EXCLUSIVE MAY 2019 GA Refresher - bsc4success.com · live.bscacademy.com mailto:[email protected] It will bear the signature of RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das. The dimensions of

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EXCLUSIVE MAY 2019 GA Refresher

Banking & Economy

SBI’s new interest rate

The State Bank of India, in a first, starts linking its loan and deposit rates for large accounts to the

Reserve Bank of India (RBI’s) repo rate from 1 May.

The new interest rate plan applies only to savings accounts deposits with a balance over Rs 1 lakh and

short-term loans. While this rule is expected to make loans cheaper, some SBI customers will see the

interest rate on their savings bank account dip.

Indian banks have hitherto finalised their loan interest rates by following a system of internal

benchmarks, including Prime Lending Rate (PLR), Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR), Base

rate and Marginal Cost of Funds based Lending Rate (MCLR).

But in Mar, the country’s largest bank had announced that it would be linking its savings deposits rates

and short-term loans to the RBI’s repo rate from May 1 with an aim to ensure faster monetary

transmission.

RBI enhances loan limits

The Reserve Bank of India has decided to enhance the housing loan limits for Regional Rural Banks

(RRBs) and Small Finance Banks (SFBs) for eligibility under priority sector lending, in a bid to give

them a level-playing field with other Scheduled Commercial Banks.

Henceforth, housing loans given by RRBs and SFBs to individuals up to Rs 35 lakh in metropolitan

centres (with population of 10 lakh and above) and Rs 25 lakh in other centres, provided the overall cost

of the dwelling unit in the metropolitan centres and at other centres does not exceed Rs 45 lakh and Rs

30 lakh, respectively, will be eligible for classification under priority sector lending.

In its notification, the RBI said the existing family income limit of Rs 2 lakh per annum, prescribed in

the master direction for RRBs and the compendium for SFBs, eligible for loans to housing projects

exclusively for the purpose of construction of houses for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) and

Low-Income Groups (LIG), has been revised to Rs 3 lakh per annum for EWS and Rs 6 lakh per annum

for LIG.

This is in alignment with the income criteria specified under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.

SIDBI’s pilot scheme

To give a fillip to digital lending, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has put

together a pilot scheme to extend financial assistance of up to Rs 10 cr to new-age fintech non-banking

finance companies (NBFCs) engaged in financing small businesses and other income-generating

activities.

Fintech NBFCs are digital loan companies which leverage information technology to provide fast and

convenient access to funding.

To be eligible for funding assistance, RBI-registered new-age fintech NBFCs have to meet the following

prescribed parameters:

minimum capital risk-weighted assets ratio of 15 per cent

non-performing assets less than or equal to 4 per cent

minimum net-owned fund (NOF) of Rs 20 cr

minimum asset size of Rs 50 cr

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at least two audited annual reports

positive net worth and leverage ratio within 5:1

The Lucknow-headquartered Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has set the

exposure cap for lending to a single new-age fintech NBFC at 30 per cent of NOF of the new-age

fintech NBFC, subject to maximum cap of Rs 10 cr.

The development bank will charge minimum upfront fee of 0.075 per cent to 0.25 per cent of the

sanctioned assistance, plus applicable taxes.

SIDBI was set up in 1990 under an Act of Indian Parliament to act as the principal financial institution

for promotion, financing and development of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector,

as well as for co-ordination of functions of institutions engaged in similar activities.

Penalty on PPI issuers

The RBI has imposed penalty aggregating Rs 6.10 cr on five Prepaid Payment Instrument (PPI)

issuers – My Mobile Payments, PhonePe, Y-Cash Software Solutions, Vodafone m-pesa, and GI

Technology – for non-compliance with regulatory guidelines.

The RBI also imposed a penalty of Rs 29,66,959 and Rs 10,11,653 on Western Union Financial Services

Inc, USA, and MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc, USA, for non-compliance of regulatory guidelines.

These penalties have been imposed in exercise of the powers vested in RBI under the provisions of

Section 31 of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007 for compounding of the contraventions.

IndusInd Bank adds 2% on NCLT nod for merger with BFIL

Shares of IndusInd Bank added nearly 2 per cent intraday on Apr 24 after National Company Law

Tribunal (NCLT) reportedly approved merger with Bharat Financial Inclusion (BFIL).

According to a report in The Economic Times, the merger will be completed within 2-4 weeks.

Post-merger, BFIL will become a subsidiary of the private lender.

The share of the bank touched its 52-week high of Rs 2,037.90 and 52-week low of Rs 1,333.90 on Aug

3, 2018 and Oct 31, 2018, respectively.

At 1259 hrs, IndusInd Bank was quoting at Rs 1686.75, up 1.94 per cent on the BSE.

RBI first to ease rate

The Reserve Bank of India is the first central bank in the Asia-Pacific region to begin an explicit

interest rate easing cycle buoyed by benign food inflation and easier global financial condition, Fitch

Ratings has said.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by RBI Govenor Shaktikanta Das, cut rates in Feb

and Apr, citing prospects of benign inflation.

In the four months of 2019, the RBI has cut policy interest rates twice by 0.25 per cent each to one-year

low of 6 per cent.

This is the first back-to-back rate cut since the MPC was formed in late 2016. Inflation at 2.9 per cent

has remained within the RBI’s comfort zone of 4 per cent (+/- 2 per cent).

Fitch has a ‘BBB-’, the lowest investment grade rating on India, with a stable outlook.

New Rs 20 banknotes

The Reserve Bank of India has announced to issue banknotes of Rs 20 denomination in the Mahatma

Gandhi (new) series.

Highlights

The new Rs 20 note will feature a portrait of Mahatma Gandhi on the front and a motif of the Ellora

caves on the back.

The RBI said the base colour of the note is greenish yellow.




It will bear the signature of RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das.

The dimensions of the bank note will be 6.3 cm by 12.9 cm.

All the banknotes in the denomination of Rs 20 issued by the Reserve

Bank in the earlier series will continue to be legal tender.

The govt has said it will introduce Rs 20 coins shaped like a 12-edged

polygon with “design of grains to depict the country’s agricultural

dominance”.

SBI’s ‘Green Car Loan’

The State Bank of India has announced the country’s first ‘Green Car

Loan’ (Electric Vehicle) to encourage customers to buy electric

vehicles.

The new scheme will offer loan at 20 basis points lesser than the

interest rate on the existing car loan schemes.

The SBI Green Car Loan (Electric Vehicle) scheme, which comes with

the longest repayment period of up to eight years, is a strategic

inclusion to the bank’s auto loan segment offered with zero processing fee for the first six months of the

launch.

ICRA downgrades Yes Bank

The rating agency ICRA has downgraded the long-term rating of private sector lender Yes Bank with

negative outlook after the lender reported significant increase in below investment grade advances,

which could impact the bank’s profitability in the coming quarters.

Yes Bank reported its first-ever quarterly loss of Rs 1,506 cr during the Jan-Mar period.

The rating downgrade also factors in the further weakening in YBL’s core equity (CET-I) capital

cushions because of the voluntary provisions and consequent losses in Q4 FY2019.

Kotak’s new e-mandate

Kotak Mahindra Bank has announced the launch of an industry-first debit card-based authentication

solution on NPCI’s e-Mandate API platform.

Kotak becomes the first Destination Bank to go live with Net Banking and Debit Card-based e-mandate

authentication.

The capability will enable its customers to create electronic mandates (similar to the erstwhile eNACH

with Aadhaar + OTP) via both the Debit Card and Net Banking channels.

This allows Kotak to go live as a sponsor or acquirer bank for corporates and merchants seeking

recurring payments.

E-Mandates have a number of advantages over physical mandates, most notably in terms of security,

costing, operational efficiency and turnaround time.

RBI sells stakes

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that it has divested its entire stake in Nabard and National

Housing Bank (NHB) for Rs 20 cr and Rs 1,450 cr, on 26 Feb and 19 Mar, respectively. Nabard is

short for National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development.

The divestment was based on the recommendations of the Narasimham Committee-II, and the

discussion paper prepared by the central bank on harmonizing the role and operations of development

financial institutions and banks.

With this, the govt of India now holds 100 per cent stake in both the financial institutions. The

divestment in Nabard was done in two phases.

RBI held 72.5 per cent of equity in Nabard amounting to Rs 1,450 cr. RBI held 100 per cent in NHB.



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Govt raises authorised capital

The state-owned Allahabad Bank has said that the govt has increased its authorised capital by Rs 5,000

cr to Rs 8,000 cr.

The central govt after consultation with the Reserve Bank of India has increased the authorised capital of

the bank through Gazette Notification.

The increase in authorised capital will enable the bank to raise further fund up to a maximum ceiling of

Rs 8,000 cr.

The authorized capital of a company is the maximum amount of share capital that the company is

authorized by its constitutional documents to issue to shareholders.

Part of the authorized capital can remain unissued. The authorized capital can be changed with

shareholders’ approval.

WhatsApp payment service

WhatsApp on 3 May told the Supreme Court that it is conducting a trial run of its payment service and

will comply with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) norms on data localisation before launching the full

service.

The trial run is likely to be completed by Jul 2019.

A bench of Justices RF Nariman and Vineet Saran was hearing a plea filed by a non-govtal organisation

(NGO), Centre for Accountability and Systemic Change (CASC), which has claimed that WhatsApp has

not fully complied with RBI’s circular which prescribed data localisation norms.

The Centre and WhatsApp had earlier told the court that a grievance officer for India has been appointed

by the instant messaging service company.

HDFC ties up with IMGC

The housing finance major HDFC Limited has partnered with the India Mortgage Guarantee

Corporation (IMGC) to offer a mortgage-guaranteed home loan product.

The partnership aims to make it possible for HDFC to further penetrate the home loan market and access

an enlarged customer base, helping them to own a home of their choice.

This partnership will also help HDFC to support the govt of India’s mission under the Prime Minister

AwasYojana Scheme (PMAY) to provide housing for all by 2022.

Mortgage guarantee or mortgage insurance, as it is known in some markets, is well established in the

US, Australia and Canada with market penetration of 15% in the US and 22% in Canada.

Paytm, Ola launch cards

Indian internet platforms across the wider e-commerce space have entered the race for large scale

customer data acquisition with the launch of Ola and Paytm’s credit cards.

While Paytm rolled out its co-branded credit card in association with Citibank on May 14, Ola launched

a similar credit card in association with State Bank of India on May 16.

The newly launched Ola Money SBI Credit Card, for instance, will offer cash-back discounts and

rewards which will be instantly credited to the users’ accounts in the form of Ola Money.

This can then be redeemed against Ola rides, flight and hotel bookings, with lifetime validity.

Paytm’s Paytm First Credit Card, in collaboration with Citibank, will offer a universal 1 per cent

unlimited cashback with no restrictions on rewards for any transaction.

Vijay Shekhar Sharma, chairman and CEO of One97 Communications, parent firm of Paytm, pointed

out that the offering should increase payments flexibility for Paytm users, and will help spur large-ticket

cashless payments.

RBI’s vision document




The Reserve Bank of India has released a vision document for ensuring a safe, secure, convenient, quick

and affordable e-payment system.

The move comes as the apex bank expects the number of digital transactions to increase more than four

times to 8,707 cr in Dec 2021.

According to RBI release on 15 May the ‘Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision 2019 -

2021’, with its core theme of ‘Empowering Exceptional E-payment Experience’, envisages to achieve

“a highly digital and cash-lite society” through the goal posts of competition, cost-effectiveness,

convenience and confidence (4Cs).

The bank will implement the approach outlined in this Vision during the period 2019 - 2021.

The approach of the RBI will continue to be of minimal intervention in the pricing of charges to

customers for digital payments, all efforts will be made towards facilitating the operation of payment

systems which are efficient and price-attractive.

Indian Bank posts loss

The public sector Indian Bank has registered a loss of Rs 189.77 cr in the fourth quarter of 2018-19.

Its Chairperson and Managing Director of the bank Padmaja Chunduru unveiled the bank’s annual

financial results on 14 May in Chennai, the bank’s headquarters.

The net profit has turned negative due to two corporate loans turning into NPAs for which no

provisioning has been made earlier.

The global business of the bank has exceeded Rs 4.3 lakh cr, registering a sixteen per cent rise.

SBI back in black

The State Bank of India on 10 May said its balance sheet has been fully repaired in FY2019 even as it

recorded a turnaround performance in the fourth quarter.

The country’s largest bank reported a net profit of Rs 838 cr against a net loss of Rs 7,718 cr in the

same period the previous year.

It reported a substantial improvement in the asset quality, with lower fresh slippages and better

recoveries.

The profit in the reporting quarter came on the back of a 15 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) increase in

the net interest income (the difference between interest earned and interest expended) at Rs 22,954 cr

and lower loan-loss provisions of Rs 17,336 cr (down 28 per cent Y-o-Y).

Bank to raise fund via QIP

Allahabad Bank is looking to raise close to Rs 1,200 cr through Qualified Institutional Placement

(QIP) this fiscal.

According to SS Mallikarjuna Rao, MD and CEO, the bank will have to raise capital of close to Rs

4,500 cr by Oct 2020 to bring down the promoter (Govt of India) holding to 75 per cent, from the

present 92 per cent.

The QIP is likely to bring down the govt holding by 7-8 basis points by the end of this fiscal. Allahabad

Bank, which recently came out of the Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework of the Reserve

Bank of India, is expecting to turn profitable by the first quarter of this fiscal.

The bank is hopeful of registering an operating profit of close to Rs 750-800 cr in the first quarter.

Healthy oceans action plan

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has launched the Action Plan for Healthy Oceans and

Sustainable Blue Economies for the Asia and Pacific region.

The action plan will support ADB’s developing member-countries to achieve the Sustainable

Development Goals, including Life Below Water.




At the just concluded Annual Meeting of ADB’s Board of Governors in Nadi, Fiji, the ADB President

Takehiko Nakao said that the prosperity of our region depends on healthy oceans and sustainable

development.

The plan will expand financing and technical assistance for ocean health and marine economy projects

to $5 bn from 2019 to 2024, including co-financing from partners.

Ocean ecosystems have been pushed to the brink of collapse by the threats of climate change, pollution,

and illegal and unregulated fishing, among others.

ECBs hit five-year high

The External commercial borrowing (ECB) touched a historic high in 2018-19.

Indian entities, primarily led by large corporates and oil marketing companies (OMCs), borrowed as

much as $41 bn during the financial year, registering a 58 per cent increase from the previous year’s

tally of $26 bn.

The earlier high was $31 bn, achieved in 2014-15.

Rising interest rates, tight liquidity conditions in the domestic market, cautious lending by risk-wary

domestic lenders and diversification of borrowing sources are some of the major reasons for the spike in

the ECB.

The Reserve Bank of India’s recent forex swaps to boost domestic liquidity also helped, as it resulted in

lower hedging costs.

Risks to fiscal consolidation

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that farm loan waivers and income support schemes are

increasing risks to fiscal consolidation of the states.

The remarks were made during a meeting between the members of the 15th Finance Commission and

the RBI senior officials, including governor Shaktikanta Das and the deputy governors, at the central

bank headquarters in Mumbai.

A statement from the RBI said that the central bank, in its presentation, listed out the specific factors that

will drive fiscal slippages in the revised estimates of FY19.

BSE launches mobile app

The leading stock exchange BSE on 15 May said it has launched ‘BSE StAR MF’ app to enable more

participation and help mutual fund distributors process transactions faster.

“BSE StAR MF mobile app supports real-time client registration and paperless transactions, creates and

uploads mandate for Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs), generates the basket of multiple orders,

tracks and allows the distributor to analyse his business at his fingertips.

The launch of the app would further provide comfort of doing business to its 24,000 members.

Sebi reduces requirement

The markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has reduced the minimum

subscription requirement as well as defined trading lots for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)

and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs).

REITs have to offer their units in lots worth at least Rs 50,000 in initial and follow on public offers.

The minimum value of a single lot should be Rs 1 lakh in the case of InvITs.

Sebi norms pertaining to REITs and InvITs were amended on 22 Apr.

The amendments are aimed at providing flexibility to the issuers in terms of fundraising and increasing

the access of these investment vehicles to investors.

Further, leverage limit for InvITs has been increased to 70% from current 49%.

LIC’s ‘Udyam’ centre

The LIC Housing Finance (LIC HFL) has launched ‘Udyam’, a skilling centre in Bengaluru.




It was launched in association with Lok Bharti Education Society, the implementing partner.

It is a part of LIC HFL’s corporate social responsibility (CSR), where, along with the implementing

partner, it will skill the youth to be enterprising for livelihood.

Centres of Excellence (CoE) have been launched in Delhi and Bengaluru, and later on will expand to

other cities.

The Centres of Excellence will provide training to marginalised youth in the banking, financial

services and insurance (BFSI), retail, and IT/ Information Technology Enabled Services sectors.

Third largest FDI source

The Netherlands has emerged as the third largest foreign direct investor in India during 2017-18, with

investments pegged at about $2.67 bn across sectors.

The Netherlands was also the second largest destination for foreign investment by Indian companies,

after Singapore, with investments worth $12.8 bn in 2017.

The Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, and the Netherlands Business Support Office in

Hyderabad jointly organised the ‘Dutch-India Dialogue on Trade & Technology’ on 1 May in

connection with the National Day celebrations of the Netherlands. Marten van den Berg, the

Netherlands Ambassador to India said, “India and the Netherlands ties are growing stronger each day.

India is a key strategic partner for the Netherlands—both economically and geopolitically.”

Retail inflation picks up

According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation data released on 13 May, the

inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose marginally to 2.92 per cent in Apr 2019,

mainly due to the rise in food prices.

It was 2.86 per cent in Mar and 4.58 per cent in Apr 2018.

CPI-based inflation data is an important indicator of the economy as the Reserve Bank of India mainly

factors in it while arriving at its monetary policy.

WPI inflation falls

The Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based slipped to 3.07 per cent in Apr on cheaper fuel and

manufactured items.

It was at 3.18 per cent in Mar and 3.62 per cent in Apr 2018.

WPI Inflation in food articles hardened with steep rise in prices of vegetables during Apr.

Vegetables inflation was at 40.65 per cent in Apr, up from 28.13 per cent in the previous month.

IIP falls in Mar

India’s industrial output declined by 0.1 per cent in Mar, hitting a 21-month low, due to contraction in

manufacturing, capital goods and consumer durables.

Manufacturing, which constitutes 77.63% of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), shrank 0.4% in

the month.

The previous low for IIP was a 0.3% decline in Jun 2017.

According to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation data released on 10 May, During

the entire 2018-19 fiscal, industrial output witnessed a 3.6 per cent growth as against 4.4 per cent in the

previous fiscal.

AI-based automation solution

IBM India on 17 May announced that it has tied-up with HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company,

India’s third-largest non-life insurance provider in the private sector, to co-create new Artificial

Intelligence (AI)-based solutions.




Leveraging IBM Garage that uses data-driven insights to develop end-to-end strategies and solutions for

business transformation, teams from HDFC ERGO and IBM Services will work together to develop and

test new solutions.

This will help to better address customer queries, ensure faster turnaround time and draw deeper

customer insights for a better omni-channel experience.

Launch of ‘Webassurance’

Public sector lender Canara Bank and its life insurance partner Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of

Commerce Life Insurance on 27 Apr announced the launch of ‘Webassurance’.

Four life insurance products of Canara HSBC OBC Life would be made available to customers of

Canara Bank, covering the key needs of child future, savings and investments, retirement planning and

protection.

Canara Bank Managing Director and CEO RA Sankara Narayanan said, “There is a large and rapidly

growing section of our customers who are digitally savvy and prefer to engage online for their banking

requirements.

Canara HSBC OBC Life is jointly owned by two public sector banks Canara Bank (51 per cent) and

Oriental Bank of Commerce (23 per cent) and HSBC Insurance (Asia Pacific) Holdings (26 per cent),

the Asian insurance arm of banking and financial services groups HSBC.

GST collection at record high

The Goods and Service Tax (GST) collection in Apr touched an all-

time high of over Rs 1.13 lakh cr. This is the fifth time after the

introduction of the new indirect tax regime that the collection is above

Rs 1 lakh cr.

According to the Finance Ministry statement, the total gross GST

revenue collected for Apr, 2019 is Rs 1,13,865cr of which CGST

(Central Goods & Services Tax) is Rs 21,163 cr, SGST (State Goods &

Services Tax) is Rs 28,801 cr, IGST (Integrated Goods & Services Tax)

is Rs 54,733 cr (including Rs 23,289 cr collected on imports) and Cess

is Rs 9,168 cr (including Rs 1,053 cr collected on imports).

The total revenue earned by the central govt and the state govts after

regular and provisional settlement in Apr is Rs 47,533 cr for CGST and

Rs 50,776 cr for the SGST.

CBIC organises meeting

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC)

organised a meeting of the Regional Heads of Customs Administration of Asia Pacific Region of the

World Customs Organisation (WCO) in Kochi from 8th to 10th May, 2019.

India hosted this meeting in its capacity as Vice Chair of the Asia Pacific region that it assumed on 1 Jul,

2018 for a two-year period.

The meeting took stock of the progress being made in carrying forward the programmes and initiatives

of WCO to promote, facilitate and secure the cross-border trade in the region and the capacity building

and technical assistance required to achieve this goal.

Govt hikes customs duty

The govt has hiked the customs duty on wheat to 40 per cent from 30 per cent to curb imports and

protect the domestic industry.

The govt wants to restrict overseas purchase so that domestic prices of wheat do not come under

pressure as the country’s wheat output is expected to scale a record high this year.




The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), through a notification, has hiked the basic

customs duty (BCD) on wheat to 40 per cent.

The govt has fixed wheat’s minimum support price (MSP) or the price at which it buys from farmers,

at Rs 1,840 per quintal.

Trade deficit grows

India's trade deficit widened to a five-month high in Apr due to rise in crude oil imports coupled with

muted growth in export amid rising concerns over US-China trade war, govt data released on 15 May

shows.

The trade deficit, a gap between exports and imports, expanded to $15.33 bn in Apr 2019 as compared

to $13.72 bn in Apr 2018.

Though India’s overall exports - combining Merchandise and Services - in Apr 2019 is estimated to be

around 44 bn US dollars with a positive growth of 1.34 per cent over the Apr 2018.

Microsoft value touches $1 tn

Microsoft has reached a valuation of one tn dollars for the first time after posting a 19 per cent increase

in profits.

It makes the software giant only the third publicly-traded company in history to reach the threshold,

after Apple and Amazon passed it in 2018.

The two companies have since fallen in value and Microsoft is now the world’s largest listed company.

Microsoft continues the strong performance seen under boss Satya Nadella, who has spent the past five

years trying to lessen the firm’s reliance on its once-dominant Windows operating system.

Cryptocurrency Trading platform

BuyUcoin, which is the second oldest Cryptocurrency Exchange in India, announces the launch of a

new and unique platform for wholesale cryptocurrency trading which allows its users to trade on a large

scale with low price fluctuations.

The platform currently works on free trading model i.e. charges zero fee on any trade.

This new feature introduced by BuyUcoin will help to improve the liquidity of cryptocurrency in Indian

market and lead to quicker transaction, better prices and market stability.

The platform is aptly described and known as OTC (Over-the-counter) desk.

It is preferred by traders who deal with cryptocurrency in bulk and want to resist much price fluctuations

during the trade.

Sebi bars NSE

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has directed the National Stock Exchange (NSE)

to disgorge `625 cr, along with interest at 12 per cent per annum since 2014, for lapses at its co-location

(colo) facility, which allowed unfair access to certain brokers.

The regulator also barred the exchange for a period of six months from accessing the securities

market.

The markets regulator also came down heavily on NSE’s former managing directors (MDs) and chief

executive officers (CEOs) Ravi Narain and Chitra Ramkrishna, who were at the helm when the

exchange servers were exploited.




National News Green Number Plates

The govt had announced green number plates for all electric vehicles wherein the private electric

vehicles will get white lettering on a green background and commercial EVs will yellow lettering.

Now, the Central Govt has asked the state road transport departments to make green number plates

mandatory on all types of electric vehicles irrespective of them being brand new or used.

The govt says this will help distinguish green vehicles to provide easy identification for preferential

treatment in parking, free entry in congested zones besides other proposed benefits like concessional

toll.

Adding to this development, minister for road transport and highways, Nitin Gadkari has mentioned

that the exemption from permits will be a game changer as the restricted permit regime is a major

concern.

E-rickshaw growth is attributable to the permit exemption and there is scope to extend the exemption to

the e-buses, e-taxis, e-autos and e-bikes.

‘MERA India’ campaign

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has launched the ‘Malaria Elimination Research

Alliance (MERA) India’ - a conglomeration of partners working on malaria control - in order to

prioritise, plan and scale up research to eliminate the disease from India by 2030.

The principal activity of the alliance is to prioritise, plan, conduct, scale up and translate relevant

research in a coordinated and combinatorial way in order to have a tangible impact on the population

who are at risk of malaria.

Over the past two decades, India has made impressive progress in malaria control.

The malaria burden has declined by over 80 per cent, 2.03 mn cases in 2000 to 0.39 mn in 2018, and

malaria deaths by over 90 per cent, 932 deaths in 2000 to 85 in 2018.

The National Vector Borne Diseases Control Program (NVBDCP) of India has developed a

comprehensive framework to achieve the overarching vision of “Malaria free India by 2030”.

CEA in Advisory Council

The Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian has been included in the Advisory

Council of the 15th Finance Commission as its member. The Advisory Council was set up in Apr 2018 to advise the commission on any issue or subject related

to the terms of reference (ToR) of the commission, and also to assist in the preparation of any paper or

research study which would enhance the commission’s understanding on the issue contained in its ToR. The council now has 12 members, including Professor Pinaki Chakraborty, noted economists Surjit

Bhalla, Arvind Virmani, Indira Rajaraman and M Govinda Rao.

Economy slows down

The Finance Ministry has admitted that the economy ‘appears to have slowed down slightly in 2018-19’.

Until now the govt has been maintaining that there has been no economic slowdown.

In fact, various agencies have also lowered the growth projection for the current fiscal (2019-20).

The Department of Economic Affairs’ monthly economic report for Mar, published on May 1, has listed

reasons for the slowdown.

The proximate factors responsible for this slowdown include declining growth of private consumption,

tepid increase in fixed investment, and muted exports.

VAHAN data with riders




The big data generated by the Road Transport and Highway Ministry will no longer come free or

without riders.

The Ministry has become sensitive to misuse of such data and has said its vehicle database can only be

used by companies that are registered in India and at least 50 per cent Indian owned.

All such data accessed by companies will have to be stored in servers in India and monitored by security

auditors to prevent data leakage.

Companies using such data for commercial purpose will have to shell out Rs 3 cr, annually.

The Road Transport Ministry recently shaped a bulk data sharing policy and procedure – for sharing

data regarding vehicle registration from the VAHAN database – following a wide demand for such data

which can be used for varied purposes.

25 lakh tourists in 2018

India had issued over 25 lakh e-Visa in 2018, a five-fold jump from 2015, and reduced the main

category visa from 26 to 21.

The sub-categories of visa has been reduced from 104 to 65, thus rationalising and simplifying the visa

regime and removing confusion.

The number of e-Visas issued by the Bureau of Immigration, under the Home Ministry, has risen from

5.29 lakh in 2015 to 25.15 lakh last year.

On the other hand, the number of regular or paper visas issued by Indian missions abroad has come

down from 45 lakh to around 35 lakh in the same period.

The e-Visa facility now covers 166 countries and foreigners can obtain online visa within 72 hours for

travel related to tourism, business, health, medical attendant and conference purposes.

HC out rules pension scheme

The High Court of Kerala has declared that the introduction of Defined Contributory Pension

Scheme/New Pension Scheme (NPS) in State Bank of India ‘has no legal effect’.

State Banks’ Staff Union (SBSU), Kerala Circle, had argued in a petition that the introduction of the

scheme for members joining service on or after Aug 1, 2010, took away the right to get pension based

on the pension rule in vogue in SBI.

The SBI Act, 1955, does not empower its Central Board to amend the pension rules without due process

of law. Neither could this be done with retrospective effect.

An amendment can be brought in only in terms of the various provisions under Section 50 of the Act.

But Section 50(4) clearly states that every regulation shall, as soon as it is made by the Central Board, be

forwarded to the Centre, and lay a copy before each House of Parliament in session for a period of 30

days.

TreDS platform grows

The Trade Receivable Discounting System (TreDS), an online bill discounting platform that helps

cash-starved micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) raise funds by selling their trade

receivables to corporates, has been witnessing phenomenal growth over the last two years.

The concept of TReDS to facilitate the financing of trade receivables of MSMEs was introduced by the

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2014.

Accordingly, the RBI, in 2017, issued licence to three players: Receivables Exchange of India Ltd

(RXIL), a joint venture between Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and National

Stock Exchange of India Limited (NSE); Invoice mart, promoted by A Treds Ltd (a joint venture of Axis

Bank and mjunction services); and M1Xchange, promoted by Mynd Solutions Private Limited.

Airtel offers free cover




Bharti Airtel and HDFC Life Insurance have tied up to offer life cover for customers who get a

prepaid recharge done.

Airtel’s new Rs 249-prepaid bundle — which will include 2 GB data, unlimited calls across networks,

and 100 SMSes per day — will also offer a cover worth Rs 4 lakh from HDFC Life.

The recharge is valid for 28 days and the policy cover till recharge is active.

A customer needs to enroll for insurance after the first recharge through either an SMS, the My Airtel

App, or the retailer.

The policy will be available to all customers aged between 18-54, and requires no paperwork or medical

examination, except for a declaration of good health from the customer.

India has less than 4 per cent life insurance penetration, as on Jan 31.

Limit on weight of schoolbags

Children weighed down by schoolbags will finally get some relief.

The Karnataka govt has issued an order directing all schools in the State, including govt, aided and

unaided institutions, to ensure that the weight of a schoolbag is not more than 10% of the child’s weight.

As per the order, a bag of a student in Class 1 or 2 should weigh no more than 2 kg.

It can weigh anywhere between 2 and 3 kg for students from Class 3 to 5.

The prescribed weight increases progressively, with students in Class 9 and 10 allowed to carry bags in

the 4-5 kg range.

The order also states that students in Classes 1 and 2 should not be given any homework.

India bans LTTE

The Central Govt extended for five more years the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

(LTTE), a terror group that was behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

The ban has been extended under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. India had banned the

LTTE after the assassination of Gandhi in 1991.

The ban on the group was last extended for five years in 2014. The LTTE, based in Sri Lanka but having

its supporters, sympathisers and agents in India, came up in 1976.

ICMR develops test kit

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has developed an affordable test kit for diagnosing

common blood disorders such as severe Haemophilia A and Von Willebrand disease (VWD).

The cost-effective point-of-care (POC) rapid diagnostic test kit developed by the ICMR-National

Institute of Immunohaematology, Mumbai, is the world’s first POC test for specific diagnosis of any

common bleeding disorder.

It costs less than `50, while other existing diagnostic kits cost between `4,000 and `10,000.

India at the Arctic Council

India has been reelected to the Arctic Council.

The Arctic Council calls itself “the leading intergovernmental forum” for discussing and addressing

issues concerning the Arctic region, including scientific research, and peaceful and sustainable use of

resources in the region.

The Council was established by the eight Arctic States — the countries whose territories fall in the

Arctic region — through the Ottawa Declaration of 1996.

The eight Arctic States — Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United

States — are the only members of the Arctic Council. India, along with 12 other countries, is Observer

to the Arctic Council.




Global Drug Survey

A global survey of recreational drug use, which for the first time polled respondents from India, has

found that Indians — more than from other nationalities — are seeking help to reduce their alcohol

intake. Alcohol, tobacco and cannabis were the most common stimulants used by Indians.

Of the nearly 1,00,000 respondents from 30 countries, Indians reported ‘being drunk’ on an average of

41 times in the last 12 months — behind the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and Denmark in that order

but well above the global average of 33 times.

The Global Drug Survey (GDS) is an anonymised, online survey that uses a detailed questionnaire to

assess trends in drug use and self-reported harms among regular drug users and early adopters of new

trends.

SC’s verdict on NRC

The Supreme Court has ordered that an Assam Foreigners Tribunal’s decision on illegal foreigners

will be binding and that it will succeed the state govt decision on the inclusion or exclusion of a person

in the National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam.

Justice Sanjiv Khanna pronouncing the order said that principle of res judicata, a matter that the has

been adjudicated by a competent court and therefore may not be pursued further by the same parties,

will be applicable on the tribunal, and if somebody has been declared an illegal immigrant, then that

person under normal circumstances cannot challenge the decision.

Rohtang Pass reopened

In Himachal Pradesh, Rohtang Pass, the gateway to Lahaul and Spiti valley, was re-opened recently.

A large number of Lahaul residents, living in the Kullu-Manali area had a sigh of relief as they travel

through the Rohtang Pass to commute between Kullu and Lahaul valley.

Border Roads Organisation (BRO) said, despite all odds like heavy snowfall, landslides and rough

weather, it has been able to connect Lahaul valley with Manali through Rohtang Pass.

The district administration has restricted the movement of tourist vehicles towards the Pass for safety

reasons.

STATE News

Two states celebrate statehood days

Both the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra were formed after the Bombay Reorganisation Act, 1960 was

enacted by Parliament on 25 Apr 1960.

The act came into effect on 1 May 1960. Since then, the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra celebrate

their Foundation Day on 1 May.

The state of Bombay formerly comprised of speakers of different languages such as Marathi, Gujarati,

Konkani and Kutchi.

During the mid-1950s, a movement known as the Samyukta Maharashtra Andolan started demanding a

separate Marathi-speaking state while Mahagujarat Movement aimed at the formation of a state for

Gujarati-speaking people.

The protests and clashes came to an end in 1960 with the Bombay Reorganization Act.

Women in commando roles

The Chhattisgarh police have for the first time recruited 30 surrendered women Maoists into a

commando unit in Dantewada of Bastar region and have deployed them in Malangir.




But their deployment is not only for fighting. It is also a bid to lure Maoists women to join mainstream

forces.

This platoon of district reserve guard (DRG) named as “Danteshwari Ladake” (Danteshwari

fighters) are out for operation in the jungles of Malangir area committee of CPI (Maoist) in which the

BJP MLA, a Doordarshan journalist and about a dozen policemen were killed in last six months.

The DRGs are the front line fighters in Bastar and the recruits are mainly local tribals, surrendered

Maoists and former members of special police officers.

‘Fani’ batters Odisha

A deep depression over southeast Bay of Bengal developed into cyclonic storm ‘Fani’ which further

intensify into a “severe cyclonic storm”.

With wind storms gusting up to 175 kmph and incessant rains bringing down trees, power and

communications lines and thatched houses, cyclone Fani tore through the eastern coast in Odisha on 3

May leaving at least eight people dead and swamping towns and villages.

Fani, classified as an extremely severe cyclonic storm, made landfall in Puri, according to the India

Meteorological Department (IMD) even as the state govt evacuated, nearly 12 lakh people from about

10,000 villages and 52 urban agglomerations.

Drill for minerals

Arunachal Pradesh has asked the Geological Survey of India (GSI) to

explore the possibility of surveying and drilling for minerals along the

India-China border.

This follows reports of Beijing carrying out “massive” mining activities

very close to the border in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Arunachal Pradesh shares 1,126 km of the 3,488 km India shares with

China.

The GSI presented the status of mineral deposits in Arunachal Pradesh at

the meeting.

Data showed that the State has 35% of the total graphite reserves in India

– the highest in the country.

The GSI’s 2013 report, however, showed Arunachal Pradesh sits on 43%

of the country’s graphite resources followed by Jammu & Kashmir (37%),

Jharkhand (6%), Tamil Nadu (5%), and Odisha (3%), But in terms of

resources, Tamil Nadu led with 37% followed by Jharkhand with 30% and Odisha with 29%.

MoU for Rudraksh trees

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between National Mission for Clean Ganga, HCL

Foundation and INTACH for taking up a project of Plantation of Rudraksh Trees in Uttarakhand as a

part of CSR initiative under the Namami Gange Programme.

While the project aims at planting 10 thousand Rudraksh trees in the catchment area of river Ganga in

Uttarakhand in association with local community and other stakeholders, it will also help in generating

income for people residing in those areas.

24×7 shops a reality

The legislative Bill that proposed to amend Shops and Establishment Act and to allow shops across

Gujarat to function 24 hours was made effective from midnight 1 May, the foundation day of

Gujarat.

Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel announced this while adding that Gujarat will probably be the first

state in India to implement such a law.





The Bill was passed in the previous session of Gujarat Assembly and has now got the assent of President

Ram Nath Kovind. Implementing the Bill will allow various shops in the state to function 24 hours and

will generate more employment opportunities for youth.

The Bill allows women to work in night hours with their consent and with condition that the place of

employment has certain basic infrastructure with provisions for safety and security.

Drought advisory to states

With water storage in dams dropping to a “critical” level, the Centre has issued a “drought advisory” to

Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, asking them to

use water judiciously.

The drought advisory is issued to states when the water level in reservoirs is 20 per cent less than the

average of live water storage figures of the past 10 years.

Water falls under the state list and the advisory recommends states to use it for drinking purpose only till

the dams are replenished.

International News Austria approves headscarf ban

Austria has approved a law aimed at banning the headscarf in primary schools.

However, patka head covering worn by Sikh boys or the Jewish kippa would not be affected.

The law is mainly targeted at the Islamic headscarf.

The govt has admitted that the law is likely to be challenged at Austria’s constitutional court, either on

grounds of religious discrimination or because similar legislation affecting schools is normally passed

with a two-thirds majority of MPs.

National emergency in the US

US President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency to protect American computer networks

from foreign adversaries.

He signed an executive order which effectively bars US companies from using foreign telecoms

believed to pose a security risk to the country. He does not name any company specifically in the order.

However, analysts suggest it is mainly directed at Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei.

New immigration system

The US President Donald Trump has outlined plans for a new US immigration system designed to

favour younger, better educated, English-speaking workers.

In an address at the White House, he proposed moving away from the current system that favours

applicants with family ties to the US.

The biggest change which will be made is to increase the proportion of highly skilled immigration from

12% to 57% and even higher.

Currently many migrants coming legally into the US have family ties there.

Immigrants would be required to learn English and to pass a civics exam prior to admission.

Taiwan legalises gay unions

Taiwan’s parliament has become the first in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage following a vote on 17

May.

In 2017, the island’s constitutional court ruled that same-sex couples had the right to legally marry.

Parliament was given a two-year deadline and was required to pass the changes by 24 May.




Lawmakers debated three different bills to legalise same-sex unions and the govt’s bill, the most

progressive of the three, was passed.

It will take effect after Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen passes it into law.

Permanent residency in Saudi

The Saudi govt has approved for the first time a scheme that gives permanent residency to certain

expatriates, allowing them to own real estate in the kingdom and reside with their families without a

Saudi sponsor.

The decision, approved by Saudi Arabia’s Cabinet and announced on 16 May, is aimed at attracting

long-term investments as the govt tries to diversify the economy and boost domestic spending.

The “Privileged Iqama” system will offer a permanent residence scheme and one that can be renewed

annually to highly skilled expatriates and owners of capital funds.

India, Botswana hold consultation

The third round of Foreign Office Consultations between India and Botswana was held in New Delhi

on 15 May.

The deliberations provided an opportunity to review the entire gamut of bilateral relations, including

political, economic, commercial, defence, consular and international cooperation.

Ways to further strengthen the existing friendly relations by way of expanding cooperation in

development projects were also discussed.

The capital of Botswana is Gaborone and its currency is Botswana pula.

India, Iran meeting in Delhi

The 11th Joint Consular Committee meeting between India and Iran took place on 14 May in New

Delhi.

Both sides discussed the early conclusion of agreement on mutual legal assistance on civil and

commercial matters and extending the longer duration of e-Visa for each other nationals on reciprocity.

The meeting provided an opportunity to review the status of ongoing cooperation in consular and visa

related issues and to discuss ways and means to further expand people to people contacts and promote

friendly exchanges between India and Iran.

UN imposes sanctions

The UN has imposed sanctions on terror group ISIS-Khorasan, ISIS-K, for its links with Al-Qaeda and

involvement in several attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

It is now subject to the assets freeze, travel ban and arms embargo.

The group, formed in 2015 by a Pakistani national and a former commander of the Tehrik-e-Taliban

Pakistan, has killed over 150 people.

The United Nations Security Council’s 1267 Al Qaeda Sanctions Committee sanctioned Islamic State

in Iraq and the Levant - Khorasan (ISIL-K).

India joins global initiative

India has joined a major global initiative to combat terrorism and extremism online and secure the

internet.

The initiative -- ‘Christchurch call to action’ -- has been named after the New Zealand city where 51

people were killed in an attack on mosques.

It was launched in Paris on 15 May by India, France, New Zealand, Canada and several other countries.

The declaration on Christchurch call to action said a free, open and secure internet is a powerful tool by

which to promote connectivity, enhance social inclusiveness and foster economic growth.




The internet is, however, not immune from abuse by terrorist and violent extremist actors, and there is a

need for collective efforts globally to secure the internet from terror groups.

India to co-chair CG

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

Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) for the fiscal year 2020.

The decision was taken during the CG meeting of GFDRR held in Geneva, Switzerland on 14 May, on

the margins of the 6th Session of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR) 2019.

The CG Meeting was co-chaired by Africa Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States, the European

Union (EU) and World Bank.

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

vulnerability to natural hazards and climate change. GFDRR is a grant-funding mechanism, managed

by the World Bank.

Ireland declares climate emergency

Ireland has declared climate emergency in their country, to be the second country after the UK to do so.

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

examine how the Irish govt can improve its response to the issue of biodiversity loss was accepted

without a vote.

The UK’s parliament became the first in the world to declare a climate emergency, passing the largely

symbolic motion on May 1.

Strategy to deal with threats

The United States govt has come up with a first of its kind strategy to prevent, detect and respond to

threats from infectious diseases occurring naturally or accidentally, in an effort to help improve the

world’s ability to stop and contain deadly outbreaks before they spread between countries.

The Global Health Security Strategy, unveiled on 9 May, defines the actions the US administration

will take by adopting a whole-of-govt approach to health security and leveraging the strengths of

different federal departments, agencies and funding streams.

World’s fastest bullet train

Japan has started testing its fastest-ever bullet train -- capable of reaching 400 kilometers per hour

(249 mph) -- as it continues to develop the revolutionary mode of travel.

The ALFA-X version of the Shinkansen train began three year’s worth of test runs on 10 May.

Once it enters operation sometime around 2030, it will run at a speeds of up to 360 kph (224 mph),

comfortably making it the world’s fastest bullet train.

It will also outpace China’s Fuxing train, which runs at 10 kph slower despite being designed with the

same top speed capabilities as the ALFA-X.

Iran withdraw from deal

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani has announced that it will partially withdraw from some of the

commitments made under the 2015 International Nuclear Deal.

The announcement came after the US unilaterally decided last year to pull out of this commitment

completely.

The United States has also announced to cancel waivers to countries, including India, who have been

purchasing oil from Iran.

The country will stop curbing its stocks of enriched uranium and the heavy water needed by certain

types of the reactor to ensure that nuclear fission can take place.




The action was being taken because the European Union and others did not have the power to resist US

pressure.

Vice President visits Vietnam

Vice President Venkaiah Naidu embarked on a four-day official visit to Vietnam on 9 May.

The visit is expected to enhance India’s comprehensive strategic partnership with the Southeast Asian

nation.

Apart from holding one-on-one talks with the leaders of Vietnam, the Vice President also participated in

the 16th United Nations Day of Vesak at Tam Chuc pagoda in Vietnam’s northern Ha Nam province.

Vietnam’s capital is Hanoi and its currency is Vietnamese dong.

WB’s aid to southern Africa

The World Bank will extend more than half-a-bn dollars in grants for cyclone-ravaged southern African

countries. A total of up to 545 mn US dollar will be disbursed to Mozambique, Zimbabwe and

Malawi - the three countries hit by Cyclone Idai in Mar.

World Bank’s president David Malpass made the announcement as he concluded his visit to

Mozambique, the worst affected country.

Cyclone Idai devastated the port city of Beira and its surrounding areas when it hit on Mar 14, killing

more than 600 people.

Later a fresh massive storm, Cyclone Kenneth, lashed the northern coastal regions of Mozambique

which killed 41 people.

UAE releases prisoners

The United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has ordered the release of 3,005

prisoners, serving various sentences, ahead of the Holy Month of Ramadan.

The President has also pledged to settle the financial obligations of the released prisoners.

This gesture is part of UAE President Sheikh Khalifa’s attempt to provide prisoners an opportunity to

start a new life and alleviate their families of the hardships .

End of GSP benefits to India

A group of 25 influential American lawmakers has urged the US Trade Representative not to terminate

the Generalized System of Preference (GSP) programme with India after the expiry of the 60-day

notice on 3 May, saying the country’s companies seeking to expand their exports to India could be

affected.

The GSP is the largest and oldest US trade preference programme and is designed to promote economic

development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary

countries.

India has been the biggest beneficiary of the GSP regime and accounted for over a quarter of the goods

that got duty-free access into the US in 2017.

Japan’s new Emperor

A day after his father became the first monarch to abdicate the imperial throne of Japan in more than

two centuries, the new emperor, Naruhito, on 1 May received the sacred imperial regalia that represents

his rightful succession to the world’s oldest monarchy.

The ceremony took place on the first day of the new imperial era of Reiwa, meaning "beautiful

harmony", which will last throughout Naruhito's reign.

Emperor Akihito abdicated the Chrysanthemum Throne on 30 Apr, three decades after he succeeded his

father, the wartime emperor Hirohito.

While the role of emperor has been chiefly ceremonial since the end of World War II, the departing

monarch acted as the nation’s chief consoler during times of disaster.




Fourth biggest military spender

India was the world’s fourth biggest military spender in 2018 after United States, China and Saudi

Arabia, according to data released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on 30 Apr.

The institute report said the total world military expenditure rose to $1,822 bn in 2018, an increase of

2.6% from 2017.

The four countries along with France accounted for 60% of global military spending.

The study found that the United States increased its military expenditure for the first time since 2010.

China’s military spending rose for the 24th consecutive year.

The United States spending in 2018 is pegged at $649 bn which is almost as much as the next eight

largest-spending countries put together.

US withdraws from arms treaty

The US President Donald Trump has announced that the US will withdraw its support for a United

Nations treaty regulating the multibillion-dollar global arms trade that includes conventional weapons -

small arms, battle tanks, combat aircraft and warships.

The US signed the treaty in 2013 but never ratified it.

The Senate has so far failed to approve the treaty because of opposition from Republicans.

China holds BRF meet

China’s high-profile 2nd Belt and Road Forum ended on 27 Apr with the signing of deals worth USD

64 bn and affirming respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity towards Beijing’s tn-dollar Belt and

Road Initiative (BRI) projects, a key demand of India.

The forum in which 37 heads of the state and govts took part concluded with an announcement by

Chinese President Xi Jinping that cooperation agreements worth USD 64 bn were signed at a CEO

conference during the BRF meeting.

A total of 283 items of practical outcomes were achieved during the preparatory process and the holding

of the forum.

A joint statement issued at the end of the meeting highlighted that the BRI cooperation should respects

openness, transparency, inclusiveness and level playing field.

It affirmed the respect for sovereignty.

The BRI was launched by President Xi when he came to power in 2013.

It aims to link southeast Asia, central Asia, the Gulf region, Africa and Europe with a network of land

and sea routes.

Iran, Pakistan to set up force

Iran and Pakistan have agreed to set up a joint border “reaction force” following a number of deadly

attacks by militant groups on their frontier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced after talks

with visiting Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The border skirts the volatile southeastern Iranian province of Sistan-Baluchistan which has been the

scene of frequent attacks on Iran’s security forces.

Khan’s visit to Iran, the first since he took office in 2018, comes after gunmen who Islamabad says were

based in Iran killed 14 members of Pakistan’s security forces recently in its own Balochistan province.

World’s first malaria vaccine

The world’s first malaria vaccine has been launched in Malawi after concerted efforts of over 30 years

to protect children from the deadly disease that claims over 435,000 lives globally every year.

The World Health Organization (WHO) welcomed the Govt of Malawi’s landmark pilot programme.




The launch of the first and only malaria vaccine, known as RTS,S, makes Malawi the first of three

countries in Africa where it will be made available to children up to 2 years of age.

Ghana and Kenya will introduce the vaccine soon.

Malaria remains one of the world’s leading killers, claiming the life of one child every two minutes

Austria govt collapses

Austria raced on 18 May toward a snap election as Chancellor Sebastian Kurz pulled the plug on his

coalition with the far right after its leader was caught on video offering to fix state contracts with a

woman posing as a Russian oligarch’s niece.

The far-right Freedom Party’s Heinz-Christian Strache resigned as vice chancellor and party leader

after the video was released by two German news organizations.

He acknowledged that the video was “catastrophic” but denied breaking the law.

UN appoints SDGs advocates

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has appointed 17 global figures including

Indian actress Dia Mirza and Alibaba chief Jack Ma as the new advocates to drive action and solidify

global political will for the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The new class of advocates is influential public figures committed to raising awareness, inspiring greater

ambition and pushing for faster action on the SDGs, which were adopted by world leaders on Sep 25,

2015.

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

Richard Curtis, Nadia Murad, Jeffrey Sachs, Forest Whitaker among others.

Anti-fake news bill in Singapore

Singapore has passed a controversial anti-fake news law that gives authorities sweeping powers to police

online platforms and even private chat groups.

The govt can now order platforms to remove what it deems to be false statements that are "against the

public interest", and to post corrections.

The Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation bill was passed by lawmakers on 8 May

and will come into force soon.

A person found guilty of doing this in Singapore could be fined heavily and/or jailed for up to five years.

It also bans the use of fake accounts or bots to spread fake news - this carries penalties of up to S$1m

(£563,000, $733,700) and a jail term of up to 10 years.

PepsiCo withdraws lawsuit

The food and beverages giant PepsiCo India said 2 May it will withdraw the cases it has filed against

potato farmers in Gujarat for allegedly growing a variety of the tuber for which the company claims

Plant Variety Protection (PVP) rights.

PepsiCo in Apr sued a few farmers for cultivating a potato variety grown exclusively for its popular

Lay’s potato chips, leading to an outcry and protests.

The multi-national had sued a total of 11 farmers in Gujarat for growing a variety of potatoes, claiming

infringement of intellectual property rights under the Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers Rights

Act, 2001.

Wipro acquires Splash

Wipro Consumer Care has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Splash

Corporation, a personal care company based in the Philippines.

This transaction will strengthen the company’s consumer care portfolio in personal care and complete

the South-East Asian footprint. Splash is the largest Filipino personal care player and amongst the top

five in that market with revenue of $80 mn in 2018.




The acquisition strengthens Wipro’s foothold in the five big markets — Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand,

West Asia and Nigeria.

Iraq top oil supplier

Iraq has, for the second year in a row, become India’s top crude oil supplier, meeting more than a fifth

of the country’s oil needs in 2018-19 fiscal year.

According to data sourced from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics,

Iraq sold 46.61 million tonnes (mt) of crude oil to India during Apr 2018 and Mar 2019, 2% more than

the 45.74mt it had supplied in 2017-18 fiscal.

India provisionally imported 207.3mt of crude oil in 2018-19, down from 220.4mt in the previous

financial year.

Saudi Arabia has traditionally been India’s top oil source, but it was for the first time dethroned by Iraq

in 2017-18 fiscal year.

Lebanon sets new record

Lebanon’s capital Beirut has set a new Guinness World Record for the number of national flags raised

in a city for 24 hours.

The Beirut Alive Association in the national capital on 28 Apr raised a total of 26,852 Lebanese flags

breaking New York’s Waterloo record of 25,599 flags.

The event was organised under the patronage of Prime Minister Saad Hariri.

IS claims ‘province’ in India

Islamic State (IS) has claimed for the first time that it has established a “province” in India, after a clash

between militants and security forces in the Kashmir region killed a militant with alleged ties to the

group.

IS’s Amaq News Agency announced that the new province is called “Wilayah of Hind”.

IS’s statement establishing the new province appears to be designed to bolster its standing after the

group was driven from its self-styled “caliphate” in Iraq and Syria in Apr, where at one point it

controlled thousands of miles of territory.

Global roll-out of WhatsApp pay

Facebook has chosen the city as the centre for the global roll-out of WhatsApp pay, before the social

media giant launches its digital payments service on the mobile messaging platform in India.

WhatsApp has1.5 bn users globally. Facebook chose the UK, where WhatsApp is far more popular than

the US, because it attracts a multicultural workforce from many of the countries where WhatsApp is

widely used, such as India.

Out of WhatsApp user base of 1.5 bn people, more than 200 mn people are in India -- the single largest

market for the popular messaging platform.

SUMMITs & Conferences

5th Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Media Summit

The 5th Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Media Summit on Climate Action and Disaster

Preparedness was held in the capital of Nepal.




The theme of the two-day summit was “Media Solutions for Sustainable Future: Saving Lives,

Building Resilient Communities”. Nepal’s Minister for Communication and Information Technology

Gokul Prasad Baskota inaugurated the summit.

The basic aim of the summit was to address the issue of fully utilizing media’s potential of accelerating

climate action and disaster preparedness and connect stakeholders to media professionals for

collaboration and joint practical projects.

Russia's Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un met

Russia's Vladimir Putin and North Korea's Kim Jong Un met face-to-face for the first time in the city

and vowed to seek closer ties.

In brief statements before their meeting, both men said they were looking to strengthen ties that date

back to the Soviet Union's support for the founder of North Korea, Kim's grandfather Kim Il Sung.

Putin told North Korean leader Kim that he supports ongoing efforts to ease tensions on the Korean

peninsula and wants to boost economic ties.

Thursday's meeting was Kim's first one-on-one talks with another head of state since returning from his

Hanoi summit with US President Donald Trump.

Environment ministers of the G7 nations

The environment ministers of the G7 nations met in France. Ministers from Britain, Canada, France,

Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States gathered for the two-day meeting in the city.

They were due to discuss measures to tackle deforestation, plastic pollution and the degradation of coral

reefs and try to form alliances between nations to act on them.

Joining the ministers were delegations from the European Union as well as Chile, Egypt, the Fiji Islands,

Gabon, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Niger and Norway.

IBSA Sherpas’ Meeting

The IBSA (India, Brazil & South Africa) Sherpas’ Meeting, following the 9th IBSA Trilateral

Ministerial Meeting, was held in Cochin from May 3-5, 2019.

Sherpas reviewed the progress made under IBSA, since their last meeting.

IBSA Sherpas also reviewed the functioning of the Joint Working Groups.

The Sherpas appreciated the various events organized during last one year to commemorate the fifteenth

anniversary of IBSA and the other events panned in this context.

The Sherpas welcomed the holding of the 6th IBSAMAR (Joint Naval Exercise) off the Coast of South

Africa in Oct, 2018.

2020 high-level conference of UNGA

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has decided to hold

its 2020 high-level conference early Jun in Portugal's capital to support

the sustainable use of the oceans, seas and marine resources.

The UNGA also decided that the conference shall "involve all relevant

stakeholders," bringing together govts, the UN system, intergovtal

organizations and all other actors to assess challenges and opportunities

relating to, as well as actions taken toward, the implementation of Goal

14.

The overarching theme of the conference shall be "scaling up ocean

action based on science and innovation for the implementation of

Goal 14: stocktaking, partnerships and solutions."

World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial meeting

A World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial meeting of





developing countries was hosted by India in the capital on 13-14 May 2019.

The meeting was held at a time when the multilateral rule-based-trading system is facing serious and

grave challenges.

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

deadlock in key areas of negotiations and the impasse in the appellate body threatening the very

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

effective multilateral organisation.

The Twelfth Ministerial Conference of the WTO to be held in Kazakhstan in Jun 2020.

52nd Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Board of Governors

Participants gathered in Nadi in Fiji, for the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Asian Development Bank’s

(ADB) Board of Governors.

Finance ministers, central bank governors, govt officials, private sector representatives, development

partners, youth, as well as members of the academe, civil society, and media from Asia and the Pacific,

as well as around the world, attended the event.

The 2019 Annual Meeting held on 1 to 5 May marks the first time a Pacific developing member country

hosted ADB’s largest annual gathering, providing ADB Governors an opportunity to discuss important

and pressing development issues facing Asia and the Pacific.

The theme for this year’s event was “Prosperity Through Unity.”

Science & Defence

Navy decommissions INS Ranjit

INS Ranjit, Indian Navy's frontline missile destroyer of Russian origin, was decommissioned after 36

years of service.

It is the first of the five Rajput class destroyer to go out of service ending one of the finest chapters in

Indian naval history.

Ranjit is originally a Kashin class destroyer and carried the naval ensign for the last time at naval

dockyard Vishakhapattanam in a ceremony presided over by former Navy Chief Admiral Devendra

Kumar Joshi, who is now Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar.

The destroyer was built as Yard 2203 in the 61 Communards shipyard in Nikolev in Ukraine in the late

1970s. Its original Russian name is "Lovkly" meaning "agile".

NSG create history

Commandos of the premier counter-terror force National Security Guard (NSG) on 16 May created

history as they scaled the Mount Everest, the world’s highest peak, in their maiden attempt.

A seven-member team of the NSG, led by Lt Col JP Kumar, successfully unfurled the Indian flag at the

8,848-metre tall peak at about 7 am on 16 May.

NSG Director General Sudeep Lakhtakia congratulated the team, saying “Everest demands

doggedness, tenacity, perseverance, courage and multiple skills to survive in toughest conditions. The

NSG commandos have all these qualities.

The NSG, called as the ‘black cats’, was raised in 1984 as a federal counter-terror and counter-hijack

contingency force. It has five hubs in the country to undertake these operations.

ICGS Vigraha sails into sunset

Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Vigraha, a frontline offshore patrol vessel, sailed into history at the

sunset on 15 May. After 29 glorious years of service from 1990 to 2019.




ICGS Vigraha was the seventh offshore patrol vessel built by the Mazagaon Dock Limited, Mumbai and

it was commissioned on Apr 12, 1990. The ship was later based at Visakhapatnam and has been instrumental in protecting the east coast in

general and Andhra Pradesh coast in particular since then.

Flight test of ABHYAS

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted successful flight test of

ABHYAS - High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) from Interim Test Range, Chandipur in

Odisha on 13 May.

The flight test was tracked by various RADARS and Electro Optic Systems and proved its performance

in a fully autonomous way point navigation mode.

The configuration of ABHYAS is designed on an in-line small gas turbine engine and uses indigenously

developed MEMS-based navigation system for its navigation and guidance.

Special forces division

India on 15 May initiated steps to create a special forces division, appointing a Major General rank

officer as the chief of the new Armed Forces Special Operation Division.

Once it takes shape, the division is expected to be the first choice for the govt to undertake any major

counter-terrorism operation.

Accordingly, Major General AK Dhingra has been appointed as the first chief of the Armed Forces

Special Operations Division, the clearance for which was given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi

during the Combined Commanders’ Conference in 2018.

The tri-services formation will have Special Forces commandos from Army’s Parachute Regiment,

Navy’s MARCOS and Air Force’s Garud Commando Force.

SSB opens at Kolkata

The Indian Navy’s first full-fledged Services Selection Board (SSB) was on 14 May inaugurated by

Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba at Diamond Harbour near Kolkata.

The SSB (Kolkata) is located at a place that was previously occupied by a Naval Coastal Battery.

This is the fifth SSB of the Indian Navy and will cater for selection of both permanent and short service

commission (SSC) officers.

The other boards are located in Bhopal, Bengaluru, Visakhapatnam and Coimbatore. The board can

accommodate 160 candidates at a time.

Year of next of kin

The Indian Army is commemorating 2019 year as the ‘Year of Next of Kin’ and plans to reach out to the

next of kin of battle casualties, ex-servicemen and serving soldiers to inform them of entitled financial

benefits, welfare schemes and help resolve pension related problems.

The issue gains importance in light of most next of kin of deceased soldiers being unaware of the

financial benefits that are entitled to them. Incorrect and incomplete documentation is a common

problem for most of the next of kin, which aggravates their plight.

The army also faces a huge challenge in reaching the target population due to being spread across India,

mostly in rural areas and places affected with either insurgency or having minimal army presence.

The army says that the problem becomes worse due to complications arising out of different policy

provisions and its varied interpretations and non-digitised personal records.

Fourth Scorpene class submarine

The fourth of Indian Navy’s stealth Scorpene class Submarines of Project 75 was launched on 6 May at

the Kanhoji Angre Wet Basin of Mazagon Dock Limited at Mumbai in Maharashtra.




The submarine has been named ‘Vela’ after an earlier submarine, which was the lead submarine, of the

erstwhile Vela class, the second batch of the Foxtrot class submarines acquired from erstwhile USSR.

The steel cutting for this submarine commenced in Jul 2009.

The submarine has completed joining of all its sections.

The launch ceremony also signifies that four submarines of this project would be afloat and soon join

the Navy’s submarine fleet.

Deal for Kamov-31 helicopters

The Defence ministry has approved the procurement of 10 Kamov Ka-31 Airborne Early Warning and

Control helicopters for the Indian Navy.

The cost of the deal would be around Rs 3,600 cr and the 10 helicopters would be deployed on the

aircraft carriers and warships of the Navy including the INS Vikrant and Grigorovich-class frigates.

The aim of the choppers is to sanitise the air space around the battle groups led by the aircraft carriers

while carrying out operations in the sea or anti-submarine warfare operations.

The Navy has a fleet of Russian Kamov-28 choppers along with the Sea King choppers which were

procured in 1980s and need to be upgraded for future operations.

GRSE to build ASWSWCs

The public sector Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE) has been awarded a Rs

6,311-cr contract to build eight anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft (ASWSWCs) for the

Indian Navy.

The request for proposals was issued by the Indian Navy to defence public sector unit shipyards and

other Indian private shipyards in Apr 2014, with GRSE emerging as the successful bidder for design,

construction and supply of the eight craft.

These craft are designed for a deep displacement of 750 tons, speed of 25 knots and complement of 57

and capable of full-scale subsurface surveillance of coastal waters besides coordinated anti-submarine

warfare operations with aircraft.

Indian Army signs MoU

Indian Army signed an MoU with National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Limited (NHPC) to

construct tunnels on borders with China and Pakistan for storage of ammunition and other war-related

equipment.

Under the pilot project, three tunnels will be built on China border while one will be built along the Line

of Control with Pakistan.

The project is meant to bolster the Indian Army’s capabilities along the Chinese border where India’s

infrastructural development is far outpaced by that of China.

It is difficult to move heavy equipment in the mountainous region bordering China due to lack of

infrastructure development.

Besides strengthening the defensive capabilities, the tunnels will protect the ammunition and other

stored equipment from the air-strikes and detection by the enemy satellite.

Women as military police

In a historic first, the Army has begun the process to induct women in the military police, nearly two

years after Army Chief Gen.

Bipin Rawat said women will be recruited as jawans.

The Army started the online registration for recruitment in the Corps of military and the last date for

filing application has been fixed as Jun 8.

At present, women are allowed in select areas such as medical, legal, educational, signals and

engineering wings of the Army.




The role of the military police includes policing cantonments and army establishments, preventing

breach of rules and regulations by soldiers, maintaining movement of soldiers as well as logistics during

peace and war and extending aid to civil police whenever required.

ISRO to launch RISAT-2BR1

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is set to launch its Radar Imaging Satellite, the RISAT-

2BR1, on May 22 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

The RISAT, a remote sensing satellite, provides all-weather surveillance using synthetic aperture radars

(SAR). RISATs are the first all-weather observation satellites from ISRO and are designed to provide a

continuous view of earth either in the day or at night for the forces to detect border infiltration.

Earlier, the observation satellites banked mainly on optical and spectral sensors which often were

handicapped by cloud cover.

Russia to isolate internet

President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a “sovereign internet” bill which will allow Russian

authorities to isolate the country’s internet, a move decried by rights groups.

Russian lawmakers insist the new law is necessary to ensure the security of Russia’s online networks but

critics say the vaguely worded bill gives new censorship powers to government monitors.

MHA terminates ‘Black List’

The Home Ministry has decided to discard its ‘Black Lists’ of Indian-origin people.

The list is mostly comprised of the names of people belonging to the Sikh community, who have taken

asylum abroad under the plea of alleged persecution in India.

The list is maintained by Indian missions abroad. As per Home Ministry officials, all such people

presently in the black list, will be given regular visa as well as Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cards.

Highest-resolution sensor

Samsung Electronics Co has introduced the world’s highest-resolution image sensor, with 64

megapixels for smartphones, to meet the growing demand for mobile devices with better image quality.

Samsung unveiled two new 0.8-micrometre pixel image sensors — the 64-megapixel ISOCELL Bright

GW1 and the 48-megapixel ISOCELL Bright GM2, expanding its 0.8-micrometre pixel image sensor

lineup, the smallest pixel size currently available in the market.

ISRO’s seven mega missions

Space Agency ISRO, which is gearing up for the ambitious Chandrayaan-2 this Jul, has loftier plans

ahead.

It’s planning to accomplish six other mega missions over the next 10 years, apart from Chandrayaan-2.

Of these, only two have been defined — XPoSat and Aditya-L1 missions.

The four other undefined missions, which are in the planning stage, are: Mangalyaan-2, Venus mission,

Lunar Polar Exploration and Exoworlds.

The XPoSat, or the X-ray Polarimeter Satellite, is a dedicated mission to study polarisation.

It is scheduled for launch in 2020.

ISRO has already prepared a roadmap for the next 30 years.

DNA database for rhino

The Union Environment Ministry has embarked on a project to create DNA profiles of all rhinos in the

country.

By 2021, the project’s deadline, the Indian rhino could be the first wild animal species in India to have

all its members DNA-sequenced.




The project’s proponents, including the World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India) and the

Centre-funded Wildlife Institute of India (WII), said the exercise would be useful in curbing poaching

and gathering evidence in wildlife crimes involving rhinos.

There are about 2,600 rhinos in India, with more than 90% of the population concentrated in Assam’s

Kaziranga National Park.

India gives Mi-24 helicopters

India handed over a pair of Mi-24 helicopters to Afghanistan with the aim of strengthening the Afghan

air force as it battles a deadly Taliban insurgency against the backdrop of the US looking to exit the war-

torn country after a 17-year stay.

These are a replacement for the four attack helicopters previously gifted by India to Afghanistan in

2015.

The Mi-24 helicopters shall boost the capability of the Afghan air force and enhance the effectiveness of

the Afghan National Defence and Security Force in combating the scourge of terrorism.

ICMR develops test kit

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has developed an affordable test kit for diagnosing

common blood disorders such as severe Haemophilia A and Von Willebrand disease (VWD).

The cost-effective point-of-care (POC) rapid diagnostic test kit developed by the ICMR-National

Institute of Immunohaematology, Mumbai, is the world’s first POC test for specific diagnosis of any

common bleeding disorder.

It costs less than `50, while other existing diagnostic kits cost between `4,000 and `10,000.

ISRO to send a probe to sun

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is planning to send a probe to study the sun early 2020.

ISRO chairman Dr K Sivan said, currently scientists are exploring possibilities to study more about Sun

and the probe named Aditya-L1 will be sent to observe the solar corona, the outer layers of the Sun.

The satellite would be sent in a halo orbit around the L1 (Lagrangian point 1) of the Sun-Earth system so

that it has the advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation or eclipses.

Chandrayaan-2

India’s second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 will be launched on a day between 9 and 16 Jul this year.

The Indian Space Research Organisation said, Chandrayaan-2’s lander will touch down near the Moon’s

South Pole on 6th Sep.

The national space agency said, Chandrayaan-2 will have three modules in it,–an orbiter, a lander named

Vikram and a rover known as Pragyan.

Chandrayaan-2 will be launched using India’s most powerful rocket GSLV Mark-3.

InSight detects ‘quake’

NASA’s robotic Mars InSight lander has recorded a likely Mars quake for the first time ever.

The US space agency said the faint seismic signal, detected by the lander’s Seismic instrument, was

recorded on Apr 6 this year.

NASA said this was the first recorded trembling that appeared to have come from inside the planet, as

opposed to being caused by forces above the surface, such as wind.

Scientists still are examining the data to determine the exact cause of the signal.

Recyclable plastic

Scientists have created a next-generation plastic that can be fully recycled into new materials of any

colour, shape, or form, without loss of performance or quality.




A team of researchers at the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Lawrence Berkeley National

Laboratory has designed a recyclable plastic that can be disassembled into

its constituent parts at the molecular level.

LED can damage eye’s retina

France govt-run health watchdog has said, the blue light in LED lighting

can damage the eye’s retina and disturb natural sleep rhythms.

The French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health &

Safety has said, new findings confirm earlier concerns that exposure to an

intense and powerful LED light is photo-toxic and can lead to irreversible

loss of retinal cells and diminished sharpness of vision.

The report distinguished between acute exposure of high-intensity LED

light, and chronic exposure to lower intensity sources.

ADMM-Plus exercise

The sea phase of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting (ADMM)-

Plus Maritime Security Field Training Exercise concluded in

Singapore recently. This is the fourth Maritime Security Field Training Exercise conducted under the

ambit of the ADMM-Plus. The ADMM-Plus Maritime Security Field Training Exercise, held from Apr

30 to May 13, was co-organised by Singapore and South Korea under their co-chairmanship of the

ADMM-Plus Experts’ Working Group on Maritime Security.

Young Scientist Programme

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Director K Sivan inaugurated the Young Scientist

Programme (YUVIKA) on May 17, 2019.

The young scientist programme is aimed at imparting basic knowledge of science and space technology

to school-going students from different states and Union Territories (UT) of the country in order to

arouse their interest in space-related activities.

The programme will enthuse students from every nook and corner of the country and make them good

scientists.

WhatsApp exposes its users

The favourite messaging platform WhatsApp was not as secure as considered.

The Facebook-owned company, which boasts 1.5bn users worldwide and 200mn users in India, has

confirmed that a vulnerability in WhatsApp opened doors for a spyware attack that instals a malicious

code on victim’s smartphone by calling them on WhatsApp.

The breach was first reported by the Financial Times, indicating that the spyware gets installed on a

user’s phone through calls, even if the user misses a call.

US tests SHiELD

The US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) has developed the Self-Protect High Energy Laser

Demonstrator (SHiELD) which saw them use a ground-based laser cut down lasers.

During tests, the laser system shot down several missiles out of the air at the High Energy Laser System

Test Facility at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.

The laser was developed by Lockheed Martin, which hopes to have the fully functioning weapons ready

by 2021.





RANKING & REPORTS RGIP 8th best

The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport has been declared as the eighth best airport in the world.

In the 2019 annual rating report by AirHelp, an organization that specializes in air traveller rights,

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

Airport have retained their top three positions in the list, since the ratings began in 2015.

The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Hyderabad is ranked right after Singapore’s Changi Airport,

which has been acknowledged as one of the newest state-of-art airports in the world.

In 2017, the Hyderabad airport was also recognised as Asia Pacific’s first airport to turn carbon

neutral. Interestingly, no US airport could make it in the top 10 spot.

COMMITTEES

IRDAI forms committee

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has set up a committee to

review the regulatory framework on microinsurance and recommend measures to increase the demand

for such products.

Comprising officials of the IRDAI, insurers and NGOs, the committee has been formed in the backdrop

of a less- than-desired offtake of microinsurance products despite their inherent benefits.

With IRDAI Executive Director Suresh Mathur as the chairman, the 13-member panel has been tasked

with suggesting product designs with customer-friendly underwriting, including easy premium payment

methods and simple claims settlement procedures.

CPWD constitutes committee

The Central Works Public Department (CPWD) has constituted an expert committee to formulate a

design policy for building construction and infrastructure development.

The committee has been set up under the chairmanship of CPWD’s Additional Director General MK

Sharma.

The move is aimed at reviving building construction and infrastructure development at all levels in the

CPWD which comes under the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry.

The eight-member committee has been asked to submit its report to Director General Prabhakar Singh

within 30 days. The CPWD is the largest construction agency of the central govt

Nilekani panel submits report

A Reserve Bank-appointed committee headed by Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani submitted its

suggestions on promoting digital payments to Governor Shaktikanta Das May 17.

In Jan, the Reserve Bank of India had set up the five-member panel on deepening digital payments with

a view to encouraging digitisation of payments and enhancing financial inclusion through digitisation.

The Reserve Bank of India will examine the recommendations of the committee and will dovetail the

action points, wherever necessary, in its Payment Systems Vision 2021 for implementation.




Appointment

Appointments Appointee

MD & CEO of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Limited Nitin Chugh

Ambassador of India to the State of Eritrea Subhash Chand

Additional director on the board of Yes Bank Rama Subramaniam Gandhi

Brand Ambassador of BharatPe Salman Khan

Maharashtra’s new Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta

Top military officer of the 29-nation NATO Tod D Wolters

Vice-chief of Indian Air Force Rakesh Kumar Singh

Bhadauria

First independent woman director of BSE Jayshree Vyas

First non-British president of Marylebone Cricket Club

(MCC)

Kumar Sangakkara

High Commissioner of India to the Republic of Seychelles Dalbir Singh Suhag

MD & CEO of Indian Overseas Bank Karnam Sekar

Chairman of ITC SanjivPuri

Chairperson of the News Broadcasting Standards

Authority (NBSA)

Justice AK Sikri

Judge of the nonresident panel of the Supreme Court of

Fiji

Justice Madan B Lokur

Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court Justice Abhay Shreeniwas

Oka

Chief Justice of the Chhattisgarh High Court Justice Ramachandra Menon

President of Panama Laurentino Cortizo

RE-elected as Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison

President of the United Nations General Assembly Professor Tijjani Mohammad

Bande

Re-elected to the International Narcotics Control Board

(INCB)

Jagjit Pavadia

Vice-President of Geneva-based International Motorcycle

Manufacturers Association (IMMA)

Rakesh Sharma

US Navy Chief Admiral John Richardson

Awards

Presidential Medal of Freedom

The US President Donald Trump awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to golfer Tiger Woods.

This is one of the highest civilian honors in the US and was announced after Woods won the Masters,

his fifth such title of his career.

CEAT Cricket Rating Awards

Lifetime Achievement Award: Mohinder Amarnath

International Cricketer and Batsman of the Year: Virat Kohli




International Bowler of the Year: Jasprit Bumrah

International Test Cricketer of the Year: Cheteshwar Pujara

International ODI Cricketer of the Year: Rohit Sharma

International T20 Player of the Year: Aaron Finch

Outstanding Performance of the Year: Kuldeep Yadav

International T20 Bowler of the Year: Rashid Khan

Domestic Player of the Year: Ashutosh Aman

International Woman Cricketer of the Year: Smriti Mandhana

Junior Cricketer of the Year: Yashasvi Jaiswal

Cricket Journalists of the Year: Sriram Veera and Snehal Pradhan

Special tribute: Late Ajit Wadekar

Sasakawa Award 2019

The United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) conferred Sasakawa Award 2019

for Disaster Risk Reduction to Dr Pramod Kumar Mishra, Additional Principal Secretary to Prime

Minister of India.

The award was announced at the Award Ceremony during the ongoing 6th Session of Global Platform

for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR) 2019 at Geneva.

Mishra received the 2019 award in recognition of his long-term dedication to improve the resilience of

communities most exposed to disasters and his personal commitment to social inclusion as a critical

principle to reduce inequality and poverty, enhancing the safety net of the socially and economically

marginalized.

2019 McCain Institute Award

The IPS officer Chhaya Sharma, who led the investigation team of the infamous Nirbhaya gang-rape

and murder case, was honoured with the 2019 McCain Institute Award for Courage and Leadership.

The award is given to those who show courage on behalf of human rights, humanitarian compassion,

justice, freedom, and human dignity.

VK Krishna Menon award

GD 'Robert' Govender, an Indian-origin journalist in South Africa, has been honoured in the UK with

2019 VK Krishna Menon award for his outstanding contribution as a pioneer of decolonised journalism.

The South Africa-born journalist was awarded posthumously to mark the 123rd birth anniversary of

Indian diplomat and politician VK Krishna Menon.

FWA footballer of the year

Raheem Sterling has been named the 2019 footballer of the year by the Football Writers' Association

(FWA).

The Manchester City and England forward topped the poll of the 400-strong FWA membership as a

clear winner, with 62 per cent of the votes.

2019 Tagore Literary Prize

The second edition of Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize was awarded to author Rana Dasgupta for

his 2010 novel "Solo", a tale of estrangement and the ultimate failure of material existence.

The Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize for social achievement was awarded to Yohei Sasakawa, the

World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination.

The Prize was also awarded to Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen as a beacon of democracy.

National IP Award




Benny Antony, Joint Managing Director, the Kochi-based Arjuna Natural Ltd, has been conferred with

the National Intellectual Property Award for 2019 in the category of Top Individual for Patents and

Commercialization.

Along with the National IP Award, the Intellectual Property Office India and the World Intellectual

Property Organisation (WIPO) have jointly conferred the ‘WIPO Medal for Inventors’ also to Antony.

Deenanath Mangeshkar Award

National Award-winning filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, popular scriptwriter Salim Khan and

yesteryears dancing diva Helen were honoured with the prestigious Master Deenanath Mangeshkar

Award recently.

World Press Freedom Hero

Pakistani journalist Cyril Almeida, known for his courageous and hard-hitting coverage of civil-

military tensions in the South Asian country, has been named as the International Press Institute's

2019 World Press Freedom Hero.

The Pakistani journalist has been at the centre of a marked increase in attacks on media freedom in

Pakistan, facing treason charges, travel restrictions and other forms of intimidation for his reporting on

tensions between Pakistan's military and its civilian leaders.

PFA Awards 2018-19

The Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) awards for 2018-19 is as follows:

Men’s Player of the Year: Virgil van Dijk

Women’s Player of the Year: Vivianne Miedema

Men’s Young Player of the Year: Raheem Sterling

Women’s Young Player of the Year: Georgia Stanway

PFA Special Achievement Award: Steph Houhgton

Gaganjeet wins award

Arjuna awardee and star Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar won the outstanding achievement as a

player award at the fourth edition of the annual India Golf Industry Association (GIA) awards in Delhi.

Honour for Jacques Kallis

The former South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis has been honoured with an Order of Ikhamanga

from the Presidency for his contribution to cricket and placing the team on the world sporting map.

Pelosi gets award

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been honored with the 2019 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage

Award. Pelosi was recognized for her efforts to pass former President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care

law and for helping Democrats reclaim control of the US House during 2018 elections.

Indian student trio wins

An Indian student trio has emerged the first runner-up in Microsoft's prestigious Imagine Cup World

Championship final held in Seattle for their innovative smart automated anti-pollution and drug

delivery mask.

Aakash Bhadana and his friends Vasu Kaushik and Bharat Sundal developed "Caeli", the world's first

smart automated anti-pollution and drug delivery mask specifically designed for asthmatic and chronic

respiratory patients, which won the first position in the Asia Regional Final contest held in Sydney in

Feb.

ACJ Award

The article titled Coalgate 2.0 authored by Nileena MS and published in The Caravan magazine in Mar

2018 has won the ACJ Award for Investigative Journalism, 2018.

Coalgate 2.0' is a sterling example of investigative journalism in the field of financial reporting.




France’s highest civilian award

AS Kiran Kumar, the former chairperson of the Indian Space Research Organisation, was

conferred France’s highest civilian award – Chevalier of Order of the Legion of Honour – for his

contribution to India-France space cooperation.

Israel honours Jacob

Israel has honoured Lt. Gen. (retd) Jack Farj Rafael (JFR) Jacob, who negotiated the historic

surrender of Pakistani troops in Dhaka after the 1971 Bangladesh's liberation war, with a plaque on the

Wall of Honour at the Ammunition Hill.

Lt. Gen. Jacob, who died in 2016 at the age of 92, was one of the most prominent members of India's

relatively small Jewish community, serving as a Lieutenant General in the Indian Army and later as a

Governor of two Indian states-Goa and Punjab.

SPORTS

2023 Asian Cup

South Korea has withdrawn its bid to host the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup,

giving China a free run to stage the quadrennial competition.

Noe, South Korean govt will actively support the co-hosting of the 2023 Women's World Cup by South

Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

China last hosted the Asian Cup in 2004.

PU Chitra wins gold

PU Chitra led the charge with a gold in women's 1500m race as India picked up four medals on the

fourth and final day of competitions to end at fourth at the medal tally in the Asian Athletics

Championships in Doha, Qatar.

2019 Badminton Asia Ch’ships

The 2019 Badminton Asia Championships was held in China.

Men’s singles – Kento Momota of Japan defeated China’s Shi Yuqi

Women’s singles – Akane Yamaguchi of Japan defeated China’s He Bingjiao

New version of badminton

Air badminton was globally launched at Guangzhou by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) with

new dimensions of the court and an innovative shuttlecock called Airshuttle.

Indoor badminton is much more physically demanding, so players after retiring can keep playing

Airbadminton and keep having an alternative career.

Six medals for India

Indian boxers finished with a rich haul of six medals, including two gold medals at the 36th Feliks

Stamm International Boxing Tournament in Warsaw, Poland.

Gaurav Solanki and Manish Kaushik bagged one gold medal each.

India ends with 13 medals

India won 13 medals, including two-gold, four-silver and seven bronze at the Asian Boxing

Championships in Bangkok.

Boxer Amit Panghal picked up his second successive gold medal of the year.

ICC World Cup 2019

The winner of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2019 will earn a purse of $4 mn, the highest prize

money to date, along with the trophy that the victorious team will lift at the Lord's on Jul 16.




The total prize pot, which sits at $ 10 mn, will see the runners-up

assured of $2 mn and the losing semi-finalists $800,000 each at the end of the

46-day tournament being played across 11 venues in England and Wales.

The tournament will run from May 30 to Jul 14.

The 10 teams in the tournament will play against each other in a

single-league format.

In a first, all the 10 participating teams will have a dedicated anti-

corruption officer attached with it to deliver a corruption-free tournament.

The dairy major Amul will be the principal sponsor of the

Afghanistan cricket team for the upcoming ICC World Cup.

Sana Mir shines

Pakistan off-spinner Sana Mir has become the most successful

women’s ODI spinner in history after she took her 147th wicket, highest

ever by any spinner in One-day International (ODI) cricket.

Mumbai wins fourth IPL title

Mumbai Indians became Indian Premier League (IPL) champions for the fourth time after defeating

Chennai Super Kings by one run in a thrilling final in Hyderabad.

Chasing a victory target of 150 set by Mumbai, Chennai Super Kings were restricted to 148 for 7 in

stipulated 20 overs.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni became the most successful wicket-keeper in the history of IPL by

taking his dismissals tally to 132, surpassing his India teammate Dinesh Karthik.

First women's cricket magazine

The inaugural issue of world's first exclusive women's cricket magazine 'Criczone' was released

recently with Indian team vie-captain Smriti Mandhana featuring as the cover story.

The publisher of the magazine, Yash Lahoti, said: "For us publishing Women's Criczone Magazine has

been a natural progression.

Manchester City wins

Manchester City became Premier League champions for the fourth time in eight seasons after coming

from behind to win 4-1 at Brighton in England.

Igor Stimac is team coach

The Executive Committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has appointed Igor Stimac as

the head coach of the men’s senior national team coach on a two-year contract.

Jehan Daruvala wins

The young Indian racer Jehan Daruvala, driving for Prema Racing, won the inaugural round of the FIA

Formula 3 Championship, one of the support events to Formula One in Barcelona.

The all-new FIA F3 Championship was created by merging the erstwhile GP3 Championship and FIA

F3 European Championship, resulting in an ultra-competitive 30 car grid.

Hamilton wins Spanish GP

Lewis Hamilton won the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix Formula One championship for a third consecutive

year after overtaking Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in Barcelona.

Valtteri Bottas came second and Red Bull's Max Verstappen third.

Bottas wins Azerbaijan GP

A determined Valtteri Bottas resisted an attacking final charge by his Mercedes team-mate Lewis

Hamilton to win 2019 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Formula One championship and regain the lead in the

2019 drivers’ title race.





India tops medal tally

India finished on top of the medal standings for the second consecutive International Shooting Sport

Federation World Cup with three gold and one silver, for a total of four medals in Beijing.

This is third time in two years that they have achieved the feat, after topping the medal tally at the

season-opening World Cup in both 2018 and 2019.

Pankaj wins title

India's ace cueist Pankaj Advani defeated Ehsan Heydari Nezhad of Iran 6-4 to claim the inaugural

Asian Snooker Tour title. Advani is a 21-time world snooker and billiards champion.

Saurav, Joshna wins

Ace Indian squash players Saurav Ghoshal and Joshna Chinappa won their respective Asian

Individual Squash Championship titles in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Saurav Ghoshal defeated Leo Au Chun Ming of Hong Kong and Joshna Chinappa on the other hand

retained her title as she beat top seed Annie Au of Hong Kong.

Nadal clinches Italian Open

The defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain has clinched the Italian Open 2019 title after beating

Novak Djokovic 6-0, 4-6, 6-1 in the final in Rome.

Thiem wins Barcelona Open

Dominic Thiem recorded a straight set victory against Daniil Medvedev in the final after beating Rafael

Nadal in the semifinal.

He is also the first Austrian to take the Barcelona title since Thomas Muster in 1996.

Kvitova wins

The world number three Petra Kvitova beat Estonian Anett Kontaveit to win Stuttgart’s Porsche

Grand Prix for her second title of the year as she prepares for 2019 French Open.

Madrid Open 2019

Men’s singles – Novak Djokovic of Serbia defeated StefanosTsitsipas of Greece

Women’s singles – Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands defeated Simona Halep of Romania

New head coach

The Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) has announced the appointment of new coaching staff for the

Indian men’s team.

Serbia’s Dragan Mihailovic will take over as head coach.

Bajrang Punia bags gold

The world number one Bajrang Punia won the gold medal as he defeated Viktor Rassadin in the finals of

men's 65kg freestyle in the Ali Aliyev wrestling tournament in Kaspiisk, Russia.

Asian Wrestling ch’ships

India wrapped up their campaign at the Asian Wrestling Championships on a resounding note with 16

medals after Greco-Roman grapplers added a silver and a bronze on the concluding day in Xi’an.

Important days

Date Days Theme

May 31 World No-Tobacco Day Tobacco and Lung Health

May 29 International Day of UN Peacekeepers Protecting Civilians, Protecting Peace

May 25 World Thyroid Awareness Day

May 23 World Turtle Day




Obituary

Noted novelist and Sahitya Akademi awardee Thoppil Mohamed Meeran

Founder director of the National Law School of

India University (NLSIU)

NR Madhava Menon

Veteran actor of Telugu Movies Rallapalli Venkata Narasimha

Rao

Padma Shri awardee Bhojpuri folk singer Hiralal Yadav

Indian Billiard’s team coach Derek Sippy

Veteran actor in Star Wars Peter Mayhew

Veteran lady mountaineer Rama Sengupta Paul

President of Ethiopia Negasso Gidada

Provocative playwright Mark Medoff

US architect IM Pei

All the BEST !! Join Our Telegram Group

May 22 International Bio-diversity Day Our Biodiversity, Our Food, Our Health

May 21 Anti-Terrorism Day

May 20 World Bee Day Save the Bees

May 18 International Museum Day Museums as Cultural Hubs: The Future

of Tradition

May 17 International Day Against Homophobia,

Transphobia and Biphobia

May 17 World Telecommunication and

Information Society Day

Bridging the standardization gap

May 16 International Day of Living Together in

Peace

May 16 International Day of Light

May 15 International Day of Families Families and Climate Action: Focus on

SDG13

May 12 International Nurse Day Nursing: The Balance of Mind, Body, and

Spirit

May 11 National Technology Day Science and Technology for a Sustainable

Future

May 08 World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day

May 05 World Cartoonist’s Day

May 03 World Press Freedom Day

May 02 World Tuna Day

May 01 World Asthma Day (First Tue of May) STOP for Asthma

May 01 International Labour Day Sustainable Pension for all: The Role of

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EXCLUSIVE MAY 2019 GA Refresher - bsc4success.com · live.bscacademy.com mailto:[email protected] It will bear the signature of RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das. The dimensions of