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CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS
International Day of Families
- International Family Day is observed every year on 15 may. Family is the basic unit of society.
- This day provides an opportunity to raise awareness about the issues related to the families and to increase knowledge about the social, economic and demographic processes that affects them. Several awareness-raising events, including national family day occur.
| USEFUL INFO |
| Theme 2019 | “Families and Climate Action: Focus on SDG13”. |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL
India hosted a 2-day ministerial meeting of WTO in New Delhi
- A WTO Ministerial meeting of developing countries is being hosted by India in New Delhi.
- Sixteen developing countries, Six Least Developed Countries (LDC)(Argentina, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Brazil, Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, China, Egypt, Guatemala, Guyana, Indonesia, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Malawi, Malaysia, Nigeria, Oman, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, Uganda)and DG, WTO are participating in the meeting.
- Issues such as impasse on the appointment of WTO’s appellate body members and way forward on reforms at the global trade body would be discussed in the meeting of developing countries in New Delhi.
- The meeting is being held at a time when the multilateral rule-based trading system is facing serious and grave challenges.
- The Ministerial Meeting had hosted by the Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu,in which Roberto Azevedo, the Director General of WTO, were also present.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION
Former SC Justice MB Lokur appointed to Supreme Court of Fiji for three years
- Justice Madan Bhimrao Lokur, who retired as the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court in December 2018, has been appointed to the Supreme Court of Fiji’s non-resident panel for the duration of three years.
- Justice Lokur received the appointment letter for the same on December 31, 2018, a day after he retired from the Supreme Court of India.
BharatPe Ropes In Salman Khan as Brand Ambassador
- Merchant service and UPI payments app BharatPe has roped in Bollywood actor Salman Khan as its brand ambassador.
- The company is on an aggressive growth spree and will be launching a brand advertising campaign with Khan shortly.
- The new brand campaign with Khan will be focused towards educating merchants and users about UPI payments along with driving adoption of BharatPe app for all their business needs.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: MOU
Bharti Airtel and HDFC Life tied up to offer insurance for prepaid customers
- Bharti Airtel and HDFC Life Insurance have tied up to offer life cover for customers who get a prepaid recharge done.
- Airtel’s new ₹249-prepaid bundle — which will include 2 GB data, unlimited calls across networks, and 100 SMSes per day — will also offer a cover worth ₹4 lakh from HDFC Life.
- The recharge is valid for 28 days and and the policy cover till recharge is active. A customer needs to enrol for insurance after the first recharge through either an SMS, the My Airtel App.
- The insurance will renew automatically for subsequent recharges.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.
- The policy or Certificate of Insurance (CoI) will be instantaneously delivered digitally, and a physical copy can be provided on request.
Paytm collaborated with Citibank to launch its ‘Paytm First Card’
- Paytm, has launched a credit card in partnership with global payments company Citi Bank Called Paytm First Card, this is the first card of its kind launched in India by the American card company, which has similar exclusive partnerships across sectors in the US.
- It is also the first white-label credit card of its kind to offer unlimited one per cent cash-back without restrictions that would get auto-credited to the card every month.
- For example, on a spend of Rs 100, a person will get an assured Rs 1 as cash-back. The company’s cash-back driven credit card comes at a time when cash-backs are drying up.
- The card will be accepted internationally and is contactless enabled.There is also a full waiver of annual fee of Rs 500 on spends exceeding Rs 50,000 per year.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ISRO launched ‘India Young Scientist Programme’ (Yuvika-2019)
- Indian Space Research Organisation has launched a special programme for School Children called “Young Scientist Programme” “YUva VIgyani KAryakram”from this year, in tune with the Government’s vision “Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan”.
- The programme will be of two weeks duration during summer holidays (second half of May 2019) and the schedule will include invited talks, experience sharing by the eminent scientists, facility and lab visits, exclusive sessions for discussions with experts, practical and feedback sessions.
- It is proposed to select 3 students each from each State/ Union Territory to participate in this programme covering CBSE, ICSE and State syllabus.
- ISRO Chairman Dr K. Sivan inaugurated ISRO’s Young Scientist Programme called ‘Yuvika 2019’ at Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: DEFENCE
Indian Armed Forces carried out Exercise Bull Strike at Teressa Island in Andaman and Nicobar
- The military drill, called Exercise Bullstrike, was conducted to showcase joint operations capability of the armed forces. During the exercise, the army personnel got the chance to display their prowess by undertaking company level airborne operation at Teressa island.
- A number of combat drills were carried out during the exercise, with 170 troops from the three services undertaking para drop operations in a Combat Free Fall and Static Line mode.
India to host part of International Army Games
- India for the first time will host and participate in a major army competition involving eight countries, including China and Russia, in Jaisalmer.
- The event called the ‘Army International Scout Masters Competition 2019’ will be held in August this year.
- The fifth Army International Scouts Masters Competition 2019 is being held in Jaisalmer. Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe, Armenia, Belarus and China besides India are participating. The competition is being held in India for the first time under the Indian Army and being organised by its Konark Corps at Jaisalmer Military Station.
- India will host the fifth Army International Scout Masters Competition as a part of the Games.
DRDO successfully conducts flight test of ABHYAS drone from ITR in Odisha
- India successfully conducted the flight test of ABHYAS – High-speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) from a test range in Odisha.
- The trial, carried out by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Chandipur in Balasore, was tracked by various radars and electro-optic systems.
- The configuration of ABHYAS is designed on an in-line small gas turbine engine and it uses indigenously developed MEMS based navigation system.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: FESTIVALS
Brahmakalashothsava Festival 2019 started in Karnataka
- The 6-day Brahmakalashothsava festival is celebrated in the ancient Chandkuru Sri Durga Parameshwari Temple annually in Polali, Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka.
- The presiding deity of the temple, which has a history of nearly 1,700 years, is Shri Rajarajeshwari. The highlight of this temple is its mud idols and this is probably the only idol of this size (about 9ft height) in Karnataka. Other than the presiding deity Rajarajeshwari – two other idols Bhadrakali on the left (may be bigger than the presiding deity in height) and Lord Subrahmanya and Ganesha are on the right hand side.
- It is in news recently because several Dalits and OBCs from Chandkuru and surrounding villages in Belthangady taluk boycotted festival in a centuries-old temple due to separate seating arrangement had been made for people of the upper caste.
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| Karnataka Capital | Bangalore |
| CM | Kumarasamy |
| Governor | Vajubai Rudubai Wala |
CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS
GS Lakshmi appointed first female match referee by ICC
- GS Lakshmi has become the first ever woman to be appointed to the ICC International Panel of Match Referees. The 51-year-old’s appointment comes close on the heels of Claire Polosak becoming the first ever woman umpire to stand in a men’s ODI.
- Lakshmi first officiated in domestic women’s cricket in 2008-09, and has overseen three women’s ODI matches and three women’s T20I matches.
Kohli Bags CEAT International Batsman & Cricketer of the Year Award
- India captain Virat Kohli bagged the International Cricketer and Batsman of the Year award during the CEAT Cricket Rating (CCR) International Awards 2019.
- Jasprit Bumrah was adjudged as International Bowler of the Year.
- CEAT awarded Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan for outstanding bowling and Australian batsman Aaron Finch for his exceptional performance in T20.
- Young prodigy Yashasvi Jaiswal, who performed exceptionally over the year was awarded Junior Cricketer of the Year while Kuldeep Yadav took home outstanding performance of the year award.
- Ashutosh Aman was awarded Domestic Cricketer of the Year.
- The legendary Mohinder Amarnath was bestowed with the ‘CCR International Lifetime Achievement Award’.
CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARY
Hollywood actor-singer Doris Day passes away
- Hollywood legend Doris Day, whose films made her one of the biggest stars of all time, has died aged 97.
- The singer turned actress starred in films such as Calamity Jane and Pillow Talk and had a hit in 1956 with Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be).