Current Affairs Timeline
Appointments, Removals and
Resignations
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has
approved the appointments of Prabhat Kamal
Bezboruah and M S Boje Gowda as Chairmen of the
Tea Board and the Coffee Board, respectively. Prabhat
Kamal Bezboruah is a leading tea association
industrialist who was once a banker in the US.
Bezboruah is also the current head of the Tea Research
Association (TRA) and has previously served as the
chairman of Assam Tea Planters’ Association.
Bezboruah will be the first non-IAS to head the Tea
Board of India. Bezboruah’s tenure will last until
November 1, 2018. As per the recently released gazette
notification of the Union government, all agricultural
boards under the ministry of commerce will be headed
by a non-IAS and industry person. However, the post of
vice-chairman will be filled by an IAS officer.
Twitter has elevated Taranjeet Singh as its Country
Director for India. Prior to this appointment, Singh was
responsible for sales and marketing support for Twitter’s
advertisers in India. Before joining twitter, Taranjeet
Singh held various positions at BBC
Advertising and Outlook Publishing etc.
Moon Jae-in has been declared winner in South
Korea’s presidential election by the National Election
Commission. Moon, the Democratic Party’s
candidate has won with 41.08% of votes. Moon will
replace the ousted President Park Geun-hye, who was
ejected from office in March after a corruption scandal
for which she’s awaiting trial.
US President Donald Trump has nominated Indian-
American Neil Chatterjee as a Member of Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). FERC is
an agency responsible for overseeing America’s power
grid and deciding on multibillion-dollar energy projects.
His term will expire on June 30, 2021.
India has been unanimously elected as the President
of the UN-Habitat. UN-Habitat, an organ of the United
Nations’ Organisation (UNO) reports to the United
Nations General Assembly. UN-Habitat promotes
socially and environmentally sustainable human
settlements across the world. India has been elected as
the President of UN-Habitat after a gap of 10 years.
Thirty-nine-year-old Emmanuel Macron has been
elected as the President of France. He has become the
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youngest President and occupant of the Élysée Palace.
He is also the first President of France outside of that
country’s two traditional main parties.
In a major restructuring in the banking sector,
Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC),
headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi appointed
heads of seven public sector banks besides shifting
managing directors of PNB and Bank of India. PNB
Managing Director (MD) Usha Ananthasubramanian
has been appointed as the head of Kolkata-based
Allahabad Bank. Melwyn Rego of Bank of India will
head the Syndicate Bank. Rajkiran Rai G, currently
executive director of Oriental Bank of Commerce will
head Union Bank of India as its MD and CEO for a
period of three years. R Subramaniakumar, currently
executive director of Indian Overseas Bank, has been
made as its MD and CEO. Sunil Mehta, currently the
executive director of Corporation Bank will head the
PNB in place of Usha Ananthasubramanian. The
executive director of Canara Bank Dinabandhu
Mohapatra will be the MD and CEO of Bank of India.
R A Sankara Narayanan, currently executive director
of BoI will be the MD and CEO of Vijaya Bank.
Kochi Metro will employ 23 members from the
transgender community. This is the first time a
government owned company has formally appointed
members of the transgender community. These 23
workers will be a part of the 530 Kudumbasree workers
to be employed at 11 stations in the Kochi Metro. While
the better educated workers would be posted at ticket
counters, the rest will be deputed for housekeeping
works, customer relations, parking, gardening and to
man the coach-depot canteen.
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has
approved the appointment of 1982 West Bengal cadre
IAS officer Sanjay Mitra as the next Defence
Secretary. He will have a fixed tenure of two years.
Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal
‘Prachanda’ has resigned from his post. He was
elected as the 39th Prime Minister of Nepal. Prachanda
has stepped down honouring a power sharing agreement
entered by him with the ruling partner Nepali Congress
on August 3, 2016.
United States senate has confirmed Amul Thapar as
a Judge to the Cincinnati-based Sixth Circuit Court
of Appeals. With this appointment he has become only
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 the second Indian-American judge of an appeals court.
Thapar was confirmed by senate by a 52-44 vote.
The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT)
has appointed Anurag Tripathy, a 1998 batch officer
of Indian Railway personnel Service (IRPS) as the
new secretary of the Central Board of Secondary
Education (CBSE). He will hold the post for a period of
five years.
Google’s Vice-President for South East Asia and
India, Rajan Anandan has been appointed as the new
Chairman of Internet and Mobile Association of
India (IAMAI). Rajan will succeed FreeCharge’s co-
founder and chief executive officer Kunal Shah. The
other new office bearers of the IAMAI will
be MakeMyTrip Chairman & Group CEO Deep Kalra
who will be the Vice-Chairman.
Former Ethiopian Health Minister Dr Tedros
Adhanom Ghebreyesus has been elected as the new
Director-General of the World Health
Organisation. This election has earned the distinction of
being the first election which saw the participation of all
WHO member states in the voting process.
Hassan Rouhani has been re-elected as the President
of Iran. He was elected as president for his first term in
2013. He won 2013 elections by pledging to end Iran’s
isolation and improve civil rights at home. Rouhani was
born in Semnan province on November 12, 1948.
Air Marshal PN Pradhan has been appointed as
the Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence Staff
(Operations). IDS Integrated Defence Staff was created
in 2001 following the recommendation of GoM which
was set up after the Kargil war to review India’s defence
management.
Diplomat Vinay Mohan Kwatra has been appointed
as India’s next ambassador to France. He is currently
serving as Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister’s
Office (PMO).
French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed
Edouard Philippe as the new Prime Minister of
France. At 46, Edouard Philippe would be the second-
youngest Prime Minister of France after Laurent
Fabius (1984 to 1986), who was 37 at the time
of appointment.
Ovais Sarmad who is an Indian national has been
appointed by the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio
Guterres to the post of Deputy Executive Secretary,
which is a key post in the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
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World Health Organization (WHO) has appointed
Amitabh Bachchan as its Goodwill Ambassador for
Hepatitis in South-East Asia Region. He has been
appointed to boost awareness to stop the spread of
hepatitis, which is one of the leading causes of liver
cancer and cirrhosis.
Retired Judge of Delhi High Court Justice Mukul
Mudgal has been elected as the Chairman of FIFA
Governance committee at the FIFA’s 67th Congress
held in Bahrain’s capital city of Manama. Justice
Mudgal was proposed for the vacant position by the
FIFA Council after former chief Miguel Maduro was
removed for his role in allegedly blocking Russian
World Cup official Vitaly Mutko from retaining his seat
on ruling council.
Sports
Aizawl FC has won its maiden I-League title against
Shillong Lajong in their final game of the league season
to become the first ever club from the northeast to win
the I-League title. This was the 10th edition of the I-
League held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in
Shillong. The victory of Aizawl FC with a shoe-string
budget against Shillong Lajong is considered as one of
the biggest achievements in Indian football history.
The top-seeded Indo-American pair of Leander Paes
and Scott Lipsky defeated Argentine third seeds
Leonardo Mayer and Maximo Gonzalez to win the
Tallahassee Challenger title of the men’s double. This
title win is Paes’ 2nd Challenger level title of the season.
The 2017 Tallahassee Tennis Challenger was played on
green clay courts between 24 and 29 April 2017.
As per the updated FIFA world football rankings, the
Indian national football has managed to secure the
100th spot and entered into the top 100 of FIFA
rankings. This is the first time in 21 years that India has
been ranked into top 100. India has been placed 100th
alongside Nicaragua, Lithuania and Estonia with a total
of 331 points.
In the recently updated ICC T20 International team
rankings, India has been placed at the 4th position
behind second placed England and third placed
Pakistan. India has earned 118 points whereas England
and Pakistan have earned 121 points each. New-Zealand
has topped the table with 125 points. South Africa has
managed to secure the fifth place followed by countries
like Australia (6th), West Indies (7th), Sri Lanka (8th),
Afghanistan (9th) and Bangladesh (10th).
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 Jhulan Goswami has become the highest wicket-
taker in one-day internationals. Goswami has so far
taken 181 wickets in 153 matches. She has broken the
world record held by Australia fast bowler Cathryn
Fitzpatrick who has taken 180 wickets during India’s
ongoing match against South Africa in the Women’s
Quadrangular Series in Potchefstroom.
Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Divya Kakran have
bagged silver medals at the Asian Wrestling
Championship held at the KD Jadhav Stadium in New
Delhi. Though wrestler Sakshi, India’s bronze medallist
at the Rio Olympics was strong in her first two rounds
against Uzbekistan’s Nabira Esenbaeva and then
Kazakhstan’s Ayaulym Kassymova, she was defeated by
Rio Gold medallist Risako Kawai of Japan and settled
for a silver medal in the 60 kg category. Divya
Kakran and Vinesh Phogat bagged silver in the 69 kg and
55kg categories respectively.
The 19-year-old Motorsports’ Indian driver Arjun
Maini, who drives for Jenzer Motorsport, has
become the first Indian to win a GP3 Series race at
the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona. Arjun Maini
is supported by JK Racing and TVS.
Lewis Hamilton has won the Spanish Grand Prix
from pole position in the Formula One
championship. This is Hamilton’s 55th career
win and second win of the season. Mercedes’s Hamilton
finished 3.4 seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Rafael Nadal beat Dominic Thiem to clinch his fifth
Madrid Open title. With this victory, he has won three
straight titles after Barcelona Open and Monte Carlo
Masters victories. Nadal will also move into the world’s
top four replacing 18-time Grand Slam champion Roger
Federer in the new rankings.
The partnership of Deepti Sharma and Poonam Raut
scored 320 in 45.3 overs to become the world’s first
pair, either male or female, to forge a 300-run
opening-wicket partnership in One-Day
Internationals (ODIs). The earlier best partnership for
the first wicket in men’s cricket was 286 scored by Sri
Lanka’s Upul Tharanga and Sanath Jayasuriya against
England in 2006.
Indian cricket team has retained its top position in
the latest ICC Test rankings with 123 points. The
Indian team is six points ahead of second placed South
Africa.
The South Asian Junior Table Tennis championship
was held in Mount Lavinia, near Colombia in Sri
Lanka. In a stunning performance, the paddlers from
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India have won all the 10 Gold Medals on offer in this
tournament. Apart from 10 gold medals, the Indian
participants have also won 14 medals, thus taking the
medal tally to 14. In this championship, top seeded
Manav Thakkar won Junior Boys final; while
Archana Girish Kamath won Junior Girls final.
The Indian Men’s compound archery team has
managed to win gold after defeating Columbia 226-
221 in the archery World Cup stage 1 championships
held in Shanghai, China. The Indian archery team was
represented by Abhishek Verma, Chinna Raju Srither
and Amanjeet Singh.
On 21st May, 2017, the Bengaluru FC defeated Mohun
Bagan 2-0 to win the Federation Cup. The final event
was held in Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, Odisha.
Federation Cup is India’s first major football
competition involving the clubs.
India’s Ravichandran Ashwin has won the
International Cricketer of the Year Award at
the CEAT Cricket Rating (CCR) International
awards 2017. He was presented with an award at a
function held at the Cricket Club of India by former
cricketer Sunil Gavaskar and Harsh Goenka of RPG
Enterprises.
Harpreet Singh has bagged the bronze medal in the
Greco-Roman weight divisions in the Asian
Wrestling Championship held at the K.D. Jadhav arena
in the Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex in New Delhi.
Harpreet clinched the bronze medal after beating his
rival Jun Ji Na of China in 80 kg category.
India’s C.A Bhavani Devi has become the first Indian
to win a gold medal in an international fencing
tournament. She has won the gold medal in the sabre
event of the Turnoi Satellite Fencing Championship held
at Reykjavik in Iceland. In the final, she beat Sarah Jane
Hampson of Great Britain 15-13 on points.
National and State News
Facebook has launched its “Express Wi-Fi”
commercially in India and the service is now
available via 700 hotspots across four states of
Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Meghalaya.
Express Wi-Fi is a part of Facebook’s global initiative to
expand internet connectivity. For the expansion of
service, Facebook has announced a partnership
with Bharti Airtel for setting up an additional 20,000
hotspots covering millions of Indians over the next few
months.
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 The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has
approved re-structuring the schemes of the Ministry
of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) under new
Central Sector Scheme called as SAMPADA (Scheme
for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-
Processing Clusters) for the time period 2016-20.
SAMPADA is an umbrella scheme incorporating
ongoing schemes of the Ministry of Food Processing
Industries (MoFPI) such as Mega Food Parks, Integrated
Cold Chain and Value Addition Infrastructure, Food
Safety and Quality Assurance Infrastructure, etc.
The world’s highest railway bridge which will be 35
metres taller than the Eiffel Tower is to come up over
the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir at a cost of
around Rs. 1,100 crores in around two years from now.
The bridge will connect Bakkal (Katra) and Kauri
(Srinagar). The bridge will be a part of the Udhampur-
Srinagar-Baramulla rail link project. Once completed,
the bridge will be an engineering marvel. The project is
expected to be completed by 2019. After completion of
the bridge it will surpass the record of the Beipan river
Shuibai railway bridge (275 m) in China. The bridge is
expected to contribute to the economic development of
the state and improve its accessibility.
The Union Cabinet has granted international airport
status for the Vijayawada Airport. The approval was
given as per provisions of Andhra Pradesh
Reorganisation Act, 2014. The decision was taken as the
airport is witnessing significant growth in passenger
traffic and also to cater to the demands made by airlines
as well as the Andhra Pradesh government.
India and Turkey have signed three agreements
following delegation-level talks between Prime
Minister Narendra Modi and Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This is Turkish President
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s first foreign visit after winning
the April 16 referendum that will transform Turkey into
a presidential form of democracy. The previous visit of
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to India was
made in 2008.
India’s second tallest flag pole has been inaugurated
in Kolhapur. The pole which is 303 feet high has been
constructed in the Police training academy garden as a
part of the Kolhapur beautification project. The poll is 90
metres tall and 60 metres wide and weighs 24 tonne.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis inaugurated the pole
by unfurling a national flag of 5400sq ft as a part of the
‘Maharashtra Din’ celebrations in the state. The
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country’s tallest flag pole is located at the Indo-Pak
Attari Border and is 360 feet high.
The Minister for Human Resource and Development,
Prakash Javadekar has launched Students for
soldiers- a nationwide Vidya – Veerta Abhiyan to
encourage Universities and educational institutions
across the country to display portraits of Param Veer
Chakra-decorated soldiers. The portraits of Param
Veer Chakra decorated soldiers were handed over to the
Vice Chancellors of Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi
University, Jamia Milia Islamia, Jammu and IIT Delhi,
among others, to put it in their educational institutions.
India will give Rs. 35 crore rupees to children of
freedom fighters in Bangladesh under the new
‘Muktijodha scholarship’ scheme in the next five
years. Under the scheme, students at higher secondary
level will get a one-time grant of Tk 20,000 (Rs 15,370)
and students at the undergraduate level will get a grant
of Tk 50,000 (Rs 38,430). In addition, all freedom
fighters will be eligible for multiple entries on Indian
visa for a period of five years. Also, every year 100 of
them will be entitled to free medical treatment in Indian
hospitals.
Indian Railways is expected to launch a new 20 coach
premier train called the Tejas Express connecting
Mumbai and Goa in June. The Tejas service aims to
provide comfort to passengers in the inter-city journeys.
Once the Mumbai-Goa run becomes operational, the
Railways is likely to extend the Tejas service in Delhi-
Chandigarh route.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has
inaugurated the state’s first automatic weather
station at Dongargaon in Nagpur. The state
government proposes to install around 2,065 such
weather stations across the state on a public private
partnership (PPP) mode in this year and 1,000 in next
year.
Leveraging information technology in a big way, the
Indian Railways is set to make use of the radio-
frequency identification tags (RFID) for tracking of
wagons, coaches and locomotives to ensure the
effective and transparent functioning of the system. For
this purpose, the RFID tags have been designed by the
Centre for Railway Information System (CRIS) at an
estimated cost of Rs 1000 per tag. For the first phase of
implementation of this project, the Railways have
sanctioned a sum of Rs 57 crore.
Prime Minister Modi will travel to Sri Lanka to
attend the Buddhist festival ‘Vesak Day’ (Buddha
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 Jayanti) that commemorates birth, enlighten and death
of Buddha. This will be Prime Minister Modi’s second
visit to Sri Lanka since becoming the Prime
Minister. ‘International Day of Vesak’ celebrations will
be held in Colombo from May 12 to 14.
The government has declared entire Assam as a
“disturbed” area under the Armed Forces (Special
Powers) Act for another 3 months. As per the
notification, the entire Assam besides bordering areas of
Meghalaya has been declared as “Disturbed Areas”. In
addition, the government has placed three districts of
Arunachal Pradesh, namely, Tirap, Changlang and
Longding and other areas falling under 16 police stations
bordering Assam as “disturbed” area under the AFSPA.
India has protested the participation of Canadian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at ‘Khalsa Day’ in
Toronto that saw felicitation of Sikh separatist
elements and featured Khalistani flags and posters of
Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Mr. Trudeau has become
the first Canadian PM to attend the ‘Khalsa Day’ event
in a decade since Paul Martin in 2005. The Khalsa Day
event was organised to mark the Sikh new year.
Prime Minister Modi will travel to Sri Lanka to
attend the Buddhist festival ‘Vesak Day’ (Buddha
Jayanti) that commemorates birth, enlighten and death
of Buddha. This will be Prime Minister Modi’s second
visit to Sri Lanka since becoming the Prime
Minister. ‘International Day of Vesak’ celebrations will
be held in Colombo from May 12 to 14.
The Indian Railways has planned to acquire the End
of Train Telemetry (EoTT) equipments to run
nearly 1,000 trains without guards in the current
fiscal. The EoTT system is designed in such a way that
it will perform the guard’s job. EoTT system comprises
two units, namely, ‘cab display unit’ (CDU) which is
fitted on the locomotive and ‘sense and brake unit’
(SBU) which is fitted on the last coach of the train. The
units will be fitted with radio transmitter which
can communicate with each other.
India and Mauritius have signed four
agreements after delegation-level talks between
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime
Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth in
New Delhi. Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth has chosen
India as a destination of his first visit since taking over
as prime minister of Mauritius early this year. India has
extended a 500 million dollar line of credit to Mauritius.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid the
Foundation Stone of the Indian Agricultural
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Research Institute at Gogamukh in Assam’s Dhemaji
district located on the Assam-Arunachal Pradesh
border. This will be the third Indian Agricultural
Research Institute (IARI). Apart from IARI in the
national capital, the work on setting up of second IARI
in Ranchi, Jharkhand has commenced.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid the
foundation stone for All India Institute of Medical
Sciences (AIIMS) at Changsari in the Kamrup
District of Assam. The institute will be constructed at a
distance of 26 km from Guwahati. The institute will be
constructed at a cost of Rs 1,123 crores as part of the
‘Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana’.
The two organizations Afcons Transtonnelstroy and
Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation Ltd (KMCRL)
involved in implementing the East West Metro have
completed boring the India’s first underwater tunnel
under the Hooghly river to link Howrah and
Kolkata. The length of Kolkata’s East West Metro is
16.6 km long. Out of which a length of 502
metres is under the Hooghly river.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated
India’s longest river bridge – the Dhola-Sadia Bridge
in Assam. He has also renamed the bridge as Bhupen
Hazarika Bridge. The construction of the bridge began in
2011. The cost of the project is about Rs 2056 crores.
The Minister of State for Communications Manoj
Sinha has launched three new initiatives,
namely, BSNL’s satellite phone service; Pandit Deen
Dayal Upadhyaya Telecom Skill Excellence Award
Scheme & Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Sanchar
Kaushal Vikas Pratisthan Scheme.
According to Union Minister Jitendra Singh, the
government has forced 129 government officers to
retire for non-performance in the past few months. In
total, 30 Group A and 99 Group B officers has been
forced to retire in the past few months. The punishment
of compulsory retirement comes as a consequence of the
review being done by the central government to check
the performance of its officers.
IIT Kharagpur’s Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the
Science of Happiness and Madhya Pradesh
government’s ‘Rajya Anandam Sansthan’
(Department of Happiness) has signed an MoU to
collaborate on the development of a Happiness Index for
measuring the well-being of the residents of the state.
As per the PFRDA-CRISIL report titled, Financial
security for India’s elderly – The imperatives, India
will begin ageing gradually and transform from
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 ‘young’ to a ‘greying’ with every 5th Indian to be in
60s in contrast to every 12th person at present. By
2050, persons above the age of 60 would increase from
the present 8.9% of the population to 19.4 %.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the
Narmada Seva Mission for the conservation of river
Narmada, which is a lifeline of Madhya
Pradesh. Prime Minister released a road map for the
series of steps to be taken for the conservation of
Narmada river.
Kerala and Tamil Nadu have secured first and
second rankings for the second consecutive year in
public affairs index (PAI) released by the Public
Affairs Centre (PAC), Bengaluru. Gujarat has been
ranked third followed by Karnataka and Maharashtra at
the fourth and fifth position respectively in governance
indicators.
Indian Railways will install 19,000 high definition
CCTV cameras at over 983 stations across the
country under the Nirbhaya Fund at an approved
cost of Rs 500 crore in order to ensure round-the-clock
security to passengers including women. The cameras
will be installed at platforms and waiting areas.
India has jumped 73 spots to be ranked 26th in World
Bank’s electricity accessibility list. The country was
ranked 99th in 2014. Out of the 18,452 villages which
lacked electricity, over 13,000 has been provided access
to electricity.
The United States will be selling high-tech Joint
Service Lightweight Integrated Suit Technology
(JSLIST) protective clothing worth $75 million to
India. For the first time, the Pentagon has notified the
sale of CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and
nuclear) Support Equipment, the Joint Service
Lightweight Integrated Suit Technology (JSLIST)
protective clothing, to the US Congress.
India will skip the two day grand OBOR
summit organised by China to showcase its plans to
build a network of trade routes under the One Belt,
One Road (OBOR). OBOR is an ambitious China’s
ambitious development strategy and framework that
aims to boost its connectivity and trade that will that will
connect Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe. It was
proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013. The
summit is expected to be attended by nearly 65 countries.
According to the 2016 Indian Exclusion Report (IXR)
released by the Centre for Equity Studies (CES), in
terms of exclusion from access to public goods, Dalits,
Adivasis and Muslims continue to remain the worst-
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hit communities. The report has found out that the same
historically disadvantaged groups such as Dalits,
Adivasis, Muslims, and persons with disabilities and
age-related vulnerabilities continue to remain as the most
severely and consistently excluded groups of the society.
NITI Aayog has conducted the first Samavesh
meeting of the National Steering Group and other
knowledge partners under the co-chairmanship
of Amitabh Kant, CEO and Ratan P Watal, Principal
Adviser, NITI Aayog. The meeting was also attended
by representatives of four States- Kerala, Assam, Uttar
Pradesh and Rajasthan.
The Union Cabinet has cleared a proposal allowing
for the construction of 10 indigenous Pressurised
Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR). The reactors will have
a capacity of 700 MW. These reactors will add 7000 MW
capacity and will ramp up nuclear power generation in
the country.
West Bengal State government has made Bengali
mandatory in all schools, including private English
medium schools. Henceforth, it would be compulsory
for all schools including English medium schools
affiliated to boards other than West Bengal Board of
Secondary Education to teach Bengali as an optional
subject from Class I so that students can study it either
as a second or third language.
India and Palestine has signed five
agreements during the 4 day visit of Palestinian
President Mahmoud Abbas to India. This is
Abbas’s fifth visit to India and the third state visit after
his earlier visits in 2008 and 2012. These 5 MoUs signed
were on visa exemption for diplomatic passport holder,
agriculture cooperation, cooperation in field of IT &
Electronics, health sector and cooperation in the field of
youth affairs and sports.
The State Government of Madhya Pradesh has put an
indefinite ban on the sand excavation in the Narmada
River. This announcement has been made by Chief
Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Bhopal. The
government has also set up a committee to suggest the
scientific ways of mining the rivers.
On May 21, Minister of Railways Suresh Prabhu
inaugurated free Wi-Fi facility at 28 railway stations
of Konkan Railway from Kudal Railway Station in
Maharashtra. Indian Railways has tied by with
SYSCON/JOISTER for providing 2 Mbps peer-to-peer
24 hrs Free Wi-Fi bandwidth at 28 railway stations of
Konkan Railway.
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 India organised the Tagore cultural Festival in Egypt
to mark the 156th birth anniversary of Rabindranath
Tagore from May 8-12. Tagore Festival will be
organised by the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian
Culture (MACIC), which is the cultural wing of the
Indian Embassy in Cairo.
Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and
Shipping Nitin Gadkari has inaugurated India’s First
Integrated Bio‐refinery for Renewable Fuels &
Chemicals for producing ethanol from a variety of
biomass.
Ministry of Urban Development will launch
measuring of Liveability Index of cities in the next
month. The index will be based on indigenously evolved
methodology. The Ministry of Urban Development has
already released a detailed document on “Methodology
for Collection and Computation of Liveability Standards
in Cities”.
International Events
Dubai has become the first city in the world to have
its own Microsoft-designed font. The font will have
typeface both in Latin and Arabic script. It will be made
available in 23 languages– Afrikaans, Arabic, Basque,
Britannic, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish,
French, Gaelic, German, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian,
Norwegian, Farsi, Portuguese, Sami, Spanish, Swahili,
Swedish and Urdu. The font was launched by the Crown
Prince of Dubai Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin
Rashid Al Maktoum.
China plans to launch its own online encyclopaedia
next year rivalling Wikipedia and Britain’s
Encyclopaedia Britannica. The main objective of this
project is to guide public thought. China fears that its
citizens who use Wikipedia are being corrupted by
foreign influences. The project will be executed under
the guidance of the state-owned China Publishing
Group. The project would be developed in such a way
that it serves as a symbol of China’s cultural and
technological development and promotes its soft power
and international influence.
Russia and Iran which are allies of the Syrian regime
as well as the rebel supporter Turkey signed a Russia-
backed plan for creating safe zones in Syria. The pact
which was signed in the Kazakh capital Astana was
meant to halt fighting in the war-torn Syria. However,
the Syrian government and rebel delegations were not
signatories to the agreement. Russia-backed plan to
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create safe zones in Syria is targeted at further
pacification and cessation of hostilities and a halt in
fighting in the zones.
A global cyberattack has crippled nearly hundred
countries, including India. A cyber gang called
Shadow Brokers, which is a mysterious organisation is
held responsible for this massive cyberattack. The
organisation has carried out the attack by stealing a
hacking tool called ‘Eternal Blue’ from the National
Security Agency (NSA), America’s powerful military
intelligence unit.
Defying calls to halt its weapons programme, North
Korea has yet again test fired a ballistic missile that
flew for 30 minutes before dropping into the sea
between North Korea’s east coast and Japan, only 97
km from south of Russia’s Vladivostok region. The
missile has invited calls for implementation of stronger
sanctions against North Korea. The missile flew 700 km
and reached an altitude of more than 2,000 km before
landing into the sea.
Belt and Road Forum (BRF) is a gathering of world
leaders from across the globe, organized by China to
showcase its plans to build a network of trade routes
under the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative. As
of now, 68 countries and international organisations
have signed belt and road agreements with China. China
has stated that the Belt and Road initiative is an open and
inclusive platform to explore and co-develop the China-
led blueprint of reviving the Silk Road. India, however,
has boycotted the summit owing to sovereignty concerns
related to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor
(CPEC).
The tiny island of Nauru which is the world’s smallest
republic has become the sixth country to ratify
the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Framework
pact. Still five more nations namely the Comoros, Cote
d’Ivoire, Somalia, Ghana and Djibouti have committed
to ink the International Solar Alliance Framework Pact in
the ongoing annual meeting of the African Development
bank in Gandhinagar.
Apple has opened its first store in Southeast Asia at
Singapore’s upmarket shopping district. Apple
expects this store to be one of the most of the most
popular stores in the world. Most of the earnings for
Apple comes from the sales of its flagship iPhone, which
of late faces increasingly tough competition in a
saturated market. Apple already has almost 500 stores
globally with more than a million visitors daily.
Page 7 of 18
 Construction works for building Extremely Large
Telescope (ELT) has commenced in Chile. After
completion, the Extremely Large Telescope will
become the world’s largest optical telescope which will
be five times larger than the top observing instruments
that are in use today. The telescope will be constructed
at a 3,000 meter-high mountain in the middle of the
Atacama desert.
Economy
Apple has reported over $256 billion in cash and
marketable securities. In the previous year, Apple’s
earnings report for the January-March quarter was $233
billion. According to the rating agencies, the cash reserve
possessed by the company is more
than Google, Microsoft and Amazon’s total cash.
Compared to Apple’s $256 billion, Microsoft has $126
billion, Alphabet has $92 billion, Amazon has $22
billion and Facebook’s quarter one earnings stood at
$29.45 billion. The reported cash reserve is more than
that of the big companies in the world like Verizon,
Oracle, Walmart, and Visa among others.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has tightened the
rules around making the Joint Lenders’ Forum (JLF)
more effective, directing banks not to break any rules
and to meet all deadlines. The RBI has said that any
breach of rules would attract a monetary penalty. JLFs
are meetings held to revitalise stressed assets. In JLF
banks attempt to red-flag stress early and check them by
putting in place a corrective action plan (CAP).
US-based think tank Global Financial Integrity (GFI) in
its report titled ‘Illicit Financial Flows to and from
Developing Countries: 2005-2014’, has estimated that
$770 billion worth of black money entered India
during 2005-2014. During the same time period, the
think tank estimates the exit of $165 billion in illicit
money out of the country. It translates into 3% of India’s
total trade of $5500.744 billion between the time period
2005-2014. This is the first global study that has placed
equal emphasis on illicit outflows and inflows. As per
the report, in 2014 alone, $101 billion black money
entered India while USD 23 billion exited.
The Union Cabinet has given its approval
for National Steel Policy (NSP) 2017 to give impetus to
the steel sector. The policy aims to enhance domestic
steel consumption and transform Indian steel industry
into a technologically advanced and globally
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competitive steel industry. The new policy favours the
domestic manufacturers.
According to the Reserve Bank of India’s weekly
statistical supplement, India’s foreign exchange
(Forex) reserves have increased by $1.594 billion to
touch a lifetime high of $372.73 billion in the week that
ended on April 28. The increase was due to increase in
foreign currency assets (FCAs), The reserves had
increased by $1.250 billion to $371.14 billion in the
previous week.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked all the
existing asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) to
have a minimum net owned fund (NOF) of Rs 100
crores by March 2019. This decision has been taken by
RBI in accordance with its last bi-monthly monetary
policy in which it had proposed to stipulate a minimum
NOF of Rs. 100 crore taking into consideration the
enhanced role and greater cash based transactions carried
out by ARCs. As per amended SARFAESI Act, 2016,
ARCs cannot carry on the business of securitisation or
asset reconstruction without having NOF of not less than
Rs 2 crore or any other amount stipulated by the RBI.
Fitch, in its latest rating review, has affirmed India’s
sovereign rating at BBB-, which is the lowest
investment grade rating. Despite pressure from the
government and corporate for an upgrade in the rating,
Fitch has kept its sovereign rating on India unchanged.
Although Fitch acknowledged India’s strong growth and
recent economic reforms, it has a given a BBB- rating
owing to the weak state of the government’s finances.
Madhya Pradesh has become the first state in the
country to shift its financial year from the present
April-March cycle to January-December. The state’s
budget session for the next financial year would be held
in December-January. Hence, the state government plans
to finish the current budget proceedings by December
this year.
The International Monetary Fund in its regional
economic outlook has predicted the growth rate of
India as 7.2% in the 2017-18 fiscal and 7.7% in 2018-
19 fiscal. The report has stated that the disruptions
caused by the demonetisation would be offset by a
favorable monsoon and continued progress in resolving
supply-side bottlenecks. However, it has predicted
the investment recovery to remain modest and uneven
across sectors.
According to RBI, India’s foreign exchange (Forex)
reserves have increased by $2.985 billion to touch a
lifetime high of $375.71 billion in the week that ended
Page 8 of 18
 on May 5. The increase was due to increase in foreign
currency assets (FCAs).
Brand Finance in its 2017 report that lists India’s 100
most valuable brands has named Tata Group as
the most valuable brand in India at an estimated brand
value of $13.1 billion. Brand Finance is a global brand
valuation and strategy consultancy firm.
BSNL has inked agreements with Facebook and
MobiKwik in order to popularize the internet and its
value added services among its customers. Further,
BSNL has also signed a third MoU with Disney Land
India to offer premium online gaming services to
its mobile customers. The series of MoUs signed by
BSNL comes at the backdrop of a stiff competition faced
by BSNL from private telecom companies like Airtel and
Reliance Jio.
The 30-share BSE Sensex has reached an all-time
intra-day high of 30,567 breaching its previous intra-
day high of 30,366.43 touched on May
11. The technology, power, FMCG, IT, consumer
durables and healthcare that leads the BSE sectoral
indices had made gains up to 0.66 %. The National
Stock Exchange index Nifty did not disappoint either
by gaining 0.39% to reach a new high of 9,507.40
surpassing its previous intra-day high of
9,450.65 reached on May 11.
In the report titled, World Economic Situation and
Prospects, the UN has projected a 7.3% growth for
India in 2017. Earlier in the report’s January edition, UN
had forecasted a growth of 7.7% for the year. The revised
report also has predicted an impressive 7.9% GDP
growth for the year 2018 which is an increase from its
January estimate of 7.6%.
Income Tax Department (ITD) has
initiated Operation Clean Money to investigate tax
evaders. As a part of the operation, the government
has launched a website on ‘Operation Clean Money’
operation. The Operation Clean Money’ portal has been
designed by the Central Board of Direct Taxes
(CBDT). Initial phase of the operation involves
identification of around 18 lakh persons who have made
large deposits or purchases between 9th November to 30th
December 2016, which do not appear to be in line with
the tax payer’s profile.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic
Affairs (CCEA) has approved a new coal linkage
policy to ensure adequate supply of the fuel to power
plants through reverse auction. The new policy will
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help in ensuring fuel supplies to the power plants in an
organised manner.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
(CCEA) has approved a collaborative mission
between industry and academia called 'Innovate in
India' empowering biotech entrepreneurs and
accelerating inclusive innovation‘ that is aimed at
accelerating research for early development of bio-
pharmaceuticals. The mission would attract
an investment of Rs 1,500 crore from the central
government over a period of five years.
The GST Council headed by Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley has finalised tax rates and has approved all
the seven rules for the GST regime that is scheduled
to be implemented from July 1. The remaining two
rules of the GST pertaining to transition and return is
under the examination of the legal committee. In total,
the council has fixed the rates of 1211 items.
The GST Council headed by finance Minister Arun
Jaitley has finalised a 4-slab service tax structure at
the rates of 5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent as against the
single rate of 15% levied on all taxable services. GST
regime is scheduled to be implemented from July 1. In
the next GST Council meeting, tax rates on gold and
other precious metals will be taken up for discussion.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the
52nd Annual General Meeting of the African
Development Bank in Gandhinagar. The AGM will be
held in from May 22-26. This is the first time that India
is hosting the annual meetings of the AfDB and its sister
institutions, including of finance ministers of member
countries, who comprise the AfDB board of governors.
India had joined the African Development Bank (AfDB)
in 1983.
Paytm has rolled out its Payments Bank operations
by launching its first physical branch in Noida. With
this launch, there are three payments banks operational
in the country, the other two being Airtel Payments Bank
Ltd and India Post Payments Bank Ltd. The Paytm
Payments Bank will be the first bank in the country to
offer cashbacks on deposits. As a Payments Bank, Paytm
will be able to accept deposits upto Rs 1 lakh per
customer in wallet and savings/current accounts.
The Reserve Bank of India is set to reconstitute
Oversight Committee to operationalise the banking
ordinance, which was recently cleared by the Union
Cabinet to amend the Banking Regulation Act for the
sake of giving more powers to Reserve Bank of India
for effectively dealing with non-performing assets
Page 9 of 18
 (NPAs) in the banking sector. The existing Oversight
Committee was constituted by the Indian Banks’
Association (IBA). The move is aimed at containing the
bad loans which have reached to over Rs 8 lakh crore.
The Union Cabinet has given its approval for
allocating 2.5% of the Central Road Fund (CRF) for
the development of the National Waterways. Central
Road Fund is a duty on excise and customs levied on
petrol and high-speed diesel.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion
(DIPP), which is the nodal body for Start-up
India, has amended the definition of a start-up. As per
the new definition, an entity will be considered as a Start-
Up if its turnover is less than Rs 25 crore and has not
completed seven years from the date of its
incorporation/registration.
The Union Cabinet has approved the abolition of 25
year old Foreign Investment Promotion Board
(FIPB). Henceforth, concerned ministries will be
responsible for direct approval of foreign investment
proposals. The decision falls in line with Finance
Minister Arun Jaitley’s proposal to scrap FIPB in this
year’s Union Budget.
The Union Cabinet Chaired by Prime Minister has
given its approval for a national procurement policy
that gives preference to ‘Make In India’ in
government procurements. The policy aims to
maintain the balance between promoting ‘Make in India’
and ensuring timely, quality and value-for-money
products for the procuring government entities.
World Economic Forum citing UN-Habitat data has
named two Indian cities-Mumbai and Kota among
the world’s most crowded cities. Dhaka has topped the
list followed by India’s financial capital Mumbai.
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh has a population
density of 44,500 people per square kilometre. Mumbai
has a population density of 31,700 people per square
kilometre. Another Indian city Kota in Rajasthan with
12,100 people per square kilometre has been ranked
seventh in the list.
The Home Ministry has instructed 5,845 NGOs to
open their accounts in banks having core banking
facilities. The NGOs are also required to furnish the
account details for real time access of security agencies
in case of any discrepancy. The move is aimed
at checking “errant” NGOs especially those
organizations receiving foreign funding.
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Legal General Knowledge
Sualgiri and Swalgiri communities of Odisha have
been notified as Scheduled Castes after
President Pranab Mukherjee gave his assent to the
Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment)
Act, 2017. Last month, Rajya Sabha had passed the bill
after it was cleared by the Lok Sabha in March.
Accordingly, the Sualgiri, Swalgiri communities have
been notified as Scheduled Castes in the modified list for
Odisha. Similarly, the Constitution (Pondicherry)
Scheduled Castes Order, 1964 has replaced the term
Union Territory of Pondicherry to Puducherry.
The Real Estate Act which aims to protect the
interests of homebuyers by ensuring transparency
has come into effect. The Ministry of Housing and
Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) has asked all the
states and Union Territories to implement the Act with
letter and spirit. Since land is a state subject, real estate
sector comes within the ambit of the state governments.
The Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill,
2016 was passed by Parliament in March last year.
Partially, the act came into force on 1 May last year with
59 of 92 notified sections of the act coming into force.
The remaining provisions have come into the force now.
The Act has already been notified by 13 states and Union
Territories including Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, Gujarat, Delhi, Daman and Diu.
The government has released draft rules for a ‘no-fly
list’ for banning unruly passengers. The Ministry of
Civil Aviation had set up a committee to come up with
the final draft of the new set of rules. The new rules
would be opened for public comments for a period of one
month. After receiving comments, the civil aviation
ministry would study the comments and then will release
the final Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR). The
government has come up with three levels of disruptions
for flyers: Level 1- Disruptive behaviour such as
physical gestures. The unruly passenger would be
suspended from flying for a time period of three months.
Level 2- Physically abusive behaviour and sexual
harassment. The passenger would be suspended from
flying for a time period of six months. Level 3-
Murderous assault or life-threatening behaviour as well
as causing damage to aircraft operating systems would
invite suspension from flying for a time period of 2 years
or more.
A seven-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme
Court headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar has
Page 10 of 18
 sentenced the Calcutta High Court judge, Justice C S
Karnan to six months of imprisonment for repeated
incidents of contempt of court. This is the first time that
the Supreme Court has sent a High Court Judge to jail on
charges of contempt. Further, the bench
also comprising Justices Dipak Misra, J Chelameswar,
Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur, P C Ghose and Kurian Joseph
has prohibited media, both print and electronic from
publishing any further orders if any passed by Justice
Karnan.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated
Supreme Court’s Integrated Case Management
Information System (ICMIS). This digital filing
system will mark Supreme Court’s first towards
becoming a paperless, digital court. The
inaugural function was held at Vigyan Bhavan when
Prime Minister Modi uploaded the Integrated Case
Management System with the Supreme Court website.
India has received a stay order preventing Pakistan
from executing the death sentence awarded to the
former naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav from the
International Court of Justice at The Hague. India’s
team of lawyers led by senior advocate Harish
Salve accused Pakistan of gross violations of
international laws. They also pointed out the
violations of the Geneva convention that deals with
Consular relations. Pakistan had denied consular access
to India despite 15 attempts. It also refused to give any
details of Jadhav’s arrest and trial until the death
sentence was passed.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked all the state
governments to link prisons with courts through
video conferencing in order to expedite trials and to
save costs of escorting undertrials to courts. The Home
Ministry’s advisory to the states has been
issued following a national conference of heads of
prisons in states and UTs on prison reforms.
The Supreme Court has held UB Group chairman
Vijay Mallya guilty of contempt of
court for transferring 40 million dollars to his
children in violation of the court’s order. The
Supreme Court has ordered Vijay Mallya who is in the
United Kingdom to appear before on the 10th of July to
argue on the quantum of punishment. On July 10, the
apex court will decide on the quantum of punishment to
be awarded to Vijay Mallya. Contempt petition against
Mallya was moved by a consortium of banks in July
2016 accusing Mallya for transferring 40 million dollars
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which he had received from British firm Diageo to his
children in violation to various judicial pronouncements.
A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India
JS Khehar has begun hearing petitions challenging
the practice of triple talaq. The petitions that have
been filed in the past two years by Muslim women, who
have been affected by the practice of Triple Talaq, has
prayed for the abolition of the practice as it was
discriminatory and biased and violated their right to
equality. The lead petition has been titled “Quest for
Equality vs Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind“. Interestingly, the
case will be heard by five judges from five different
communities, namely, CJI J S Khehar (Sikh) and Justices
Kurian Joseph (Christian), R F Nariman (Parsi), U U
Lalit (Hindu) and Abdul Nazeer (Muslim).
A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice
Swatanter Kumar has banned open defecation and
waste dumping on the floodplains of the Yamuna. It
has also slapped an environment compensation of Rs
5,000 for people who violated the order. Apart from this,
the NGT has also constituted a committee under the head
of Delhi Jal Board CEO to oversee the cleaning works of
the river and ordered it to submit reports at regular
intervals.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests have come
up with new regulations that bans the sale of cattle
for slaughter. The central regulation for cow protection
has been notified at the backdrop of rising cases of
violence against cow traders by Hindu vigilante
groups. The rules have been notified under Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals Act of 1960. Slaughter of cows are
banned in most parts of the country except parts of
the north-east India and Kerala.
Election contestants will have to declare their own
and their spouses’ sources of earning in the affidavits
filed before contesting polls. At present, it is mandatory
for the poll contestants to disclose the details of
assets and liabilities for self, spouse and three
dependents in Form 26 at the filing of nomination papers
but not the source of income. The Law Ministry has
announced an amendment to the conduct of election
rules.
Prominent Awards
Sanjay Pratihar, a scientist at Assam’s Tezpur
University, has been selected for the prestigious
Indian National Science Academy (INSA) medal for
the Young Scientist Award, 2017, for his contribution
Page 11 of 18
 to “multi-metal complexes, theoretical understanding,
selective sensing of Hq2+ions and important
applications in agriculture”.
The US-India Business Council (USIBC) has selected
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Chandrababu
Naidu for the ‘Transformative Chief Minister
Award’ for his role in advancing the US-India
partnership at the state level. The award will be presented
to him at the USIBC West Coast Summit in the Silicon
Valley on May 8th.
Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah
Naidu has announced the Cleanest Cities in the
Country and the fastest moving cities on sanitation
ladder under Swachh Sarvekshan-2017. Indore has
been adjudged as the cleanest city in India while
Gonda in Uttar Pradesh has been ranked as the
dirtiest city amongst the ones surveyed. In total, 434
cities and towns with a population of one lakh and above
were surveyed. Last year survey had surveyed only 73
cities with a population of 10 lakh and above. Cities and
towns in West Bengal did not take part in the survey as
the Mamata Banerjee government did not participate in
the Swachh Survekshan.
As per the Times Rich List 2017, three India-born
citizens are among top 5 richest people in Britain.
They are Hinduja Brothers Srichand and Gopichand (1st),
Mumbai-born David and Simon Reuben (3rd) and
Lakshmi Mittal (4th).
Three Indian scientists have been elected as the
Fellows of The Royal Society, a premier scientific
academy of the United Kingdom and the
Commonwealth, for their “outstanding contributions to
science“. They are Krishna Chatterjee from Cambridge
University, Subhash Khot from New York University
and Yadvinder Malhi from Oxford University.
Kashmir based freelance photographer has bagged
prestigious 2016 Wisden-MCC (Melbourne Cricket
Council) Cricket ‘Photograph of the Year’ for
capturing a stunning image of boys playing cricket at the
Nishat garden in the outskirts of Srinagar. With this
Saqib Majeed has become the first Kashmiri and second
Asian after Atul Kamble to receive the prestigious
award.
Satyabrata Rout has been awarded the Sangeet
Natak Akademi Puraskar for the year 2016. He is a
Professor from the Department of Theatre Arts, S N
School of Arts and Communication, University of
Hyderabad (UoH). He has been awarded for developing
a unique method of teaching and practicing direction and
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design achieved from his experience working
with eminent theatre practitioners and scholars.
Prashant Ranganathan has emerged winner in the
world’s largest pre-college science competition in the
environment engineering category for his work on
biodegradation of pesticides. Prashant is among the 20
high schools students from various parts of the country
who participated in the Intel International Science and
Engineering Fair held in the US. His project
titled ‘Biodegradation of Chlorpyrifos using native
bacteria’ is aimed at helping farmers to biodegrade the
harmful pesticides.
Hollywood actor Emma Watson has received the first-
ever Genderless Acting Award for the Best Actor
category at the MTV Movie and TV Awards. This is
the first ever genderless award that doesn’t separate
nominees based on their sex. The 2017 edition of the
MTV Movie & TV Awards were held on May 7, 2017, in
Los Angeles, California.
Mt Lhotse has recorded its first summit in 3 years. Mt
Lhotse is the fourth highest mountain in the
world. Indian climber Debasish Biswas and a woman
climber from New Zealand were the first to successfully
climb Mt Lhotse after a team of Sherpas fixed the route
to summit.
Anshu Jamsenpa, a native of Bomdila in Arunachal
Pradesh has scripted history by becoming the first
Indian woman to scale Mount Everest for the fourth
time. Anshu Jamsenpa who is a mother of two
children had already had ascaled Mount Everest twice in
a season that too taking only a gap of 10 days between
the two climbs.
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani has
topped the Forbes list of ‘Global Game Changers’.
Mukesh Ambani has been ranked at the top for his efforts
to bring the internet to India’s masses. This is Forbes’
second annual Global Game Changers list and includes
25 “intrepid business leaders” who are known to
transform their industries and effect changes to the lives
of billions of people around the globe. The top 3 spots in
the list have been occupied by: Mukesh Ambani of India
(1st) , Ziv Aviram, Amnon Shashua of Israel
(2nd), and Stewart Butterfield of United States (3rd).
Indian scientist Shrinivas Kulkarni has won the
prestigious Dan David prize as a recognition for his
contributions made in the field of astronomy.
Shrinivas Kulkarni, a Professor of astrophysics and
planetary science at California Institute of Technology in
Page 12 of 18
 Pasadena, is a pioneer in the field of time-domain is being commemorated to celebrate the anniversary of
astrophysics. first of the five tests of Operation Shakti (Pokhran-II)
Sanjay Gubbi of Karnataka and Purnima Barman of nuclear test, held on 11 May 1998 in Pokhran,
Assam have won the prestigious Whitley Award for Rajasthan. The operation was led by the former
their contributions in wildlife conservation. Whitley President APJ Abdul Kalam.
awards are popularly known as Green Oscars. The
two Indians were among the six selected out of 169
applicants from 66 countries. Purnima Devi Burman has
been selected for her efforts for the conservation of
greater adjutant storks and its habitat. Sanjay Gubbi has
been selected for his contribution to protect tiger
corridors in Karnataka.

Important Days and Dates

May Day also known as Labour Day or International
Workers' Day is celebrated every year on 1st May.
This day is a national holiday in more than 80 countries
and also celebrated unofficially in many other countries.
May Day originates from the United States labor union
movement in the late 19th century, particularly the eight-
hour day movement, which advocated eight hours for
work per day.
Every year, 3rd May is celebrated as World Press
Freedom Day to evaluate press freedom around the
world, to defend the media from attacks on their
independence and to pay tribute to journalists who have
lost their lives in the exercise of their profession.
Every year, May 22nd is observed as the
International Day for Biodiversity or World
Biodiversity Day. This date commemorates the date of
Adoption of the Agreed Text of the Convention on
Biological Diversity at UNEP Headquarters, Nairobi on
22 May 1992. In 2000, UN General Assembly via
resolution 55/201 decided to celebrate World
Biodiversity Day on May 22 instead of December 29,
which was previously designated as International
Biodiversity Day.
Every year May 23rd is celebrated as the World Turtle
Day as an annual observance aimed at protecting turtles
and tortoises and their rapidly disappearing habitats
across the world. The celebrations were started in 2000
by the American Tortoise Rescue (ATR). Since then it is
celebrated every year to create awareness about the
world’s oldest living reptiles in the world.
National Technology Day is observed across India on
May 11th to mark India’s technological advancements.
2017 National Technology Day Theme: ‘Technology for
inclusive and sustainable growth’. Significance The day

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 Defence
The Army, security forces and police had launched a
massive cordon and combing operation in south
Kashmir’s Shopian district following the recent
militant attacks on policemen and banking facilities.
This is the first time in 15 years that the combing
operation of this magnitude has been conducted by the
security forces. The major objective behind the combing
operation is to bring the situation in the Kashmir Valley
under control.
The 29th India–Indonesia CORPAT has commenced
at Port Blair under the aegis of Andaman and
Nicobar Command. The bilateral exercise is scheduled
to be held from 9th to 25th May. The Indonesian Naval
Ship KRI Sutedi Senoputra has arrived to take part in the
29th series of IND–INDO CORPAT. An Indonesian
Maritime Patrol Aircraft has also arrived with the
Indonesian Naval delegation.
The strategic anti-Naxal operations command
headquarters of the Central Reserve Police Force
(CRPF) has been shifted back from Kolkata to
Raipur. In 2010, the central zone command
headquarters was shifted from Raipur to Kolkata owing
to logistics and connectivity issues. The recent decision
comes at the backdrop of ambush in Sukma district that
killed 37 jawans of the paramilitary force.
India’s first private sector small arms manufacturing
plant has been inaugurated in Madhya Pradesh to
supply world class weapons to the armed forces in
line with the India’s defence indigenization
programme. The plant is a joint venture between India’s
Punj Lloyd and Israel Weapon Systems. The plant will
manufacture four products, namely, X95 carbine and
assault rifle, Galil sniper rifle, Tavor assault rifle and
Negev Light Machine Gun (LMG).
India has successfully carried out a fresh user trial of
Agni-II ballistic missile from a defence test facility in
the Abdul Kalam Island off the coast of Odisha. The
objective of the test was to re-establish the operational
effectiveness of the weapon system.
Indian Army has successfully test-fired advanced
Block-III version of Brahmos cruise missile in the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands. During the test, the
Brahmos cruise missile had successfully hit the land-
based target with desired precision in a top attack
configuration demonstrating its high level and complex
manoeuvring and its unmatched lethality of hitting the
target with at most precision. Recently, on April 22, the
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Indian Navy had successfully carried out its first test-
firing of the sea-to-land attack version of Brahmos.
Pakistan’s ‘border action team’ (BAT) has beheaded
two Indian soldiers by sneaking 200 metres into
Indian Territory in the Krishna Ghati
sector in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir.
During the raid, bodies of Naib Subedar Paramjit Singh
(22 Sikh Regiment) and head constable Prem Sagar (200
BSF Battalion) were left mutilated. This is the third such
barbaric episode since the conduct of ‘surgical strikes’
against terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir
(PoK) on September 29. In the same Krishna Ghati
sector, BAT had beheaded Lance Naik Hemraj and
severed the head of Lance Naik Sudhakar Singh of 13
Rajputana Rifles in 2013.
Defence Minister Arun Jaitley has inaugurated the
newly built Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) of the
Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) at Chitradurga in Karnataka. Aeronautical
Test Range (ATR) is the first of its kind range that has
been set up by the Aeronautical Development
Establishment (ADE), one of the premier laboratories of
the DRDO. ADE works on a range of UAVs (unmanned
air vehicles).
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion
(DIPP) has been given back the power to grant
licenses for defence manufacturing. Earlier, a few
months back, the Home Ministry was given the
responsibility. The decision was taken considering the
workload of Home Ministry which has to look after
security concerns of the entire country.
China and the 10 members of ASEAN have agreed to
a framework of a legally binding code of conduct
aimed at preventing disputes in the strategic South
China Sea. Though the draft of the framework has been
finalised, no details about the text of the framework
agreement has been released. Also, no date has been
given on which the full code of conduct is set to be
adopted by the parties.
The 24th bilateral exercise involving the Indian Navy
and Republic of Singapore Navy has commenced in
South China Sea. SIMBEX stands for “Singapore-India
Maritime Bilateral Exercises“. The exercise was held
from May 18, 2017 to May 24, 2017.
Nearly after 30 years post the induction of Bofors
howitzers, Indian Army will get its first artillery guns
called M777 from BAE Systems. Swedish Bofors guns
were inducted in late 1980s after which Army has not
inducted any modern artillery guns. The two M777s has
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 arrived in New Delhi and will be tested at the Pokhran
field firing range in Rajasthan.
The Border Security Force will make use of a newly
developed technology that is capable of detecting
intrusions and relaying information to the nearest
post for action to safeguard the 198 km India-Pakistan
international border in Jammu and Kashmir.
Tejas, the Light Combat Aircraft has successfully test
fired Derby Air-to-Air Beyond Visual Range (BVR)
missile in RADAR guided mode. The test was
performed on a Manoeuvrable Aerial Target at the
Interim Test Range (ITR), Chandipur.
Indian Army has planned to re-introduce cordon and
search operations (CASO) as a part of its counter
terrorism operations after a gap of 15 years. The
major objective behind the reintroduction of combing
operations is to bring the situation in the Kashmir Valley
under control.
The 29th India–Indonesia CORPAT has commenced
at Port Blair under the aegis of Andaman and
Nicobar Command. The bilateral exercise was
scheduled to be held from 9 to 25 May. The Indonesian
Naval Ship KRI Sutedi Senoputra has arrived to take part
in the 29th series of IND–INDO CORPAT.
India and Japan has decided to strengthen their
military cooperation and hopes to pursue a strategic
partnership for ensuring regional peace and
stability. The visit of Defence Minister Arun Jaitley to
Tokyo comes at the backdrop of rising tension in the
region such as territorial rows over the South China Sea
and nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.
Obituaries
Justice Leila Seth who became the first woman Chief
Justice of a State High Court passed away at the age
of 86. She has also received the distinction of becoming
the first woman to top the London Bar exam as well as
the becoming the first female judge of the Delhi High
Court. Leila Seth is the mother of the noted author
Vikram Seth.
Veteran Bollywood actor Vinod Khanna passed away
at the age of 70. He was suffering from advanced bladder
carcinoma.
Union Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave has
passed away. He was 60. He was a Member of
Parliament representing Madhya Pradesh. Dave was first
elected to Rajya Sabha in 2009. Last year, he was sworn
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in as a minister with independent charge of environment,
forest and climate change.
British actor Roger Moore, who played the much
famed secret agent James Bond, has passed away at
the age of 89. Roger Moore has acted as James Bond in
seven films for 12 years between 1973 and 1985. His
famous films include Live and Let Die and A View to a
Kill. Roger was appointed as a UNICEF Goodwill
Ambassador in 1991 and is well known for
his humanitarian work.
KPS Gill, an IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya
cadre of the 1958 batch, who is often credited with
rooting out militancy in Punjab has passed away at
the age of 82. He was known as a ‘super cop’ for his
work in the fields of policing and security. Gill led
the ‘Operation Black Thunder’ in May 1988 to eliminate
militants hiding in the Golden Temple.
Committees
The government has set up a task force headed by
NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya to
come up with a methodology to generate timely and
reliable employment data. The Prime Minister
Narendra Modi himself has initiated the process and has
asked the task force to submit its recommendations at the
earliest.
The Union Ministry of Water Resources, River
Development and Ganga Rejuvenation had
constituted a committee to prepare guidelines for
desiltation of Ganga River last year. The four member
committee is headed by Madhav Chitale (Expert
Member of National Ganga River Basin Authority).
A seven-member High-Level Committee on Scouts
and Guides has submitted its Final Report to
Minister for State (Independent Charge) for Youth
Affairs & Sports, Vijay Goel with various
recommendations. The committee has suggested for the
constitution of an Enquiry Committee to take stock of
complaints and grievances and submit its report.
Science and Technology
The Science Express is a 16 coach AC mobile train
science exhibition of Department of Science and
Technology (DST). The objective of the Express is to
arouse interest of the young people in the field of science
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 and technology. Since its inception, the programme is
being managed by Vikram A Sarabhai Community
Science Centre (VASCSC). The Science Express was
launched from Delhi Safdarjung Railway station on
October 30, 2007.
China has set up a 160-square-meter (1,720-square-
foot) laboratory — dubbed as “Yuegong-1”, or
“Lunar Palace” for simulating a lunar-like
environment. Four Postgraduate students from the
Beijing’s astronautics research university will live in the
laboratory for up to 200 days in a bid to prepare for
China’s long term goal of putting humans on the moon.
Scientists have detected “a strong water signature” in
the atmosphere of a distant Neptune-sized planet
called HAT-P-26b. The study conducted using NASA’s
Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes has showed
that HAT-P-26b has a primitive atmosphere composed
almost entirely of hydrogen and helium.
Minister for Health and Family Welfare J P Nadda
has launched new Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine,
PCV, for Pneumonia at Lal Bahadur Shastri Medical
College Hospital in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh.
The vaccine is a part of government’s Universal
Immunization Programme (UIP).
Indian Navy and the Space Application Centre has
signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Data
Sharing and Scientific cooperation in the field of
Meteorology and Oceanology. As per the MoU, the
scientific advancements and expertise achieved by SAC
would be synergized into the Indian Naval efforts in
order to keep the Indian Navy abreast with rapid
developments that has taken place in the field of
Environment Sciences and Satellite Data acquisition
technology.
An Earth Like Planet called Proxima B orbiting the
closest neighboring Star, Proxima Centauri, which is
about 4.2 light years away is expected to have liquid
water and the potential to support alien life. The
planet Proxima B was discovered in the last year. Earlier
studies have concluded that the planet is present in the
habitable zone of its star Proxima Centauri so much so
that it receives the right amount of light to sustain liquid
water on its surface.
A team of scientists from the United States have
discovered a possible cure for Ebola viruses. They
have discovered the first natural human antibodies that
are capable of neutralizing and protecting animals
against all three major disease-causing ebola viruses.
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The findings could lead to the discovery of first effective
ebolavirus therapies and vaccines.
Scientists at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
have developed the device ‘Nasofilters’ which is
capable of restricting up to 95% of dust and air
pollutants. Involving a cost of Rs 10, it is the cheapest
naso filter available.
NASA’s Juno spacecraft has discovered Earth-sized
cyclones at the poles of Jupiter. It has also unveiled the
presence of the storm systems that travel deep into the
heart of the planet. Both the poles of the Jupiter were
found to be covered with Earth-sized swirling
storms which are densely clustered and rubbing together.
Airlander 10, the world’s largest aircraft has
successfully completed a test flight by flying for a
total of 180 minutes in Cardington, UK. During the
test flight, the aircraft’s’ handling and improved landing
technology were tested thus bringing it a step closer to
commercial use. Airlander 10 Airlander 10 is hybrid ship
i.e. it is a partly plane and partly airship filled with
helium gas.
The second prototype of the Light Utility Helicopter,
LUH PT2, has successfully completed its first flight
by flying smoothly for 22 minutes in Bengaluru. The
second prototype is the improved version of the PT1,
which undertook its first flight on September 6, 2016 and
later in the Aero India 2017 show in February.
NASA has named a new bacteria discovered on the
filters of the International Space Station, ISS,
as Solibacillus kalamii to honour the late president
Dr A P J Abdul Kalam. The genus is Solibacillus and
the species name is kalamii. Researchers at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory has found that the
bacteria remained on board the International Space
Station for 40 months.
IAS officer Haulianlal Guite has recently published
a philosophical novel for God titled "Confessions of a
Dying Mind: The Blind Faith Of Atheism". The book
was unveiled by Union Minister Kiren Rijiju at august
gathering of Civil Services Officers’ Institute in New
Delhi. The book is touted as “the world’s first
philosophical novel for God.
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has released a
two-part book series written by the eminent
agricultural scientist Dr. M.S. Swaminathan. The
series is titled – M.S. Swaminathan: The Quest For A
World Without Hunger. Dr. M S Swaminathan is
known as the Father of the Green Revolution in India for
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 his leadership and success in introducing and further
developing high-yielding varieties of wheat in India.
Miscellaneous
Union Minister for Road Transport, Highways and
Shipping Nitin Gadkari has inaugurated India’s First
Integrated Bio‐refinery for Renewable Fuels &
Chemicals for producing ethanol from a variety of
biomass. The plant is situated at Rahu in Pune district of
Maharashtra.
China’s home-grown C919 passenger jet has
completed its maiden flight. China’s C919 is a symbol
of China’s ambitions to take market share from Boeing
and Airbus in the lucrative global jet market estimated to
be worth $2 trillion over the next two decades.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad
Maurya has flagged off an ambulance service that
would cater to the needs of the cows. Under the
‘Gauvansh Chikitsa Mobile Vans’ service, initially, 5
ambulances were flagged off to cover Lucknow,
Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Mathura and Allahabad. The
ambulance will have a veterinary doctor along with an
assistant to rescue ill or injured cows and transport them
to ‘gau shalas’ or take them for treatment to the
veterinary hospital.
The Registrar of Geographical Indications Registry,
Chennai, has accorded GI Tag for the much famed
Banganapalle Mango of Andhra Pradesh. Henceforth,
Andhra Pradesh government will be the registered
proprietor of the GI tag for Banganapalle mangoes. A GI
tag specifies that the product comes from a specific
region.
Scientists at IIT Roorkee have used Indian summer
fruit, Jamun, to create low cost and more efficient
solar cells. To create the solar cells, the researchers
made use of naturally occurring pigment present in
jamun as an inexpensive photosensitizer for Dye
Sensitised Solar Cells (DSSCs) or Gratzel cells. Gratzel
cells are nothing but thin film solar cells made of a
porous layer of titanium dioxide (TiO2) coated
photoanode, a layer of dye molecules that are capable of
absorbing sunlight, an electrolyte for regenerating the
dye, and a cathode.
The “South Asia satellite” for use by countries of the
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
(SAARC) region was launched on May 5th. This was
stated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his latest
Mann ki Baat radio address. The Prime Minister has
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hailed the satellite as an invaluable gift of India to South
Asia and has further stated that the satellite “will go a
long way in addressing South Asia’s economic and
developmental priorities.”
A deep depression in the Bay of Bengal has been
declared intensified into a tropical cyclone named
Mora. This is second cyclone in the Bay of Bengal after
Maarutha, which helped bring in the Monsoon earlier by
a week over Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The tropical
Cyclone Mora is likely to hit Bangladesh coast in next
24 hours and expected to cause heavy rains in West
Bengal and North East Indian states.
Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis
has inaugurated India’s first multi-modal electric
vehicle project at the Nagpur Airport Complex. The
pilot project will have a fleet of 200 electric vehicles
including taxis, buses, e-rickshaw and autorickshaws.
All these electric-powered public transport vehicles will
be fully owned by cab aggregator Ola.
Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma has
launched Swachh Bharat app at the National
Museum in New Delhi. The app will enable visitors to
report garbage on the premises of the ASI monuments
across the country. Around 30 galleries in the National
Museum have already been equipped with a device that
will make use of the intranet to connect to the app.
The rare cobra lilies scientifically known
as Arisaema translucens has been rediscovered in the
western Nilgiris by nature enthusiasts K.M. Prabhu
Kumar and Tarun Chhabra after a gap of 84 years.
One species of the lilies were found in Thia Shola while
the other was spotted in the Pennant Valley forest area of
the Nilgiris.
According to a new study conducted by a team of
scientists from the University of Exeter in the UK,
plant life on Antarctica is growing rapidly due to
climate change. The scientists have observed a sharp
increase in biological activity in Antarctica in the last 50
years.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, HRD
Minister Prakash Javadekar and IT Minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad has jointly inaugurated the
integration of E-Sanad with CBSE’s
digital repository ‘Parinam Manjusha’ in New Delhi.
Salient Highlights E Sanad is an e-service for
online verification and attestation of documents of
Indian citizens.
India along with countries like Argentina, Burkina-
Faso, Chad, France, Ivory Coast, Mali, Namibia,
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 Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda and Yemen has
jointly commissioned a study to define and structure
a Common Risk Mitigation Mechanism (CRMM) for
solar power generation projects in solar rich countries.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has
decided to share online scores of candidates taking
competitive exams in order to boost hiring by the
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private sector. As per the government’s proposal, the
scores of the candidates taking part in the competitive
exams will be linked to the Integrated Information
System for Public Recruitment Agencies, which will be a
dedicated website being developed by the National
Informatics Centre (NIC).
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