Current Affairs Today 21st May 2019 | Current Affairs News

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Daily Current Affairs PDF of 21st May 2019

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DAYS

World Metrology Day

• May 20 is World Metrology Day, commemorating the anniversary of the signing of the Metre Convention in 1875.
• This treaty provides the basis for a coherent measurement system worldwide that underpins scientific discovery and innovation, industrial manufacturing and international trade, as well as the improvement of the quality of life and the protection of the global environment.

National Anti-Terrorism Day

• National Anti-Terrorism Day is observed every year on 21 May to spread awareness about the violence caused by the terrorists and also in the memory of former Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi who passed on this day.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATE

Rajasthan set to revamp ‘Ujala Clinics’ for adolescents

• Rajasthan Governmentis set to revamp ‘Ujala Clinics’ for adolescents. It will appoint peer educators and shadow educators for counseling the youngsters in order to ensure coordination with other medical and health schemes.
• Ujjala Clinics function underRashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram(RKSK) in 10 districts of the state. They are established at district hospitals, community health centers and selected primary health centers in Udaipur, Rajsamand, Banswara, Dungarpur, Jaisalmer, Barmer, Jalore, Bundi, Karauli and Dholpur districts.
• The adolescent health strategy is aimed at reducing malnutrition and anaemia. It will improve the knowledge and behaviour of the adolescents with regards to sexual and reproductive health.
• Ujala Clinic is the new name of Adolescent Friendly Health Clinic(AFHC).

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING AND FINANCE

Tripura Gramin Bank among top banking performers in country

• Posting net profit for seven consecutive years, the Tripura Gramin Bank (TGB) is among India’s top three out of 46 regional rural banks (RRBs) in terms of profit, business and growth.
• TGB Chairman is Mahendra Mohan Goswami.
• After some of them merger with commercial banks, currently India has 46 RRBs against the earlier 56.
• The Central government has a 50 percent stake in TGB, the United Bank of India (UBI) has 35 per cent, while the 15 per cent is held by the Tripura government.
• Like other nationalised banks, the TGB has been providing all modern facilities to the customers, including computerised, online financial transactions and mobile banking, besides ATM (Automated Teller Machine) services.

World Bank and CommBank Launch the First Blockchain-Based Bond

• World Bank had partnered with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) to enable blockchain-based secondary market bond recording.
• The secondary trading project was performed on the Blockchain Operated New Debt Instrument (bond-i), a platform based on the Ethereum blockchain.
• It was reportedly developed by CommBank’s Blockchain Centre of Excellence at the CommBank’s Innovation Lab in Sydney as part of the global banking institutions mission to explore and build on the potential of distributed ledgers.
• Just last year, the World Bank issued the bond-i, claiming that it was created, allocated, and managed with the use of blockchain technology.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL

World gets the redefined units of measurement of kilogram, Kelvin, mole and ampere 

• After decades of ground-breaking laboratory works, the world’s scientific and technical community, in a landmark and historic decision taken in the recent open session of the General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) at BIPM, has unanimously adopted the resolution to redefine four of the seven base units, the kilogram (SI unit of weight), Kelvin (SI unit of temperature), mole (SI unit of amount of substance), and ampere (SI unit of current).
• This decision has now enabled scientists and researchers to base the SI units entirely on fundamental properties of nature, which will ensure their ongoing refinement and improvement for years to come. The fundamental constants are invariants of time and space and successfully replaced the artifact based units, and aptly opened up the new era for quantum world by linking all seven base units to fundamental constants/quantum standards.
• The new SI is being implemented worldwide from 20th May 2019 i.e. the World Metrology Day. The World Metrology Day (WMD) is celebrated annually on this very day as the Metre Convention was signed by representatives of seventeen nations on May 20, 1875. The Convention set the framework for global collaboration in the science of measurement and in its industrial, commercial and societal applications
• The new SI is being implemented worldwide from 20th May 2019 i.e. the World Metrology Day. The World Metrology Day (WMD) is celebrated annually on this very day as the Metre Convention was signed by representatives of seventeen nations on May 20, 1875. The Convention set the framework for global collaboration in the science of measurement and in its industrial, commercial and societal applications.
• On this occasion CSIR-NPL also published a book entitled, “Redefined SI Units and Glimpses of NPL Metrological Activities” of almost 100 pages to percolate and disseminate the information accommodating details on new changes

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

Niti Aayog pushes for Rs. 7,500-crore proposal for AI platform, research institutes

• Niti Aayog has circulated a cabinet note to provide Rs 7,500 crore for the establishment of AIRAWAT, a cloud computing platform along with research institutes.
• This is part of the policy think tank’s proposal to create an institutional framework for artificial intelligence (AI) in the country. The expenditure Finance Committee is expected to take up the note soon.
• According to the proposal, the funding would be used to set up five institutes or centres of research excellence (CORE), 20 international centres for transformational AI (ICTAI), along with AIRAWAT, a cloud computing platform that can be accessed by anyone.
• It is estimated that AI will add $957 billion to India’s GDP by 2035, boosting India’s annual growth by 1.3 percentage points.

Facebook registers new cryptocurrency firm Libra Networks in Switzerland

• Facebook has registered a new financial technology company, Libra Networks, in Geneva, Switzerland.
• The new subsidiary, with Facebook Global Holdings as the stakeholder, aims to provide financial and technology solutions and develop related hardware and software.
• It focus on “investing, payments, financing, identity management, analytics, big data, blockchain, and other technologies.”
• Facebook was working on “Facebook Coin.” – a stablecoin pegged to a basket of different foreign currencies. The cryptocurrency project even reached the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs.

FSSAI relaxes certification norms for small organic food producers

• Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has decided to relax certification norms for small original producers or producer organisations with an annual turnover of up to 12 lakh till April 1, 2020.
• According to the regulations, all organic food sold in the country needs to be certified either under National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) or Participatory Guarantee System for India (PGS-India).
• However, these small organic producers and aggregators will not be allowed to use ‘Jaivik Bharat logo’ on their products.
• The Jaivik Bharat logo is an identity mark to distinguish organic products from non-organic ones.

BSNL partners with Google to expand Wi-Fi footprint

• BSNL has partnered with Google to increase access to its WiFi footprint in the country. With the launch of this service, people across the country will be able to enjoy BSNL’s free WiFi services. This initiative will allow customers use BSNL’s high speed internet services on WiFi.
• There are 38,000 BSNL Wi-Fi hotspot locations operational in India. One can access these by buying Wi-Fi vouchers that are priced starting at Rs 19.
• Google has previously completed the rollout of RailWAccording to an Analysys Mason study, public Wi-Fi will connect 40 million new users to the internet by 2019

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATION

Volodymyr Zelensky sworn in as Ukraine’s sixth president

• Ukraine has sworn in comedian Volodymyr Zelensky as the country’s sixth president.
• Immediately after the swearing in of oath, 41 year old Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced the dissolution of the parliament of the country which is known as Verkhovna Rada.

Joko Widodo elected as President of Indonesia for second term

• Indonesia’s Joko Widodo has been re-elected as president of the country
• Widodo – widely known as Jokowi – and his vice-presidential running mate, Ma’ruf Amin, won the April 17 election by a 55.5 percent to 44.5 percent margin over Prabowo and Sandiaga Uno

CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS

‘Most Important Woman in American Political History’ Nancy Pelosi Set to Receive JFK Profile in Courage Award

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is being honored with the 2019 John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.
• Pelosi is being recognized for her efforts to pass former President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law and for helping Democrats reclaim control of the U.S. House during last year’s elections.
• The award is being presented to Pelosi at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston.

Kapil Sharma recognised as one of the most viewed stand-up comedians in the world by World Book of Records

• Comedian-actor-singer-producer Kapil Sharma has been acknowledged by the World Book of Records London for being one of the most viewed stand-up comedians in India and abroad.
• He had made his Bollywood debut in movie Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon and his second movie was Firangi.

UN to honour late Malawian soldier with highest peacekeeping award

• The United Nations announced that it will honour the “brave and selfless” action of a late UN peacekeeper from Mali, who sacrificed his life while saving his fellow comrade during an operation against a local armed group last year.
• Late Malawian soldier Chancy Chitete will be honoured with the UN’s highest peacekeeping award by Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the UN headquarters in New York
• The award, officially named the “Captain Mbaye Diagne Medal for Exceptional Courage,” which was established in 2014 for uniformed and civilian personnel who meet the criteria, is named after the late UN peacekeeper Captain Diagne, who saved hundreds of lives in Rwanda in 1994, before being killed

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

ISRO plans to conduct seven mega missions over next 10 years

• Space Agency ISRO, which is gearing up for the ambitious Chandrayaan-2 this July.
• 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.
• The spacecraft will carry Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays (POLIX) payload which will study the degree and angle of polarisation of bright X-ray sources in the energy range 5-30 keV. The satellite has a mission life of five years.
• Aditya-L1 is an important mission planned for 2021, to study the solar corona. The spacecraft will be placed in a halo orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrangian point (L1), about 1.5 million km from the Earth

CURRENT AFFAIRS: RANKING

India performs poorly in kids right index, ranks 117

• India stands in a lowly 117th position out of 181 countries in the KidsRight Index, the annual global index which ranks how countries adhere to and are equipped to improve child rights.
• Countries are judged on five indicators: right to life, right to education, right to health, right to protection and enabling environment for child rights.
• India has scored 0.57 and ranks 85.93.
• Iceland secured the top position in the index with a score of 0.967, followed by Portugal with a score of 94.8.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: SPORTS

Italian Open 2019 Winners Title

• The 76^thedition of Italian Open which is also known as “Rome Masters” or “the Internazionali BNL d’Italia”held at Foro Italico in Rome, Italy from May 13 to 19, 2019.
• Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic to win a ninth Italian Open title and a record 34th Masters.

BFA launches two new formats of game – AirBadminton & Triples

• The world body governing Badminton, BFA, has launched two new formats of the game –AirBadminton and Triples with new dimensions of the court and an innovative shuttlecock called Airshuttle. Traditional competitive badminton has been an indoor game.
• The new formats launched globally at Guangzhou last week, AirBadmintion will be outdoor sports. In Triples format, the match will be played between a team of three players each with presence of at least one female

CURRENT AFFAIRS: OBITUARIES

Formula One champion and aviation entrepreneur Niki Lauda passed away

• The former Formula One driver and three-time world champion Niki Lauda has passed away
• He hailed from Austria. Lauda won the F1 drivers’ championship in 1975 and 1977 with Ferrari and again in 1984 with McLaren
• He competed in 171 races and won 25.

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