may 2018 current affair - fundamakersjoint operation to control wildlife poaching and trafficking of...
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May 2018
Current Affair
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Important Days
Date Day Theme 2018
1 May International Labour Day Uniting Workers for Social and Economic
Advancement
1 May 2018
(1st Tuesday of May)
World Asthma Day
Never Too Early, Never Too Late. It’s Always
The Right Time to Address Airways Disease
3 May World Press Freedom Day Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and
The Rule of Law
8 May World Red Cross Day Memorable Smiles From Around the World
11 May National Technology Day
12 May International Nurses Day Nurses: A Voice to Lead – Health is a Human
Right
12 May 2018 (2nd
Saturday of May) World Migratory Bird Day Unifying our Voices for Bird Conservation
12 May 2018 (2nd Saturday of May)
World Fair Trade Day Live Fair, One Product at a Time
13 May 2017
(2nd Sunday of May) International Mothers’ Day
15 May International Day of Families Families and Inclusive Societies
17 May World Hypertension Day Know Your Numbers
17 May World Telecommunication and
Information Society Day
Enabling the Positive Use of Artificial
Intelligence for All
17 May
International Day Against Homophobia,
Transphobia and Biphobia
Alliances for Solidarity
18 May International Museum Day Hyperconnected Museums: New approaches,
New Publics
18 May World AIDS Vaccine Day
20 May World Metrology Day Constant Evolution of the International
System of Units (SI)
21 May Anti-Terrorism Day
21 May
World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development
22 May International Day for Biological diversity Celebrating 25 Years of Action for
Biodiversity
23 May World Turtle Day
25 May International Missing Children’s Day
25 May World Thyroid Day Environment and the Thyroid
28 May International Day of Action for Women’s
Health
29 May International Day of United Nations
Peacekeepers 70 Years of Service and Sacrifice
31 May World No-Tobacco Day Tobacco and Heart Disease
MOU/Agreement Countries
S.No Country Country Purpose
1 India Sri Lanka Cooperation on exchange of information and other aspects to tackle smuggling of
drugs in both countries.
2 India Guatemala Cooperation in education sector, counter-terrorism & diplomatic training
3 India Panama Cooperation in the field of Agriculture and exemption of Visas for holders of
Diplomatic and Official Passports
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4 India Myanmar
Signed 7 MoUs
Land border crossing, restoration and preservation of earthquake-damaged Pagodas in
Bagan, assistance to the Joint Ceasefire Monitoring Committee, training of Myanmar
foreign service officers, setting up an Industrial Training Centre (ITC) at Monywa, and ITC at Thaton and exchange of letters on extending a maintenance contract for ITC
Myingyan.
5 India France Cooperation in the field of Railways between Indian Railways and SNCF Mobilites (a
company owned by the French State)
6 India Morocco Cooperation in the legal field, share experience and expertise in the field of law and
legislation as well as mining and geology
7 India Swaziland Cooperation in the field of Health and Medicine
8 India Suriname Cooperation in the field of electoral management and administration
9 India Equatorial
Guinea Cooperation in the field of Traditional Systems of Medicine and Medicinal Plants
10 India Colombia Cooperation on Traditional Systems of Medicine of India
11 India Brunei Exchange of Information and Assistance in Collection with respect to Taxes
12 India Nepal
Joint operation to control wildlife poaching and trafficking of animal parts
in Shuklaphanta National Park in Kanchanpur district on Nepal’s side and Krishnapur
Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh.
13 India Nepal Loan of Rs 33.10 crore from India towards cost of two road packages of Birgunj-Thori
Road
14 India Indonesia 15 Agreements in various fields including defence, science and technological
cooperation, railways and health.
MOU Industry/States/Others
Sr. Industry/
State/Organization
Industry/
State/Organization Purpose
1 Power Grid Corporation of India (PGCIL)
Ministry of Power To incur capital expenditure of Rs.25,000 crore for the current fiscal.
2 IBM NITI Aayog To develop a crop yield prediction model using Artificial
Intelligence (AI)
3 Google NITI Aayog To foster growth in India’s artificial intelligence
(AI) and machine learning ecosystem
4 World Bank NITI Aayog To provide expertise on fraud detection and prevent funds theft in Ayushman Bharat National Health Protection Mission (AB-
NHPM)
5 IIT-Gandhinagar Indian Navy To promote academic cooperation, enhance scientific
understanding of technologies related to defence and undertake research in mutually beneficial areas.
6 Aravali Power Company
Pvt Ltd (APCPL),Jhajjar
Artificial Limbs
Manufacturing Corporation of
India(ALIMCO)
To Distribute Aids and Assistive Devices to Persons with
Disabilities at Charkhi Dadri District of Haryana under the CSR initiative of APCPL.
7 SAP BSNL To jointly offer innovative GST (goods and services tax)
solutions to enterprises across rural India to boost GST
compliance.
8 Bihar NTPC MoU envisages transfer of Barauni Thermal Power Station (720 MW) to NTPC. In addition to this, Bihar State Power
Generation Company’s (BSPGCL) equities in Kanti Bijlee
Utpadan Nigam Limited (KBUN) & Nabinagar Power Generating Company (Pvt.) Limited (NPGC) will also be
transferred to NTPC to improve the performance of power
sector in Bihar.
9 National Aluminium Company Limited
(NALCO)
Ministry of Mines Setting highest ever target of Rs 9350 crore revenue from
operations for FY 2018-19 which is 15% higher than last year.
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10 UN Environment Board of Control for
Cricket in India
(BCCI)
To promote ‘green’ cricket in India.
11 Uttar Pradesh
Department of
Women and Child
Development
Ministry of Women
and Child and
Development
Management of Home of Widows at SunrakhBangar,
Vrindavan.
12 Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)
India Meteorological Department (IMD)
Warn the general public about the extreme weather condition
using BSNL’s technoloy
13 UNICEF Odisha For state wide campaign titled, ‘Paree Pain Katha Tiye’ (A word for the little angel) to prevent child sexual abuse
14 Yes Bank Small Industries
Development Bank
of India (SIDBI)
Yes Bank will become preferred financial institution to extend
banking facilities to small and medium enterprising (SME)
customers of SIDBI.
Appointments and Resignations S.N
o Name Post Institution
1 Mr Sitanshu Ranjan Kar Director General Press Information Bureau (PIB)
2 Subhash Chandra Khuntia Chairman Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority
of India (IRDAI)
3 Harindra Singh Head Coach Indian Men’s Hockey Team
4 Sjoerd Marijne Head Coach Indian Women’s Hockey Team
5 Justin Langer Head Coach Australian National Cricket Team
6 Manish Raniga Chief Commercial Officer GoAir
7 Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal Acting Chief Justice Punjab and Haryana High Court
8 Shabana Azmi Global Leadership
Ambassador Women in Public Service Project (WPSP)
9 Vladimir Putin President Russia
10 Dmitry Medvedev Prime Minister Russia
11 Nitin Bawankule President Google Cloud India
12 Carlos Alvarado President Costa Rica
13 Dr. Mahathir Mohamad Prime Minister Malaysia
14 Shashank Manohar Chairman International Cricket Council (ICC)
15 Shri Uttam Pacharne Chairman Lalit Kala Akademi
16 Himanta Biswa Sarma Vice-President Badminton Asia Confederation (BAC)
17 Amit Khare Secretary Information and Broadcasting Ministry
18 Anup Wadhawan Secretary Commerce Ministry
19 MM Kutty Secretary Petroleum Ministry
20 Binoy Kumar Secretary Steel Ministry
21 Heera Lal Samariya Secretary Labour & Employment Ministry
22 Deepak Khandekar Secretary Tribal Affairs Ministry
23 Pushpa Subramanyam Secretary Food Processing Industries Ministry
24 Viktor Orban Prime Minister Hungary
25 Ambika Sharma Managing Director U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) India
Operations
25 Susheela Jayapal Member of Board of
Commissioners Multnomah County in Oregon
27 Om Prakash Kohli Additional Charge of
Governor Madhya Pradesh
28 Gina Haspel Director Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
29 Rajinder Singh President Hockey India (HI)
30 Deepti Umashankar Chairperson Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC)
31 Nicolás Maduro President Venezuela
32 Stacey Cunningham President New York Stock Exchange (NYSE)
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33 H.D. Kumaraswamy Chief Minister Karnataka
34 G Parameshwara Deputy Chief Minister Karnataka
35 Dmitry Rogozin Chief Roscosmos
36 Anubrata Biswas Managing Director and
Chief Executive Officer Airtel Payments Bank
37 Sushil Chandra Chairman CBDT
38 Justice C K Prasad Chairman Press Council of India (PCI)
39 Ganeshi Lal Governor Odisha
40 Kummanam Rajasekharan Governor Mizoram
41 Mia Mottley Prime Minister Caribbean island of Barbados
42 Saad Hariri Prime Minister Lebanon
43 Sudha Balakrishnan Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Reserve Bank of India
44 Sanjay Mitra (Defence
Secretary of India)
Secretary (Additional
charge)
Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO)
45 Chief Justice Nasir-ul-Mulk
Interim Prime Minister Pakistan
46 Justice R K Agrawal President National Consumer Disputes Redressal
Commission (NCDRC)
47 Alicia Pucheta President Paraguay
48 Lt Gen Ranbir Singh Commander Northern Command (Indian Army)
49 Pankaj Saran Deputy National Security
Adviser of India
50 Rajyavardhan Singh
Rathore (Sports Minister)
Minister of State
(Independent Charge) Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
51 Piyush Goyal Cabinet Minister
(Additional Charge) Ministry of Finance & Corporate
52 S S Ahluwalia Minister of State Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology
53 Former IRDAI member Radhakrishnan Nair has been appointed to ICICI Bank’s board as an Additional
(Independent) Director for a period of five years.
54 Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha has been given one year extension on the post till 12th of June 2019. In
May 2015, Mr Sinha was appointed as cabinet secretary for a fixed two-year term.
55 Former Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi has been appointed as an eminent jurist in the selection committee for
appointment of the Lokpal.
Resignations/Terminations
1 WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum has decided to quit Facebook amid reports that he had a difference
of opinion with parent company Facebook over data privacy, encryption and other issues.
Awards and Recognitions
S.No Award Name Person/Institution Extra Knowledge
1 Swara Mauli Lata Mangeshkar
2 ONV Literary Prize M T Vasudevan Nair Contributions to Malayalam literature
3 Annual WEF 2018
Awards
Nisha Bhalla Under 'Excellent Woman of Excellence' category for
her spiritual service
4 National Technology
Award 2018
Bharat Biotech For its Rotavac vaccine
5 TITAN Reginald F.
Lewis Film Icon Award
Cannes 2018
Sridevi (posthumously) Presented at 71st Cannes Film Festival, TITAN
Reginald F. Lewis Film Icon Award celebrates women
of the film industry all over the world
6 Shri Jayadev Rastriya
Yuva Pratibha
Puraskar 2018
Anindita Anaam Contribution in the field of arts
7 Asha Bhosle Banga Bibhushan Highest Civilian award of West Bengal Government
8 5th European Golden Shoe
Lionel Messi
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9 BRICS Business Forum
Leadership Lifetime
Achievement Award
Sridevi (posthumously)
10 Palme d’Or Hirokazu Kore-eda Palme d'Or is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. Kore-eda won the Palme d’Or for
‘Manbiki Kazoku’ (Shoplifters)
11 Man Booker
International Prize
2018
Polish novel “Flights” Polish Author:Olga Tokarczuk English Translator:
Jennifer Croft Prize Money: £50,000 (€57,000, $67,000)
12 “Digital Leader of the
Year” award 2018
Nara Lokesh He is Andhra Pradesh Minister for IT, Panchayat Raj
and Rural Development
13 Clarivate Analytics
India Innovation Award 2018
Council of Scientific &
Industrial Research (CSIR)
CSIR received the award in Government Research
Organizations Category
14 Nari Shakti Puraskar
2017
INSV Tarini team Six-member team comprises of Lt Commander Vartika
Joshi,Lt Commander Pratibha Jamwal, Lt Commander
Swathi Patarpalli ,Lt Aishwarya Bodapatti, Lt SH
Vijaya Devi and Lt Payal Gupta
15 2018 Mark Twain Prize
for American Humor
Julia Louis-Dreyfus The award is given to the world’s greatest humorists.
16 ‘Santokba Humanitarian Award’
2018
Kailash Satyarthi Received award money of Rs 1 crore. Award is given by Sri Ramakrishna Foundation to people who have
worked extensively for the betterment of society.
17 Pulitzer Prize for Music Kendrick Lamar First hip-hop artist to win the prestigious award
18
Experienced midfielder Dharamvir Singh, Manpreet Singh and Indian women’s team ace goalkeeper Savita
Punia have been recommended for the Arjuna Award 2018 by Hockey India. Sanggai Ibemhal Chanu and
former India men’s captain Bharat Chetri have been recommended for the Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime
Achievement while coach BS Chauhan for the Dronacharya Award.
19 Sanitation pioneer and founder of Sulabh International Dr Bindeshwar Pathak has been selected for Japan’s
most prestigious Nikkel Asia Prize under “Culture and Community” section.
20 Leading NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul has received a lifetime achievement award for his contributions
towards promoting brand India in the United Kingdom.
21
An Indian charity named Jagriti Yatra, that organises 15-day train journeys around India to understand and build the India of smaller towns and villages through enterprise has won UK’s Charity Clarity Award for
Outstanding Impact 2018 in London.
RECOGNITION
1 India’s Shivangi Pathak has become youngest women of the country to scale world highest peak, Mt
Everest, from Nepal side.
2 Megastar Amitabh Bachchan has been honoured by European Union for strengthening Europe-India cultural ties.
3 Ajeet Bajaj and Deeya Bajaj has become India’s first father-daughter duo to climb atop of Mount Everest,
4 Nima Jangmu Sherpa, a Nepali woman created a world record by scaling three highest mountains in a single
climbing season within 25 days (Mt Everest, Mt Lhotse & Mt Kanchenjunga)
5 Indian mountaineer Arjun Vajpai became the youngest person in the world to scale six peaks over 8,000
metres when he summited the treacherous Kangchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world.
6 Sangeeta Bahl, a 53-year-old former model and entrepreneur from Jammu and Kashmir, has become the
oldest Indian woman to conquer Mount Everest.
7 The Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL) has been recognized as the world’s first fully solar energy-
powered airportby the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
8
Indian Botanist Dr. Kamaljit S. Bawa, President of Bengaluru-based non-profit Ashoka Trust for
Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), became the first Indian to receive the
prestigious Linnean Medal in Botany from the Linnean Society of London.
9 Pakistani actress Mahira Khan has created history by becoming the first actor of Pakistani origin to make
debut at Cannes Film Festival 2018.
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Conference and Summits
Sr. Summit Place Extra Knowledge
1 9th India Japan Energy Dialogue New Delhi
Development of Electric Vehicles (EVs) by
collaborating with “Policy dialogue on next
generation/Zero emission vehicles”.
2 15th Asia Media Summit (AMS) 2018 New Delhi Theme- ‘Telling Our Stories – Asia and More’
3 3rd United Nations Peacekeeping Course
for African Partners (UNPCAP) New Delhi
4 Venture Capital Symposium 2018 New Delhi
Organised by NITI Aayog in association with Vision
India Foundation to deepen the economic
relationships between France and India
5
Workshop on “Ganga and its Biodiversity:
Developing a Road Map for Habitat and
Species Conservation” New Delhi Organised by World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
6 ASEAN India Film Festival 2018 New Delhi
7 Workshop on “Mission Raftaar” New Delhi Organized by Ministry of Railways for raising the
average speed of freight trains and passenger trains
8 174th meeting of ESI Corporation New Delhi
9 3rd Home Affairs’ Dialogue between
India and U.K. New Delhi
10 1st biannual IAF Commanders’
Conference of 2018 New Delhi
11 4th Regional Conference on Futuristic,
Resilient and Digital Infrastructure Bengaluru
12 9th Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav 2018 Tehri,
Uttarakhand
Orgainsed under Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat. The
paired state for Uttarakhand is Karnataka for the
event. Tehri Lake Festival orgainsed annually by
Uttarakhand will be subsumed in
Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav
13 6th US-India Aviation Summi Mumbai
14 2nd Reverse Buyers Sellers Meet (RBSM) Mumbai To promote export of mangos and other tropical
fruits and products.
15 4th Global Exhibition on Services-2018 Mumbai Also launched a portal on 12 Champion Sectors in
Services
16 3rd Conclave of North East Democratic
Alliance (NEDA) Guwahati
17
5th Regional Conference on “Physical and
Social Infrastructure for Regional
Development” Guwahati
18 6th Regional Conference on “New and
Renewable Energy” Bhopal
19 7th Regional Conference on Water and
Sanitation Pune
20 International Rail Coach Expo (IRCE)
2018
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
Hosted by Integral Coach Factory in coordination
with CII (Confederation of Indian Industries) and
RITES Ltd
21 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)
Cultural Ministers Meeting Sanya, China
22 2018 World Robot Conference Beijing, China August 15-19
23 12th informal meeting of SAARC Finance
Ministers
Manila,
Philippines
24 71st World Health Assembly Geneva Theme: Health for All: Commit To Universal
Health Coverage
25 26th BASIC Ministerial Meeting of
Environment Ministers
Durban,
South Africa
26 India- South Africa Business Summit Johannesburg,
South Africa
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27 5th India-CLMV Business Conclave Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is
the institutional partner of the event.
28 3rd Mission Innovation (MI-3) Ministerial Malmo-Sweden
29 1st Global Wind Summit Hamburg,
Germany Will be held on September 25-28, 2018
30
2018 Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-
Sectoral Technical and Economic
Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit Nepal
31 First ever gathering of Indian-Americans US Capitol To build political power in the Indian-American
community
32 International Conference on TRIPS- CBD
Linkage Geneva
33 The 29th International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) meeting between India and Sri Lanka was held onboard
Indian Naval Ship ‘Sumithra’ at the Indo-Sri Lanka Maritime Boundary Line off Kankasanthurai
34
Pakistan hosted the three-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation-Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS)
meeting in Islamabad. This is the first time that Pakistan hosted the meeting ever since the country became a
member of SCO in June 2017.
International News
The Nobel Prize in Literature, the world’s most prestigious accolade for writing, will not be awarded in 2018, for
the first time since 1949, in the wake of a sexual and financial misconduct scandal.
North Korea moved its clock forward 30 minutes, aligning its time zone with South Korea, a move aimed at
promoting the two countries’ reconciliation.
President Donald Trump has pulled the United States out of a landmark Iran nuclear deal and re-imposed its
economic sanctions against the country.
Commonwealth Heads of Government has launched an online platform named Commonwealth Digital Education
Leadership Training in Action (C-DELTA) to boost digital education skills among students and teachers.
A state-run Chinese bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), has launched the country’s first India-
dedicated publicly offered investment fund named ICBC Credit Suisse India Market Fund to offer best opportunity
for Chinese investors to invest in India.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a comprehensive initiative called REPLACE to eliminate
industrially-produced artificial trans-fats from the global food supply by 2023. REPLACE stands for review dietary
sources, promote use of healthier fats, legislate, assess changes, create awareness and enforce.
Guatemala has opened its embassy in Jerusalem, following in the footsteps of the United States, which inaugurated
its embassy in the city two days prior.
Russia has unveiled world’s first floating nuclear power station “Academik Lomonosov” in the port of the far
northern city of Murmansk, where it will be loaded with nuclear fuel before heading to eastern Siberia.
China is soon to develop a prototype middle-to-low-speed magnetic-levitation train (maglev train) with a speed of
200 km/hour by 2021. A sample carriage will be built in 2019, and test runs are expected to be completed by 2021.
Columbia has formally joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and thus become the first Latin
America nation to attain global partner status privilege.
The Netherlands has become the 64th signatory member of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) based in
Gurugram, India.
Ireland has voted by a landslide to legalise abortion in a stunning outcome that marks a dramatic defeat for the
Catholic Church’s one-time domination of the Republic.
Google is set to host it’s first-ever Demo Day for Asian startups in Shanghai, China on September 20.
Singapore Airlines has announced to launch the world’s longest non-stop commercial flight service from Singapore
to New York from October. The proposed route from Singapore to Newark, New Jersey, using the long-range
Airbus A350-900ULR, will fly approximately 16,700km (10,300 miles) and take about 18 hours 45 minutes.
Nepal observed its 11th Republic Day on May 29, 2018 at Army Pavilion in Kathmandu. On May 28, 2008, the
Constituent Assembly of the Himalayan nation declared Nepal a Federal Democratic Republic, abolishing the 240 year-old monarchy.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Nepal has become the first country in south-east Asia region
to eliminate trachoma, world’s leading cause of preventable blindness of infectious origin.
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Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte arrived in New Delhi on two days visit to India. The Dutch leader’s visit
comes within a year of Modi’s visit to the Netherlands last June.
Queen of Netherland, Maxima arrived in New Delhi as part of her four-day long visit to India.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Dr Mohammad Javad Zarif arrived at the Indira Gandhi International Airport to embark on his one-day visit to the country.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and World Bank Group has launched a new mechanism, “Global
Preparedness Monitoring Board” , to strengthen global health security through monitoring and regular reporting of
preparedness to tackle outbreaks, pandemics, and other emergencies with health consequences.
The board will have headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and co-chaired by Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime
Minister of Norway and former WHO Director-General, and Elhadj As Sy, Secretary General of the International
Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
National News
The Union Cabinet has given its approval for extending the investment limit from Rs 7.5 lakhs to Rs 15 lakhs under
the Pradhan Mantri Vaya Vandan Yojana (PMVVY). The time limit for subscription under PMVVY has also been extended from 4th May 2018 to 31st March, 2020. It will enable upto Rs.10000 Pension per month for Senior
Citizens.
The government has approved the continuation of the Umbrella Scheme, “Green Revolution – Krishonnati Yojana”
in agriculture sector beyond 12th Five Year Plan for the period from 2017-18 to 2019-20 with an expenditure of
Rs.33,269.976 crore from central government for three financial years ending March 2020.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the proposal for renaming and restructuring of Multi-
sectoral Development Programme (MsDP) as Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK) during the remaining period of the 14th Finance Commission.
The Cabinet has given its nod to continuation of Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana beyond 12th Five Year
Plan for a period 2017-18 to 2019-20. The financial outlay for this purpose is Rs 14,832 crore. Under this 20 new
AIIMS and upgradation of 73 medical colleges will be undertaken.
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, chaired the first meeting of the National Committee for the
Commemoration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, at Rashtrapati Bhavan on May 2, 2018. The
Committee has a total of 125 members, including 116 from India and 9 international members.
14 Indian cities have been figured in a list of 20 most polluted cities in the world in terms of PM2.5 levels in 2016,
according to the data released by the WHO (May 2, 2018). The Indian cities that registered very high levels of PM2.5 pollutants were Delhi, Varanasi, Kanpur, Faridabad, Gaya, Patna, Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gurgaon,
Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur.
For the first time in the country, the renewable energy sector( solar, wind and bio-fuel) has added more capacity
(11,788 MW) than the conventional power (thermal, gas and nuclear) which stood at 9,505 MW in 2017-18
according to the data provided by Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
The Union Government has announced to develop the country’s biggest airport, after only to Mumbai, in Mopa
district of Goa which will benefit four coastal states in the western part of the country, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has released draft of the National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2018,
named the National Digital Communications Policy, 2018. The policy would create 40 lakh new jobs by 2022;
attract $100 billion in investments into the sector in the next four years and ensure broadband speeds of 50 mbps
for every citizen by 2022.
The Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (I/C), Dr. Jitendra Singh announced that a North
Eastern Cultural and Information Centre will come up in Delhi soon.
Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has recently set up National Water
Informatics Centre (NWIC) in New Delhi as a repository of nation-wide water resources data and would be headed by a Joint Secretary level officer.
The GST Council under the Chairmanship of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has approved a simpler tax return filing
system in the 27th GST (Goods and Services Tax) Council meeting that would require a taxpayer to file only one
return every month compared to three a month under the earlier process. The new monthly return filing system will
come into force within six months. The GST Council also decided to convert GSTN into a government-owned company.
The 15th Pravasi Bhartiya Divas 2019 will be held during 21-23 Janury 2019 at Varanasi. Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
will now be celebrated every alternate year.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari announced sanctioning of Rs 5,500 crore for laying
regional ring road around Hyderabad (363 km). The minister also announced Rs 1,700 crore for Telangana under
Central Road Fund (CRF).
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Human Resource Development Ministry has launched a major and unique initiative of online professional
development of 1.5 million higher education faculty using the MOOCs platform SWAYAM.
In Assam, 97.3 meter tall national flag, the tallest in the country – will be installed in Guwahati under Smart City
Mission.
The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), a leader in infrastructure development in the border areas of the country,
celebrated its 58th Raising Day on 07 May 2018.
India marked the 157th birth anniversary of country’s first Nobel Award winner Rabindranath Tagore on May 7,
2018. He was born in 1861 in Calcutta.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu was on three-nation visit to the Latin American countries of Guatemala, Panama
and Peru.
The Centre has approved setting up of 100 additional One Stop Centres in 9 states namely Haryana, Himachal
Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh to help
violence affected women.
India accounted for 74.2 percent of the total number of H-1B visas issued by the US to technology professionals in
2016 and the next year the figure increased to 75.6 percent according to the report of United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).
Central government has issued orders for extending financial assistance of 5.50 rupees per quintal of cane crushed
in sugar season 2017-18 to sugar mills to help them in clearing the dues of sugarcane farmers.
71 Ministries/Departments of Government of India has earmarked nearly Rs 16.5 thousand crores to take up
Swachhata activities within their own spheres during the FY 2018-19.
The Indian Pavilion was inaugurated at the 71st Cannes International Film Festival in France by noted television
actor Sharad Kelkar.
To promote electric vehicles in India, the government has approved green license plates bearing numbers in white
fonts for private e-vehicles and yellow for taxis.
World’s largest Indian Flag was unfurled in Hyderabad, Telangana by actor-turned-politician and Jana Sena
Party founder Pawan Kalyan to commemorate the first war of the country’s independence in 1857. The flag is 122
feet in length and 183 feet in width.
India’s longest road and Railway Bridge “Bogibeel Bridge” connecting Dibrugarh in Assam to Pasighat in
Arunachal Pradesh is likely to be inaugurated by end of 2018 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Union Cabinet has approved an ordinance to set up the India’s first national sports University in Manipur.
According to the report ‘RemitSCOPE – Remittance markets and opportunities – Asia and the Pacific’, India has
become the largest remittance-receiving country in the world, with migrant workers from the country sending home
69 billion US dollars in 2017 of the total remittances to the Asia-Pacific region amounting to 256 billion dollars last year.
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, paid homage to Shri Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed, former President of
India on his Birth Anniversary at Rashtrapati Bhavan on May 13, 2018. Ahmed was the fifth President of the
country and also the second President to die in office.
A High Level Committee (HLC) under Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh has approved total Central Assistance of
Rs 1,161.17 crores to the States of Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Rajasthan and Lakshadweep affected by
cyclones/floods/drought during 2017-18.
In a major reshuffle of Cabinet Ministry by PM Modi, Smriti Irani has been removed from the in charge of
information and broadcasting ministry and is now only in charge of textiles ministry.
Alphons Kannanthanam has been relieved as Minister of State in the Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology. He continues as Minister of State for Tourism.
Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Uttarakhand along with the Union Territory of Chandigarh
agreed to implement the ambitious national health protection mission-Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Swasthya Suraksha Mission- which aims to provide an annual coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family.
India has released grant of NRs. (Nepalese Rupees) 18.07 crore for river training and construction of embankments
along three major rivers of the Himalayan nation namely Lalbakeya, Bagmati and Kamla rivers in Nepal.
In an effort to boost clean energy generation, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has unveiled a
National Wind-solar Hybrid Policy to promote new projects as well as hybridisation of the existing ones with a
target of achieving 175 gigawatt (gw) of installed capacity from renewable energy sources by 2022.
The last date for registration for Swachh Bharat Summer Internship has been extended. Students of Higher
Education institutions and members of NYKS can now register for the internship till 15th June 2018. Earlier the
last date for registration was till 15th May 2018.
The Union Environment Ministry has launched its full fledged Green Skill Development Programme (GSDP) to train over 5.5 lakh workers in environment and forest sectors in the country through 30 courses by 2021. Ministry
has also unveiled a related mobile app (GSDP-ENVIS) to help boost employability and entrepreneurship of the
11 Made By Rakshanda Ma’am
youth in the country.
The grand finale of the “Queen of Mashups”, a unique global female Disc Jockeys (DJs) Championship is
scheduled to be held on August 15, 2018 at the J W Marriott, Sahar Mumbai.
A meeting of stakeholders on Samarth – Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector under the Skill India Mission was held in New Delhi under the Chairmanship of Smt Smriti Zubin Irani to familiarize the stakeholders
about the scheme and its guidelines.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 330-MW Kishenganga hydel power project in Kashmir’s Bandipora
district at a cost of Rs 5200 crore.
Indian Naval Sailing Vessel Tarini (INSV Tarini), India’s first 6 membered all-women crew circumnavigating the
globe for eight months under the Navika Sagar Parikrama project, successfully completed its mission and returned
to Goa.
Civil Aviation Ministry has notified the draft of the Passenger Charter for ensuring safety and security of
passengers. It includes refund of the entire ticket fare if flight gets canceled due to airline’s fault and no charges on cancellation of tickets within 24 hours of booking. Aadhar not compulsory for booking tickets, ID shown by the
passenger will be added to the database. Wi-Fi connectivity will be available to passengers after the take off.
The Finance Ministry has tied up with 40 entities including Flipkart, Swiggy, Patanjali and Amul, which are big job
creators, for extending loans to small entrepreneurs under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY).
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh has announced that the family of a paramilitary jawan who dies in action will
be given a minimum compensation of one crore rupees so that the families of martyrs does not face any difficulty.
HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar has launched Samagra Shiksha scheme for school education from pre-school to
senior secondary levels which is integration of three components namely Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and
Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education into one whole.
The India-Bangladesh border in Assam will be completely sealed by December 2018 to stop infiltration and other
illegal cross border activities.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina has inaugurated the Bangladesh
Bhavan at Vishwa Bharti University, Santiniketan, West Bengal which has built at a cost of Rs. 25 crores
India is the global host of World Environment Day(WED) 2018. This year’s theme is “Beat Plastic Pollution: If
you can’t reuse it, refuse it”.
Prime Minister of Netherlands Mr. Mark Rutte inaugurated the Indo-Dutch Ganga Forum in New Delhi.
National Informatics Centre (NIC) has set up a new state-of-the-art cloud enabled National Data Centre at
Bhubaneswar
The government has reconstituted the Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC). The reconstituted
FSDC will now include Minister of State for Finance (who is in-charge of the Department of Economic Affairs); Secretary, Department of Revenue; and Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as members
of the FSDC.
The Central Government has approved setting up of an exclusive “Brahmaputra Study Centre” at Gauhati
University, Guwahati to offer an opportunity for research in different aspects of river Brahmaputra with a fund of
about 28 crore to be provided by the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER)
Indian Railway’s Online Travel Portal, www.irctc.co.in has launched beta version of its new User Interface for easy
and fast booking of tickets without login. It new feature also includes Waitlist prediction to know the probability of a Waitlisted or RAC ticket getting confirmed as well as the facility to find out the availability up to the entire
Advance Reservation Period i.e. 120 days at present, except few trains.
The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, inaugurated the Sadhu Vaswani International School in Pune and
also unveiled the statue of Matoshree Ramabai Bhimrao Ambedkar at the Matoshree Ramabai Bhimrao Ambedkar
Garden in Pune.
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari announced sanctioning of Rs 5,500 crore for laying
regional ring road around Hyderabad (363 km). The minister also announced Rs 1,700 crore for Telangana under Central Road Fund (CRF).
Union Minister for Road Transport and Water Resourceas Nitin Gadkari has announced that the Central
government will sanction Rs 2,000 crore for inland waterway on Godavari River.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 135 km Kundli-Ghaziabad-Palwal (KGP) expressway, also known
as the Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) at the District Sports stadium in Baghpat, Uttar Pradesh. It is India’s
first smart and green highway and built at a cost of Rs. 11,000 crore.
PM Modi inaugurated the 14-lane Delhi-Meerut expressway stretching from Nizamuddin Bridge in Delhi to Delhi-
UP Border built at a cost of Rs 841 crore. The expressway will reduce the travel time between the two cities to only
45 minutes from the present four to five hours.
University Grants Commission has approved UGC (Online Courses) Regulations, 2018 to enable the Universities
and higher educational institutions to offer graduate, postgraduate and diploma programmes online from this academic session.
12 Made By Rakshanda Ma’am
The Mass Yoga Demonstration (Main Event) of 4th International Yoga Day celebrations (IDY-2018) will be held
on 21st June 2018 at Dehradun in Uttrakhand .
Following the proposal from the Ministry of AYUSH, the Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology
has decided to adopt the word ‘AYUSH’ in Hindi and English languages for scientific and technical purposes.
State News Andhra Pradesh
In order to implement effective governance in the state, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu
launched the official ‘NCBN’ (Nara Chandrababu Naidu) App to notify people in real-time with news updates and
also provide a direct platform for the common people to interact with the government.
Four years after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh to create Telangana in June, 2014, the government of Residual
AP has announced its state symbols to have its own separate identity.
State Animal: Blackbuck (antilope cervicapra) or Krishna Jinka
State Bird: Rama Chiluka (psittacula krameri) or Rose Ringed Parakeet
State Tree: Neem (azadirachta indica) or Vepa Chettu
State Flower: Jasmine (jasminum officinale)
Assam
Guwahati now has India’s first railway station run by solar power. Around 2352 solar modules with a capacity of
generating 700 kwp has been set up over the roof of the Guwahati railway station.
In a bid to empower the senior citizens, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal has decided to provide pension
of Rs 250 per month to all the 16 lakh senior citizens of the state above the age of 60.
Bihar
Triggering a controversy, a Pakistani girl featured as the “brand ambassador” on the cover page of a booklet meant
to promote ‘Swachh Jamui Swasth Jamui’ initiative in Bihar’s Jamui district.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar flagged off the ‘Krishi Mahabhiyan-cum-Beej Vikas Vahan Rath’ on the
occasion of ‘Kharif Mahabhiyan-cum-Mahotsav 2018 to create alertness among farmers about government schemes for them during Kharif season.
Two raths were flagged off for every districts of which one is ‘Kharif Mahabhiyan-cum-Mahotsav Rath’ while the
other is ‘Beej (Seed)Vahan Vikas Rath’ which would have Kharif seeds and pesticides for the treatment of kharif
seeds.
Chhattisgarh
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh launched the Vikas Yatra from Dantewada to tell people about the
development the state has witnessed. During the Yatra free pesticides were distributed to 5.5 lakh labourers and 50 lakh families were given smartphones as part of the Chief Minister’s dream project Sanchar Kranti Yojna.
Delhi
Delhi hosted the six-day-long Festival of Bharat at the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) as a
21st century tribute to the majesty and depth of India’s civilization.
The Delhi Cabinet has given in-principle approval to procure 1,000 buses under a cluster scheme due to shortage of
buses in the city, subject to a nod from the Supreme Court and the High Court.
Gujrat
The Gujarat government has initiated a month-long state-wide water conservation campaign under the name
‘Sujalam Sufalam Water Conservation Campaign’, on the occasion of the state’s Foundation Day on May 1, aiming
to conserve an additional 1,100 million cubic feet of rain water.
Goa
Goa observed its 31st Goa Statehood Day on May 30, 2018, which is observed annually since 1987. Earlier, Goa
was a union territory, namely, Goa, Daman and Diu and was separated in 1987 to become India’s 25th state.
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Haryana
Haryana Government has decided to start 31 government colleges for girls with effect from ensuing academic
session starting in July 2018.
Chief Minister of Haryana, Shri Manohar Lal Khattar has announced the launch of ‘Chatra Parivahan Suraksha
Yojana’to ensure safety of girl students under which five or more girl students, will get free travel facility from
their home to their educational institutions.
The state govt. has constituted a special task force namely “Durgashakti Vahini” to minimize the crimes against
women.
The Haryana government has set up a committee under the chairmanship of Urban Local Bodies Minister Kavita
Jain to end the fortnight-long strike in the state of the sanitation workers in support of their demands,
Himachal Pradesh
The Himachal Pradesh Council for Science, Technology and Environment (HIMCOSTE) in support with the Ministry of Environment and Forests and Climate Change launched a 20-day Riverfront Cleaning Campaign
covering three districts — Mandi, Kullu and Bilaspur.
The Himachal Pradesh government will spend Rs 25 crore on renovating and developing the historic British Raj
‘Bantony Castle Estate’ as a major tourist attraction.
The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet has given its approval to draft notification of the Mukhyamantri Yuva
Swavalamban Yojana to promote self-employment opportunities for the youth by encouraging entrepreneurship.
It also gave approval to the launch of Himachal Grihni Suvidha Yojna for empowering women and conserving
environment.
The state government has introduced ‘Prakritik Kheti Khushhaal Kisaan
Yojana’ to promote organic farming ensuring production of healthy food grains, free from harmful chemical
ingredients.
Himachal Pradesh has launched a state wide week long ‘Polythene Hatao, Paryavaran Bachao’ campaign to collect
plastic waste from both urban and rural areas and use it to produce energy, sensitise people about the harmful effects of plastic waste
Kerala
Kerala government has decided to set up a Joint Venture company Kerala Fibre Optic Network Limited to
implement the Kerala Fibre Optic Network (K-FON) project to provide free internet connections to 20 lakh poor
families in the state and speedy internet connectivity to government offices, educational institutions and general
public at an affordable rate.
The Kerala Government will inaugurate the world’s largest bird sculpture, Jatayu Earth’s Centre in
Thiruvananthapuram on July 4. The sculpture of replica of the bird ‘Jatayu’ built at a cost of Rs 100 crore is 200 feet long, 150 feet wide, 65 feet tall and is positioned right at the top of a rock situated 1,000 feet above sea level.
Madhya Pradesh
Madhya Pradesh government has launched the India’s first Integrated Control and Command Centre (ICCC) for all
seven smart cities of the state viz. Bhopal, Indore, Ujjain, Gwalior, Jabalpur, Satna, and Sagar are the seven smart
cities under SCM in Madhya Pradesh.
Madhya Pradesh will be declared open defecation free (ODF) by Gandhi Jayanti 2018 i.e. one year before the
national timeline of October 2nd, 2019, the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.
Madhya Pradesh Government has launched ‘My MP Rojgar Portal’ to provide employment opportunities to youths
based on their educational qualification, skills, interest and registering on MP Rozgar Portal at www.mprojgar.gov.in
Maharashtra
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced the construction of India’s largest Metro rail network in Mumbai with the help of the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) to
avoid traffic congestion.
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Manipur
Manipur has become the first state in the Northeast and the third state in India to have solar toilets.
Odisha
Photo journalist Aneel Prasad Mishra has established a museum in Bhubaneswar (Odisha) that will exhibit 288
pictures of former chief minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik as a mark of tribute.
Punjab
For the conservation of Indus dolphins – one of the world’s rarest mammals – the Punjab government along with
WWF-India is conducting the first organised census on their population. The Indus dolphins are found only in India and Pakistan.
Telangana
The Telangana government has launched a new crop investment support scheme titled ‘Rythu Bandhu’ in which
the farmers in the state will get Rs 8,000 per acre each every year as crop investment support. The government plans to spend Rs 12,000 crore every year under this scheme. The financial assistance will be for two crops each
year.
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has proposed to introduce a new insurance scheme for the benefit
of farmers under which, whatever is the reason, when the farmer dies the family would immediately get Rs 5 lakh
as insurance amount.
Life Insurance Corporation India will implement the scheme
Uttar Pradesh
The sugarcane department in Uttar Pradesh is soon to make use of plastic waste for construction of
‘sugarcane roads’ for cutting costs and promoting green technology. ‘Sugarcane road’ is the name given to a road
constructed by the UP sugarcane department linking cane fields to the nearest mill or highways for faster
movement of the cash crop.
The Uttar Pradesh government has implemented the e-office system in all the state government departments to
encourage digitization in maintaining and movement of files.
The Uttar Pradesh Institute of Design (UPID) is soon to launch a mobile application, UPID App, to help weavers in
the state to market their products and come up with new designs.
Finance and Banking News
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has allowed stock exchanges to extend the trading session for
futures and options (F&O) segment from the current 3.30 p.m. to 11.55 in the night beginning October 1, 2018.
SEBI has asked listed companies to split the post of Chairman and Managing Director by April 1, 2020 besides
making compulsory for them to have six independent directors on board, including a women director. The deadline
for independent directors and other rules is April 1, 2019.
The Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India (IRDA) has released the list of 16 Cross Border
Reinsurers (CBR) for the year 2018-19. CBR refers to those reinsurers who do not have any physical presence in India and do reinsurance business with Indian insurance/reinsurance companies.
YES BANK and YES Global Institute announced the launch of Agenda 25×25, which pledges to create a
synergetic startup environment for budding women entrepreneurs in India and ensuring that by 2025 at least 25% of
all Entrepreneurs in India are Women.
In a first, a Post Office Passport Seva Kendra (POPSK) run by an all-woman team has started operations in
Punjab’s Phagwara. It is 192nd POPSK in the country, but first one to be operated by an all-woman team.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has approved an
initial Corpus of Rs.5,000 crore for setting up of a dedicated “Micro Irrigation Fund” (MIF) with NABARD under
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY) during 2018-2020.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has modified some of its “terms and conditions” for setting up of IFSC (International Financial Services Centres) Banking Units (IBUs) as per which the parent bank will be required to
provide a minimum capital of $20 million or equivalent in any foreign currency to its IBU which should be
maintained at all times to enable IBUs to start their operations.
15 Made By Rakshanda Ma’am
BSE (Bombay Stock Exchange), Asia’s oldest stock exchange, has become the first Indian exchange to be
recognised as a Designated Offshore Securities Market (DOSM) by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC).
The revenue department has made unique identity number Aadhaar and PAN mandatory for persons seeking a
customs broker licence.
State-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) has launched its first integrated SME Loan Factory in Gurgaon as a One Stop
Shop’ to cater the needs of MSME segment in the NCR.
The BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) has announced to launch its Americas Regional Office in Brazil this
year. Last year, the bank opened its Africa Regional Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The government’s Bank Note Paper Mill India (BNPM) has received environment clearance (EC) to increase the
production of bank note paper at its Mysuru unit in Karnataka from 12,000 tonnes per annum (TPA) to 16,000 TPA.
CSC SPV and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) signed an MoU for providing financial support
to the Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) of Common Services Centers (CSCs), with minimum one year of
operation, under the Direct Financing Window of SIDBI.
Yes Bank has received approval from National Stock Exchange to be enrolled as ‘Settlement Bank’ for National
Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCCL), a wholly owned subsidiary of NSE. YES BANK is already an
empanelled Clearing Bank for the BSE, NCDEX and MCX.
India’s most valuable lender HDFC Bank has launched Digital Loans against Mutual Funds in partnership with
transfer agent CAMS. Customers can now pledge mutual fund assets online and get overdraft limit set in their account in under 3 minutes, the bank claimed.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched 3 Indian mobile payments apps namely international Rupay Card, Bhim
app and Unified Payment Interface (UPI) in Singapore for internationalisation of the country’s digital payment
platforms.
Business News
Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba has purchased leading Pakistani online retailer Daraz in a move to doubling its
investment in Southeast Asian e-commerce firm Lazada.
Paytm has introduced automatic recurring payments named ‘My Payments’, a new feature that lets users configure
the payments app to pay for periodic high-value recurring expenses automatically such as house rent, maid/driver’s
salary, milk or newspaper vendor payments.
Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd. (MCX) has launched India’s first options contract on copper futures.
Three contracts expiring in June, August and November 2018 with a lot size of 1 tonne were launched.
Patanjali king Baba Ramdev has joined hands with state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to launch
Swadeshi Samriddhi SIM cards. Initially the benefit of the SIM card will be available for only the employees and office bearers of Patanjali.
US drinks giant Coca-Cola has launched its first alcoholic drink, a lemon flavoured alcopop, in Japan in a bid to tap
new markets and consumers especially women. Three new “Lemon-Do” drinks containing three, five and seven
percent alcohol respectively has been launched.
Economy News
Growth Rate Predictions
Organization 2018-19 2019-2020
Asian Development Bank (ADB) 7.3% 7.6%
International Monetary Fund (IMF) 7.4% 7.8%
Fitch 7.3% 7.5%
UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects 2018 report 7.5% 7.6%
Moody’s 7.3% 7.5%
Central Statistics Office 7.5%
NITI Aayog 7.5%
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) 7.3-7.7%
The government’s revenue collection from GST or goods and services tax was pegged at Rs. 1.03 lakh crore in
April 2018 according to the statement by the Ministry of Finance.
The growth of eight core sectors slowed to a three-month low of 4.1% in March 2018, down from 5.3 per cent in
16 Made By Rakshanda Ma’am
February and 6.1 per cent in January. (Core Sectors-coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, steel, electricity, fertilizers and cement)
According to the BMI Research, a Fitch group company, the economic growth in India is expected to strengthen to
7.3% in financial year 2018-19 from 6.6 per cent in fiscal 2017-18, on the back of robust activity from construction,
manufacturing, and services sectors.
According to government data, Inflation based on wholesale prices shot up to 3.18 percent in April on increasing
prices of petrol and diesel as well as fruits and vegetables.
Rating agency Icra Ltd expects gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the fourth quarter of the fiscal 2017-18 at
7.4%on account of good rabi crop harvest and improved corporate earnings, up from 7.2% in the third quarter.
HSBC in its latest report says that Inflation is set to rise further towards the second half of the fiscal, and could
average 5.1 percent in 2018-19 compared to 3.6 percent in 2017-18.
NITI Aayog has estimated Indian economy to achieve 9 percent growth rate on sustained basis by 2022 on the back
of reforms like GST, demonetisation and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
The Finance Ministry has ratified 8.55 percent rate of interest on EPF for 2017-18.
According to the data released by Central Statistics Office, Indian economy grew 7.7 percent in the fourth quarter
of 2017-18, retaining the fastest growing major economy tag. The GDP had expanded 5.6 percent, 6.3 percent and
7 percent, in the first three quarters of 2017-18. However on yearly basis, the economic growth slowed to 6.7 percent in 2017-18 compared to 7.1 per cent in 2016-17.
Apps Launches/ Portal/Helpline
APP/Portal Features/Use
Data Visualisation App UNICEF
Provides user-friendly visual representation of complex analytics of the education scenario in the
country.
PRAAPTI App ((Payment
Ratification And Analysis in Power procurement for bringing
Transparency in Invoicing of
generators),)
Ministry of Power
App and web portal ‘www.praapti.in’will bring
transparency in power purchase transactions between
Generators and Discoms.
Kimbho Patanjali
Messaging platform ‘ Kimbo’ is derived from a Sanskrit word which translates to, “How are you?
What’s new?” and can be downloaded directly from
Google Play store. Similar to Whatsapp
Neighbourly Google India The beta launch of the app currently for Mumbai will
help people find local answers in their neighbourhood.
Projects
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved three major infrastructure projects – new terminal
buildings at Guwahati, Chennai and Lucknow airports.
In order to boost the public transport system in Noida, the Union Cabinet has approved the extension of Delhi
Metro corridor from Noida City Centre to Noida Sector 62, covering a distance of 6.675 km at a cost of Rs 1,967
crore.
The Union Cabinet has approved setting up of a new All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) up under the
Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) in Deoghar, Jharkhand at a cost of Rs. 1103 crore.
The Government has given in-principle approval for establishing a Central University by the name of “Central
University of Andhra Pradesh” in Janthaluru Village of Ananthapur District, Andhra Pradesh at a total cost of Rs.
450 crore.
The National Institute of Mental Health Rehabilitation (NIMHR) has been approved to be established in Bhopal as
a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 under the aegis of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities at an estimated cumulative cost of Rs. 179.54 crore in first three years.
The Union Health ministry has approved two schemes of the Odisha government for the establishment of two new
Government Medical Colleges in Balasore and Balangir districts of the state with 100 seats each, for the academic
year 2018-19 under the Centrally Sponsored Scheme ‘Establishment of new medical colleges attached with existing
District/Referral Hospitals.’
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of India’s longest road tunnel and Asia’s longest bi-
directional tunne ‘Zojila tunnel’ on the Srinagar-Leh National Highway. The 14.2 kilometer tunnel tunnel is
17 Made By Rakshanda Ma’am
scheduled to be completed in 5 years at an investment of Rs 6,809 crore. The tunnel will cut down the time taken to cross Zojila pass from the present three and a half hours to just fifteen minutes.
The Union Cabinet has approved the establishment of National Institute of Mental Health Rehabilitation (NIMHR)
at Bhopal as a society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 under the aegis of the Department of
Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. The estimated cumulative cost of the project is Rs. 179.54 crore in first
three years.
PM Modi laid the foundation stone of 1000 MW Pakal Dul hydroelectric project in Kishtwar district which will be
the largest Hydro Power Project in Jammu and Kashmir after it is constructed.
Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu laid the foundation stone for the Southern Campus of National Institute of
Disaster Management (NIDM) at Kondapavuluru in Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the development of trunk infrastructure components for the integrated multi-modal logistics hub known as ‘Freight Village’ at Nangal Chaudhary in Haryana under the
Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor Project. It will be implemented in two phases with a financial sanction of Rs
1,029.49 crore by CCEA for development of Phase I
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stones for developmental projects worth Rs 27,000 crore from
Sindri in Dhanbad, Jharkhand.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for the first phase of 2400MW NTPC’s Patratu Super
Thermal Power Project in Jharkhand.
Defence News
The Indian Army’s ‘Vijay Prahar’ exercise in which over 25,000 troops of the Jaipur based South Western
command participated concluded in Rajasthan’s Suratgarh.
The Indian Army has finalized a mega Rs 15,000-crore project to create an inventory for all major weapons and
tanks to overcome long delays in imports and address the problem of a dwindling stockpile.
India successfully test-fired BrahMos Cruise Missile under life extension program from Integrated Test Range
(ITR) at Chandipur, along the Odisha coast. BrahMos is the first Indian missile whose life has been extended from
10 to 15 years.
Joint Military Exercise SURYA KIRAN-XIII between India and Nepal will be conducted at Pithoragarh from 30
May to 12 June 2018.
The Indian Navy commissioned IN LCU L54 – the fourth ship of 8 Landing Craft Utility (LCU) MK-IV class ships
at Port Blair.
Russia quietly conducted the world’s longest surface-to-air missile test of S-500. The system successfully struck a
target 299 miles away, which the U.S. assessed is 50 miles further than any known test.
The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Raksha Mantri Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, has approved the
procurement of equipment for the Defence Forces valued at over Rs. 6900 crore. It includes procurement of
Thermal Imaging (TI) Night Sights for the Rocket Launcher (RL) used by the Army and the Air Force under ‘BUY (Indian) IDDM’ category through established Indian Vendors.
Indian warships are all ready to begin its journey towards the Western Pacific to join the 2018 MALABAR exercise
which will be held jointly with the US and Japanese navies off the US island territory Guam in Micronesia, Pacific
Ocean.
The biennial Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) military exercise is scheduled to be held from June 27 to August 2,
2018 in and around the Hawaiian Islands and Southern California. The theme this year is “Capable, Adaptive,
Partners.” Four countries — Brazil, Israel, Sri Lanka and Vietnam — are participating in RIMPAC for the first time while China has been uninvited by United States for RIMPAC 2018.
Science
The critically endangered Chinese giant salamander, well known as the world’s largest amphibian, now faces the
imminent threat of extinction in the wild.
A new species of water beetle found in Malaysia was named after the Titanic star Leonardo DiCaprio for his
environmental activism. The Grouvellinus leonardodicaprioi beetle was discovered at the bottom of a waterfall in Maliau Basin, a remote nature reserve in Malaysian Borneo.
Scientists have discovered the first known permanent immigrant to the solar system – an asteroid named (514107)
2015 BZ509, currently nestling in Jupiter’s orbit, that migrated from another star system.
After over 15 years of state-funded work, the Chinese scholars has announced that Chinese civilization was born
5,800 years ago and matured 3,800 years ago.
The Scientists of National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), Goa and Bangladesh Oceanographic Research Institute
(BORI) will conduct joint exploration of the Bay of Bengal through training programs.
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Technology Microsoft has announced the launch of “AI for Accessibility” — a new $25 million, five-year programme to
harness the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to help people with disabilities.
China has launched a hyperspectral imaging satellite, Gaofen-5, for comprehensive observation of the atmosphere,
including air pollution. The satellite was developed and produced by China Aerospace Science and Technology
Corporation can be used for comprehensive environmental monitoring. It has a designed life of eight years.
SpaceX has launched the new and final version of its Falcon 9 rocket named Block 5 which lifted off from
Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Complex 39A, carrying the Bangabandhu-1 satellite, the first Bangladeshi telecom satellite, into geostationary transfer orbit.
The Minister of Commerce and Industry Shri Suresh Prabhu launched the Intellectual Property (IP) mascot – IP
Nani to spread awareness about the importance of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) among people especially
children, in an interesting manner. Mascot IP Nani is a tech-savvy grandmother who helps the government and
enforcement agencies in combating IP crimes with the help of her grandson “Chhotu” aka Aditya.
The Telecom Commission headed by Aruna Sundararajan has approved the long awaited mobile in-flight
connectivity, facilitating both Voice & Data Calls and date surfing in Indian airspace over next three months in both domestic as well as international airlines entering the Indian space.
China has launched its first privately developed rocket “Chongqing Liangjiang Star,” which travels 5.7 times faster
than the speed of sound. It has been developed by OneSpace Technology.
For the first time, the railways will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to control air circulation, signages and even
supervision and maintenance work in the 10.28 km-long tunnel in Imphal as part of its 110 km railway line from
Jiribam to Manipur’s capital city.
After US, Russia and China, India has decided to include Artificial Intelligence in its defence forces with an aim to
enhance the operational preparedness of the armed forces. A task force has been set up under the chairmanship of Tata Sons chairman N. Chandrasekaran to finalise the specifics and framework of the project.
China has launched a relay satellite named Queqiao, or “Magpie Bridge” as part of a groundbreaking programme to
be the first country to land a spacecraft on the far side of the moon, also known as the dark side because it faces
away from the earth and is comparatively unknown, later this year.
General insurance company HDFC ERGO launched its Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled chatbot “DIA” on
Google Assistant to enable users to access the service through Google’s home device.
Sports News Tournament Event Winner Runner Up
3rd South Asian Junior Athletics
Championships (SAJAC) India
2- Sri Lanka
3- Pakistan
Grand Prix of Liberation International
Shooting Competition 10m air rifle
Jurate Cesynaite &
Karolis Girulis
Gagan Narang & Pooja
Ghatkar
Spanish Grand Prix Lewis Hamilton Valtteri Bottas
Madrid Open Men’s Single Alexander Zverev
(Germany) Dominic Thiem (Austria)
Madrid Open Women’s Single Petra Kvitova Kiki Bertens
U-16 Four Nation Football Tournament India Tajikistan
International Shooting Competitions of
Hannover, Germany
women’s 10m air
pistol Heena Sidhu Mathilde Lamolle
Italian Open Men’s Single Rafael Nadal (Spain) Alexander
Zverev(Germany)
Italian Open Women’s Single Elina Svitolina Simona Halep
5th Asian Champions Trophy South Korea Indian Women Hockey
Team
Formula Junior Racing Series 2018
Championship Bala Prasath Sohil Shah
LIC 3rd Kolkata Open International
Grandmasters Chess Tournament
Srinath Narayanan
(Reward: Rs 3 lakhs) Shyam Sundar M
2018 Munich Grand Prix Women’s 50m
rifle prone Tejaswini Sawant Anjum Moudgil
2018 Munich Grand Prix Men’s 50m rifle
prone
Matthew Emmons
(USA) Chain Singh
Uber Cup 2018 Japan Thailand
2018 Monaco Grand Prix. Daniel Ricciardo of
Australia Sebastian Vettel
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Sports Indian Shooter Shahzar Rizvi clinched top-spot in 10m Air Pistol rankings after winning the silver medal at the
ISSF World Cup in Changwon, South Korea. Rizvi (1654) was followed by Russia’s Artem Chernousov (1046)
and Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsuda (803).
India continued to sit atop the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test team rankings followed by South Africa at
No.2 and Australia at the No.3 positions.
England has overtaken India to seize the top spot in the MRF Tyres ICC ODI team rankings. India has slipped one
spot at second while South Africa has dropped down to third place with New Zealand at fourth-place.
India’s star shuttler and Commonwealth silver-medallist Kidambi Srikanth climbed to the third spot in the latest
men’s single rankings released by the Badminton World Federation (BWF). In the women singles section, Indian
star PV Sindhu continues to hold on to the third spot.
Spain’s Rafael Nadal retained number one spot in the latest edition of the men’s Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) world singles rankings followed by Switzerland’s Roger Federer in second place, Germany’s
Alexander
Zverev in third spot and Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov at fourth spot.
Romania’s Simona Halep retained the top spot in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings followed by
Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki at second spot and Garbiñe Muguruza of Spain at third position.
A sports initiative ‘Star Khel Mahakumbh’ was launched at Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh. The athletes will
compete in volleyball, basketball, cricket, football, kabaddi and athletics.
India bagged total 50 medals including 20 gold, 22 silver and eight bronze medals to clinch the 3rd South Asian
Junior Athletics Championships at Sugathadasa Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has decided to implement a strict ‘No-Needle’ policy at all the national
camps and training centres in the country.
Liverpool FC and Egypt national football team’s forward Mohamed Salah won the English Premier League (EPL)
Player of the Season award.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has announced Asia’s leading sports apparel brand Li-Ning as the Indian
contingent’s official sports apparel partner till the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
The first Para-National Games for differently abled athletes will be held under Khelo India scheme in June-July
2018 in Bengaluru. It is considered as the selection trial of the Para Asian Games to be held in Indonesia in October
2018.
Iraq is to host a West Asia Football Federation championship at Basra Sports City stadium in the southern Iraqi city
in November, the first international tournament to be staged in the country since the 1990s.
Paris Saint-Germain’s Brazilian forward Neymar was named as France’s player of the year.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran won the prestigious T.K. Ramanathan award for the year 2017-18. He received a cash prize
of Rs. 30,000.
34 years old South African superstar AB de Villiers has announced his retirement from all forms of international
cricket with immediate effect.
Former Australia captain Steve Smith will return to cricket after being named among the marquee players for the
inaugural Global T20 Canada league beginning June 28.
The Eden Gardens cricket stadium in Kolkata has been voted the best ground in IPL 2018.
Top discus thrower and four time Olympian, Vikas Gowda announced retirement from the sport after competing at
the highest level for more than 15 years.
IPL 2018
Chennai Super Kings won 2018 IPL tournament by defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final. This was their third IPL
victory. CSK are now only the second team besides Mumbai Indians to win the IPL thrice and the only team to appear in
the finals 7 times.
Orange Cap (Highest Run) – Kane Williamson (SRH-NewZealand)
Purple Cap (Highest Wicket) – Andrew Tye (KXIP- Australia)
Most Valuable Player (MVP)- Sunil Narine
Stylish Player of the Season – Rishabh Pant
Super Striker of the Season – Sunil Narine
IPL Fairplay award – Mumbai Indians
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CEAT Cricket Ratings Awards 2018
International Cricketer of the Year 2018: Virat Kohli
International Batsman of the Year Award: ShikharDhawan
International Bowler of the Year Award: Trent Boult (New Zealand)
T20 Batsman of the Year Award : Colin Munro (New Zealand)
T20 Bowler of the Year Award: Rashid Khan (Afghanistan)
Outstanding Innings of the Year Award: HarmanpreetKaur
Lifetime Achievement Award: Farokh Engineer (former India wicket-keeper)
Popular Choice Award: Chris Gayle (West Indies)
Domestic Player of the Year Award: MayankAgarwal
U19 Player of the Year award: Shubhman Gill
Schemes and Policy
Scheme Name Launched By Information Outlay
Go to Village Manipur Launched in 60 villages of all the 60 Assembly constituencies with the objective of bringing good
governance and inclusive development in the state
Bharat Inclusion
Initiative
IIM-Ahmedabad’s
Centre for Innovation,
Incubation and
Entrepreneurship (CIIE)
Help the startups working in the areas of financial
inclusion, livelihood, education and health turn ideas into viable businesses
Over USD
25 million for next 3-4
years
Nidaan Rajasthan Presumptive diagnosis and monitoring of seasonal and
non-communicable diseases as well as the trends of
ailments found in the specific areas.
Jan Manch” Himachal Pradesh For redressal of public grievances
Mukhya Mantri
Swavlamban
Yojana
Himachal Pradesh Providing assistance to the unemployed youth
“Himachal
Grihini
Suvidha Yojana”
Himachal Pradesh Offering gas cylinder security and gas stoves to those not
covered under the Ujjwala Yojana.
Reuse of Treated Waste Water
Policy
Gujarat Promote the use of treated waste water and reduce the
state’s dependence on fresh water sources like the Narmada
river.
REPLACE World Health
Orgainsation
To eliminate industrially-produced artificial trans-fats
from the global food supply by 2023.
Reliance Jio has introduced `Digital Champions`, a five-week student learning programme aimed at empowering
today`s youth with the knowledge of leveraging digital technologies for businesses in the digital age.
Campaigns
Prime Minister of Netherlands Mark Rutte launched the ‘Clean Air India Initiative’ in New Delhi to curb air
pollution in Indian cities. The Clean Air India Initiative is a collaborative project between Get InThe Ring, a
platform for start-ups, the government of the Netherlands, Start-up India, and INDUS Forum, an online
matchmaking platform of Indian and Dutch businesses.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah launched a massive ‘Sampark se Samarthan’ (contact for
support)personal outreach programme, to generate awareness about the Narendra Modi government’s 4 years
achievements so far.
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and the Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) rolled out the
‘Gaj Yatra’from Tura, the principal town of Garo Hills in Meghalaya to protect the elephant and its habitat.
Veteran actor Amitabh Bachchan has become the face of Central Railways’ anti-trespassing campaign. Central
Railway has launched an initiative ‘Ek Safar Rail Ke Saath’, where celebrities will share their experience about
Indian Railways and their journey in a short film. At the end of the film, they will give a message for railway
commuters.
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Government of India’s think tank Niti Aayog has roped in film actor Sushant Singh Rajput to promote two of its
major initiatives. One of them is BHIM (Bharat Interface for Money) app and the other is women entrepreneurship
platform (WEP).
Film actor Akshay Kumar launched the twin pit toilet technology campaign in New Delhi to spread the awareness
on sanitation and cleanliness issue and make the cleanliness drive more effective.
Committee
Head of Committee Purpose
Arvind Virmani Head of the six member advisory council of the 15th Finance Commission constituted to
advise and assist the commission.
Murali Manohar Joshi Head of 30-member parliamentary panel formed to study the recovery of black money
and performance of public sector banks among a host of subjects.
Dr. Randeep
Guleria (Director of
AIIMS)
Head of high level group (HLG) constituted by the 15th Finance Commission to examine
the strengths and weaknesses for enabling balanced expansion of health sector.
Rankings
Index India’s Rank Other Information
AT Kearney Foreign Direct
Investment Confidence Index 1
Top 3 countries:
1. United States
2. Canada
3. Germany
Lowy Institute Asia Power Index 4
1. United States
2. China
3. Japan
2018 World Competitiveness Ranking 44
1. United States
2. Hong Kong
3. Singapore
The Lancet ‘s Global Burden of Disease
Study
145 Iceland and Norway share top position
“End of Childhood Index 2018” by Save the
Children
113 (175) 1- Singapore and Slovenia
175- Niger
India has emerged as one of the five biggest military spenders in 2017, according to a report by Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). According to the arms watchdog, the five top military spenders in
2017 were the US, China, Saudi Arabia, Russia and India respectively.
India emerged as the third largest solar market in the world in 2017 behind China and the United States according to
the report of Mercom Communications India.
India is the sixth wealthiest country in the world with a total wealth of 8,230 billion US dollars according to
the AfrAsia Bank Global Wealth Migration Review. US is the wealthiest country in the world with a total wealth of
62,584 billion dollars while China stood at the second place with 24,803 billion dollars with Japan at the third place
with 19,522 billion dollars.
Based on the revised World Urbanisation Prospects 2018 report of UN, Delhi is projected to surpass Tokyo as the
world’s largest city in a decade around the year 2028.
Loans from Banks
From To Amount Purpose
Asian Development
Bank (ADB)
India $ 4 billion Expand its sovereign and non-sovereign operations
World Bank India $ 200 million National Nutrition Mission -POSHAN Abhiyaan
NABARD Arunachal
Pradesh
Rs 87.83 lakh For LED Solar Street Lighting system in the state from
its Rural Infrastructure Development Fund
World Bank India $ 300 million India Energy Efficiency Scale-Up Program
World Bank India $ 21.7 million Strengthening Public Financial Management in Rajasthan.
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Asian Development Bank
(ADB)
Madhya Pradesh
$375 million (Rs 2,529 crore
approximately)
To improve irrigation in Madhya Pradesh to help double farmers’ income.
World Bank India $ 500 million Provide additional financing for the Pradhan Mantri Gram
Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) Rural Roads Project.
Miscellaneous News
A short film, ‘Raaya’, about an autistic girl has been chosen as India’s official entry into the Cannes Film Festival
2018. The film is produced by Rakesh Gupta and written by hypnotherapist Richa Agarwal.
The Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, J.P. Nadda, announced that the digital health initiative of India
would be adopted by the World Health Organization (WHO) as its first resolution on digital health.
Rankings (Persons, Cities, Organisations and Others)
South Korean conglomorate Samsung has emerged as the topmost brand that Indians trust the most according to the
TRA Brand Trust Report 2018 (BTR 2018). Sony and LG finished second and third, respectively.
Patanjali Ayurved Limited has been ranked as India’s most trusted Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) brand in
the TRA’s Brand Trust Report 2018. In overall brand ranking Patanjali is at 13th rank.
Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, gained top spot in The World’s Most Powerful
People 2018 by Forbes list followed by Russian President Vladimir Putin at second place. The list featuring only two
Indians includes PM Modi at 9th spot and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani at 32nd place.
Indore has emerged as the cleanest city, followed by Bhopal and Chandigarh in the government’s cleanliness survey,
Swachh Survekshan 2018. Jharkhand was adjudged the best performing state in the survey followed by Maharashtra
and Chhattisgarh.
According to the report on urbanization by the Population Division of the UN Department of Economic and Social
Affairs (UN DESA), Delhi will overtake Tokyo as world’s most populous city by 2028. Tokyo remains the world’s
largest city in the world with 37 million inhabitants currently.
Microsoft has surpassed Alphabet, the parent company of Google, in the market capitalisation for the first time in
three years, becoming the third most valuable firm after Apple and Amazon globally.
Books
Book Author Other Info
Across the Bench – Insight into the Indian Military Judicial
System
Lt Gen Gyan Bhushan
Hidden India Latika Nath
Indian Railways has released a “Guidebook for Creating a Child Friendly and Protective Environment for Children in Contact with Railways’, developed by National Commission for protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) in
collaboration with Railway Children India.
Obituaries
Name Profession Other Info
Ashok Mitra Marxist economist and politician Former Finance Minister of West Bengal
Idris Hassan Latif Air Chief Marshal Former Chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF)
Anne V. Coates Film Editor
Ankit Chadha Writer and Storyteller Noted as a highly talented exponent of dastangoi - a
13th century Urdu oral storytelling art form.
Rajinder Pal Cricketer
Dr Nirmal Hirawat Politician Former Madhya Pradesh minister
Kalashala Babu Actor Stage, TV and Malayalam film artiste
Nandram Das Bairagi Film Lyricist Former Rajya Sabha MP
Jivya Soma Mashe Artist Came to fame from the Warli tribal art form
EC George Sudarshan Physicist
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Margot Kidder Actor Rose to fame as Lois Lane in the 1978 film
“Superman,”
Tom Wolfe Writer and Journalist
Joseph Campanella Character Actor
V Balakumaran Tamil novelist
Yamunabai Waikar Lavani singer In 2012, she was honoured with a Padma Shri
Raghuvir Singh Freedom Fighter Last freedom fighter of Muzaffarnagar district
Zhao Kangmin Chinese archaeologist Credited with discovering the ancient Terracotta
Warriors
Yaddanapudi
Sulochana Rani Novelist
Bansidhar Panda Industrialist Founder of Indian Metals & Ferro Alloys Ltd (IMFA)
Philip Roth Author Pulitzer Prize winner
Bill Gold Graphic Designer Hollywood’s best-known creators of film posters,
Vinod Bhatt Gujarati writer and humourist
Geeta Kapoor, Actor Received fame from the movie “Pakeezah”
Madala Ranga Rao Telugu Film Actor Popularly known as “Red Star”
Lt. Gen. Zorawar
Chand Bakshi
One of India’s most decorated
Generals
Received the second-highest military decoration,
Maha Vir Chakra
Lewis Myers Jr Civil rights attorney
Alan Bean NASA astronaut Journeyed into space two times and became the
fourth man to walk on the moon
Siddu Nyamagouda Karnataka Congress MLA
Kameshwar Paswan Politician Former Bihar minister
Pandurang Phundkar Politician Maharashtra Agriculture Minister