may 2014 ca daywise

8/11/2019 May 2014 CA Daywise

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Current Affairs May 2014

May 01, 20141. International Workers' Day 2014 isobserved across various parts of the worldon May 1 .The annual day, promoted by the internationallabour movement, is a celebration of labour andthe working classes.Over 80 countries observe national public holidayon this occasion.Many countries celebrate a Labour Day unrelatedto International Workers' Day on other dates

significant to the labour movement in thatcountry.For example, US celebrates it on the firstMonday of every September.

2. India 's paralympic swimmer SharathGayakwad ends up his campaign at the IDMBerlin 2014 with two bronze and one

silver medals.He was the sole Indian representative there atthe IDM (International German Championships).

He is also the first Indian swimmer to qualify forthe Paralympics (2012).

3. Anand Kripalu takes over as the ChiefExecutive Officer of Liquor firm UnitedSpirits Limited.

4. Prominent theatre personality KhaledChowdhury breathes his last at 95.He was known for brilliant stage craft in Bengaliand Hindi plays.

He received the Padma Bhushan for hissignificant contribution to theatre in January2012.

May 02, 20145. IIT Guwahati is ranked 87th among the top100 world universities under 50 years of age.It is the first and only Indian entry in the list thatfeature 100 young institutions of learning.

It shares the 87th rank with Portugal's NewUniversity of Lisbon and Australia's University ofWestern Sydney.Korea's Pohang University of Science andTechnology clinched the top spot for the thirdconsecutive year.UK and Australia are the countries with most (14each) representatives.The report has been published by London-basedTimes Higher Education (THE) magazine.

6. ' Beta Pictoris b ' becomes thefirst exoplanet to have its rotation speedsuccessfully measured by astronomers.A day last only eight-hour here.The alien planet is a gas giant roughly 10 timesthe size of Jupiter.It orbits Beta Pictoris, a star that's some 63light-years from Earth and can be seen with thenaked eye in the southern sky constellationPictor.So far we have discovered around 1800

exoplanets.

7. W orld H ealth O rganisation (WHO) releases areport 'Antimicrobial resistance: global report onsurveillance 2014'.The report provides the status of antibioticresistance with data from 114 countries.It showed that antibiotic resistance entailsserious global threat to public health.Antibiotic resistance is a stage when bacteriachange itself to grow immune to antibiotics.

This makes the treatment ineffective andmedication result in failure.It causes people to be sick for longer period andincreases the risk of death.

8. TRAI recommends charging 8% of yearlyrevenue on Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) aslicense fee from internet service

providers (ISPs).


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The national telecom regulator also wants thesame from all holders of broadband wireless

access (BWA) spectrum.The plan needs sanction of, first Department ofTelecom (DoT) and then Telecom Commission forimplementation.The move may push internet rates slowinginternet penetration growth in the country.

9. Mark Fields is to succeed Alan Mulally asthe CEO of US automaker Ford from July 1.

May 03, 2014

10. India slides to 78th place in Freedom ofthe press ranking for 2014.India introduces Election Queue ManagementSystem in Burdwan district (West Bengal)during Lok Sabha election 2014. Its designed tohelp voters to find out the level of crowd in thepolling booths online or through SMS.

11. Air India to become the first Indiancarrier to join the worlds la rgest airlinegrouping, Star Alliance .

This association will bring multiple benefits toIndian fliers enabling them to earn-and burnmiles, get access to lounges across the globeand enjoy seamless connectivity across the worldon Star members.

12. World Press Freedom Day 2014 iscelebrated across the world on May 3 .It was declared as such by UN General Assemblyto promote and protect freedom of expressionand press worldover.

UNESCO marks the day by conferring theUNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press FreedomPrize to deserving candidates who havecontributed significantly in upholding this rightespecially amidst grave threat/danger to life.Guillermo Cano Isaza is a slain Colombian

journalist who was murdered in the capitalBogota (17 December 1986) as his writings hadoffended the nation's powerful drug barons.

13. Waqar Younis has been appointed as the

head coach of Pakistan's cricket team for a two-year stint.He has earlier coached the national side in 2010and 2011.

14. India gets 3rd rank in the US GreenBuilding Council (USGBC) list precededby Canada and China respectively.The index list countries outside US forconstructing energy efficient green buildings.

15. Government approves setting up ofthe Polavaram Project Authority (PPA) for theexecution of the Polavaram irrigation project .The multipurpose Polavaram project will help inirrigation, drinking water supply and generatinghydroelectricity.Its located primarily across Godavari river inAndhra Pradesh.

May 05, 201416. Presidents of Rwanda (Paul Kagame)

and South Korea (Park Geun-hye) together withMexican billionaire Carlos Slim have beenhonoured with the World Telecommunicationand Information Society (WTIS) Award2014 They were felicitated by the InternationalTelecommunications Union (ITU) for promotingICT (information, communication andtechnology) growth in their countries as a meansto achieve sustainable development.The WTIS Award, which focuses on broadband

connectivity for sustainable development, willthis year mark the 149th anniversary of theestablishment of ITU May 17, 1865.

16 a) Darbhanga (Bihar) Nurse ' Martha Dodrayadds another feather in her cap by winning theNational Florence Nightingale Award2014 for her extraordinary workin eradicating polio in the country.


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She had captured the United Nations Foundationaward last year (2013) for the same.

The award carries Rs.50,000 and a meritcertificate and is given on the occasionofInternational Nursing Day (May 12)The day is observed in the memory of Englishsocial reformer Florence Nightingale, widelyconsidered as the founder of modern nursing.

17. India successfully test-fired its 1stindigenous air-to-air missile ' Astra ' from aSukhoi-30MKI fighter jet.This comes as a huge relief for the DRDO after

the difficult decade-long development phase(marred by several false starts and technicalglitches) of this Beyond Visual Range (BVR)weapon.Only a few countries like the US, Russia, Franceand Israel have managed to develop BVRmissiles till now.The 60-km plus range missile is highly reliablewith great Single Shot Kill Probability (SSKP).

18. The French retail giant Carrefour , worlds

2nd largest , decides to shut shopsin India amidst hostile political prospect forforeign retail outlets in the country.The 76-billion-euro retail chain thus becomes thefirst foreign retailer to plan an exit from India.With many states and the BJP (tipped to formthe government at centre) opposing FDI in retail,foreign retailers are left with limited options.

19. Panama has chosen a new president in JuanCarlos Varela.

20. Indo-Zimbabwean pair of Sania Mirza andCara Black grab the women's doublescrown at the Portugal Open.They thrashed Czech-Russian pair of EvaHrdinova and Valeria Solovyeva by 6-4, 6-3 inthe final to capture their 1st title of this season.

21. Indian cueist Kamal Chawla settles fora bronze medal having lost to Chuan Leong

Thor (Malaysia) in semifinal of the Asian SnookerChampionship held at Al Fujairah (UAE).This is his first medal in Asian Championships.

May 06, 201422. UNESCO Guillermo Cano World PressFreedom Prize 2014 goes toTurkish investigative journalist Ahmet Sik .

23. Ahmed Maiteeg has been electedas Libya s new P rime M inister after receiving

121 votes in the 200-member parliament.He won in the 2nd round of voting againstpolitical analyst Omar al-Hassi as theearlier session failed to give him the mandatory120 votes.

24. Krishnaswamy Vijayraghavan , secretaryof the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), hasbeen elected as one of the 21 foreign associateof the US N ational A cademyof S ciences (USNAS) this year.

The membership is coveted recognition of thescientists for their significant achievements inoriginal research.Other notable Indian to have been there are :Obaid Siddiqi, CNR Rao, Raghavendra Gadagkar,Madhav Gadgil, and Roddam Narasimha.

25. RV Verma becomes the WholetimeMember (Finance) ofthe P ension Fund R egulatory and D evelopment Authority (PFRDA).

He has been appointed by the government for a5-year period or till the age of 62, whichever isearlier.He is currently Chairman and Managing Directorof National Housing Bank.

26. MN Vidyashankar has been appointed asthe President of India Electronicsand Semiconductor Association (IESA).


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IESA is the trade body representing the IndianElectronic System Design and Manufacturing

(ESDM) industry since 2005.

27. Supreme Court asserts 25 percentreservation for poor kids in private schools.

28. Nobel Laureate economist GaryBecker passes away aged 93.He was honoured with the Nobel Prize in 1992for using economics to analyse human behaviourand interaction topics such as crime (why peoplecommit it), discrimination against minorities and

family life.

May 07, 201429. RBI allows minor above 10years to independently open and operatesavings bank accounts.Though banks are free to fix the minimum ageand maximum balance of minor account holder.At present, banks allow minors (below 18) tooperate bank accounts only along with a parentor a guardian.

The measure is seen as a move to boost financialinclusion in the country.

30. England's Mark Selby stunscompatriot Ronnie OSullivan to win hismaiden world snooker championship .He denied Ronnie OSullivan, the five -time worldsnooker champion, his third successive titlehaving pipped him by 18-14 in the final.

31. Italian football club ' Juventus ' clinches its

3rd successive, and 30th overall, Serie A title.Serie A is the premier championship of Italianfootball clubs.

32. Scientist discovers a new element withatomic number 117 .The second-heaviest element ever created byhumans after ununoctium (118) has temporarilybeen named "Ununseptium".

It will soon get an official name and join theperiodic table after the approval of International

Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).

33. Supreme Court strikes down section 6A ofthe Delhi Special Police Establishment

Act (DSPEA) that warranted prior governmentsanction for probe againstsenior bureaucrats (above the rank of JointSecretary) on corruption charges .The apex court ruled that status of bureaucratsis of no relevance to the offence under theprovisions of Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA).

34. The S upreme Court revokes Karnatakagovernment decision to make Kannadathe mandatory medium of instructions in all

primary schools in the state.The court criticised the attempt stating thatgovernment can't impose mother tongueon linguistic minority for imparting primaryeducation.

35.

BCCI suspends R ajasthan C ricket A ssociation toavoid dealing with its newly electedpresident Lalit Modi ; forms an ad-hoc body torun its cricket affairs.The former IPL commissioner was banned for lifeby BCCI in September 2013 for causing financialirregularities during his tenure as such.

36. Bharti Enterprises founder andchairman Sunil Bharti Mittal will co-chair thisyears edition of the World Economic Forum on

Africa .Bharti Airtel, worlds fourth largest mobileoperator, is the largest mobile operator in Africain terms of geographical footprint.The event, is to be held in Abuja (Nigeria) fromMay 7, has Forging Inclusive Growth, CreatingJobs as its theme.


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37. US gets 10-year lease extensionon Djibouti military base

May 08, 201438. India is home to top 4 most air pollutedcities in the world namely New Delhi , Patna,Gwalior and Raipur respectively as per a reportby WHO .

39. S upreme Court allows Tamil Nadu to raisethe water level in the Mullaperiyardam on Periyar river to 142 feet .The apex court thus overturned the law enacted

by the Kerala government in 2006 to restrict thewater level to 136 feet.The law was framed in response to an earlier SC

judgement allowing the hike in water level.SC also pulled up Kerala for interfering with the

judicial functions and violating the doctrine ofseparation of power.A supervisory committee to oversee the repairworks and take requisite safety measures hasalso been constituted.

40. Coca-Cola to drop controversialingredient Brominated Vegeteble O il (BVO) fromits sports drinks .The flame retardant 'BVO' will now be replacedwith a safer sucrose acetate isobutyrate orglycerol ester of rosine.The consumption of harmful BVO can causeimpaired neurological development, reducedfertility, early onset of puberty and alteredthyroid hormones.

41. Indias aviation regulator ' DGCA 'grants operating permit to AirAsia India .The joint venture between Tata Sons, Malaysiancarrier AirAsia, and Telestra Tradeplace will nowbecome the country's seventh airlines.

42. Thailand P rime Minister YingluckShinawatra forced out by the court after beingfound guilty of abusing power as interim PM .

Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan will assume thatrole until the next government comes to power

post July elections.

43. Gujarat model of land Acquisition has beendeclared the best in the country by theDepartment of Industrial Policy and Promotion(DIPP)The report on Best Practices to Improve BusinessEnvironment across States/Union Territories inIndia has been prepared by consultancy firmAccenture for the DIPP.The report praises it for being very simplified

with minimum direct government participation.

44. National payment gateway system 'RuPay'launched.

May 09, 201445. Forbes 11th annual global list of most

powerful 2000 public companies is out.Total 54 Indian companies are included in theworlds 2000 largest and most powerful publiccompanies.

Reliance Industries placed globally at 135th isthe most powerful Indian company in the list.It is followed by State Bank of India (155th), Oiland Natural Gas Corporation (176th), ICICI Bank(304th), Tata Motors (332nd), Indian Oil(416th), HDFC Bank (422nd), Coal India(428th), Larsen & Toubro (500th) among top500 companies.US retains its hegemony with 564 companiesfollowed by Japan with 225.Surprisingly the top 3 spots have been captured

by China.The top 5 companies in the list are... Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC),China BankingChina Construction Bank, China BankingAgricultural Bank of China, China BankingJPMorgan Chase, United States BankingBerkshire Hathaway, United States Conglomerate


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46. India wins the New Frontiers Award

2014 for its efforts to fight back the damagedone by a series of natural disasters in last oneyear.The award, given by Arabian Travel Mart,reinforced the overall theme of the programme'Recover, Repair, Rebuild'.It has been appreciated for rebuilding physicalinfrastructure and its rural tourism economyfollowing the June 2013 floods in Uttarakhandand the devastation wreaked in Odisha bytropical Cyclone Phailin.

Philippines had secured the 8th edition of thisaward last year (2013).

47. I ndian A viation Academy (IAA)clinches International Arch of Europe Awardfor quality and technology in Gold Category.The award is given by the Business InitiativeDirectives Group (BIDG), Madrid (Spain).The Academy has been set up for training anddevelopment by pooling resources of the threemainstay organizations of civil aviation namely,

Airports Authority of India, Directorate Generalof Civil Aviation and Bureau of Civil AviationSecurity.It conducts training in airport management,maintenance, airport safety and regulations, HRdiscipline, etc.

48. Himalayanus , a new species of snake , hasbeen unearthed by Chinese scientists.This brownish pit viper has been namedHimalayanus in honour of its home in

Himalayas.

49. US to induct 12000 Chinese railroadworkers into Hall of Honour .The workers were responsible for building trans-pacific railroad between 1865 and 1869.Asian-Americans are receiving this tribute for thefirst time since the Hall was introduced in 1988.

50. Jacob Zuma gets another term as SouthAfrica President. -

May 10, 201451. The five recognized NuclearPowers (United States, Russia, China, Britainand France) signed a treaty to create a ' nuclearfree zone' in 5 central Asiancountries namely Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.The deal prohibits production, purchase andplacement of nuclear weapons on the abovementioned territories however, allowing peaceful

use of nuclear energy.These five countries already have a Central AsianNuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone (CANWFZ) Treatyamong them that says no to manufacturing,acquiring, testing, or possessing nuclearweapons. This will be the 5th nuclear-weapons-free zone in the world after the following four.Latin America and the Caribbean - by Treaties ofTlatelolcoSouth Pacific by Treaty of RarotongaSoutheast Asia by Treaty of Bangkok

Africa (need two more ratifications to come intoforce) by Treaty of Pelindaba

52. Historian and political scientist LuisGuillermo Solis has been sworn in as47th President of Costa Rica .He beats Johnny Araya in run-off election withastounding 78 percent approval.Costa Rica is a tiny Central American countrywith population of just 4.5 million.He succeeds Laura Chinchilla as such.

53. Ronnie O'Sullivan hasbeen crowned World Snooker Player of theYear .The five-time world snooker champion wasrecently stunned by Mark Selby at the DafabetWorld Championship.Ding Jun Hui won the snooker writers' Player ofthe Year award.


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incumbent, so a replacement has to be in placebefore June 1.

Manipur trumps defending champions Odisha 3-1 to clinch the 20th Women's NationalFootball Championship 2014 crown.Such has been their dominance in thistournament that they have seized 17th title outof 20 editions held so far.The exceptions are Bengal (1992, 95) andOdisha in 2011.

64. National Florence Nightingale

Awards 2014 has been conferred on 35 nursingpersonnel by the President Pranab Mukherjee.The award was instituted by Union HealthMinistry in 1973 which carries a Medal, a citationcertificate and a prize amount of 50000 rupees.The awards are presented every year on'International Nurses Day' that is May 12.

65. International Nurses Day 2014 isobserved across the globe on May 12 with thetheme Nurses: A Force for Change A vital

resource for health.The day (May 12) honours birth anniversary ofFlorence Nightingale - the so-called 'Mother ofNursing'.The International Council of Nurses (ICN),celebrating the day since 1965, use the occasionto highlight contributions nurses make to thesociety.

65. Archana Ramasundaram becomesthe first woman to be promoted to the post

of Additional Director of CBI .She was also the agency's first woman JointDirector.Prior to this, she was holding the post of DirectorGeneral of Police/Chairperson in Tamil NaduUniformed Services Recruitment Board.Tamil Nadu government suspended her hoursafter her sworn-in for not following rules before

joining the central probe agency.

66. Indian discus thrower Vikas Gowda wins

the silver medal in the IAAF Diamond LeagueSeries in Doha.Poland's Piotr Malachowski grabs the gold medalwith a throw of 66.72 metres while the bronzemedal went to Estonia's Gerd Kanter.Vikas had won the bronze medal at the 2010Asian Games in Guangzhou as well as silver inthe 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

67. The worlds first airplane runningexclusively on electricity E- Fan successfully

tested by its developer Airbus. If the experiment gets commercialized it has thepotential to bring down air travel cost by morethan a third.

68. India signs Marrakesh Treaty.

May 14, 201469. Major General Kristin Lund of Norwaybecomes the first woman ever to command aUN peacekeeping force .

She was appointed by the UN chief as the ForceCommander of the UN Peacekeeping Force inCyprus (UNFICYP).She will replace Chao Liu (China) on Aug 13 ascommander of about 1000 UN forces stationedthere.The UNFICYP, was established in 1964 tomaintain the ceasefire between Greek andTurkish Cypriot.The country has been divided since 1974 whenTurkish troops occupied its northern third in

response to an Athens-engineered Greek Cypriotcoup seeking union with Greece.

70. Former Israeli P rime Minister EhudOlmert has been sentenced to six-year imprisonment for bribery.Its the first ever criminal conviction of a formerhead of government in Israel.


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He had taken bribes over property deal when hewas serving as the mayor of Jerusalem.

Its notable that he was forced to step down asPM in 2008 in the backdrop of many corruptionallegations.

71. Indian-American Indira Talwani becomesthe first Asian Pacific American federal judge inthe US state of Massachusetts .Her name was cleared by the Senate by 94-0votes.

72. TR Zeliang is to replace Neiphiu Rio as the

next C hief M inister of Nagaland .He is currently the planning and co-ordinationminister in the Naga People's Front (NPF)government.

73. BHEL commissions first of the two unitof 600 MW capacity for Jindal Thermal PowerProject at Angul in Odisha .The 2nd unit of 600 MW capacity is alsoexpected to be commissioned during the currentyear.

74. China-Vietnam at loggerheads over oilexploration in South China Sea.

May 15, 201475. Spanish club ' Sevilla ' clinches EuropaLeague after pipping Portugueseside Benfica by 4-2 on penalties in a goallessfinal.

76. Donetsk and Luhansk unilaterally

announce independence from Ukraine followingthe referendum that overwhelmingly voted infavour of secession.Now, both the region will not be participating inthe upcoming Ukraines presidential election tobe held on May 25, 2014.

77. CSIR scientists discovers a unique enzyme'Super Oxide Dismutase ' (SOD) that will act as

preservative for fruits and vegetables increasingtheir shelf life.

It will also be useful during cryosurgery andpreservation of organelles.The cryosurgery is an application of extreme coldto destroy diseased tissue.Organelles are specialized sub-unit within cellthat has a specific function.

78. The 20th International Day ofFamilies 2014 is observed across the globeon May 15 .The day was established by the United Nations

General Assembly in 1994 to acknowledge thesignificant contributions families make to thesociety.

79. Nationwide protests erupt in Turkey a dayafter a deadly explosion in a coal mine killedat least 274 people.

May 16, 201480. India to soon test Nirbhay : its nuclearcapable 1000 km long range cruise

missile (subsonic with speed of 0.6-0.7 Mach )Its a stealth missile (designed to fly at lowaltitude, almost hugging the terrain to avoidenemy radar and missile defence systems) and iscategorised as LACM - Land Attack CruiseMissile (can be fired from Land , Air and Sea)Others in the same category are : TomHawk (US) and Babur (Pakistan)First experimental test in March 2013 had to beaborted due to glitch in its trajectory control

81. Supreme Court allows Indian Navy tosend decommissioned INS Vikrant - India'sfirst aircraft carrier - to Darukhana ship-breakingyard (near Mumbai).After being decommissioned in January 1997,Government had decided to sell it to shipbreaking yard . However a petition was filed inthe court requesting it to convert in to aMuseum instead. But Supreme Court finally


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concurred with the government's argument thatit is in a condition of extreme 'obsolescence and

deterioration' and could no longer be repaired orrefurbishedEarlier known as HMS Hercules (in the BritishRoyal Navy), it was launched in 1945 , bought byIndia in 1957 and was commissioned in the navyFebruary 16, 1959.

82. V Chawngthu becomes Mizorams firstwoman MLA since the 1987 state electionsshe won on the ticket of Congress pary in theby-elections held along with Lok Sabha elections.

83. Anti-Chinese riots spreads in Vietnamfollowing towing of an oil rig into disputed watersof South China sea claimed by both countries.

84. Finance Ministry accepts recommendations ofthe M S Sahoo Committee set up in September2013 to review of rules governing f oreigncurrency convertible bonds (FCCBs)and depository receipts (DRs).As per the recommendations : Depository

Receipts, used by companies to raise capitalfrom overseas investors , will be soon treated asshares if they have attached voting rights forthe holders.Also - companies (listed or unlisted) should beallowed to issue DRs against any underlyingsecurities (equity or debt)

85. Palestinians observes Nakba Day ("Day ofthe Catastrophe")generally commemorated on 15 May, it is also

the d ay of Israeli independence and isobserved to mark the displacement ofmillions of Palestinians from present dayIsrael following 1948 Palestinian War (I sraeliDeclaration of Independence)these displaced people took refuge (and still liveshere only) in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the WestBank and the Gaza Strip.

May 17, 201486. 16th Loksabha Elections Stats

62 women members elected, Highestever (approx. 11% of total) as against 61 in lastLoksabha.Highest number from BJP followed by TrinamoolCongress.Out of Total candidates contesting elections(8163) 7.8% were women (2009 - 6.9 % werewomen contestants)2) 1.1% of total polled votes were castas NOTA (None of the Above) - nearly 60 Lakhvotes.

Highest in Chhattisgarh (1.9%) followed byGujarat (1.8%) and Jharkhand (1.5%).Highest proportion was recorded in 2 STreserved constituencies of Meghalaya whilehighest Number was recorded in SC reservedconstituency of Nilgiri (Tamil Nadu)3) Winner by highest margin : Narendra Modifrom Vadodara (Gujarat) with 5.7 Lakh votes(2nd highest ever after 5.92 Lakh votes of AnilBasu of CPM in 2004).Winner by lowest margin - Thupstan Chhewang

of BJP from Ladakh (J & K)4) 305 seats were won with a margin exceeding1 Lakh while 222 were with a margin between5000- 1 Lakh.Only 16 seats were decided with a margin of lessthan 5000 votes.5) Ladakh constituency of Jammu and Kashmiris the largest constituency in India.

87. Adani Ports and SEZ acquires DhamraPort in Odisha - largest port sector deal in

India following that of Pipavav, Gujarat in 2005by APM terminals BV.Dhamra Port is one of the deepest port on eastcoast strategically located between twogovernment owned Major ports - Haldia (Kolkata) and Paradip (Odisha).Tata Steel's mega steel plant is coming upat Kalinagar , Odisha.


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Adani Ports and SEZ (75% owned by Adanienterprises) : owns and operates 5 ports in India

- Dahez, Hazira, Mundra (in Gujarat ), Mormugao(Goa) and Vizag (Andhra).

88. 17th May : UN observes " WorldTelecommunication and Information SocietyDay" Purpose : to help raise awareness of thepossibilities that the use of the Internet andother information and communicationtechnologies (ICT) can bring to societies andeconomies, as well as of ways to bridge the

digital divide.Theme for 2014 : Broadband for SustainableDevelopment Why : to mark the anniversary of the signing ofthe " first International TelegraphConvention" in 1865 and the creation ofthe International Telecommunication Union.

May 19, 201489. Novak Djokovic clinches his 3rd ItalianOpen title by humbling Rafael Nadal with a 4-6,

6-3, 6-3 scoreline in the final.He had bagged the titles in 2008 and 2011 aswell.In women's singles, Serena Williams also grabsher 3rd Italian Open title by crushing Sara Errani6-3 6-0.She, now with 60 WTA titles, is the seventh mostsuccessful female player in terms of aggregateWTA titles.

90. Atletico Madrid win their 10th La

Liga title.La Liga is the premier football competitions forSpanish football clubs; the counterpart ofEngland's EPL and Italian Serie A.Atletico Madrid is now at the 3rd most successfulclub after Real Madrid (32) and Barcelona (22)here.Scientists unearth the largest dinosaur ever tohave walked the Earth.

91. Pankaj Advani bags Cricket Club of India

(CCI) Classic Billiards and Snooker tournamenttitle by defeating the two-time world runner-up Dhruv Sitwala in the final.

92. Arsenal beats Hull City 3-2 to secure their11th FA Cup title win overall. The record formost titles is now jointly held by Arsenal andManchester United.

93. Russy Mody , former CEO and Chairmanof Tata Steel , breathes his last at 97. The

Padma Bushan awardee, was known for his manmanagement skill.

94. Captain CP Krishnan Nair , FounderChairman of The Leela Palaces , Hotels andResorts , passes away aged 92. He was also aPadma Bhushan awardee.

95. Indian men's basketball teamdefeated Maldives by 108-32 to win the 3rdSouth Asian Basketball Association tournament

held at Kathmandu.

May 20, 201496. Dalit leader Jitan Ram Manjhi to replaceNitish Kumar as the next Chief Minister of Bihar .Earlier, Nitish Kumar stepped down as suchtaking moral responsibility of the massiveelectoral debacle his party suffered in thegeneral election 2014.Manjhi currently holds the SC/ST, OBS, EBCWelfare Ministry in the state government.

97. Thailand Army imposes martial law in thecountry.The decision has been taken in order to tacklethe deteriorating law and order amidst politicalupheavel.Earlier, Thailand caretaker Prime MinisterYingluck Shinawatra was forced out by the


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constitutional court after being found guilty ofabusing power as interim PM.

The reins of the interim government (to be thereuntil July elections) was passed on toNiwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan; A move whichresulted into massive nationwide protest.It is noteworthy that Thailand Army has so farstaged 11 coups since 1932 the last of thembeing the 2006 ouster of Thaksin Shinawatra(brother of Yingluck Shinawatra).

98. Congress leader Nabam Tuki resumes his2nd inning as the Chief Minister of Arunachal

Pradesh .

99. Indian recurve archers bagged two medals,a silver and a bronze , in the second World Cupheld at Medellin, Columbia.While Indias recurve B team comprising AtanuDas, Thupuvoyi and Sanjay Boro lost to Korea inthe shoot-off to return with a silver medal, themixed team of Atanu Das and Bombayla DeviLaishram pocketed a bronze by beating aMexican combination.

100. Sir Jack Brabham , the three-time FormulaOne world champion, dies aged 88.The Australian won the world championship in1959, 1960 and 1966.1966 title was unique and most memorable in away as he had won the race in a self-built carnamed Brabham.

101. Veteran nuclear scientist NSrinivasan passes away aged 84.

He had played a key role in establishing theindigenous technology for reprocessing spentfuels from thermal reactors.He was awarded with Padma Bhushan in 2000.

102. Nine Indian students have been honouredat the Intel International Science andEngineering Fair (Intel ISEF) held in California(US).

The fair is the largest international pre-collegescience competition in the world.

More than 1,700 young scientists from aroundthe world competed for over USD 5 million inawards and scholarships.

103. India languishes at 134th place in 'Ease ofDoing Business ranking 2014

103 a) China on course to build infrastructureconnecting it to neighbouring countries ; sets upa 10 billion Yuan (10000 crore in Rs) fund aspart of maritime silk road plan .

The emerging superpower plans to constructports and boost maritime connectivity withSoutheast Asian and Indian Ocean littoralcountries.

104. Anglo-Swedishdrugmaker AstraZeneca declines a massivetakeover bid by the US based pharmaceuticalMNC Pfizer .Pfizer is the maker of best-selling drugs likeLipitor and Viagra.

If completed, the deal would be one of thelargest acquisitions in the pharmaceuticalindustry , surpassing Pfizers acquisition ofWarner-Lambert valued at $90 billion some 14years ago.

105. Rukmani is the first dedicatedcommunication satellite for the Indian navy .

May 21, 2014106. Antarctic ice loss has doubled over the

last decade.Antarctica is now shedding 160 billion tonnes ayear of ice into the ocean which is adding to therising sea levels driven by climate change.The report compares the height of ice betweenthe timeframe 2005-10 & 2010-13.The observation by the European Space AgencysCryoSat-2 satellite paints a grim picture by


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demonstrating that even the east Antarctica isnow losing ice in addition to the western part.

The collapse of the western Antarctica ice sheetis already underway and unstoppable.That alone will eventually cause up to 4 metresof sea-level rise, devastating low-lying andcoastal areas around the world.

107. Malawi holds Presidential election.Analysts rank incumbent President Joyce Banda(People's Party) as favourite because of herpopularity in rural areas where she has beenrolling out development projects and farm

subsidies.Her main challenger is Lazarus Chakwera, leaderof the Malawi Congress Party.

108. Naveen Patnaik sworn-in as Odisha ChiefMinister for the fourth straight term.Also the president of his party, Biju Janata Dal(BJD), he is the longest serving CM of the state(March 2000 - present).

109. Anandiben Patel is set to be anointed the

new Chief Minister of Gujarat.She has been currently serving as the ministerfor revenue, roads and buildings and urbandevelopment in the state.

110. India observes Anti-TerrorismDay on May 21 .The annual day marks the death anniversary ofcountrys former prime Minister Raje ev Gandhi in1991.He was assasinated in a suicide bombing carried

out by LTTE (Tamil rebels) of Sri Lanka in TamilNadu on that fateful day.

111. Indian batsman Virat Kohli is the2nd most marketable athletes worldover asper the British magazine ' SportsPro '.The list was based on value for money, age,home market, charisma, willingness to bemarketed and crossover appeal.

He is the only Indian sportsperson to feature inthe list topped by Formula One racer Lewis

Hamilton.The list also includes Christiano Ronaldo (4)Usain Bolt (6), Neymar (7), Lionel Messi (11),Novak Djokovic (15), Andy Murray (21), RoryMcIlroy (24), Sebastian Vettel (27) and VictoriaAzarenka (31).

112. The Plenary Session of the 67th WorldHealth Assembly concludes in Geneva,Switzerland.The theme for general discussion this year was

The link between climate and health. Dr Roberto Ojeda is the current President of theWorld Health Assembly, 2014.

113. China plays host to the 4th CICA Summit inShanghai. - read

May 22, 2014114. Half of the world's newborn death occursin 5 countries every year; India tops the listIndia (779,000)

Nigeria (276,000)Pakistan (202,400)China (157,000)Democratic Republic of Congo (118,000)More than 5.5 million babies are born and dieeach year without a birth or death certificate.Fatalism, poor care and lack of investment havebeen dubbed as the major causes for thiscalamity.Three million of them are newborns while 2.6million babies are stillborn. Nearly all the deaths

are preventable, with half occurring duringlabour.The whopping number of deaths is more thanthat from AIDS which was just around 2.3 millionin the peak year of 2005.

115. China and Russia signs a $400 billion gasdeal .
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China is looking to tap into the vast energyreserves of Russia to reduce its dependence on

Coal that result in heavy pollution.Pollution is emerging as one of the most fatalhealth hazard in the country that is home to fewof the most polluted cities worldover.This is also expected to boost sluggish Russianeconomy marred by sanctions imposed by thewest over Ukraine Crisis.

116. RBI instructs all banks to install talking ATMs with Braille keypads from July 1, 2014onwards.

The step is taken to make the facility disabled-friendly.Banks have also been told to lay down the roadmap for converting all existing ATMs into thesame.

117. Sulabh International Museum of Toilets(New Delhi) has been ranked 3rd among theworlds 10 weirdestmuseums by Time magazine.The museum traces the history of the toilet for

the past 4,500 years.The list was topped by Icelandic PhallologicalMuseum (Reykjavik) followed by Museum of BadArt, Massachusetts (US) at the 2nd spot.

118. India's largest onlineretailer, Flipkart.com , acquires fashion e-retailer Myntra.com for approximately USD 400million.The deal is seen as a result of stiffeningcompetition spurred by the entry of global e-

retail heavyweight Amazon.India's bustling e-commerce market is estimatedat about $600 million.

119. Narendra Kumar Verma to take over asthe new Managing Director of ONGC VideshLimited .He is currently Director for Exploration in OVLsparent company, ONGC.

The post fell vacant after Dinesh K Sarraf waselevated as Chairman and Managing Director of

ONGC.

120. IndiGo retains the top spot in the domesticpassenger aviation market in Aprilwith 31.6% market share.The Low-cost carrier is followed by Jet Airwayswith 21.8% market share (including JetLite), AirIndia with 18.3% market share and Spice Jetwith 17.9% market share.

121. Radiation impact on health due to

Fukushima nuclear disaster is well below safetylevel.

May 23, 2014122. Indian women's badminton team writeshistory in the Uber Cup by reaching Semi-final.The team is now assured of historic bronzemedal even if they lose the Semi-final to Japan.European Parliament elections 2014 getsgoing; Britain and Netherlands are first two ofthe 28 Euro countries to ballot.

The 8th parliamentary election since the firstdirect elections in 1979, is spread over four days(May 22-25) where 400 million Europeans areeligible to vote. Its for the first time that thepan-European political parties are fieldingcandidates to elect the president of the EuropeanCommission - EU's executive body.

123. Former IB chief RajivMathur succeeds Sushma Singh as thenew Chief Information Commissioner of

India.He will have a short tenure of just 3 monthsending on August 23, when he attains 65 yearsof age.CIC is appointed either for a maximum of five-year term or till 65 years of age, whichever isearlier.


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124. Indian American boy AkhilRekulapelli wins National Geographic Bee

2014 ; pockets $50,000 college scholarship.The 13-year old from Virginia, outclassed fellowIndian American Ameya Mujumdar in the finalround.The 26th annual edition witnessed 5 of the top10 competitors belonging to Indian descent.Indian-origin Sathwik Karnik had captured thetitle last year.

125. World observes ' International Day forBiological Diversity 2014 ' on May 22.

The theme for this year is 'Island Biodiversity'.The day is celebrated globally to increaseunderstanding and awareness ofbiodiversity issues.

126. Mumbai gets its first floatel (floatinghotel) namely AB Celestial . The dining floating hotel, to be docked at Bandraunder the Bandra-Worli Sea Link, will be open topublic from mid-August.India already has several floatels in places like

Kolkata, Goa, Kerala etc.

May 24, 2014127. UN blacklists Nigeria 's Islamist terroroutfit Boko Haram .

128. India 's oldest living test cricketer ' MadhavMantri ' is no more.The former India wicketkeeper played just fourTests for the country in the 1950s.He, uncle of Sunil Gavaskar, had captained

Bombay to three Ranji titles.

129. Hiroshi Naka (Japan) to take over as VicePresident and Auditor General of the WorldBank from July 2014.He has over 25 years of experience working withthe Japanese Ministry of Finance and multilateralorganisations, where he specialised in issuessuch as economic sanctions, anti-money

laundering and supervision of financialinstitutions.

130. The project Mobile Seva underDepartment of Electronics and InformationTechnology (DeitY) clinches 2nd prize inthe United Nations Public Service

Award 2014 .The award is given for the Asian and PacificRegion in category of promoting whole ofgovernment approaches in Information Age.It is the only project from India to win any awardthis year.

The first rank was achieved by Republic of Koreafor its initiative Social Security InformationSystem (SSIS) under Korea Health and WelfareInformation Service.

131. World Turtle Day 2014 is observedacross the globe on May 23 .The day is celebrated to raise efforts andawareness towards preservation of turtles andtortoise.Turtles are considered to be the oldest living

species (approx 200 million years old) in theworld.They even predate ancient creatures likemammals, birds, snakes and lizards.

132. The 21st annual joint navalexercise, SIMBEX 14 ,between Indian and Singapore Navies isunderway in Andaman Sea.The week long drill is in operation from May 22-28.

SIMBEX is an acronym given to Singapore IndianMaritime Bilateral Exercise.

May 26, 2014133. Real Madrid clinches their 10th ' UEFAChampions League ' trophy having stunnedAtletico Madrid in the final by a scoreline of 4-1.


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Real Madrid, trailing 0-1 a couple of minutesbefore the end of play, equalized in 93rd minute

to extend the final into extra time.Real decimated Atletico with 3 more goals inextra time to finish with an emphatic victory.

134. Japan conquers its maiden ThomasCup trophy having pipped five-timechampion Malaysia in a marathon final by 3matches to 2.

135. Wojciech Jaruzelski , Poland's lastcommunist leader , dies at 90

He died just days before Poland would mark 25thanniversary of parliamentary election in whichcountry voted against the country's communistrulers and in support of the Solidarity freedommovement that formed Poland's first democraticgovernment in over four decades.

136. Poorna , a 14-year old girl from AndhraPradesh , becomes the youngest woman toclimb Mount Everest .She was also the part of a dozen-odd group, in

November last year, that became the youngestgroup to climb Mount Renock.

137. Micromax , Indias 2nd largest handsetmaker, appoints Vineet Taneja as its new ChiefExecutive Officer.Taneja, prior to it, was the Country Head for IT &Mobile businesses of Samsung India.

138. Kathleen Stephens to be thenew interim US Ambassador to India to fill in

for previous ambassador Nancy Powell.She will serve as such until the appointment of anew permanent ambassador to India.

139. CS Verma , Steel Authority of IndiaLtd (SAIL) Chairman, gets honoured with the

CEO of the Year at the 2014 Platts GlobalMetals Awards.

The award was presented to him in recognitionof a comprehensive leadership style

demonstrated by him to place SAIL on the pathof robust growth in spite of price volatility andincreased competition.

May 27, 2014140. Narendra Modi becomes the 15th PrimeMinister of India.

141. Singapore replaces Mauritius as thelargest source of foreign direct investment (FDI)into India as per the latest data published by the

Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion(DIPP).India attracted USD 5.98 billion FDI fromSingapore in financial year 2013-14 compared toUSD 4.85 billion invested from Mauritius.Singapore contributed to about 25 per cent ofthe total FDI inflows in the country for 2013-14period.Mauritius has been the top source of FDI in Indiafor a very long time, but FDI dried up recently onfears of the impact of General Anti Avoidance

Rules (GAAR) and possible re-negotiation of thetax avoidance treaty.

142. Petro Poroshenko to be thenext President of Ukraine .He has taken an unassailable lead over hisclosest rival, Yulia Tymoshenko, a formerUkrainian Prime Minister in the vote-count.

143. Indian management scholar Jitendra VirSingh has been appointed as the Dean of the

School of Business and Management at the HongKong University of Science and Technology(HKUST).

May 28, 2014144. Dalia Grybauskaite emerges victoriousin Presidential elections of Lithuania .The incumbent president, so-called Iron Lady ofLithuania, thus becomes the first person to serve


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two consecutive term as the President of thisBaltic state.

She, President since 2009, gets another 5-yearterm as such.She polled 58 percent of votes over her rivalZigmantas Balcytis of Social Democrat who couldgarner just 42 percent.

145. Ahmed Maitiq has been sworn-in as thenew Prime Minister of Libiya ; the 5th since thefall of Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.He won the vote of confidence by receiving 83votes out of the total 93.

The 42-year old replaces acting Prime MinisterAbdullah Thinni.

146. French Open 2014 : For the first time inthe history of Grand Slam tournament, both themens and womens singles champions of theprevious Grand Slam crashes out in the firstround itself.Australian Open women's singles champion Li Nawas stunned by Kristina Mladenovic whereas hercounterpart Wawrinka lost to Guillermo Garcia-

Lopez of Spain.Its noteworthy that Li had won the French Opentitle in 2011.

147. Assam to apply DNA based trackingsystem to nab Rhino poachers.The Rhino DNA Indexing System (RhODIS), willcreate a database of each individual rhinosunique DNA profile which can be referencedwhen presenting legal evidence in cases of rhinopoaching.

148. Centre constitutes ' Special InvestigationTeam ' on Black Money in compliance with the

judgement of Supreme Court.Large amounts of money is stashed abroad byevading taxes or generated through unlawfulactivities.

The SIT will be headed by Justice MB Shah asChairman and Justice Arijit Pasayat as its Vice

Chairman.

149. Turkish film " Winter Sleep " bags Palmed'Or at Cannes 2014.

May 29, 2014150. Government appoints Mukul Rohatgi asthe new Attorney General of India .The 14th Attorney General of India has alsoserved as Additional Solicitor General in theearlier NDA regime.

He succeeds Goolam Vahanvati as such.Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran has alsoresigned following the change in regime.As per convention, the Attorney General andSolicitor General resign once there is a change ofGovernment at the Centre.The Solicitor General of India is subordinate tothe Attorney General for India, who is the Indiangovernment's chief legal advisor, and its primarylawyer in the Supreme Court of India.

151. Nripendra Misra , former Chairman of theTelecom Regularoty Authority of India, has beenappointed as Principal Secretary to the PrimeMinister .The government had to clear an ordinance totweak the law in favour of new appointmentwhich so far sought to deter a chief of theregulatory body from future employment underthe central and state governments.

152. Centre to revamp and

rename J awaharlal N ehru N ational Urban R enewal Mission (JNNURM).The erstwhile UPA governments flagship urbanmodernisation programme will be relaunched ina whole new way with stress on creating 100smart cities across India.Launched in 2005, the first phase of JNNURMwas to end in 2012; However, with over 50% of


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the projects remaining incomplete, it wasextended till March 2014.

153. The Sultan of Perak, Sultan AzlanShah breathes his last at 86.He is known as the Father of Malaysian Hockeyfor his himalayan contribution to the sport forover 41 years, both as a player and anadministrator.Under his stewardship, Malaysia hosted twohockey World Cups, 1975 and 2002 editions.In 1997, he was elected as the president of theAsian Hockey Federation - a post he held until

his demise.

154. Iconic African-American writer MayaAngelou dies at 86.The celebrated author, poet, playwrightand activist had won dozens of awards includingover thirty honorary doctoral degrees.She is best known for her series of sevenautobiographies , which focus on her childhoodand early adult experiences.

155. Infosys President SD Shibulal quitscompany,He was widely seen as the top contender forchief executives position of the IT servicesmajor.This is the 10 high profile exit since the return offounder NR Narayana Murthy in order to reviveits declining fortune.

May 30156. Two Indian-American boys are joint-winner

of 87th Scripps National Spelling Bee 2014 .Sriram Hathwar of New York and AnsunSujoe of Texas thus pocket a prize money of$30,000 each.They are only the fourth co-champions in thebee's 89-year history (87 editions), the other 3are:1950: Diana Reynard and Colquitt Deanhave1957: Sandra Owen and Dana Bennett

1962: Nettie Crawford and Michael Day

157. Former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi wins a landslide victoryin Egyptian presidential election 2014.With great majority of ballots counted, He polled93.3 per cent of votes as against just 3 per centof his leftist rival Hamdeen Sabahi.The two key challenges before him now is to fixthe economy and restrain the Islamistinsurgency.

US will not fully withdraw its 32000-strong

troops from Afghanistan by 2014 end; tokeep 9800 troops till the end of 2016 for non-combat purpose.The leftover force will only focus on supportingcounter-terrorism operations and training Afghansecurity forces.

158. Reliance Industries Ltd, Indias largestprivate company, purchases Network 18 Mediaand Investments Ltd, including its subsidiaryTV18 Broadcast Ltd for Rs 4,000 crore.

This is be the biggest ever deal in the Indianmedia sector.Following are the constituent part of 'Network18' group: In.com, IBNLive.com,moneycontrol.com, Firstpost.com, Cricketnext.in,Homeshop18.com, Bookmyshow.com; thebroadcast channels include Colors, CNNIBN,CNBC TV18, IBN7, CNBC Awaaz.

159. Ranjit Kumar is the new SolicitorGeneral of Government of India.

He replaces Mohan Parasaran as such.

160. SBI Chairperson ArundhatiBhattacharya is the most powerful woman inIndia as per Forbes .

161. Hockey India (HI) downgradesHockey Kerala to an associate member from a


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full-member for rampant irregularities in itsfunctioning.

162. ' International Day of UNPeacekeepers' 2014 is observed across theglobe on May 29 .UN honours 106 peacekeepers, including 8Indians, which were killed in 2013 in placesincluding Sudan's Darfur region , South Sudan,Mali, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.More than 116,000 U.N. peacekeepers currentlyserve in 16 operations across the globe.

May 31163. Singapore Airlines becomes the firstcarrier to launch commercial flights of

Airbus A380 , the worlds largest passengeraircraft, in India from IGI airport, Delhi.The ministry of civil aviation had, in January thisyear, allowed its operations from Delhi, Mumbai,Hyderabad and Bangalore airports, lifting a five-year-old ban.The restriction was imposed in 2008 to protectthe interest of Indian carriers as these massive

jets were feared to take away a large chunk ofglobal traffic.The A380 will ply daily on the Delhi-Mumbairoute.

164. Jamil Mahuad , the former Presidentof Ecuador (1998-2000), has been sentencedfor 12-year imprisonment for embezzlement bya court of Ecuador.He is convicted of ordering banks to close forseveral days and freezing the accounts of

ordinary citizens to protect the interests ofbankers associated with him.Ecuador was struggling through seriouseconomic crisis at the time in the wake of highinflation, devalued currency and historically lowprices of oil - its main export.A military coup in 200 exiled him to the US - hiscurrent address.

Despite the ruling its difficult to get him to servethe sentence as Ecuador has no extradition

treaty with US.

165.Ajit Doval has been appointed asthe National Security Adviser .The appointment is co-terminus with the term ofthe Prime Minister or till further orders,whichever is earlier.

166. Peter Mutharika wins presidential electionin Malawi .

167. The Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari,presented the Malti Devi Gyan PeethPuraskar-2014 .The award was given to fifteen outstandingteachers from girls higher secondary schools inPunjab.

may 2014 ca daywise

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