All in one Current Affair May 2019

ALL IN ONE CURRENT AFFAIR MAY 2019

MOU/Agreement Countries

Ø India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Japan’s largest egg producer, ISE Foods, in a bid to improve the quality of eggs, waste management and disease diagnosis in poultry farms across the country. The ISE’s the egg production process, almost fully automated, is considered most hygienic in the world.

MOU Industry/States/Others

Ø Bharat Heavy Electricals and Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), an autonomous body affiliated to the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises have signed an MoU for cooperation on various projects related to e-mobility.
Ø IT services firm Tech Mahindra and French digital content publishing firm Rakuten Aquafadas signed an MoU to collaborate on building enhanced customer experience offerings.
Ø On the occasion of World Telecom Day on 17 May, state-run telecom major BSNL has partnered with Google to increase access to its Wi-Fi footprint in the country. With the launch of this service, people across the country will be able to enjoy BSNL’s free Wi-Fi services.
Ø Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati has signed an MoU with The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to set up an IITG-ISRO Space Technology Cell (STC) at the institute where Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi inaugurated a new academic complex and research and development building.

Appointments and Resignations

*Name*	*Appointed as*	*Other Info*
Former IFS officer S. Jaishankar created history as he became the first former Foreign Secretary to become External Affairs Minister.
Narendra Modi	15th Prime Minister of India
Jagan Mohan Reddy	Andhra Pradesh CM
Naveen Patnaik	Odisha CM	for the fifth consecutive term
Prem Singh Tamang, popularly known as PS Golay	Sikkim Chief Minister
Birender Singh Dhanoa	Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee (COSC)	Succeeds Sunil Lanba
Karambir Singh	Navy Chief
Atul Kumar Jain	Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in- C), Eastern Naval Command (ENC)	Succeeds Karambir Singh
Maj Gen A K Dhingra	First Special Operations Division Commander
Dr. Krishnamurthy Subramanian	Member of Advisory Council of 15th Finance Commission	He is the Chief Economic Advisor to Central government
Anton Aditya Subowo (from Indonesia)	President of Badminton Asia
A.K. Sikri	Chairperson of the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA)

Rama Subramaniam Gandhi	Additional director on the board of Yes Bank	He is former deputy governor
Nitin Chugh	MD and CEO of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank
Dinesh Pangtey	CEO of LIC Mutual Fund
Bimal Dayal	Chief Executive Officer after merger of Indus Towers and Bharti Infratel	Hemant Ruia will be the Chief Financial Officer
Sanjiv Puri	Chairman of ITC Ltd.
Sandeep Patil	Managing Director of Truecaller India	former Flipkart executive
Ajoy Mehta	Chief Secretary of Maharashtra
Parveen Pardeshi	Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Chief
Jayshree Vya	Director of BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange)	BSE’s first independent woman director
Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma	1^st Brand Ambassadors of Flipkart-owned fashion e-commerce platform Myntra
Virat Kohli and Rishabh Pant	Brand Ambassadors of Himalaya MEN
Salman Khan	Brand Ambassador of BharatPe
Rakesh Sharma	Vice-President of International Motorcycle Manufacturers Association (IMMA)	HQ - Geneva
Himanta Biswa Sarma	Vice President of the Badminton Asia Council (BAC)
Mueenul Haq	High Commissioner to India	Pakistan has appointed
Jeffrey Rosen	US’ Deputy Attorney General
Scott Morrison	Prime Minister of Australia
PM Boubou Cisse	Prime Minister of Mali
James Marape	Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea
Laurentino Cortizo	President of the Republic of Panama
Stevo Pendarovski	President of North Macedonia
Cyril Ramaphosa	South African President
Joko Widodo	President of Indonesia	2nd Term
Volodymyr Zelenskiy	President of Ukraine
Peter Mutharika	President of Malawi
Muhammadu Buhari	President of Nigeria
India has been re-elected as an observer to intergovernmental forum Arctic Council (HQ - Tromsø, Norway).
Japan’s new emperor, Naruhito, has formally ascended to the Chrysanthemum Throne, replacing his father, Akihito, who had abdicated recently.
Bhushan Patil, president at Paytm, quit the company.
Debt-laden and grounded Jet Airways’ Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Chief Executive Officer Amit Agarwal resigned.
Jet Airways CEO Vinay Dube resigned.
British Prime Minister Theresa May announced resignation from her post.

Awards and Recognitions

*Award Name*	*Person/Institution*	*Extra Knowledge*
Japan’s ‘Order of the Rising Sun’ award	Former foreign secretary Shyam Saran
FICCI Claims Excellence Award	Bharti AXA Life Insurance
UNSDG 10 Most Influential People in Healthcare Award	Patanjali Group of Institutions
27^th P.C. Chandra Puraskaar	Dr Devi Prasad Shetty
2019 V K Krishna Menon award	G D ‘Robert’ Govender
Joan Miro Prize for 2019	Indian contemporary artist Nalini Malani	Malani, who is the winner of the seventh edition of the prize, was awarded for her impressive body of work that gave a voice to “the silenced and the dispossessed all over the world, most particularly women”.

Sasakawa Award 2019 for Disaster Risk Reduction	Dr. Pramod Kumar Mishra	By United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
‘Order of St. George’ award by Kerala Award	Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

Desert Storm 2019	TVS Racing	Held in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan
Booker International Prize	Jokha Alharthi	Author from Oman for “Celestial Bodies”. She is the first Arabic-language writer to take the prize.
Swansea University International Dylan Thomas prize	Guy Gunaratne (British-Sri Lankan writer)	For ‘In Our Mad and Furious City’
Comedian-actor Kapil Sharma has been acknowledged as the most viewed stand-up comedian in India and abroad by the World book of Records London.
6 grassroots environmental activists received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. Known as the Green Nobel Prize, the Goldman Prize honors environmental activists from each of the 6 continental regions: Europe, Asia, North America, Central America and South America, Africa and islands and island nations. The winners of the award are Alfred Brownell, Bayarjargal Agvaantseren, Ana Colovic Lesoska, Jacqueline Evans, Alberto Curamil, Linda Garcia.
Rapper Drake set a record with the most wins ever, taking home 12 honours at the Billboard Music Awards. The ceremony took place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas with singer Kelly Clarkson as the host.
Actresses Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Deepika Padukone and Sara Ali Khan have won Instagrammers of the Year 2019, which acknowledges Instagram’s most engaging community members across the country. Bollywood diva, Priyanka emerged as the ‘Most Followed Account’ this year. Star cricketer Virat Kohli has emerged as the most ‘Engaged Account of the Year’.
Former ISRO chairman A S Kiran Kumar was conferred with France’s highest civilian award Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Lgion d’Honneur for his contribution to India-France space cooperation.
The article titled ‘Coalgate 2.0’ authored by Nileena M S and published in The Caravan magazine in March last year has won the ACJ Award for Investigative Journalism, 2018.

American golfer Tiger Woods was bestowed with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, US’ highest civilian honor, by President Donald Trump

The Kings, a hip-hop dance crew from Mumbai has found international glory with their victory on American the reality television show “World of Dance”, taking home a cash prize of $1 million.

IPS officer Chhaya Sharma, who led the investigation team of the infamous Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder case has been awarded the 2019 McCain Institute Award for Courage and Leadership.

A team from Georgia Institute of Technology, including an Indian-American student, has won “Hearthstone Collegiate Championship”, part of the first-ever ESPN Collegiate Esports Championship. Shiv Chopra along with two Georgia Tech teammates swept off Minnesota team 3-0 in the finals in Houston.

Indian YouTuber Ajey Nagar has been named by Time magazine among its ‘Next Generation Leaders 2019’, a list of only 10 young people from around the world who are forging new paths in politics, music and other spheres.

South African mountaineer Saray Khumalo became the first black woman from the continent to reach Mount Everest's summit.

Sunny Pawar has bagged the Best Child Actor award for ‘Chippa’ at the 19th New York Indian Film Festival.

Antano and Harini – Legacy Accelerators received the ‘Award of Honor’ from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India for the unprecedented work they have been doing to help people change the trajectory of their lives and help people create a personal legacy in compressed time.

Actor Anil Kapoor felicitated by the Council of European Chambers of Commerce (CEUCC) in India.

Aarohi Pandit, 23, made history when she landed in to become the world’s first woman pilot to cross The Atlantic Ocean in a light-sport aircraft (LSA). The Mumbai girl landed at Iqaluit Airport.

The 49-year-old Sherpa climber Kami Rita scaled Mount Everest for the 23rd time, breaking his own record of the most successful ascents of the world’s highest peak. Breaking his own record of 22 successful ascents of Everest, Kami Rita now became the only man on the planet to climb Everest for 23 times.

Just a week after breaking his own record for the most number of summits on Mt Everest, Kami Rita Sherpa yet again climbed the world’s highest mountain. By achieving this feat, Sherpa has become the only Mountaineer in the world to hold the record for most Everest summits.

Indian filmmaker, Achyutanand Dwivedi’s film, “Seed Mother”, won the third prize in the international section of Nespresso Talents 2019 in Cannes.

In an international competition ‘Elsevier Foundation-ISC3 Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge’, a project idea by Ankur Patwardhan from Pune has bagged the second prize of €25,000. His project named ‘Butterfly attractant for pollination and ecosystem health’ is about the relationship between chemistry and ecosystem.

Bengaluru-based medical doctor Hema Divakar was honored with the ‘Global Asian of the Year 2018-19’ award in Dubai recently for her yeomen services and contributions to the women’s healthcare ecosystem, in India.

Flight Lieutenant Mohana Singh, one of India’s first female fighter pilots, scripted history as the first-ever woman pilot to become operational on Hawk advanced jet aircraft.

Indian writer Annie Zaidi was announced as 2019 winner of the USD 100,000 Nine Dots Prize, a prestigious book prize created to award innovative thinking that addresses contemporary issues around the world. For - ‘Bread, Cement, Cactus’

Chandrani Murmu, a tribal woman, has made history after winning the Lok Sabha seat from Keonjhar in Odisha. She has become the youngest Member of Parliament (MP) at the age of 25 years and 11 months.

Priyanka Mohite, the 26-year-old Satara based mountaineer has become the first Indian woman to successfully scale Mount Makalu — the fifth-highest mountain in the world at 8,481 meters.

Flt Lt Bhawana Kanth adds another feather to her cap by completing Day Operational syllabus on MiG-21 Bison aircraft. She is the first women fighter pilot to be qualified to undertake missions by day on a fighter aircraft.

Conference and Summits

*Summit*	*Place*	*Extra Knowledge*
WTO Ministerial Meeting of Developing Countries	New Delhi
5th Smart Cities India 2019 Expo	New Delhi
SWIFT India and South Asia Conference	Mumbai
Meeting of Regional Heads of Customs Administration of Asia Pacific Region of WCO (World Customs Organization)	Kochi, Kerala
India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) Sherpas meeting	Cochin, Kerala
10^th National Science Film Festival	Agartala, Tripura	To be held in 2020
Annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in 20121	Colombo, Sri Lanka
Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Foreign Minister’s meet	Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) meeting	Turkmenistan
5th Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Media Summit on Climate Action and Disaster Preparedness	Kathmandu, Nepal	Theme - “Media Solutions for Sustainable Future: Saving Lives, Building Resilient Communities”.
2020 UN Ocean Conference	Lisbon, Portugal	Theme – “scaling up ocean action based on science and innovation for the implementation of Goal 14: stocktaking, partnerships and solutions”

International News

Ø The UK parliament became the first national legislative body in the world to declare a climate change “emergency”. The historic move closely follows Extinction Rebellion protests that blocked traffic in key parts of central London.

Ø US President Donald Trump has said he will withdraw his country from the International Arms Trade Treaty. The agreement, signed by Barack Obama in 2013, aims to regulate the sale of weapons between countries.

Ø A Japanese aerospace startup funded by a former internet maverick has successfully launched a small rocket into space. Interstellar Technology Inc. says the unmanned MOMO-3 rocket has exceeded 100 kilometers (60 miles) in altitude before falling into the Pacific Ocean.

Ø The Asian Development Bank (ADB) launched the Action Plan for Healthy Oceans and Sustainable Blue Economies for the Asia and Pacific region at the 52nd Annual Meeting of ADB’s Board of Governors in Fiji.

Ø A Nepali teenager danced continuously for 126 hours to set a Guinness World Records on “Longest Dancing Marathon by an Individual”, a feat previously hold by an Indian.

Ø Senegalese lawmakers approved a constitutional reform to scrap the post of prime minister, the first initiative of President Macky Sall‘s second term in office. The government approved the measure last month before sending it to the parliament where the presidential party enjoys a majority.

Ø Singapore’s parliament passed the Protection from Online Falsehood and Manipulation Act (POFMA), a move to tackle the spread of online fake news. The bill was passed after two days of debate in the parliament.

Ø Qantas flight F739 from Sydney to Adelaide was the first commercial flight to produce no landfill waste. About 1000 single-use plastics were replaced with alternative solutions or removed altogether from the flight, including Qantas staples like individually-packaged servings of milk and Vegemite.

Ø WHO (World Health organization) collaborated with the International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA) to eliminate industrially-produced trans fat (iTFA) from food supply worldwide by 2023. Trans fat-intake leads to coronary heart disease, due to which globally 5,00,000 deaths occur every year.

Ø In a bid to help countries ensure secure and verifiable voting, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has announced “ElectionGuard” a free open-source software development kit (SDK). It will enable end-to-end verification of elections, open results to third-party organizations for secure validation, and allow individual voters to confirm their votes were correctly counted

Ø Ireland has become the second country in the world to declare a climate and biodiversity emergency. Ireland followed in the footsteps of the United Kingdom.

Ø India and China top a list of countries where illegal sand mining has become a major environmental problem, according to a report released by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). While we cannot do without sand, responsible mining should be incentivized, said the report, ‘Sand and Sustainability: finding new solutions for environmental governance of global sand resources’.

Ø The Saudi government 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.

Ø Taiwan became the first Asian-nation to legalize same-sex marriage.

Ø Joining the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and the European Union (EU), Italy’s antitrust authority has become the latest international regulatory body to launch an anti-competition investigation against Google.

Ø The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and Commonwealth Bank (CBA) have enabled secondary market trading recorded on blockchain for bond-i (blockchain operated new debt instrument), making this the first bond whose issuance and trading are recorded using distributed ledger technologies.

Ø Russia launched the world’s largest nuclear-powered icebreaker, which would open up commercial opportunities for the country in the northern sea route. With the ceremonial launch of ‘The Ural’, Russia’s Rosatom Atomic Energy Corporation, which is the main equipment supplier for India’s Kudankulam the nuclear power plant has completed another step towards ensuring all-year round navigability of the Northern sea route.

Ø The World Health Organization has certified Algeria and Argentina as malaria-free, following three consecutive years where no new cases of the deadly disease have been reported.

Ø A-56 year-old Gopal Shrestha from Pokhara in Nepal became first HIV infected climber to ascend the world’s highest peak, the Mount Everest.

National News

Ø The Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu released a postage stamp to commemorate the 750th birth anniversary of Sri Vedanta Desikan in New Delhi.

Indian government had earlier proposed a special green-colored number plate for all electric vehicles in the country. Putting the year old plan in action, the Central government has now asked the state transport departments to make it mandatory for all EVs to use the green number plates, irrespective of the year in which they were bought.

Ø Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recently launched the Malaria Elimination Research Alliance (MERA)- India and organised the Stakeholders’ Meeting at ICMR headquarters, New Delhi to have vibrant discussions on the roadmap of the Alliance.

Ø The government has hiked the customs duty on wheat to 40 per cent from 30 per cent to curb imports and protect the domestic industry.

Ø The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi has announced that they will be introducing a new Centre of Excellence for Waste to Wealth Technologies. This step has been taken as a way to celebrate Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th Birthday. The initiative is a joint effort of IIT-D and Government of India’s Principle Scientific Advisor (PSA).

Ø The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) held a brainstorming session for all stakeholders in the renewable energy industry. This ‘chintan baithak’ was the first of its kind organized by MNRE.

Ø The Indian Army is commemorating this 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.

Ø The Indian Navy’s first full-fledged Services Selection Board (SSB) was 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.

Ø The website of the Lokpal www.lokpal.gov.in has been launched. It was inaugurated by Chairperson Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose in presence of all the Members of Lokpal in New Delhi. The Lokpal is the first institution of its kind in independent India, established under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 to inquire and investigate into allegations of the corruption against public functionaries who fall within the scope and ambit of the above Act

Ø At 47.8 deaths per 1,000 live births, India in 2015 had more deaths among children under five than any other country, new research has found.

The highest mortality rate, in Assam, a state in northeastern India, was more than seven times that in the western state of Goa.

Ø India signed the ‘Christchurch Call to Action’ in Paris. The agreement came in the backdrop of the attacks on mosques in March and is aimed at stopping the abuse of the Internet by extremists.

Ø India has been unanimously chosen as co-chair of the Consultative Group (CG) of Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) for the fiscal year 2020.

Ø India delivered the first pair of replacement Mi-24 attack helicopters to Afghanistan. India had first delivered the Mi-24 Helicopters to Afghanistan in December 2015.

Ø With 400 young Indian men participating across the country to learn laundry lessons to share the responsibility of cleaning clothes along with the female members of their homes, India achieved the Guinness World Records certificate for the largest laundry lesson recently.

Ø The NITI Aayog has drawn up a plan for creating an institutional framework for artificial intelligence (AI) in the country. It has circulated a cabinet note to provide Rs 7,500 crore in funding for creation of cloud computing platform called AIRAWAT and research institutes.

Ø UN Environment India and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau of India launched an awareness campaign ‘Not all animals migrate by choice’ to be displayed at major airports across the country ahead of the International Day of Biological Diversity celebrated on 22 May.

Ø A 41-year-old orangutan at Odisha’s Nandankanan Zoological Park died following a prolonged illness. ”Binny”, the country’s lone orangutan passed away due to old-age related ailments followed by respiratory tract infection.

Ø In its first meeting, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to give monthly pension of Rs 3,000 to all small and marginal farmers across the country, small traders, businessmen, and shopkeepers after they attain the age of 60 years.

All small shopkeepers and self-employed persons as well as the retail traders with Goods and Services Tax (GST) turnover below Rs 1.5 crore and aged between 18 and 40 years can enroll themselves for the scheme.

Ø As the World Environment Day is approaching, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched a theme song ‘Hawa Aane De’ on air pollution. The song was launched in the national capital. The aim is to spread awareness regarding protecting the environment. Secretary of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched the song in the presence of actor Shekhar Suman and singer Shaan. World Environment Day is celebrated on June 05.

Ø The Trump administration removed India from its currency monitoring list of major trading partners, citing certain developments and steps being taken by New Delhi addressing some of its major concerns. Switzerland is the other nation that has been removed from the list. However, the list includes China, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam among others.

Ø India has been elected to the Executive Board of the first UN-Habitat Assembly, announced by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. India has been elected to the Executive Board of the first UN-Habitat Assembly at the Plenary Session of the Assembly being held in Nairobi.

Ø ISRO Chairman K Sivan flagged off the shipment of India’s largest liquid hydrogen storage tank at the VRV Asia Pacific’s manufacturing plant at Sri City in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.

State News

Arunachal Pradesh

Ø The Geological Survey of India (GSI) in its report said that about 35% of India’s total Graphite reserves are found in Arunachal Pradesh. This is the highest found in the country.

Karnataka

Ø Mangalore City Police has launched an all-women police patrol unit in the city. Flagging off the ‘Rani Abbakka Force’ in Mangalore, Sandeep Patil, Commissioner of Police, said the Karnataka police is giving utmost importance to the protection of women and children.

Ø Defence Space agency to come up at Bengaluru

Kerala

Ø Kerala became the first state to tap into masala bond market by listing the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB)’s masala bond worth of USD 312 million (Rs 2,150 crore) in London Stock Exchange (LSE)’s International Securities Market (ISM).

Madhya Pradesh

Ø Indore’s Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar airport has been declared as an international airport.

Sikkim

Ø The 14th edition of the annual Sino-Indian border trade opened at Nathu La in Sikkim.

Tamil Nadu

Ø A unique ‘Tree Ambulance’ service – an initiative to provide care to trees besides spread green cover, was launched by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu in Chennai.

The service launched for the first time in the state, aims at providing first aid treatment to trees, uprooted tree planting, seed bank, seed ball distribution, plant distribution, aiding tree plantation, shifting trees, survey of trees and removal of dead trees. The ambulance can be availed through the helpline number – 9941006786. People can register themselves as volunteers on their website- www.treeambulance.org.

Telangana

Ø Telangana’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has grown 15 per cent in the financial year ended March 31, 2019 at ₹8,66,875 crore as against ₹7,53,804 crore in the previous year.

This is the highest ever growth of GSDP after the formation of Telangana State.

Finance and Banking News

Ø With an aim to ease high-value fund transfers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced an extension of timings for customer transactions through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) by one and half hours.

Customers can now transfer money through RTGS mode till 6 pm instead of the existing 4:30 pm. The change will come into effect starting June 1.

Ø Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed banks to enhance the housing loan limits for eligibility under priority sector lending (PSL) to Rs 35 lakh in metropolitan centers (with population of ten lakh and above) and Rs 25 lakh in other centers. In order to bring the RRBs and SFBs at a level playing field with other Scheduled Commercial Banks, it has now been decided to enhance the housing loan limits for eligibility under PSL.

Ø Reserve Bank of India has released a vision document’ Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision 2019 – 2021’, with its core theme of ‘Empowering Exceptional E-payment Experience’ for ensuring a safe, secure, convenient, quick and affordable e-payment system.

Ø India’s largest bank State Bank of India has moved to a new interest rate regime on large savings account deposits as well as short-term loans. In March, SBI had announced that it will link its interest rate on savings account with balance above Rs. 1 lakh and short-term loans like overdraft and cash credit facility to Reserve Bank of India’s repo rate, effective 1 May 2019.

Ø The State Bank of India (SBI) has announced a strategic partnership with the FMCG arm of The Art of Living — Sri Sri Tattva. Under this partnership, YONO users can avail a discount of 15 per cent on the entire range of products offered by Sri Sri Tattva such as food, personal care, healthcare, homecare, BYOGI apparels and Shankara skincare products.

Ø Canara Bank and its life insurance partner Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance launched

’Webassurance’ to enable its customers to purchase life insurance in a convenient and hassle-free way.

Ø National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the merger of private sector lender IndusInd Bank with Bharat Financial Inclusion (BFIL), a microfinance company.

Ø Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based HR solutions provider Talocity would provide Yes Bank its AI-supported “touchless”

technology for the bank’s hiring process and human resource (HR) operations.

Ø India Ratings has downgraded Yes Bank‘s long-term issuer rating from ‘IND AA plus’ to ‘IND AA minus’ with a negative outlook.

Ø 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 Rs10 crore to new-age fintech non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) engaged in financing small businesses and other income-generating activities.

Ø A Reserve Bank of India-appointed committee headed by Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani has submitted its suggestions on promoting digital payments to Governor Shaktikanta Das.

In January, the RBI had set up the five-member panel on deepening digital payments with a view to encouraging digitization of payments and enhance financial inclusion through digitization.

Ø HDFC Capital Advisors, a wholly-owned subsidiary of HDFC Ltd, launched a new initiative called ‘HDFC Affordable Real Estate and Technology Program (HeART). It aims to mentor, partner and invest in real estate technology companies that drive innovation and efficiencies within the affordable housing ecosystem.

Ø Private sector lender Karnataka Bank launched a new savings bank product called “KBL SB Salary” for salaried class with three variants of Executive, Prime and Classic.

Ø Corporation Bank has launched ‘Corp SME Suvidha’, a product for GST-registered MSMEs. The product has been designed as part of the bank’s efforts to provide the best products to the MSME sector.

Ø Bank credit to infrastructure sector grew by 18.5 per cent to Rs 10.55 lakh crore as of 2018-19, the highest since 2012-13 fiscal, RBI data showed.

Ø As per data from the Reserve Bank of India, debit card swipes on Point of Sales (PoS) terminals jumped more than 27% in March 2019 compared to corresponding period last year. In contrast, ATM withdrawals grew at a slower pace of 15%.

Ø Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has announced that it has launched ‘Bank on Wheels’ facility in 14 of its lead districts in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, besides Vijayawada. The mobile van facility will enable the public, especially senior citizens, conveniently get door-step banking facility available at identified locations of the lead districts.

Ø RBI stated that all non-deposit-taking non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) with an asset size of Rs 5,000 crore and above, and all deposit-taking NBFCs irrespective of their asset size, have to maintain a liquidity buffer in terms of a Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR).

Business News

Ø Bharti AXA General Insurance said it will sell policies through social media messaging platform WhatsApp and has tied up with web aggregator Wishfin Insurance for speedy delivery of two-wheeler cover.

Ø Iraq has become India’s top crude oil supplier for the second consecutive year, meeting more than one-fifth of the country’s oil needs in the 2018-19 fiscal year.

Ø Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting (WCCL), the consumer care business of software provider Wipro Ltd, has acquired the Philippines-based personal care maker Splash Corporation for an undisclosed amount to enter the country which has a consumer base of around 100 million.

Ø PayPal India has launched its One Touch instant payments feature for Android devices in the country.

Ø 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.

Ø State-owned telecom firm BSNL has become the first operator to start optical fibre-based high-speed broadband service in Pulwama with the launch of ‘Bharat Fibre’. This is the first such FTTH (fibre-to-the-home) service deployment in the (Kashmir) Valley under this unique revenue share model.

Ø The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) directed the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to disgorge Rs 625 crore, 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.

Ø Bilateral trade between India and the United States in goods and services grew 12.6 per cent from USD 126 billion in 2017 to USD 142 billion in 2018.

Ø Max Life Insurance Co Ltd, one of industry’s foremost life insurance companies, announced that it will dedicate 6th day of every calendar month as ‘Protection Day’ towards driving awareness around the concept of financial protection.

As a part of the initiative the Company will also drive a “Super Customer Week”, where customers across the board will be educated about various aspects of financial protection.

Ø Bharti Airtel and Hughes Communications India announced an agreement to combine their VSAT operations in India and leverage the demand for secure connectivity in a rapidly growing digital economy.

Ø BharatPe – India’s first Fintech start-up enabling payments for merchants through interoperable UPI QR codes, has announced its foray into merchant services with a new app. The app allows merchants to record their cash/credit (Udhar) sales customer wise, request accounts receivable from customers via SMS payment links, and keep track of accounts payable to suppliers, among other services.

Ø Samsung Electronics Co 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.

Ø In a bid to become a dominant player in the global toy retail industry, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) announced it has acquired iconic British toy retailer Hamleys from Chinese fashion wear firm C Banner International for an undisclosed sum.

Ø Facebook has chosen London as the center 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.

Ø HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company, India’s third-largest non-life insurance provider in the private sector, announced the launch of ‘Mosquito Disease Protection Policy’.

Ø IBM India 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.

Ø 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.

Ø Paytm has introduced a new credit, called Paytm First Card, in partnership with Citibank. The company is touting that the new card will offer customers 1 percent of universal cashback along with zero restrictions on earning categories. This will be auto-credited to the card every month.

Ø 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.

Ø Doordarshan has launched an online souvenir store for its viewers on Amazon India so that one can easily access it.

A. Surya Prakash Chairman, Prasar Bharati launched DD souvenir store on Amazon India.

Ø ICICI Bank announced the launch of a co-branded multi-currency card with online travel booking portal Goibibo. Anyone travelling abroad, whether they hold an ICICI Bank savings account or not, can apply for the Goibibo ICICI Bank Travel Card on the Goibibo website and mobile app.

Ø In a move to enrich the customer experience of millions of the homegrown ride hailing platform’s users, Ola has partnered the state-run SBI cards to launch Ola Money SBI Credit Card for the country’s first such co-branding initiative in the segment.

Ø Reliance Infrastructure promoted Mumbai Metro One announced a tie-up with payment gateway ‘Instamojo’ to enable card payments aimed at boosting cashless travel.

Ø Bajaj Finserv said it has launched a specialized insurance cover for passengers travelling in local trains in country’s financial capital Mumbai. The travelers will get an insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh against a payment of Rs 399 per annum.

Ø Leading stock exchange BSE 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 SIPs, generates the basket of multiple orders, tracks and allows the distributor to analyze his business at his fingertips.

Ø Vodafone Idea Business Services (VIBS), the enterprise arm of telecom major Vodafone Idea, announced a strategic partnership with datacenter service provider CtrlS for information and communications technology (ICT) solutions, including cloud computing.

Ø Global software major Infosys has completed the acquisition of majority (75 per cent) equity stake in the Stater

N.V. subsidiary of the Netherlands-based ABN AMRO Bank.

Ø The HDFC group has overtaken the 151-year-old Tata group to emerge as India’s most valuable by way of market capitalization (m-cap).

Ø The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) have announced initiatives to encourage tech startups, especially fintech, by making data and systems available to them through the regulatory sandbox (RS).

SEBI has proposed an ‘Innovation Sandbox’ which would be a testing environment where fintech firms and entities not regulated by SEBI.

Ø Rating agency ICRA downgraded the long-term rating of private lender IDFC First Bank on the back of weak earnings profile and increase in provisions due to unanticipated fresh stressed exposures identified by the bank. The ratings was bought down a notch from to AA from AA+ with stable outlook.

Economy News

Ø India Ratings and Research marginally lowered country’s GDP growth projection for 2019-20 fiscal to 7.3 per cent mainly due to below normal monsoon prediction and loss of momentum in industrial output.

Ø The Asia-Pacific region is expected to power ahead growing at 5.7% this year: Asian Development Bank

Ø Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in its Economic Outlook: India’s economic growth will regain strength and approach 7.5% by 2020

Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in India is projected to strengthen to close to 7.25% in FY19 and close to 7.5% in FY20.

Ø UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects report: India’s growth rate for the current fiscal year to be 7%. And 7.1% in the fiscal year 2020.

World growth of 2.7% this year and 2.9% in 2020.

Ø The country’s economic growth in the fourth quarter ended March 2019 is expected to moderate to 6.1-5.9 per cent, which could pull down growth rate for the entire fiscal 2018-19 to below 7 per cent, according to a report by SBI.

Ø India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said that it expects India’s GDP growth rate during 2018-19 to be 6.9 per cent as against the advance estimate of 7 per cent.

Ø In 2018, MICE tourism in India was pegged at Rs 25,000 crore with 8 per cent growth year-on-year, said the report titled ‘India Inbound Tourism: Unlocking the Opportunity’: FICCI-Yes Bank report

Ø Food inflation in the country is likely to go up to 2 per cent in the financial year 2019-20 from the 0.7 per cent estimated for FY19. The low food prices have been one of the prime factors which has aided the RBI to be more accommodatory in its rate setting recently.

Ø Bank credit grew by 13.2% in financial year 2018-19 as compared to 10.3% in the previous financial year, mainly aided by loans to services and retail sector. Deposit growth also gained momentum, growing by 10% as compared to 6.7% a year ago.

Ø India’s exports in April 2019 grew 1.34 per cent to 44.06 billion US dollars while imports jumped 4.53 per cent to

52.83 billion US dollars in the year-on period.

Ø Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation for April 2019 eased to 3.07%, from 3.62% in April 2018.

Ø The Indian economy will grow at 7 per cent range in the current fiscal powered by the effects of the strong structural reforms such as bankruptcy laws, Goods and Services Tax (GST), crackdown on shell companies and the fiscal prudence undertaken in the last five years, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Krishnamurthy V. Subramanian said recently.

Ø Bad loan recoveries in the last fiscal effected through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) route was at Rs 70,000 crore, posting a recovery rate of 43 per cent, and was twice the Rs 35,500 crore recovered through previous resolution mechanisms like the Debt Recovery Tribunal and Lok Adalat, as per a report by ratings firm Crisil.

Ø Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection scales record high of Rs 1.13 lakh crore in April, highest ever collection since GST implementation.

Ø In a first in recent history of tax filings, income tax e-filings in FY 2019 have dropped by more than 6.6 lakh, a trend that analysts said was surprising as tax base was expected to increase post demonetization.

Ø The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) announced a Rs 700-crore venture capital fund for equity investments in agriculture and rural-focused startups. NABARD has been contributing to other funds till now and this is the first time that the rural development bank has launched a fund of its own.

Ø Total sanctions under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) loan scheme for micro industries are likely to cross Rs 3 lakh crore in the current fiscal.

Government data for the scheme for the last fiscal, till March 22, 2019, put the figure of Mudra sanctions at Rs 2.82 lakh crore to 541.27 lakh borrowers.

Ø As per the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the economic growth rate for the financial year 2018-19 stood at a five-year low of 6.8 per cent.

Ø As per the data released by Controller General of Accounts (CGA), India met its fiscal deficit target for 2018-19, which came in at 3.39 per cent of GDP, slightly lower than 3.4 per cent estimated in the revised estimates of the Budget, on the back of an increase in non-tax revenue and lower expenditure.

Ø The country’s median GDP is forecast at 7.10 percent for Financial Year 2020 and 7.20 percent for Financial Year 2021. The industry body FICCI’s economic outlook survey stated that the minimum and maximum growth estimate stood at 6.80 percent and 7.3 percent for 2019-20.

Science & Technology

Ø NASA spacecraft to hit an asteroid in 2022.

Ø Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Director K Sivan inaugurated the Young Scientist Programme (YUVIKA). The program 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 participants will be attending a residential training program at 4 ISRO centers – Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram; U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru; Space Applications Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad, and North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC), Shillong.

Ø India successfully placed into orbit a radar imaging earth observation satellite RISAT-2B in a textbook style. PSLV- C46 has successfully injected RISAT-2B in a precise orbit.

According to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India’s new earth observation satellite up in the sky will send good clarity images which will be used for agriculture, forestry, and disaster management support.

This was the 72nd launch vehicle mission from the Sriharikota Range.

Ø NASA unveiled the calendar for the “Artemis” program that will return astronauts to the Moon for the first time in half a century, including eight scheduled launches and a mini-station in lunar orbit by 2024. Artemis : The original lunar missions were named for Apollo – Artemis was his twin sister in Greek mythology, and the goddess of hunting, wilderness, and the Moon.

Defence News

Ø Indo-French joint naval exercise, Varuna 19 was conducted in two phases. 1st phase ‘ Varuna 19.1’ - Goa coast from 1 to 10 May 2019. 2nd phase ‘ Varuna 19.2’ - May end in Djibouti.

Ø 8th Indo-Myanmar Coordinated Patrol (IMCOR) held in Port Blair.

Ø Completing its journey of 36 years, INS Ranjit, a Rajput class destroyer was decommissioned at Naval Dockyard, Visakhapatnam recently. Commissioned on 15 September 1983 by Captain Vishnu Bhagwat in erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the ship was used for yeoman service.

Ø Scorpene class submarine Vela, equipped with modern machinery and technology to guard the seas, was launched in Mumbai.

INS Vela was first commissioned on August 31, 1973 in the Indian Naval service and continued to serve for 37 years. It was the oldest submarine of the country when it was decommissioned.

Ø 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 crore and the 10 helicopters would be deployed on the aircraft carriers and warships of the Navy including the INS Vikrant and Grigorovich-class frigates.

Ø Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) conducted a successful flight test of ABHYAS high-speed expendable aerial target (HEAT) from Interim Test Range, Chandipur in Odisha.

Ø INS Kolkata and INS Shakti of the Indian Navy participated in a 3-day Asia Pacific naval and maritime event titled the International Maritime Defence Exhibition Asia (IMDEX Asia-2019) held in Changi Exhibition Centre, Singapore.

Ø Croatian World Cupper Igor Stimac was appointed head coach of the Indian football team for a two-year term.

Ø India skipper Virat Kohli has bagged the International Cricketer of the year award while

Smriti Mandhana was honored with the International women cricketer of the year award during the CEAT International Cricket Awards 2019.

Ø Former India women cricketer GS Lakshmi became the first female to be appointed to the ICC International Panel of Match Referees.

Ø World number one Bajrang Punia has become the first Indian to win gold at the Ali Aliev wrestling tournament after defeating Viktor Rassadin of Russia in the 65 kg freestyle in Kapiisk, Russia.

Ø Shooter Apurvi Chandela became the world number one in women’s 10m Air Rifle category with 1,926 rankings points, according to the latest rankings released by International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) recently.

Ø Apurvi Chandela won the gold in women’s 10m air rifle at the ISSF World Cup

Ø Rahi Sarnobat clinched gold in the women’s 25m pistol at the season’s third International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in Munich, Germany.

Ø India’s 17-year-old shooter Saurabh Chaudhary broke his own junior and senior world record to win his second gold medal in 10m Air Pistol event in ISSF Gold Cup 2019.

Ø Gaurav Solanki and Manish Kaushik won a gold medal each in the XXXVI Feliks Stamm International Boxing Tournament in Warsaw, Poland

Ø Ace Indian squash players Saurav Ghoshal and Joshna Chinappa won their respective Asian Individual Squash Championship titles in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Ø Chennai Super Kings (CSK) off-spinner Harbhajan Singh became the third Indian to claim 150 wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL).’

Delhi’s Amit Mishra and Kolkata Knight Riders’ Piyush Chawla are the other two Indians who have taken 150 wickets in the IPL.

Ø India’s racing sensation Jehan Daruvala created history during the Spanish F1 Grand Prix, scoring a dramatic victory in the inaugural round of the all-new FIA Formula 3 Championship in Barcelona.

Ø Juventus star striker Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded the ‘Serie A Player of the Year’ award. This is a remarkable feat for the Portuguese international as he has won the award in his very first season in Italy.

Ø Former South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis has been honored with the Order of Ikhamanga in the Silver Division. The national honor is bestowed by the President of South Africa on citizens who have made significant

Ø Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has been appointed as the first non-British president of the Marylebone Cricket Club. Sangakkara will be the first overseas MCC president in the organization’s 233-year history.

Ø 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.

Ø Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has been named Premier League Player of the Season. By doing so, he became the first defender to win the Player of the Season award in seven seasons, after Manchester City’s Vincent Kompany in 2011-12.

Ø Amul has been announced as the principal sponsor of the Afghanistan cricket team for the upcoming World Cup, slated to be held in England and Wales from May 30.

Ø The 23rd edition of the Asian Athletics Championship concluded in Doha, Qatar.

Tejinder Pal Singh Toor won Gold in Men’s shot put event, Gomathi Marimuthu won Gold in Women’s 800m event and PU Chitra won Gold in Women’s 1500m race event.

Ø ISSF World Cup held in Beijing, China

For India, while Anjum Moudgil and young Divyansh Singh Panwar started the medal hunt with a gold in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team competition, the teenaged pair of Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary backed them up with another yellow metal in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Pistol event.

Ø Jaipur will host the 8th Asian Youth Women Handball Championship.

Ø China has become the sole contender to host Asian Cup Football tournament in 2023 after South Korea has announced to withdraw its bid to host the game.

Ø Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez has announced that the 2018/19 season will be his final one as a professional footballer.

Ø Former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has announced his retirement from football.

Ø Germany‘s double Olympic biathlon champion Laura Dahlmeier announced her retirement at the age of just 25 after struggling with health issues.

Ø Helo, India’s social media platform, has announced its partnership with the Indian Wheelchair Cricket Association as the team sponsor for Team India during the Asia Cup 2019, which is scheduled from May 15 in Nepal.

Committee

*Head of Committee*	*Purpose*
M K Sharma	The Central Works Public Department (CPWD) has constituted an expert committee to formulate design policy for building construction and infrastructure development.
T. N. Manoharan, Chairman of Canara Bank	The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) constituted a task force on development of the secondary market for corporate loans.
Harsh Vardhan	RBI announced the setting-up of a committee to work for the development of housing finance securitization market in the country

Rankings

Index	India’s Rank	Other Information
IMD World Competitiveness Rankings	43	1st - Singapore
Kids Right Index	117	1st - Iceland

Ø India 4th Biggest Military Spender in 2018: SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) Report. India’s military spending went up by 3.1 percent to $66.5 billion. 1st – USA.

Rankings (Persons, Cities, Organisations, and Others)

Ø Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the second most-followed politician in the world with a social media audience of 110,912,648 million on platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, a study by online visibility management and content marketing SaaS platform SEMrush said recently.

The most-followed politician globally was former US President Barack Obama, who has 182,710,777 followers on his Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts.

Ø 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 traveler rights, Doha’s Hamad International Airport, Tokyo Haneda International Airport, and Athens International Airport have retained their top three positions in the list.

Ø Reliance Industries has toppled state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to become the country’s biggest company by revenue. The Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate, in the 2018-19 fiscal year that ended March 31, reported a turnover of Rs 6.23 lakh crore.

Ø Huawei Technologies Co. overtook Apple Inc. to claim the No. 2 spot in smartphones in the first quarter, moving a step closer to its avowed ambition of displacing Samsung at the top of the market.

Ø The Netherlands has emerged as the 3rd largest Foreign Direct investor in India for the years 2017-2018 with investments valued at US$ 2.67 billion across variety of sectors such as services, trading, automobile industry, fermentation industries, chemicals and water management.

Ø Mumbai topped the 15-city list of the most vulnerable cities to cyberattacks in 2019, followed by Delhi, Bengaluru and Kolkata, Quick Heal Security Labs revealed. The ‘Annual Threat Report 2019’ put Maharashtra, Delhi and West Bengal as the top three states at most risk.

Loans from Banks

Ø Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed an agreement to provide long-term financing of $750 million equivalent in Indian rupees — the largest single non-sovereign loan ever committed by ADB — to the Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC), to fund the Railways track electrification project.

Ø Asian Development Bank (ADB) has given in-principle nod for financing 4 metro rail projects and a Rs 30,000 crore rapid rail corridor between Delhi and Meerut as part of its effort to improve urban transport system in India.

Books

Book	Author	Other Info
Game Changer	Former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi’s autobiography	In it, he has lashed out explosively at India’s former southpaw and winner of two World titles Gautam Gambhir, taking their decade-old on-and-off-field spat to another level.
Darkness to light	Former American basketball player, Lamar Odom
Coming Round the Mountain	Ruskin Bond

Obituaries

Name	Profession	Other Info
Grumpy Cat, the Internet’s most popular cat and one of its first viral memes, has passed away at age seven. Grumpy Cat, whose real name is Tardar Sauce, had feline dwarfism.
N.R. Madhava Menon		Father of ‘legal education’
Baidyanath Mishra	Economist
Kirpal Singh	Sikh historian
Vijaya Mulay	Filmmaker
Kadavoor Sivadasan	Politics
V. Vishwanatha Menon	Politics	Former CPI-M Kerala Finance Minister
Rajendra Tiwari		Madhya Pradesh Advocate General and Senior Advocate
MB Balakrishnan	Swimmer	Ace Tamil Nadu swimmer and South Asian Games gold-medalist
Derek Sippy	Former billiards player, coach and administrator
Thoppil Mohamed Meeran	Author (Tamil)
Maramraju Satyanarayana Rao	Writer and academician
Surya Prakash	Painter
Roshan Taneja	Acting Guru	Founder and former head of the acting department at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. Known to many as the ‘pioneer of method acting’ in India
Veeru Devgan	Action and Stunts directors
Benu Mishra	Assam’s noted artist and former senior art adviser
Rallapalli Venkata Narasimha Rao	Actor (Telugu)
Master Hirannaiah	Actor (Kannada)	Kannada theatre and film personality
Mrinal Mukherjee	Actor (Bengali)
Eranholi Moosa	Mappilapaattu singer
Nebburu Narayana Hegde	Yakshagana ‘bhagawatha’ (singer)
Hiralal Yadav	Bhojpuri Singer
Adiraja Sultana Fathima Muthu Beevi		Head of erstwhile Arakkal royal family
Yogi Deveshwar	Businessman	ITC group Chairman
Murray Gell-Mann	American physicist
Negasso Gidada	Former Ethiopian President
Bob Hawke	Former Australian Prime Minister
Prem Tinsulanonda	Thailand’s former Prime Minister
John Singleton	American film director	Academy Award-nominated filmmaker best known for directing “Boyz N the Hood” and “Poetic Justice”

Peter Mayhew	English-American Actor
Clement Von Franckenstein	British-American Actor
Peggy Lipton	American Actress
Doris Day	American actress-singer
Tim Conway	American comedian
Sammy Shore	American actor, stand-up comedian
Terry Rawlings	British film and sound editor
Seymour Nurse	West Indies batsman
I.M. Pei	Chinese-American architect	He designed the glass and metal pyramid at the Louvre Museum in Paris
Niki Lauda	Austrian Formula One driver
Sultan Ahmad Shah	Malaysia’s seventh King and football veteran

Important Days

Date	Day	Other Info
1 May	International Labour Day	Theme 2019: “Sustainable Pension for all: The Role of Social Partners”
2 May	World Tuna Day
2 May 2019 (1st Thursday of May)	World Password Day
3 May	World Press Freedom Day	Theme 2019: “Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation”
5 May	International Midwives’ Day	Theme 2019: “Midwives: Defenders of Women’s Rights”
6 May – 12 May	United Nations Global Road Safety Week	Theme 2019: “Leadership for road safety”
7 May 2019 (1st Tuesday of May)	World Asthma Day	Theme 2019: “STOP for Asthma”
7 May	World Athletics Day
8 May	World Red Cross Day	Theme 2019: “#Love”
8 May	International Thalassaemia Day	Theme 2019: “Universal access to quality thalassaemia healthcare services: Building bridges with and for patients.”
11 May	National Technology Day
11 May 2019 (2nd Saturday of May and October)	World Migratory Bird Day	Theme 2019: “Protect Birds: Be the Solution to Plastic Pollution!”
11 May 2019 (2nd Saturday of May)	World Fair Trade Day	Live Fair, One Product at a Time
12 May	International Nurses Day	Theme 2019: “Nurses – A Voice to Lead – Health for All”
12 May 2019 (2nd Sunday of May)	International Mothers’ Day
15 May	International Day of Families	Theme 2019: “Families and Climate Action: Focus on SDG13”
16 May	National Dengue Day
16 May	International Light Day
17 May	World Hypertension Day	Theme 2019: “Know Your Numbers”
17 May	World Telecommunication and Information Society Day	Theme 2019: “Bridging the standardization gap”
17 May	International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia	Theme 2019: “Justice and Protection for All”
18 May	International Museum Day	Theme 2019: “Museums as Cultural Hubs: The Future of Tradition”
18 May	World AIDS Vaccine Day
20 May	World Metrology Day	Theme 2019: “The International System of Units – Fundamentally better”
20 May	World Bee Day
21 May	Anti-Terrorism Day
21 May	World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
22 May	International Day for Biological Diversity	Theme 2019: “Our Biodiversity, Our Food, Our Health”
23 May	World Turtle Day
25 May	International Missing Children’s Day
25 May	World Thyroid Day
28 May	International Day of Action for Women’s Health
29 May	International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers	Theme 2019: “Protecting Civilians, Protecting Peace”
29 May	World Digestive Health Day	Theme 2019: “Early Diagnosis and Treatment of GI Cancer”
31 May	World No-Tobacco Day	Theme 2019: “Tobacco and Lung Health”

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