening and thereafter recurve north-northeastwards and cross

the Odisha coast between Gopalpur and Chandbali, to the south of Puri around May 3 afternoon with maximum

sustained wind speed of 175-185 kilometres per hour gusting to 205 kmph.

02 May S.P.Y. Reddy passes away

Member of Parliament from Nandyal and Jana Sena Party candidate from the same constituency

S.P.Y. Reddy, 69, died on Tuesday night.

POINTS TO NOTE

Born on June 4, 1950, at Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh, he pursued BE (Mechanical) from Regional Engineering College,

Warangal, and served as a scientific officer at Bhaba Atomic Research Centre from 1974 to 1977.

He was the founder of Nandi Group of Companies. In his political life, he was elected a member of Lok Sabha in 2004,

2009 and 2014.

04 May Vice President releases a postage stamp to commemorate the 750th birth anniversary of Sri

Vedanta Desikan

Sri Vedanta Desikan is one of the most prominent preceptors in the Srivaishnava tradition and one of

the most effulgent luminaries to have graced this land.

POINTS TO NOTE

He had authored brilliant poems, prose, drama, epics, commentaries, scientific texts and philosophical treatises in

Sanskrit, Tamil, Prakrit and Manipravalam.

Vedanta Desikan was much more than a spiritual teacher and said that he was a multi-faceted personality-- a

scientist, a logician, a mathematician, a literary genius, a linguist, a military strategist and much more.










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04 May V. Viswanatha Menon passes away

He had served as Finance Minister in the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic

Front government led by E.K. Nayanar in 1987.

POINTS TO NOTE

He was elected to the State Assembly from the Tripunithura Assembly constituency. Mr. Menon, a former member of

the State committee of the CPI(M), had served as Member of Parliament twice.

Mr. Menon was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1967 and was a member of the Rajya Sabha from 1974 to 1980.

He entered politics during his student days at the age of 13. As a student, he fought against the British rule.

05 May Arakkal Beevi passes away

She had assumed the title of Arakkal Beevi, following the death of her sister Sulthan Arakkal Adiraja

Zainaba Aysha Beevi on July 1 last year.

POINTS TO NOTE

Muthu Beevi, had been born as the eighth child of Aloopy Elaya and Arakkal Adiraja Mariyam on August 3, 1932, in the

Arakkal Kettu, which is the ancestral house of the Arakkal royal family. She had done her schooling in the local school

near the Arakkal Kettu.

As head of the Arakkal house, the lone Muslim principality in the State that ruled parts of Kannur and the islands in

Lakshadweep, she had been the ceremonial head of the establishments under the erstwhile royal family.

As the Arakkal family follows a matriarchal system of descent, it chooses the eldest member of the family as

its head and ruler.

06 May President pays floral tributes to Giani Zail Singh on his birth anniversary

Gyani Zail Singh was the seventh President of India serving from 1982 to 1987. He was born on 5th

May 1916.

POINTS TO NOTE

Prior to his presidency, he was a politician with the Indian National Congress party, and had held several ministerial

posts in the Union Cabinet, including that of Home Minister.

Giani Zail Singh was the first Sikh to hold the position of the President of India. He also served as the Secretary-

General of the Non-Aligned Movement from 1983 to 1986.










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08 May 59th BRO Raising Day celebrated today

BRO is a leading road construction agency under the Ministry of Defence with a primary role of

providing road connectivity in border areas.

POINTS TO NOTE

It executes road construction and maintenance works along the Northern and Western frontiers primarily to meet the

strategic requirements of the Army and is responsible for over 53,000 Km roads.

The BRO has also constructed roads in friendly foreign countries like Bhutan, Myanmar, Afghanistan etc. thus

contributing towards our strategic objectives in the region.

In 2018-19, BRO executed 991 Km of Formation Cutting, 1965 Km Surfacing, Rs. 1518 Crores Permanent Works,

2817 M of Bridge construction and undertook resurfacing of 1778 Km roads along our Northern and Western

Borders.

The works done by BRO saw a jump of more than 12% in 2018-19 over the previous financial year.

09 May India's Jagjit Pavadia re-elected to International Narcotics Control Board

Pavadia has held several senior positions in the Indian Revenue Service for 35 years in the

Government of India, including Narcotics Commissioner of India, Central Bureau of Narcotics (2006-

2012) among others.

POINTS TO NOTE

The 54-member Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) held elections by secret ballot Tuesday, with 15 candidates in

fray for five seats.

There were 54 members present and voting and the required majority to win the election was 28.

After the first round of voting, Pavadia emerged at the top, getting the highest number of votes at 44,

followed by Jallal Toufiq of Morocco with 32 votes and Cesar Tomas Arce Rivas of Paraguay with 31 votes.

She was also member of the Indian delegation to the Commission on Narcotics Drugs, Vienna (2007-

2012).Member of the International Narcotics Control Board since 2015.










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10 May Hyderabad Airport among in Ten Best Airports of 2019

Doha's Hamad International Airport, Tokyo Haneda International Airport, and Athens International

Airport take top spots in the rankings.

POINTS TO NOTE

U.S. airports in general didn’t fare particularly well, with the highest-rated Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta

International Airport taking 34th place of 132 around the world. Newark held the lowest U.S. spot, at 116.

The airports are rated based on three factors: on-time performance, service quality, and food and shopping

options.

The first accounts for 60% of the score and the other criteria each make up 20%.

10 May Tirupati temple sits on over 9,000 kg gold reserves

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which manages the affairs of the famous Sri Venkateswara

Temple, has 7,235 kg of yellow metal deposited with two nationalized banks.

POINTS TO NOTE

TTD has 1,934 kg gold in its treasury, including 1,381 kg which it got back from Punjab National Bank last month

following the end of three-year term of gold deposit scheme.

TTD Board, the highest decision making body, is yet to decide on the bank where 1,381 kg gold will be deposited.

The remaining 553 kg of gold in TTD treasury comprises small jewellery and other items offered by the

devotees.

TTD often avoids revealing details of gold deposits but the controversy over the seizure of 1,381 kg of gold by

election authorities in Tamil Nadu last month made the body to come out with the details.











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11 May 20th Conference of Regional Heads of Customs Administration (RHCA) concludes in Kochi

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) had organised a Conference of the Regional

Heads of Customs Administration of Asia Pacific Region of the World Customs Organisation (WCO) in

Kochi from 08th to 10th May, 2019.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Conference took stock of the progress made in carrying forward the programmes and initiatives of WCO to

promote, facilitate and secure cross-border trade in the Region and the capacity building and technical assistance

required by Member Administrations to achieve these goals.

In addition to the discussions on the strategic priorities of the Asia Pacific Region, the Conference also

deliberated on the work programs of the Vice-Chair, ROCB & RILO, security related issues, trade facilitation, e-

commerce, performance measurement, trusted trader programmes and emerging technological and logistical

challenges in the fields of trade facilitation and Customs Administrations.

The Conference also facilitated Bilateral Meetings between the Member States.

11 May WTO Ministerial Meeting of Developing Countries in New Delhi

Sixteen developing countries, Six Least Developed Countries (LDC) and DG, WTO is participating in

the meeting.

POINTS TO NOTE

The two-day meeting will be interactive in order to provide an opportunity to the Ministers to discuss various issues

and the way forward. On the first day, there will be a meeting of senior officers of the participating countries followed

by a dinner hosted by Union Minister of Commerce & Industry for the heads of delegations.

On the 2nd day, the Ministerial Meeting will be held.The meeting is being held at a timewhen the multilateral

rule-based-trading system is facing serious and grave challenges.

In the recent past, there have been increasing unilateral measures and counter measures by members,

deadlock in key areas of negotiations and the impasse in the Appellate Body, which threaten the very

existence of Dispute Settlement Mechanism of the WTO and impacts the position of the WTO as an effective

multilateral organisation.

The current situation has given rise to demands from various quarters to reform the WTO.










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12 May Justice Oka takes oath as 30th Chief Justice of the High Court of Karnataka

He was the seniormost judge of the Bombay High Court till his elevation as Chief Justice.

POINTS TO NOTE

Born on May 25, 1960, he began his practice as an advocate in 1983 in Thane district of Maharashtra in the chamber of

his father after completion of LLM degree from the University of Bombay.

He was elevated as Additional Judge of the Bombay High Court on August 29, 2003, and was appointed as a

permanent judge of that court on November 12, 2005.

12 May First Apache Helicopter formally handed over to The IAF

Air Marshal AS Butola, represented the Indian Air Force and accepted the first AH-64E (I) - Apache

Guardian helicopter in a ceremony at Boeing production facility in Mesa, Arizona, USA.

POINTS TO NOTE

IAF had signed a contract with US Government and M/s Boeing Ltd in Sep 2015 for 22 Apache helicopters.The

addition of AH-64 E (I) helicopter is a significant step towards modernisation of Indian Air Force’s helicopter

fleet.

The helicopter has been customized to suit IAF’s future requirements and would have significant capability in

mountainous terrain.

The helicopter has the capability to carry out precision attacks at standoff ranges and operate in hostile

airspace with threats from ground.

The ability of these helicopters, to transmit and receive the battlefield picture, to and from the weapon

systems through data networking makes it a lethal acquisition.

These attack helicopters will provide significant edge in any future joint operations in support of land forces.

12 May ISRO to launch RISAT, a radar imaging satellite, on May 22

The PSLV-C46 is the 14th flight of PSLV in 'core-alone' configuration and will be launched from

Sriharikota.

POINTS TO NOTE

The RISAT-2B would be placed in an orbit of 555 km at an inclination of 37 degrees, it said.

ISRO has made provision for the public to view the launch from recently opened viewers' gallery at the Satish

Dhawan Space Centre.










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14 May Palimar seer inducts junior, names him Vidyarajeshwara Tirtha

Paryaya Udupi Palimar Mutt Seer Sri Vidyadheesha Tirtha Swamiji inducted Sri Vidyarajeshwara

Tirtha Swamiji as his successor and the 31st seer of Palimar Mutt on the Sri Krishna Mutt/Temple

premises in Udupi.

POINTS TO NOTE

Seated on the Sarvajna Peetha at the mutt, the Paryaya seer announced his successor’s name as Vidyarajeshwara

Tirtha at 12.30 p.m.

Later, the senior seer took his junior to the sanctum sanctorum of the temple and got him to perform the first puja to

Lord Krishna.

Prior to the Pattabhisheka, various rituals, including Tattva Homa, Ashtamahamantra Homa and mass chanting of

Mangalashtaka, were conducted. Palimar Mutt seers performed “Danda Pranama” to the seers of Ashta Mutts later.

14 May I and B Secretary Amit Khare leads Indian Delegation to Cannes Film Festival

India Pavilion is set to be inaugurated at Cannes Film Festival, which will be held from 14th to 25th

May 2019.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Pavilion will showcase Indian cinema across linguistic, cultural and regional diversity, with the aim of forging

international partnerships in distribution, production, filming in India, script development, technology, promoting

film sales and syndication.

A key focus area of the Indian Delegation this year will be to promote the Golden Jubilee Edition of International Film

Festival of India to be held in Goa later this year.

A specially designed IFFI poster for the Golden Jubilee Edition will also be released during the Festival.








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14 May President pays homage to Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed on his Birth Anniversary

The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, paid homage to Shri Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, former

President of India on his Birth Anniversary at Rashtrapati Bhavan today.

POINTS TO NOTE

Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed was the fifth President of India from 1974 to 1977 and also the 2nd President of India to die in

office.

In the Central Cabinet he was given important portfolios relating to Food and Agriculture, Co-operation, Education,

Industrial Development and Company Laws during his time as a minister.

15 May Central government extends ban on LTTE for five years

The Central Government has extended the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for

another five years under sub-sections (1) and (3) of section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention)

Act, 1967 (37 of 1967) with immediate effect.

POINTS TO NOTE

The notification states that the LTTE’s continued violent and disruptive activities are prejudicial to the integrity and

sovereignty of India.

It continues to adopt a strong anti-India posture as also continues to pose a grave threat to the security of Indian

nationals.










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15 May Fani had longest life span among tropical cyclones in the bay

The peculiarity of this strong cyclonic storm was the persistence of its intensity till it crossed the

coast.

POINTS TO NOTE

The cyclonic storm, which started as a low pressure near the equator on April 24, took about two hours to cross the

coast after landfall and then headed northwards towards Bhubaneswar and nearby areas.

Odisha's capital city was within the eye of the cyclone, the diameter of which

was about 28 km.

There was a lull in the cyclone for about 30 minutes after which the wind

direction as well as the speed changed.

The wind speed increased as the eye crossed over to land due to a combination

of wind velocity and downdrafts caused by thunderstorm over Bhubaneswar at

that time. The cyclone maintained its intensity till it reached Bhubaneswar and

then hanged direction to move in a northeastward direction towards

Mayurbhanj.

The devastation wrought by 'Fani' over land was mainly due to high wind speed

and fast movement. But it would have caused greater devastation had it

remained stationary or moved at low speed on land for some time.










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16 May India to co-chair Consultative Group (CG) of Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery

(GFDRR)

India is unanimously chosen as co-chair of the Consultative Group (CG) of Global Facility for Disaster

Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) for the fiscal year 2020. The decision was taken during the CG

meeting of GFDRR held in Geneva, Switzerland today, on the margins of the 6th Session of the Global

Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR) 2019.

POINTS TO NOTE

GFDRR is a global partnership that helps developing countries better understand and reduce their vulnerability to

natural hazards and climate change. GFDRR is a grant-funding mechanism, managed by the World Bank, that supports

disaster risk management projects worldwide.

It is presently working on the ground with over 400 local, national, regional, and international partners and provides

knowledge, funding, and technical assistance.

India became member of CG of GFDRR in 2015 and expressed its interest to co-

chair in last meeting of CG held in October 2018.

India’s candidature was backed by its consistent progress in disaster risk

reduction (DRR) in the country and its initiative to form a coalition on disaster

resilient infrastructure.

16 May India had world's highest child mortality rate in 2015

India made great progress during the period from 2000 to 2015, reducing annual mortality among

children under five from 2.5 million to 1.2 million, which was still the highest in the world.

POINTS TO NOTE

The highest mortality rate in Assam was more than seven times that in Goa.

Although most under-five deaths were due to preterm complications,

preventable infectious diseases featured prominently as causes of death in

higher-mortality states.

India can accelerate its reduction of under-five mortality rates by scaling

up vaccine coverage and improving childbirth and neonatal care, especially in

states where mortality rates remain high.










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16 May MoU Signed for Rudraksh Plantation in Ganga Basin

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between National Mission for Clean Ganga,

HCL Foundation and INTACH for taking up a project of ‘Plantation of Rudraksh Trees in Uttarakhand’

as a part of CSR initiative under the ‘Namami Gange’ Programme.

POINTS TO NOTE

While the project aims at planting 10,000 Rudraksh trees in the catchment area of river Ganga in Uttarakhand in

association with local community and other stakeholders, it will also help in generating income for people residing in

those areas.

Namami Gange Mission aims at providing comprehensive and sustainable solutions for a cleaner ecosystem along the

stretch of 97 towns and 4,465 villages on the Ganga stem and a public-private partnership will provide the initiative a

much-needed impetus.

17 May Ilapuram Raja sworn in as Information Commissioner

Andhra Pradesh governor TSL Narasimhan cleared Raja's name on May 7, and he took charge as RTI

commissioner today after a government order was released in this regard on May 14. He will serve

in this position for the next five years.

POINTS TO NOTE

On April 4, the file was again sent to the governor. The state government sent two names - Ilapuram Raja and Eerla

Srirama Murty. The nod for Raja was given by the governor on May 7.

Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party government had recommended two

names to the governor for filling up the position of Information

commissioner on March 7. However, on March 11, the had returned the file to

the state government citing Model Code of Conduct (MCC) as the reason.The

state government then sought clearance from the ECI on March 29 for the

appointment of a new RTI commissioner.










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17 May Two Indian climbers die on Mount Kanchenjunga in Nepal

Biplab Baidya (48) and Kuntal Karar (46) died Wednesday night above Camp IV after they were

unable to continue their descent from near the 8,586-meter summit due to hypothermia and

snowblindness.

POINTS TO NOTE

The incident occurred when the duo was being brought to Camp IV from an altitude of 8,400 metres through a

herculean rescue operation carried out by Project Possible team leader Nirmal 'Nims' Purja along with the fellow

members.

They were part of a five-member team of climbers from West Bengal.

Another climber from Chile is missing from above Camp IV of Mount

Kanchenjunga since last evening.

Mount Kangchenjunga is the third highest mountain in the world.

It rises with an elevation of 8,586 metres in a section of the Himalayas called

Kangchenjunga Himal delimited in the west by the Tamur River, in the north by

the Lhonak Chu and Jongsang La, and in the east by the Teesta River.











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18 May Annual Ooty flower show kicks off today

The horticulture department is gearing up for the inauguration of the 123rd Annual Flower Show on

Friday, with last-minute preparations under way at the Government Botanical Garden.

POINTS TO NOTE

The flower show, which is the marquee event of the summer festival in the

Nilgiris, is usually preceded by a variety of other events such as the Spices Show,

the Rose Show and the Vegetable Show.However, due to the elections this year, only the flower show and the fruit show, which is to take place at Sims Park in

Coonoor on May 25 and 26, are to take place this year.

Horticulture department officials said that over 30,000 potted, flowering plants

will be exhibited to the public during this year’s flower show, with the main

viewing gallery already being arranged in preparation for this year’s show.

18 May UNDRR confers Dr P.K. Mishra with the prestigious Sasakawa Award 2019

The United Nations Sasakawa Award was instituted more than 30 years ago and is jointly organized

by the UNDRR and the Nippon Foundation.

POINTS TO NOTE

The theme of the 2019 Sasakawa award was “Building Inclusive and Resilient Societies”.

A total grant of USD 50,000 is distributed among the winners which can be

either organizations or individuals.

The theme of the 2019 Sasakawa award was Dr. P. K. Mishra from India received

the 2019 Sasakawa award in recognition of his long-term dedication to improve

the resilience of communities most exposed to disasters and his personal

commitment to social inclusion as a critical principle to reduce inequality and

poverty, enhancing the safety net of the socially and economically marginalized.










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18 May Raipur gets country's first airport Common Service Centre

The swami Vivekananda airport in Chhattisgarh’s capital had become the first in the country to set up

common service centre (CSC)

POINTS TO NOTE

It would be the access point for delivery of essential public utility services, social welfare schemes, healthcare,

financial, education and agriculture services, apart from host of B2C services to citizens visiting the airport.

The Raipur centre would be a model centre under the common services centre

schemes. Under the programme, airports across the country had been

identified where the centres would be set up.

18 May India, Indoensia celebrate common Islamic heritage

As part of the continuing 70th Anniversary celebrations of the establishment of diplomatic ties

between India and Indonesia, Embassy of India in Jakarta along with Nahdlatul Ulama Indonesia (NU)

jointly hosted Buka Puasa (Iftar) celebrations.

POINTS TO NOTE

The evening showcased a special photo exhibit on “Shared Islamic Heritage of India and Indonesia” along with a

special musical performance by a Sufi Qawwali Group led by Sarfaraz Chisty from India.

The event was attended by select Ambassadors from diplomatic corps based in

Jakarta, along with dignitaries from NU and large number of students from

several universities in Jakarta.

18 May P. P. Kulkarni appointed as the new ED for NTPC Ramagundam

A mechanical engineer from Jiwaji University, Gwalior, Mr. Kulkarni joined NTPC in 1982 as an

executive trainee. Later, Mr. Kulkarni completed MBA (Finance), IPMA Level D certificate, MCA and

Ph. D

POINTS TO NOTE

He has rich and varied experience in the areas of power plant, consultancy, inspection, safety and vigilance.

He held several important positions in a career spanning over 36 years and worked at Singrauli, Dadri, Anpara, Patna,

Meja, Bilhaur, WR-1 HQ at Mumbai, Corporate Center and EOC of NTPC.

As head of the power station, Mr. Kulkarni will coordinate all activities at

Ramagundam Plant as well as Telangana Project.










20



19 May Achyutanand Dwivedi’s short film wins at Cannes

This year’s theme was ‘We Are What We Eat’, aimed at exploring the world. Indian filmmaker,

Achyutanand Dwivedi's three-minute film, Seed Mother, won the third prize in the international

section of Nespresso Talents 2019.

POINTS TO NOTE

Held annually as part of the Cannes Critics’ Week to encourage new

perspectives in filmmaking, Nespresso Talents is now in its fourth year. It is a

contest limited to films shot in a vertical 9/16 video format.

It received 371 videos from 47 countries in three broad categories: Farming and

Biodiversity, Food Heritage and the Value Chain and Food in Popular Cultures.

20 May Platelet donor helpline unveiled to help dengue patients

India’s first platelet donor helpline was unveiled on National Dengue Day on Thursday. Through this,

families of dengue patients can access platelet donors.

POINTS TO NOTE

In 2017, Godrej established an online community of platelet donors with an intent to build a base big enough to save

lives.

This online donor community with the dedicated 24X7 helpline number has now

grown to 1.25 lakh registered donors.

From less than 60,000 cases in 2009, dengue cases in India increased to 2,89,575

in 2018, an almost 500% spike.










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20 May Yellow alert issued in Kozhikode and Wayanad districts

Residents in both the districts have been asked to remain alert, as there were chances of flash floods

and landslips for five days.

POINTS TO NOTE

The directive also asked people to take precautionary measures against lightning strike and to avoid night-time travel

to rural areas.

Those residing closer to water bodies have been urged to be more cautious. The meteorological department has

forecasted thunderstorms.

22 May Indian peacekeeper Jitender Kumar to be honoured posthumously with UN medal

Police Officer Jitender Kumar made the supreme sacrifice while serving in the UN Organisation

Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO).

POINTS TO NOTE

India is the fourth largest contributor of uniformed personnel to the UN peacekeeping. It currently contributes more

than 6,400 military and police personnel to the UN peace operations in Abyei, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the

Congo, Haiti, Lebanon, the Middle East, South Sudan and the Western Sahara.

According to the UN information last year, India has lost the highest number of its peacekeepers deployed in various

UN peacekeeping operations in the last 70 years, with 163 military, police and civilian personnel from the country

making the supreme sacrifice in the line of duty.

Of the 3,737 peacekeepers who have died since 1948, 163 have been from India.








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22 May Narendra Modi pays tribute to Rajiv Gandhi on his death anniversary

This comes after Mr. Modi dubbed Rajiv Gandhi “bhrashtachari no 1” (corrupt no 1) at an election

rally earlier this month.

POINTS TO NOTE

Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a suicide bomber during an election rally in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur town on

this day in 1991.

He was an Indian politician who served as the 6th Prime Minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the

1984 assassination of his mother, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, to become the youngest Indian Prime Minister at the

age of 40.

22 May Pakistan appoints Moin-ul-Haq as new High Commissioner to India

Haq was appointed after Sohail Mehmood left the High Commissioner's post to join as foreign

secretary.

POINTS TO NOTE

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday approved appointments of over two dozen ambassadors in various countries

including India, China and Japan. Haq, in his mid-fifties is the current ambassador to France.

He has previously served as chief of protocol at the Foreign Office. He joined Foreign Service of Pakistan in 1987 and

was posted in countries like Turkey, Canada and Sri Lanka.

The post of High Commissioner to India fell vacant after Sohail Mehmood was appointed Pakistan's new foreign

secretary in April.

23 May Jaipur Foot signs agreement with India Business Forum, Korea for bionic arms and mobility

solutions

Jaipur Foot is the manufacturing arm of the parent body, Bhagwan Mahaveer Vikalang Sahayata

Samiti (BMVSS). The agreement will open up access for the South Korean medical technology

students to join on-the-spot prosthetic fitment camps of Jaipur Foot in various countries.

POINTS TO NOTE

The new arrangement would also create opportunities for overseas development assistance and grants from the

South Korean government and donations from private institutions and corporations to India.

Jaipur Foot Korea will be co-chaired by Jin-kyung AN, CEO and chairperson, India Business Forum, and Rakshit Mehta,

chairman, Euro Alliance SA.










23



24 May BJP wins Lok Sabha election 2019

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday won a resounding victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections,

and is set to become only the second political party in Indian history to come back to power.

POINTS TO NOTE

Heading to a figure of 300+ seats, the BJP and its allies are set to form the government.

BJP heavweights like Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president Amit Shah, Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari,

Textile Minister Smriti Irani among others won their seats with huge margins. Notable, Ms, Irani won in the Amethi

constituency, a traditional-Congress bastion, defeating Congress president Rahul Gandhi.

In a first for the party in its long history, the BJP also made in-roads into West Bengal, decimating CPI(M)'s hold on the

State.

28 May New Lok Sabha has the highest number of women MPs till now

Women’s representation has steadily increased in the Lok Sabha. In the first-ever election, only 5% of

the House consisted of women. Now, that has increased to 14%.

POINTS TO NOTE

397 MPs have been elected from national parties. The Congress managed to have 52 MPs elected, while the Trinamool

Congress has given 22 to the lower House.

Among regional parties, the DMK and the YSR Congress have the most number of seats — 23 and 22 respectively.

This is also the time that the average age of an MP has reduced drastically. 12% of MPs are aged below 40 years. In

2014, only 8% fit into this age group.










24



31 May Modi takes oath as PM for second time

Some of the key ministers in the previous Modi government, including Sushma Swaraj, Rajyavardhan

Singh Rathore and Maneka Gandhi were not part of the new council of ministers.

POINTS TO NOTE

Top opposition leaders including former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Rahul Gandhi and UPA

Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, corporate honchos, film stars, chief ministers and a galaxy of leaders from BIMSTEC

countries were part of the nearly 8,000 guests at the ceremony.

Others who took oath of office as cabinet ministers are — Narendra Singh Tomar, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harsimrat Kaur

Badal, Thanwar Chand Gehlot, Ramesh Pokhriyal, Arjun Munda, Smriti Irani, Harsh Vardhan, Prakash Javadekar,

Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Prahlad Joshi, Mahendra nath pandey, Arvind Sawant,

Giriraj Singh and Gajendra Shekhawat.

Those who took oath as minister of state with independent charge are — Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Rao Inderjit Singh,

Shripad Yesso Naik, Jitendra Singh Kiren Rijiju, Prahalad Singh Patel, Raj Kumar Singh, Hardeep Singh Puri Mansukh L

Mandaviya.

The ministers of state are — Faggan Singh Kulaste, Ashwini Kumar Choubey, Arjun Ram Meghwal, V K Singh, Krishan

Pal, Danve Raosaheb Dadarao, G Kishan Reddy, Parshottam Rupala, Ramdas Athawale, Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti, Babul

Supriyo, Sanjeev Kumar Balyan, Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao, Anurag Singh Thakur, Angadi Suresh Channabasappa,

Nityanand Rai, Rattan Lal Kataria, V Muraleedharan, Renuka Singh Saruta, Som Parkash, Rameswar Teli, Pratap

Chandra Sarangi, Kailash Choudhary, Debasree Chaudhuri.








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2. International

MOU'S / AGREEMENTS

05 May US renews Iran sanctions waivers for nuclear work

The waivers, which were due to expire Saturday, are being extended for between 45 days and 90

days, shorter periods than had been granted in the past.

POINTS TO NOTE

They will permit work at several Iranian nuclear sites to continue without U.S. penalties. Under the terms of the 2015

Iran nuclear deal, Russia and several European nations help to maintain the facilities and are engaged in converting

equipment there for exclusively civilian use.

Facilities included in the waiver extensions include the Bushehr nuclear power plant, the Fordow enrichment

facility, the Arak nuclear complex and the Tehran Research Reactor.

The other two waivers — one that allowed Iran to store heavy water in Oman and the other that allowed

Russia to process Iranian uranium — are not being renewed.

OTHERS

01 May International Jazz Day 2019 to be celebrated today

It is a culmination of Jazz appreciation month which raises awareness about the extraordinary history

and heritage of Jazz throughout the month of April.

POINTS TO NOTE

The day was designated in the year 2011 by UNESCO and is currently chaired by Director General Audrey Azoulay and

legendary jazz pianist and composer Herbie Hancock, who serves as a UNESCO Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue

and Chairman of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz.

Jazz day is observed to bring together communities, artists, schools, academics, historians and jazz enthusiasts all over

the world to celebrate jazz, its roots, history and future and most importantly how it brings people together.

It also aims at raising awareness about the importance of intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding.

On April 30 each year, this art form is recognised for promoting dialogue among cultures, diversity, and respect for

human rights, eradicating discrimination and gender bias and most importantly promoting peace.










26



02 May UN designates JeM chief Masood Azhar as global terrorist

The P-3 or group of three permanent UNSC members, the U.S., the U.K. and France, had co-

sponsored a listing request at the committee on February 27, weeks after the Pulwama attack.

POINTS TO NOTE

The listing is a victory for India in a decade-old diplomatic battle waged primarily by it and supported by its friends at

the UNSC, as it would mean a travel ban, arms embargo and asset freeze on Azhar.

China placed a hold on the request — which normally lasts for three months — on March 13. This was the

fourth such attempt to designate Azhar, over a decade, that had gone awry.

At the end of March, the U.S. circulated a draft resolution (to sanction Azhar) among the UNSC members, i.e., outside

the 1267 Committee, presumably to pressure China into either supporting the listing or having to take a stand in open

proceedings and risk being seen as supporting terror.

02 May British PM Theresa May sacks defence minister Williamson over Huawei leak

Britain's already splintered government was rocked by the scandal over who leaked the news that

May was to let Huawei develop Britain's 5G network.

POINTS TO NOTE

NSC discussions are only attended by senior ministers and security officials who first sign the Official Secrets Act that

commits them to keep conversations private or risk prosecution.

The United States is adamantly opposed to Huawei's involvement because of the firm's obligation under Chinese law

to help its home government gather intelligence or provide other security services when required.

03 May UK becomes first parliament to declare climate emergency

Britain's opposition Labour Party on Wednesday called for "real action" after the UK parliament

declared climate emergency.

POINTS TO NOTE

They hope the move will increase pressure on the government and is demanding that the country takes action to help

avoid more than 1.5 degrees centigrade of warming, requiring global emissions to be cut by almost half of 2010 levels

by 2030.

The vote was taken following 11 days of protests organised by climate activists Extinction Rebellion that

brought several London sites to a standstill.

Extinction Rebellion called the vote a "first step in the government telling the truth about the climate and

ecological emergency."










27



03 May Leonardo da Vinci's 500th death anniversary

One of the many artistic conventions that Leonardo da Vinci upended was the portrayal of people

smiling, with no smile more famous than that of his Mona Lisa.

POINTS TO NOTE

An 1818 painting by French artist Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres shows Leonardo da Vinci breathing his last with his

patron, France's King Francis I, at his bedside.

The scene wasn't a true one but inspired from an account in "Lives of the Artists" by Giorgio Vasari, first

published in 1550.

Vasari, seen as the father of art history, wrote that Leonardo "died in the arms of the monarch".

05 May King Maha Vajiralongkorn crowned Rama X of Thailand

King Vajiralongkorn is the tenth monarch of the Chakri dynasty, which has reigned since 1782. He

ascended the throne over two years ago following the death of his beloved father

POINTS TO NOTE

The King is crowned with 3-kilogram (16-pound) headpiece topped by a diamond from India.

Uttering his first, brief royal command he vowed to reign "with righteousness" for the benefit of the Thai

people.

His fourth wife, Suthida -- married in a surprise ceremony days before the coronation -- was invested as

Queen, kneeling in respect in front of her husband who sat on a throne.

For most Thais, it is the first time they have witnessed the pomp and grandeur of a coronation -- the last was

in 1950 for the king's beloved father Bhumibol Adulyadej.

05 May Berkshire posts $21.66 bn profit in Q1

Operating profit, which Buffett considers a better performance measure, rose 5 per cent to $5.56 bn,

or about $3,388 per Class A share, from $5.29 bn, or $3,215 per share, a year earlier

POINTS TO NOTE

Berkshire also said it repurchased $1.7 billion of its stock in the quarter, reflecting Buffett's troubles to find better uses

for the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate's cash hoard, which now totals $114.2 billion.

The $21.66-billion overall profit, or $13,209 per Class A share, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $1.14

billion, or $692 per share, and a fourth-quarter net loss of $25.39 billion.










28



06 May University of Houston renames building after Indian-American couple

The Durga D and Sushila Agrawal Engineering Research Building has been named to recognise a

transformational gift that the Agrawals have made.

POINTS TO NOTE

Having immigrated to Houston in 1968, after his Bachelor's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Delhi College of

Engineering, Dr Agrawal earned two advanced degrees in Industrial Engineering from the UH's Cullen College of

Engineering.

He is a member of the UH System Board of Regents and serves as chair on the UH's endowment management

committee.

He also served on the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for four years.Dr Durga started his piping

technology and products company in 1975.

Today, the company is a leading player in its category and employs over a 1,000 people.








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06 May Pakistan appoints ex-IMF official Dr Baqir as new State Bank of Pakistan governor

A Harvard and Berkeley University of California alumnus, Dr. Baqir has been with the IMF since 2000.

He is currently serving in the IMF as senior resident representative to Egypt.

POINTS TO NOTE

Imran Khan’s government Saturday removed chiefs of the SBP and the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), in a surprise

move days after an IMF team visited Islamabad to hold talks for the bailout package.

Both the SBP governor and the FBR chairman are key players in any IMF programme.

Dr. Baqir has been the chief of the IMF’s Debt Policy Division and worked on IMF policies on external debt

sustainability and restructuring of member countries. Before the IMF, Dr. Baqir worked at the World Bank, the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Union Bank of Switzerland.

The government also appointed Ahmed Mujtaba Memon as the chairman of the FBR - the tax collection body.

07 May Cortizo declared ‘virtual winner’ in Panama president race

Mr. Cortizo, of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, had 33% of the votes versus 31% for Roux, from

former President Ricardo Martinelli’s Democratic Change party.

POINTS TO NOTE

The PRD, which has social democratic leanings, will return to power for the third time since the transition to

democracy three decades ago, after the end of the military regime.

The last time it in power was from 2004 through 2009 during the administration of Martţn Torrijos.

There is no runoff in Panama so the top vote-getter in the field of seven mostly business-friendly candidates

wins outright.

07 May Nepali girl dances for 126 hours, sets new world record

Banadana danced in a Kathmandu restaurant and beat the Guinness World Record on 'Longest

Dancing Marathon by an Individual' set by a Kerala-based woman named Kalamandalam Hemalatha

in 2011.

POINTS TO NOTE

The 18-year-old teenager was honoured for her remarkable achievement by Nepal Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli.

Bandana who hails from Dhankuta district in eastern Nepal also owns a youth organisation named Bandana

Nepal Foundation. The organization works for uplift of poor women in Nepal.

Known as 'the Dancing Queen of Kerala', Hemalatha performed the Mohiniattam, a classical dance form

continuously for 123 hours and 15 minutes.










30



08 May Trump awards highest US civilian honour to Tiger Woods

Woods, 43, is only the fourth and the youngest golfer ever to have received the highest American

civilian award.

POINTS TO NOTE

Mr. Woods won the Masters tournament last month, his first major title since the 2008 US Open, capping a remarkable

comeback from personal turmoil and physical injuries.

The other golfers were Arnold Palmer (74), in 2004; Jack Nicklaus (65), in 2005; and Charlie Sifford, (92), in 2014.

Sifford was the first African American to play on the PGA tour.

Woods burst onto the professional golf scene in 1996 at age 20 and has won 15 Majors titles, second only to

Nicklaus’ 18 wins.

The Medal of Freedom is America’s highest honour for civilian accomplishment. President Truman first

established the medal to honour extraordinary civilian accomplishments related to World War II. President

Kennedy re-established the medal by executive order in 1963.

08 May After over 500 days in prison, Reuters reporters jailed in Myanmar freed

Wa Lone (33) and Kyaw Soe Oo (29) were convicted in September last and sentenced to seven years

in jail. The case raised questions about Myanmar's progress toward democracy.

POINTS TO NOTE

They were released under a presidential amnesty for 6,520 prisoners. President Win Myint has pardoned thousands of

other prisoners in mass amnesties since last month.

It is customary in Myanmar for authorities to free prisoners across the country around the time of the

traditional New Year, which began on April 17.

10 May US, Japan, India and Philippines challenge Beijing with naval drills in the South China Sea

A U.S. guided missile destroyer conducted drills with a Japanese aircraft carrier, two Indian naval

ships and a Philippine patrol vessel in the waterway claimed by China.

POINTS TO NOTE

Japan sent one of its two big aircraft carriers, the Izumo, while India deployed a destroyer, the INS Kolkata, and a

tanker, the INS Shakti.

The week of joint drills, which comes after two other U.S. warships sailed near islands in the region claimed by China

on, prompting a protest from Beijing, which said the action infringed its sovereignty.

China claims almost all of the strategic South China Sea with Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and

Vietnam pushing competing claims to parts of the maritime region.

The United States, Japan and India do not have any territorial claims there.










31



10 May Pope changes Church law to make reporting sex abuse obligatory

The "Motu Proprio", a legal document issued under the pope's personal authority, declares that

anyone who has knowledge of abuse, or suspects it, is "obliged to report it promptly" to the Church.

POINTS TO NOTE

Every diocese in the world will now be obliged to have a system for the reporting of abuse, under a new law

published by the Vatican -- but the requirement will not apply to secrets revealed to priests in the confessional.

It follows a series of clerical assault cases in countries ranging from Australia to Chile, Germany and the US.

The law only applies within the Church and has no force to oblige individuals to report abuse to civil

authorities.

The document focuses particularly on the sexual or psychological abuse of children and vulnerable adults,

but also targets sexual abuse and violence resulting from an abuse of authority -- such as the exploitation of

nuns by priests.

11 May US tariff increase on $200B of Chinese imports takes effect

The Trump administration raised import taxes on $200 billion of Chinese imports from 10% to

25%. Beijing had earlier retaliated for tariff hikes by raising duties on $110 billion of American

imports.

POINTS TO NOTE

The increase went ahead even as American and Chinese negotiators began another round of talks in Washington

aimed at ending a battle that has disrupted billions of dollars in trade and shaken global financial markets.

American officials accuse Beijing of backtracking on commitments made in earlier rounds of negotiations.

Beijing retaliated for previous tariff hikes by raising duties on $110 billion of American imports.

But regulators are running out of U.S. goods for penalties due to their lopsided trade balance.Regulators have

targeted operations of American companies in China by slowing customs clearance for their goods and

stepping up regulatory scrutiny that can hamper operations.










32



11 May Ireland declares climate emergency

Irish Green Party leader Eamon Ryan, who moved the amendment, called the decision "historic".

POINTS TO NOTE

An amendment to a parliamentary report declaring a "climate emergency" and calling on parliament "to examine how

(the Irish government) can improve its response to the issue of biodiversity loss" was accepted without a vote.

Thunberg, the 16-year-old activist who has spearheaded protests across Europe and is becoming one of the

most passionate voices of the green movement, urged more nations to follow suit.

11 May Actress Dia Mirza, Alibaba chief among 17 new 'SDG Advocates' of UN

The new class of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Advocates are 17 influential public figures

"committed to raising awareness, inspiring greater ambition and pushing for faster action on the

SDGs".

POINTS TO NOTE

Co-Chairs of the Secretary-General's SDG Advocates are President of Ghana Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and

Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg.

The other newly-appointed SDG Advocates include Queen Mathilde of the Belgians, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser,

Founder, Education Above All Foundation (State of Qatar), British screenwriter, producer and film director Richard

Curtis, Nobel Laureate Nadia Murad, Director of Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University Jeffrey

Sachs, Brazilian footballer and UN Women Goodwill Ambassador and Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Whitaker

Peace & Development Initiative, Forest Whitaker.











33



12 May ANC win closely-watched South Africa poll with absolute majority

President Ramaphosa, 66, took over last year when the ANC forced then-president Jacob Zuma to

resign after nine years dominated by corruption allegations and economic decline.

POINTS TO NOTE

The results, published by the electoral commission, are the party's worst national showing since Nelson Mandela led it

to victory in the first multi-racial polls after apartheid ended in 1994.

The African National Congress (ANC) held a comfortable lead with 57.73 per cent at 1615 GMT after 95 per cent

of voting districts were officially tallied following Wednesday's vote.

That means they will be mathematically assured more than 50 per cent of votes cast in the final official tally,

due to be announced Saturday.

Seats in parliament are allocated based on vote share and the party with the most representatives selects the

president, who will be sworn in on May 25.

12 May 180 nations agree on a new UN accord to curb export of plastic waste

The Geneva meeting amended the 1989 Basel Convention on the control of hazardous wastes to

include plastic waste in a legally-binding framework. The deal empowers developing countries to

refuse dumping.

POINTS TO NOTE

The 1,400 representatives, meeting in Geneva reached the agreement after 12 days’ discussion on what Rolph Payet,

Executive Secretary of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) called “one of the world’s most pressing environmental

issues”.

The IPEN umbrella group seeking to eliminate hazardous and toxic chemicals said the new amendment would

empower developing countries to refuse “dumping plastic waste” by others.

Plastic waste pollution has reached “epidemic proportions” with an estimated 100 million tonnes of plastic

now found in the oceans.

14 May Chinese navy launches two new guided missile destroyers

The Chinese navy for the first time in its history has logistic bases in Djibouti in the Indian Ocean and

is developing Pakistan’s Gwadar port in the Arabian Sea.

POINTS TO NOTE

China also has acquired Sri Lanka’s Hambantota port in a debt swap for 99 years.

Two Type 052D guided missile destroyers were launched last Friday in Dalian.

Their commissioning marked the 19th and 20th of launches of their kind.

Destroyers are fast, highly manoeuvrable long distance warships which are also used to accompany the

aircraft carriers.China now has 20 Type 052Ds either in active service or being fitted out for service soon.










34



15 May NASA's Artemis to put first woman on Moon

NASA's plans for the first woman on the lunar surface ever comes nearly five decades after the men

set their foot there.

POINTS TO NOTE

Artemis is the Greek goddess of the Moon and twin sister of the god Apollo.

The Apollo program famously put the first men on the lunar surface in the 1960 and 70s.

The budget increase is on top of the initial $21 billion budget request from NASA

to accelerate the return to the lunar surface.

Only 12 humans, all male, have so far walked on the Moon and they were all

American.

15 May Pakistan govt approves amnesty scheme to regularise black money

Decision marks turnaround for Prime Minister Imran Khan who accused previous govts of using

amnesties to clean up illegally acquired wealth hidden outside Pakistan.

POINTS TO NOTE

Facing a budget deficit, the International Monetary Fund expects to top 7 per cent of gross domestic product this year

and under pressure to find billions of dollars to reduce the gap, the government is expected to step up efforts to raise

tax.

In a country where only a million people out of a population of more than 200

million pay income tax, increasing the amount of tax raised has been a problem

for successive governments.

The IMF plan will require the government to bring the primary budget deficit,

which excludes debt servicing costs, down to 0.6 percent of GDP next year from

a forecast level of more than 2 percent.

That will require it to squeeze around $5 billion in extra taxes or spending cuts

from Pakistan's roughly $300 billion economy next year alone.










35



16 May Nepal mountaineer Kami Rita climbs Mt.Everest for 23rd time

Kami Rita made his first ascent of the giant peak in 1994 when he was 24 years old. One of his 23

climbs was made from the Chinese side in 2016. He plans to reach the summit at least 25 times.

POINTS TO NOTE

Kami Rita Sherpa, 49, from Thame village of Solukhumbu district successfully reached the top of Everest at around

7.50 a.m., breaking his own record for most summits on the roof of the world.

On May 16, 2018, Kami Rita made history by summiting Everest for the 22nd

time.

Kami Rita has already climbed most of the peaks above 8,000 metres including

K2, Cho-Oyu, Lhoste and Annapurna among others.

This season, nearly 1,000 people, including 378 paying climbers, will attempt the

summit.











36



16 May Alabama passes toughest abortion Bill in U.S.

Doctors who terminate a pregnancy, even in the case of rape, could be jailed which places a near-

total ban on the termination of pregnancy — even in cases of rape and incest — and could punish

doctors who perform the procedure with life in prison.

POINTS TO NOTE

Unlike the doctors carrying out the procedures, women who undergo abortions would not be prosecuted.

Attempts to introduce an amendment providing exceptions for pregnancies conceived due to rape or incest were shut

down by the State Senate.

Under the Bill, performing an abortion is a crime that could land doctors who perform it in prison for 10 to 99 years.

Abortions would only be legal if the life of the mother is in danger or the foetus has a fatal condition. The largest

human rights defence organisation in the United States, the ACLU, promised to file a lawsuit to block its

implementation.

17 May US blacklists Chinese telecom gaint Huawei as trade dispute clouds global outlook

The US commerce department said it was adding Huawei Technologies and 70 affiliates to its “Entity

List"- a move that bans the company from acquiring components and tech from US firms without govt

approval.

POINTS TO NOTE

US Prez Trump earlier signed an executive order barring US companies from using telecommunications equipment

made by firms deemed to pose a national security risk.

.While the order did not specifically name any country or company, US officials

have previously labeled Huawei a “threat” and lobbied allies not to use Huawei

network equipment in next-generation 5G networks.Huawei, which denies its products pose a security threat, said it was “ready and willing to engage with the US

government and come up with effective measures to ensure product security.”










37



17 May Former Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke dies at 89

Robert James Lee Hawke, a transformative and charismatic left-wing lawmaker with a “larrikin' streak

served as Australian Prime Minister from 1983 to 1991,

POINTS TO NOTE

Robert James Lee Hawke, a former trade union leader, was first elected to parliament in 1980 and was named leader of

the centre-left Labor Party less than a month before a snap general election in 1983.

Voters embraced Hawke and Labor won an unlikely landslide against a

conservative government led by Malcolm Fraser, who had been in power for

nearly a decade. Hawke became Australia's 23rd prime minister.

19 May Donald Trump lifts steel, aluminum tariffs on Canada, Mexico

The steep US tariffs imposed last year — 25 per cent on steel and 10 per cent on aluminum —

became a major stumbling block to ratifying a new North American trade pact negotiated last year by

the three countries.

POINTS TO NOTE

According to the agreement with Canada, the two governments will withdraw all complaints lodged in the World

Trade Organization.

The two countries also agreed to monitor imports of steel and aluminium to ensure metals that are sold at “dumped

prices” — below the cost of production — are not purchased in or shipped through Canada.

In addition, they agreed to a provision to reimpose steep duties if imports of the metals “surge meaningfully beyond

historic volumes of trade over a period of time.”

US tariffs on steel and aluminium from Europe remain in place, as does the EU retaliation. Some countries, including

South Korea, accepted export quotas to avoid the tariffs.










38



19 May Australian Opposition leader Bill Shorten concedes defeat

Australia’s ruling conservative coalition won a surprise victory in the country’s general election on

Saturday. The Labor party leader says his party will not be able to form the next government and

congratulated Prime Minister Scott Morrison.

POINTS TO NOTE

Opposition leader Bill Shorten had earlier conceded defeat as the coalition came close to a majority in the 151-seat

House of Representatives, where parties need a majority to form a government. Vote counting was to continue on

Sunday.

Shorten would have become Australia’s sixth prime minister in as many years.

He said he would no longer lead Labor after six years at the helm. The tight race

raised the prospect of the coalition forming a minority government.

The conservatives became a rare minority government after they dumped

Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister for Morrison in an internal power struggle

last August. The government then lost two seats and its single-seat majority as

part of the blood-letting that followed.

19 May U.K. law secures rights of Sikhs to carry kirpans

The All Party Parliamentary Group for British Sikhs had led a delegation to the U.K. Home Office to

ensure that the Sikhs in the country will be allowed to carry kirpans and use it during religious and

cultural functions

POINTS TO NOTE

The ‘Offensive Weapons Bill’ received the royal assent this week. The Bill had

been amended late last year to ensure that it would not impact the right of the

British-Sikh community to possess and supply Kirpans for religious reasons.

Large Kirpans, with blades over 50 cm, are used by the community during

religious ceremonies in gurdwaras as well as for ceremonies involving the

traditional Sikh Gatka martial art. The Offensive Weapons Act covers new

offences around possession of certain offensive weapons in public.










39



21 May Switzerland votes 'yes' to being for corporate tax home for big business

The outcome ensures Switzerland remains a low tax domicile for companies and still is compliant

with international rules.

POINTS TO NOTE

The new system will consist of deductions on profit from patents and R&D expenses, to make up for having to get rid

of the breaks now accorded multinationals. That’s because they no longer are in line with Organization for Economic

Cooperation and Development rules.

A failure to pass the reform could have sparked an exodus of firms to low-tax locales like Ireland or Singapore because

in Switzerland they would’ve been taxed at the same rate as local companies —

which in Geneva is currently as high as 24.16 per cent.

21 May Japan's economy expanded for 2nd straight quarter

Japan's economy has recorded moderate growth under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's 'Abenomics'

anti-deflation programs but contracted in some recent periods because of natural disasters and

other factors.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Cabinet office said seasonally adjusted real Gross domestic product, the

total value of a nation's goods and services, grew 0.5% in the January-March

period from the previous quarter.Healthy public investment and private residential investment helped boost growth during the quarter.








https://wap.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=switzerland




40



21 May TV comedian Zelenskiy sworn in as Ukraine’s president

Mr. Zelenskiy, a popular comedian with no political experience, overwhelmingly won the presidential

election against incumbent Petro Poroshenko.

POINTS TO NOTE

He said ending the conflict with Russian-backed rebels in the east would be his top priority.

A political novice, he campaigned strongly against official corruption.

Mr Zelensky a former television star, acted the part of Ukrainian president in a popular comedy series. He scored a

landslide victory in last month's presidential election.

21 May Indian’s charity in UAE enters Guinness World Records for holding longest iftar

Joginder Singh Salaria, founder of PCT Humanity, said the efforts were in continuation to the

vegetarian iftar held daily at the premises of his company Pehal International, Dubai Industrial Park.

POINTS TO NOTE

The attempt saw iftar meals containing seven items spread in a line without keeping any gap between the packages

for a kilometre.

The charity set the new Guinness World Records for “Longest Line of Hunger Relief Package” in Abu Dhabi.










41



21 May World gets the redefined SI units of measurement now based entirely on fundamental properties of

nature

A resolution to redefine four of the seven base units was passed by representatives of 60 countries

at the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) of the International Bureau of Weights

and Measures (BIPM), Paris on November 16 last year.

POINTS TO NOTE

It is based on properties of nature, which will ensure their ongoing refinement and improvement for years to come.

The fundamental constants are invariants of time and space and successfully replaced the artifact based units, and

aptly opened up the new era for quantum world by linking all seven base units to fundamental constants/quantum

standards.

The new SI is being implemented worldwide from 20th May 2019 i.e. the World

Metrology Day. The World Metrology Day (WMD) is celebrated annually on this

very day as the Metre Convention was signed by representatives of seventeen

nations on May 20, 1875.

The Convention set the framework for global collaboration in the science of

measurement and in its industrial, commercial and societal applications.

22 May Nepali climber Kami Rita Sherpa scales Mount Everest for second time in a week

The 49-year-old Sherpa has also set a record of ascending the highest peak of the world 24 times.

POINTS TO NOTE

A guide for more than two decades, Sherpa first summited the 8,848-metre (29,029-foot) peak, the world's highest, in

1994 while working for a commercial expedition.

In the 25 years since, the 49-year-old has made 35 summits on five 8,000-metre peaks, including the world's second-

highest mountain, K2 in Pakistan.

Last year he ascended Everest for the 22nd time, breaking the previous record of 21 summits he shared with two other

Sherpa climbers, both of whom have retired.










42



23 May China delivers first overhauled JF-17 fighter jet to Pakistan

This is also the first time AVIC has overhauled a made-for-export third generation fighter, or fourth

generation according to another widely used standard.

POINTS TO NOTE

It represents the trial-and-error phase of the project and provided experience in establishing standards for other JF-17

overhauls in future.

The overhaul of the fighter jet includes major maintenance, featuring repairs and replacement of old components,

including the airframe and engine.

Also, a Block 3 variant of the JF-17 is under development. It is expected to be much more powerful than the previous

two blocks due to new China-developed active electronically scanned array radar.

23 May Former Malaysian King Sultan Ahmad Shah passes away

Malaysia's seventh King and football veteran Sultan Ahmad Shah passed away here on Wednesday

at the age of 88.

POINTS TO NOTE

Born in 1930, Ahmad Shah was proclaimed the fifth Sultan of Pahang in 1974. He became the seventh Yang di-Pertuan

Agong, or the supreme head of state from 1979 to 1984.

He held the presidency of the Football Association of Malaysia for two decades and was the President of the Asian

Federation cooperation (AFC) from 1994 to 2002.

Ahmad Shah abdicated in January as Sultan of Pahang due to ill health in favour of his son Sultan Abdullah Sultan

Ahmad Shah. Abdullah later became Malaysia's 16th King, who functions as the nation's constitutional monarch.

23 May South Africa lawmakers re-elect Cyril Ramaphosa as president

MPs from the African National Congress, which won 230 out of 400 seats on May 8, choose the head

of state in the parliament's first post-election sitting.

POINTS TO NOTE

The ANC won the ballot with 57.5 percent of the vote, its thinnest majority since the end of apartheid.

Under South Africa's 1996 constitution, electors vote for a party, and the party selects individuals who go to the

National Assembly, which then chooses the head of state.










43



25 May SpaceX launches 5 dozen small satellites for Starlink internet service

Starlink is pivotal in helping pay for his larger goals of developing a new spacecraft to fly paying

customers to the moon and for eventually trying to colonize Mars.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Falcon 9 was due to release its cargo of 60 satellites into orbit about an hour

after Thursday’s launch. Each one weighs 500 pounds (227 kg), making it the

heaviest payload for any SpaceX rocket to date.

Those satellites are designed to form the initial phase a planned constellation capable of beaming signals for high-

speed internet service from space to paying customers around the globe.








https://wap.business-standard.com/topic/falcon




44



25 May Theresa May to step down as British Prime Minister on June 7 amid Brexit pressure

May has bowed to relentless pressure from her party to quit over her failure to take Britain out of the

European Union on schedule.

POINTS TO NOTE

She will stay as caretaker prime minister until the new leader is chosen, a process likely to take several weeks. The new

Conservative leader would then become prime minister without the need for a general election.

Her departure will trigger a party leadership contest in which any Conservative lawmaker can run. The early front-

runner is Boris Johnson, a former foreign secretary and strong champion of Brexit.

Britain is currently due to leave the EU on Oct. 31, but Parliament has yet to approve divorce terms.

May became prime minister in July 2016, and her premiership has been consumed by the so-far-unsuccessful attempt

to leave the EU.

25 May UK High Court orders Vijay Mallya to pay Diageo over $135 million

Over and above the $135 million, Mallya is liable to pay interest incurred at a commercial rate as well

as 200,000 pounds towards legal costs to Beverages giant Diageo.

POINTS TO NOTE

The remainder of the $175 million, including $40 million paid directly to Mallya, sought by Diaego will

proceed to trial expected at a much later date.Of the total amount claimed by the London-headquartered firm, $40 million is claimed directly from Mallya as the

amount paid to him as part of a disengagement agreement and the remaining amount from Sidhartha Mallya and

Watson Limited, a company held in a Mallya family trust called Continental Administration Services Limited (CASL

26 May Volcano on Indonesia’s Bali erupts, flights cancelled

Mount Agung became active again in 2017 after more than a half century of slumber following a

major eruption in 1963.

POINTS TO NOTE

The national disaster agency said the eruption on Friday night lasted about four minutes and 30 seconds and spread

lava and incandescent rocks about 3 kilometers from the crater.

Nine villages experienced thick ash fall.But the agency said it wasn’t raising the alert level for the volcano and its

exclusion zone remains a four kilometre radius around the crater.










45



31 May World’s smallest baby survives after 5 months in neonatal ICU

A California hospital on Wednesday disclosed the birth of the world’s smallest baby ever to survive,

weighing a mere 245 grams — the same as a large apple — when she was born.

POINTS TO NOTE

Saybie was delivered via emergency caesarean section in December at 23 weeks and three days gestation in the womb

after severe pregnancy complications that put her mother’s life at risk. A typical pregnancy lasts 40 weeks.

After nearly five months at the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, Saybie was discharged home earlier this month

weighing a healthy 2.2 kg and sporting a graduation cap.










46



3. Regional and State


02 May A portal to register e-vehicles in launched in Maharashtra

Government to provide fiscal incentives to owners of first one lakh EVs to promote usage of clean

fuels.

POINTS TO NOTE

A gateway for sanction and disbursement of fiscal incentive to the buyers of Electric Vehicle (EVs), the portal is

designed to accommodate one lakh applications including those of 70,000 battery-operated two-wheelers, 20,000

three-wheelers, and 10,000 four-wheelers.

The portal could also take registration of 1,000 battery-operated buses.

As per the policy approved by the State Cabinet last year, an enabling environment is being created for the

manufacture of nearly 5,00,000 EVs in the next five years.

The government proposes exempting e-vehicles from road tax and registration charges.

In addition, 15% subsidy will be provided to owners of first 1,00,000 EVs registered which would be ₹5,000 for

two-wheelers, ₹12,000 for three-wheelers, and up to ₹1,00,000 for the four-wheelers.

16 May No petrol for bikers without helmets in Noida from June 1

According to the Section 129 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, not wearing helmet while riding a two-

wheeler is a violation of the law and can draw imprisonment up to six months under Indian Penal

Code Section 188.

POINTS TO NOTE

The district administration also warned legal action, including suspension of driving license for not wearing helmet

and arrest if riders without helmet misbehave with staff at filling stations.

When those without helmet reach filling stations, their details and vehicle

numbers would be traced through CCTV footage and legal action initiated

against them. Their driving license can also be cancelled.










47



19 May Ujala Clinics to be revamped with peer educators' services

As part of an ambitious plan to revamp Ujala Clinics for adolescents, the Rajasthan government will

appoint peer educators and “shadow educators” for counselling of youngsters and ensure better

coordination with other medical and health schemes.

POINTS TO NOTE

A workshop of adolescent health counsellors was organised here earlier this week under the Rashtriya Kishor

Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK).

The role of Ujala Clinics and the scope for connecting them with the initiatives for promoting mental health,

reproductive health and de-addiction was discussed on the occasion.

The new batch of educators will deal with behavioural aspects of adolescents

and help them cope with physical and hormonal changes.

19 May Revised auto-rickshaw fares to be implemented in Delhi after poll code ends

The Delhi government on March 8 had approved recommendations of a committee for hike of Rs 1.5

per km in existing rate of Rs 8 per km for around 90,000 autos playing on the city roads.

POINTS TO NOTE

It also approved revision in base fare from existing Rs 25 for first two kilometres to Rs 25 for 1.5 kilometres.

The Transport minister had said fare revision is not a reserved subject and

there is no need for the approval of the Lieutenant Governor.

OTHERS

14 May Treat for tribal children in International Child Film Festival

A total of 228 children from tribal settlements in Malabar are now catching the latest in children’s

films across the world at the International Child Film Festival.

POINTS TO NOTE

Among the participants are 52 students from Malappuram, 25 from Kannur, 50 from Thrissur and 46 from Kasaragod.

There also 55 students from tribal settlements in Kollam district.

The Child Welfare Council has arranged the food and accommodation for them in the city.

They will be at the festival for three days, after which students from tribal settlements in other districts will

arrive.










48



19 May Kutch in the grip of worst drought

Kutch, India’s largest district, is in the grip of one of the worst droughts. The western and northern

Banni areas of this Gujarat district have been without rain for the third continuous year.

POINTS TO NOTE

The drought has not spared Khadir island along the India-Pakistan border either.

Water from a branch canal of the Narmada project would be very valuable at

such times, but it has not yet reached the area.

27 May Women-only cab service to be launched in Coimbatore by June

Pink Taxi, a cab service “by and for women,” will be launched on June 6 in the city. The taxi service will

have only women drivers and will be available for only women customers.

POINTS TO NOTE

The recruited women drivers were trained for three days on handling the mobile application and facing different

situations with the customers.

Pink Taxi is a part of the Coimbatore-based cab aggregator Red Taxi. This all-women cab services will be available

between 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.










49



4. Business and Economy


01 May I-T Department and GSTN to sign MoU for sharing data to prevent anomalies

The department order provides for the Principal Director General or Director General of Income Tax

(Systems) to sign an MoU with the GSTN allowing them to send information on assessees to the

nodal officer in the GSTN.

POINTS TO NOTE

The order, dated April 30, states that the GSTN can ask for and be provided data relating to an assessee’s status of

filing income tax returns, turnover, gross total income, financial ratios, and any other data with the I-T Department to

be decided at a later date.

The order also provides for the automatic exchange of such data and not just based on requests, the modalities of

which will be decided.

06 May GST: B2B invoices will have to be generated on govt portal by Sept

The move will help in curbing Goods and Services Tax (GST) evasion through issue of fake invoices.

POINTS TO NOTE

It will make the returns filing process simpler for businesses as invoice data would already be captured by a

centralised portal.

Once rolled out, the e-invoice project will allow businesses to simultaneously generate e-way bill, if needed.

E-way bill is required for moving goods exceeding Rs 50,000.

Depending on the success of the project in the B2B segment, the revenue department would be looking at

extending it to business-to-consumer (B2C) sales, especially in sectors where the probability of tax evasion is

high.

Businesses beyond the specified turnover threshold, to be decided later, would be provided a software which

will be linked to the GST Network (GSTN) or a government portal for generating e-invoice. The threshold can

also be fixed on the basis of the value of invoice.










50



09 May Independent directors face mandatory e-registration

All independent directors may have to register as part of a new initiative by the ministry of corporate

affairs (MCA), which also plans to introduce online training modules on various issues that these

board members deal with.

POINTS TO NOTE

The registration process will be in addition to the Directors Identification Number, where a KYC process was recently

undertaken.

A corporate boss or a promoter, who may be an executive director on the board, will also have to register if he or she

is an independent director on the board of another company.

The move follows earlier efforts by the ministry to put in place a screening mechanism for independent directors after

several Indian companies led by IL&FS were hit by a series of irregularities and the role of several individual had come

under the scanner. In fact, provisions related to disqualification of directors was also discussed.

10 May Jindal Steel bags Rs 665 cr order to supply rail to Indian Railways

This is the second big rail order in less than a year, the first-ever rail order to JSPL for supplying close

to one lakh tonnes rails to Indian Railways was completed in April, 2019.

POINTS TO NOTE

In July 2018, JSPL bagged the first-ever global tender for supply of rails to the Indian Railways. As per the terms of the

global tender, JSPL was to supply close to one lakh tonnes of long rails, worth ₹ 568 crore to Indian Railways over a

period of one year.

JSPL said that it had completed the delivery in record time, 4 months ahead of schedule. Over and above, JSPL

secured an additional order to supply 30,000 tonnes of rails under this global tender.

13 May MCA-21 version 3 to offer ease of doing biz, online compliance monitoring

MCA-21 is an initiative under Ministry of Corporate Affairs storing all registered companies that file

accounts online with MCA.

POINTS TO NOTE

The new MCA-21 V 3.0 will have features like single source of truth, ease of doing business, e-adjudication, online

compliance monitoring, all aimed at improving the authenticity and comprehensiveness of corporate It may also make

the current registrar of companies (RoC) appear obsolete.

MCA 21 which was under revamp to a new version has found itself under controversy over utility of the

enrolled companies under the database.

Another 12 per cent of companies could not be found putting a question mark on accuracy of GDP data that

switched to verifying corporate data using MCA-21.

The government has already said there would not be any impact on the GDP data, saying that appropriate

adjustments are made at aggregate levels.










51



26 May In a major statistical system overhaul, govt plans to merge CSO, NSSO

The government has decided to merge the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) and the National

Sample Survey Office (NSSO) to form a National Statistical Office (NSO).

POINTS TO NOTE

The move is a follow-up of a decision taken in 2005, during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s tenure,

which was based on recommendations of the report of the National Statistical Commission, headed by former Reserve

Bank of India governor C Rangarajan.

Both the wings are currently part of the MoSPI. While the NSSO comes out with various

sample surveys such as on consumption expenditure, employment and

unemployment, the CSO releases various data such as GDP and IIP.

29 May GSTN providing free billing software to MSMEs

GST Network (GSTN) on said it has started offering free accounting and billing software to MSMEs

with annual turnover of up to Rs 1.5 crore, which would benefit about 80 lakh small businesses.

POINTS TO NOTE

This software would help businesses create invoices and account statements, manage inventory and prepare GST

returns. The said software is available under 'Download' tab on the official GST portal www.gst.gov.in.

The software providers offer basic features like sale/ purchase/ cash ledger, inventory management, supplier/

customer masters, generation of invoices, preparation of GST returns for free, while for services like additional feature

like bank reconciliation, account receivable would be chargeable.








https://wap.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=nsso



52



30 May 100-day agenda: Commerce ministry pushes for separate logistics department

Official estimates put the size of the Indian logistics market at $100-125 billion and growing at about

5% annually.

POINTS TO NOTE

The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has prepared the detailed project reports (DPRs) for these

warehousing and storage hubs, to give fillip to the logistics industry, in Guwahati (Assam), Surat

(Gujarat), Dabaspet (Karnataka), Indore (Madhya Pradesh), and Mumbai.

The series of logistics parks envisaged under the broader Bharatmala scheme of the

road transport ministry may now be implemented by Udyog Bhavan, which has

championed the plan to reduce high logistics costs (estimated 14 per cent of

gross domestic product) to less than 10 per cent by 2022, and is also finalising a

dedicated policy for the sector.

MOU'S / AGREEMENTS











53



29 May Sri Lanka signs port deal with India, Japan

The three countries will jointly build the East Container Terminal at the Port of Colombo. Sri Lanka on

Tuesday signed a deal with India and Japan to develop a deep-sea container terminal in the country

that has seen increasing forays by China which has taken a strategic port on a 99-year lease that has

worried New Delhi.

POINTS TO NOTE

70 per cent of Colombo Port's transshipment business is India related while Japan had cooperated since the 1980s to

develop the port's container terminals.

SLPA retains 100 per cent ownership of the East Container Terminal. The Terminal Operations Company (TOC)

conducting all East Container Terminal operations is jointly owned; Sri Lanka retains a 51 per cent stake, and the joint

venture partners purchase a 49 per cent stake.

OTHERS

01 May Yes Bank shares dive 30% on Q4 loss

Shares of Yes Bank plummeted after the company reported a loss of Rs 1,506.64 crore for the fourth

quarter, owing to rise in provisioning for bad loans.

POINTS TO NOTE

The bank had recorded a net profit of Rs 1,179.44 crore on standalone basis during January-March period of 2017-18, it

said in a regulatory filing on Friday.

The bank's total income rose to Rs 8,388.38 crore as against Rs 7,163.95 crore in the same quarter of the

previous fiscal, the bank had said in the filing.










54



02 May Sebi bans NSE from accessing securities market for 6 months, slaps Rs 687 crore fine

The regulator found former NSE Managing Directors Ravi Narain and Chitra Ramkrishna guilty in a

co-location case.

POINTS TO NOTE

It imposed a six-month ban on NSE from launching new derivative products, barred some present and past executives

from the market and initiated strict action against stock brokers.

In an unusual move, the markets watchdog passed five separate orders together running into 400 pages,

related to the co-location case, wherein some entities allegedly got preferential access in high-frequency

trading.

The country's largest stock exchange has also been barred from accessing the securities market directly or

indirectly for six months.

Alleged lapses in high-frequency trading offered through NSE's co-location facility came under the scanner of

the watchdog after a complaint was filed in 2015.

03 May K.Kadiresan takes charge as LIC South Zone head

He will oversee the operations of 13 divisional offices, 261 branch offices and 262 satellite offices

covering Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Union Territories of Puducherry and Lakshadweep.

POINTS TO NOTE

There are likely to be two more senior appointments at the state-run insurer as one of its three managing directors, SB

Mainak, retired in February, while it has sought government permission to have a fourth MD, a decision on which is

awaited.

Prior to this posting, he was the executive director (pension and group schemes), LIC, Central Office, Mumbai.

04 May Canadian $10 bill has been adjudged as the best bank note for 2018 by the International Bank Note

Society

Globally renowned social justice icon Viola Desmond has been featured on the note, on whose back

the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Manitoba has been printed.

POINTS TO NOTE

The IBNS Banknote of the Year award is an initiative to recognise an exceptional banknote issued every year.

The Nova Scotia businesswoman, in the year 1946, became a symbol of resistance in Canada’s early civil rights

movement after she refused to make exit from the whites-only area of a movie theatre.

The Canadian Bank Note Company has printed the currency note in the same purple colour used in the earlier

horizontal version of $10 polymer note. The size of the note is just larger than currency bills printed by the

United States (US).










55



04 May Chief economic advisor included in Finance Commission’s Advisory Council

Krishnamurti Subramanian has been included in the Advisory Council of the 15th Finance

Commission as its member.

POINTS TO NOTE

The council now has 12 members, including NIPFP Professor Pinaki Chakraborty, noted economists Surjit Bhalla,

Arvind Virmani, Indira Rajaraman and M Govinda Rao.

The Advisory Council was set up in April 2018 to advise the commission on any issue or subject related to the terms of

reference (ToR) of the commission, and also to assist in the preparation of any paper or research study which would

enhance the commission’s understanding on the issue contained in its ToR.

04 May Former Bhushan Steel CFO Nittin Johri arrested for fraudulent practices

The SFIO probe found that there were several fraudulent practices at the company, including

manipulations in the accounts and financial statements during the term of Johri.

POINTS TO NOTE

He was managing the affairs of Bhushan Steel and was looking after raising of funds from banks and financial

institutions. He was also one of the signatories to the financial statements of the company till fiscal 2016-17.

He was also one of the perpetrators of manipulations through the instrument of Letters of Credit (LCs), which

was done by filing false documents with various banks.

A large number of LCs, amounting to more than Rs 20,000 crore, were opened using false documents on

behalf of the company over a period of time starting from fiscal 2014-15.

04 May SoftBank mulls IPO of $100 bln Vision Fund

The fund was set up in 2017 and has become the world's largest technology investment fund.

POINTS TO NOTE

Its investments include ride-hailing pioneer Uber, chip designer ARM and shared workspace firm WeWork.

Softbank has spoken to half a dozen banks over the last month about a potential listing of the Vision Fund but has

yet to start a formal process.

SoftBank is also in talks with Oman for an investment in the fund, which has raised nearly all of its funding so far

from Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi.










56



05 May Bhushan Steel ex-CFO held, 3 banks under lens

The role of three public sector lenders — State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Uco Bank —

is under the scanner for allegedly issuing close to Rs 20,000 crore opened letters of credit based on

the false documents.

POINTS TO NOTE

Johri is the second executive from the company to have been arrested after his boss and former promoter Neeraj

Singal. Bhushan Steel, which has now been acquired by Tata Steel as part of the insolvency resolution process, is

under investigation for irregularities including loan sanctions and disbursals by banks.

The government suspects that the company, under the previous management, had overstated the cost of its plant and

had diverted a part of the funds.

06 May Income tax e-filers drop by over 6.6 lakh in FY19

According to statistics put out on Income Tax Department's website, tax e-filings in FY 2018-19 was

6.68 cr, down from 6.74 cr in previous fiscal. A trend that analysts said was surprising as the tax base

was expected to increase post demonetisation.

POINTS TO NOTE

Registered filers have been on the rise - they grew by 15 per cent to 8.45 crore as on March 31, 2019.

In signs of lower compliance, the ratio of actual filings to registered filers was 79 per cent in FY2018-19, down

from 91.6 per cent in the previous fiscal.

The compliance ratio was 85 per cent and 83 per cent in the preceding two years. It was 79.3 per cent in

FY2014-15, which was a decline from 82 per cent of FY2013-14.

The data showed a steady rise in filers in the Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh range with 1.05 crore filings in FY2018-19 including

1.02 crore of individual taxpayers.











57



10 May Vodafone Group pledges entire 44.39% stake in Vodafone Idea with 7 banks

The Vodafone Promoter Shareholders collectively hold 127.55 crore equity shares of Vodafone Idea

comprising approximately 44.39 per cent of the equity share capital.

POINTS TO NOTE

The pledge was created within days of Vodafone Group and its partner Aditya Birla Group infusing Rs 17,920 crore

into Vodafone Idea via a rights issue.

The rights issue, in all, raised Rs 25,000 crore with a view to cut debt, which stands at a staggering Rs 1.14

trillion.

Vodafone and Idea last year merged their businesses to create India's largest telecom company to take on

competition posed by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio.

11 May International bank fund transfers become easier: SWIFT

Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, SWIFT’s head of Asia-Pacific and

Europe, Middle East & Africa, Alain Raes, said that the business model for remittance companies got

created because of inefficiencies.

POINTS TO NOTE

Domestic remittances got efficient faster because they were part of a single-payment ecosystem, while the multiple

jurisdictions made it more complex.

But now in many jurisdictions banks were plugging in their domestic transfer platforms to cross-border and the SWIFT

messaging system was getting comprehensive and carrying more details, enabling funds to move directly.

SWIFT is also helping banks to automate cross-border remittances by providing them with application programming

interfaces (APIs) for all its products and services.










58



11 May L and T reported a 7.9 per cent rise in its consolidated profit-after-tax (PAT) at Rs 3,418.24 crore

for Q4 2019

L&T also announced a dividend of Rs 18 per share. Consolidated income in the said quarter

increased to Rs 45,555.29 crore from Rs 41,091.04 crore in January-March 2018.

POINTS TO NOTE

Its PAT stood at Rs 3,167.47 crore during the corresponding period a year ago.

Consolidated income in the said quarter increased to Rs 45,555.29 crore from Rs 41,091.04 crore in January-

March 2018.

The group's consolidated order book was Rs 2,93,427 crore as on March 31, 2019, with international order book

constituting 22 per cent of the total.

The board of directors has recommended a dividend of 18 per equity share, which is subject to the approval

of shareholders.

On the outlook, the company said that with India undergoing general elections in the first quarter of the new

fiscal, the disruptions in decision making processes could impact key operating parameters in the first half of

2019-20.

11 May P S Reddy takes charge as MD and CEO of Multi Commodity Exchange

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has approved Reddy’s appointment for five years

with effect from May 10, 2019.

POINTS TO NOTE

Reddy has also worked with the BSE for over 18 years, leading various departments such as listing, surveillance,

inspection, investor service, and HRD.

He has assumed charge at a time when the exchange is on track to report good profits with rising volumes.

He will have to ensure all metal contracts become compulsorily deliverable and grow.He will also have to see

that more small industries come on the MCX platform and hedge.

12 May Daughter M R Jyothy steps out of the shadows to become MD at Jyothy Labs

Chairman and managing director M P Ramachandran announced that his elder daughter M R Jyothy

would take over as managing director (MD), while his younger daughter M R Deepthi would be the

whole-time director.

POINTS TO NOTE

The announcement has put the spotlight on 40-year-old Jyothy, who’s been a whole-time director at her namesake

company since 2005 and been quietly driving brand strategy and communication for the last few years.

Her sister is general manager (finance), and assistant company secretary. Jyothy is expected to be groomed for a year

by Kamath and other seniors.










59



13 May Hinduja brothers grab top spot in the annual rich list of Britain's wealthiest

Indian-origin brothers dominate the annual rich list of Britain's wealthiest, with the Hinduja brothers

ranked at No. 1 with a fortune of 22 billion pounds followed by Mumbai-born Reuben brothers in

second place with 18.66 billion pounds.

POINTS TO NOTE

The London-based industrialist, along with UK-based brother Sri, 83, and their brothers Prakash, 73, and Ashok, 68,

who live in Geneva and Mumbai respectively, control more than 50 companies with a total turnover of nearly

40 billion pounds worldwide in 2018.

The family occupies four interconnected London homes in Carlton House Terrace.

The Hindujas, have stakes in oil and gas, IT, energy, media, banking, property and healthcare. Some of the

biggest hike in profits last year came from London-registered Hinduja Automotive, which includes North

Yorkshire bus maker Optare and saw profits rise by 50 per cent to 337 million pounds on 3.5 billion pounds

sales in 2017-18.

14 May China retaliates with tariff hike on US goods worth USD 60 billion

Beijing will increase the tariffs to 25 per cent from 10 per cent and the duties will apply to 5,140 US

products.

POINTS TO NOTE

The move follows US President Donald Trump's decision to raise duties on $200 billion of Chinese products from 10

per cent to 25 per cent as the world's two largest economies failed to produce a breakthrough after months of trade

talks.

The latest escalation came shortly after Trump tweeted a warning to China not to retaliate against the extra

tariffs he imposed last week.

The development raises the stakes in a widening trade conflict that has rattled investors and threatened to

damage the global economy. US stock futures signalled a sharp drop on Monday morning amid the

escalation.








https://wap.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=bus+maker

https://wap.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=optare



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14 May ITC elevates Sanjiv Puri as chairman after Y C Deveshwar's death

An engineering graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Puri joined ITC in 1986, and

has now made his way to the top job

POINTS TO NOTE

Under the new Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) norms, the top 500 listed entities would have to ensure

that the chairperson would be a non-executive director from April 1, 2020.

However, it does not apply to listed entities that do not have any identifiable promoter, according to the shareholding

pattern filed with the stock exchanges.

ITC had split the role of executive chairman between chairman and chief executive officer in 2017 when

Deveshwar moved into a non-executive role from executive chairman.

Puri went on to become the chief executive officer. ITC had been working on its succession plan for a while

now and Puri has been an important part of it, especially in recent years.

15 May WPI inflation slips to 3.07% in April on cheaper manufacturing products

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was at 3.18 per cent in March. It was 3.62 per cent in

April 2018.

POINTS TO NOTE

The RBI had cut its key policy rates by identical 25 basis points in its two most recent policy reviews. India’s economy

seems to have slowed sharply in recent months amid visible signs of weaker consumer spending.

With international oil prices hovering at $71 per barrel, a depreciating currency and rising domestic food inflation, RBI

may wait out in the June policy to assess the evolving growth-inflation dynamics











61



15 May R Gandhi appointed additional director on Yes Bank board

Yes Bank's shares closed at Rs 156.15 apiece on the BSE, up 0.84 per cent over Monday.

POINTS TO NOTE

The appointment is for a period of two years with effect from May 14, 2019 to May 13, 2021 or till further orders,

whichever is earlier.

Gandhi was RBI deputy governor during April, 2014 and April, 2017.

16 May Panasonic to set up a 1-lakh-strong charging grid to power electric vehicles in India

The Japanese giant is lining up a mega electric vehicles charging grid across top 25 Indian cities,

looking to set up one lakh charging stations and telematic solutions by 2024 to power over a million

vehicles.

POINTS TO NOTE

The company – one of the key partner (battery cell supplier) for American electric vehicles maker Tesla plans

to set up mini charging facilities at parking stations, malls, petrol pumps, and

specially-developed zones across cities such as Delhi, Pune, Bangalore, Chennai,

Amravati, Hyderabad, Gurgaon, Noida, and Ghaziabad.

Through the network, Panasonic aims to reach individual electric vehicle users,

fleet owners, e-commerce and logistics companies to manage their fleet more

efficiently.

Most of the expansion will be through the franchisee model while Panasonic will

control the core network and technologies.










62



16 May Mexican fast-food major Taco Bell plans to open 600 outlets in India

Taco Bell operates through over 500 restaurants in 30 countries outside the US. In the US, it has

around 7,000 restaurants.

POINTS TO NOTE

This year, it plans to open 35 outlets and add up to five new towns in Bengal and Gujarat in its portfolio.

Since it began its journey in India in 2010, Taco Bell’s growth has been muted. In 2015, it got to expand its

business and had open up 30 restaurants in total in 11 cities. Now, with the

focus of its global management on the local market, Taco Bell will ramp up the

process.

16 May Project ‘SPARROW-CBIC’ for Group ‘B’ and ‘C’ Officers of Central Board of Indirect Taxes and

Customs (CBIC) implemented

As part of CBIC’s constant endeavor for better HR management, online writing of APARs in SPARROW

has now been launched for over 46,000 Group B & C officers of CBIC, working in its various

formations all across the country.

POINTS TO NOTE

SPARROW-CBIC is one of its kind in terms of Scale/ number of employees covered as far as Central Government

Departments are concerned.

It brings a complete change in APAR management of such large number of Group ‘B’ & ‘C’ Officers/ Staff of CBIC, which

would, in turn, lead to better HR Management.

This Project leverages modern technology for enhancing the overall efficiency

and morale of the huge workforce working in Central GST and Customs

formations of CBIC. The Project is an important milestone in the journey

towards digitisation and paper less working.








https://wap.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=taco+bell



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19 May Bharti Airtel's Rs 24,939-crore rights issue fully subscribed

Shares of Bharti Airtel closed at Rs 328 on Friday on the BSE. The latest fundraising will increase

Bharti Airtel's equity base to 5.13 billion equity shares.

POINTS TO NOTE

The data provided by the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and the BSE, however, showed the offering had garnered

bids for only 690 million shares-61 per cent of the issue size of 1.13 billion shares.

Bankers said additional demand came from renunciations that did not reflect in exchange bids. Renunciation is done

by a shareholder with rights entitlement in favour of another investor.

The bulk of the proceeds from the share issue will be used to repay debt and

lower borrowing costs. However, experts believe a large part of the proceeds

could be deployed to take on Reliance Jio. It could also be used for the proposed

5G spectrum auctions this year.

22 May RIL topples IOC to become the biggest Indian company in revenue terms

RIL was also the most profitable company in the country with a net profit of more than double that of

IOC in FY2019.

POINTS TO NOTE

Reliance, which was about half the size of IOC till about a decade back but its bet on burgeoning consumer base and

foray into new businesses such as telecom, retail, and digital services vastly expanded its business, clocked a net profit

of Rs 39,588 crore in FY19. IOC, on the other hand, ended the year with a net profit of Rs 17.274 crore.

IOC till last year was the most profitable PSU but may have lost this position to Oil and Natural Gas Corp

(ONGC) in 2018-19. ONGC is yet to declare its FY19 earnings but it had clocked a

net profit of Rs 22,671 crore in the first nine months of the fiscal year.








https://wap.business-standard.com/topic/gas



64



23 May Vistara appoints Vinod Kannan as chief strategy officer before global foray

Kannan, who was the chief commercial officer at Scoot, Singapore Airline’s budget arm, will look after

network planning and airline alliance.

POINTS TO NOTE

Currently, these two functions are handled by Sanjiv Kapoor, the chief strategy and commercial officer of the airline.

Kapoor will remain the chief commercial officer and focus on sales, marketing, cabin services, loyalty programme and

other functions.

Vistara had planned to launch its maiden international flight to Colombo in May, but the plan has been put on hold

following a terror attack in the city.

The airline is now evaluating other destinations such as Dhaka and has sought government permission to launch

services to Bangkok and Singapore. It has code share ties with Singapore Airlines, British Airways, and Japan Airlines.











65



26 May Vistara to diversify fleet with four Boeing, two Airbus aircraft

Additions to include 4 planes that were earlier part of Jet making Vistara the 4th airlines with 100

planes.

POINTS TO NOTE

The full-service airline, which already has a fleet of 22 Airbus A320 family aircraft, has decided to take on lease an

additional six aircraft — four Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft and two Airbus A320neos.

These four Boeing aircraft were once part of the Jet Airways fleet. After de-registration, these will be delivered to

Vistara by the end of the month. This is for the first time that Vistara is diversifying its fleet — an indication that it

could be capitalising on Jet Airways’ grounding.

Vistara has also recruited about 500 former employees of Jet Airways to support the next phase of expansion of its

domestic operations. These include pilots, cabin crew, engineers and other staff.

27 May Spicejet adds 100th plane to fleet, 4th domestic airline to do so till now

SpiceJet is the fourth domestic airline to achieve the feat after national carrier Air India, now defunct

Jet Airways and rival IndiGo. Eight domestic carriers - Air India, IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir, Air India

Express, Vistara, AirAsia and Alliance together have 595 planes in their fleet at the moment.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Gurugram-based budget carrier now has 68 Boeing 737s, 30 Bombardier Q-400s and two B737 freighters.

The airline at present operates 575 daily flights on an average to 62 destinations 53 domestic and nine international.

SpiceJet is a key player in the Union government's regional connectivity scheme UDAN operating 42 flights per day to

and from various regional destinations.

29 May Fiat Chrysler, Renault pursue $35 billion merger

Fiat Chrysler (FCA) pitched a finely balanced merger of equals to Renault on Monday to tackle the

costs of far-reaching technological and regulatory changes by creating the world’s third largest

carmaker.

POINTS TO NOTE

Shares in both companies jumped more than 10% as investors welcomed the prospect of an enlarged business

capable of producing more than 8.7 million vehicles a year and aiming for 5 billion euros ($5.6 billion) in annual

savings.

It would rank third in the global auto industry behind Japan’s Toyota and Germany’s Volkswagen.










66



30 May Bandhan Bank to open 16 more branches by June

City-based Bandhan Bank will open 16 more branches by June following the approval received from

the Reserve Bank of India in 2018-19 to open 64 new branches.

POINTS TO NOTE

Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, managing director & chief executive officer, Bandhan Bank, said that while 48 branches were

opened by March 2019, the remaining branches would be opened this quarter.

The bank has 370 branches in the West Bengal State.

31 May Y Combinator selects record 15 desi startups

Y Combinator, famed Silicon Valley accelerator, has picked a record 15 startups for its summer batch

of 2019. Typically, Y Combinator picks four-five startups from India for each of its summer and winter

batches.

POINTS TO NOTE

This year was that Y Combinator held interviews from shortlisted applicants in India for the first time. Another factor

was the launch of the YC Startup School, which attracted a lot of students from India.

Y Combinator has backed over 2,000 startups since the programme was launched in 2005 and, collectively, these

companies have been valued at over $100 billion.

Some of its biggest global successes besides Stripe (valued at $22.5 billion) and Airbnb ($35 billion) include crypto

exchange Coinbase ($8 billion), cloud storage platform Dropbox ($9.3 billion) and delivery company Doordash ($12.6

billion).

What might be driving further interest of Y Combinator in India could also be the success of some of the early

companies it had backed, including online tax-filing platform Cleartax, social commerce platform Meesho ($250

million) and payment gateway Razorpay, which is raising a new round of funding at a valuation of over $400 million.










67



5. Banking Awareness


30 May RBI extends RTGS timing till 6pm for general public

The RBI notified extension of the timings for customer transactions (initial cut-off) in RTGS from 4:30

pm to 6:00 pm. Under Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) System, there is a continuous and real-

time settlement of fund-transfers, individually on a transaction by transaction basis (without netting).

POINTS TO NOTE

Under Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) System, there is a continuous and real-time settlement of fund-transfers,

individually on a transaction by transaction basis (without netting).

The RTGS system is primarily meant for large value transactions. The minimum amount to be remitted through RTGS is

Rs 2 lakh with no upper or maximum ceiling.

30 May Banks can use Aadhaar for KYC with customer's consent.

The RBI specifies Know Your Customer (KYC) norms to be followed by banks and other entities

regulated by it for various customer services, including opening of bank accounts.

POINTS TO NOTE

In February, the Union Cabinet had approved promulgation of an ordinance to allow voluntary use of the 12-digit

unique number as identity proof for opening bank account and procuring mobile phone connection.

The ordinance was necessitated as a bill, passed by the Lok sabha on January 4 but pending in the

Rajya Sabha, would have lapsed with the dissolution of the current Lok sabha.

The ordinance gave effect to changes in the Aadhar Act such as giving a child an

option to exit from the biometric ID programme on attaining 18 years of age.

OTHERS








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68



10 May Karnataka Bank appoints COO and CBO

Mangaluru-headquartered Karnataka bank has promoted its General Managers Balachandran YV

and Gokuldas Pain as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business Officer, respectively.

POINTS TO NOTE

Pai will be in charge of credit marketing, credit sanctions, branch banking & digital channels and transformation cell.

Balachandra, in his new role, will be overall in-charge of treasury & accounts, credit monitoring, legal & recovery, IT &

MIS, and HR & investor relations.

17 May RBI directs NBFCs to appoint chief risk officer

The CRO shall not have any reporting relationship with the business verticals of the NBFC and shall

not be given any business targets.

POINTS TO NOTE

The CRO is required to function independently to ensure highest standards of risk management.

RBI's directive comes at a time when India's shadow banks are is facing a funding crisis as some of the firms are

burdened with over-leveraging and mismatch between assets and liabilities.

27 May Switzerland steps up process to share banking information with India.

Since March, at least 25 notices have been issued by the Swiss authorities to Indian clients of

Switzerland-based banks. 11 Indians received notices in a single day.

POINTS TO NOTE

Switzerland strives hard to re-establish its global financial centre position after clamping down on secrecy walls of its

banks, there has been a significant surge in the number of cases where it has initiated process to share information on

Indians with Swiss bank accounts and shot off letters to about a dozen such individuals last week itself.

An analysis of the notices issued by the Federal Tax Administration, Switzerland government's nodal department for

sharing of information on foreign clients of Swiss banks shows that the Swiss government has

stepped up its efforts in sharing such details with a number of countries in the

recent months, but the surge in India-related cases is noticeable in the past few

weeks.










69



29 May Indian Overseas Bank bets big on ‘bank on wheels’

Chennai-based public-sector lender Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has launched ‘bank on wheels’ in 14

districts spread across Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Vijayawada region of Andhra Pradesh.

POINTS TO NOTE

The facility will enable the public, especially senior citizens, to conveniently get doorstep banking facility available at

identified locations of the bank’s lead districts.

A dedicated banking correspondent will accompany the vehicle with a micro ATM inside the van to take care of

banking services such as account opening, enrolment of customers in social security scheme, passbook printing and

other financial inclusion activities. Mobile van services will be facilitated through a pre-announced programme to

customers at various locations of each district.

29 May World Bank to invest $35 million in Manapurram Finance

IFC may also provide advisory services to bring global best practices to MFL’s risk management

systems and help it build capacity in MSME lending.

POINTS TO NOTE

This three-year, senior, secured loan from IFC to MFL is an endorsement of the critical role gold-loan NBFCs play in

bringing first-time customers into the formal economy.

According to the World Gold Council, India has 23,000 tons of gold with an estimated market value of $1 trillion.

However, banks and NBFCs have a gold loan market size of just $19.6 billion, which leaves the field open to pawn-

brokers and usurious money lenders in rural areas.










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6. Science, Technology and Environment

OTHERS

02 May Second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 to be launched in July

Chandrayaan-2 is a fully-indigenous mission that comprises three modules — an Orbiter, a Lander

named ‘Vikram’, and a Rover named ‘Pragyan’ — and will be launched on board a GSLV-MkIII rocket.

POINTS TO NOTE

The mission is now set to be launched any time between July 5 and July 16 this year.

The moon landing is likely to be around September 6, 2019, nearly two months after the launch, close to the lunar

South Pole.

The lunar South Pole is believed to contain ice and other minerals, and international space expedition plans

are hotting up with NASA planning to land astronauts there by 2024, while China reportedly plans to build a

scientific research station on the lunar South Pole within the next decade.

The launch of India’s second moon mission, which has been put off multiple times, was scheduled for launch

between January 3 and February 16 this year but was again pushed to April.

03 May Government and IIT-Delhi to set up a Centre of Excellence for Waste to Wealth Technologies

GOI and IIT Delhi have come together for setting up a Centre of Excellence for Waste to Wealth

Technologies for implementation of sustainable, scientific and technological solutions for waste

management, through validation and deployment of available technologies.

POINTS TO NOTE

The waste to wealth mission project has been approved under the recently constituted Prime Minister’s Science

Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC), which is an overarching body for assessment, creation and

implementation of major scientific, technology and innovation interventions for India.

The partnership will provide an effective platform for stakeholders to bring together integrated approaches for

effective recycle, reuse and resource recovery of waste.










71



05 May IIT Delhi 3D prints human skin

The model can reduce and even replace testing cosmetics on animals thereby protecting the

environment.

POINTS TO NOTE

It can also be used for testing dermatology drugs on human skin and at a future date even help in testing drugs for

personalised medicine.

The bioprinted skin produced in the lab by the team is already being used by ITC Ltd for experiments.

The skin is composed of two important layers — the inner dermis (made of fibroblasts) and the outer

epidermis (keratinocytes, melanocytes).

The junction between the two layers is not flat but is undulatory or wavy. The undulatory morphology is

important as it provides biochemical cues and mechanical support to the epidermis layer, provides structural

stability to the skin by making the two layers adhere to each other, and not allow cells to cross the junction.

Unlike the currently available tissue-engineered skin equivalents, the team led by Sourabh Ghosh from the

institute’s Department of Textile Technology was successful in creating this wavy junction in the bioprinted

skin model.

23 May PSLV-C46 takes off successfully with India's earth observation satellite

Satellite 'RISAT-2B' will beef up India's surveillance capabilities in the sky and help track and tackle

hostile activity, such as infiltration or gathering of militants.

POINTS TO NOTE

It is the 48th mission of PSLV and the 14th flight in 'core-alone' configuration

(without the use of solid strap-on motors). This is the 72nd launch vehicle

mission from SDSC SHAR, Sriharikota and 36th launch from the First Launch

pad.

PSLV, in its 48th mission, carried the 615-kg RISAT 2B into an orbit of 555 km at an inclination

of 37 degrees . The application would help agriculture and forestry and also

support disaster management initiatives.








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72



23 May ISRO chairman flags off shipment of India's largest liquid hydrogen storage tank

Liquid hydrogen is used as fuel for satellite launch vehicles. The storage capacity of the tank is 120

kilo liters.

POINTS TO NOTE

VRV Asia Pacific manufactured the storage tank with a Liquid nitrogen (LIN) shield, in collaboration with Satish

Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, under Make in India initiative.

ISRO chief congratulated the VRV team and other teams for indigenously realising such an advanced version of the

liquid hydrogen storage tank.

24 May Isro launches new earth observation satellite; to be used for surveillance

RISAT-2B (Radar Imaging Satellite-2B), an earth observation satellite, was placed into orbit early on

Wednesday by the Indian Space Research Organisation.

POINTS TO NOTE

The application would help agriculture and forestry, and also support disaster management. The satellite would also

be used for military surveillance.

The life is around five years. It can take pictures even under cloudy conditions.

An earlier one, RISAT-2, has been used to monitor activities in camps across the border in Pakistan.








https://m.economictimes.com/topic/hydrogen-storage



73



28 May Melting glaciers may add 10 inches to sea levels worldwide by 2100

It estimates that glaciers worldwide are likely to lose anywhere from 18-36% of their mass by 2100.

POINTS TO NOTE

The study compared 214 glacier simulations from six research groups around

the world. Researchers examined the mass changes for over 200,000 glaciers

worldwide, totalling an area equal to the size of Texas.

The study does not include the vast ice sheets in Greenland or Antarctica,

whose behaviour is different from mountain and land-based glaciers and which

require unique modeling methods.

The results indicate that the smaller glaciers could play a much larger role

in sea level rise than researchers had previously thought.

Most research has focused on ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica, due to

their size and prominence, but the effect of smaller glaciers is significant.

30 May Tata Communications introduces Internet of Things marketplace built on plug-and-play model

The IoT market will enable customers to tailor their IoT solutions and drive innovation within their

business while enabling vendors and partners on the platform to discover new market opportunities.

POINTS TO NOTE

IoT market in India will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 35 per cent through 2023, quadrupling the market

by then. Indian enterprises have not been able to fully leverage the opportunities as there is a lack of standardisation,

interoperability and connectivity in the IoT market.

The IoT marketplace will enable diverse customers from the government, public sector companies, enterprises, and

start-ups to choose from a range of offerings and services on a plug and play model, enabling them to leverage IoT

solutions to address their custom requirements.

Tata Communications' customers represent 300 of the Fortune 500 corporations whose digital transformation journeys

are enabled by its portfolio of integrated, globally managed services that deliver local customer experiences.








https://wap.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=glacier

https://wap.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=sea+level



74



31 May Hydrogen-powered flying machine readies for take off

Five-seater Skai has a range of 644 km and can carry 454 kg. A transportation company is betting its

sleek new hydrogen-powered electric flying vehicles will someday serve as taxis, cargo carriers and

ambulances of the sky, but experts say they will have to clear a number of regulatory hurdles before

being approved for takeoff years in the future.

POINTS TO NOTE

Like a drone, the vehicle from Alaka’i Technologies takes off and lands vertically. It’s one of many similar electric flying

crafts in production, including prototypes from Boeing and Airbus that made successful test flights this year, according

to Vertical Flight Society, an industry group.

Most are powered by batteries, which can add a lot of weight. The Skai instead uses very light hydrogen fuel cells to

run its rotors, giving it a range of 644 km and the capacity to carry 454 kilograms in people or freight.











75



7. Defence

01 May Israel honours 1971 war hero Lt Gen JFR Jacob with a plaque on Ammunition Hill Wall of Honour

Lt. Gen. (retd) Jack Farj Rafael (JFR) Jacob was one of the most prominent members of India's

relatively small Jewish community, serving as a Lieutenant General in the Indian Army and later as a

Governor of two Indian states-Goa and Punjab.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Wall of Honour at the Ammunition Hill pays tributes to the heroism and courage of Jewish soldiers who fought in

the defence of the countries they lived in "implementing values of bravery, loyalty, commitment and dedication to a

mission, leadership, creativity, camaraderie and sanctity of life".

Ammunition Hill was a fortified Jordanian military post in the northern part of Jordanian ruled East Jerusalem.

It was the site of one of the fiercest battles of the Six Day War in which 21 Israeli soldiers were killed.

It is now a national memorial site where young soldiers and officers are inducted into the Israel Defence

Forces (IDF) and salute the flag.

02 May Contract signing with CSL and GRSE for acquisition of 16 Anti Submarine Warfare Shallow Water

Craft for Indian Navy signed

Contracts for Sixteen ASW SWC ships have been signed for construction of eight ships each from M/s

CSL, Kochi and GRSE, Kolkata respectively. Delivery of ships is scheduled to commence from October

22, with two ships per year subsequently, by each shipyard.

POINTS TO NOTE

In view of India's vast coastline of 7516.6 kilometer with 12 Major ports, 184 minor ports and 1197 Island territories,

coastal surveillance for ASW operations is considered critical.

Induction of these specialised ships with lower draught, would significantly enhance coastal shallow water

Anti Submarine Warfare capability of the Indian Navy with improved performance of weapons, censors, hall

mounted and towed Sonars.

Equipped with state-of-art indigenous Integrated Platform Management Systems, Propulsion, auxiliary, and

PGD Machinery, these ships are capable of subsurface surveillance of coastal waters and lying of mines,

making them a potent platform and adding another milestone to the ‘Make in India’ initiative of the

Government of India.










76



02 May Naxal attack in Gadchiroli leaves 15 security personnel dead

Confirming the death toll, Director General of Police, Maharashtra, Subodh Jaiswal told ET that 15

security personnel and a driver have been killed in the attack.

POINTS TO NOTE

While the police said the standard operating procedure (SOP) in sensitive zones keep changing and is tweaked as per

requirement, the reason as to why the QRT party didn’t take a road opening party (ROP) will be inquired into.

Some lapses like not using an armoured vehicle and not pressing two private vehicles while ferrying personnel were

also noticed.

The incident comes at a time when Maoists are observing a week-long protest to mark the first death anniversary of 40

of their comrades who were killed by security forces last year in two separate encounters.

02 May Air Marshal SK Ghotia takes over command as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief training command

Air Marshal SK Ghotia VSM is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy and was commissioned

in the fighter stream of IAF in Dec 1981.

POINTS TO NOTE

He has held a number of important appointments, which includes, Commanding Officer of a fighter squadron, Chief

Operations Officer and Station Commander of a Forward Air Base in South Western Air Command.

He has also served in a number of Staff appointments, which include Director Intelligence at Air HQs, Ops 1 A of

Western Air Command, Principal Director Training (Flying) at Air HQs, Air Attache at Embassy of India, Paris, Air Officer

Commanding COBRA Group and Assistant Chief of the Air Staff (Intelligence).

Prior to assuming the present appointment, he was the Senior Air Staff Officer of Training Command.

07 May The 17th edition of 'Varuna', an Indo-French naval exercise is underway in Goa

It will be the largest ever conducted Varuna exercise with 11 of India and Frances's most modern

units, including two aircraft and two submarines.

POINTS TO NOTE

The harbour and sea phases of the exercise from May 1 to May 6 and from May 7 to May 10, respectively, are aimed

at honing skills for naval operations across a broad spectrum, with increased focus on tactical scenarios.

Indian Navy is represented by represented by aircraft carrier INS vikramaditya, destroyer INS Mumbai, the Teg-class

frigate, INS Tarkash, the Shishumar-class submarine INS Shankul, and the Deepak-class fleet tanker INS

Deepak.










77



07 May Launch of Fourth Scorpene Class Submarine - VELA

Vela, constructed by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited for the Indian Navy, was launched today, on

06 May 2019.

POINTS TO NOTE

Presently Eight Warships and five submarines are under construction at MDL. MDL is one of the India’s leading

shipyards with a capacity to meet requirements of the Indian Navy.

The Scorpene class of submarines can undertake multifarious tasks typically undertaken by any modern

submarine which include anti-surface as well as anti-submarine warfare.

The transfer of technology involves appropriate technical support by Naval Group to MDL in the field of

construction, integration and tests of the submarines in India which is achieved through transfer of technical

data package to MDL through information system as well as on job training to MDL’s personnel on critical

technologies.

07 May Missile destroyer INS Ranjit decommissioned at Visakhapatnam Naval Dockyard

INS Ranjit, the third of the five Kashin-class destroyers built by the erstwhile USSR, was

decommissioned Monday at the Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam, after serving the Indian Navy for

36 years. It was commissioned on September 15 1983.

POINTS TO NOTE

The ship was decommissioned ata solemn ceremony at the Naval Dockyard when the national flag, naval ensign and

Commissioning Pennant were lowered.

The ship has been helmed by 27 commanding officers and the last CO, Captain Vikram C Mehra, has been in

command since June 6 2017.

Since being commissioned, INS Rajat has sailed for 2,190 days, covering over 7,43,000 nautical miles,

equivalent to navigating around the world 35 times and 3.5 times the distance from the earth to the moon.

09 May Indian Army to commemorate 2019 as ‘Year of next of kin’

The Indian Army plans to reach out to the next of kin of battle casualties, ex-servicemen and serving

soldiers to inform them of entitled financial benefits, welfare schemes and help resolve pension

related problems.

POINTS TO NOTE

The army also faces a huge challenge in reaching the target population due to being spread across India, mostly in

rural areas and places affected with either insurgency or having minimal army presence.

The army says that the problem becomes worse due to complications arising out of different policy provisions and its

varied interpretations and non-digitised personal records.










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12 May Georgian an-12 aircraft forced to land at Jaipur by IAF interceptors

An unknown aircraft entered Indian Air Space in North Gujarat Sector at 1515 hrs with its IFF

(Identification, Friend or Foe) ‘on’.

POINTS TO NOTE

The aircraft did not follow the authorized Air Traffic Services (ATS) route and was not responding to Radio calls from

Indian controlling agencies.

The aircraft neither responded on international distress frequency nor to visual signals during interception.

However, when challenged, the aircraft responded and informed that it was a non scheduled An-12 aircraft that had

got airborne from Tbilisi (Georgia) for Delhi via Karachi. The aircraft was shadowed and forced to land at Jaipur for

necessary investigation.

13 May India, Vietnam to strengthen co-op in defence and security, atomic energy

Vietnam is an important trade partner of India and their bilateral trade stood at nearly USD 14 billion

last year having nearly doubled from USD 7.8 billion three years ago.

POINTS TO NOTE

Both sides agreed to further strengthen cooperation in defence and security, peaceful uses of atomic energy and outer

space, oil and gas, renewable energy, agriculture and innovation-based sectors.

Both sides reiterated the importance of building a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region on the basis of respect

for national sovereignty and international law, and expressed full commitment to an open, transparent, inclusive and

rules-based regional architecture based on freedom of navigation and overflight, unimpeded economic activities and

peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international law.








https://www.exambazaar.com/exam-eligibility



79



14 May Army to shift its Training Command Headquarters to Meerut

In a bid to save funds and ensure better connectivity with the Army headquarters, the Indian Army is

planning to shift its training command headquarters from Shimla in Himachal Pradesh to Meerut,

Uttar Pradesh.

POINTS TO NOTE

The move is part of the ongoing restructuring that is being carried out at multiple levels by the Army.

Army sources said the headquarters needs to be moved out of Shimla to a new location that has better

infrastructure, as the command's role will expand after the restructuring.

Meerut would be better suited for establishing the training command headquarters as it is getting connected

by an express highway and a rapid rail transit corridor is also being considered.

The exercise to restructure the army is based on four comprehensive studies led by the army's topmost

generals, and seeks to change the direction of the 1.3 million-strong force and transform it into a deadlier

fighting machine prepared for future wars.

14 May DRDO conducts successful flight test of ABHYAS

The trial, carried out by the DRDO from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Balasore, was

tracked by various radars and electro-optic systems.

POINTS TO NOTE

The configuration of ABHYAS is designed on an in-line small gas turbine engine and it uses indigenously developed

MEMS based navigation system.

The government has been asking the DRDO to focus on R&D, while exploiting the opportunity and support being

extended to it.










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16 May Indian Navy’s Service Selection Board Inaugurated At Kolkata

SSB (Kolkata) is located approximately 55 km away from central Kolkata, on land that was previously

occupied by a Naval Coastal Battery.

POINTS TO NOTE

This is the fifth Service Selection Board of the Indian Navy and caters for selection of both Permanent and Short

Service Commission officers.

The other Boards are located in Bhopal, Bengaluru, Visakhapatnam and Coimbatore.

Spread over an area of 27 acres on the banks of the river Hooghly, SSB (Kolkata) has the capacity to screen

approximately 5000 officer-candidates annually.

The Board can accommodate approximately 160 candidates at a time and has separate facilities and accommodation

for men and women candidates.

Its location will reduce the travel time and effort for candidates from Northern

and North Eastern parts of the country.

16 May Major General A K Dhingra appointed as the first Special Operations Division Commander

Ace Special Forces operative and Sri Lanka war veteran Major General AK Dhingra has been

appointed as the first head of country's first tri-services Special Operations Division comprising

commandos from all three services.

POINTS TO NOTE

Maj Gen Dhingra is a Special Forces veteran and is from the elite 1 Para Special Forces Regiment. He has done Special

Operations courses in the US also and has been appointed as the first chief of the AFSOD.

The officer was also part of the Indian Peacekeeping Force Operations in Sri

Lanka and has seen real combat from close quarters.

The new division will work under the tri-services Integrated defense staff and

will get its headquarters as per ongoing discussions in the Defence Ministry at

either Agra or Bangalore.










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16 May India set to export first batch of missiles to South East Asian, Gulf countries

Indian defence sector sees good opportunities for exports to the South East Asian and the Gulf

countries where slower economic growths have put budgetary pressure on acquiring viable, cost-

effective and reliable solutions.

POINTS TO NOTE

British companies are already establishing relationship with Indian shipyards which have a vast number of architects

and huge amount of experience.

The large-scale expertise in Indian yards were not only involved in building indigenous designs, but also taking

products from India-Russia joint venture into the export markets.

More than 236 defence companies are participating in the IMDEX 2019 exhibition.

Over 10,500 delegates and trade visitors are also attending the event where 23 warships from 30 countries are on

display after conducting regional maritime exercises.

Over 400 delegates from the naval defence sector are attending the International Maritime Security Conference on

"Safe and Secure Seas: Promoting Mutual Securities in our Maritime Commons".

18 May Indian Navy successfully test-fires MRSAM missile

The test-firing of the missile was carried out jointly by the Indian Navy, Defence Research and

Development Organisation (DRDO) and Israel Aerospace Industries.

POINTS TO NOTE

The test-firing of the missile was undertaken on the western seaboard by Indian naval ships Kochi and Chennai.

These surface to air missiles are fitted onboard the Kolkata class destroyers and

would also be fitted on all future major warships of the Indian Navy.

The missiles will significantly enhance the combat effectiveness of the Indian

Navy.










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20 May India, Singapore conduct naval drill in South China Sea

Indian Navy ships Kolkata and Shakti took part in the bilateral naval exercise with Singapore, along

with long range maritime patrol aircraft Poseidon-8I (P8I).

POINTS TO NOTE

The Singapore side is to be represented by RSN ships Steadfast and Valiant, maritime patrol aircraft Fokker-50 (F-50)

and F-16 fighter aircrafts. On successful completion of IMDEX 19, a biennial maritime defence show, INS Kolkata and INS Shakti are continuing

their stay at Singapore to participate in the annual SIMBEX-2019 scheduled from May 16 to 22.

22 May IT giant Tech Mahindra signs defence contract worth Rs 300 crores

The Mumbai-based company will develop a secure application to manage the access control devices,

network devices and the AFSAC card through a data centre.

POINTS TO NOTE

The new AFSAC card will replace the existing paper based identity card for all Navy

personnel, including dependents and ex-servicemen.Scheduled to be implemented over the next two years, the project will ensure smooth issuance, handling,

administration, management and life cycle support of AFSAC Cards on turnkey basis,











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23 May Bhawana Kanth becomes 1st woman fighter pilot to qualify to undertake combat missions

IAF officials said Kanth has completed operational syllabus for carrying out combat missions on Mig-

21 Bison aircraft during day time.

POINTS TO NOTE

Before coming to this stage, she had completed her first solo flight on a MiG-21 Bison in March last year according to

her operational syllabus. She then completed her technical flying, combat flying, including air to air combat and air to

ground combat.

Officials added that although Kanth can fly the fighter during the night as well, her next stages in her syllabus is to

become ‘operational in the moon phase’ and then the ‘dark phase’. Thereafter, she will become fully operationally,

meaning her operational syllabus is complete.

23 May Successful Firing of Brahmos Air Launched Missile from Su-30 MKI Aircraft

The 2.5 tonne air-to-surface missile has a range of around 300 km, and it will significantly enhance

the IAF's combat capability.

POINTS TO NOTE

The integration of the weapon on the aircraft was a very complex process involving mechanical, electrical and

software modifications on aircraft.

The software development of the aircraft was undertaken by the IAF engineers while HAL carried out mechanical and

electrical modifications on the aircraft.

The BrahMos missile provides Indian Air Force a much desired capability to strike from large stand-off ranges on any

target at sea or on land with pinpoint accuracy by day or night and in all weather conditions.

The capability of the missile coupled with the superlative performance of the Su-30MKI aircraft gives the IAF the

desired strategic reach.

25 May India bans Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh terror outfit

The home ministry said the outfit has committed acts of terrorism, promoted acts of terrorism and

has been engaged in radicalisation and recruitment of youths for terrorist activities in India.

POINTS TO NOTE

Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh or Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen India or Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Hindustan and all its

manifestations have been inserted in the First Schedule to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967,

The listing under the First Schedule of the UAPA means the outfit is now a banned organisation in India.










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25 May DRDO Successfully Flight-Tested Guided Bomb

Defence Research and Defence Organisation (DRDO) successfully flight tested a 500 kg class Inertial

Guided Bomb today from Su-30 MKI Aircraft from the Pokhran test range in Rajasthan.

POINTS TO NOTE

The guided bomb achieved the desired range and hit the target with high precision.

All the mission objectives have been met. The weapon system is capable of carrying different warheads.

The Sukhoi Su-30MKI is a twinjet multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence

by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited for the Indian Air Force. A variant of the Sukhoi Su-30, it is a heavy, all-

weather, long-range fighter.

26 May IAF’s AN-32 Aircraft formally Certified to Operate on Indigenous Bio-Jet Fuel

IAF’s formidable workhorse, the Russian made AN-32 aircraft was formally fleet certified to fly on

blended aviation fuel containing up to 10% of indigenous bio-jet fuel.

POINTS TO NOTE

The indigenous bio-jet fuel was first produced by the CSIR-IIP lab at Dehradun in 2013, but could not be tested or

certified for commercial use on aircraft due to lack of test facilities in the civil aviation sector.

This is a huge step in promoting the ‘Make in India’ mission as this bio-fuel would be produced from Tree Borne Oils

(TBOs) sourced from tribal areas and farmers, augmenting their income substantially.

28 May New version of Akash missile test-fired successfully

The DRDO on successfully test-fired the new version of the Akash surface-to-air defence missile

system with a new indigenously-developed seeker.

POINTS TO NOTE

The medium range multi-target engagement capable missile was developed as part of the Integrated Guided-Missile

Development Programme (IGMDP) other than Nag, Agni, Trishul, and Prithvi missiles.

The supersonic missile has a range of around 25 km and up to the altitude of 18,000 metres.

The missile uses high-energy solid propellant for the booster and ramjet-rocket propulsion for the sustainer phase.

The missile system is said to be highly mobile.










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30 May Military tribunal allows Karambir Singh to take charge as new Navy Chief on Friday

Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command Vice Admiral Bimal Verma had

approached the AFT here challenging the appointment of Singh as the next Navy Chief, overlooking

his seniority.

POINTS TO NOTE

Wednesday’s hearing is important not only for the government but the navy as well, because the AFT during the

previous hearing on May 22 had asked for the records relating to the appointment and said that if there is merit in

Verma’s petition it can place the appointment on hold.

The government counsel submitted an application stating that due to the ‘sensitivity’ of the matter, presenting the

required records and filing a reply will need approval of the competent authority in the government.











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30 May Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa receives Baton of Chairman COSC

Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa received the baton of Chairman,

Chiefs of Staff Committee from outgoing Chairman COSC and Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil

Lanba.

POINTS TO NOTE

Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, an alumnus of Rashtriya Indian Military College and the National Defence

Academy, was commissioned in the Flying Branch of Indian Air Force in June 1978. He is an experienced fighter pilot

and a qualified CAT ‘A’ Flying Instructor with over 3000 hours of flying experience to his credit. The Air Chief Marshal

has mainly flown the MiG-21 aircraft with flying experience across the entire spectrum of fighter aircraft of the Indian

Air Force.

During the Kargil war (1999), he was the Commanding Officer of a frontline ground attack fighter squadron. He has

held many coveted operational and staff assignments that include command of a frontline fighter Base, Director

Fighter Operations and War planning at Western Air Command, Chief Instructor (Air) at DSSC, Assistant Chief of the Air

Staff (Intelligence) at Air HQ and Senior Air Staff officer of two operational Commands.

31 May Admiral Sunil Lanba the Chief of The Naval Staff retires tomorrow 31 May 2019

Admiral Sunil Lanba, PVSM, AVSM, ADC, Chief of the Naval Staff will relinquish command of the

Indian Navy as the 23rd CNS on completion of his tenure and retirement from service on 31 May

2019, after over four decades of distinguished service.

POINTS TO NOTE

During his tenure as the CNS, Admiral Lanba set the tone for several transitions in operational, training and

organisational philosophy of the Indian Navy.

The Mission Based Deployments introduced in June 2017 transformed the operational philosophy to deploying

mission-ready ships and aircraft along critical sea lanes of communications and choke points. These deployed ships

are always ready to meet any eventuality across the spectrum of operations ranging from acts of maritime terrorism

and piracy to HADR.

The Mission Based Deployments enabled Indian Naval units to be the first responder in crisis situations and

showcased Indian Navy as the main instrument in India becoming a Net Security Provider in the Indian Ocean Region.

Admiral Lamba has also steered implementation of the new transition cycle which facilitated improvement of the

overall readiness of ships and submarines in undertaking operational tasking and Mission Based Deployments.










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31 May Vice Admiral Atul Kumar Jain takes over as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, ENC

Vice Admiral Atul Kumar Jain, AVSM, VSM took over as the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief(FOC-in-

C), Eastern Naval Command (ENC) from Vice Admiral Karambir Singh, PVSM, AVSM, ADC at an

impressive Ceremonial Parade held at the Naval Base here today, 30 May 2019.

POINTS TO NOTE

Vice Admiral has held various Operational, Staff and Command Appointments in the course of his distinguished career

spanning over 37 years. Vice Admiral Jain has commanded INS Nirghat (Missile Boat), INS Khukri (Missile Corvette), INS

Rajput (Destroyer) and the indigenously built Destroyer, INS Mysore. He also had the privilege of being the

commissioning Executive Officer of INS Brahmaputra and the Fleet Operations Officer of the Eastern Fleet at

Visakhapatnam. His appointments ashore include Director Naval Intelligence (Protocol), Director Foreign Liaison and

Principal Director Staff Requirement at Integrated Headquarters, Ministry of Defence (Navy), New Delhi.

On promotion to the Flag Rank in Oct 2011, he was appointed as the first Flag Officer Commanding Karnataka Naval

Area. Thereafter, he commanded the prestigious Eastern Fleet and had also served as the Chief of Staff, HQ SNC. He

was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral on 01 Apr 15 while he was Controller Personnel Services (CPS).










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8. Sports

02 May AAI president Rao resigns after Supreme Court ruling

The latest development would mean that the Indian archers will have a new administrative set-up

before the marquee World Championship from June 10.

POINTS TO NOTE

Archery Association of India (AAI) President BVP Rao Wednesday resigned after the Supreme Court's ruling to set aside

the constitution of the national body of the sport as amended by Delhi High Court-appointed administrator S Y

Quraishi.

The Indian Olympic Association, which does not recognise the Rao-led AAI, welcomed the Supreme Court's

decision.

Rao, a retired IAS officer, was elected AAI president on December 22, 2018, in the elections held under the

supervision of Quraishi, which brought to an end the era of Vijay Kumar Malhotra, who served as head of the

national body for 40 years from 1973 to 2012 before being de-recognised by the government for not following

the sports code.

02 May Apurvi Chandela becomes world number one in 10m air rifle

The rifle ace from Jaipur is among the five Indian shooters to have already secured 2020 Olympics

quotas for the country.

POINTS TO NOTE

Chandela shot a world record score of 252.9 to clinch gold at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World

Cup in February.

She is a gold medallist at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Game and a bronze winner in the next edition at Gold

Coast.

In the 2018 Asian Games, Chandela had won a bronze medal in the 10m mixed rifle event.










89



04 May Prajnesh Gunneswaran was the winner at the Tamil Nadu Tennis Association’s annual day function

He bagged the most prestigious award of the day — TK Ramanathan award worth `30,000 and a

citation. Some of the other players to be honoured included Ramkumar Ramanathan and

Dakshineswar Suresh.

POINTS TO NOTE

Amritraj, who reiterated his desire to hold an ATP legends tournament in the city in August followed by a WTA Tour

event next year, gave away the awards at the event.

T K Ramanathan award (`30,000): Prajnesh Gunneswaran. Representing India in Davis Cup (`7,500): Ramkumar

Ramanathan & Prajnesh Gunneswaran.

President’s award for promising youngsters (`5,000 each): Abinaya Caitlyn Sweeton, Maaya Rajeshwaran Revathi,

Mahalingam A Kandhavel, Aaron Niranjan Edison Suman.

Justice PS Kailasam Memorial Award for performance in junior nationals (`7,000): Kundana Sri Bandaru. National

Games and national championships (`4,000): Dakshineswar Suresh.

Nagamani Mahadevan award (`10,000): Kundana Sri Bandaru. Muthukrishnan memorial award (`10,000): S

Bhoopathy.

Veterans award (`5,000): Vijay Kannan. Markers award (`3,000): S Naveen Kumar (Madras Club). Officials award (`4,000):

CV Ravi Kumar.

04 May Bajrang Punia bags gold at Ali Aliev wrestling tournament

World number one Bajrang Punia who won the Asian championships in China last week has become

the first Indian to win gold at the Ali Aliev wrestling tournament after defeating Viktor Rassadin of

Russia in the 65 kg freestyle in Kapiisk.

POINTS TO NOTE

Bajrang, who is part of the JSW Sports Excellence Program, will now get on the road once again as he heads to New

York for the Beat The Streets ‘Grapple At the Garden’ on May 6 at the historic Madison Square Garden arena.

The Indian wrestler will take on former cadet world champion and two-time NCAA champion Yianni

Diakomihalis.

06 May Ghosal and Joshna script history at Asian Squash championship

This is the first time two Indians have finished on top in the same tournament at the Asian squash

championship.

POINTS TO NOTE

An unprecedented feat that eluded the Indians in Chennai two years ago became a reality in Malaysia when Joshna,

the second seed, successfully defended her title shocking the top seed Annie Au of Hong Kong 11-5, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6.

Soon after, Ghosal, the top seed and finalist last year, ensured there was no slip-up this time when he

downed the fourth seed Leo Au Chun Ming, also of Hong Kong, 11-9, 11-2, 11-8.










90



06 May Gaurav Solanki and Manish Kaushik bag gold at the 36th Feliks Stamm International boxing

tournament

Both bagged a gold each as Indian boxers finished with six medals at the tournament held in Warsaw,

Poland.

POINTS TO NOTE

The 22-year-old Solanki (52kg) outpunched England’s William Cawley 5-0. He showed glimpses of the form that

brought him golds at the Commonwealth Games and the Chemistry Cup last year.

Kaushik (60kg), winner of the India Open gold and Commonwealth Games silver, beat Morocco’s Mohamed

Hamout 4-1.

Mohammed Hussamuddin (56kg), who started the 2019 season with a silver at the Gee Bee Boxing

tournament, had to be content with yet another second-place finish following a 4-1 defeat to Russia’s

Mukhammad Shekhov.

07 May Anmol-Esha pair wins bronze in shooting

Anmol Jain and Esha Singh won the mixed air pistol team bronze medal in the Grand Prix of

Liberation international shooting competition here.

POINTS TO NOTE

The India-A team, which topped qualification with 776 out of 800, lost the race for better medals by 2.5 points to the

Austrian and Italian teams.

The other Indian team of Deepak Sharma and Annu Raj Singh also made the final, shot in the old format with

the top five teams, but ended up fifth.

Former world champion in women’s rifle prone event, Tejaswini Sawant shot 617.1 and placed 26th.

09 May Esha-Akull pair strikes silver

India’s Esha Singh and Akull Kumar were beaten by 5.4 points for the gold in junior mixed air pistol

event by the German pair of Jan Luca Karstedt and Vanessa Seeger in the International Shooting

Competition.

POINTS TO NOTE

Esha, who had swept the gold medals in air pistol in the women’s, junior and youth sections in the last National

championship, was in good form, shooting 385 out of 400 in qualification, as compared to the 370 by Akull, who had

missed the individual final by two points.

It was the second mixed medal for Esha, after the one she won recently with Anmol Jain in Plzen, Czech

Republic.










91



10 May Former Indian footballer Nataraj passes away

Nataraj was part of the National side which won the bronze medal at the 1970 Asian Games in

Bangkok.

POINTS TO NOTE

Representing the erstwhile Mysore state, Nataraj was a key member of the Santosh Trophy-winning side in 1968 and

scored the winner in the final against West Bengal.

In 1970, he was the captain when Mysore finished runner-up to Punjab. He also captained HAL and was a league

champion with the side. The KSFA and BDFA condoled his death.

10 May Indians win both the rifle and pistol gold medals at International Shooting Competitions of Hannover

Gagan Narang partnered Shriyanka Sadangi for the mixed air rifle gold. Annu Raj Singh and Anmol

Jain combined well to clinch the gold in the mixed air pistol team event.

POINTS TO NOTE

It was the second medal for Gagan and Shriyanka as a pair, following last week’s victory at Plzen, Czech Republic.

In the mixed air pistol team competition a day earlier, Annu Raj Singh and the young Anmol Jain combined

well to clinch the gold.

They finished 1.5 point ahead of Ecuador’s Marina Perez and Cueva Yautung. Both Annu Raj and Anmol shot

identical scores of 381 out of 400, to top qualification.











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13 May Novak Djokovic wins third Madrid title and 33rd Masters

Novak Djokovic joined Rafael Nadal as a 33-time Masters champion on Sunday when he swept to a 6-

3, 6-4 win over Stefanos Tsitsipas to claim a third Madrid Open title.

POINTS TO NOTE

Djokovic and Nadal will now attempt to claim a 34th Masters title in Rome this week in a key indicator ahead of

Roland Garros which gets under way on May 26.

Djokovic never let Tsitsipas get into gear in a final which lasted just over 90 minutes.

Tsitsipas, who beat Djokovic in their previous meeting last summer in Canada, was broken once in each set,

enough of a margin for the top seed to take the trophy, his second of the season after the Australian Open.

15 May India’s G.S. Lakshmi first woman to be inducted into ICC match referee panel

Lakshmi, 51, who first officiated as a match referee in domestic women’s cricket in 2008-09, has

overseen three women’s ODI matches and three women’s T20I matches

POINTS TO NOTE

Claire Polosak had become the first ever woman umpire to stand in a men’s ODI, earlier this month.

Australia’s Eloise Sheridan has joined compatriot Polosak on the ICC

development panel of umpires, taking the number of women on that panel to

seven.

Lauren Agenbag, Kim Cotton, Shivani Mishra, Sue Redfern, Mary Waldron and

Jacqueline Williams are the other women officials on that panel.

The first woman on the development panel of umpires was Kathy Cross, who

retired last year.










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16 May Croatian World Cupper Igor Stimac appointed Indian football team coach for a two-year term

The 51-year-old Stimac was part of Croatia’s 1998 World Cup squad that finished third in France. As a

coach, Stimac’s major achievement was guiding Croatia to qualify for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in

Brazil.

POINTS TO NOTE

During his tenure as the national coach of Croatia, he handed debuts to the likes of Mateo Kovacic, Ante Rebic, Alen

Halilovic, and Ivan Perisic, amongst others.

He also played a pivotal role in developing the likes of Dario Srna, Daniel

Subasic, Ivan Strinic, Kovacic, Perisic, and other players.

The centre-back has made 53 appearances for the national team.

His last assignment was with Al-Shahania Club in Qatar.

As a player, he was part the of the Croatia team that finished third in the 1998

World Cup, and a member of the national squad which qualified for the

quarterfinals of the UEFA European Championship 1996 (Euro) in England.

Besides, he was also a part of the Yugoslavia U-19 national team which won the

FIFA U-20 World Cup in 1987.

20 May Indian paddlers win four bronze in the SET Thailand junior and cadet Open

Oishik Ghosh and Ashish Jain (boys’ singles), Sayani Panda (girls’ singles) and the junior boys’ team of

Manush Shah, Reagan Albuquerque and Deepit Patil displayed great skill and grit to pave their way

into the semifinals.

POINTS TO NOTE

Oishik beat Masa Hiko Yan of Hong Kong 3-1 in the quarters to clinch a place in the medal round. However, he could

not emulate his performance in the semifinals and bowed out, losing 1-3 to Tan Nicholas of Singapore to settle for

bronze.

Ashish also cruised into the last four with a 3-0 victory over Thailand’s Woraset

Bavornthammarat.










94



21 May Ashish Kumar will lead India at the second World Challenge Cup Series gymnastics tournament in

Osijek, Croatia

Besides Ashish, who won the bronze medal at the floor exercise in 2010 Guangzhou Asiad, the Indian

contingent will also have Rakesh Kumar Patra and Shraddha Talekar.

POINTS TO NOTE

While Ashish will participate in four men's events -- floor, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bars, Rakesh will take part

in three categories -- rings, parallel bars and horizontal bars.

Sharaddha will make her international debut at the second of the seven World Cup and participate in three events

namely, uneven bars, beam and floor.

The gymnasts will be accompanied by their personal coaches, Ashwini Samantaray, Manoj Rana and Pravin Dhage.

The World Challenge Cup is a major FIG event with broader participation of 110 gymnasts from 30 different countries.

26 May Gold reward for Jamuna’s journey at Indian Open

The 54kg pugilist trumped Y Sandhyarani in the summit match. Just 24 hours ago, she had managed

to get the better of her nemesis Meena Kumari on her fifth try.

POINTS TO NOTE

Hailing from a remote place named Dhekiajuli, around 130km from here, she was initially into wushu.

After impressing in the junior circuit, her rise was rapid. She soon made it to the

India youth team and won bronze in the World Youth Championships in 2015.

That medal elevated her to the senior national camp a year later.











95



27 May Lewis Hamilton wins Monaco GP, extends championship lead

Mercedes driver Hamilton held off an aggressive Max Verstappen, who finished second but was

dropped to fourth after being hit with a five-second penalty earlier in the race.

POINTS TO NOTE

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was runner-up, ending Mercedes’s run of five successive one-two finishes, with Hamilton’s

team mate Valtteri Bottas third.

Max Verstappen crossed the finish line second for Red Bull but dropped to fourth due to a five-second penalty

imposed for an earlier unsafe release and collision with Bottas in the pitlane.

27 May Gold for Apurvi in women’s air rifle on the opening day of the shooting World Cup

Apurvi Chandela won her second gold medal of the season, dominating the women’s air rifle on the

opening day of the shooting World Cup here on Sunday.

POINTS TO NOTE

India’s Manu Bhaker and Rahi Sarnobat qualified for the final of the women’s 25m pistol final at the season’s third

International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup.

This is an event where both Olympic quotas for Tokyo 2020 are available, should Bhaker and Sarnobat finish on the

podium.

Asian Games champion Sarnobat finished fourth with a score of 586-25x (25 inner 10s) while teenager Bhaker shot

585-17x to finish fifth.

28 May French Open: Serena Williams survives scare, wins 800th match

Serena Williams survived a first-set scare before defeating Russia’s Vitalia Diatchenko 2-6, 6-1, 6-0 to

reach the second round of the French Open.

POINTS TO NOTE

Williams, the 2002, 2013 and 2015 champion in Paris, will face either Japan’s Kurumi Nara or Dalila Jakupovic of

Slovenia for a place in the last 32.

Williams won her most recent major at the Australian Open in 2017 while pregnant.










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9. People

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

28 May L.V. Navaneeth appointed next CEO of ‘The Hindu’

He served this organisation between 1998 and 2006 in a senior position in Advertising and

Marketing.

POINTS TO NOTE

He takes over from CEO and Managing Director, Rajiv C. Lochan, who has decided to move on. Navaneeth will be

taking over from June 1. Navaneeth has two decades of experience in the media industry across the publishing, radio

and broadcast sectors.

He currently is based in Jakarta and works with Mindshare as leader of trading. Before moving abroad around three

years back, he led the programming team at Sun TV Network as vice president from September 2009-2015 .

He has also worked with Radio One as station director and head of programming from August 2006-2009.

29 May Former Voda CEO Arun Sarin joins Ola Electric board as Independent Director

Sarin, a veteran in telecom space, serves on the boards of Cisco Systems, Accenture, Charles

Schwab and Ola's parent company, ANI Technologies.

POINTS TO NOTE

OEM was initially established to enable Ola's electric mobility pilot programme in Nagpur in 2017. Last year, Ola

announced 'Mission: Electric' to bring one million electric vehicles (EVs) on

Indian roads by 2021.In March this year, OEM had announced raising Rs 400 crore in a funding round led by Tiger Global and Matrix India.








https://wap.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=ola



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30 May Scott Morrison sworn in as Australia's prime minister

Also sworn in was Mr. Morrison’s revamped Cabinet, which includes an equal-record seven women,

and Australia’s first Aboriginal federal cabinet minister, Ken Wyatt.

POINTS TO NOTE

Mr. Morrison became Australia’s 30th Prime Minister through an internal party vote last August in which he replaced

Malcolm Turnbull as chief of the ruling Liberal Party.

It was the fourth switch of Australia’s leader through an internal party vote in just eight years, sparking heated

criticism from many voters. Yet Mr. Morrison was returned to his post in the May 18 election, and with an increased

majority for the conservative Liberal-National party coalition.

With voting continuing in two close seats, the coalition was ahead in 77 seats, with the opposition Labor Party leading

in 68, and with six seats having been secured by independent candidates and minor parties. A total of 76 seats is

needed for majority government.

30 May Naveen Patnaik takes oath as Odisha Chief Minister, 20 ministers also sworn in

Naveen Patnaik’s cabinet comprises of 20 ministers, including 10 new faces including two women.

POINTS TO NOTE

Mr. Patnaik and his ministerial colleagues were administered the oath of office and secrecy by Governor Ganeshi Lal. A

large number of dignitaries attended the ceremony.

Those who took oath as Cabinet Ministers were Ranendra Pratap Swain, Bikram Keshari Arukha, Prafulla Mallick,

Padmanabha Behera, Pratap Jena, Niranjan Pujari, Arun Kumar Sahoo, Sudam Marandi, Susanta Singh, Naba Kishore

Das and Tukuni Sahu. Mr. Marandi, a tribal leader from Mayurbhanj, took the oath in Santhali language.

30 May Pema Khandu sworn in as Arunachal Pradesh CM

Chief Ministers of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya attend the function. Apart

from Mr Khandu, Governor Brigadier (Retd.) B.D. Mishra administered the oath of office and secrecy

to Chown Mein as the Deputy Chief Minister and 10 others as ministers. This included Nakap Nalo

and Taba Tedir, who had won the elections to the 60-member Assembly for the first time.

POINTS TO NOTE

There was another first for Mr Khandu. His formal installation happened in Itanagar’s landmark convention centre,

named after his father, instead of the Raj Bhavan about 2 km away, where his predecessors were sworn in.

There was no woman in the Council of Ministers whose portfolios would be allocated soon. Three of the BJP’s 41

legislators are women, including Jummum Ete Deori, who defeated State Congress president Takam Sanjoy.










98



AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

02 May Lifetime Achievement Award for Sobha Naidu

Eminent Kuchipudi dancer and Padma Sri Awardee Sobha Naidu was presented Lifetime

Achievement Award by Nartanasala Dance Academy at the All-India Dance Festival.

POINTS TO NOTE

She mastered the technique of Kuchipudi and began dancing lead roles in dance-dramas while still very young. She

has performed with her guru's troupe all over the country and abroad, excelling in the roles of Satyabhama and

Padmavati.

She is also an excellent solo dancer. Principal of Kuchipudi Art Academy, Hyderabad, Sobha Naidu has been imparting

training to younger students over the past few years.

In 2010, the school celebrated the completion of 30 years. She has also choreographed several dance-dramas.

She has received the title of Nritya Choodamani from Krishna Gana Sabha, Madras.

24 May Gopal Shrestha becomes first HIV-infected climber to scale Mount Everest

The 56-year-old, who is a resident of Ratnachowk in Pokhara, set his feet on the summit of the 8,848-

metre-tall mountain today at 8:15 am.

POINTS TO NOTE

Shrestha, once a former national football player climbed Everest in the second attempt. His first attempt was

abandoned from the Everest Base Camp due to the earthquake of 2015.

Gopal Shrestha’s latest ascend is a part of his “Step-Up Campaign: Second Phase Everest Expedition”, through which

he aims to raise awareness in the society and country and provide quality education to children affected with HIV.

Phurba Tenzing Sherpa of Dreamers Destination Treks and Expedition Pvt Ltd while an eight-time Everest summiteer,

Dakipa Sherpa, guided Shrestha to the Everest, locally known as Sagarmatha.

Gopal Shrestha had successfully crossed Thorong La Pass (5, 417 m) in 2013 and climbed Island Peak (6,189 m) in 2014,

and Virgin Peak/ Khang Karpo (6, 646 m) in 2016.

OBITUARY










99



03 May Theatre person Master Hirannaiah passes away

Son of a thespian K. Hirannaiah, Narasimha Murthy came to be called “Master Hirannaiah” when he

debuted as a child, and the stage name stuck till the very end.

POINTS TO NOTE

He shot to fame after playing the lead role in the play Lanchavatara.

His other famous plays include Double Thaali, Kanya Daana, Sanyasi Samsara, Chamachavathara, Haasyadalli

Ulta Palta, Kapil Mushti, Nadubidi Narayana, Bhrashtachara and Anaachaara.

His stint in the Kannada theatre industry also fetched him multiple awards for his contribution.

Master Hirannaiah has won the Kannada State Award in 1984, Rajyotsava Prashasthi, Gubbi Veeranna Award

in 1988, Drama Academy Award, Sandesha Arts Award in 2009 and Maha Advaithi Award in 2017 among

others.

10 May Pioneer of Indian legal education Madhava Menon passed away

Professor Menon established the first National Law School of India at Bangalore. He was decorated

with the Padmashri Award in 2003 and also the Living Legend of Law award by International Bar

Association in 1994.

POINTS TO NOTE

He is credited with various legal reports and conducted several workshops and training progammes post his

retirement.

Bennett University, Faculty of School of Law, paid rich tributes in a condolence meeting held at the school.

He was a regular visitor to the law school and delivered the first Socratic Club Lecture on 7th September 2017

on the 'Challenges in Constructing a Uniform Civil Code Post Shayara Bano Judgment" advocating that

'religion cannot be a cover for regressive practices.

11 May Tamil novelist and Sahitya Akademi awardee Thoppil Mohamed Meeran dies aged 74

His work, Saaivu Naarkkaali (The Reclining Chair), released in 1995, bagged him the prestigious

Sahitya Akademi Award in 1997.

POINTS TO NOTE

In recognition, he received 8 awards including the Sahitya Akademi Award and Tamil Nadu Kalai Ilakkiya Perumantram

Award in 1992.

The speciality of all his literary works is that his novels lucidly narrated the fisherfolk’s life with finer and intricate

details in Tamil laced with Malayalam, the slang found only in Kanniyakumari district.










100



12 May ITC chairman Y C Deveshwar passes away at 72 after a brief illness

ITC Chairman YC Deveshwar, who transformed the cigarette major into a diversified player with

interests in FMCG, hospitality, IT and other sectors, passed away Saturday morning.

POINTS TO NOTE

Deveshwar joined ITC in 1968 and was appointed as a director on ITC's board on April 11, 1984. He rose to become its

chief executive and chairman on January 1, 1996.

When Deveshwar took charge at the helm of the company in the mid-1990's, ITC was confronted with

formidable challenges, with diversification efforts either failing or languishing.

17 May Noted Advocate Manoj Hangal dead

Manoj Hangal, advocate and founder of Dr. Gangubai Hangal Music Foundation and grandson of

legendary vocalist Gangubai Hangal passed away.

POINTS TO NOTE

Mr. Manoj had set up Dr. Gangubai Hangal Music Foundation and later Gangubai Hangal Museum of Hindustani

Classical Music.

He had collected rare music instruments from across the country and kept them for display.

He had served as an office-bearer in the BJP and VHP and had argued on behalf

of Sangh Parivar activists in several cases.










101



18 May I.M. Pei, the architect behind the Paris Louvre Pyramid, dies at 102

Chinese-born Pei was the mastermind behind works like the Louvre Pyramid in Paris, the landmark

Bank of China tower in Hong Kong and Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar, which opened in 2008

to great fanfare.

POINTS TO NOTE

His work earned the 1983 Pritzker Prize, considered architecture's Nobel. Of his nearly 50 designs in the United States

and around the world, more than half won major awards.

Born in China in 1917, banker's son Ieoh Ming Pei came to the US at 17 to study

architecture, receiving an undergraduate degree in the field from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1940.

He then enrolled in Harvard University's Graduate School of Design, where he

received a master's degree in architecture in 1946. He became a naturalized US

citizen in 1954.

28 May Nobel-winning physicist Murray Gell-Mann dies at 89

Murray Gell-Mann, the Nobel Prize-winning physicist who brought order to the universe by helping

discover and classify subatomic particles, has died at the age of 89.

POINTS TO NOTE

He was honoured for his contributions and discoveries concerning the classification of elementary particles and their

interactions.

He developed the theory that identified “quarks,” indivisible components of Earth’s matter that make up protons,

neutrons and other particles. Experiments confirmed the existence of quarks, and these objects now form the basis

for our physical understanding of the universe,

OTHERS










102



01 May Vice chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Anil Khosla retires

Born on 09 April 1959, the Air Marshal was commissioned in Fighter stream of Indian Air Force in the

year 1979 and had more than 4000 hours of accident free flying mainly on Jaguar, Mig-21 and Kiran

aircraft.

POINTS TO NOTE

Air Officer had vast instructional experience and was a Directing Staff at prestigious institutions like Tactics and

Combat Development Establishment (TACDE) and Flying Instructors School (FIS).

He commanded a Jaguar squadron and two frontline bases of the IAF. During his service, Air Marshal Khosla has held

various appointments including Senior Air Staff Officer, Central Air Command, Director General Air (Operations) at Air

HQ (Vayu Bhawan), Director General (Inspection & Safety) at Air HQ (RK Puram) and Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief

Eastern Air Command.

For his distinguished service, Air Marshal Anil Khosla was awarded Param Vishisht Seva Medal, Ati Vishisht

Seva Medal, Vayu Sena Medal and was commended by the Chief of the Air Staff and Air Officer Commanding-

in-Chief.










103



10. Books & Authors

20 May Ruskin Bond launches new memoir titled Coming Round the Mountain on 85th birthday

Coming Round the Mountain is the third installment of Bond’s award-winning memoir series for

children that includes Looking for the Rainbow and Till the Clouds Roll By.

POINTS TO NOTE

In Looking for the Rainbow, Bond described the two years he had spent with his father when he

was just nine years old, and in Till the Clouds Roll By he talked about the sudden

change in his circumstances, the efforts he had to make to adjust to a new and

very different life with his mother and stepfather.

The third part of the series will deal with Bond’s story as a boy of thirteen during

the crucial year of India’s partition.

24 May Jokha Alharthi becomes first Arabic author to win Man Booker prize

Her third novel, Celestial Bodies reveals her Omani homeland's post-colonial transformation.

POINTS TO NOTE

Alharthi is the author of two previous collections of short fiction, a children's book and three novels in Arabic.

She studied classical Arabic poetry at Edinburgh University and teaches at Sultan

Qaboos University in Muscat.










104



25 May Author Judith Kerr, who wrote The Tiger Who Came to Tea, dies at 95

The beguiling story of the tea-drinking tiger has been shared by parents with young children since it

was first published in 1968 and has never been out of print. It has sold more than 5 million copies.

POINTS TO NOTE

Her next book introduced Mog the cat, who starred in some 15 books and developed a large following until Goodbye

Mog was published in 2002.

The popular feline was brought back in 2015 for Mog’s Christmas Calamity, which raised more than 1 million pounds

for a literacy campaign with charity Save the Children.

Her third book, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, was an autobiographical story based on her family’s escape from Nazi

Germany in the 1930s.

30 May Indian writer Annie Zaidi is 2019 winner of the $100,000 Nine Dots Prize

Zaidi is a Mumbai-based freelance writer whose work includes reportage, essays, short stories,

poetry and plays.

POINTS TO NOTE

She won for combining memoir and reportage to explore concepts of home and belonging rooted in her experience

of contemporary life in India.

Now in its second cycle, the prize challenged entrants to answer the question Is there still no place like home?' in a

3,000-word essay. The winner of the nine dots prize is supported to develop their response

into a full-length book, which is published by Cambridge University Press (CUP),

and given the opportunity to spend a term at the Centre for Research in the

Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), Cambridge University.










105



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