English Monthly Current Affairs Saga May 2021

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MONTHLY CURRENT
AFFAIRS SAGA
MAY 2021
PREPARE ONLINE FOR SSC,RAILWAYS,

BANKING, DEFENCE, TEACHING, STATE PCS
EXAMS
3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

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the Universe has been detected by
Indian Astronomers.
 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

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CONTENTS Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings ........................... 54

Reports and Indices/Rankings ................................. 60
Government Schemes and Initiatives ........................ 3
Books and Authors ................................................... 63
National News ............................................................ 8
Awards and Prizes .................................................... 65
International News .................................................. 13
Personality in News .................................................. 70
India and its Neighbourhood ................................... 19
Appointments ........................................................... 75
State News/ Uts ....................................................... 20
Sports ........................................................................ 81
Bihar ..................................................................... 20
Committees/ Commissions/ Taskforces .................. 87
Gujarat .................................................................. 21
Important Days ......................................................... 87
Haryana ................................................................ 21
Miscellaneous ........................................................... 97
Himachal Pradesh................................................. 21
Jammu and Kashmir ............................................. 22
Lakshadweep ........................................................ 23
Madhya Pradesh .................................................. 23
Maharashtra ......................................................... 24
Manipur ................................................................ 24
Odisha ................................................................... 24
Punjab ................................................................... 25
Tamil Nadu ........................................................... 25
Uttarakhand ......................................................... 26
Defence..................................................................... 27
Science and Technology ........................................... 30
Space and IT ......................................................... 30
Biotechnology And Diseases ................................ 33
New Developments .............................................. 36
Indian Polity ............................................................. 38
Art and Culture ......................................................... 38
Economy/Banking/Finance ...................................... 40
Indian economy .................................................... 40
Infrastructure and Energy .................................... 42
Agriculture and allied sectors .............................. 43
Corporates/Companies ........................................ 44
Banking/Finance................................................... 45
Geography ................................................................ 46
Environment and Ecology ........................................ 47
MoUs/Agreements ................................................... 50

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GOVERNMENT SCHEMES AND INITIATIVES o AROG (SIDBI Assistance to

MSMEs for Recovery &
Fresh guidelines on the Scheme of
Organic Growth during a
Financial Assistance to States for pandemic)
Capital Expenditure for the financial
year 2021-22 issued.  SWAS and AROG schemes envisage
100 % funding up to an amount of ₹2
 The Finance Ministry has decided to crore to an MSME unit.
provide States with an additional
amount of up to Rs. 15,000 crore.  They have been launched to provide
funding for production and services
 The amount will be provided as an related to the supply of oxygen
interest-free 50 year loan for cylinders and essential drugs.
spending on capital projects.
 SIDBI Assistance to Facilitate
 The decision to launch a Scheme for Emergency response against corona
Special Assistance to States for virus (SAFE) scheme was launched by
Capital Expenditure was taken last SIDBI last month.
year.
Ministry of Food Processing issues
 Under the scheme, State guidelines for ‘Production Linked
Governments are provided financial
Incentive Scheme for the Food
assistance in the form of 50-year
interest free loan. Processing Industry’.
 Total 12 thousand crore rupees were  The Ministry of Food Processing

allocated for the scheme for the Industries has issued guidelines for
financial year 2020-21 and states the ‘Production Linked Incentive
were given 11 thousand 830 crore Scheme for Food Processing Industry’
rupees. (PLISFPI). It has also launched an
online portal for this scheme.
 Funds provided to the States under
the scheme by the Government of  Production Linked Incentive Scheme
India shall be used for new and for Food Processing Industry
ongoing capital projects. (PLISFPI) has been launched as part
of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
SIDBI launches two new quick credit
 The government will implement this
delivery schemes, SHWAS and AROG. scheme over six years till 2026-27. It
 These schemes will help MSMEs in will be implemented through a
the fight against the Covid-19 Project Management Agency (PMA).
pandemic. Their names are given  The main objective of this scheme is
below: to support food manufacturing
o SHWAS (SIDBI assistance to Industries. It will incentivize food
Healthcare sector in War product Industries and Organic
Against the Second wave of products Industries. It will help in the
Covid-19) branding and marketing of Indian
products.

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 The online portal will enable the SVAMITVA (Survey of Villages and
enterprise to participate in the Mapping with Improvised
scheme in the online medium. The Technology in Village Areas) scheme:
applicant for the scheme will be
selected on the basis of their sales, o It was launched as a Central
exports, committed investment. Sector Scheme on 24th April
2020.
 The applicant will be selected for the
organic products based on the o Its main objective is to create
proposal, uniqueness of the product a socio-economically
and the level of product empowered and self-reliant
development, etc. rural India.
 Production Linked Incentive Scheme o It will cover 6.62 Lakh villages
has been launched for enhancing the of the country from 2021-
Manufacturing Capabilities and 2025.
Enhancing Exports in India.
o It will enable people of rural
Government released new India to use their property as
framework for the implementation of a financial asset for taking
loans and other financial
SVAMITVA Scheme. benefits.
 The government has released the
new framework for implementation
of the SVAMITVA Scheme and Coffee
Table Book. With this new
framework, SVAMITVA Scheme has
been implemented across the
country.
 The SVAMITVA Framework has been
developed by the Ministry of
Panchayati Raj. It provides detail
about the objectives, coverage, year- PLI scheme “National Programme on
wise funding pattern, and other Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC)
information about the scheme. Battery Storage” approved by Union
 Coffee Table Book on SVAMITVA Cabinet.
Scheme is an effort that gives a
 Rs 18,100 crore Production Linked
glimpse of the various challenges and
Incentive (PLI) scheme “National
success stories and provides a way
Programme on Advanced Chemistry
forward.
Cell (ACC) Battery Storage” was
 The scheme will provide property approved by Union Cabinet.
cards to people of rural India. These
 Department of Heavy Industry had
cards can be used for taking loans
given proposal for the
and the creation of accurate land
implementation of Rs 18,100 crore
records for rural planning.
PLI Scheme “National Programme on

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ACC Battery Storage” to achieve  The money will be transferred

manufacturing capacity of Fifty (50) directly to the bank accounts of the
Giga Watt Hour (GWh) of ACC. beneficiaries. The cost of the scheme
is ₹75,000 crore per annum.
 All the demand of the ACCs is
currently being met through imports  Under this scheme, Samman Rashi of
in India. National Programme on ACC over one lakh 15 thousand crore has
will reduce import dependence. been already transferred to farmer
families.
 Under the scheme, ACC battery
Storage manufacturing facility would Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi
have to be commissioned within a Yojana (PM-KISAN):
period of two years. The incentive
amount will be disbursed thereafter o It was launched on 24
over a period of five years. February 2019.
 Each selected ACC battery Storage o It is a 100% centrally
manufacturer would have to commit sponsored scheme. It was
to set-up an ACC manufacturing announced during the interim
facility of minimum five (5) GWh budget of 2019.
capacity.
o Under this scheme, Rs 6,000
 Each selected ACC battery Storage per year is transferred by the
manufacturer would have to ensure a Central Government in three
minimum 60% domestic value equal installments of Rs 2000.
addition at the Project level within
o It is being implemented by
five years.
the Ministry of Agriculture
 Advanced Chemistry Cells (ACCs) are and Farmers Welfare.
the new generation of advanced
o The main objective of this
storage technologies. ACCs can store
scheme is to increase the
electric energy either as
income of small and marginal
electrochemical or as chemical
farmers.
energy and convert it back to electric
energy as and when required.
Eighth Installment of PM Kisan

Samman Nidhi has been released on
14 May.
 Prime Minister Narendra Modi
released the eighth Installment of PM
Kisan Samman Nidhi on 14 May. It
will be the first installment for the Government launched innovation
financial year 2021-22. challenge for creating Indian
 Under this scheme, more than
Language Learning App.
₹19,000 crores will be disbursed to
9.5 crores farmer families.

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 MyGov platform of the Government  The Area Officer Monitoring App will
of India has launched an Innovation store the go-coordinate tagged
Challenge for creating an Indian photograph and findings of Mahatma
Language Learning App in Gandhi NREGS, PMAYG, PMGSY
collaboration with the Department of schemes. It will help in better
Higher Education. implementation of the government
programmes.
 This challenge has been launched to
develop an app that will help an  These apps will help in bringing
individual to learn simple sentences transparency and effective
of any Indian language. monitoring of schemes.
 It will help in promoting regional  MNREGA: The Mahatma Gandhi
language literacy and develop greater Employment Guarantee Act 2005 is
cultural understanding across the an Indian labor law and social
country. security measure aimed at
guaranteeing the right to work to the
 The innovation challenge is open for job seekers of rural India.
Indian individuals, startups, and
companies. The Top 3 winners of the
challenge will receive financial
assistance to make their app better.
 The app will be evaluated on various
parameters such as innovation,
Scalability, Usability, Interoperability,
etc.
 MyGov is the government of India’s
innovative citizen engagement
platform for direct citizen
participation in the country’s
governance.. First phase of data analytics driven
Government launched NMMS and MCA21 Version 3.0 launched by
Area officer monitoring App. Minister of State for Finance and
Corporate Affairs Anurag Singh
 Rural Development Minister
Thakur.
Narendra Singh Tomar has launched
National Mobile Monitoring Software  MCA21 Version 3.0 has additional
(NMMS) and the Area officer modules for e-Adjudication, e-
monitoring App on 21 May 2021. Consultation and Compliance
 The NMMS App will help in tracking Management.
the attendance of workers at  In addition to the launch of version
Mahatma Gandhi NREGA worksites. 3.0, the government has also
It will make the payment process introduced a revamped website, e-
faster. Book, e-consultation module and
new email services.

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 MCA Version 3.0 will be implemented  The Ayush Clinical Case Repository
in two phases. The second and final (ACCR) portal will bring Ayush
phase will be launched from October practitioners and the general public
2021. on one platform. It will provide
information about the clinical
 MCA21 V3.0 was part of this year’s
outcomes achieved by Ayush
Budget announcement. practitioners.
MCA21:  It will also make the public aware of
the scientific base of all streams of
o It was India’s first mission Ayush. It will also provide
mode e-governance project. information about Covid 19 cases
o It is the online portal of the treated through Ayush Systems.
Corporate Affairs Ministry
 The third version of the Ayush
(MCA).
Sanjivani App will also be launched. It
o It was launched in 2006. will provide information about the
Ayush medicine for asymptomatic &
mild to moderate patients of Covid
19.
 AYUSH: It stands for Ayurveda, Yoga
& Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and
Homoeopathy.
Ministry of AYUSH
 It was established in 2014.

 It is responsible for the education,
research, and propagation of
indigenous alternative medicine
systems in India.
 It is currently headed by Kiren Rijiju.
Ayush Minister launched repository
portal & Ayush Sanjivani App. Government to provide financial
assistance to students through DBT
 Ayush Minister Kiren Rijiju launched under Mid-Day Meal Scheme.
the Ayush Clinical Case Repository
(ACCR) portal and the third version of  The government has approved the
the Ayush Sanjivani App. proposal to provide financial
assistance to 11.8 crore students

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through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Unsung Heroes, Freedom Fighters,

under Mid-Day Meal Scheme. Unknown and Forgotten Places and
their role in National Movement.
 Financial assistance will be provided
to students in addition to the  It will be implemented by the
benefits of Pradhan Mantri Garib National Book Trust under the
Kalyan Anna Yojana. Ministry of Education.
 The Central Government will allocate  A total of 75 authors will be selected
additional funds of about Rs 1200 through an All India Contest. Some
crore for providing monetary selected young authors will interact
assistance. with some of the best authors in the
world.
Mid-Day Meal Scheme:
 Under this Mentorship Scheme, a
o It was launched on 15 August scholarship of Rs.50,000 per month
1995. will be provided to authors for six
months.
o Under the Mid-Day Meal
Scheme, a one time meal is
provided to children enrolled
in government or local body
schools.
o The main objective of the
scheme is to increase the
enrolments and retention of
children in schools.
o It is a centrally sponsored
scheme. NATIONAL NEWS
Government launched YUVA - Prime Government gives permission for

Minister’s Scheme for Young Authors. conducting trials of 5G technology
and Spectrum.
 The Ministry of Education has
launched YUVA- Prime Minister’s  The Department of
Scheme For Mentoring Young Telecommunications has allowed
Authors. Here, YUVA stands for telecom service providers (TSPs) to
Young, Upcoming and Versatile test the use and application of 5G
Authors. technology.
 It has been launched to promote  Telecommunication companies will

reading, writing, and book culture in conduct trials for rural and semi-
the country. urban areas. TSPs will be encouraged
to conduct trials using 5Gi technology
 It has been launched as part of the in addition to the 5G Technology.
India@75 Project (Azadi Ka Amrit
Mahotsav). It will encourage young
generation writers to write on the

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 The aim of this trial is to test 5G  The exemption will be given for a
spectrum propagation characteristics period of one year or until further
in the Indian context. orders.
 The trial will be conducted on a non- Puducherry becomes ‘Har Ghar Jal’
commercial basis and data will be UT.
stored in India.
 Puducherry has become ‘Har Ghar
 5G technology will provide high
Jal’ UT as every rural home in
downloading rates and three times
Puducherry has a household tap
greater spectrum efficiency.
connection.
 The 5Gi technology has been
 Earlier, Goa, Telangana and Andaman
developed by IIT Madras, Centre of
& Nicobar Islands have provided tap
Excellence in Wireless Technology
water supply to every rural home
(CEWiT), and IIT Hyderabad. It has
under Jal Jeevan Mission.
already been approved by the
International Telecommunications  So, Puducherry is the fourth State/UT
Union (ITU). to provide assured tap water supply
to every rural home under Jal Jeevan
Government granted exemption to Mission.
conduct Beyond Visual Line of Sight
 Jal Jeevan Mission is being
(BVLOS) experimental flights of
implemented in partnership with
drones. States/ UTs to provide safe tap water
 Ministry of Civil Aviation has to every rural home by 2024.
exempted 20 entities from  The State of Punjab and the UTs of
Unmanned Aircraft System {UAS) Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman &
Rules, 2021 to conduct Beyond Visual Diu have covered over 75% of rural
Line of Sight (BVLOS) experimental homes with assured tap water
flights of drones. supply.
 The main objective of exemption is to  Recently, N Rangasamy has sworn in
develop a framework of UAV rules as the Chief Minister of Puducherry.
related to Beyond Visual Line of Sight
(BVLOS) drone operations. Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM):
 BVLOS trials will help in creating a o It is a flagship programme of
framework for future drone the Union Government. It was
deliveries and other major announced in August 2019.
applications of drones.
o It aims to provide a tap water
 The government has set up a BVLOS connection to every rural
Experiment Assessment and household of the country by
Monitoring (BEAM) Committee for 2024.
inviting Expression of Interest (EOI) to
undertake BVLOS experimental
flights of drones.

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Ministry of Power decides to set up

National Mission on Biomass use in
coal based thermal power plants.
 Ministry of Power has decided to set
up National Mission on Biomass use
in coal based thermal power plants.
 The Ministry has decided to set up
this mission in order to address air
pollution issue arising due to farm FASTag and RFID integrated with E-
stubble burning and to reduce carbon way bill system.
footprints of thermal power
generation.  The e-way bill (EWB) system has been
integrated with FasTag and RFID for
 Its objective is to increase co-firing tracking the movements of
level from 5% to higher levels. Other commercial vehicles on highways.
objectives of National Mission on use
of biomass in thermal power plants  E-way bill (EWB) is mandatory for the
are given below. inter-state transportation of goods
valued over Rs 50,000.
o To take up R&D activity in
boiler design to handle the  The integration of electronic way (e-
higher amount of silica, alkalis way) bill system with FasTag and RFID
in the biomass pellets. will help GST authorities in reducing
tax evasion.
o To facilitate overcoming the
constraints in supply chain of  Now tax officials can easily access the
bio mass pellets and agro- report of a commercial vehicle that
residue and its transport upto has passed the tolls without e-way
to the power plants. bills.
o To consider regulatory issues  Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID)

in biomass co-firing. uses radio waves to read and capture
information stored on a tag attached
 The modalities of operation and to an object.
structure of the National Mission are
not finalized yet. Its duration would FASTag:
be minimum 5 years.
o Government launched FASTag
 The Mission would also have a in 2014 on a pilot basis. It is
Steering Committee headed by affixed on the windscreen of
Secretary (Power) comprising of all any vehicle.
stakeholders.
o It has been made mandatory
for all the lanes on toll plazas
of National Highways from
February 15, 2021.

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o It is an electronic toll Department of Atomic Energy to

collection system operated by build India’s first research reactor on
the National Highway PPP model
Authority of India.
 Department of atomic energy (DAE)
Cabinet approves creation of post of will build this reactor in association
director at NDRF Academy in Nagpur. with the Nuclear Power Corporation
of India Ltd.
 The Union Cabinet has approved the
creation of a post of Director at the  The research reactor will be designed
National Disaster Response Force by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
Academy in Nagpur. (BARC). It will produce radioisotopes.
 The NDRF academy was established  Radioactive isotopes are used in

in 2018 at Nagpur. It imparts training various fields including agriculture,
to National Disaster Response Force food industry, and medicine. At
(NDRF), State Disaster Response present, all major radioisotopes are
Force (SDRF), Civil Defence (CD) produced by BARC from the Trombay
volunteers, and other stakeholders. campus.
 The post of director at the NDRF  Radiological Safety Division (RSD) and
academy will help in better command Atomic Energy Regulatory Board
and control over the institution. (AERB) regulate the procurement of
radioisotopes in India.
 The institution also analyze and
improve the training programmes to First anniversary of National AI Portal
meet the changing needs and (INDIAai) celebrated on 28th May
requirements of the stakeholders.
 The first anniversary of the National
 It will also provide training to disaster AI Portal (INDIAai) has been
response personnel of SAARC and celebrated on 28 May 2021. A virtual
other countries. event has been organized on the
occasion of the anniversary.
National Disaster Response Force
(NDRF):  National AI Portal was launched by
the Minister for Electronics and IT
o It was established in the year Ravi Shankar Prasad on May 30,
2006 under the Disaster 2020.
Management Act, 2005.
 On the occasion of the anniversary, a
o It currently has 12 battalions, new look of the website homepage
with 1149 members in each has been also unveiled and a report
battalion. titled ‘One year of INDIAai’ is also
o Its main objective is to released.
provide immediate assistance  An event ‘AI PeCharcha’ based on the
in natural and man-made theme of ‘Implementing Trustworthy
disasters. AI Solutions’ was also organized.

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National AI Portal: Delhi government announces free

education for children whose both
o It is a joint initiative by the
parents died due to Covid-19.
Ministry of Electronics and IT
(MeitY), National e-  Further, Delhi Government will
Governance Division (NeGD), provide Rs 50,000 ex gratia to each
and NASSCOM. family that has lost a member due to
o The main aim of this portal is Covid-19.
to promote Artificial  In addition to ex-gratia of Rs 50,000,
Intelligence among school Delhi Government will provide a
students. monthly pension of Rs 2,500 if the
o The portal act as a one-stop deceased was an earning member.
digital platform for AI-related
 Monthly assistance of Rs 2,500 will
developments in India.
be given to children up to the age of
India’s first city-wide environmental 25 years if children have lost parents
or single parents due to COVID-19.
surveillance platform for COVID
launched in Bangalore.  Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said that
free ration would be given to the
 A city-wide sewage surveillance poor and needy even if they do not
system has been launched in have a ration card
Bangalore. It will help scientists in
tracking viruses at an early stage. Govt tells social media firms to share
 It is India’s first city-wide information on compliance with new
environmental surveillance platform IT rules
for the COVID virus. It will collect
samples from 45 wards of Bangalore  The Ministry of Electronics and
by the next week. Information Technology has asked all
social media intermediaries to share
 The surveillance platform has been their compliance details over the new
launched by COVIDactionCollab (CAC) Information Technology
in collaboration with United States (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital
Agency for International Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
Development (USAID) and the Skoll
Foundation.  On 25 February, the government had
issued guidelines and digital media
 Waste-water testing is a cost- ethics code for social media
effective method for detecting platforms, digital channels, and OTT
viruses at an early stage. The platforms. The new rule has come
Precision Health Platform will test the into force on 25 May.
sewage from both sewered and non-
sewered waste water.  According to the new rule, any social
media platform with more than 50
 Netherlands, Finland, and Israel have lakh users will be considered as a
also performed sewage testing for significant Social Media Intermediary.
monitoring the spread of the virus.

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 Social media giants Facebook and 12th Annual Day of the Competition
Twitter, instant messaging Commission of India (CCI)
applications WhatsApp and Google
commemorated on 20 May.
haven’t complied with the new rules
yet.  12th Annual Day of the Competition
Commission of India (CCI) was virtually
 According to the new rules, Social commemorated on 20 May.
media intermediaries will now have
to give details about the origin of a  Union Minister of Finance and Corporate
tweet or a message on being asked Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman
by either a court or a government addressed different invitees in the
inaugural session of the event to
authority.
commemorate 12th Annual Day of CCI.
 WhatsApp has opposed the
 On occasion, she released the ‘CCI
provisions of the new rule. It argued Journal on Competition Law and Policy’.
that the provisions are against
people’s fundamental right to  It was established under the
privacy. Competition Commission Act, 2002, but
it became fully functional in May 2009.
Salient features of Guidelines Related to
Social Media: Competition Commission of India (CCI):
12th Annual Day observed on 20 May
•CCI was established with effect from 14 October 2003

under the Competition Commission Act, 2002.
•It has a chairperson and six members. It is a quasi-judicial
body.
•The chairperson and members are appointed by the
Central government.
•It aims to eliminate practices that affect competition in
Indian market and protect the interests of the consumers.
•Current Chairperson: Ashok Kumar Gupta
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
 A grievance redressal mechanism will
be established for resolving EAM S Jaishankar participated in G-7
complaints from the users or victims. Foreign Ministers’ meet.
 Social media platforms have to
 External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar
remove the content related to nudity
was on a four-day visit to London to
or morphed images of women within
participate in a meeting of foreign
24 hours of complaints. ministers of G7 countries.
 Significant Social Media Intermediary
will have to appoint a Chief  The UK hosted the G7 foreign
Compliance Officer, a Nodal Contact ministers meeting in London from
Person and Resident Grievance May 3 to 5.
Officer for grievance redressal.
 In this G-7 Foreign Ministers’ meet,
 Social media intermediaries must
India, Australia, South Korea, South
identify the “first originator” of the
Africa, and the chair and secretary-
information.
general of the Association of

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Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Netherlands- to invite US, Canada

have been invited as guests. and Norway to participate in the
PESCO project Military Mobility.
 The main agenda of this meeting is to
discuss climate change, the Covid-19  PESCO project Military Mobility aims
pandemic, and the geopolitical at improving the exchange of
situation in the world. information between EU countries.
 India has also been invited as a guest  The Council of European Union is
to the 47th G7 summit. It is scheduled informally known as the Council of
to be organized in the United Ministers. It is one of three legislative
Kingdom from 11th to 13th June. bodies of European Union.
Group of Seven (G7): German regulator bans Facebook

from processing WhatsApp user data.
o G7 is an international
intergovernmental economic  German regulator has ban social
organization of the world’s networking site Facebook from
seven advanced economies. processing personal data of
WhatsApp users.
o Members- Canada, Japan,
Italy, France, Germany, the  Germany’s data protection regulator
United States, and the United has said that new terms of service of
Kingdom WhatsApp are illegal under the
European privacy law.
o Its first meeting was held in
1975 in France.  WhatsApp has asked its users to
agree to new terms and conditions by
o Its headquarters is located in
May 15. The new terms will grant
Taormina, Italy.
access to private data to Facebook.
The Council of EU approves inviting  According to German regulators,
three countries to take part in EU’s WhatsApp is forcing users to update
Permanent Structured Cooperation their App by 15th May or else the
(PESCO) defense initiative. service will be stopped.
 The Council of European Union has  However, WhatsApp has said that the
approved inviting three countries to update of App is not connected with
take part in the EU’s Permanent sharing of data with Facebook.
Structured Cooperation (PESCO) Facebook:
defense initiative.
 The names of the three countries are o It is an American online social
US, Canada and Norway. They are the media and Social networking
first three countries to be invited to company.
take part in a PESCO project. o It was founded by Mark
Zuckerberg in 2004.
 The Council authorized the
coordinator of the project –the

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o Its headquarters is located in Moctar Ouane reappointed as Prime

California, United States. Minister of Mali.
China becomes first country to ban  Moctar Ouane is reappointed as
All Synthetic Cannabinoid Prime Minister of Mali.
Substances.  Moctar Ouane was appointed as
Prime Minister of the caretaker
 China has become the first country in
government in August 2020 after the
the world to ban all synthetic
removal of Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.
cannabinoid substances.
 In April 2021, Mali’s interim
 China has banned synthetic
government had announced that it
cannabinoid substances to curb the
would hold a constitutional
manufacturing and trafficking of the
referendum on October 31 and an
drug.
election in February 2022.
 Synthetic cannabinoids are man-
 Mali is facing a political crisis due to
made substances identical to
disputed legislative elections and
chemicals found in the cannabis
economic crisis due to economic
plant. These are cheap and more
stagnation, corruption, and Covid-19
addictive than Cannabis.
pandemic.
 China will establish standards for
assessing the addictive and harmful Mali:
properties of synthetic cannabinoids.
o It is a landlocked country in
 Synthetic cannabinoids are also West Africa.
called cannabinoids. These are part
o It is the eighth-largest country
of a group of drugs called new
in Africa.
psychoactive substances.
o Its capital is Bamako and the
China: currency is the West African
CFA Franc.
o It is a country in East Asia.
o It is the world’s largest Culture Ministers of India and
manufacturer and exporter. Mongolia discuss various issues
o Renminbi is the currency of
under Cultural Exchange Programme.
China and Beijing is the capital  Minister of State for Culture &
of China. Tourism Prahlad Singh Patel and his
o Xi Jinping is the President of counterpart Mongolian Minister of
China. Culture Chinbat Nomin discussed
various issues under the Cultural
Exchange Program.
 The Cultural Exchange Program (CEP)
between India and Mongolia stands
renewed until 2023.

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 Both country’s leaders also agreed on increased. Around 3,795 incidents of

cooperation in the different fields. hate crimes were reported between
India is historically connected with March 2020 and February 2021.
Mongolia due to Buddhism.
 The bill proposes to create a new
 India has offered 10 dedicated ICCR position at the Justice Department to
scholarships for studying ‘Tibetan review the Covid-19-related hate
Buddhism’ in the institutes of CIBS, crimes against Asian Americans and
Leh, and CUTS, Varanasi. Pacific Islanders.
 India will also digitalize the Buddhist  The law also directs departments of
manuscripts of the Gandan Justice and Health and Human
monastery and all 108 Mongolian Services to spread awareness against
Kanjur manuscripts will be published hate crimes across the country.
by March 2022.
Hostilities between Israel and Hamas
escalated after the air strikes.
 The Israeli military has bombarded
Mongolia: rockets in different areas in Gaza. It is
the most intense airstrikes in Gaza
o It is a landlocked country in since 2014.
East Asia.
 Hamas had fired hundreds of rockets
o Its capital is Ulaanbaatar and towards Israel on Monday. After that,
its currency is Mongolian Israel has carried out hundreds of
Togrog. airstrikes in Gaza.
o Khaltmaagiin Battulga is the  The Gaza-based Palestinian group,

President of Mongolia. Hamas, had fired rockets towards
Israel in protest of the clash between
o Mongolia got Independence Israeli police and Palestinian
from the Republic of China in protesters in Al-Aqsa Mosque.
1921.
 Al-Aqsa Mosque is located in
US Congress passes Anti-Asian hate Jerusalem. It is the third holiest place
crimes bill. for Muslims.
 The United States parliament has Israel and Hamas agreed for ceasefire
passed the Covid-19 Hate Crimes bill. in Gaza Strip.
It was introduced by Grace Meng and
Mazie Hirono.  The airstrike between Israel and
Hamas halted with the ceasefire in
 The bill has been approved to combat Gaza Strip. Egypt played a vital role in
the hate crimes against Asians during brokering the ceasefire.
the coronavirus pandemic.
 Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations
 Last year, the cases against racially mediated the de-escalation. Both
motivated crimes against Asian
Americans and Pacific Islanders had
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Israel and Hamas have claimed Covid vaccines producing companies

victory in the conflict. of the United States.
 The truce has happened after 11 days  The procurement of Vaccines was the
of nonstop bombarding. Around 240 main agenda of discussion between
Palestinians and 12 Israelis have been the External Affairs Minister and US
killed in this conflict. government representatives.
 The Israeli-Palestinian conflict was  Recently, United States has
started on May 10 after the violence supported India’s proposal of waiving
in East Jerusalem. certain provisions of the TRIPS
agreement for Vaccine. It will help in
Hamas Israel increasing vaccine production.
India and Israel signed a three-year

It is a Middle Eastern country work program for cooperation in
It was founded in 1987. located on the Mediterranean
Sea. agriculture.
It is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic Its capital is Jerusalem and the
fundamentalist organization. currency is the Israeli shekel.
It is active in the West Bank and Benjamin Netanyahu is the Prime
 India and Israel have signed a three-
Gaza Strip region of the Palestine. Minister of the country. year joint work program to enhance
It oppose the secular approach of cooperation in the field of
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
agriculture.
 Under this three-year work program,
Centres of Excellence (CoEs) will be
External Affairs Minister started his
set up to train farmers about Israeli
five-day visit to the US. farm and water technologies.
 Centres of Excellence (CoEs) will set
up in 75 villages and Villages of
Excellence (VoE) - a model ecosystem
in agriculture will be created across
eight states.
 It is the 5th Indo-Israel Agriculture
Action Plan (IIAP). India and Israel
are cooperating in agriculture sector
 External Affairs Minister Dr. S
since 1993.
Jaishankar begins his five-day trip to
the United States. He also meted  Indo-Israel Agriculture Action Plan
with UN Secretary-General Antonio (IIAP) will also help in the growth of
Guterres. the horticulture sector. It will also
focus on the development of the
 He hold a discussion with his
modern Agriculture infrastructure,
counterpart Secretary of State
Capacity Building, and Market
Antony Blinken.
linkage.
 He discussed economic and Covid-
related cooperation issues with
business forums. He will also talk to

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 The exchange of technology will help  He has taken the place of Clement
in increasing farmer’s income and Mouamba.
productivity.
 In 2011, He joined the government as
India will open a new Consulate in Minister of Youth and Civil
Maldives. Instruction. He also worked as
Minister of Education.
 The Union cabinet has approved the
 Corruption, access of water and
proposal of opening a new Consulate
electricity, and social problems such
General of India in Addu City,
as the payment of pension arrears
Maldives.
will be the main challenges for the
 It will help in augmenting diplomatic newly appointed Prime Minister.
relations between both countries.
 The Prime Minister of the Republic of
Maldives is part of India’s
the Congo is selected from the
‘Neighbourhood First Policy’ and the
elected representatives in
‘SAGAR’ (Security and Growth for All
Parliament.
in the Region) initiatives.
 India and Maldives share ethnic, Republic of the Congo:
linguistic, cultural, religious, and
o It is an African nation.
commercial relations. Both countries
share a good bilateral relationship. o Its capital is Brazzaville.
 India’s good diplomatic relation with o Its currency is the Central
the Maldives will help in improving African CFA franc.
the commercial relations between
both countries. o Anatole Collinet Makosso is
the Prime Minister of the
Congo.
Maldives
•It is a small island nation in South Asia, located in
the Arabian Sea.
•It is located about 700 km from the mainland of
the Asian continent to the south-west of Sri Lanka
and India.
•Its capital is Male and the currency is Maldivian
rufiya.
•The current President is Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
Anatole Collinet Makosso becomes

new Prime Minister of Congo.
 Anatole Collinet Makosso is
WHO and Switzerland launch BioHub
appointed as Prime Minister of the
Republic of the Congo. He is
for pathogen storage and analysis.
appointed by President Sassou  The World Health Organization
Nguesso. (WHO) has signed a Memorandum of

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Understanding with the Swiss father, Hafez, also ruled over Syria for
Confederation to launch the first more than 25 years.
BioHub Facility.
 He secured 95.1% of the votes in the
 The BioHub Facility has been election. Kurdish led forces have
launched for Pathogen storage, boycotted the election.
sharing, and analysis. It will help in
 Bashar is the second longest-serving
the sharing of viruses and other
president of Syria.
pathogens between laboratories
across the world.  Syria is suffering from a decade-long
 The BioHub Facility will act as a conflict. More than half of the
population have fled from Syria.
center for the safe receipt,
sequencing, storage, and preparation
of biological materials.
 Switzerland will provide the
necessary infrastructure for the WHO
BioHub initiative.
 At present, pathogen sharing is done
bilaterally by the countries. Syria
 It is located in Western Asia.
World Health Organization (WHO):
 It shares boundary with the
o It is a specialized agency of Mediterranean Sea, Turkey, Iraq,
the United Nations Jordan, and Israel.
responsible for international  Damascus is the capital of Syria.
public health.  Hussein Arnous is the current
Prime Minister of Syria.
o It is headquartered in Geneva,
Switzerland.
INDIA AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD
o It was established on 7 April K P Sharma Oli loses vote of
1948.
confidence in House of
o Its current President is Dr. Representatives.
Tedros Adhanom
Ghebreyesus.
Bashar Al-Assad becomes president

of Syria for 4th time.
 After winning the election, Bashar Al-
Assad has become the President of
Syria for the fourth time.  K P Sharma Oli got 93 votes in his
favor while 124 voted against him. In
 Bashar Al-Assad was first appointed
the 275-member House of
as president in the year 2000. His
Representatives, he required at least
136 Votes to win the trust vote in the

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lower of the House of o Its capital is Kathmandu and

Representatives. the currency is Nepalese
Rupees.
 After the NCP (Nationalist Congress
Party) withdrew its support from the o Bidya Devi Bhandari is the
government, PM Oli faced a vote of President.
confidence.
STATE NEWS/ UTS
 In January, K P Sharma Oli was
expelled from the primary BIHAR
membership of the Nepal Bihar government launched ‘HIT
Communist Party for his decision to Covid App’.
dissolve the Parliament.
 Bihar government has launched an
KP Sharma Oli takes oath as Nepal app for monitoring and tracking
Prime Minister for third time. home isolated Covid-19 patients.
 K P Sharma Oli has sworn in as  The App has been named as ‘HIT
Nepal’s Prime Minister for the third Covid App’. Here ‘HIT’ stands for
time. He is the 43rd Prime Minister of home isolation tracking.
Nepal.
 It has been launched to help health
 President Bidya Devi Bhandari workers in regular monitoring of
administered the oath of office to KP home isolated Covid-19 patients.
Sharma Oli.
 Health workers will daily feed the
 Recently, K P Sharma Oli had lost the temperature and oxygen level of
vote of confidence in the House of home isolated Covid-19 patients in
Representatives, but Opposition this app. The data of the app will be
parties couldn’t form a new monitored at the district level.
government.
 The App has been developed by the
 KP Sharma Oli is the leader of the Bihar State Electronics Development
Nepal- Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN- Corporation (BELTRON).
UML) party.
 The App has been launched on pilot
 Previously, he had served as Prime basis in Supaul, Aurangabad,
Minister of Nepal from October 11, Bhagalpur, Gopalganj, and Nalanda
2015 to August 3, 2016 and again districts.
from February 15, 2018 to May 13,
2021. Bihar:
Nepal: o It is located in the eastern

part of India.
o It shares a border with Indian
o It shares its boundary with
states, namely Uttarakhand,
Uttar Pradesh, Nepal, West
Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim, West
Bengal, and Jharkhand.
Bengal, and Bihar.

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o It is divided into two parts by HARYANA

the river Ganga. Anti-Covid “Sanjeevani Pariyojana”
o It is the third-largest state by launched by Haryana government.
population and twelfth-
largest by territory.  Anti-Covid “Sanjeevani Pariyojana”
has been launched by Haryana
o Nitish Kumar is the Chief government on 24 May 2021.
Minister and Phagu Chauhan
is the Governor of Bihar.  Sanjeevani Pariyojana will provide
supervised and quick medical care for
GUJARAT people with mild to moderate
symptoms of Covid-19 in rural areas.
Gujarat governor gave assent to
Freedom of Religion Amendment Bill  Under the initiative, an Integrated
2021 Command and Control Centre will
manage critical resources such as
 "Gujarat Freedom of Religion availability of hospital beds, oxygen
(Amendment) Bill, 2021 was passed supply, ambulance tracking and door-
by the legislative assembly of Gujarat to-door awareness campaign.
in April. Governor Acharya Devvrat
has given his assent to the bill.  The initiative will enable the
administration to keep an eye on
 It has provision of more stringent
entire healthcare system of district.
punishment against forced religious
conversions through marriage. It has  Under the initiative, 200 final year
amended the Gujarat Freedom of and pre-final year medical students
Religion Act, 2003. and interns will be mobilized and
 Gujarat becomes the third state to connected to consultants and
make a law against the 'love jihad'. experts.
The term 'love jihad' has not been
defined by the existing law. Haryana
Gujarat:
•It is located in the northern region of India.
o It is the fifth-largest Indian •It is bounded by Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and
state by area and the ninth- Rajasthan.
largest state by population. •It has 22 districts and its Capital is Chandigarh.
•Current Chief Minister of Haryana: Manohar Lal Khattar
o Capital: Gandhinagar •Current Governor of Haryana: Satyadev Narayan Arya
o Chief Minister is Vijay Rupani •Lok Sabha seats of Haryana: 10 seats
and the Governor is Acharya •Raja Sabha seats of Haryana: 5 seats
Devvrat
o It shares its border with HIMACHAL PRADESH
Rajasthan, Dadra and Nagar
Himachal Pradesh is constructing
Haveli and Daman and Diu,
Maharashtra, and Madhya forest ponds for rainwater
Pradesh. harvesting.

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 Himachal Pradesh is constructing JAMMU AND KASHMIR

forest ponds for rainwater
J&K becomes first Union Territory to
harvesting.
provide special pension and
 The government is constructing big scholarship to Covid affected
and small ponds under the Parvat families.
Dhara scheme for the rejuvenation of
water sources and recharging  Under the Saksham scheme, Jammu
aquifers. and Kashmir government will provide
financial assistance and scholarship
 Under this scheme, Government is
to Covid affected families. It is the
also performing cleaning and
first Union territory to announce such
maintenance of existing ponds. It will
kind of relief package.
help in enhancing the water level.
 Jammu and Kashmir’s Administrative
 The main focus of the scheme is soil
Council has approved the grant for
and water conservation through the
this relief package.
plantation.
 The government will provide a
 Himachal Pradesh is forest rich area;
monthly pension of ₹1000 to affected
27 percent of its area is covered by
families and will give scholarships to
forest.
children, who lost their earning
Himachal Pradesh: parent(s)/ guardian(s) due to Covid.
 A sum of ₹20,000 will be given to
o It is a state in north India that
children studying up to 12th standard
shares borders with Jammu
and ₹40,000 for students in higher
and Kashmir, Ladakh,
education as scholarship.
Haryana, Punjab,
Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh,  The Administrative Council also
and Tibet. approved the setting of a special cell
in the Social Welfare Department for
o It is located in the western
facilitating benefit to Covid affected
Himalayas.
families under different Government
o The summer capital of schemes.
Himachal Pradesh is Shimla
and the winter capital is Jammu and Kashmir:
Dharamshala.
o Union Territory of Jammu and
o It has 33 wildlife sanctuaries Kashmir is located to the
and two national parks. north of Himachal Pradesh
and Punjab.
o Jai Ram Thakur is the current
Chief Minister of Himachal o Its winter capital is Jammu
Pradesh. and its summer capital is
Srinagar.
o Governor of Himachal
Pradesh: Bandaru Dattatreya

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o Manoj Sinha is the Lieutenant o Administrator of

Governor of Jammu and Lakshadweep: Shri Praful
Kashmir. Patel
o Entry to the islands of
LAKSHADWEEP Lakshadweep is allowed after
Government proposed formation of an entry permit is issued by
the Lakshadweep Development Lakshadweep Administration.
Authority (LDA) MADHYA PRADESH
 The residents of Lakshadweep are Madhya Pradesh launched Corona
opposing the draft prepared for the Warriors Scheme.
creation of a Lakshadweep
Development Authority (LDA).  Under this scheme, the government
will take responsibility for those
 The new draft has granted additional health workers’ families who have
power to the government for the died on Corona duty.
acquisition of land. The government
has brought this draft for the  The affected families will receive
development in the urban and rural financial assistance of Rs 50 lakhs
areas of Lakshadweep. from the government.
 The new regulation empowers the Madhya Pradesh:

government to constitute Planning
and Development Authorities for the o It is the second-largest state
development of an area. in India in terms of area.
 Around 94% of the property is owned o Capital of Madhya Pradesh:

by the scheduled tribes of Island. Bhopal
They believe that the draft has been o It shares its border with
brought in real estate interests. Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar
 Scheduled Tribes people have a fear Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and
that they might lose their property Maharashtra.
and the massive construction work o Chief Minister of Madhya
can affect the ecological balance of Pradesh is Shivraj Singh
the Lakshadweep. Chouhan and the Governor of
Madhya Pradesh is Anandiben
Lakshadweep:
Patel.
o It is a group of 36 islands with
an area of 32 sq km.
o It is the smallest Union
Territory of India.
o It was formed in 1956 and
was named Lakshadweep in
1973.
o Capital of Lakshadweep:
Kavaratti

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MAHARASHTRA  Manipur government has launched a

mobile app for the delivery of
MP Rahul Shewale inaugurated
vegetables at home.
India’s first ‘Drive in Vaccination
Center’ in Mumbai.  The ‘MOMA market’ mobile app will
help in the delivery of fresh
 MP Rahul Shewale inaugurated vegetables at the doorstep in the
India’s first ‘Drive in Vaccination lockdown districts.
Center’ in Mumbai.
 Manipur Organic Mission Agency
 It has been established in the parking (MOMA) is a unit of the state
lot of Kohinoor Square Tower at horticulture and soil conservation
Dadar. department.
 First ‘Drive in Vaccination Center’  Farmers Producer Companies (FPCs)
facility has been set up at a time and Manipur Organic Mission Agency
when disabled people are facing (MOMA) will procure vegetables
difficulties in reaching the vaccination from the different farms of the state.
center. The facility is available for all
sections of society.
 First ‘Drive in Vaccination Center’
also provides transportation facilities
to citizens who do not have their own
vehicles.
Maharashtra:
o In terms of area, Maharashtra

is India’s third largest state. In
terms of population, it is
second most populous state.
o Its boundary is covered by 6
states. Karnataka and Goa are
located to its south.
Telangana is located to its
southeast. Chhattisgarh is ODISHA
located to its east. Gujarat Odisha announces Gopabandhu
and Madhya Pradesh are Sambadika Swasthya Bima Yojana.
located to its north.
 Odisha government has announced
o Chief Minister: Uddhav Gopabandhu Sambadika Swasthya
Thackery, Governor: Bhagat Bima Yojana for journalists.
Singh Koshyari
 Odisha has declared the journalists as
MANIPUR frontline Covid warriors. It will
Manipur government launched a benefit more than 6500 journalists of
mobile app for delivering vegetables. the state.

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 Under the Gopabandhu Sambadika  Malerkotla city, Amargarh, and

Swasthya Bima Yojana, a health Ahmedgarh will come under the
insurance cover of Rs 2 lakh will be Malerkotla district.
provided to each Journalist.
Punjab:
 Under the scheme, financial
assistance of Rs 15 lakh will be o It is a state in the northwest
provided to the families of journalists region of India.
who died from COVID-19 while
o Its capital is Chandigarh.
performing duty.
o Governor of Punjab: V. P.
Odisha: Singh Badnore
o It is a state on the Bay of o Chief Minister of Punjab:
Bengal in the east of India. Captain Amarinder Singh
o It is the eighth largest state by TAMIL NADU
area and the eleventh largest
by population. DMK leader M.K. Stalin takes oath as
CM of Tamil Nadu.
o Chief Minister is Naveen
Patnaik and Governor is  DMK leader M.K. Stalin (Muthuvel
Ganeshi Lal. Karunanidhi Stalin) has taken oath as
Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
o It has the third largest tribal
population in India.  Tamil Nadu’s Governor Banwarilal
Purohit administered him the oath of
o Odia is one of the classical
Chief Minister.
languages in India.
 Governor also administered oath to
PUNJAB the 33 cabinet ministers.
Malerkotla becomes 23rd district of  DMK has recently won 16th Assembly
Punjab. election. It has formed government in
Tamil Nadu for the 6th time.
 Punjab Government has approved a
long pending demand to form Tamil Nadu:
Malerkotla as a district. It will be the
23rd district of Punjab. o The South Indian state of
Tamil Nadu is famous for its
 The chief minister of Punjab also
Dravidian-style Hindu
announced Rs 500 crore financial
temples.
assistance for medical college, a
women’s college, a new bus stand, o Its capital is Chennai.
and a women police station in
Malerkotla. o Tamil Nadu shares its border
with Andhra Pradesh, Kerala,
 Malerkotla is a Muslim majority Puducherry and Karnataka.
town. It is a historically very
important town of Punjab.

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o Kabbadi is the state sport of o The Chief Minister of

Tamil Nadu. It is also known Uttarakhand is Tirath Singh
as Sadugudu. Rawat and Governor is Baby
Rani Maurya.
UTTARAKHAND
o Dehradun is the capital of
Cabinet approves transfer of land for Uttarakhand.
development of Aerial Passenger
Ropeway System in Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand Police launched ‘Mission
Hausla’ for COVID Patients.
transfer of 1500 square metres of  The Uttarakhand Police has launched
land belonging to Indo-Tibetan ‘Mission Hausla’ for helping COVID-
Border Police (ITBP) to the 19 Patients.
Uttarakhand government for the
development of the Aerial Passenger  It has been launched to help people
Ropeway System. in getting Oxygen, beds, and Plasma
for COVID-19 patients.
 The Aerial Passenger Ropeway
System will be constructed between  Under this mission, Police will also
Dehradun and Mussoorie. It will be help those Senior citizens who are
built with an estimated cost of Rs.285 living alone.
crore with a carrying capacity of 1000  Every Police station of the state will
persons per hour. work as the nodal police station for
 It will help in reducing the travel time the mission.
between Dehradun to Mussoorie. Uttarakhand government announces
 The ropeway project will generate Vatsalya Yojana.
direct employment of 350 and
indirect employment of more than  In Uttarakhand, the state
1500 people. government has launched the
‘Mukhyamantri Vatsalya Yojana’. It
 It will also boost the tourism sector of has been launched for orphaned
the state and it will reduce the traffic children who have lost their parents
flow between Dehradun to due to Covid-19.
Mussoorie.
 Under the scheme, the government
will take all responsibility for the
orphaned children. The government
Uttarakhand:
will make arrangements of their
o It is located in the northern maintenance, education and training
part of India. for employment up to the age of 21
years.
o It shares its border with Tibet,
Nepal, Himachal Pradesh,  The orphaned children will also
Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. receive a maintenance allowance of
3000 rupees per month. They will
also get 5 percent horizontal

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reservation in government jobs of the citizens from different countries as

state. part of the Vande Bharat Mission.
 The state government will also make
laws related to the selling of the
ancestral property of these orphans.
No one will be allowed to sell the
ancestral property of these children
until they become adults.
Vatsalya Yojana
Launched by Uttarakhand United States approved sale of six P-

8I patrol aircraft to India.
For orphaned children  The US administration has approved
who have lost their
parents due to Covid-19 the sale of six more P-8I patrol
aircraft to India. The Defense Security
Children will receive a Cooperation Agency (DSCA) has
maintenance allowance of cleared this deal.
3000 rupees per month
 India had procured eight P-8I patrol
aircraft in 2009 and it had given an
order of four more P-8I patrol aircraft
DEFENCE in 2016.
Indian Navy launched Operation  It will help Indian Navy in expanding

Samudra Setu-II for shipment of its maritime surveillance aircraft
(MSA) capability.
Oxygen-filled Containers.
 P-8I patrol aircraft is manufactured
 Indian Navy has launched Operation
by Boeing. It has been designed for
Samudra Setu-II for the shipment of
long-range anti-submarine warfare,
Oxygen-filled containers to India.
anti-surface warfare, and surveillance
 It will help in meeting the and reconnaissance missions.
requirement of India’s oxygen
 It is equipped with the
demand.
Multifunctional Information
 INS Kolkata and INS Talwar are Distribution System- Joint Tactical
involved in this Operation. They are Radio Systems 5, Missile Warning
transporting 40MT of liquid oxygen Sensors, and Global Positioning
to Mumbai. Systems.
 INS Jalashwa and INS Airavat are also

bringing Oxygen from Bangkok and
Singapore.
 Indian Navy had launched Operation
Samudra Setu-I for bringing Indian
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Passage Exercise (PASSEX) conducted  It is the first Indian Naval Ship to be

by Indian and Indonesian Navies in associated with an Indian Army
regiment – the Rajput Regiment.
the southern Arabian Sea.
 It participated in many operations
 Passage Exercise (PASSEX) was including Operation Aman, Operation
conducted by Indian and Indonesian Pawan, Operation Cactus, etc.
Navies in the southern Arabian Sea.
 INS Sharda, an Offshore Patrol Vessel
(OPV) with a Chetak helicopter
onboard, represented Indian Navy.
 KRI Sultan Hasanudin, a 90m
Corvette, represented Indonesian
Navy.
 Indian and Indonesian Navies
conducted the last PASSEX on March The near isothermal forging
13 between INS Kalpeni, IN Dornier technology developed by DRDO.
and KRI Sultan Iskandar Muda.
 The near isothermal forging
 In February 2021, Indian and technology for aeroengines has been
Indonesian Navies conducted developed by DRDO.
PASSAGE Exercise.
 Defence Metallurgical Research
 Indian Navy conducts PASSEX Laboratory (DMRL), a metallurgical
exercise with the units of friendly laboratory of DRDO at Hyderabad,
foreign countries. has developed this technology.
INS Rajput decommissioned on May  The technology can produce all five
21. stages of high-pressure compressors
(HPC) discs out of difficult-to-deform
 The first destroyer of the Indian titanium alloy by using the isothermal
Navy, INS Rajput, decommissioned forge press facility available at DMRL,
on May 21. It was commissioned on Hyderabad.
04 May 1980.
 The technology has been transferred
 After rendering service for 41 years, to M/s MIDHANI through a licensing
it will be decommissioned at the agreement for technology transfer to
Naval Dockyard of Visakhapatnam. meet bulk production requirements.
 INS Rajput was built by Russia in the  Bulk quantity of HPC disc forgings
61 Communards Shipyard. Its Original have been jointly (DMRL & MIDHANI)
Russian name was ‘Nadezhny’. produced and successfully supplied
to HAL (E), Bengaluru for fitment into
 INS Rajput served for both Western
Adour Engine that powers the
and Eastern Fleets and its first
Jaguar/Hawk Aircrafts.
commanding officer was Capt Gulab
Mohanlal Hiranandani.

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o It works under the Ministry of

Defense.
o It is headquartered in New
Delhi.
o It was formed through an Act
of Parliament in 1978.
SeHAT OPD portal launched by

Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh.
Indian Coast Guard commissioned
Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) Sajag.  ‘Services e-Health Assistance & Tele-
consultation (SeHAT) OPD portal was
launched by Raksha Mantri Shri
Rajnath Singh on 27 May.
 SeHAT OPD portal will provide tele-
medicine services to the serving
Armed Forces personnel, veterans
and their families.
 This is the final version of the SeHAT
OPD portal with advanced safety
 On 29 May, Offshore Patrol Vessel features. The trial version was made
‘Sajag’ has been commissioned in the functional in August 2020.
Indian Coast Guard by National
 Department of Military Affairs
Security Advisor Ajit Doval.
(DMA), Armed Forces Medical
 ‘Sajag’ is constructed by the Goa Services (AFMS), Integrated Defence
Shipyard Limited. It is the third vessel Staff (IDS), Centre for Development
in a series of five offshore patrol of Artificial Computing (C-DAC)
vessels to be built under the vision of Mohali and other organisations were
‘Make in India’. involved in the development of the
portal.
 It is equipped with advanced
technology equipment, weapon, and Armed forces launch Operation CO-
sensors. It can carry a twin- engine JEET to fight COVID-19 in India.
helicopter and four boats.
 Armed forces have launched
 It will help in increasing the Operation CO-JEET to fight COVID-19
operational capability of the Indian in India.
Coast Guard.
 Deputy Chief of Integrated Defence
Indian Coast Guard: Staff (Medical) Lieutenant General
Dr. Madhuri Kanitkar is working to
o It is an armed force, maritime strategize and monitor steps to fight
search and rescue, and law COVID-19.
enforcement agency.

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 She is the third woman to become a Defence Research and Development

three-star general in the armed Organisation (DRDO)
forces. She is a recipient of the Ati
Vishisht Seva Medal (AVSM).
 Under Operation CO-JEET, personnel
of the Army, the Indian Air Force and
the Navy are working to help restore
oxygen supply chains, set up COVID
beds and help civilian administration.
DRDO developed COVID-19 antibody

 It was established in 1958.
detection kit.
 It is involved in developing critical
 Defence Institute of Physiology and defense technologies and products
Allied Sciences (DIPAS) has developed to meet the requirements of the
a COVID-19 antibody detection kit. Indian Armed Forces.
 It works under the Ministry of
 Defence Institute of Physiology and Defence.
Allied Sciences (DIPAS) is a laboratory  It has a network of 52 laboratories
of Defence Research and in the country.
Development Organisation (DRDO).  Chairman: G. Sateesh Reddy
 This antibody detection kit has been  Headquarters: New Delhi
named ‘DIPCOVAN’. It can detect
spike and nucleocapsid (S&N) SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
proteins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. SPACE AND IT
 It has been developed in A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched
collaboration with Vanguard another 60 Starlink internet
Diagnostics Pvt Ltd. satellites.
 This antibody detection kit has been  A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched
approved by the Indian Council of another 60 Starlink internet satellites
Medical Research (ICMR). Its main into orbit on April 28.
aim is to detect IgG antibodies in
human serum or plasma.  Falcon 9 rocket took off from Space
Launch Complex 40 at Cape
 It has a shelf life of 18 months and it Canaveral Space Force Station in
completes the test in 75 minutes. Florida. This marked company’s 10th
launch of the year.
 First stage of the rocket returned to
Earth and touched down on SpaceX’s
drone ship “Just Read the
Instructions”.

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 SpaceX has two operational drone  This announcement was recently

ships, Just Read the Instructions and made by Canadian company
Of Course I Still Love You. Geometric Energy Corporation, which
will lead the lunar mission.
 Starlink is a project under which
SpaceX aims to send 12,000 satellites  DOGE-1 will be launched aboard a
to provide space based internet. SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket in the first
quarter of 2022.
SpaceX Starship rocket prototype
achieved first safe landing.  The satellite will weigh 40 kg. It will
aim to obtain lunar-spatial
 SpaceX has conducted a test launch intelligence from sensors and
of its starship prototype rocket from cameras on-board.
Texas on 5 May 2021. The rocket
 DOGE-1 Mission to the Moon will be
successfully landed after the test
the first-ever commercial lunar
flight.
payload in history that will be paid
 It is the first successful landing of entirely with” Dogecoin.
SpaceX’s Starship rocket prototype.
It is the most remarkable Parker Solar Probe detected a natural
achievement in the development of radio signal from Venus.
the reusable heavy-lift launch
 The Parker Solar Probe has detected
vehicle.
a natural radio signal from the
 The reusable rocket will be used to atmosphere of Venus. The FIELDS
carry astronauts and large cargo instrument of the Parker Solar Probe
payloads to the moon and Mars. has detected this low-frequency
radio signal.
 The rocket has been launched on the
60th anniversary of the first  The Parker Solar Probe was launched
spaceflight of America. as a solar mission in 2018. It was
launched to study the Sun’s
 SpaceX has been developing the atmosphere.
next-generation Starship rocket for
going to Mars.  During its travel to Sun, it has taken
amazing images of Venus and also
SpaceX: It is an American aerospace gathered information about Venus.
manufacturer and space
transportation services company  NASA had launched Pioneer Venus
founded by Elon Musk in 2002. Orbiter in 1978 to explore the surface
of Venus.
SpaceX will launch DOGE-1 Satellite  Venus and Earth are commonly
to Moon funded with the referred as twins. Both planets have
cryptocurrency Dogecoin in 2022. an ionosphere, which helps in the
transmission of the radio signal.
 SpaceX will launch DOGE-1 Satellite
funded with the cryptocurrency
Dogecoin to Moon in 2022.

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Saturn’s interior may have high one petaflop performance capacity in

temperatures in the equatorial the next two months.
region.  It has been developed by Tehran’s
Amirkabir University of Technology
 Saturn’s interior may have high (AUT).
temperatures at the equatorial
region as per the models published in  It will be used for the analysis of
the journal AGU advances. artificial intelligence, traffic and
weather data, and image processing.
 As per the models, Saturn’s interior It will be used for cloud hosting for
may have lower temperatures at high some local private firms.
latitudes at the top of the helium rain
layer.  It comprises 42 racks in an area of
approximately 250sq meters. It will
 New Johns Hopkins University be upgraded to reach a capacity of 10
simulations of Saturn’s interior petaflops.
suggest that a thick layer of helium
rain influences the magnetic field of Iran:
Saturn.
o Iran is located in Western
 Magnetic field of Saturn appears to Asia.
be almost perfectly symmetrical
around the rotation axis. o It shares its border with
Armenia, Azerbaijan,
 As per the authors, measurements of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan,
the magnetic field from the last and Pakistan.
orbits of NASA’s Cassini mission
provide an opportunity to o Its capital and largest city is
understand Saturn’s deep interior, Tehran.
where the magnetic field is
o Its President is Hassan
generated.
Rouhani.
Cassini mission: o Iranian rial is the currency of
Iran.
o Under the Cassini mission, a
space probe was sent to study NASA planning to land its first mobile
planet Saturn and its system. robot on the Moon in late 2023.
o Cassini mission involved a
collaboration among NASA,  NASA is planning to land its first
the European Space Agency, mobile robot on the Moon in late
and the Italian Space Agency. 2023 under its Commercial Lunar
Payload Services (CLPS)  program.
It was launched in 1997.
 The robot will search for ice and
Iran launched its most powerful other resources on and below the
supercomputer ‘Simorgh’. lunar surface.
 At present, it has a processing power  The name of the Robot is Volatiles
of 0.56 petaflops, but it will attain Investigating Polar Exploration Rover
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(VIPER). It will go to the South Pole of of Nuclear Medicine and Allied

the moon. Sciences (INMAS), a laboratory of
Defence Research and Development
 VIPER is the first resource mapping Organisation (DRDO), in association
mission on another celestial body. It with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) in
runs on solar power. Hyderabad.
 The duration of VIPER mission has  It comes in powder form in a sachet
been increased from one to three and is taken orally by dissolving it in
lunar days (100 Earth days).
water.
VIPER will carry 4 instruments on
Drug Controller General of India
board. Their names are given next. (DCGI):
o Regolith and Ice Drill for o It is a department under the
Exploring New Terrains Central Drugs Standard
(TRIDENT) hammer drill Control Organisation.
o Mass Spectrometer Observing o It is also responsible for
Lunar Operations (MSolo)
setting the standards for
instrument
manufacturing, import, sales,
o Near Infrared Volatiles and distribution of drugs in
Spectrometer System India.
(NIRVSS)
o It approves licenses of
o Neutron Spectrometer specified categories of drugs,
System (NSS) including blood products,
vaccines, sera, etc.
BIOTECHNOLOGY AND DISEASES
o V G Somani is the current
DCGI approved anti-Covid drug head of the Drugs Controller
developed by DRDO. General of India (DCGI).
 An anti-Covid drug developed by World Health Organization classified

DRDO has been approved by the Indian coronavirus variant as a
Drugs Controller General of India for
“global variant of concern”.
emergency use.
 This drug will reduce the  The World Health Organization has
supplemental Oxygen dependency classified a coronavirus variant found
and help in the faster recovery of in India as a global “variant of
patients. It gets accumulated in the concern”. This variant has been
infected cell of the body and named B.1.617.
prevents the growth of the Virus by  According to World Health
stopping viral synthesis and energy Organization, this variant is already
production. spread to more than 30 countries. It
 The drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) is more transmissible than other
has been developed by the Institute variants.

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 This variant is also called the “double SCTIMST, an Institute of National

mutant variant”. It was first identified Importance under DST, develops new
by the United Kingdom health
multiplex RT-PCR kit.
authorities.
 The B.1.617 variant is the fourth  Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for
Medical Sciences and Technology
variant of coronavirus classified by
(SCTIMST), an Institute of National
the WHO. It has two mutations
referred to as E484Q and L452R. Importance under Department of
Science and Technology (DST), has
 Viruses create one or more variants developed a new multiplex RT-PCR
by mutating themselves. Viruses kit.
mutate themselves so that they can
cohabitate with humans.  The new kit has been developed with
novel gene targets to facilitate
 Scientists across the world are still detection across various mutant
studying the Vaccine effectiveness strains of COVID-19.
against the B.1.617 variant.
 Coronavirus makes far fewer errors
Mucormycosis Fungus complication than other RNA viruses. The
found in COVID-19 Patients. mutations in S, R, and N genes often
interfere with the RT-PCR assay.
 Mucormycosis or black fungus
 The new kit targets two SARS CoV2
complication has been found in
genes: RdRp and ORFb-nsp14. It has
COVID-19 Patients. It is caused by a
the human RNAse P gene as the
fungal infection.
internal control.
 It is caused by micro-organisms
 The ORFb-nsp14 is one of the least
known as mucormycetes. It starts as
mutated genes in Covid19. As of now,
a skin infection, and then it spreads
no other kit in the market targets
to the eyes, lungs, and brain.
ORFb-nsp14.
 Discoloration over the nose, Vision
 The new kit uses multiplex Taqman
loss, Chest Pain, breathing
chemistry. It simultaneously
difficulties, and coughing of blood are
amplifies all three genes in a single
some of the symptoms of this
reaction.
disease.
 The amplification time for the assay
 It mainly affects those patients
is 45 minutes. This excludes the time
whose immune system is not
required for the RNA isolation from
functioning properly.
nasopharyngeal swab samples.
 The micro-organisms mucormycetes
 On 14th May 2021, SCTIMST has
is generally found in soil and
signed a non-exclusive license MoU
decaying organic matter like leaves,
with Huwel Lifesciences, Hyderabad,
and compost.
to commercialize the kit.
 RT-PCR: The full form of RT-PCR is
Reverse Transcription Polymerase

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Chain Reaction. It is a technique in Many states declared ‘Black fungus’

which RNA is converted to DNA as an epidemic.
through reverse transcription and
DNA targets are amplified by using  Many states have declared ‘Black
Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). fungus’ or mucormycosis as an
epidemic. The first case of
ICMR gives approval to CoviSelf kit mucormycosis was observed in the
for home testing. COVID patients of Maharashtra.
 Indian Council of Medical Research  Uncontrolled diabetes, weak immune
(ICMR) has given approval to the system, and prolonged hospital stay
CoviSelf kit for home testing of increases the risk of mucormycosis in
symptomatic patients. COVID patients.
 ICMR has issued an advisory for  It is caused by micro-organisms
COVID-19 home testing. In the known as mucormycetes. It is mostly
advisory, ICMR said that users would found in soil and decaying organic
be required to download My lab app matter.
on their mobile phones.
 It starts as a skin infection, and then
 My lab app provides a it spreads to the eyes, lungs, and
comprehensive guide to the testing brain.
procedure. It will provide positive or
negative test results to the patient.  Discoloration over the nose, Vision
loss, Chest Pain, breathing
 ICMR said that only a nasal swab difficulties, and coughing of blood are
would be needed for this Rapid some of the symptoms of this
Antigen Testing. disease.
 All users will be required to click the  It is treated by an antifungal
picture of the test strip after medicine, Amphotericin-B injection.
completing the test procedure.
caused by
 The picture should be clicked with mucormyce
tes
the same mobile phone which has
been used for downloading the
mobile app and user registration.
treated by
known as Black Amphoterici
mucormyco
Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) fungus n-B
sis
injection
•It is the apex body in India for the creation,
coordination and promotion of biomedical
research.
•It is one of the oldest and largest medical research
bodies in the world. observed in
•Headquarters: New Delhi COVID
•It was founded in 1911. patients
•The Director General of the institution is Dr. Balram
Bhargava.

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Four cases of white fungus infection  National Environmental Engineering

detected in Patna. Research Institute (NEERI) is a
Nagpur-based laboratory of CSIR.
 Four new cases of white fungus
 The Saline Gargle RT-PCR test is an
infection have been detected in
instant and patient-friendly method.
Patna, Bihar.
The sample is collected in a tube
 White fungus infection is more filled with saline solution.
dangerous than black fungus
infection. NEW DEVELOPMENTS
Scientists discover lightest known
 White fungus infection can be caused
due to low immunity. COVID-like
type of Uranium.
symptoms are found in the patients  Scientists have discovered the
of white fungus. lightest known type of Uranium,
Uranium-214.
 White fungus can affect not only
lungs but also other parts of body.  The discovery of the lightest known
COVID-19 patients are more affected Uranium could help us know more
by white fungus. about alpha particles that are
 People who are taking steroids for released from the decay of certain
long period must take special care radioactive elements.
they are more at risk of white fungus  Uranium-214 is an isotope of
infection. Uranium. It is much lighter than more
 White fungus is also known as common uranium isotopes, including
candidiasis and is caused by candida Uranium-235. Uranium-235 is used in
nuclear reactors.
group of organisms. Low oxygen
levels, chest pain and cough are the  The new Uranium isotope has been
symptoms of the white fungus. created at Heavy Ion Research
Facility in Lanzhou, China, by shining
NEERI developed a fast method for
a beam of Argon at Tungsten.
performing RT-PCR coronavirus test.
 The half-life of Uranium-214 isotope
 The National Environmental is just half a millisecond. U-238 has a
Engineering Research Institute half-life of about 4.5 billion years.
(NEERI) has developed a fast method
for swab collection and processing  Isotopes are atoms of the same
for RT-PCR coronavirus test. element. They have the same atomic
number but different mass numbers.
 It is a cost-effective method with Protium, deuterium and tritium are
minimal infrastructure requirements. three isotopes of Hydrogen.
It will help in ramping the RT-PCR
coronavirus test in rural and urban BlockTrack, Blockchain-based
areas. healthcare information system,
developed by IIT Madras.

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 BlockTrack, a Blockchain-based  The tool will help in reducing the

healthcare information system, has burden on radiologists and CT scan
been developed by IIT Madras. machines.
 BlockTrack is a blockchain-based IIT Ropar developed portable eco-
secure medical data and information friendly mobile cremation system.
exchange system for a mobile phone
application.  IIT Ropar has developed a portable
eco-friendly electric cremation
 BlockTrack is currently field tested at
system.
IIT Madras’s Hospital. BlockTrack
project is supported by Infosys  It is one of its kind of technology that
through Corporate Social produces no smoke despite using
Responsibility (CSR). wood for cremation. It is based on
wick-stove technology.
 BlockTrack aims to securely digitize
healthcare information systems. It  The cart-shaped mobile cremation
also aims to protect sensitive system has stainless steel insulation
personal information and medical on both sides of the cart for reducing
records by decentralizing ownership heat loss and wood consumption.
of patient data through a blockchain-
based innovation.  It takes less time to dispose of the
body entirely as compared to normal
AI algorithm has been developed by wood-based cremation.
DRDO to detect Covid-19 infection.  It uses half wood than normal wood-
 Defense Research and Development based cremation, so it is an eco-
friendly technology.
Organization (DRDO) has developed
an Artificial Intelligence algorithm for Diving School of Indian Navy’s
the detection of Covid-19 infection
Southern Command designs an
by analyzing chest x-rays.
Oxygen Recycling System (ORS).
 The algorithm tool named ‘ATMAN
AI’ has been developed by DRDO’s  Diving School of Indian Navy’s
Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Southern Command has designed an
Robotics (CAIR) in association with ORS to reduce existing Oxygen
HCG Academics. shortages.
 The Chest X-Rays of patients will be  Lieutenant Commander Mayank

analyzed by the algorithm tool Sharma of the Diving School has
through Deep Learning & designed Oxygen Recycling System
Convolutional Neural Network (ORS).
models. It has an accuracy of 96.73  During the Combined Commanders
percent. Conference at Kevadia on 6 March,
 It has been developed by DRDO as similar idea was demonstrated to PM
part of the effort to develop a tool Modi on a miniaturized lab model.
for the rapid diagnosis of the COVID-
19 patients.

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 ORS is designed to extend the life of

existing medical oxygen cylinders two
to four times.
A professor of IIT Guwahati

developed materials for smart
window.
 Dr. Debabrata Sikdar and Ashish  The bench was headed by Justice
Kumar Chowdhary of IIT Guwahati Ashok Bhushan. It overturned the
have developed material for the Bombay High Court order and gave
smart window. the verdict.
 The smart window will control the  The bench found that there were no
amount of heat and light that passes exceptional circumstances to justify
through it. It will help in developing reservation to Marathas in excess of
efficient automatic climate control 50% ceiling limit as a socially and
systems in buildings. Economically Backward Class.
 The result of their research has been  As per the Constitution of India,
published in the ‘Solar Energy reservation is mainly provided on the
Materials and Solar Cells’ journal. basis of social and educational
 The glass of the smart window can backwardness. However, the 103rd
filter the solar radiation and can Constitutional Amendment in 2019
reflect the long-wave infrared rays. has added the economic
backwardness category.
 The smart window will help in
maintaining the ambient indoor ART AND CULTURE
temperature and it can become an Six Indian places added to tentative
alternative to central air-conditioning list of UNESCO world heritage sites.
systems.
 Culture and Tourism Minister Prahlad
 It has been built by electro-tuneable
Patel announced that Six Indian sites
glass, which is made up of two ultra-
had been added to the tentative list
thin metal layers.
of UNESCO’s world heritage sites.
INDIAN POLITY
 The nomination of these sites was
Five-judge Constitution bench of proposed by the Archaeological
Supreme Court strikes down Survey of India.
reservation to Marathas in  The six sites are as follows:
government jobs and admissions in
Maharashtra. Temples of  Kanchipuram is
Kanchipuram in one of the most
Tamil Nadu ancient cities of
southern India.
 Kanchipuram is
also known as

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the Golden City Historic Ashoka Stupa treated as

of Temples. sacred in Leh.
Ganga ghats in  Varanasi has
Varanasi more than 80  A Historic Stupa of Ashokan times in
ghats. Tiri village of Leh is treated as one of
 Manikarnika a sacred place of the region.
and
 During Ashoka times, Buddhism was
Harishchandra
introduced in the Ladakh region. The
are important
stupa in Tiri village of Leh district was
ghats for
erected by Ashoka.
cremation.
Satpura Tiger  It has the  The stupa is protected by the monks
Reserve in largest tiger of Hemis Monastery, the largest
Madhya population. monastery in India.
Pradesh  It is rich in
 Ladakh is famous for its unique Art,
biodiversity.
culture, and exotic landscapes.
Megalithic site  Hire Benkal in Natural beauty and Buddhist
of Hire Benkal Karnataka is one Monasteries are the main attractions
of the important of this region.
Megalithic sites
of India.  Stupas are used for keeping the holy
Maratha  There are 12 relics of Buddha. The art of Stupa
Military forts in making reached its zenith during
Architecture in Maharashtra Ashoka.
Maharashtra related to
 Some famous Stupa of India are:
Maratha.
Bhedaghat-  It is located in
Lametaghat in Madhya
Narmada Pradesh.
Valley- Jabalpur  It is also known
as the Grand
Canyon of India.
 As of now, India has 48 sites in the
Sanchi Stupa:
tentative list of UNESCO’s world
heritage sites.  It is located in Madhya Pradesh.
 It was constructed by Ashoka during
 According to operation guidelines, it the 3rd century BCE.
is mandatory to put any  It is one of the oldest stone structures
monument/site on the Tentative List of India.
(TL) before final nomination.

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Confederation, has organized the

event.
 Supreme heads of the Buddhist

Sanghas from all over the world
participated in the event.
 Buddha Purnima celebrations mark

Dhamekh Stupa: the birth of Gautam Buddha. It is
 It is located in Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh. considered a ‘triple-blessed day’ - as
 It is famous for the first sermon of Tathagata Gautam Buddha’s birth,
Lord Buddha. enlightenment, and Maha
 It is one of the holiest sites for Parnirvana.
Buddhists.
Buddha:
o He was born into a noble

family of the Kshatriyas in
Lumbini in 563 BCE.
o His childhood name was

Siddhartha Gautama and he
belonged to Shakya clan.
Bavikonda Stupa:
 It is located near Visakhapatnam. o He attained enlightenment
 It was built during the 3rd century BCE. under a peepal tree in
Bodhgaya.
o His first sermon is called

Dharma Chakra Pravartana.
ECONOMY/BANKING/FINANCE
INDIAN ECONOMY
On-tap liquidity window of Rs 50,000
crore announced by RBI.
Chaukhandi Stupa:
 On-tap liquidity window of Rs 50,000
 It is located at Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh.
crore has been announced by RBI.
 It was built during the Gupta period.
 Lord Buddha had met his first disciples  In his address, RBI Governor said that
at this place. RBI proposes for a Term Liquidity
PM Modi addressed Virtual Vesak Facility of Rs 50,000 crore to ease
access to emergency health services.
Global Celebrations on Buddha
Purnima.  On-tap liquidity window of Rs 50,000
crore with tenure of up to three
 Culture Ministry in collaboration with years at the repo rate has been
the International Buddhist opened till March 31, 2022.

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 RBI Governor said that CPI Inflation  Goldman Sachs has also cut down the
reached up to 5.5% in March 2021 GDP growth rate forecast for the
from 5% a month ago. financial year 2021 to 9.7 percent
from 10.5 percent.
 The Governor said that RBI has also
decided to conduct special three-year  RBI has projected FY22 GDP growth
long-term repo operations (SLTRO) of at 10.5 percent, while World Bank
Rs 10,000 crore at repo rate for the has predicted the growth of 10.1%
small finance banks. This facility will for FY22.
be available till October 31, 2021.
Barclays cuts India’s FY22 GDP
 Banks can provide fresh lending growth forecast to 10%.
support to vaccine manufacturers,
importers, hospitals/dispensaries,  Barclays cuts down India’s GDP
pathology labs, etc. These will be forecast for FY22 from 11% to 10%. It
classified under a separate COVID has cut down India’s GDP growth due
Loan Book. to the ongoing lockdown in India.
 The second wave of the COVID-19
pandemic has impacted the Indian
economy badly.
 As per the estimate, if the lockdown
continues till June, it could lead to
economic losses of USD 38.4 billion.
 According to Barclays, the GDP
Goldman Sachs forecasted 11.1% growth can fall up to 8.8% if the
GDP growth for FY 2022. restriction continues till August.
 Goldman Sachs has lowered India’s  Barclays has forecasted GDP growth
economic growth from 11.7% to of 7.6% for the 2021 financial year.
11.1%. It has taken this decision due Barclays:
to lockdown in many cities and states
of India. o It is a multinational
 The second wave of COVID-19 has investment bank and financial
impacted the Indian Economy very services company.
badly. It has impacted almost every o Its headquarters is located in
sector of the Indian Economy. London.
 The Labour market indicators show
Moody’s cuts India GDP forecast for
that the daily unemployment rate has
increased in April. Most of the FY 2022.
indicators are suggesting that the  Moody’s Investors Service has
impact is less than last year. slashed India’s GDP growth rate
 As per the estimate, economic forecast for FY2022 from 13.7% to
activities will rebound sharply after 9.3%.
the July-September quarter.
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 It has cut India’s FY22 growth rate FDI, it is followed by Construction

forecast due to the negative impact (Infrastructure) Activities (13%) and
of the second wave of coronavirus Services Sector (8%) respectively.
pandemic on the Indian Economy.
 Gujarat received the highest FDI.
 The imposition of lockdown has Maharashtra and Karnataka are on
curbed economic activity across the the second and third positions.
country. As per Moody’s, the impact
 Foreign direct investment (FDI)
of lockdown will not be severe as last
means an investment made by a firm
year’s lockdown.
or individual in one country into a
 Moody’s has assigned its lowest business located in another country.
investment grade with a negative
outlook for India. It has been INFRASTRUCTURE AND ENERGY
estimated that the Indian Economy First supply of Used Cooking Oil
will grow strongly in the second half based Biodiesel from Indian Oil’s
of this year. Tikrikalan Terminal flagged off.
 Earlier, the Barclays, S&P Global  First supply of Used Cooking Oil
Ratings, and Brickwork Ratings have based Biodiesel from Indian Oil’s
also revised India’s GDP forecast for Tikrikalan Terminal, Delhi flagged off
FY2022. by Minister of Petroleum & Natural
 Moody’s Investors Service is a credit- Gas and Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan.
rating agency. S&P, Moody’s  Chairman IndianOil Shri S M Vaidya
Investors Service, and Fitch Ratings was also present on occasion. He said
are known as Big Three credit-rating that IndianOil has started
agencies. constructing eight Biodiesel plants
FDI inflow increased by 10% during across Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and
Madhya Pradesh.
2020-21.
 Government had initiated
 India witnessed a 10% rise in the Expressions of Interest for
foreign direct investment (FDI) “Procurement of Bio-diesel produced
inflows during the 2020-21 financial from Used Cooking Oil” on the
year. India attracted the highest ever occasion of World Biofuel Day on 10th
total FDI inflow of US$ 81.72 billion. August 2019.
 FDI equity inflow has increased by 19  Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs)
percent during FY21 compared to the periodically release such “Expressions
last financial year. of Interest”. Under this initiative,
 In the financial year 2020-21, OMCs offer periodically incremental
Singapore is the highest FDI investor. price guarantees for five years and
It is followed by the USA and extend off-take guarantees for ten
Mauritius. years to prospective entrepreneurs.
 Computer Software & Hardware

sector received the 44% of the total

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AGRICULTURE AND ALLIED SECTORS (UKAPMB) & Just Organik, an

exporter, in partnership with APEDA.
Indian Scientists discovered a high-
yielding and pest-resistant variety of  UKAPMB has procured Organic
soybean. millets for export and it has
supported thousands of farmers for
organic certification.
 The export of organic millets will
increase the income of farmers in
India and would enhance export
opportunities in other European
countries.
 In 2021, India’s export of organic
food products has increased by 51%
than last year.
 It will be suitable for the cultivation  The NPOP certification is necessary
of soybean in the states of Assam, for the export of organic products to
West Bengal, Jharkhand, European countries.
Chhattisgarh, and North-Eastern
states. MCCIA, in association with NABARD,
launched India’s first agro-export
 Scientists of MACS- Agharkar
Research Institute (ARI) in
facilitation center in Pune.
collaboration with the Indian Council  The Mahratta Chamber of
of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture
developed this variety. (MCCIA) collaborated with NABARD
 It is a high-yielding variety, which can to launch India’s first agro-export
give 39 quintals per hectare. It is also facilitation center in Pune.
resistive against pests like girdle  It has been launched to boost
beetle, leaf miner, leaf roller, stem agricultural exports from the region.
fly, etc. It will be available to everyone who
 It takes 104 days to become mature wants to export their products
after sowing. It needs less amount of overseas.
water and fertilizers for growth.  The main objective of this center is to
India begins exports of organic increase India’s share of agricultural
exports in the world.
millets grown in Uttarakhand.
 The experts from current agro-
 India started export of organic millets
exporters and government will help
grown in Uttarakhand. These organic
farmers in exporting their products.
millets will be exported to Denmark.
NABARD:
 This export of organic millets has
been initiated by Uttarakhand
Agriculture Produce Marketing Board

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o It was formed on 12 July  The government has formed the Rice

1982. Export Promotion Forum (REPF) to
promote the export of rice. It works
o It is an apex finance under the aegis of the APEDA.
institution that provides
credit for agriculture and IFFCO to launch Nano Urea in the
other economic activities in market.
rural areas.
 Indian Farmers Fertiliser
o Its headquarters is located in Cooperative (IFFCO) will launch Nano
Mumbai, Maharashtra. Urea in the market.
o Govinda Rajulu Chinthala is
 It will be equivalent to 45kg of
the current Chairman of
normal urea, and it will cost 480
NABARD.
rupees per kg.
Two consignments of ‘village rice’  It will help in increasing the
exported from Tamil Nadu to Ghana productivity of the crop by 18-35%
& Yemen. and reduce the burden of cost for
cultivation.
 A start-up, Udaya Agro Farm, has
exported two consignments of  It is eco-friendly urea and reduces
patented “village rice” from Tamil the consumption of normal Urea.
Nadu. The rice has been exported to  Nano Urea:
Ghana & Yemen via air & sea routes.
o The Urea produced with the
 ‘Village rice’ is enriched in protein, help of Nano-technology is
fiber, and minerals. It has been known as Nano Urea.
exported from Thanjavur district,
Tamil Nadu. o The commercial use of nano-
urea was approved by the
 APEDA assisted the Udaya Agro Farm government in 2020.
in the export of ‘village rice’. APEDA
aims to increase the export of non-
basmati rice from India.
 During 2020-2021, exports of non-
Basmati have increased by 146%.
Non-basmati rice is exported to
African and Asian countries from
different part of India.
 In March, the ‘red rice’ was also
exported from Assam to the USA.
 APEDA is working with farmers,
CORPORATES/COMPANIES
entrepreneurs, exporters, and
importers to tap India’s non-basmati
rice export potential.

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Google Cloud partnered with SpaceX non-systemically important Non-

for providing satellite internet Banking Financial Company (NBFC).
service.  GPL is classified as an investment
company. It is part of White Oak
 Google Cloud and SpaceX signed a Group, an investment management
deal for providing internet service and investment advisory group
through Starlink satellite. founded by Mr. Prashant Khemka.
 Google will provide the Cloud  YES AMC and YES Trustee belong to
infrastructure for this connectivity YES Bank Limited group. YES AMC
Project, while Space X will install acts as an asset management
ground terminals in Google’s cloud company / investment manager to
data centers for connecting Starlink YES Mutual Fund.
satellites.
BANKING/FINANCE
 It will help in providing fast internet
service to the rural areas. This service CCEA approves strategic
will be available to customers before disinvestment & transfer of
the end of 2021. management control of IDBI Bank.
 The first Starlink terminal will be  The Cabinet Committee on Economic
established in a Google data center in Affairs (CCEA) approved strategic
Ohio, United States. disinvestment & transfer of
management control of IDBI Bank.
 Earlier, Microsoft has also signed a
similar agreement with SpaceX to  The Central government and LIC
connect its Azure cloud to Starlink. together hold more than 94 percent
of the equity in IDBI Bank. The
CCI gives approval to acquisition of government holds 45.48 percent
YES AMC and YES Trustee by GPL stake while LIC holds 49.24 percent
Finance and Investments Limited stake in IDBI.
(GPL).
 Recently, LIC’s Board has passed a
 Competition Commission of India resolution to reduce its shareholding
(CCI) has approved the acquisition of from the IDBI Bank. LIC will
YES Asset Management (India) disinvestment its stake from IDBI
Limited (YES AMC) and YES Trustee Bank and transfer the management
Limited (YES Trustee) by GPL. control.
 GPL Finance and Investments Limited  The disinvestment will bring new
(GPL) will acquire 100% equity shares technology and best practices to IDBI
of YES AMC and YES Trustee. bank. It will help in the growth of IDBI
bank.
 GPL will acquire Yes Mutual Fund and
become its sole sponsor. It is  The money from strategic
registered with the Reserve Bank of disinvestment will be used for the
India as a non-deposit taking and finance developmental programmes
of the Government.

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IDBI Bank:  Atmospheric instability

 High humidity in low
o It was set up in 1964.
to medium levels of
o It is headquartered in the troposphere
Mumbai.
 Sufficient Coriolis
o Its CEO is Rakesh Sharma. force to maintain a
low pressure center,
GEOGRAPHY etc
NDRF deploys 24 teams in five
National Disaster Response Force
different states for handling Cyclone
(NDRF):
Tauktae.
o It was established in the year
 National Disaster Response Force
2006 under the Disaster
(NDRF) deploys 24 teams in five
Management Act, 2005.
different states as Cyclone ‘Tauktae’
may hit Karnataka and Kerala coasts o It works under the Ministry of
by 16 May. Home Affairs.
 It can affect Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil o SN Pradhan is the current
Nadu, Gujarat, and Maharashtra. Director-General of NDRF.
Director-General of NDRF, SN
Pradhan, said that 29 teams are on Mount Nyiragongo, a volcano,
standby. erupted in eastern region of
 As per the forecast issued by India
Democratic Republic of Congo.
Meteorological Department, low-  Mount Nyiragongo, a volcano,
pressure areas may form over the erupted in the eastern region of
South-East Arabian Sea. Democratic Republic of Congo on 22
 Low pressure area may intensify into May.
a cyclonic storm called ‘Tauktae’ over  Lava from volcanic eruption stopped
the East-Central Arabian Sea by May a few hundred meters before the city
16 to 21. of Goma. The volcano last erupted in
2002.
Cyclone:
 Mount Nyiragongo is an active
o A cyclone is a low-pressure stratovolcano in Virunga Mountains.
system with very high winds It is located in the Democratic
swirling around it. Republic of Congo.
o Conditions favourable for the  Stratovolcano is also called a
formation of tropical cyclones composite volcano. It is a conical
are — volcano formed by many layers
(strata) of hardened lava and tephra.
 Sufficiently warm sea
Unlike shield volcanoes,
surface

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stratovolcanoes are characterized by  A tiny size snake has been found in

steep profile. the Western Ghats. It has been
named after Indian herpetologist
 Active volcanoes are volcanoes that
Deepak Veerappan.
are releasing gases, ashes and lava or
have erupted in the recent past.  Named Xylophis deepaki is just 20 cm
in length.
 Deepak Veerappan is known for
finding a new subfamily of
Xylophiinae and for accommodating
wooden snakes.
 Wood snakes are found in farms
beneath the logs in Western Ghat
forests. They eat earthworms and
other invertebrates.
 Captain’s wood snake is found in the
Cyclone Yaas hit the coasts of Odisha Western Ghats forest in Kerala.
and West Bengal on 26 May.  This discovery has increased the
number of wooden snake species to
 As per India Meteorological five.
Department (IMD), a low pressure
area has formed over east-central New targets of developed countries
Bay of Bengal and the adjoining north will reduce the mean global heating
Andaman Sea on 22 May. by 0.2 degree Celsius.
 This low pressure area is likely to
 The new targets of the US and other
cross West Bengal and adjoining
countries have reduced the projected
north Odisha coasts around evening
mean global heating by the end of
of 26 May. North Coastal Odisha is
the century by 0.2 °C.
likely to witness light to moderate
rainfall.  According to the Climate Action
Tracker group, the world is on track
 Last week, cyclone Taukte hit the
to achieving 2.4 °C global average
Gujarat coast. April-May and the
temperature by the end of the
October-December duration witness
century.
cyclones.
 The new forecast is still higher than
 Last May, Amphan and Nisarga hit
the Paris climate agreement target
Indian coasts. Super cyclonic storm
of limiting the global average
Amphan was formed in Bay of Bengal
temperature to below 2°C by the end
and severe cyclonic storm Nisarga
of this century.
was formed in Arabian Sea.
 China is the world’s largest
ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
Greenhouse gas emitter and it is
A snake has been named after followed by the USA. India, EU,
Herpetologist Deepak Veerappan. Russia, and Japan are the major
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emitter of Greenhouse gases in the criteria by ignoring the

world. environmental aspect.
 Many countries like South Africa,  The committee also asked for
United Kingdom, and Argentina have information about the corporate
set a new target to cut their environment policy of the
emission. implementing agency.
 According to the Climate Action  Great Nicobar Island project includes
Tracker group, the policies of many setting up an international container
countries are lagging well behind trans-shipment terminal, a Greenfield
their targets. It is found that if the international airport, a power plant,
current policies continue, then the and a township complex.
world could warm by 2.9°C by the
end of the century. A new species of skink found in
Western Ghats.
 The Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change has said that the  A new species of skink has been
emission should be halved in the next found in the Western Ghats. It has
decade to avoid temperature rises been named Subdoluseps nilgiriensis.
above 1.5°C.
 Its colour is sandy brown and its
Environment Appraisal Committee length is 7cm. It has been found in
has approved EIA studies for Great the dry deciduous area of the
Western Ghats.
Nicobar Island project.
 It is the third species of the skink
 The Environment Appraisal
discovered in India.
Committee has approved the “Terms
of Reference for Environmental  Subdoluseps nilgiriensis is considered
Impact Assessment” studies of the a vulnerable species. Forest fires,
ambitious Great Nicobar Island housing constructions, and brick kiln
project. industries are the main threats of this
Species.
 Earlier, Environment Appraisal
Committee had raised concern about  The Western Ghats are also known as
the ambitious project for Great the Sahyadri Hills. It extends from the
Nicobar Island. Satpura Range in the north to
 Seismic and Tsunami Hazards, impact Kanyakumari in the south. It is one of
the biodiversity hotspots of India. Its
on Giant Leatherback turtle, and
highest peak is Anamudi.
cutting of trees were the main
concerns of the Environment
Skinks:
Appraisal Committee.
 The committee has also raised o It is part of the lizard family.
concern over the site selection o They are non-venomous.
criteria. The site has been selected
based on technical and financial

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o They are generally  Supreme Court has approved the

carnivorous and, in particular introduction of African Cheetahs to
insectivorous. suitable habitat in India on an
experimental basis.
 MP Forest Minister said that the
World's largest iceberg breaks off in process of creating an enclosure for
Antarctica. around 10 cheetahs to be brought
from South Africa to Kuno in Sheopur
 An iceberg of around 170 kilometers district of MP would be completed by
(105 miles) long and 25 kilometers August.
(15 miles) wide broke off from the
 Kuno is located in Chambal region. In
coast of Antarctica.
addition to Kuno National Park in
 The iceberg, A-76, broke off from the MP’s Sheopur district, the WII team
western side of the Ronne Ice Shelf. had visited other places listed below.
Now, it is floating in the Weddell Sea. o Nauradehi sanctuary in Sagar
 Currently, it is the largest iceberg in district
the world. Its total area is more than o Gandhi Sagar sanctuary on
70 times that of New York. the northern boundary of
 Average sea levels has raised about Mandsaur Neemuch districts
nine inches since 1880 due to global o Madhav National Park in
warming. The melting of ice from Shivpuri district
Greenland and Antarctica has
contributed to the rise of sea levels.  National Tiger Conservation
Authority will release money for
Antarctica: Project Cheetah. Supreme Court last
year formed three- member
o It is the southernmost committee to guide the NTCA on the
continent of the Earth. cheetah re-introduction project.
o It is the coldest and driest
Cheetah:
place on Earth.
o It is the fifth-largest continent o Cheetah is considered
in the world. vulnerable under the IUCN
Red list.
Cheetahs to be re-introduced in India
o Its scientific name is Acinonyx
in November. jubatus. It is the world’s
fastest land animal.
 They will be brought from South
Africa to Kuno National Park in o It is native to Africa and
Madhya Pradesh. central Iran.
 Cheetahs were declared extinct in Earth temperature can rise more than
India in 1952.
1.5 degree Celsius in next five years.

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 According to the World  TRIFED and The LINK Fund have

Meteorological Organization, Earth’s collaborated to work towards tribal
temperature can rise more than 1.5 development.
degrees Celsius from the pre-
 They exchanged MoU for a project
industrial level in the next five years.
titled “Sustainable Livelihoods for
 The temperature rise will be
Tribal Households in India”.
temporary.
 In the Paris Climate Agreement,  Sustainable Livelihoods for Tribal
countries have committed to limit Households in India is a collaborative
global warming to well below 2 project between TRIFED and The LINK
degrees Celsius, preferably to 1.5 Fund.
degrees Celsius, compared to pre-
industrial levels. It was signed in  TRIFED and The Link Fund signed a
2015. Memorandum of Understanding
 In the last decade, 2016 and 2020 (MoU) on 29 April 2021.
were the warmest year with  The LINK Fund is a philanthropic
temperatures 1.2°C above pre- operational foundation. It is
industrial times. headquartered in Geneva,
 The rise in the average temperature Switzerland. It works to end extreme
of Earth can increase the sea levels, poverty and mitigate the effects of
melting of ice, and extreme weather climate change.
events.
 WMO has predicted that at least one Tribal Cooperative Marketing
year between 2021 and 2025 is likely Development Federation of India
to be the warmest year. The next five (TRIFED):
years will bring more tropical
cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean. o It is a national level
 In the next five years, the Sahel organization that was
region of central Africa will receive established in 1987.
more rainfall while North America is o TRIFED works under the
likely to be drier. Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
World Meteorological Organization: o Its head office is located in
New Delhi. Also, 13 regional
o It is an intergovernmental offices are located at various
organization with a places in the country.
membership of 193 countries.
o The organization is Indian Bank and BSNL sign an MoU.
headquartered in Geneva,
 Indian Bank and BSNL have signed a
Switzerland.
Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU).
MOUS/AGREEMENTS
TRIFED and The LINK Fund  Under the MoU, BSNL will provide
collaborated to work towards tribal telecom services to Indian Bank at
competitive rates.
development.

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 Indian Bank is already using the  The MoU will be implemented

services of BSNL and its subsidiary through the Joint Working Group
MTNL for its Wide Area Network. mechanism.
 Indian Bank was founded in 1907. Its Oil and Gas PSUs signed MoU for the
headquarters are in Chennai. Ms. Redevelopment of Shri Badrinath
Padmaja Chunduru is its MD & CEO.
Dham.
From 1 April 2020, Allahabad Bank
was merged with Indian Bank.  IndianOil, BPCL, HPCL, ONGC and
GAIL, and Shri BadrinathUtthan
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
Charitable Trust have signed the MoU
(BSNL):
for the Construction and
Redevelopment of Shri Badrinath
o It was founded in 2000. It is a
Dham as a Spiritual Smart hill Town.
Public Sector Undertaking
wholly owned by Government  According to MoU, Oil & Gas PSUs
of India. will provide financial assistance of
o Pravin Kumar Purwar is its 99.60 crores for the development
chairman & MD. It is activities of the town. The
headquartered in New Delhi. redevelopment work will be
completed in three years.
o It provides telecom services
all over India except Delhi and  Government has a vision of
Mumbai. developing the Badrinath shrine as a
mini smart and spiritual city. Tourism
Union Cabinet approves MoU on plays a vital role in the development
Migration and Mobility Partnership. of Badrinath.
 The Union Cabinet has approved an  Badrinath is one of the most sacred
MoU between India and the United places for Hindus in India. It was re-
Kingdom and Northern Ireland on established as a major pilgrimage site
Migration and Mobility Partnership. by Adi Shankara in the 8th century.
 The main objective of this MoU is to  Badrinath, Kedarnath, Yamunotri,

ease the process of visas for and Gangotri are part of Char Dham
promoting the mobility of students, in Uttarakhand.
researchers, and skilled Cabinet approves Memorandum of
professionals.
Understanding between Institute of
 It will also help in solving the Chartered Accountants of India and
irregular migration and human Qatar Financial Centre Authority.
trafficking issues.
 The Union Cabinet approved a
 It will support the innovation Memorandum of Understanding
ecosystem in both countries and (MoU) between the Institute of
would benefit Indian students, Chartered Accountants of India
academics, and researchers. (ICAI) and the Qatar Financial Centre
Authority (QFCA).

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 The MoU has been signed to enhance certificates from the Microsoft
cooperation between Institutes. It Education Centre.
will also increase opportunities for
 Under the partnership, students from
members of ICAI to provide
schools under the ministry will be
professional services.
advised on projects that include AI
 ICAI and QFCA will organize applications for social welfare and
roundtables and networking events the Sustainable Development Goals
to explore opportunities for Indian (SDGs) of the United Nations.
businesses in Qatar.
 This initiative will enable educators
 ICAI and QFCA will also collaborate in to use technology in classrooms.
the fields of corporate governance,
 Microsoft is an American
technical research, and advice,
multinational technology company. It
quality assurance, etc.
is headquartered in Redmond,
Institute of Chartered Accountants Washington, United States. Its CEO is
of India (ICAI): Satya Nadella.
o It was established as a
statutory body by the
Chartered Accountants Act,
1949.
o It regulates the Chartered
Accountancy profession in
India.
MoU for digital transformation of

Tribal Schools signed by Tribal Affairs Shilpa Medicare arm signs agreement
Ministry and Microsoft. with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories.
 Tribal Affairs Ministry and Microsoft  Shilpa Medicare arm, Shilpa

have signed an MoU for digital Biologicals Pvt Ltd (SBPL), has signed
transformation of Tribal Schools such an agreement with Dr Reddy’s
as Eklavya Model Residential Schools Laboratories for manufacturing of
and Ashram Schools. Russian Covid-19 vaccine, Sputnik V.
 Under the program, Microsoft has  Shilpa Medicare has entered an

adopted 250 Eklavya Model agreement for the production supply
Residential School (EMRS). Out of of Sputnik V vaccine from its
250 EMRS, 50 EMRS Schools will be integrated biologics R&D cum
given intensive training and 500 manufacturing center at Dharwad,
Master trainers will be trained in the Karnataka.
first phase.
 As per the company (Shilpa
 The program will also offer Medicare), targeted production of
opportunities for teachers to earn dual vector Sputnik V for one year is
professional e-badges and e- 50 million doses.

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 Shilpa Medicare is also exploring  It is the oldest independent state in

options to manufacture Sputnik Light. the Arab world.
Sputnik Light is a single dose version  It shares a border with the United
of Sputnik V. Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Yemen,
Iran, and Pakistan.
 First consignment of imported doses
 Haitham bin Tariq Al Said is the
of Sputnik V vaccine reached India on
sultan of Oman.
1 May. It is the first foreign made
vaccine to be used in India. NHA signed an MoU with Telangana
Govt for implementing Ayushman
India and Oman renew MoUs on Bharat PM Jan Arogya Yojana.
military cooperation and maritime
issues.
 The National Health Authority (NHA)

and Telangana government have
signed an MoU for the
implementation of Ayushman Bharat
Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana
(AB PM-JAY).
 Ayushman Bharat scheme has been
 The Memorandum of Understandings integrated with the ‘Aarogyasri’
(MoUs) on military cooperation and scheme of the Telangana. This
maritime issues have been renewed merged scheme is being called
between India and Oman. Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY Aarogyasri.
 The MoUs were signed between the  Telangana is the 33rd States and
Secretary-General of the Ministry of Union Territories to join the
Defense of Oman and Ambassador of Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY scheme.
India to Oman.
 The National Health Authority and
 The military cooperation MoU was the State Health Agency will
signed at Muscat and MoU on implement this scheme in the state.
cooperation on maritime issues was
Ayushman Bharat- Pradhan Mantri
signed at the Maritime Security
Jan Arogya Yojana:
Centre.
Oman o It was launched in 2018 in

 It is a West Asian country located Ranchi, Jharkhand, by Prime
on the southeast side of the Minister Narendra Modi.
Arabian Peninsula. o It will provide free healthcare
 The capital of Oman is Muscat and coverage of up to Rs 5 lakh
its currency is Omani Rial. per family per year.

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o The implementation cost of o It was established by the Cost

the scheme will be shared and Works Accountants Act,
between the centre and state 1959.
government.
Institute of Company Secretaries of
o The beneficiary households India (ICSI):
are identified based on the
Socio-Economic Caste Census o It is a statutory body.
of 2011.
o It was established by the
Company Secretaries Act,
1980.
Cabinet approves MoUs between
ICoAI, ICSI with Foreign Countries SUMMITS/ CONFERENCES/ MEETINGS

Union Agriculture Minister
Memorandum of Understandings inaugurated National Conference on
(MoUs) between the Institute of Cost Agriculture for Kharif Campaign-2021.
Accountants of India and the Institute
 Recently, Union Minister of
of Company Secretaries of India with
Agriculture Narendra Singh Tomar
Foreign Countries.
inaugurated ‘The National
 Both institutes have signed MoUs Conference on Agriculture for Kharif
with many foreign organizations Campaign-2021.’
including the Institute of Public
 It has been organized to discuss the
Accountants (IPA), Australia,
challenges and strategies for crop
Chartered Institute for Securities and
management during the Kharif
Investment, UK (CISI), Chartered
season.
Institute of Public Finance and
Accountancy (CIPFA), UK, etc.  Many issues like availability of seeds,
pesticides, fertilizers, machinery at
 The main objective of the
the block level, and preparedness for
memorandum is to exchange
drought, crop diversification, and
knowledge, experience, and technical
increasing farmer’s Income were
cooperation.
discussed.
 The MoU will help in achieving the
 India has produced 303.34 million
goal of public accountability and
tonnes of food grains in 2020-21,
innovation among member countries.
which is 1.96% higher than previous
Institute of Cost Accountants of years.
India (ICoAl):  The share of agriculture in GDP has
increased from 17.8% to 19.9% in
o It is a statutory body for the
2020-21.
regulation of the profession of
Cost Accountancy.  The government has set a target of
307 million tonnes of food
production for the year 2021-22.

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 The government will promote the o Its capital is London and the
production of oilseeds and pulses to currency is Pound sterling.
overcome the shortage in the
country. o Boris Johnson is the current
Prime minister of the United
 The government will also identify the Kingdom.
places for organic farming and will
help in providing market to Organic Narendra Modi participated in the
products. European Council’s meet
India and United Kingdom hold a  On 08 May, Narendra Modi
virtual Summit. participated in the meeting of the
European Council. He has been
 Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited as a special guest to this
participated in a virtual summit with meeting.
his British counterpart Boris Johnson.
 The India-EU Leaders’ Meeting has
 During this summit, both leaders been hosted by the Prime Minister of
launched ‘Comprehensive Roadmap Portugal, António Costa.
2030’ for strengthening bilateral
relations.  All EU members’ countries
participated in this meeting. It is only
 Comprehensive Roadmap 2030 will the second time that the EU has
help in enhancing the cooperation in invited any guest to their meeting.
the field of people-to-people
relationships, trade and prosperity,  The participating countries discussed
defense and security, climate action, various issues including COVID-19
and healthcare. pandemic and healthcare
cooperation, fostering sustainable
 Both leaders also discussed many and inclusive growth, strengthening
issues, including cooperation on the India-EU economic partnership
Covid-19 and the global efforts to and regional, and global issues of
fight the pandemic. mutual interest.
 India and the United Kingdom are  It will help in strengthening the
Strategic partners since 2004. cooperation between India and
 Recently, UK National Health Service European Union. It is a significant
has established a clinical advisory step in the India-EU relationship after
group to support India’s Covid-19 the 15th India-EU Summit.
response.
European Union:
United Kingdom:
o It is a political and economic
o It is a group of England, union of 27 member states
Scotland, Wales, and which are mainly located in
Northern Ireland nations. Europe.
o It is located in northwestern o It was founded on 1

Europe. November 1993.

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o It is headquartered in organized a seminar on “social

Brussels, Belgium. infrastructure financing and use of
digital technologies”
India participated in the 3rd Arctic
Science Ministerial meeting.  It was organized on 13 May 2021
under the Indian BRICS Chairmanship
 India participated in the 3rd Arctic as part of the Economic and Financial
Science Ministerial- the global Cooperation Agenda.
platform for discussing research and
cooperation in the Arctic region.  Participants from both the public and
private sectors participated in this
 The first two meetings of the Arctic webinar. Many key issues like
Science Ministerial were held in the surrounding social infrastructure
USA and Germany. The 3rd Arctic financing and the use of Digital
Science Ministerial was jointly hosted Technologies in the 21st century will
by Iceland and Japan between 8-9 be discussed.
May 2021.
 It discussed issues like steps for
 The theme for this year’s meeting is tackling the challenges related to
‘Knowledge for a Sustainable Arctic’. social infrastructure financing, the
 Union Minister of Health and Family importance of investing in social
Welfare participated in this meeting infrastructure to promote sustainable
from the Indian side. He shared development, etc.
India’s vision and long-term plans for New Development Bank:
research, work, and cooperation in
the Arctic region. India will also o It was established as BRICS
contribute to the observing systems Development Bank in July
in the Arctic. 2014.
 The meeting has been organized to o It is headquartered in
enhance the understanding of the Shanghai, China.
Arctic region.
o Its President is Marcos Prado
Arctic Council: Troyjo.
o It is an intergovernmental 4th India-Swiss Financial Dialogue

forum to promote organized virtually in New Delhi.
cooperation, coordination,
and interaction towards  4th India-Swiss Financial Dialogue
sustainable development and was organized virtually in New Delhi
environmental protection in on 11 May.
the Arctic.
 Secretary Economic Affairs Ajay Seth
o India is an ‘Observer’ in the led the Indian delegation.
Arctic Council since 2013.
 During the dialogue, both countries
Department of Economic Affairs and shared experiences on investments,
International Financial Services
New Development Bank (NDB)
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Centre Authority, National water supply to all rural

Investment and Infrastructure Fund households by 2024.
and cross-border financial services.
o “Building Partnership and
 They also discussed matters related Changing Lives” is the motto
to G20, IMF and tax challenges of the Jal Jeevan Mission.
arising from the digitalization of the
o Ministry of Jal Shakti is the
economy.
nodal agency for this mission.
Switzerland:
1st BRICS Employment Working Group
o It is a landlocked country. Italy (EWG) Meeting chaired by Apurva
is located on its southern Chandra, Secretary, Labour and
border. France is located to Employment.
west of Switzerland.
 The meeting was held on 11-12 May
o Germany is located to its
2021 in Sushma Swaraj Bhawan, New
north. Austria and
Delhi, in virtual format. India has
Liechtenstein are located to
taken over BRICS Presidency this
the east.
year.
o No city in Switzerland has the
 In addition to the representatives of
official status of capital. Bern
member nations i.e. Brazil, Russia,
is referred to as its capital.
India, China and South Africa, the
Ministry of Jal Shakti organized representatives of International
Labour Organization (ILO) and
Webinar with the Sector Partners
International Social Security Agency
selected for National Jal Jeevan (ISSA) also participated in meeting.
Mission (NJJM).
 Four major issues were discussed
 Department of Drinking Water & during the meeting. They are given
Sanitation (DDWS) under the below.
Ministry of Jal Shakti has organized a
o Promoting Social Security
webinar with the Sector Partners
Agreements amongst BRICS
selected for National Jal Jeevan
Nations
Mission (NJJM).
o Formalization of labour
 The government has selected about
markets
175 organizations as Sector Partners
for the implementation of the o Participation of women in
National Jal Jeevan Mission (NJJM). labour force
Jal Jeevan Mission: o Gig and platform workers –

Role in labour market
o It was announced by Prime
Minister on 15th August 2019. Union Health Minister chairs 33rd
Conference of Health Ministers of
o The main objective of the
Commonwealth Countries.
mission is to provide piped

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 Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh  Ayush Ministry will organize

Vardhan chaired the opening session series of five webinars under the
of the Conference of Health Ministers theme of “Be with Yoga, Be at
of Commonwealth Countries. Home”. These webinars will be
organized as part of the
 The theme of 33rd Conference of
celebration of International Yoga
Health Ministers of Commonwealth Day 2021.
Countries is “Commonwealth
Response to COVID-19: Ensuring  Ayush Ministry will organize a
Equitable Access to Vaccines and series of five webinars in
Building Resilience for Health collaboration with five renowned
Systems and Emergencies”. organizations of the country.
 COVAX, a global collaboration to  The first among the webinars
provide the vaccine, aims to provide series has been organized by the
vaccines to at least 2 billion people Art of Living on 24 May under the
by 2021. theme of “Finding inner strength
amidst outer crisis.”
 India believes that it will not be
enough for providing vaccines to Low  The main aim of these webinars is
and Middle-Income countries. There to develop an understanding on
is a need for more multilateral & the current issues.
bilateral platforms for providing
 International Day of Yoga is
vaccines to the vulnerable population
of the world. celebrated every year on 21st
June to raise awareness about
 Union Health Minister also commits the benefits of Yoga.
that India will help other countries in
developing cold chain infrastructure,
skilled manpower, and robust IT
infrastructure for the Vaccine
distribution.
Commonwealth Nations:
o It is a political organization of
54 countries.
o Most of the countries in this
were colonies of the British
Empire.
o It was established in 1931.
o It is headquartered in London.
Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson &
Johnson pledge to donate 1.3 billion
Ayush Ministry will organize series doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
of five webinars under "Be with
 At Global Health Summit in Rome,
Yoga, Be at Home" theme. Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson &

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Johnson have pledged to donate 1.3  The main agenda of the 74th World
billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines on Health Assembly is to discuss the fair
a non-profit basis to low and middle and equitable distribution of COVID-
income countries. 19 vaccines through the COVAX
Facility.
 The pharmaceutical companies,
Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson &  WHO Executive Board recommended
Johnson will provide vaccines to that the 74th World Health Assembly
middle income countries at low cost should adopt a resolution for the
and to low income countries at implementation of a road map for
production cost. the prevention and control of non-
communicable diseases.
 100 million doses will be donated by
European Union to low and middle  It also requested member countries
income countries. to adopt diabetes as a public health
problem and to draft a strategy for
 European Commission President
tackling the oral disease.
Ursula Von der Leyen co-hosted the
Global Health summit with Italian  It endorsed a comprehensive Mental
Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Global Health Action Plan for the period of
Health Summit ended with signing of 2013 to 2030. Director-General of the
Rome declaration. World Health Organisation Dr. Tedros
has also addressed the World Health
 The participants of Global Health
Assembly.
Summit committed to make tangible
progress towards the principles of  The World Health Organization
the Rome Declaration by the G20 (WHO) is governed by the World
Summit in Rome in October 2021. Health Assembly (WHA).
 Global Health Summit 2021 was held
on 21 May in Rome. It has been 74th World
organized by Italy in partnership with Health Assembly
the European Commission.
Union Health Minister chaired 74th

Dr Harsh Vardhan chaired the
World Health Assembly. 74th World Health Assembly
Recommended to create a
road map for non-
communicable disease
Main agenda:
Fair and equitable distribution
of COVID-19 vaccines

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Second meeting of BRICS Sherpas and REPORTS AND INDICES/RANKINGS

Sous Sherpas concluded. UN Department of Economic and
 The second meeting of BRICS Sherpas
Social Affairs released Global Forest
and Sous Sherpas concluded on 28 Goals Report 2021.
May 2021.  The UN Department of Economic and
 It was chaired by Secretary Sanjay Social Affairs (UN DESA) has released
Bhattacharyya and Additional the Global Forest Goals Report 2021.
Secretary, P. Harish, as India’s BRICS  It has been released during the
Sherpa and Sous Sherpa, meetings of the UN Forum on
respectively. Forests. It is the first evaluation of
 The meeting was organized for the the implementation of the United
preparation of the upcoming BRICS Nations Strategic Plan for Forests
Foreign Ministers meet on 1st June. 2030.
 It has been organized under the  According to this report, many

chairmanship of India from 25th to countries of Asia, Europe, and
28th May. Oceania are on the track of
increasing the forest area by three
 India will host the 13th BRICS summit percent till 2030.
in 2021.
 However, many factors, including
BRICS land degradation, pests, invasive
species, fires, storms, and droughts,
have degraded the forest of the
world.
 As per the report, people have
moved towards the forest for their
subsistence needs during the COVID-
19 pandemic. It can lead to more
 BRICS is an association of the five deforestation of the forest.
major emerging economies - Brazil,
Russia, India, China, and South  The COVID-19 pandemic has
Africa. increased the challenge for countries
 The acronym BRIC was coined by in managing forests. Pandemic has
Goldman Sachs in 2001. reduced income of the forest-
 South Africa joined the group in dependent populations and
2010. diminished the market access of their
 It accounts for 42% of the products.
population, 23% of GDP, 30% of
CCAC and UNEP release Global
the territory, and 18% of the global
trade. Methane Assessment.
 New Development Bank was  Climate and Clean Air Coalition
formed during the 2014 BRICS (CCAC) and the United Nations
Summit. Environment Programme (UNEP)

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have released Global Methane  New Delhi and Mumbai have moved
Assessment. one spot down as compared to Q4
2020 ranking.
 It shows that human caused methane
emissions can be lowered by up to  Bengaluru has ranked 40th in the
45% this decade. This would avoid Prime Global Cities Index Q1 2021.
nearly 0.3 °C of global warming by
2045.  Shenzhen is on the top position in the
Prime Global Cities Index Q1 2021.
 45% reduction of emissions of
methane would prevent premature  Delhi registered a -0.2% annual price
deaths, asthma-related hospital visits change for the period Q1 2020 – Q1
and 25 million tonnes of crop losses 2021, while Mumbai registered a -
annually. 1.5% annual price change for the
same period.
 Methane is a key ingredient in the
formation of ground-level ozone  According to this latest index, 26
(smog). It is a powerful greenhouse cities witnessed a rise in prime
gas. residential prices.
 Methane remains in the atmosphere Prime Global Cities Index:

for a decade. It has a much shorter
lifetime than carbon dioxide. o It is released by property
consultant Knight Frank.
 Sources of Methane emission: 40%
of methane comes from natural o It tracks movement in prime
sources (wetlands and termites). residential prices of more
Anthropogenic sources (e.g., than 40 cities of the world.
ruminants, rice agriculture, fossil fuel
NITI Aayog and Mastercard released
exploitation, landfills and biomass
burning) emit 60% of methane into Report on ‘Connected Commerce:
atmosphere. Creating a Roadmap for a Digitally
Inclusive Bharat’.
 Climate and Clean Air Coalition
(CCAC) is a voluntary partnership of  The report recommends ways to
governments, intergovernmental make digital services more accessible
organizations, businesses, scientific to people and it also highlights the
institutions and civil society challenges in accelerating digital
organizations. Its secretariat is within financial inclusion in India.
UN Environment in Paris.
 In recent years, the digitization of
New Delhi declined to 32nd position in financial services has increased in
Global Prime Residential Index. India. People have shifted from cash
to cards, wallets, apps, and UPI.
 New Delhi and Mumbai are in 32nd
and 36th positions, respectively, in  Based on the five-round discussion,
the latest Global Prime Residential experts have highlighted the issues
Index. and recommended ways to
accelerate digital financial inclusion.

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 Key recommendations of this report: Conference on Trade and

Development (UNCTAD) and the five
o Strengthening the payment UN regional commissions.
infrastructure to promote
NBFCs and banks. India gets more than $83 billion in
o Digitalization of the remittances in 2020.
registration and compliance
 India has got more than $83 billion in
processes.
remittances in 2020, as per a World
o Creation of information Bank report.
sharing systems, including a
 India’s remittances in 2020 have
‘fraud repository’.
shown a decline of just 0.2 % from
o Online digital commerce the previous year. In 2019, India had
platforms must carry received USD83.3 billion in
warnings to alert consumers remittances.
to the risk of fraud.
 China received USD59.5 billion in
o Diversify credit sources for remittances in 2020. It received USD
the growth of MSMEs. 68.3 billion in 2019.
India to be world’s fastest growing  China stood at second place in terms

major economy in 2022. of global remittances for 2020. The
decline in India’s remittances is
 As per United Nations, India will be mainly due to 17% decline in
the world’s fastest growing major remittances from UAE.
economy in 2022.
 In terms of remittances, India and
 UN has projected that the Indian China are followed by Mexico
economy will grow at 10.1% in the (USD42.8 billion), the Philippines,
calendar year 2022. Egypt, Pakistan (USD26 billion),
France and Bangladesh.
 UN has projected 10.1% growth in its
mid-year update of the World  In its latest Migration and
Economic Situation and Prospects Development Brief, World Bank said
(WESP). that remittances remained resilient
in 2020 despite Covid-19 outbreak.
 As per the report, India will show a
7.5% growth rate in the calendar year  As per the World Bank, remittances
2021. outflow from India was USD7 billion
in 2020. It was USD7.5 billion in 2019.
World Economic Situation and
Prospects (WESP) is released by UN  Remittance outflow was the
Department of Economic and Social maximum from US (USD68 billion),
Affairs (DESA). followed by UAE (USD43 billion),
Saudi Arabia, Switzerland, Germany,
 UN Department of Economic and and China.
Social Affairs (DESA) produces this
report (WESP) with inputs from UN India’s rank on EY’s Renewable
Energy Country Attractiveness Index
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(RECAI) moves up a place to 3rd  Meghan Markle has made an

position. announcement of her first children’s
book.
 India’s rank on 57th EY Renewable
 The book is about the relationship
Energy Country Attractiveness Index
between Prince Harry and their son,
(RECAI) has moved up a place to 3rd
Archie.
position.
 The book will be titled as The Bench.
 US and China respectively occupy
It will be released in June.
first and second positions on EY’s
Renewable Energy Country  Christian Robinson will make visuals
Attractiveness Index. for the book and Meghan will narrate
the audiobook edition.
 India was ranked 4th place in the
previous ranking. India’s good Shakoor Rather penned a book ‘Life
performance on the index is due to
in the Clock Tower Valley’.
its exceptional performance on the
solar photovoltaic front.  Journalist Shakoor Rather has written
his debut book ‘Life in the Clock
 Installed solar PV capacity in India
Tower Valley’. It was released in
has increased to 39 GW. Installed
March 2021.
solar PV capacity in India has
overtaken the wind capacity for the  It was published by Speaking Tiger.
first time.
 This book narrates about various
 As per the report, India’s solar sector aspects of everyday life and emotions
will grow substantially after Covid-19 in Kashmir.
pandemic.
 It provides historical and political
 As per EY (Ernst & Young), global information about Kashmir.
renewable energy capacity
investments increased 2% to $303.5  This book narrates a love story
billion. between Samar and Rabiya.
EY (Ernst & Young) is a multinational Former diplomat Preet Mohan Singh

professional services network with Malik wrote a book on Sikkim titled
headquarters in London. It is one of “Sikkim: A History of Intrigue and
the big four accounting firms. It Alliance”.
mainly provides consulting and
advisory services.  Former diplomat Preet Mohan Singh
Malik has written a book on Sikkim
BOOKS AND AUTHORS titled as “Sikkim: A History of Intrigue
Meghan Markle makes and Alliance”.
announcement of her first children’s  The book has been released on 16
book. May, which is celebrated as Sikkim
Day. HarperCollins India has
published this book.

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 The book examines the relationship  He had served as 4th National

between Lepchas (Rongpas) and Security Adviser of India under PM
Bhutias. Lepchas are original Manmohan Singh.
inhabitants of Sikkim.
Avtar Singh Bhasin authored a new
 Bhutias are Tibetan migrants who book titled “Nehru, Tibet and China”.
founded the Namgyal dynasty.
Namgyal ruled the kingdom of Sikkim  Avtar Singh Bhasin has penned a
until it joined India. book titled “Nehru, Tibet and China”.
It has been published by Penguin-
 The book is about the history of the
India.
kingdom of Sikkim. It is also about
how Sikkim became India’s 22nd  The book is based on the events from
state. 1949 to the Indo-China war. It also
explains the current issues between
 Sikkim: India and China.
o Sikkim is a state in northeast  On 1 October 1949, power in china

India, bordering Bhutan, Tibet shifted from the nationalist
and Nepal. Kuomintang government to the
Communist Party of China.
o It is the least populous state
of India.  After Independence, India
maintained a good relationship with
o Its capital is Gangtok.
China. Both countries signed the
o The Chief Minister of Sikkim is Panchsheel Agreement in 1954.
Prem Singh Tamang and
Governor of Sikkim is Ganga
Neena Gupta will release her
Prasad. autobiography ‘Sach Kahun Toh’.
Sikkim: Symbols  Bollywood actor Neena Gupta will

State State State Tree State launch her autobiography ‘Sach
Animal Bird Flower Kahun Toh’. She wrote this book
Red Blood Rhododendron Noble during the lockdown in 2020.
Panda Pheasant Orchid  The autobiography will be released
Shivshankar Menon writes new book on 14 June. It will be published by the
titled “India and Asian geopolitics: Penguin Random House India.
The Past, Present”.  In this book, she has written about
 The first part of book covers the the many film industry issues like film
period from decolonization to industry politics, casting couch,
globalization. The second part of nepotism in the film industry.
book covers contemporary Asia.  She has also written about her
 Shivshankar Menon is an Indian experiences of life and milestones.
diplomat. In the book, he has
analysed India’s growing position as a
counter to China in the Asia.

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Nehru, Tibet and Avtar Singh Bhasin

China
India and Asian Shivshankar Menon
geopolitics: The
Neena Gupta's Past, Present
Autobiography- ‘Sach
Kahun Toh’ Sikkim: A History of Preet Mohan Singh
Intrigue and Malik
Alliance
Vikram Sampath’s book titled Life in the Clock Shakoor Rather

“Savarkar: A contested Legacy (1924- Tower Valley
1966)” will be released in July.
 It will be published by the Penguin The Bench Meghan Markle
Random House India and will be
AWARDS AND PRIZES
unveiled on July 26.
Justice Gita Mittal Conferred Arline
 In this book, he has written about the
Pacht Global Vision Award.
political thinkers of the 20th century.
 He has written about the events of  Justice Gita Mittal, former Chief
Veer Savarkar’s life from 1924 to Justice of Jammu and Kashmir High
1966. Court, has been conferred the Arline
Pacht Global Vision Award for 2021
Vinayak Damodar Savarkar: by the International Association of
Women Judges (IAWJ).
o He was an Indian
independence activist.  She has shared this award with
Justice Margarita Luna Ramos of
o He was sentenced to 50 years Mexico.
in jail in 1911 for revolting
against the Morley-Minto  She has been honoured with this
reforms. award at IAWJ’s Biennial Conference.
o He was part of the Hindu  She has been awarded for her effort
Mahasabha. in raising awareness about the right
to equality for every human being.
o He wrote the famous book
‘The Indian War of  She was the first woman Chief Justice
Independence 1857’. of J&K High Court. At present, Gita
Mittal is the Chairperson of
BOOKS AUTHORS Broadcasting Content Complaints
Council (BCCC).
Savarkar: A Vikram Sampath
contested Legacy Arline Pacht Global Vision Award:
(1924-1966)
o It was constituted in 2016.
Sach Kahun Toh Neena Gupta

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o It is given to a sitting or Indian Renewable Energy

retired woman judge for her Development Agency Ltd. (IREDA):
remarkable work.
o It comes under the
Anupam Kher Bags Best Actor Award administrative control of
at New York Film International Ministry of New & Renewable
Festival. Energy (MNRE).
o It is a Mini Ratna (Category –
 Anupam Kher won the best actor
I) Government of India
award at New York City International
Enterprise. It is a Public
Film Festival.
Limited Government
 He has got this award for his short Company established as a
film “Happy Birthday”. It has been Non-Banking Financial
directed by Prasad Kadam. Institution in 1987.
 This film has also won the Best Short o It provides financial support
Film award at the New York to specific projects and
International Film Festival. schemes for generating
electricity through new and
New York City International Film renewable sources.
Festival: It was founded in 2009. It is
an international film festival held Union Education Minister receives
every year in New York. ‘International Invincible Gold Medal’.
IREDA given Green Urja Award for  Union Education Minister Ramesh
being the Leading Public Institution in Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ has been
Financing Institutions for Renewable conferred the ‘International
Invincible Gold Medal’ award of
Energy.
2021.
 IREDA has been given Green Urja  He has been honoured with this
Award for being the Leading Public award for his outstanding service to
Institution in Financing Institutions humanity through his writings, social
for Renewable Energy by Indian and public life.
Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
 His contribution to the world peace
 Pradip Kumar Das, Chairman & program and propagation of
Managing Director (CMD), IREDA traditional knowledge in a scientific
received the award from Dr. Ajay manner is remarkable.
Mathur, Director General,
International Solar Alliance.  The award has been announced
during a two-day virtual session. He
 Shri Anil Razdan, Chairman, ICC will be presented this award on Guru
National Expert Committee on Energy Purnima this year.
was also present in virtual ceremony.

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Miss Mexico Andrea Meza wins Miss Chemists Shankar

Balasubramanian and David
Universe 2020. Klenerman were declared
It is awarded by Technology
Academy Finland (TAF).
winners of the 2020
 Miss Brazil, Julia Gama, was the Millennium Technology Prize.
runner-up. Miss Peru, Janick Maceta Millennium Technology

Del Castillo, achieved the third Prize
position.
 Adline Castelino represented India. 1 million Euro is awarded as It a prestigious science and
She came fourth. She was crowned as Prize money. technology prize.
Miss Diva Universe 2020.
 Miss Universe 2019 Zozibini Tunzi
presented the crown to Meza.
Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen
conferred with Spain’s Princess of
 Miss Universe is an annual Asturias Award in the social sciences
international beauty pageant.
category.
 Armi Kuusela from Finland won the
first Miss Universe title in 1952.
Amartya Kumar Sen
Winners of the 2020 Millennium •Conferred with Spain's
Technology Prize are declared. Princess of Asturias Award in
the social sciences category.
•Won the Nobel Prize in
 Chemists Shankar Balasubramanian Economics in 1998.
and David Klenerman were declared •Best known work: 'Poverty
and Famines. An Essay on
winners of the 2020 Millennium Entitlement and Deprivation
Technology Prize. (1981)'
 They got this award for the

development of the Next Generation
 As per the Princess of Asturias
DNA Sequencing (NGS) techniques. It
Foundation, Sen was chosen out of
will help in determining the DNA
41 candidatures from 20
sequence in less time.
nationalities.
 The main aim of this prize is to
 The award comprises a Joan Miro
promote technological research and
sculpture, a diploma, an insignia and
innovation for a better life.
a cash prize of 50,000 Euros. Joan
 In 2004, Tim Berners-Lee received Miro was a Spanish painter and
the first Millennium Technology Prize sculptor.
for the discovery of World Wide
 Dr Amartya Sen’s best-known work is
Web.
‘Poverty and Famines: An Essay on
Entitlement and Deprivation (1981)’.
He was conferred Nobel Prize in
Economics in 1998.
 Princess of Asturias Award for Social
Sciences is given to creative and/or

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research work in the field of history,

law, linguistics, teaching, economics
and others.
Breathe Applied Sciences was

awarded TDB National Award 2021.
 A Bangalore-based startup, Breathe
Applied Sciences, has received the
TDB National Award 2021.
 Breathe Applied Sciences has
developed a method for converting
CO2 to methanol and other
chemicals.
 It has developed a method to
increase the production of chemicals Shaji N M bags India Biodiversity
and fuels from anthropogenic CO2 Award 2021.
generated from the steel industry,
cement industry, and coal and  Shaji N M, a farmer from Kerala, has
natural gas power generation plants. won the India Biodiversity Award
2021 in the individual category of
 The startup has also signed an ‘Conservation of domesticated
agreement with JNCASR for species’.
converting CO2 to methanol and
other useful chemicals and fuels.  He has been awarded this prize on
the occasion of the International Day
 The current capacity of conversion is for Biological Diversity (IDB) 2021.
around 300 kg per day. It will be
increased to 100 tons on the  He is also known as the ‘Tuber Man’
industrial level. of Kerala. He is famous for cultivating
more than 200 species of the tuber.
TDB National Award:
 He also grows 40 varieties of turmeric
o It is given to the technology and 30 varieties of ginger. He is
start-ups for developing new conserving many varieties of Paddy.
technology.
 He had also received the Plant
o It carries a cash prize of Rs 15 Genome Savior Reward in 2015.
lakh and a trophy.
India Biodiversity Award:
o It is given by Technology
Development Board. o It was founded by the
ministry of environment,
forest and climate change and
UNDP-India in 2012.
o It carries a ₹2 lakh cash prize
and citation.

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SpiceHealth wins Gold Stevie Award  The 19th edition of the Indian Film
2021. Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) has
been organized from May 20-27.
 SpiceHealth has won the Gold Stevie
 Tamil film ‘Seththumaan’ won Grand
Award at the 2021 Asia-Pacific Stevie
Jury Award for Best Feature film and
Awards.
Karishma Dube’s short film ‘Bittu’
 It has been awarded under the won the Grand Jury Prize for Best
coronavirus disease (Covid-19) Short Film.
response category as ‘Most Valuable
 Actor Nivita Chaliki was recognized
Medical Innovation’.
for her performance in the short film
 SpiceHealth played a crucial role in ‘Forever Tonight’.
doing Real-Time Polymerase Chain
 The Audience Award for Best Short
Reaction (RT-PCR) testing of Covid
film was given to ‘The Song We Sang’.
patients at low cost. It has introduced
mobile testing laboratories for  ‘Fire InThe Mountains’ has won the
remote areas. Audience Award for the Best Feature
film.
 SpiceHealth conducted more than 2.2
million RT-PCR tests across Delhi, Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles
Haryana, Maharashtra, Kerala, and (IFFLA):
Uttarakhand.
o It was established by Christina
Marouda in 2003.
o The Indian Film Festival of Los
Angeles (IFFLA) is an annual
film festival held in Los
Angeles.
Suresh Mukund wins the title of

World Choreography Awards 2020
 Suresh Mukund wins the World
Choreography Awards 2020 title. He
Karishma Dube’s ‘Bittu’ and Tamil has won this award in the best
film ‘Seththumaan’ bagged top prizes choreography category for the
‘World of Dance Season 3’, a
at IFFLA 2021. television reality show.
 Thamizh’s debut film ‘Seththumaan’  He has become the first Indian to win
and Karishma Dube’s short film the World Choreography Awards
‘Bittu’ have bagged top prizes at the title. He is the founder of the dance
Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles group Kings United.
(IFFLA) 2021.
 Earlier, His dance group had also won
NBC’s reality show World of Dance
Season 3.
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 He also participated in the final of the o It is one of the most

World Hip Hop Dance Championship prestigious awards in the field
in 2012. of research in Energy.
The World Choreography Awards is o It carries a cash prize and a
known as the “Oscars of Dance”. It is specially minted gold medal.
awarded for the creativity and
innovation in the art of media PERSONALITY IN NEWS
choreography. Former Attorney General Soli
 World Choreography Awards 2020
Sorabjee passes away.
was held on 16 May in Los Angeles.  Former Attorney General Soli
Sorabjee died at the age of 91.
C.N.R. Rao will be conferred
International Eni Award 2020.  He was the Attorney General of India
from 1989-90 and then from 1998-
2004.
 He started his career at the Bombay
High Court. He had assisted Nani
Palkhivala in the Keshavananda
Bharati case.
 Renowned Professor C.N.R. Rao will  He was awarded the Padma

be awarded the International Eni Vibhushan in 2002.
Award 2020 for research into
 He is known for his significant work
renewable energy.
on Human rights. He also served as
 He has been awarded for his research the Chairman of the UN sub-
on metal oxides, carbon nanotubes, committee on the Protection and
and two-dimensional systems. Promotion of Human Rights.
 He has been working on hydrogen Attorney General of India:

energy. He has been working on the
Hydrogen storage, photochemical o He is the chief legal advisor of
and electrochemical production of the government.
hydrogen, and solar production of
o He is appointed by President
hydrogen.
under the Article 76 of the
 The International Eni Award 2020 will Indian Constitution.
be given on 14 October 2021 in
o K. K. Venugopal is the current
Rome.
Attorney General of India.
International Eni Award 2020: o Motilal C. Setalvad was the
First Attorney General for
o It is also known as the Energy India.
Frontier award.

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400th Birth anniversary of Guru Tegh Development, Tourism and Culture in

Bahadur celebrated across the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Cabinet.
country.  He was honoured with Padma Shri,
Padma Bhushan and Padma
 Guru Tegh Bahadur 400th Birth
Vibhushan.
anniversary has been celebrated
across the country on 1 May. CRRID founder Rashpal Malhotra
 He was the 9th Guru of the 10 Gurus passed away.
of the Sikh religion.  Rashpal Malhotra, the founder of the
 He was killed by the Mughal emperor Centre for Research in Rural and
Aurangzeb in 1675. Industrial Development (CRRID), died
at the age of 84.
 To mark the 400th anniversary, Sri
Akhand Path inaugurated Gurdwara  He will be remembered for his role in
Guru Ke Mahal at the birthplace of bringing socio-economic
Guru Tegh Bahadur. development to the northern region.
Guru Tegh Bahadur:  He founded the CRRID in 1979. He

played a vital role in the rural and
o He was born on 1st April 1621 industrial development of Punjab.
at Amritsar in Punjab.  He was also the Senate Member of
o He was also known as ‘Hind di Punjabi University in Patiala and
Chaadar’, which means the Punjab University in Chandigarh.
‘Shield of India’.
Centre for Research in Rural and
o He built the city of Anandpur Industrial Development (CRRID):
Sahib in Punjab.
o It is an autonomous research
o He had resisted the forced institute.
conversions of non-Muslims
to Islam by the Aurangzeb. o It was established as a
scientific and educational
o Gurdwara Rakab Ganj Sahib in charitable society under the
Delhi is the site of the Indian Societies Registration
cremation of Guru Tegh Act, 1860.
Bahadur.
Former Union Minister Ajit Singh
Former Governor of Jammu and
passes away.
Kashmir Jagmohan passes away.
 Rashtriya Lok Dal chief and former
 He was a civil servant. He also served
union minister Ajit Singh passed
as Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and
away at the age of 82.
Goa.
 He had worked as Union Minister for
 He was Union Minister for
Civil Aviation, Agriculture, and Food
Communications, Urban
Processing Industries in different
governments.

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 Ajit Singh is the Son of former Prime Birth anniversary of Rabindranath

Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh. Tagore, Maharana Pratap, and Gopal
 He was the Member of Parliament Krishna Gokhale celebrated.
from Baghpat. He will be
 The birth anniversary of
remembered for his notable
Rabindranath Tagore is also called
contributions to the welfare of
Pachishe Boishakh in Bengali.
farmers and agriculture.
 Rabindranath Tagore:
Padma Shri awardee music composer
Vanraj Bhatia passes away. o He was born on 7 May 1861
 He scored the music for the TV series o He was awarded the Nobel
‘Yatra’ and ‘Bharat Ek Khoj’. He also Prize for Literature in 1913.
scored music for Shyam Benegal o He has written more than
classics like ‘Ankur’ and ‘Bhumika’. 2000 songs, which are known
 He also created the soundtracks for as ‘Rabindra Sangeet’.
Aparna Sen’s ‘36 Chowringhee Lane’ o Gandhiji gave the title of
and Kundan Shah’s ‘Jaane Bhi Do “Gurudev” to Rabindranath
Yaaro’. Tagore.
 An opera titled ‘Agni Varsha,’ which o He wrote the national anthem
was performed in New York was his of India and Bangladesh.
last work. Gitanjali is Tagore’s best-
known collection of poetry.
 He won National Award for Best
Music for Govind Nihalani’s TV series  Maharana Pratap:
‘Tamas’. He also won Sangeet Natak
Akademi Award. He received Padma o He was born on 9 May 1945.
Shri in 2012. o He was the king of Mewar.
V Kalyanam, Mahatma Gandhi’s o He had fought the Battle of
personal secretary from 1943-1948, Haldighati on 18 June 1576
passed away. against Akbar.
o He is remembered for his
 He was Mahatma Gandhi’s personal
bravery and his loyal horse,
secretary from 1943 to 1948, when
Chetak.
Mahatma was assassinated.
 Gopal Krishna Gokhale:
 He joined the freedom struggle
during the Quit India Movement in o He was born on 9 May 1866.
1942.
o He was a political leader and a
 He was 99 years old. He passed away social reformer.
due to age related ailments.
o He was the founder of the
Servants of India Society.

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o He was the mentor of  She was the first woman law

Mohammed Jinnah and graduate from the backward Hindu
Mahatma Gandhi. Ezhava community. She was elected
to Kerala Assembly 11 times.
Freedom fighter and INA veteran Lalti
Ram passes away.  She was active in agitations as part of
the Quit India movement.
 Recently, Indian National Army (INA)
Veteran Lalti Ram died at the age of Times Group chairperson Indu Jain
100. passed away.
 He will be remembered for his  Times Group chairperson Indu Jain
courage and contribution to India’s died at the age of 84.
freedom struggle.
 After the death of her husband,
 On the occasion of the 75th Ashok Jain, she became the chairman
anniversary of the ‘Azad Hind Sarkar’ of the Times Group in 1999.
in 2019, Prime Minister presented
him a cap of the pre-Independence  She was awarded Padma Bhushan in
INA. 2016 for the Trade and Industry.
 He had worked closely with Netaji  She will be remembered for her
Subash Chandra Bose in Indian remarkable contribution to media,
National Army. entrepreneurship, and philanthropy.
 Indian National Army:  Bennett, Coleman and Company

Limited is known as The Times Group.
o It was formed by Mohan It is one of the famous media houses
Singh in 1942. of India. It was founded on 4th
November 1838.
o It was revived under the
leadership of Subhas Chandra  The Times of India, The Economic
Bose in 1943. Times, Navbharat Times are some
famous newspapers of the Times
o It is also known as Azad Hind
Group.
Fauj.
Kerala’s prominent leader, K R Gouri, Professor M. S. Narasimhan passed

passes away. away.
 Distinguished mathematician M. S.
 Kerala’s prominent CPI (M) leader, K
Narasimhan died at the age of 88.
R Gouri, passed away at the age of
102.  He will be remembered for his
contribution to the field of
 Kalathilparambil Raman Gouri is
Mathematics in India. He contributed
popularly known as Gouri Amma in
Kerala. in many fields of mathematics,
including Algebraic Geometry,
 She is one of the longest-serving Differential Geometry, etc.
politicians in Kerala.

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 He is famous for his Narasimhan-

Seshadri theorem.
 He is the only Indian to receive the
King Faisal International Prize for
Science.
 He also served as Chairman of the
National Board of Higher Environmentalist and Chipko movement pioneer
Mathematics of the Government of Sunderlal Bahuguna passes away.
India. •Well known for the slogan “ecology is the permanent
economy”
 He was awarded many Prizes, •Awards: Padma Shri, Padma Vibhushan, Right Livelihood Award
including Padma Bhushan, TWAS and Jamnalal Bajaj Award
•Chipko Movement:
Award for Mathematics, CV Raman •A non-violent agitation in 1973
Birth Centenary Award, etc. •Originated in Uttar Pradesh’s Chamoli district (now
Uttarakhand) in 1973
 Archimedes is known as the Father of
Mathematics.
Former Atomic Energy Commission
Senior virologist Shahid Jameel chairman Dr. Srikumar Banerjee
resigns as chairman of scientific passed away.
advisory group of Indian SARS-CoV-2
Genomics Consortium (INSACOG).  Recently, Former Atomic Energy
Commission (AEC) chairman Srikumar
 INSACOG is a forum established by Banerjee died at the age of 75.
the union government in December
 He worked as the director of the
last year for surveillance of
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
circulating strains of COVID-19 in
(BARC) and also served as the
India.
secretary of the Department of
 Out of the six variants of concern of Atomic Energy.
coronavirus, India is dealing with
 He also played a vital role in the
three variants. They are B.1.1.7 (UK
India-US nuclear deal.
variant), B.1.351 (South Africa
variant), and P.1 (Brazil variant).  He received the Padma Shri in 2005
and the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar
 Last year, traces of double mutants -
Award in 1989 for remarkable
an Indian version called B.1.617 -
contribution in the field of Science.
appeared for the first time in cases of
Maharashtra.  He will be remembered for his
contributions in the field of atomic
energy and metallurgy.
Atomic Energy Commission:
o It was formed on 10 August

1948.

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o It is the governing body of the  He was also running a newspaper

Department of Atomic Energy named Paura Vani.
(DAE).
Former CBI officer K Ragothaman
o It is responsible for doing passed away.
research in atomic science.
 Former CBI officer K Raghothaman
Om Prakash Bhardwaj passes away died at the age of 75.
due to age related health
 He was the chief investigation officer
complications. of the Special Investigation Team
(SIT) of the Rajiv Gandhi assassination
 Om Prakash Bhardwaj (OP Bhardwaj)
case.
passed away at the age of 82 due to
age related health complications.  He was awarded the Police Medal in
1988 and President Medal in 1994.
 He has distinction of being first
Dronacharya awardee boxing coach  He has authored many books
of India. including Conspiracy to Kill Rajiv
Gandhi, Third Degree Crime
 He was awarded Dronacharya award
Investigation Management and Crime
jointly with Bhalchandra Bhaskar
and the Criminal.
Bhagwat (wrestling) and O M
Nambiar (athletics) at the time  He joined the CBI in 1968 as a sub-
Dronacharya award was started in inspector of police.
1985.
Central Bureau of Investigation
 He was India’s longest-serving chief (CBI):
boxing coach from 1965 to 1989.
o It is an investigating agency in
Freedom fighter H S Doreswamy
India.
passes away.
o It works under the jurisdiction
 Freedom fighter H S Doreswamy died of the Ministry of Personnel,
at the age of 104. Public Grievances and
Pensions.
 He is known for participating in the
Quit India and the Bhoodan o Praveen Sinha is the current
movement. He joined India’s interim director of the CBI.
freedom struggle movement in June
1942. APPOINTMENTS
 He was a social activist. In recent Axis Bank board approved re-

years, he launched campaigns against appointment of Amitabh Chaudhry as
Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) MD & CEO of Axis Bank for 3 years.
and the controversial farmers’ bill.
 He will assume the charge from 1
 He also participated in the protests January, 2022.
against the setting of Kaiga nuclear
plant in Karnataka.

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 The appointment will be approved by information technology, and risk

the Reserve Bank of India and management at the RBI.
shareholders of the Bank.
 He will be the fourth deputy
 Before joining Axis Bank, he was the governor of the RBI. Mahesh Kumar
MD and CEO of HDFC Standard Life Jain, Michael Patra, and Rajeshwar
Insurance Company. Rao are the others deputy governor
of the RBI.
 Axis Bank is the third-largest private
bank in India that is headquartered in  He will take the place of B.P.
Mumbai. Kanungo, who had retired on 2 April.
Previously, he had worked on various
First woman officer for a road project posts. He also worked in the Ministry
along border with China appointed by of Finance from 2008-14.
BRO.
 He had also worked with the
 Vaishali S Hiwase is the name of the International Monetary Fund (IMF)
officer. She comes from Wardha in on bond market development for the
Maharashtra. government of India and the central
bank of Bangladesh.
 She will command a Road
Construction Company (RCC), which  RBI can have a maximum of four
is tasked to provide connectivity in a deputy governors. Out of the four
high-altitude area along the India- deputy governors, two are usually
China border. chosen from executive directors of
RBI. One is nominated from among
Border Roads Organisation (BRO): the Chairpersons of PSBs. One is an
economist.
o It develops and maintains a
road network in India’s border Justice P C Pant appointed as acting
areas and friendly chairperson of NHRC.
neighboring countries.
 Justice P C Pant has been appointed
o It is headquartered in New as the acting chairperson of the
Delhi. National Human Rights Commission
o It was founded in May 1960 (NHRC). He assumed the charge from
by Jawaharlal Nehru. April 25.
 Earlier, he was the Judge of the
T Rabi Sankar named as Deputy Supreme Court from 2014 to 2017.
Governor of RBI.
National Human Rights Commission:
 The Appointments Committee of the
Cabinet has approved the o It is a statutory body that was
appointment of T. Rabi Sankar as established under the
deputy governor of the Reserve Bank Protection of Human Rights
of India (RBI). Act, 1993. It is the watchdog
 He has worked as in-charge of the of human rights in the
payments system, fintech, country.

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o It consists of a chairperson Functions of Chief Minister:

and five members.
o Advises the Governor
o The chairperson should be regarding the appointment of
retired chief justice of India or other Ministers and decides
a judge of the Supreme Court. the portfolios for them.
o President appoints the o Presides over the cabinet
chairperson and members of meetings.
NHRC on the
recommendations of a six- o All the decisions taken by the
member committee. government are shared with
Governor and provides
o The chairperson and information regarding
members hold office for a decisions of other ministers as
term of three years or until and when asked by the
they attain the age of 70 Governor.
years.
o Advises the Governor for
Mamata Banerjee takes oath as the dissolution of the Legislative
Chief Minister of West Bengal. Assembly.
N Rangasamy becomes Chief Minister

of Puducherry.
 AINRC chief N Rangasamy has taken
the oath of Chief Minister of
Puducherry. He became the Chief
Minister for the fourth time.
 Mamata Banerjee takes oath as the
Chief Minister of West Bengal for the  Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan
third consecutive term. administered the oath of N
Rangasamy.
 In the recently conducted election,
Trinamool Congress has won 213  In the recently conducted election,
seats while BJP has won 77 seats. AINRC bagged 10 seats while BJP has
won six seats.
 However, Mamata Banerjee was
defeated by Suvendu Adhikari by a  The total strength of the Puducherry
narrow margin in Nandigram. Assembly is 30. BJP and AINRC will
form the coalition government in
 Mamata Banerjee is the 8th Chief Puducherry.
Minister of Bengal.
 Union Territory Delhi, Jammu
 Article 164 states that the Chief Kashmir, and Puducherry have an
Minister shall be appointed by the elected Legislative Assembly.
Governor and the other ministers
shall be appointed on the advice of
the Chief Minister.

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Qualifications for Chief Minister:  Arcil is owned by SBI, IDBI Bank, ICICI
Bank (ICICI), Punjab National Bank
o He/She should be a Citizen of (PNB) and Avenue India Resurgence
India. Pte. It is essentially a private
company. Proposed bad bank is likely
o He/She should be of 25 years
to be a public sector company.
of age or more.
 Gross NPAs of Indian banks is nearly
o He/She should be a member
8%. As per RBI, Gross NPAs are likely
of either house of the State
to grow to 15% by September this
Legislature.
year.
Himanta Biswa Sarma sworn in as Jose J. Kattoor appointed as
Chief Minister of Assam. Executive Director of RBI.
 Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has taken  Earlier, he was heading Bengaluru
the oath as the 15th Chief Minister of Regional Office of the Reserve Bank
Assam. He was elected as leader of as Regional Director for Karnataka.
the BJP Legislature Party.
 He will look Human Resource
 Governor Jagdish Mukhi Management Department, Corporate
administered the oath. Strategy and Budget Department as
 In the recently held election, National Executive Director (ED).
Democratic Alliance (NDA) has won  His appointment is effective from
75 seats while INC has won 50 seats. May 04, 2021.
The total strength of the Assam
Legislative Assembly is 126 seats. RBI:
SBI’s Padmakumar M Nair appointed o It was established on April 1,

as CEO of National Asset 1935, under the provisions of
Reconstruction Company Limited the Reserve Bank of India Act,
(NARCL). 1934.
 NARCL is commonly known as Bad o It was set up on the

Bank. Nair is currently serving at the recommendations of the
position of chief general manager Hilton Young Commission.
(CGM), in-charge of stressed assets in o Shaktikanta Das is the current
SBI. RBI governor.
 The announcement for the creation
Pinarayi Vijayan sworn in as Chief
of a bad bank was made by Finance
Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Minister of Kerala.
2021 Union Budget.  Pinarayi Vijayan becomes the Chief
 Asset Reconstruction Company India Minister of Kerala for the second
(Arcil) is the oldest of different Asset successive time.
reconstruction entities in India.

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 Governor Arif Mohammad Khan Government gives one-year

administered the oath of office to extension to RAW chief Samant
Pinarayi Vijayan.
Kumar Goel and Intelligence Bureau
 Pinarayi Vijayan is the first Chief head Arvind Kumar.
Minister of Kerala to be appointed
for the second consecutive term.  Goel’s present term ends on June 30.
Now, he would continue to be
 Pinarayi Vijayan will head the 21 Secretary of Research and Analysis
member’s cabinet, which includes Wing (RAW) for one more year.
three women.  Similarly, Arvind Kumar will continue
 Kerala Legislative Assembly has a to be head (director) of Intelligence
strength of 140 members. In the Bureau for one more year after June
recently held election, CPI (M) has 30.
won 99 seats while INC has won 41  Samant Kumar Goel is an IPS officer
seats. from Punjab cadre. Arvind Kumar is
an IPS officer of Assam and
Kerala Meghalaya cadre.
Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) is
India’s foreign intelligence agency. It
is headquartered in New Delhi. It
was founded in 1968.
Subodh Kumar Jaiswal appointed as

Director of CBI.
 At present, he is the Director-General
of the Central Industrial Security
Force. He also served as the chief of
the Maharashtra Police from 2018 to
2019.
 It was formed on 1 November  He has been appointed for a period

1956. of two years. His name was
 The state shares its border with shortlisted by the Appointments
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Committee of the Cabinet.
 Its capital is
Thiruvananthapuram. Subodh Kumar Jaiswal has It works under the
been appointed as Director jurisdiction of the Ministry of
 Pinarayi Vijayan is the Chief of the Central Bureau of Personnel, Public Grievances
Minister and Governor is Arif Investigation. and Pensions.
Mohammad Khan. Central Bureau of Investigation

 Kerala is known as the Spice (CBI)
Garden of India.
 Its official language is It was established on the
recommendation of the
It derives its powers from
the Delhi Special Police
Malayalam. Santhanam Committee. Establishment Act, 1946.
 Kerala has 20 Lok Sabha seats
and 9 Rajya Sabha seats.

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Himanta Biswa Sarma appointed to Jagjit Pavadia selected as President of

Badminton World Federation (BWF) International Narcotics Control
council. Board.
 Himanta Biswa Sarma has been  Former Narcotics Commissioner of
appointed to Badminton World India, Jagjit Pavadia, has been elected
Federation (BWF) council for the as the President of the International
period 2021-25. Narcotics Control Board.
 He is currently the Badminton  She is the first Indian to be appointed
Association of India (BAI) president. as President of the International
He is also the Vice President of Narcotics Control Board. She is the
Badminton Asia. second woman to hold this post.
 BWF President Paul-Erik Hoyer was  Jagjit Pavadia was the Narcotics
re-elected unopposed. BWF Deputy Commissioner of India from 2006 to
President Khunying Patama of 2012 and also served in various
Thailand was also re-elected positions in different departments.
unopposed.
 Earlier, she was also elected as the
 BWF Vice President Paul Kurzo of first Vice-President of the
Switzerland was also re-elected International Narcotics Control
unopposed. Board in 2016.
Badminton World Federation (BWF): International Narcotics Control

Board:
o It is the international
governing body for o It was established in 1961
badminton. through the Single
Convention on Narcotic
o It was established in 1934 as
Drugs.
the International Badminton
Federation. o It is a quasi-judicial body.
o Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, o It is responsible for
Malaysia monitoring the
implementation of the United
o President: Poul-Erik Hoyer
Nations international drug
Larsen
control convention.
B V R Subrahmanyam will be
appointed as Commerce Secretary.
 The Appointments Committee of the
Badminton Association of India (BAI) Cabinet (ACC) has approved the
President Himanta Biswa Sarma appointment of B.V.R.
appointed to Badminton World
Federation (BWF) council Subrahmanyam as Commerce
Secretary.

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 He will assume the charge in place of scored 2338 runs in the 133 ODI
Anup Wadhawan from July. innings.
 He was private secretary to the then  He had made his international debut
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2009. He took 135 wickets in ODI
between 2004 to 2008. cricket and 51 wickets in T20I.
 He was appointed chief secretary of  He also led the team of Sri Lanka in
J&K in 2018. shorter formats of the game in 2017.
 He was also appointed as an Officer  He was part of Sri Lanka’s 2014 T20
on Special Duty for a month in the World Cup-winning team.
Ministry of Commerce.
Mark Selby becomes World
SPORTS Champion for 4th time in snooker.
Lewis Hamilton wins Portuguese
Grand Prix.
 Lewis Hamilton has won the
Portuguese Grand Prix. It was his 97th
career victory.
 He has defeated Max Verstappen and  Mark Selby defeated Shaun Murphy
Valtteri Bottas. He wins the race by a by 18-15 victory at Crucible Theatre,
margin of 29.148 seconds. Sheffield.
 This is the second Victory for Lewis  He has now achieved the second spot
Hamilton in this season. This win has in world rankings, next only to Judd
put him eight points ahead of Trump.
Verstappen in the title standings.
 Mark Selby is an English professional
Portuguese Grand Prix: snooker player. He has won the
world title four times in 2014, 2016,
o It is a motorsports 2017 and 2021.
tournament.
Snooker was for the first time played
o It was started in 1951. in India by British army officers. It is
o It is part of the Formula One played with a cue stick on a
World Championship. rectangular table covered with a
green cloth with six pockets.
Thisara Perera announced retirement
PV Sindhu and Michelle Li selected as
from International Cricket.
athlete ambassadors for ‘Believe in
 Sri Lanka all-rounder Thisara Perera Sports’ campaign of IOC.
has announced retirement from
international cricket.  PV Sindhu and Canada’s Michelle Li
have been selected as athlete
 He played 166 ODIs and 84 T20Is ambassadors for ‘Believe in Sports’
international matches. He had also

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campaign of the International  International Olympic Committee

Olympic Committee. (IOC) has signed Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with Pfizer Inc
 Since April 2020, they are global
and its partner BionNTech SE.
ambassadors for ‘I am badminton’
campaign of Badminton World  The MoU aims to donate doses of the
Federation. COVID-19 vaccine to Games
participants from National Olympic
 ‘Believe in Sports’ campaign was
and Paralympic Committees all over
started in 2018. It was started to
the world.
raise awareness among athletes,
coaches and officials about the threat Stop Tokyo Olympics, an online
of competition manipulation. petition for cancelling of Tokyo
International Olympic Committee Olympics, gets public support.
(IOC):
 The petition has received almost 2,
o It is a not-for-profit 00,000 signatures in the past few
independent sports days.
organization that was  2020 Summer Olympics are
founded in 1894. scheduled to be held from 23 July to
o It is responsible for organizing 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan.
the Summer and Winter Aryna Sabalenka won Madrid Open
Olympic Games.
2021 by defeating Ashleigh Barty.
Lausanne, Switzerland.  Aryna Sabalenka won Madrid Open
2021 by defeating Ashleigh Barty by
o Current President: Thomas 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 in the women’s singles
Bach final. This is the first defeat of
Ashleigh Barty on clay since 2019.
Two Indian rowers, Arjun Jaat and
Arvind Singh, qualify for Tokyo  Australia’s Ashleigh Barty is on the
first rank in the WTA Women’s
Olympics.
Tennis Rankings, while Aryna
 They qualified for the Men’s Double Sabalenka is on the 7th Position.
sculls event. Jakar Khan finished  In the women’s doubles final,
fourth in the Men’s Singles sculls
Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina
final.
Siniakova have defeated Gabriela
 Arjun Lal and Arvind will be the only Dabrowski and Demi Schuurs by 6-4,
Indian rowers in the Tokyo Games 6-3.
that would open on 23rd July.
 In the men’s singles final, Alexander
 In sailing, four Indians have already Zverev defeated Matteo Berrettini by
qualified for the Tokyo games. 6-7, 6-4, 6-3. It is his second Madrid
Nethra Kumanan became the first title.
Indian female sailor to qualify for the
Olympics.
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A Parsi selected in Indian National  Manchester City has won the English
cricket team after 28 years. Premier League title for the third
time in four seasons.
 A left-arm medium-pacer, Arzan
 Manchester City, with 80 points, is
Nagwaswalla, has been selected for
far ahead of his nearest rivals. It has
the India men’s Cricket team.
won the title with three matches
 He will be part of the Indian squad remaining in the league.
for the World Test Championship
 Twenty clubs have participated in this
final and the Test series against
year’s English Premier League
England.
Championship.
 He becomes the youngest player of
 Manchester City: It is a football club
the Parsi community to join the
based in Manchester. It was founded
Indian National cricket team.
in 1880.
 Farokh Engineer was the last Parsi
cricketer who had played for India’s English Premier League: It is also
men’s cricket team in 1975. known as Premier League. It is the
most-watched sports league in the
 Diana Edulji played for the Women’s world.
cricket team in 1993.
Shotgun World Cup is being

organized in Italy.
 The Shotgun World Cup is being
organized from May 7th to 17th in
Lonato, Italy.
 India’s Gurjoat Singh Khangura 2021 AIBA Men’s World Boxing
started his journey in the Shotgun Championships will take place from
World Cup 2021 by shooting 74 out
October in Belgrade.
of 75 in the opening three rounds of
the men’s skeet event.  2021 AIBA Men’s World Boxing
 Angad Vir Singh Bajwa is also Championships will take place from
participating in this world cup. He is 26 October to 6 November in
on the 53rd spot. Belgrade in Serbia.
 A total of 399 athletes from 56  President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic,

countries are taking part in this is the Head of the Local Organising
World Cup. Committee (LOC). He will supervise
the delivery of the event.
 It is being organized by the
International Shooting Sport  Russia hosted the previous edition of
Federation. the AIBA Men’s World Boxing
Championships.
Manchester City won English Premier
League.
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International Boxing Association 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 in the final of men’s

(AIBA) is headquartered in Lausanne, singles.
Switzerland. Umar Kremlev is the
 Now, Rafael Nadal has equaled the
President of AIBA. It was formed in
record of Novak Djokovic of winning
1946.
the most number of Masters 1000
titles.
Ramesh Powar becomes new head
coach of Indian Women’s Cricket  Rafael Nadal has won this title for the
Team. tenth time. Djokovic and Nadal have
faced each other for the 57th time.
 He has been appointed by the three-
member Cricket Advisory Committee  Nadal has won 10 titles at 4 different
(CAC) of BCCI. Madan Lal, Sulakshana tournaments, including Roland
Naik, and RP Singh are members of Garros (13), Barcelona (12), and
the Committee. Monte Carlo (11).
 Ramesh Powar is a former Indian Italian Open: It is a tennis

cricketer. He will replace WV Raman. tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is
played on Clay court.
 Earlier, he was the coach of the
Indian Women’s Cricket Team in India will host U-17 Women’s World
2018. Cup in 2022.
Shiv Sunder Das appointed as batting  The U-17 Women’s World Cup will
coach of Indian women’s cricket team be organized in India from October
11 to 30, 2022. The FIFA Council
 BCCI has appointed Shiv Sunder Das announced the date in the 71st FIFA
as batting coach of the India women Congress.
cricket team for the upcoming seven-
match tour of England.  Earlier, FIFA had cancelled the 2021
Women’s Under-17 World Cup due
 Shiv Sunder Das is a former player of to the COVID-19 pandemic, which
the men’s cricket team. He has was supposed to be hosted by India.
played 23 Tests and scored more
than 1300 runs.  FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will
be held in Costa Rica from 10 to 28
 Abhay Sharma has been appointed as August 2022
fielding coach of the India women’s
cricket team.  The 2022 FIFA World Cup will be
hosted by Qatar, in which 32 teams
 Mithali Raj is the Captain of the India will participate.
Women’s cricket team.
FIFA
Rafael Nadal clinched Italian Open by
defeating Novak Djokovic.
 Rafael Nadal has won the Italian
Open by defeating Novak Djokovic by

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 It is the highest international o It is being organized annually

governing body of association since 1929.
football.
o It is one of the most
 It was founded in 1904.
prestigious automobile races
 Its headquarters is located in
in the world.
Zurich, Switzerland.
 Gianni Infantino is the Mohali International Hockey Stadium
current President of FIFA.
renamed after Balbir Singh Sr.
Phil Mickelson won the PGA
Championship.
 Phil Mickelson has won the PGA
Championship at the age of 50.
 He became the oldest golfer to win a
major championship. Earlier, the
oldest golfer to win a major
championship was Julius Boros.  Punjab Sports Minister announced
 Phil Mickelson is a famous golf player renaming on the occasion of the first
of America. He has won total 45 death anniversary of Balbir Singh Sr.
events on the PGA Tour.  He was a three-time Olympic gold
medalist. He died on May 25 last
The PGA Championship is an annual
year.
golf tournament. It is one of the
major championships of professional  From now onwards, the stadium
golf. would be known as “Olympian Balbir
Singh Senior International Hockey
Max Verstappen wins Monaco Grand Stadium”.
Prix.
 Punjab Sports Minister said that the
 Max Verstappen has won the sports department would start a
Monaco Grand Prix for the first time scholarship in the name of Balbir
in his career. It is his second victory Singh Sr.
of this season.
 Balbir Singh Sr was a Padma Shri
 He started the day with 14 points awardee hockey player. He created a
behind Lewis Hamilton. Lewis world record for most goals scored
Hamilton ended the race with 7th by an individual in the men’s hockey
position. final of the Olympics.
 Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz finished the  Punjab government has given him
race in second spot. Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award in 2019.
Monaco Grand Prix: Pooja Rani wins gold medal in 75kg

Women’s category at Asian Boxing
o It is a Formula One motor Championships in Dubai.
racing event.

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World Weightlifting Championships

2021.
 Junior World Weightlifting
Championships 2021 is scheduled to
be organized in Tashkent, Uzbekistan
from May 23 to 31.
 Pooja Rani has won gold medal in the
 He lifted a total of 313 kg (141 kg
75kg Women’s category at Asian
Boxing Championships in Dubai. snatch and 172 kg clean and jerk),
while Indonesia’s Rizki Juniansyah
 Legendary pugilist MC Mary Kom, won the gold medal by lifting a total
Lalbuatsaihi and Anupama won silver of 349 kg.
medals at Asian Boxing
Championships in Dubai.  Indian weightlifter Jeremy
Lalrinnunga finished on the fourth
 Pooja Rani defeated Mavluda position in the men’s 67 kg category.
Movlonova of Uzbekistan and He won the silver medal in the snatch
secured India’s first gold medal at the event.
ongoing Asian Boxing Championships.
Rafael Nadal, Naomi Osaka and Lewis
 Pooja had also won a gold medal in Hamilton win awards at Laureus
81kg category in the previous edition
World Sports Awards 2021.
of Asian Boxing Championships in
2019.  Rafael Nadal, Naomi Osaka and Lewis
 Six-time world champion Mary Kom Hamilton have won Laureus World
Sports Awards 2021.
lost to two-time world champion
Kazakhstan’s Nazym Kyzaibay in the  Spain’s Rafael Nadal has won the
final of the 51kg category. Laureus Sportsman of the year
 Anupama won a silver medal after award. Japan’s Naomi Osaka has won
losing to Kazakhstan’s Lazzat the Laureus World Sportswoman of
the Year Award.
Kungeibayeva in the Women’s 81kg
final.  Lewis Hamilton won the Athlete
 31st edition of the Asian Amateur Advocate of the Year Award for his
involvement in the fight against
Boxing Championships is being held
racism.
from 24 to 31 May 2021 in Dubai,
UAE.  The names of other winners of the
Laureus World Sports Awards 2021
Achinta Sheuli wins silver medal (73
are given below.
kg) at Junior World Weightlifting
Championships 2021. o Team of the Year Award:
Bayern Munich
 Indian weightlifter Achinta Sheuli
o Breakthrough of the Year
bagged a silver medal in the men’s
Award: Patrick Mahomes
73-kilogram category of the Junior

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o Comeback of the Year Award:  RRA 2.0 has been set up initially for a
Max Parrot period of one year from May 01,
2021. M. Rajeshwar Rao, Deputy
o Lifetime Achievement Award:
Governor, was appointed as
Billie Jean King
Regulations Review Authority.
o Sporting Inspiration Award:
 First Regulations Review Authority
Mohamed Salah
was set up by RBI in 1999.
o Sporting Moment of the Year
Award: Chris Nikic IMPORTANT DAYS
International Workers Day is
COMMITTEES/ COMMISSIONS/
TASKFORCES
celebrated every year on 1 May.
RBI constitutes an advisory group for  International Workers Day, also
assisting second Regulations Review called Labour Day, is celebrated every
year on May Day (01 May).
Authority (RRA 2.0).
 International Labour Organization is a
 RBI has constituted an advisory group UN agency that works towards
for assisting the second Regulations setting international labour
Review Authority (RRA 2.0). standards.
 SBI Managing Director S Janakiraman  In the US and Canada, Labour Day is
is the head of the advisory group. It celebrated on the first Monday in
has five members. Their names are September.
given in the next table.
 In 1889, May 01 was designated as a
S. Janakiraman, T. T. day for workers in remembrance of
Managing Srinivasaraghavan, the Haymarket Riots in Chicago in
Director, State Former MD & Non- 1886.
Bank of India Executive Director,
(Chairman of the Sundaram Finance Maharashtra and Gujarat celebrated
advisory group) (Member) their foundation day.
Gautam Thakur, Subir Saha, Group
Chairman, Chief Compliance  Every year Maharashtra Day and
Saraswat Co- Officer, ICICI Bank Ltd. Gujarat Day celebrated on 1 May.
operative Bank (Member) This year both states are celebrating
Ltd. (Member) their 61st foundation day.
Ravi Duvvuru, Abadaan Viccaji, Chief  Maharashtra and Gujarat were
President & CCO, Compliance Officer, formed in 1960 after the division of
Jana Small HSBC India (Member) the Bombay province into two parts.
Finance Bank
(Member)  Both states were formed on the basis
 RBI had constituted RRA 2.0 earlier of the language. The Marathi-
this month to streamline regulations speaking areas were included in
and lower down compliance burden Maharashtra, while Gujarati-speaking
of regulated entities. areas were included in Gujarat.

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 The boundaries of the state were  The main objective of this day is to
defined under the States spread awareness about laughter and
Reorganisation Act, 1956. its healing benefits.
 The demand for a separate state for  This day celebration was started by
Marathi-speaking people was started Dr. Madan Kataria in 1998. Madan
in 1940. The Sanyukt Maharashtra Kataria is the founder of the
Organisation was formed to intensify worldwide Laughter Yoga movement.
the demand for an independent
 The health benefits of laughing are:
state.
o It relaxes the whole body
Maharashtra
relieving physical tension and
 In terms of area, Maharashtra is stress.
the third largest state in India.
 In terms of population, it is the o It enhances the immune
second-most populous state. system by decreasing stress
 Capital: Mumbai hormones.
 Chief Minister: Uddhav Thackery o It improves the function of
 Governor: Bhagat Singh Koshyari blood vessels and increases
 Lok Sabha seats: 48, Rajya Sabha blood flow in our body.
seats: 19
 It shares its boundary with o If one laughs for 10 to 15
Karnataka, Goa, Telangana, minutes a day, around 40
Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, and calories can be burnt.
Madhya Pradesh.
World Press Freedom Day: 3rd May
Gujarat
 It is a coastal state of India.  World Press Freedom Day is
 It is the fifth-largest Indian state celebrated every year on 3rd May.
by area and the ninth-largest
 It recognizes the contribution of
state by population.
media personnel in upholding the
 Capital: Gandhinagar
values of fair journalism.
 Chief Minister: Vijay Rupani
 Governor: Acharya Devvrat  It marks the anniversary of the
 Lok Sabha seats: 26, Rajya Sabha Windhoek Declaration for the
seats: 11 Development of a Free, Independent
 It shares its border with and Pluralistic Press. In 1991, a
Rajasthan, Dadra and Nagar UNESCO conference was held in
Haveli and Daman and Diu, Windhoek, Namibia.
Maharashtra, and Madhya
 It also aims to create awareness
Pradesh.
regarding the importance of freedom
World Laughter Day 2021: 2 May of the press, which is part of the
 World Laughter Day is celebrated Right to freedom of expression under
every year on the first Sunday of Article 19 of the Universal
May. In the year 2021, it was Declaration of Human Rights 1948.
celebrated on 2 May.

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 Theme for World Press Freedom Day  The slogan for this day is “Seconds
2021 is ‘Information as a Public save lives – clean your hands!”.
Good’.
 Hand hygiene is the best way to
World Asthma Day: 5 May 2021 prevent the spread of germs.
 The Global Initiative for Asthma  WHO had launched the Clean Your
(GINA) organizes World Asthma Hands global campaign in 2009. It
Day (May 5, 2021). started the World Hand Hygiene Day.
 It is held in May to increase International No Diet Day: 6 May

awareness about Asthma. The theme
for World Asthma Day 2021 is  International No Diet Day is
“Uncovering Asthma observed every year on 6 May.
Misconceptions”.  The main objective of this day is to
 This year World Asthma Day is being raise awareness about the potential
held on 05 May. From 2022 onwards, dangers of dieting.
it will be held on the first Tuesday in  It is also dedicated for promoting a
May. First World Asthma Day was healthy lifestyle. The day is also
held in 1998. observed to tackle the issues related
 One common misconception about to diet and body awareness.
Asthma is that it is a childhood  The first International No Diet Day
disease. This is not true. Asthma can was celebrated in the UK in 1992. It
occur at any age. was started by Evans Young.
 Another misconception is that World Red Cross Day is celebrated
Asthma is infectious. This not true.
The truth is that Asthma is not
every year on May 8.
infectious.  World Red Cross Day is celebrated
 Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) is every year on May 8 to honour the
a World Health Organization beliefs of Red Crescent Movement
collaborative organization founded in and the International Red Cross.
1993.  The theme for World Red Cross Day
World Hand Hygiene Day: 5 May 2021 is ‘Together we are
#unstoppable!’.
 World Hand Hygiene Day is observed
annually every year on 5 May.  08 May is the birthday of Henry
Dunant, the founder of ICRC
 The main objective of this day is to (International Committee of the Red
maintain global promotion, visibility, Cross). Henry Dunant was awarded
and sustainability of hand hygiene in Nobel Prize in 1901.
health care.
 The first Red Cross Day was
 “Achieving hand hygiene at the point celebrated on May 8, 1948.
of care” is the theme of World Hand International Federation of Red Cross
Hygiene Day 2021. and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) was

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founded in 1919. Red Cross is  It is celebrated bi-annually on the

headquartered in Washington DC in second Saturday in May and in
US. October.
World Thalassemia Day or  The theme of this year’s World

International Thalassemia Day: 8 May Migratory Bird Day is “Sing, Fly, Soar
– Like a bird!”
 World Thalassemia Day or
International Thalassemia Day is  Flyway:
celebrated every year on 8 May. o It is the flight path used by
large numbers of birds during
 “Addressing Health Inequalities
migrating from their breeding
across the Global Thalassaemia
grounds to overwintering
Community” is the theme for World
quarters.
Thalassemia Day 2021 or
International Thalassemia Day 2021. o The central Asian flyway
passes through India.
 World Thalassemia Day or
International Thalassemia Day is a National Technology Day 2021: 11
worldwide campaign to raise May.
awareness about Thalassemia and its
symptoms.  National Technology Day is
celebrated every year on 11 May.
 Thalassemia is a genetic blood
“Science and Technology for a
disorder that significantly reduces the
Sustainable Future” is the theme for
amount of hemoglobin. Thalassemia
National Technology Day 2021.
patients have at least one parent as a
disease carrier.  National Technology Day was
celebrated or acknowledged for the
 Hemoglobin is a protein molecule
first time on May 11, 1999.
present in red blood cells, which
helps the RBCs carry oxygen and  On 11 May 1998, three successful
circulate it throughout the body. nuclear tests were conducted by
India at Indian Army’s Pokhran Test
World Migratory Bird Day: 8 May
Range in Rajasthan under Operation
 Every year World Migratory Bird Day Shakti.
is observed on the second Saturday  First indigenous aircraft, “Hansa-3,”
of May. In 2021, it has been was test flown at Bangalore on 11
celebrated on 8 May. May. India also performed a
 The main aim of this day is to raise successful test firing of the Trishul
awareness about migratory birds. It missile on 11 May.
also brings the attention of the world  TDB, on behalf of the Ministry of
towards threats faced by migratory Science & Technology, celebrates
birds and the need for international May 11 every year as National
cooperation to conserve them. Technology Day. National Science
Day is celebrated annually on 28
February.

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 Technology Development Board  The theme of International Day of

(TDB) is a statutory body of the Families 2021 is ‘Families and new
Department of Science & Technology technologies’.
(DST).
 This day was proclaimed by the UN
International Nurses Day is General Assembly in 1993.
celebrated every year on 12 May. International Astronomy Day 2021:
 International Nurses Day is 15 May
celebrated every year on 12 May, the
 In 2021, International Astronomy
birth anniversary of Florence
Day has been celebrated on 15 May.
Nightingale.
 It was started by Doug Berger in
 The theme for International Nurses
1973, the then President of the
Day 2021 is “Nurses: A Voice to Lead
- A vision for future healthcare”. Astronomical Union of Northern
California.
 International Nurses Day is
 This day is celebrated twice a year.
celebrated to mark the contribution
of nurses to society.  It is celebrated to spread awareness
about Astronomy among people.
 Florence Nightingale, a British social
reformer and statistician and founder  Astronomy: It is a science that
of modern nursing. She was born on studies celestial objects and space-
12 May 1820 in Florence, Italy. related phenomenon.
 The International Council of Nurses World Agri Tourism Day: 16 May
(ICN) celebrated International Nurses
Day for the first time in 1965. In  World Agri Tourism Day is observed
1974, May 12 was chosen to every year on 16 May.
celebrate International Nurses Day.
 It is celebrated to promote
 Theme 2020: “Nurses: A Voice to agricultural tourism as the potential
Lead-Nursing the World to Health.” for stabilizing and diversifying the
rural economy.
International Day of Families: 15 May
 It will help in attracting tourists to the
 Every year International Day of rural area, which increases the
Families is observed on 15 May. income of rural people.
 It is celebrated to highlight the  On the occasion of 14th World Agri-
importance of families by the tourism day, the Department of
International community. Tourism, Government of
Maharashtra is organizing an
 It provides an opportunity to
International Conference on Agri
promote issues related to families
Tourism.
and to increase the knowledge of the
social, economic, and demographic  Government is promoting agro-
processes affecting families. tourism initiatives for rural economic
development

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Sikkim Statehood Day: 16 May Dengue:
 Sikkim statehood Day was observed o Dengue is a vector-borne

on 16 May. disease.
 Sikkim became the 22nd state of India o It is transmitted by the bite of
through the 36th Amendment Act in an Aedes mosquito infected
1975. with a dengue virus.
 In 2021, it is celebrating its 46th o Dengue fever is caused by any
foundation day. of four types of dengue virus
that are spread by
Sikkim: mosquitoes.
o It is a state in northeast India, o High fever, Headache, Pain in
bordering Bhutan, West muscles, bones, and joints are
Bengal, Tibet, and Nepal. some symptoms of Dengue.
o It is the least populous state World Hypertension Day 2021: 17
of India.
May
o It is the second smallest state
of India in terms of area.  World Hypertension Day is
celebrated every year on 17 May by
o Its capital is Gangtok. World Hypertension League (WHL).
o The Chief Minister of the state  The main aim of this day is to spread
is Prem Singh Tamang and awareness about high blood pressure
Governor is Ganga Prasad. among people across the world.
o The state animal of Sikkim is  The theme for World Hypertension
the Red Panda. Day 2021 is “Measure Your Blood
o Khangchendzonga National Pressure, Control It, Live Longer”.
Park – a UNESCO World  It was first celebrated in May 2005.
Heritage Site is located in
Sikkim.  Blood pressure is the force exerted
by circulating blood to the walls of
National Dengue Day: 16 May the arteries. Blood pressure range
120/80 mm Hg is considered to be
 Every year May 16 is observed as the normal.
National Dengue Day by the Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare. Hypertension:
 It is observed to spread awareness o Hypertension or high blood
about dengue among people. pressure is a serious condition
 It encourages governments and in which the blood pressure in
people to take necessary precautions the arteries increases.
against dengue.

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o It increases the risk of heart  The theme of 2021 is “Accelerating

attack, stroke, kidney failure, digital transformation in challenging
and blindness. times”.
6th UN Global Road Safety Week  It is being celebrated annually on 17

May since 1969.
2021: 17 to 23 May.
 It is observed as the anniversary of
 6th UN Global Road Safety Week the signing of the first International
(UNGRSW) is being held this year Telegraph Convention and the
from 17 to 23 May. creation of the International
 Streets for Life #Love30 is the theme Telecommunication Union.
for 6th UNGRSW. The theme calls for
30 km/h default speed limits at
places where people and vehicles
mix.
 One objective of the 6th UNGRSW is
to build momentum towards the
launch of the Global Plan for the
Decade of Action for Road Safety
2021-2030 in late 2021.
World AIDS Vaccine Day: May 18
 5th UNGRSW was held from 6-12 May
2019 with a focus on leadership for  World AIDS Vaccine Day is annually
road safety. observed all over the world on May
18.
 UNGRSW is a biennial global road
safety campaign hosted by WHO.  First World AIDS Vaccine Day was
First UNGRSW was held in 2007. celebrated on 18 May 1998.
World Telecommunication and  World AIDS Vaccine Day is celebrated
Information Society Day: 17 May to create awareness about AIDS and
the need for its vaccine.
 World Telecommunication and
Information Society Day is observed  Currently, there is no vaccine to curb
every year on 17 May. HIV. World AIDS Vaccine Day is also
known as HIV Vaccine Awareness
 It is celebrated to raise awareness Day.
about the use of the internet.
Internet help bridge the gap between  The full form of AIDS is Acquired
society and economies. Immunodeficiency Syndrome. It is a
viral disease.
 It is observed to highlight the
importance of communication in our  AIDS was first reported in the United
lives through various means of States in 1981 and has since spread
technology. to a worldwide epidemic.
 Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
is a global epidemic that infects

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humans and, with time, causes  Around 65 terrorist groups are active
Acquired Immunodeficiency in India with different agendas.
Syndrome (AIDS). AIDS damage the
immunity system of the body. International Tea
Day:21 May Tea
World Bee Day is observed on 20
May.
 World Bee Day is observed on 20 Celebrated each year on 21 Tea is a beverage made
May. from Camellia sinesis plant.
May. It is the day on which Anton
Jansa was born.
 Its purpose is to acknowledge the
Celebrated for the first time Most consumed drink of
role bees and other pollinators play in 2020. the world after water.
in the ecosystem. Anton Jansa is
known as the pioneer of beekeeping.
Aims to raise awareness Believed to have originated
 World Bee Day 2021 is the fourth about history and cultural in northeast India, north
and economic significance Myanmar and southwest
World Bee Day. 20th May was of tea all over the world. China.
proclaimed as World Bee Day in
2017.
International Day of Biodiversity: 22
 On World Bee Day 2021, Food and May
Agriculture Organization (FAO)
organized a virtual event under the  International Day of Biodiversity is
theme “Bee engaged – Build Back observed every year on 22 May.
Better for Bees”.
 This year’s Biodiversity Day has been
Anti-Terrorism Day: 21 May celebrated under the theme "We're
part of the solution”.
 Every year Anti-Terrorism Day is
observed in India on 21 May.  22 May was proclaimed by the
United Nations as the International
 The day is celebrated to spread the Day for Biological Diversity to spread
message of peace and humanity and awareness about biodiversity issues.
to promote unity among the people.
 International Biodiversity Day was
 Apart from this, it is also observed as first observed in the year 2000.
the death anniversary of Rajiv
Gandhi.  The Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) was signed at the
 It was proposed by the V P Singh Earth Summit in 1992.
government after the assassination
of India’s Prime Minister Rajiv Commonwealth Day: 24 May
Gandhi.
 Commonwealth Day is annually
 As per the latest Global Terrorism celebrated in India on 24 May. It is
(GTI) 2020 report, South Asia is the celebrated in countries of Africa,
most impacted region by terrorism in Asia, the Caribbean and Americas,
the world. the Pacific, and Europe.

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 Commonwealth Day is observed to prevalence of thyroid-related

mark the birth anniversary of Queen disorders.
Victoria, who was born on May 24,
 Thyroid disease is caused due to
1819.
dysfunctionality in the thyroid gland.
 Initially, it was celebrated as Empire
 World Thyroid Day was first observed
Day, but in 1958 it was renamed
in 2008 by the American Thyroid
Commonwealth Day.
Association (ATA) and the European
 The theme of Commonwealth Day Thyroid Association (ETA).
2021 is ‘Delivering a Common
 “Mother-Baby-Iodine: The
Future’.
Importance of Iodine on the Woman
Commonwealth Nations: and her Baby” is the theme of World
Thyroid Day (WTD) 2021.
o It is a political organization of
54 countries. Thyroid gland:
o Most of the countries in this o The thyroid gland is a

were colonies of the British butterfly-shaped organ
Empire. located at the base of the
neck.
o It was established in 1931.
o It secretes Triiodothyronine
o It is headquartered in London.
(T3) hormone, peptide
hormone, and the Thyroxine
World Turtle Day 2021 hormone (T4) in the body.
o Thyroid problems arise when
the thyroid gland produces
World Turtle Day is observed on 23 more or less hormones.
May.
World Hunger Day: 28 May

•It is an initiative by the Hunger Project to
The theme for this year’s World Turtle advocate for sustainable solutions to hunger
Day is “Turtles Rock!” and poverty.
•The Hunger Project started it in 2011.
•This year, World Hunger Day is focused on
Access Ends Hunger.
It was started by the American
Tortoise Rescue (ATR) in 1990.
The Hunger Project

•It is an organization for sustainable end of
world hunger.
•It was founded in 1977.
World Thyroid Day 2021: May 25 •It is headquartered in New York.
 World Thyroid Day is observed every

year on 25 May in India.
 The main aim of this day is to spread
awareness and reduce the

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International Day of UN territory by the 12th Constitutional

Peacekeepers: 29 May Amendment Act 1962.
 On 30 May 1987, Goa was made a
International Day of UN Peacekeepers state. Daman and Diu was made a
separate union territory in 1987.
•Observed annually on 29 May to recognize
the contribution of uniformed and civilian  In past, Goa was known by other
personnel to peacekeeping.
names such as Gomanchala,
•Theme for International Day of UN
Peacekeepers 2021 is "The road to a lasting Gopakapattam, Gopakapuri,
peace: Leveraging the power of youth for Govapuri, Gomantak.
peace and security."
•To mark the Day, a virtual ceremony was held  Goa is located on the western coast
at which Corporal Yuvraj Singh, Ivan Michael of the Indian Peninsula. Terekhol
Picardo and Mulchand Yadav were awarded
Dag Hammarskjold medal. River runs in its north and separates
Goa from Maharashtra. Its main
towns are Panaji, Margao, Vasco,
 Three Indian peacekeepers are
Mapusa and Ponda.
among 129 military, police and
civilian personnel honoured with Dag  Goa:
Hammarskjold medal.
o Goa is a state in western
 Corporal Yuvraj Singh, Ivan Michael India, and its coastline
Picardo and Mulchand Yadav were stretches along the Arabian
awarded Dag Hammarskjold medal. Sea.
 At the virtual ceremony, The Military o The Chief Minister of the state
Gender Advocate of the Year award is Pramod Sawant and
was presented to Steplyne Nyaboga, Governor Bhagat Singh
a Kenyan peacekeeper. Last year, Koshyari.
Major Suman Gawani of India was
o The capital of Goa is Panaji
honoured with this award.
o The state bird of Goa is Flame
 The United Nations Military Gender
Throated Bulbul, State Animal
Advocate of the Year Award was
Gaur and State Tree Matti.
created in 2016 to recognize the
efforts of an individual military World No Tobacco Day: 31 May
peacekeeper in promoting the
principles of UN Security Resolution  World No Tobacco Day is observed
1325. every year on 31 May. It is observed
to spread awareness about the
Statehood Day of Goa: 30 May dangers of using tobacco.
 30 May is the statehood day of Goa.  The main objective of the day is to
Goa was conferred statehood on 30 bring global attention towards
May 1987. tobacco epidemic and the
preventable death and disease it
 In 1961, Goa, along with Daman and causes.
Diu, was acquired from the
Portuguese. They were made union

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 World Health Assembly had started  Electric cars sale increased in 2020
the World No Tobacco Day by passing despite the contraction in the
a resolution in 1987. automobile sector. In the first
quarter of 2021, the sale of electric
 According to WHO, tobacco use kills
cars is almost two and a half times
more than 8 million people around higher than the first quarter of 2020.
the world each year.
 Many countries government is
 Around 70 percent of tobacco users
promoting the low and zero-emission
lack access to the tools for quitting cars through subsidy. These cars will
Tobacco.
help in tackling the problem of air
 The theme of this year’s World No pollution.
Tobacco Day is ‘Quit tobacco to be a  The United Kingdom has announced
winner’.
to stop selling diesel and petrol
 The nicotine present in tobacco (gasoline) cars by 2030.
causes cardiovascular and respiratory
Network of qualified experts,
diseases.
counsellors and psychologists
MISCELLANEOUS providing toll free tele counselling
Globally electric vehicles numbers service.
will reach up to 145 million by end of
 Network of qualified experts,
the decade. counsellors and psychologists is
 According to International Energy providing toll free tele counselling
Agency, the number of electric service under the name of
vehicles will reach up to 145 million SAMVEDNA.
by 2030.  Sensitizing Action on -Mental Health
 As per the IEA’s Global Electric Vulnerability through Emotional
Vehicle Outlook, the number of Development and Necessary
electric vehicles can reach up to 230 Acceptance is the full form of
million if governments push their SAMVEDNA.
efforts to meet their climate target.  The aim of SAMVEDNA is to provide
 These electric vehicle numbers don’t emotional support to children in
include the two- and three-wheeled quarantine, isolation or at COVID
electric vehicles. care centres.
 Around 3 million new electric cars  It also focuses on children whose

were registered last year, which is an parents or family members are
increase of 41% compared to last infected. It also focusses on children
year. who have lost their parents due to
COVID.
 At present, about 10 million electric
cars are running on the road around  National Commission for Protection
the world. of Child Rights (NCPCR) had first
launched a tele-counselling
psychology first aid facility.
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 NCPCR has now asked state center. It will also provide

authorities to re-circulate information about their working
information about tele-counselling hours of operation.
facility at COVID care centres and
 It will also display walk-in options for
isolation facilities.
45 years and above people and also
World’s longest pedestrian provide a link to register on the
suspension bridge opened in Cowin portal. It will be available in 17
languages.
Portugal.
 Facebook has also joined hands with
 The world’s longest pedestrian
many NGOs to provide oxygen
suspension bridge opened in Portugal
concentrators and other life-saving
on 29th April. It has been opened in
equipment to COVID patients.
Arouca in northern Portugal.
 It is a 516-meter-long bridge over the Facebook:
Paiva River. It is located in UNESCO-
o It is an American online social
recognised Arouca Geopark.
media and Social networking
 It will encourage people to live in this company.
region.
o It was founded by Mark
Portugal: Zuckerberg in 2004.
o It is located in south-western
California, United States.
Europe.
o It is the westernmost country 100 million years old Dinosaur’s
of Europe. bones found in Meghalaya.
o It is the oldest country in  Researchers have found fossil bones
Europe. of sauropod dinosaurs in Meghalaya.
It is around 100 million years old.
o António Costa is the current
Prime Minister of Portugal.  It is the first evidence of the
sauropod dinosaur’s origin in this
o Lisbon is the Capital of
region. Sauropods have very long
Portugal and Euro is the
necks, long tails, small heads, and
currency of Portugal.
four pillar-like legs.
Facebook launches vaccine finder  Meghalaya is the fifth state after
tool for India. Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu, where
 Facebook has partnered with the bones of sauropod dinosaurs were
Indian government to launch a found in India.
vaccine finder tool on its mobile app
in India.  The bones were found during
fieldwork in 2019-2020 and 2020-21.
 It will help people in finding the The largest bone preserved is 55
location of a nearby vaccination centimeters (cm) long.

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CBSE launched ‘Dost for Life’ mobile  It is a road construction agency under
app for students and parents. the Ministry of Defence. Its main aim
is to provide connectivity to border
 Central Board of Secondary areas.
Education (CBSE) has launched the
 It is responsible for constructing and
‘Dost for Life’ mobile app for
maintaining the road along Northern
students and parents.
and Western frontiers.
 It has been launched for the
 It has also constructed roads in many
psychological counselling of students
neighboring countries of India like
of classes 9 to 12 and Parents.
Bhutan, Myanmar, Afghanistan, etc.
 CBSE will organize live counselling
 On this occasion, Director General
sessions thrice a week by trained
Lieutenant General Rajeev Chaudhary
counselors.
said that this year 75 infrastructure
 The App will also provide information projects would be dedicated to the
to students on suggestive course nation under the vision of Azadi ka
guides after 10+2 and on mental Amrut Mahotsav.
health.
Border Roads Organisation (BRO):
Central Board of Secondary
Education (CBSE): o It was formed on 7 May 1960.
o It is headquartered in New
o It is a national level board of
Delhi.
education in India for public
and private schools. o Rajeev Chaudhary is the
current Director-General of
o It works under the Ministry of
BRO.
Education.
o Manoj Ahuja is the current Kami Rita Sherpa climbed Mt Everest
chairman of CBSE. for the 25th time.
Border Roads Organisation  Nepali climber Kami Rita Sherpa
celebrated its 61st Raising Day. climbed Mt Everest for the 25th time.
He breaks his own record of climbing
Mt Everest maximum number of
times.
 Kami Rita Sherpa had climbed Mt
Everest for the first time in 1994. He
climbed the world’s highest peak for
the 24th time in 2019.
 Border Roads Organisation  Edmund Hillary of New Zealand and

celebrated its 61st Foundation Day on Tenzing Norgay of Nepal were the
7 May. first people to climb Mt Everest in
1953.

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 Junko Tabei of Japan was the first  Go Airlines was launched in 2005 and
woman to reach Mount Everest in it currently owns a market share of
1975. more than 9.5 percent in India.
Mt. Everest lies on the crest of the  It will now focus on the ultra-low-cost
Great Himalayas on the border carrier (ULCC) model.
between Nepal and Tibet
 Kaushik Kohna is the CEO of the Go
autonomous region. It is the highest
First.
mountain in the world.
National Gallery of Modern Art
‘Miyon ka Bara’ station in Rajasthan launched Audio-Visual Guide App.
renamed as Mahesh Nagar.
 On the occasion of International
 The name of ‘Miyon ka Bara’ railway Museums Day 2021, the National
station in Rajasthan has been Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) has
renamed, Mahesh Nagar. launched the Audio-Visual Guide
 Earlier, the name of the ‘Miyon ka App.
Bara’ village had been renamed  The app will enable museum viewers
Mahesh Nagar in 2018. to listen to anecdotes and stories
 The name of the Villages, Cities, and related to the Indian modern art
Railway station is approved by the exhibited at the Gallery.
Ministry of Home Affairs after the  It has been launched to provide a
proposal was passed by the state better way of viewing the museum to
authorities. visitors.
 Home Ministry has approved 52  International Museums Day is
proposals of name changes between observed every year on 18 May.
2017 to 2020.
National Gallery of Modern Art:
 Recently renamed Railway stations:
Old Name New Name o It was founded in 1954.

Allahabad Junction Prayagraj Junction o It is the premier art gallery
Dandupur railway Maa Barahi Devi under the Ministry of Culture.
station Dham
Manduadih railway Banaras o It has a collection of art of
station more than 2000 artists.
Go Airlines rebrand itself as ‘Go First’. Reliance Jio to construct largest
 The Wadia group backed Go Airlines international submarine cable
has rebranded itself as ‘Go First’. system.
 Go Airlines has taken this step just  Reliance Jio will construct the largest
before issuing an initial public offer international submarine cable system
(IPO) of Rs 3,600 crore. in India.

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 Reliance Jio will complete this project Supreme Court committee

in partnership with many global releases manual for e-Courts
partners and submarine cable
Mobile services app.
suppliers.
 It will construct Asia-Xpress (IAX) and  The E-Committee of the Supreme
Court has released a manual for
India-Europe-Xpress (IEX) cable
the "e-Courts Services Mobile
systems for providing better
app" in 14 languages.
connectivity.
 The manual has been released in
 India-Asia-Xpress (IAX will connect
English and other regional
India to Singapore, Thailand and
languages.
Malaysia, while India-Europe-Xpress
(IEX) will connect India to the Middle  The “e-Courts Services Mobile
East and Europe. app” has been launched by
 These submarine cable systems will Supreme Court for providing e-
provide a capacity of 200 Tbps. It will Courts services to Litigants,
be used for connecting countries for Citizens, Lawyers, Police,
the flow of internet and telecom Government Agencies, and other
services. Institutional Litigants.
 IAX will be constructed by mid-2023  People can access the

information about the case status
and the IEX system will be ready for
service by early 2024. and court orders through this e-
Courts services mobile app. The
 These two systems will also be App acts as a personalized digital
connected to the Reliance Jio Global case diary for an individual.
Fiber Network.
 It will help in making the legal
 Reliance Jio is a completely owned system more efficient, inclusive,
subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd accessible, and environmentally
(RIL). sustainable.
Supreme Court:
o It was established on 28
January 1950.
o It is the apex court of
India. At present, it has 34
Judges.
o Nuthalapati Venkata
Ramana is the 48th Chief
Justice of India.

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Randeep Hooda removed as the Indian Broadcasting Foundation:

ambassador of Convention on
o It was formed in 1999.
Migratory Species.
o Indian Broadcasting
 Actor Randeep Hooda has been Foundation is the apex body
removed as the ambassador of the of broadcasters and OTT
Convention on Migratory Species operators.
(CMS).
 He has been removed as ambassador India to launch mobile tech platform
after a video went viral where he was for UN peacekeepers
making a joke on the former Uttar
 India will launch a mobile tech
Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati.
platform for improving the security of
 In February 2020, he was appointed the United Nations Peacekeeper. The
as ambassador of the Convention for name of this mobile platform has
the Conservation of Migratory been given as 'Unite Aware'.
Species of Wild Animals (CMS).  ‘UNITE AWARE’ platform will provide
terrain-related information to United
Convention on the Conservation of Nations Peacekeepers.
Migratory Species of Wild Animals:  It has been developed by India in
collaboration with the UN
o It is also known as Bonn
Department of Peacekeeping
Convention.
Operations and the Department of
o It is an environmental treaty Operational Support.
for the conservation and  Recently, India has been elected as a
sustainable use of migratory non-permanent member of the
animals and their habitats. Security Council. India will preside
over the UN Security Council in
o It was signed in 1979 under August 2021.
the United Nations
 India is one of the largest
Environment Programme.
contributors to the UN peacekeeping
Indian Broadcasting Foundation to be force. India has sent more than
250,000 troops for 49 missions over
renamed as Indian Broadcasting and the years.
Digital Foundation.  UN peacekeepers comprise soldiers
and military officers, police officers,
 The renaming of the Indian
and civilian personnel from many
Broadcasting Foundation has been
countries.
done to bring broadcasters and OTT
(over-the-top) platforms under one  UN peacekeepers provide security
roof. and peacebuilding support to
countries transiting from conflict to
 Indian Broadcasting and Digital peace.
Foundation will form a subsidiary to
handle all matters related to digital
media.

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PREPARE ONLINE FOR SSC,RAILWAYS,

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

CONTENTS Summits/ Conferences/ Meetings ........................... 54

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

GOVERNMENT SCHEMES AND INITIATIVES o AROG (SIDBI Assistance to

 Total 12 thousand crore rupees were  The Ministry of Food Processing

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

ACC Battery Storage” to achieve  The money will be transferred

Eighth Installment of PM Kisan

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

 It was established in 2014.

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Unsung Heroes, Freedom Fighters,

Government launched YUVA - Prime Government gives permission for

 It has been launched to promote  Telecommunication companies will

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

Ministry of Power decides to set up

o To consider regulatory issues  Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID)

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

o It is an electronic toll Department of Atomic Energy to

 The NDRF academy was established  Radioactive isotopes are used in

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

National AI Portal: Delhi government announces free

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

•CCI was established with effect from 14 October 2003

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Netherlands- to invite US, Canada

Group of Seven (G7): German regulator bans Facebook

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

o Its headquarters is located in Moctar Ouane reappointed as Prime

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

 Both country’s leaders also agreed on increased. Around 3,795 incidents of

o Khaltmaagiin Battulga is the  The Gaza-based Palestinian group,

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

Israel and Hamas have claimed Covid vaccines producing companies

India and Israel signed a three-year

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

Anatole Collinet Makosso becomes

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

Bashar Al-Assad becomes president

3. One of the farthest star galaxies in

 Astrosat, India’s first multi-wavelength

lower of the House of o Its capital is Kathmandu and