Around
INDIA
# Dakota DC-3 VP 905 aircraft joined the Indian Air Force again,
in an induction ceremony at Hindan air force station, Uttar Pradesh, over four
decades after the aircraft fleet was phased out; the restored Dakota has been
renamed as “Parashuram”
# Ministry of Railways has announced Awards for beautification
of Station premises across the country
|
Prize
|
Railway Station
|
Railway Zone
|
Prize
|
|
I
|
Balharshah
|
Central
|
Rs. 10 lakh
|
|
Chandrapur
|
|||
|
II
|
Madhubhani
|
East Central
|
Rs. 5 lakh
|
|
Madurai
|
Southern
|
||
|
III
|
Kota
|
West Central
|
Rs. 3 lakh
|
|
Gandhidham
|
Western
|
||
|
Secunderabad
|
South Central
|
# An exhibition called “India and the World: A History in Nine
Stories” was inaugurated at the National Museum Auditorium, New Delhi
· # “Cochlear Implant Awareness Programme” was held at Faridabad,
Haryana
· # ISRO has developed an atomic clock to be used in navigation
satellites to measure clear-cut location data; currently ISRO imports atomic
clocks from European aerospace manufacturer Astrium for navigation satellites
·
ISRO’s atomic clock was developed by Space Application Centre,
Ahmedabad
·
All of the seven navigation satellites of India as part of IRNSS
or NaVIC have three imported Rubdium atomic clocks
# First apex conference for the CEOs of smart Cities was held in
Bhopal
# The news prevailing around NEET in the State of Tamil Nadu is
completely false: CBSE; CBSE said that, a candidate from Tamil Nadu claimed
that he had been forced to got to Udaipur center by CBSE was wrong, because his
online application records show that the child had himself opted for Udaipur as
an option for exam center; also those who opted question paper in Tamil was
provided with that language prescribed by the students in the online
application.
# Ministry of Tribal Affairs proposes to expand Van Dhan Vikas
Kendras in tribal districts across the country; Van Dhan Vikas Kendra was
launched by Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi on April 14, 2018 at Bijapur
# Supreme Court transferred the trial in the case of abduction,
gangrape and murder of an 8 year old at Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir to
Pathankot Dt, which is 30 km across the inter – state border in the
neighbouring state of Punjab
# A former Chief Minister is only a commoner and not a “special
class of citizen” who can enjoy privileges, perks and official bungalows at
taxpayers’ expense for his entire lifetime: Supreme Court [Click for more]
# 3rd edition of UNPCAP (United Nations Peacekeeping Course for
African Partners) was held in New Delhi (May 07 – 25, 2018); The first edition
(in 2016) and the second edition (in 2017) was also held in New Delhi
# India hosted the 15th Asia Media Summit in New Delhi (May 10 –
12, 2018) with the theme “Telling Our
Stories – Asia and More”; this is first time India hosted this summit
# The first edition of 2018 Bi – annual Naval Commander’s
Conference was held in New Delhi
# Exhibition titled “Gurudev:
The Journey of the Maestro”, to commemorate the birth anniversary of
Rabindranath Tagore was inaugurated in New Delhi
# Supreme Court rapped the Centre for showing “sheer contempt of
court” by not framing the Cauvery draft scheme, but adjourned the case to May
14, 2018
# Indian Meteorological Department has scaled down concerns over
severe storms in northwest India; a Western Disturbance (WD) – an extra
tropical storm brought light rainfall in Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh,
Uttarakhand and parts of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. These places also saw
thunderstorms and dust storms
# Unwashed socks worn by visitors and rampant algae seem to turn
the Taj Mahal from its natural white to yellow, brown and green: Archaeological
Survey of India (ASI) in Supreme Court
·
But the Supreme Court not convinced with the reply of ASI; the
court said the problem was not with algae but the fact that the ASI was
unwilling to accept that they were not doing enough to conserve the monument
# To help violence
affected women, the Centre has approved setting up of 100 additional One Stop
Centres (OSCs) in 9 States (Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh); Raipur
(Chhattisgarh) was the first city to have OSC
TAMIL NADU
# President, Mr. Ram Nath Kovind graced and addressed the 160th
convocation of the University of Madras
·
Tamil Nadu has a proud culture of research and innovation –
whether in the pure sciences ot in medicine – and of engineering and
manufacturing; Tamil Nadu has a well-regarded IT sector and a growing digital
economy; these are complemented by excellence in the humanities; it is no
surprise that the Tamil languages is aomnr the most ancient in the world.
Centuries before many others, it was exploring the literature and philosophy of
learning
# A total of 1, 56, 170 government school students at 474
centres across the Thiruvanamalai District simultaneously read Tamil magazines
and created a new world record; the aim was to encourage students to read Tamil
magazines and help them identify each words and their correct pronunciation
# Researchers have said that, the dense vegetation in the
Western Ghats determines the amount of rainfall that Tamil Nadu gets during the
summer monsoon
·
A team of researchers from IIT – Bombay has discovered that the
dense forests of the Western Ghats contribute to nearly 40% of moisture to the
southwest monsoon rainfall in Tamil Nadu in the normal monsoon years
·
The average contribution is 25 – 30%. In monsoon deficit years,
the contribution increases to 50%
·
The forests of Western Ghats contribute to 3 mm rainfall per day
in August and September on many regions in Tamil Nadu and 1 mm rainfall per day
in June and July
# NHRC (National Human Rights Commission) has issued notice to
the Tamil Nadu government and the CBSE over the reports of hardship faced by
candidates who sat for the NEET
# Tamil Nadu filed a petition in the Supreme Court that
Karnataka could “easily spare” 4 tmc ft water for the month of May and the
Court must order for the release of the water; Karnataka filed a counter within
hours, saying it had already released 116.967 tmc ft to Tamil Nadu
# Anitha – SAT (named after Anitha who lost her life last year
due to NEET), a lightweight satellite developed by a 17 year old +2 student
(Villet Oviya from Tiruchy) to measure the effects of air pollution and global
warming was launched from Aztra Labs in Mexico City
# CBI concluded that the death of DSP Ms. Vishnu Priya in 2015
was a suicide only
# Foundation stone for the construction of a memorial for former
Chief Minister, Ms. J. Jayalalithaa was laid on Marina beach; the artist’s impression
of the memorial released by the State government showed a monument at the
centre flanked by a curvili-near-shaped knowledge part and a museum, resembling
a phoenix
# The foodgrain production in the State during 2017-18
registered 110 lakh tones [Click for more]
· # NHRC issued notices to authorities over alleged harassment and
inconvenience caused to students as they were put through rigorous security
checks
# Madras high Court wanted to know how candidates whose parents
do not have a bank account could pay registration charges for the TNEA if the
registration and counseling process was held online alone by accepting payments
through cards / net banking
# More than 1200 antiquities and artefacts have been unearthed
in Keezhadi in the excavations being undertaken by the Tamil Nadu Department of
Archaeology
STATES
SCAN
# Puducherry: Air Odisha to start flight service in Chennai –
Puducherry – Salem – Bengaluru sector from July 15
# Telangana: The Union Finance Ministry has conveyed its “in
principle approval” for the establishment of AIIMS in the State
# Andhra Pradesh: Government launched the official “NCBN” (Nara
Chandra Babu Naidu) mobile app to implement effective governance in the state
# Kerala: 19th edition of TOONZ Animation Masters Summit was
held in Thiruvananthapuram; During the Summit, V. G. Samant, pioneer of Indian
animation and creator was honoured with the “Legend of Animation” award for his
contributions to the animation industry
# Madhya Pradesh: State Government launched India’s first
Integrated Control and Command Centre (ICCC) for all seven smart cities
(Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Satna and Sagar) of the State in
Bhopal
·
ICCC will enable State authorities to monitor the status of
various smart civic amenities in real – time through the sensors connected to
it
·
ICCC is a cloud – based Universal Internet of Thongs (UIoT)
platform
# Maharashtra: State Government to provide Rs. 3 subsidy for
every litre of milk to the co – operative and private produces to manufacture
milk powder
# West Bengal: Calcutta High Court directed the State Election
Commission (SEC) to accept the nominations of all candidates who had submitted
their nominations electronically for the West Bengal panchayat polls
# Kerala: Government to set up the Kerala Fibre Optic Network
Limited to implement the Kerala Fibre Optic Network (K – FON ); Government also
to provide free internet to over 20 lakh poor families
# Telangana: Government launched “Rythu Bandhu” Scheme, the
first ever farmer investment support scheme in the country
BILATERAL
ISSUES
# India and Sri Lanka agreed on cooperation on exchange of
information and other aspects to tackle smuggling of drugs in both countries
# 6 Indians nationals employed in an electricity project were
abducted in northern Afghanistan (in Bagh-e-Shamal area of Pul-e-Khomre, the
capital of Baghlan Province in Afghanistan)
# The final report of a bilateral committee (consists of 8
members; 4 from India and 4 from Nepal) – appointed to advise Governments in
Delhi and Kathmandu – is likely to suggest that the 1950 India – Nepal Peace
and Friendship Treaty should be revised
# CEC, Mr. Om Prakash Rawat interacted with 250 students from 10
ASEAN countries; the students visited India as part of the Indo – ASEAN
students exchange programme under the aegis of Ministry of External Affairs
# India and Guatemala: India and Guatemala agreed to support each other’s candidature
for Non – Permanent membership in United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
WORLD
# Australia: Scientist David Goodall (104 years) travelled to
Switzerland and ended his life (Assisted suicide)
·
Assisted suicide is illegal in most countries around the world
and was banned in Australia until the State of Victoria became to first to
legalise the practice last year. But that legislation, which takes effect from
June 2019, only applies to terminally ill patients of sound mind and a life
expectancy of less than six months
# Lebanon: Country went to election after nine years
# Pakistan: 23 people were killed after gas explosions tore
through two neighbouring coal mines in southwestern Pakistan
# USA: California’s economy has emerged as world’s fifth largest
as per the new data; California’s economy has surpassed the economy of United Kingdom.
California’s economy is now only behind the economy of USA, China, Japan and
Germany
# Mt. Kilauea volcano erupted in Hawaii
# Australia: unveiled a $34 million plan to help bring its koala
population back from the brink, following a rapid decline in the furry
marsupial’s fortunes
# Israel: announced its withdrawal from the contest for a
non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council for the 2019 – 2020 term; Israel has been competing with Germany and Belgium for one out
of the two seats assigned to the Western European and others group
# Russia: Mr. Vladimir Putin was sworn in as the President of
Russia for fourth time (May 07, 2018); he will be the President of Russia till
May 07, 2024
# Singapore: likely to host the meet of US President, Mr. Donald
Trump and North Korean leader Mr. Kim Jong-un
# Armenia: Mr. Nikol Pashinyan was elected as the new Prime
Minister
# North Korea: Leader Mr. Kim Jong Un has met Chinese President,
Mr. Xi Jinping in the northeastern Chinese City of Dalian
# Russia: President, Mr. Vladimir Putin has nominated Mr. Dmitry
Medvedev again to be Russian Prime Minister in his new term; Mr. Dmitry
Medvedev has been the Russian Prime Minister since 2012
# World powers (UK, France, China, Russia and Germany) vowed to
uphold a landmark deal curbing Iran’s nuclear programme after US President, Mr.
Donald trump pulled off the U. S. out of the agreement, raising fears of a
fresh confrontation with Iran
·
India likely to face the impact of U.S. decision
·
Iran is India’s third biggest supplier (after Iraq and Saudi
Arabia) of crude oil
# China: Beijing to host World Robot Conference (Aug 15 – 19,
2018)
# China: Successfully launched Gaofen-5, a hyper-spectral
imaging satellite, as part of the country’s high-resolution Earth observation
project
# Costa Rica: Mr. Carlos Alvaradow as sworn in as Costa Rica’s
48th President
# UN: Secretary General Mr. Antonia Guterres announced that a
climate summit will be held in Sep 2019 in New York to review the Paris
Agreement commitments
ECONOMICS
# Government’s policy think-tank NITI Aayog and a world’s
leading information technology company IBM has signed a SoI (Statement of
Intent) to introduced technology to provide perspective to farmers to improve
the productivity of crops, soil yields, improving the farmers incomes
# As per Harvard University, India tops the list of fastest
growing economies for coming decade
|
Fastest growing economies for coming decade: Harvard
University
|
||
|
Top fastest growing
|
Fast growth prospects
|
Low growth prospects
|
|
1) India
2) Uganda
3) Tanzania
|
1) The Philippines
2) Vietnam
3) Indonesia
|
1) Bangladesh
2) Venezuela
3) Angola
|
# At the 51st annual meeting held in Manila, ADB (Asian
Development Bank) projected India’s growth at 7.3% in 2018 and 7.6% in 2019 (in
2017 ADB’s prediction for India was 6.6%)
# Bank deposits in India growth fell to a five – decade low in
fiscal year ended March 2018 but attractive of other savings methods such as
mutual funds and insurance reduced banking competitiveness
# CBDT (Central Board of Direct Taxes) notified the protocol
amending the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between India and
Kuwait
# NITI Aayog and Google signed a SoI (Statement of Intent) to
enhance growth in artificial intelligence and machine learning ecosystem in
India
# Government of India signed a loan deal with the World Bank for
the National Nutrition Mission (POSHAN Abhiyaan) for 315 districts across all
States / UTs
·
POSHAN (PM’s Overarching Scheme for Holistic Nourishment)
Abhiyaan was launched by Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi on March 08, 2018 in
Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan
·
POSHAN Abhiyaan;s main objective is gradual increase of the
interventions supported by the World Bank assisted ICDS (Integrated Child
Development Services) Systems Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project
(SSNIP) to all districts in India for a 3 – year period
# Google said that it has appointed Nitin Bawankule was the
country head for Google Cloud India
# Union Civil Aviation Minister, Mr. Suresh Prabhu said that,
the government is committees to the building of airport capacity as part of
NABH (NextGen Airports for BHarat) Nirman initiative
·
Three key aspects of NABH are
1) Fair and equitable land
acquisition
2) Long-term master plan for airport
and regional development
3) Balanced economics for all
stakeholders
·
Accepting the recommendations made by the steering committee on
Greenfield airports, the Ministry has accorded site clearance approval to the
Greenfield International Airport at Purander, Pune and Noida International
Greenfield Airport, Jewar, Uttar Pradesh
# Walmart Inc. said it had agreed to pay $16 billion for about
77% stake in Flipkart, a deal that will pitch the world’s largest retailer in
direction competition with its U.S. rival Amazon.com Inc. in a battle for
dominance of India’s online marketplace
·
The transaction once completed, will enable several investors in
Flipkart including Japanese billionaire Masayoshi Son’s SoftBank Group to
encash their holding and exit the Indian e-commerce start-up, which was founded
in 2007 by two IIT – Delhi alumini and former Amazon employees Sachin Bansal
and Binny Bansal
# India launched auction of 9th city gas distribution (CGD)
licensing round offering permits for selling compressed and piped natural gas
(CNG and PNG); cities for which CGD licences are on offer include: Ahmednagar,
Allahabad, Amethi, Alwar, Barmer, Bhopal, Coimbatore, Jalandhar, Ludhiana,
Salem, Rai Bareli, Burdwan and Dehradun
|
Eligibility for bidding
|
|
|
Cities with population of
|
Net worth of the company
|
|
> 50 lakh
|
Not less than Rs. 150 crore
|
|
20 – 50 lakh
|
Not less than Rs. 100 crore
|
|
< 10 lakh
|
Not less than Rs. 5 crore
|
# Fifteenth Finance Commission has constituted an Advisory
Council to advise and assist the commission. The advisory council has 6 members
(Arvind Viramani, Surjit S. Bhalla, Sanjeev Gupta, Pinaki Chakraborthy, Sajjid
Chinoy and Neelkanth Misra). The role and functions of Advisory councils will
be:
·
To advise the commission on any issue or subject related to the
Terms of reference (ToR) of the commission, which may be of relevance
·
To assist in the preparation of any paper or research study
which would enhance the Commission’s understanding on the issues containing in
its ToR and
·
To help in broadening the Commission’s ambit and understanding
to seek best national and international practices on matters pertaining to
fiscal devolution and improving the quality and reach and enforcement of its
recommendations
SPORTS
# 69th National junior basket ball championship 2018 at Ludhiana
# India’s Neeraj Chopra finished fourth in the IAAF Diamond
League at the Qatar Sport Club in Doha
# World Badminton Rankings
|
Indians in World Badminton Rankings (Singles; Top 10)
|
|
|
Male
|
Female
|
|
Kidambi Srikant – 3rd
H. S. Prannoy – 8th
|
P. V. Sindhu – 3rd
Saina Nehwal – 10th
|
# South Asian junior athletics championships 2018 held in
Colombo, Sri Lanka; India topped the medal table with 50 medals (20 Gold, 22
Silver and 8 Bronze)
# India’s Ramit Tandon toppled the top seed Omar Abdul Meguid to
win the Abu Dhabi Open 2018, his third title on the Professional Squash
Association (PSA) tour
# Sachin Tendulkar and BJP MP Anurag Thakur launched “Star Khel
Mahakumbh” in Dharmshala (Himachal Pradesh) in presence of 1500 athletes
- The aim of the event is to attract participation from at least
100000 youngsters from Hamirpur Constituency (represented by Anurag Thakur)
# India’s Manav Thakur (Table Tennis) qualified for 2018 Youth
Olympics to be held at Buenos Aires
MISC
# First
organized census of Indus Dolphins held in Punjab
·
Indus Dolphin is one of the world’s rarest mammals found only in
India and Pakistan
·
The first organized census on Indus dolphins are conducted by
the Punjab Government along with WWF - India
# Kerala’s M. T. Vasudevan Nair has bagged this year’s annual
ONV Literary Prize for his contributions to Malayalam literature; Anuja
Akathoot’s poetry collection “Amma
Urangunnilla” has been selected for the young writer award
# NASA launched InSIGHT spacecraft aboard on Atlas V rocket to
study “Marsquakes” from Vandenberg Air base, in California, USA
·
It is expected to settle on Mars on Nov 26, 2018
·
InSIGHT: Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigation,
Geodesy and Heat Transport
# Scientists said that Tapanuli Orangutan (in Indonesia) the
rarest ape species on Earth is on the verge of extinction
# Book “A century is Not
enough” by Sourav Ganguly and Gautam Bhattacharya
# PCI (Press Council of India) Chairman, Just. C. K. Prasad
rejected the World Press freedom Index 2018 (released by Without Borders)
saying the annual report has “lack of clarity” on the inputs that weighed the
rankings which were based on “opinion or perception”. In the index, India was
ranked at 138 out of 180 countries surveyed
# Scientists from Tohoku University, Japan have found a mineral (Moganite)
in a lunar meteorite that points to the presence of abundant hidden reserves of
water ice under the surface of the moon, which could be potentially useful for
future human exploration; Moganite is a crystal of silicon dioxide. It is known
to form on Earth in certain circumstances in sedimentary settings from alkaline
fluids
# Hindi film director Arjun Hingorani passed away
# Fiji’s Indian – origin former Prime Minister, Mr. Mahendra
Chaudhry has been selected for the V. K. Krishna Menon Award for his
contribution to the Indian diaspora
# Centre granted a one – year extension to Cabinet Secretary Mr.
P. K. Sinha whose tenure was to end on June 12, 2018
# India has ranked fourth out of 25 nations on the Asia Power
Index released by Lowy Institute (a Sydney – based Think Tank)
- Asia Power Index ranks 25 countries and territories in Asia –
Pacific region in terms of their overall power
|
Asia Power Index – Top 5
|
|
|
#
|
Country
|
|
1
|
USA
|
|
2
|
China
|
|
3
|
Japan
|
|
4
|
India
|
|
5
|
Russia
|
# 71st Cannes Film Festival from May 08 – 19, 2018
# Microsoft launched the new “AI for Accessibility” initiative
to use artificial intelligence to build better technology for people with
disabilities
# In a first, a robot was used to successfully to remove a rare
tumour from a patient’s neck in a surgery led by an Indian – origin surgeon
(Dr. Neil Malhotra) in USA
·
Chordoma is a rare type of cancer that occurs in the bones of
the skull base and spine.
·
A chordoma tumour usually grows slowly and is often asymptomatic
for years
# A rock sample recovered nearly eight years ago from Champua in
Odisha’s Kendujhar Dt has put India at the forefront of geological research in
the world
·
Scientists have found in the rock a grain of magmatic zircon (a mineral
that contains traces of radioactive isotopes) that is an estimated 4, 240
million years old – a discovery of great promise to study the earth’s early
years
·
The only instance of zircon older than this discovery was the
one found in Jack Hill, Western Australia, which was 4, 400 million years old
and is the oldest known rock sample. But the zircon in this case was from
metamosphosed sedimentary rock, unlike the Singhbhum one, which was formed from
magma
# World’s most powerful people – 2018: released by Forbes’ [Click for more]
·
Chinese President, Mr. Xi Jinping top the list
·
India’s Prime Minister, Mr. Narendra Modi is at 9th
·
Mukesh Ambani at 32nd rank is the only Indian businessman
appeared on the list
·
Indian – origin Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella ia placed at 40th
# Nisha Bhalla, a holistic coach and consultant from Mumbai was
felicitated at the recently concluded annual Women Economic Forum 2018 awards
# May 06: International No Diet Day (INDD)
# May 07: World Athletics Day
# May 08: World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day
- This day marks the birth anniversary of Henry Dunant, who was
born on May 08, 1828; he is the founder of International Committee of the red
Cross (ICRC); he is also the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize
No comments:
Post a Comment