A2Z May 2019 Current Affairs PDF

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May 2019
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A2Z May 2019 Current Affairs PDF www.aspirantszone.com
MOU/Agreement Countries
 India has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Japan’s largest egg producer, ISE Foods, in a bid to improve
the quality of eggs, waste management and disease diagnosis in poultry farms across the country. The ISE’s egg
production process, almost fully automated, is considered most hygienic in the world.
MOU Industry/States/Others
 Bharat Heavy Electricals and Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), an autonomous body affiliated to the
Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises have signed an MoU for cooperation on various projects related
to e-mobility.
 IT services firm Tech Mahindra and French digital content publishing firm Rakuten Aquafadas signed an MoU to
collaborate on building enhanced customer experience offerings.
 On the occasion of World Telecom Day on 17 May, state-run telecom major BSNL has partnered with Google to
increase access to its WiFi footprint in the country. With the launch of this service, people across the country will be
able to enjoy BSNL’s free WiFi services.
 Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati has signed an MoU with The Indian Space Research Organisation
(ISRO) to set up an IITG-ISRO Space Technology Cell (STC) at the institute where Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi
inaugurated a new academic complex and research and development building.
Appointments and Resignations

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

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

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Awards and Recognitions

Award Name Person/Institution Extra Knowledge
Japan’s ‘Order of the Rising Sun’ Former foreign secretary Shyam
award Saran
FICCI Claims Excellence Award Bharti AXA Life Insurance
UNSDG 10 Most Influential People in Patanjali Group of Institutions
Healthcare Award
27th P.C. Chandra Puraskaar Dr Devi Prasad Shetty
2019 V K Krishna Menon award G D ‘Robert’ Govender
Joan Miro Prize for 2019 Indian contemporary artist Malani, who is the winner of the
Nalini Malani seventh edition of the prize, was
awarded for her impressive body of
work that gave a voice to “the
silenced and the dispossessed all
over the world, most particularly
women”.
Sasakawa Award 2019 for Disaster Dr. Pramod Kumar Mishra By United Nations Office for
Risk Reduction Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)
‘Order of St. George’ award by Kerala Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Award
Desert Storm 2019 TVS Racing Held in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

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

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year has won the ACJ Award for Investigative Journalism, 2018.
American golfer Tiger Woods was bestowed with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, US’ highest civilian
honour, by President Donald Trump
The Kings, a hip-hop dance crew from Mumbai, has found international glory with their victory on American
reality television show “World of Dance”, taking home a cash prize of $1 million.
IPS officer Chhaya Sharma, who led the investigation team of the infamous Nirbhaya gang-rape and murder
case, has been awarded the 2019 McCain Institute Award for Courage and Leadership.
A team from Georgia Institute of Technology, including an Indian-American student, has won “Hearthstone
Collegiate Championship”, part of the first-ever ESPN Collegiate Esports Championship. Shiv Chopra along with
two Georgia Tech teammates swept off Minnesota team 3-0 in the finals in Houston.
Indian YouTuber Ajey Nagar has been named by Time magazine among its ‘Next Generation Leaders 2019’, a list
of only 10 young people from around the world who are forging new paths in politics, music and other spheres.
South African mountaineer Saray Khumalo became the first black woman from the continent to reach Mount
Everests summit.
Sunny Pawar has bagged the Best Child Actor award for ‘Chippa’ at the 19th New York Indian Film Festival.
Antano and Harini – Legacy Accelerators received the ‘Award of Honour’ from the Ministry of Social Justice and
Empowerment, Government of India for the unprecedented work they have been doing to help people change
the trajectory of their lives and help people create a personal legacy in compressed time.
Actor Anil Kapoor felicitated by the Council of European Chambers of Commerce (CEUCC) in India.
Aarohi Pandit, 23, made history when she landed in to become the world’s first woman pilot to cross the
Atlantic Ocean in a light sport aircraft (LSA). The Mumbai girl landed at Iqaluit Airport.
The 49-year-old Sherpa climber Kami Rita scaled Mount Everest for the 23rd time, breaking his own record of
the most successful ascents of the world’s highest peak. Breaking his own record of 22 successful ascents of
Everest, Kami Rita now became the only man on the planet to climb Everest for 23 times.
Just a week after breaking his own record for the most number of summits on Mt Everest, Kami Rita Sherpa yet
again climbed the world’s highest mountain. By achieving this feat, Sherpa has become the only Mountaineer in
the world to hold the record for most Everest summits.
Indian filmmaker, Achyutanand Dwivedi’s film, “Seed Mother”, won the third prize in the international section
of Nespresso Talents 2019 in Cannes.
In an international competition ‘Elsevier Foundation-ISC3 Green and Sustainable Chemistry Challenge’, a project
idea by Ankur Patwardhan from Pune has bagged the second prize of €25,000. His project named ‘Butterfly
attractant for pollination and ecosystem health’ is about the relation between chemistry and ecosystem.
Bengaluru-based medical doctor Hema Divakar was honoured with the ‘Global Asian of the Year 2018-19’ award
in Dubai recently for her yeomen services and contributions to the women’s healthcare ecosystem, in India.
Flight Lieutenant Mohana Singh, one of India’s first female fighter pilots, scripted history as the first ever
woman pilot to become operational on Hawk advanced jet aircraft.
Indian writer Annie Zaidi was announced as the 2019 winner of the USD 100,000 Nine Dots Prize, a prestigious
book prize created to award innovative thinking that addresses contemporary issues around the world. For -
‘Bread, Cement, Cactus’
Chandrani Murmu, a tribal woman, has made history after winning the Lok Sabha seat from Keonjhar in Odisha.
She has become the youngest Member of Parliament (MP) at the age of 25 years and 11 months.
Priyanka Mohite, the 26-year-old Satara based mountaineer, has become the first Indian woman to successfully
scale Mount Makalu — the fifth-highest mountain in the world at 8,481 metres.
Flt Lt Bhawana Kanth adds another feather to her cap by completing Day Operational syllabus on MiG-21 Bison
aircraft. She is the first women fighter pilot to be qualified to undertake missions by day on a fighter aircraft.

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Conference and Summits

Summit Place  Extra Knowledge
WTO Ministerial Meeting of Developing Countries New Delhi 
5th Smart Cities India 2019 Expo New Delhi
SWIFT India and South Asia Conference Mumbai
Meeting of Regional Heads of Customs Kochi, Kerala
Administration of Asia Pacific Region of WCO (World
Customs Organization)
India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) Sherpas meeting Cochin, Kerala
10th National Science Film Festival Agartala, Tripura To be held in 2020
Annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank Colombo, Sri Lanka
(ADB) in 20121
Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Bishkek, Kyrgyz
Minister’s meet Republic
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Turkmenistan
meeeeting
5th Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) Media Kathmandu, Nepal Theme - “Media Solutions for
Summit on Climate Action and Disaster Preparedness Sustainable Future: Saving
Lives, Building Resilient
Communities”.
2020 UN Ocean Conference Lisbon, Portugal Theme – “scaling up ocean
action based on science and
innovation for the
implementation of Goal 14:
stocktaking, partnerships and
solutions”
International News
 The UK parliament became the first national legislative body in the world to declare a climate change “emergency”.
The historic move closely follows Extinction Rebellion protests that blocked traffic in key parts of central London.
 US President Donald Trump has said he will withdraw his country from the International Arms Trade Treaty. The
agreement, signed by Barack Obama in 2013, aims to regulate the sale of weapons between countries.
 A Japanese aerospace startup funded by a former internet maverick has successfully launched a small rocket into
space. Interstellar Technology Inc. says the unmanned MOMO-3 rocket has exceeded 100 kilometers (60 miles) in
altitude before falling into the Pacific Ocean.
 The Asian Development Bank (ADB) launched the Action Plan for Healthy Oceans and Sustainable Blue Economies
for the Asia and Pacific region at the 52nd Annual Meeting of ADB’s Board of Governors in Fiji.
 A Nepali teenager danced continuously for 126 hours to set a Guinness World Records on “Longest Dancing
Marathon by an Individual”, a feat previously hold by an Indian.
 Senegalese lawmakers approved a constitutional reform to scrap the post of prime minister, the first initiative of
President Macky Sall‘s second term in office. The government approved the measure last month before sending it
to the parliament where the presidential party enjoys a majority.

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 Singapore’s parliament passed the Protection from Online Falsehood and Manipulation Act (POFMA), a move to
tackle the spread of online fake news. The bill was passed after two days of debate in the parliament.
 Qantas flight F739 from Sydney to Adelaide was the first commercial flight to produce no landfill waste. About 1000
single-use plastics were replaced with alternative solutions or removed altogether from the flight, including Qantas
staples like individually-packaged servings of milk and Vegemite.
 WHO (World Health organization) collaborated with the International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA) to
eliminate industrially produced trans fat (iTFA) from food supply worldwide by 2023. Trans fat-intake leads to
coronary heart disease, due to which globally 5,00,000 deaths occur every year.
 In a bid to help countries ensure secure and verifiable voting, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has announced
“ElectionGuard” a free open-source software development kit (SDK). It will enable end-to-end verification of
elections, open results to third-party organisations for secure validation, and allow individual voters to confirm
their votes were correctly counted
 Ireland has become the second country in the world to declare a climate and biodiversity emergency. Ireland
followed in the footsteps of the United Kingdom.
 India and China top a list of countries where illegal sand mining has become a major environmental problem,
according to a report released by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). While we cannot do without
sand, responsible mining should be incentivised, said the report, ‘Sand and Sustainability: finding new solutions for
environmental governance of global sand resources’.
 The Saudi government has approved for the first time a scheme that gives permanent residency to certain
expatriates, allowing them to own real estate in the kingdom and reside with their families without a Saudi
sponsor.
 Taiwan became the first Asian-nation to legalise same-sex marriage.
 Joining the Competition Commission of India (CCI) and the European Union (EU), Italy’s antitrust authority has
become the latest international regulatory body to launch an anti-competition investigation against Google.
 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (World Bank) and Commonwealth Bank (CBA) have
enabled secondary market trading recorded on blockchain for bond-i (blockchain operated new debt instrument),
making this the first bond whose issuance and trading are recorded using distributed ledger technologies.
 Russia launched the world’s largest nuclear-powered icebreaker, which would open up commercial opportunities
for the country in the northern sea route. With the ceremonial launch of ‘Ural’, Russia’s Rosatom Atomic Energy
Corporation, which is the main equipment supplier for India’s Kudankulam nuclear power plant, has completed
another step towards ensuring all-year round navigability of the Northern sea route.
 The World Health Organization has certified Algeria and Argentina as malaria-free, following three consecutive
years where no new cases of the deadly disease have been reported.
 A-56 year-old Gopal Shrestha from Pokhara in Nepal became first HIV infected climber to ascend world’s highest
peak, the Mount Everest.
National News
 The Vice President, M. Venkaiah Naidu released a postage stamp to commemorate the 750th birth anniversary of
Sri Vedanta Desikan in New Delhi.
 Indian government had earlier proposed a special green-coloured number plate for all electric vehicles in the
country. Putting the year old plan in action, the Central government has now asked the state transport

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departments to make it mandatory for all EVs to use the green number plates, irrespective of the year in which
they were bought.
 Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) recently launched the Malaria Elimination Research Alliance (MERA)-
India and organised the Stakeholders’ Meeting at ICMR headquarters, New Delhi to have vibrant discussions on the
roadmap of the Alliance.
 The government has hiked the customs duty on wheat to 40 per cent from 30 per cent to curb imports and protect
the domestic industry.
 The Indian Institute of Technology Delhi has announced that they will be introducing a new Centre of Excellence for
Waste to Wealth Technologies. This step has been taken as a way to celebrate Mahatma Gandhi’s 150th Birthday.
The initiative is a joint effort of IIT-D and Government of India’s Principle Scientific Advisor (PSA).
 The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) held a brainstorming session for all stakeholders in the
renewable energy industry. This ‘chintan baithak’ was the first of its kind organised by MNRE.
 The Indian Army is commemorating this year as the ‘Year of Next of Kin’ and plans to reach out to the next of kin of
battle casualties, ex-servicemen and serving soldiers to inform them of entitled financial benefits, welfare schemes
and help resolve pension related problems.
 The Indian Navy’s first full-fledged Services Selection Board (SSB) was inaugurated by Navy Chief Admiral Sunil
Lanba at Diamond Harbour near Kolkata. The SSB (Kolkata) is located at a place that was previously occupied by a
Naval Coastal Battery.
 The website of the Lokpal www.lokpal.gov.in has been launched. It was inaugurated by Chairperson Justice Pinaki
Chandra Ghose in presence of all the Members of Lokpal in New Delhi.
The Lokpal is the first institution of its kind in independent India, established under the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act,
2013 to inquire and investigate into allegations of the corruption against public functionaries who fall within the
scope and ambit of the above Act
 At 47.8 deaths per 1,000 live births, India in 2015 had more deaths among children under five than any other
country, new research has found.
The highest mortality rate, in Assam, a state in northeastern India, was more than seven times that in the western
state of Goa.
 India signed the ‘Christchurch Call to Action’ in Paris. The agreement came in the backdrop of the attacks on
mosques in March and is aimed at stopping the abuse of the Internet by extremists.
 India has been unanimously chosen as co-chair of the Consultative Group (CG) of Global Facility for Disaster
Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) for the fiscal year 2020.
 India delivered the first pair of replacement Mi-24 attack helicopters to Afghanistan. India had first delivered the
Mi-24 Helicopters to Afghanistan in December 2015.
 With 400 young Indian men participating across the country to learn laundry lessons to share the responsibility of
cleaning clothes along with the female members of their homes, India achieved the Guinness World Records
certificate for the largest laundry lesson recently.
 The NITI Aayog has drawn up a plan for creating an institutional framework for artificial intelligence (AI) in the
country. It has circulated a cabinet note to provide Rs 7,500 crore in funding for creation of cloud computing
platform called AIRAWAT and research institutes.
 UN Environment India and Wildlife Crime Control Bureau of India launched an awareness campaign ‘Not all animals
migrate by choice’ to be displayed at major airports across the country ahead of the International Day of Biological
Diversity celebrated on 22 May.

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 A 41-year-old orangutan at Odisha’s Nandankanan Zoological Park died following a prolonged illness. ”Binny”, the
country’s lone orangutan passed away due to old-age related ailments followed by respiratory tract infection.
 In its first meeting, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to give monthly pension of
Rs 3,000 to all small and marginal farmers across the country, small traders, businessmen, and shopkeepers after
they attain the age of 60 years.
All small shopkeepers and self-employed persons as well as the retail traders with Goods and Services Tax (GST)
turnover below Rs 1.5 crore and aged between 18 and 40 years can enroll themselves for the scheme.
 As the World Environment Day is approaching, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched a
theme song ‘Hawa Aane De’ on air pollution. The song was launched in the national capital. The aim is to spread
awareness regarding protecting the environment. Secretary of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change
launched the song in the presence of actor Shekhar Suman and singer Shaan. World Environment Day is celebrated
on June 05.
 The Trump administration removed India from its currency monitoring list of major trading partners, citing certain
developments and steps being taken by New Delhi addressing some of its major concerns. Switzerland is the other
nation that has been removed from the list. However, the list includes China, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Italy,
Ireland, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam among others.
 India has been elected to the Executive Board of the first UN-Habitat Assembly, announced by Ministry of Housing
and Urban Affairs. India has been elected to the Executive Board of the first UN-Habitat Assembly at the Plenary
Session of the Assembly being held in Nairobi.
 ISRO Chairman K Sivan flagged off the shipment of India’s largest liquid hydrogen storage tank at the VRV Asia
Pacific’s manufacturing plant at Sri City in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh.
State News
Arunachal Pradesh
 The Geological Survey of India (GSI) in its report said that about 35% of India’s total Graphite reserves are found in
Arunachal Pradesh. This is the highest found in the country.
Karnataka
 Mangaluru City Police has launched an all-women police patrol unit in the city. Flagging off the ‘Rani Abbakka
Force’ in Mangaluru, Sandeep Patil, Commissioner of Police, said the Karnataka police is giving utmost importance
to the protection of women and children.
 Defence Space agency to come up at Bengaluru
Kerala
 Kerala became the first state to tap into masala bond market by listing the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund
Board (KIIFB)’s masala bond worth of USD 312 million (Rs 2,150 crore) in London Stock Exchange (LSE)’s
International Securities Market (ISM).

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Madhya Pradesh
 Indore’s Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar airport has been declared as an international airport.
Sikkim
 The 14th edition of the annual Sino-Indian border trade opened at Nathu La in Sikkim.
Tamil Nadu
 A unique ‘Tree Ambulance’ service – an initiative to provide care to trees besides spread green cover, was launched
by Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu in Chennai.
The service launched for the first time in the state, aims at providing first aid treatment to trees, uprooted tree
planting, seed bank, seed ball distribution, plant distribution, aiding tree plantation, shifting trees, survey of trees
and removal of dead trees. The ambulance can be availed through the helpline number – 9941006786. People can
register themselves as volunteers in their website- www.treeambulance.org.
Telangana
 Telangana’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) has grown 15 per cent in the financial year ended March 31,
2019 at ₹8,66,875 crore as against ₹7,53,804 crore in the previous year.
This is the highest ever growth of GSDP after the formation of Telangana State.
Finance and Banking News

 With an aim to ease high-value fund transfers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced an extension of timings
for customer transactions through Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) by one and half hours.
Customers can now transfer money through RTGS mode till 6 pm instead of the existing 4:30 pm.
The change will come into effect starting June 1.
 Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed banks to enhance the housing loan limits for eligibility under priority sector
lending (PSL) to Rs 35 lakh in metropolitan centres (with population of ten lakh and above) and Rs 25 lakh in other
centres. In order to bring the RRBs and SFBs at a level playing field with other Scheduled Commercial Banks, it has
now been decided to enhance the housing loan limits for eligibility under PSL.
 Reserve Bank of India has released a vision document‘Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision 2019 –
2021’, with its core theme of ‘Empowering Exceptional E-payment Experience’ for ensuring a safe, secure,
convenient, quick and affordable e-payment system.
 India’s largest bank State Bank of India has moved to a new interest rate regime on large savings account deposits
as well as short-term loans. In March, SBI had announced that it will link its interest rate on savings account with
balance above Rs. 1 lakh and short-term loans like overdraft and cash credit facility to Reserve Bank of India’s repo
rate, effective 1 May 2019.
 The State Bank of India (SBI) has announced a strategic partnership with the FMCG arm of The Art of Living — Sri Sri
Tattva. Under this partnership, YONO users can avail a discount of 15 per cent on the entire range of products
offered by Sri Sri Tattva such as food, personal care, healthcare, homecare, BYOGI apparels and Shankara skincare
products.
 Canara Bank and its life insurance partner Canara HSBC Oriental Bank of Commerce Life Insurance launched
’Webassurance’ to enable its customers to purchase life insurance in a convenient and hassle-free way.

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 National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the merger of private sector lender IndusInd Bank with Bharat
Financial Inclusion (BFIL), a microfinance company.
 Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based HR solutions provider Talocity would provide Yes Bank its AI-supported “touchless”
technology for the bank’s hiring process and human resource (HR) operations.
 India Ratings has downgraded Yes Bank‘s long-term issuer rating from ‘IND AA plus’ to ‘IND AA minus’ with a
negative outlook.
 To give a fillip to digital lending, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI)has put together a pilot scheme
to extend financial assistance of up to Rs10 crore to new-age fintech non-banking finance companies (NBFCs)
engaged in financing small businesses and other income-generating activities.
 A Reserve Bank of India-appointed committee headed by Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani has submitted its
suggestions on promoting digital payments to Governor Shaktikanta Das.
In January, the RBI had set up the five-member panel on deepening digital payments with a view to encouraging
digitisation of payments and enhance financial inclusion through digitisation.
 HDFC Capital Advisors, a wholly-owned subsidiary of HDFC Ltd, launched a new initiative called ‘HDFC Affordable
Real Estate and Technology Program (HeART). It aims to mentor, partner and invest in real estate technology
companies that drive innovation and efficiencies within the affordable housing ecosystem.
 Private sector lender Karnataka Bank launched a new savings bank product called “KBL SB Salary” for salaried class
with three variants of Executive, Prime and Classic.
 Corporation Bank has launched ‘Corp SME Suvidha’, a product for GST-registered MSMEs. The product has been
designed as part of the bank’s efforts to provide the best products to the MSME sector.
 Bank credit to infrastructure sector grew by 18.5 per cent to Rs 10.55 lakh crore as of 2018-19, the highest since
2012-13 fiscal, RBI data showed.
 As per data from the Reserve Bank of India, debit card swipes on Point of Sales (PoS) terminals jumped more than
27% in March 2019 compared to corresponding period last year. In contrast, ATM withdrawals grew at a slower
pace of 15%.
 Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has announced that it has launched ‘Bank on Wheels’ facility in 14 of its lead districts in
Tamil Nadu and Kerala, besides Vijayawada. The mobile van facility will enable the public, especially senior citizens,
conveniently get door-step banking facility available at identified locations of the lead districts.
 RBI stated that all non-deposit-taking non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) with an asset size of Rs 5,000 crore
and above, and all deposit-taking NBFCs irrespective of their asset size, have to maintain a liquidity buffer in terms
of a Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR).
Business News
 Bharti AXA General Insurance said it will sell policies through social media messaging platform WhatsApp and has
tied up with web aggregator Wishfin Insurance for speedy delivery of two-wheeler cover.
 Iraq has become India’s top crude oil supplier for the second consecutive year, meeting more than one-fifth of the
country’s oil needs in the 2018-19 fiscal year.
 Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting (WCCL), the consumer care business of software provider Wipro Ltd, has
acquired the Philippines-based personal care maker Splash Corporation for an undisclosed amount to enter the
country which has a consumer base of around 100 million.
 PayPal India has launched its One Touch instant payments feature for Android devices in the country.

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 LIC Housing Finance (LIC HFL) has launched ‘Udyam’, a skilling centre in Bengaluru. It was launched in association
with Lok Bharti Education Society, the implementing partner.
 State-owned telecom firm BSNL has become the first operator to start optical fibre-based high-speed broadband
service in Pulwama with the launch of ‘Bharat Fibre’. This is the first such FTTH (fibre-to-the-home) service
deployment in the (Kashmir) Valley under this unique revenue share model.
 The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) directed the National Stock Exchange (NSE) to disgorge Rs 625
crore, along with interest at 12 per cent per annum since 2014, for lapses at its co-location (colo) facility, which
allowed unfair access to certain brokers. The regulator also barred the exchange for a period of six months from
accessing the securities market.
 Bilateral trade between India and the United States in goods and services grew 12.6 per cent from USD 126 billion
in 2017 to USD 142 billion in 2018.
 Max Life Insurance Co Ltd, one of industry’s foremost life insurance companies, announced that it will dedicate 6th
day of every calendar month as ‘Protection Day’ towards driving awareness around the concept of financial
protection.
As a part of the initiative the Company will also drive a “Super Customer Week”, where customers across the board
will be educated about various aspects of financial protection.
 Bharti Airtel and Hughes Communications India announced an agreement to combine their VSAT operations in
India and leverage the demand for secure connectivity in a rapidly growing digital economy.
 BharatPe – India’s first Fintech start-up enabling payments for merchants through interoperable UPI QR codes, has
announced its foray into merchant services with a new app. The app allows merchants to record their cash/credit
(Udhar) sales customer wise, request accounts receivable from customers via SMS payment links, and keep track of
accounts payable to suppliers, among other services.
 Samsung Electronics Co introduced the world’s highest-resolution image sensor, with 64 megapixels for
smartphones, to meet the growing demand for mobile devices with better image quality.
 In a bid to become a dominant player in the global toy retail industry, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries
Limited (RIL) announced it has acquired iconic British toy retailer Hamleys from Chinese fashion wear firm C Banner
International for an undisclosed sum.
 Facebook has chosen London as the centre for the global roll-out of WhatsApp pay, before the social media giant
launches its digital payments service on the mobile messaging platform in India.
 HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company, India’s third-largest non-life insurance provider in the private sector,
announced the launch of ‘Mosquito Disease Protection Policy’.
 IBM India has tied-up with HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company, India’s third-largest non-life insurance provider
in the private sector, to co-create new Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based solutions.
 Bharti Airtel and HDFC Life Insurance have tied up to offer life cover for customers who get a prepaid recharge
done. Airtel’s new Rs. 249-prepaid bundle which will include 2 GB data, unlimited calls across networks, and 100
SMSes per day will also offer a cover worth Rs. 4 lakh from HDFC Life.
 Paytm has introduced a new credit, called Paytm First Card, in partnership with Citibank. The company is touting
that the new card will offer customers 1 percent of universal cashback along with zero restrictions on earning
categories. This will be auto-credited to the card every month.
 Housing finance major HDFC Limited has partnered with the India Mortgage Guarantee Corporation (IMGC) to offer
a mortgage-guaranteed home loan product. The partnership aims to make it possible for HDFC to further penetrate
the home loan market and access an enlarged customer base, helping them to own a home of their choice.

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 Doordarshan has launched an online souvenir store for its viewers on Amazon India so that one can easily access it.
A. Surya Prakash Chairman, Prasar Bharati launched DD souvenir store on Amazon India.
 ICICI Bank announced the launch of a co-branded multi-currency card with online travel booking portal Goibibo.
Anyone travelling abroad, whether they hold an ICICI Bank savings account or not, can apply for the Goibibo ICICI
Bank Travel Card on the Goibibo website and mobile app.
 In a move to enrich the customer experience of millions of the homegrown ride hailing platform’s users, Ola has
partnered the state-run SBI cards to launch Ola Money SBI Credit Card for the country’s first such co-branding
initiative in the segment.
 Reliance Infrastructure promoted Mumbai Metro One announced a tie-up with payment gateway ‘Instamojo’ to
enable card payments aimed at boosting cashless travel.
 Bajaj Finserv said it has launched a specialised insurance cover for passengers travelling in local trains in country’s
financial capital Mumbai. The travellers will get an insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh against a payment of Rs 399 per
annum.
 Leading stock exchange BSE said it has launched ‘BSE StAR MF’ app to enable more participation and help mutual
fund distributors process transactions faster. “BSE StAR MF mobile app supports real-time client registration and
paperless transactions, creates and uploads mandate for SIPs, generates the basket of multiple orders, tracks and
allows the distributor to analyse his business at his fingertips.
 Vodafone Idea Business Services (VIBS), the enterprise arm of telecom major Vodafone Idea, announced a strategic
partnership with datacentre service provider CtrlS for information and communications technology (ICT) solutions,
including cloud computing.
 Global software major Infosys has completed the acquisition of majority (75 per cent) equity stake in the Stater
N.V. subsidiary of the Netherlands-based ABN AMRO Bank.
 The HDFC group has overtaken the 151-year-old Tata group to emerge as India’s most valuable by way of market
capitalization (m-cap).
 The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI)
have announced initiatives to encourage tech startups, especially fintech, by making data and systems available to
them through the regulatory sandbox (RS).
SEBI has proposed an ‘Innovation Sandbox’ which would be a testing environment where fintech firms and entities
not regulated by SEBI.
 Rating agency ICRA downgraded the long-term rating of private lender IDFC First Bank on the back of weak earnings
profile and increase in provisions due to unanticipated fresh stressed exposures identified by the bank. The ratings
was bought down a notch from to AA from AA+ with stable outlook.
Economy News
 India Ratings and Research marginally lowered country’s GDP growth projection for 2019-20 fiscal to 7.3 per cent
mainly due to below normal monsoon prediction and loss of momentum in industrial output.
 The Asia-Pacific region is expected to power ahead growing at 5.7% this year: Asian Development Bank
 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said in its Economic Outlook: India’s economic
growth will regain strength and approach 7.5% by 2020
Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in India is projected to strengthen to close to 7.25% in FY19 and close to
7.5% in FY20.

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 UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects report: India’s growth rate for the current fiscal year to be 7%. And
7.1% in the fiscal year 2020.
World growth of 2.7% this year and 2.9% in 2020.
 The country’s economic growth in the fourth quarter ended March 2019 is expected to moderate to 6.1-5.9 per
cent, which could pull down growth rate for the entire fiscal 2018-19 to below 7 per cent, according to a report by
SBI.
 India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) said that it expects India’s GDP growth rate during 2018-19 to be 6.9 per cent
as against the advance estimate of 7 per cent.
 In 2018, MICE tourism in India was pegged at Rs 25,000 crore with 8 per cent growth year-on-year, said the report
titled ‘India Inbound Tourism: Unlocking the Opportunity’: FICCI-Yes Bank report
 Food inflation in the country is likely to go up to 2 per cent in the financial year 2019-20 from the 0.7 per cent
estimated for FY19. The low food prices have been one of the prime factors which has aided the RBI to be more
accommodatory in its rate setting recently.
 Bank credit grew by 13.2% in financial year 2018-19 as compared to 10.3% in the previous financial year, mainly
aided by loans to services and retail sector. Deposit growth also gained momentum, growing by 10% as compared
to 6.7% a year ago.
 India’s exports in April 2019 grew 1.34 per cent to 44.06 billion US dollars while imports jumped 4.53 per cent to
52.83 billion US dollars in the year-on period.
 Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation for April 2019 eased to 3.07%, from 3.62% in April 2018.
 The Indian economy will grow at 7 per cent range in the current fiscal powered by the effects of the strong
structural reforms such as bankruptcy laws, Goods and Services Tax (GST), crackdown on shell companies and the
fiscal prudence undertaken in the last five years, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) Krishnamurthy V. Subramanian said
recently.
 Bad loan recoveries in the last fiscal effected through the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) route was at Rs
70,000 crore, posting a recovery rate of 43 per cent, and was twice the Rs 35,500 crore recovered through previous
resolution mechanisms like the Debt Recovery Tribunal and Lok Adalat, as per a report by ratings firm Crisil.
 Goods and Services Tax (GST) collection scales record high of Rs 1.13 lakh crore in April, highest ever collection
since GST implementation.
 In a first in recent history of tax filings, income tax e-filings in FY 2019 have dropped by more than 6.6 lakh, a trend
that analysts said was surprising as tax base was expected to increase post demonetisation.
 The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) announced a Rs 700-crore venture capital fund
for equity investments in agriculture and rural-focused startups. NABARD has been contributing to other funds till
now and this is the first time that the rural development bank has launched a fund of its own.
 Total sanctions under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) loan scheme for micro industries are likely to
cross Rs 3 lakh crore in the current fiscal.
Government data for the scheme for the last fiscal, till March 22, 2019, put the figure of Mudra sanctions at Rs 2.82
lakh crore to 541.27 lakh borrowers.
 As per the data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the economic growth rate for the financial year
2018-19 stood at a five-year low of 6.8 per cent.
 As per the data released by Controller General of Accounts (CGA), India met its fiscal deficit target for 2018-19,
which came in at 3.39 per cent of GDP, slightly lower than 3.4 per cent estimated in the revised estimates of the
Budget, on the back of an increase in non-tax revenue and lower expenditure.

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

 NASA spacecraft to hit an asteroid in 2022.
 Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Director K Sivan inaugurated the Young Scientist Programme (YUVIKA).
The programme is aimed at imparting basic knowledge of science and space technology to school-going students
from different states and Union Territories (UT) of the country in order to arouse their interest in space related
activities.
The participants will be attending a residential training programme at 4 ISRO centres – Vikram Sarabhai Space
Centre (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram; U R Rao Satellite Centre (URSC), Bengaluru; Space Applications Centre (SAC),
Ahmedabad, and North Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC), Shillong.
 India successfully placed into orbit a radar imaging earth observation satellite RISAT-2B in a text book style. PSLV-
C46 has successfully injected RISAT-2B in precise orbit.
According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India’s new earth observation satellite up in the sky will
send good clarity images which will be used for agriculture, forestry and disaster management support.
This was the 72nd launch vehicle mission from the Sriharikota Range.
 NASA unveiled the calendar for the “Artemis” programme that will return astronauts to the Moon for the first time
in half a century, including eight scheduled launches and a mini-station in lunar orbit by 2024. Artemis : The original
lunar missions were named for Apollo – Artemis was his twin sister in Greek mythology, and the goddess of
hunting, wilderness, and the Moon.
Defence News
 Indo-French joint naval exercise, Varuna 19 was conducted in two phases. 1st phase ‘ Varuna 19.1’ - Goa coast
from 1 to 10 May 2019. 2nd phase ‘ Varuna 19.2’ - May end in Djibouti.
 8th Indo-Myanmar Coordinated Patrol (IMCOR) held in Port Blair.
 Completing its journey of 36 years, INS Ranjit, a Rajput class destroyer was decommissioned at Naval Dockyard,
Visakhapatnam recently. Commissioned on 15 September 1983 by Captain Vishnu Bhagwat in erstwhile Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), the ship was used for yeoman service.
 Scorpene class submarine Vela, equipped with modern machinery and technology to guard the seas, was launched
in Mumbai.
INS Vela was first commissioned on August 31, 1973 in the Indian Naval service and continued to serve for 37 years.
It was the oldest submarine of the country when it was decommissioned.
 Defence ministry has approved the procurement of 10 Kamov Ka-31 Airborne Early Warning and Control
helicopters for the Indian Navy. The cost of the deal would be around Rs 3,600 crore and the 10 helicopters would
be deployed on the aircraft carriers and warships of the Navy including the INS Vikrant and Grigorovich-class
frigates.
 Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted a successful flight test of ABHYAS high-speed
expendable aerial target (HEAT) from Interim Test Range, Chandipur in Odisha.
 INS Kolkata and INS Shakti of the Indian Navy participated in a 3-day Asia Pacific naval and maritime event titled the
International Maritime Defence Exhibition Asia (IMDEX Asia-2019) held in Changi Exhibition Centre, Singapore.

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 Indian Coast Guard Ship Vigraha Decommissioned.

After 29 glorious years of service from 1990 to 2019, the ship was decommissioned at the coast guard jetty in
Visakhapatnam.
Sports News
Tournament Winner Runner Up
Indian Women’s League trophy Sethu FC Manipur Police
4th IPL title Mumbai Indians Defeat Chennai Super Kings
India Open International Boxing Tournament Mary Kom (51 kg)
India Open International Boxing Tournament Amit Panghal (52 kg)
India Open International Boxing Tournament Shiva Thapa (60 kg)
Sekisui Open title Mahesh Mangaonkar
2019 Sudirman Cup China Beat Japan
Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup Japan’s Yosuke Asaji
Premier League title 2019 Manchester City
Italian Open 2019 men’s title Karolina Pliskova (Czech) Johanna Konta
Italian Open 2019 women’s title Rafael Nadal (Spain) Novak Djokovic
Madrid Open 2019 Novak Djokovic
Barcelona Open 2019 Dominic Thiem
Monaco Grand Prix 2019 Lewis Hamilton
Geneva Open Germany’s Alexander Zverev
Sports
 India have retained their top position in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test team rankings in the annual
update.
 India dropped 3 places to be the fifth-ranked team in T20Is.
 The inaugural issue of world’s first exclusive women’s cricket magazine ‘Criczone‘ was released in Jaipur with Indian
team vice-captain Smriti Mandhana featuring as the cover story.
 The International Cricket Council (ICC) released its official song ‘Stand By’ for the forthcoming Men’s Cricket World
Cup 2019, that begins on May 30 in England and Wales.
 The world body governing Badminton, BFA, has launched two new formats of the game —AirBadminton and Triples
with new dimensions of the court and an innovative shuttlecock called Airshuttle. Traditional competitive
badminton has been an indoor game.
 Top seeds Anirudh Chandrasekar and Niki Poonacha won the 2019 International Tennis Federation (ITF) men’s
Futures tennis tournament title in Kampala, Uganda.
 Archery Association of India named its senior vice president Sunil Sharma as its acting president to start the ball
rolling for its polls after the Supreme Court’s order to set aside the national body’s election last year and
subsequent resignation of its president.
 The Volleyball Federation of India appointed Serbian Dragan Mihailovic as head coach of the men’s national team in
a move linked to the long term goal of Olympic Games qualification.
 The technical committee of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) picked up Igor Stimac as India’s new national
team manager.

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 Croatian World Cupper Igor Stimac was appointed head coach of the Indian football team for a two-year term.
 India skipper Virat Kohli has bagged the International Cricketer of the year award while
Smriti Mandhana was honoured with the International women cricketer of the year award during the CEAT
International Cricket Awards 2019.
 Former India women cricketer GS Lakshmi became the first female to be appointed to the ICC International Panel of
Match Referees.
 World number one Bajrang Punia has become the first Indian to win gold at the Ali Aliev wrestling tournament after
defeating Viktor Rassadin of Russia in the 65 kg freestyle in Kapiisk, Russia.
 Shooter Apurvi Chandela became the world number one in women’s 10m Air Rifle category with 1,926 rankings
points, according to the latest rankings released by International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) recently.
 Apurvi Chandela won the gold in women’s 10m air rifle at the ISSF World Cup
 Rahi Sarnobat clinched gold in the women’s 25m pistol at the season’s third International Shooting Sport
Federation World Cup in Munich, Germany.
 India’s 17-year-old shooter Saurabh Chaudhary broke his own junior and senior world record to win his second gold
medal in 10m Air Pistol event in ISSF Gold Cup 2019.
 Gaurav Solanki and Manish Kaushik won a gold medal each in the XXXVI Feliks Stamm International Boxing
Tournament in Warsaw, Poland
 Ace Indian squash players Saurav Ghoshal and Joshna Chinappa won their respective Asian Individual Squash
Championship titles in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
 Chennai Super Kings (CSK) off-spinner Harbhajan Singh became the third Indian to claim 150 wickets in the Indian
Premier League (IPL).’
Delhi’s Amit Mishra and Kolkata Knight Riders’ Piyush Chawla are the other two Indians who have taken 150
wickets in the IPL.
 India’s racing sensation Jehan Daruvala created history during the Spanish F1 Grand Prix, scoring a dramatic victory
in the inaugural round of the all-new FIA Formula 3 Championship in Barcelona.
 Juventus star striker Cristiano Ronaldo was awarded the ‘Serie A Player of the Year’ award. This is a remarkable feat
for the Portuguese international as he has won the award in his very first season in Italy.
 Former South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis has been honoured with the Order of Ikhamanga in the Silver
Division. The national honour is bestowed by the President of South Africa on citizens who have made significant
 Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has been appointed as the first non-British president of the
Marylebone Cricket Club. Sangakkara will be the first overseas MCC president in the organization’s 233-year
history.
 Pakistan off-spinner Sana Mir has become the most successful women’s ODI spinner in history after she took her
147th wicket, highest ever by any spinner in One-day International (ODI) cricket.
 Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk has been named Premier League Player of the Season. By doing so, he became
the first defender to win the Player of the Season award in seven seasons, after Manchester City’s Vincent
Kompany in 2011-12.
 Amul has been announced as the principal sponsor of the Afghanistan cricket team for the upcoming World Cup,
slated to be held in England and Wales from May 30.
 The 23rd edition of the Asian Athletics Championship concluded in Doha, Qatar.
Tejinder Pal Singh Toor won Gold in Men’s shot put event, Gomathi Marimuthu won Gold in Women’s 800m event
and PU Chitra won Gold in Women’s 1500m race event.

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 ISSF World Cup held in Beijing, China

For India, while Anjum Moudgil and young Divyansh Singh Panwar started the medal hunt with a gold in the 10m
Air Rifle Mixed Team competition, the teenaged pair of Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary backed them up with
another yellow metal in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Pistol event.
 Jaipur will host the 8th Asian Youth Women Handball Championship.
 China has become the sole contender to host Asian Cup Football tournament in 2023 after South Korea has
announced to withdraw its bid to host the game.
 Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez has announced that the 2018/19 season will be his final one as a professional
footballer.
 Former Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure has announced his retirement from football.
 Germany‘s double Olympic biathlon champion Laura Dahlmeier announced her retirement at the age of just 25
after struggling with health issues.
 Helo, India’s social media platform, has announced its partnership with the Indian Wheelchair Cricket Association
as the team sponsor for Team India during the Asia Cup 2019, which is scheduled from May 15 in Nepal.
Committee
Head of Committee Purpose
M K Sharma The Central Works Public Department (CPWD) has constituted an expert committee to
formulate a design policy for building construction and infrastructure development.
T. N. Manoharan, Chairman The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) constituted a task force on development of secondary
of Canara Bank market for corporate loans.
Harsh Vardhan RBI announced the setting-up of a committee to work for the development of housing
finance securitisation market in the country
Rankings
Index India’s Rank Other Information
IMD World Competitiveness 43 1st - Singapore
Rankings
Kids Right Index 117 1st - Iceland
 India 4th Biggest Military Spender in 2018: SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) Report. India’s
military spending went up by 3.1 per cent to $66.5 billion. 1st – USA.
Rankings (Persons,Cities,Organisations and Others)

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the second most-followed politician in the world with a social media
audience of 110,912,648 million on platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, a study by online
visibility management and content marketing SaaS platform SEMrush said recently.
The most-followed politician globally was former US President Barack Obama, who has 182,710,777 followers on
his Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts.

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 Rajiv Gandhi International Airport has been declared as the eighth best airport in the world. In the 2019 annual
rating report by AirHelp, an organization that specializes in air traveller rights, Doha’s Hamad International Airport,
Tokyo Haneda International Airport, and Athens International Airport have retained their top three positions in the
list.
 Reliance Industries has toppled state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to become the country’s biggest company
by revenue. The Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate, in the 2018-19 fiscal year that ended March 31, reported a
turnover of Rs 6.23 lakh crore.
 Huawei Technologies Co. overtook Apple Inc. to claim the No. 2 spot in smartphones in the first quarter, moving a
step closer to its avowed ambition of displacing Samsung at the top of the market.
 The Netherlands has emerged as the 3rd largest Foreign Direct investor in India for the years 2017-2018 with
investments valued at US$ 2.67 billion across variety of sectors such as services, trading, automobile industry,
fermentation industries, chemicals and water management.
 Mumbai topped the 15-city list of the most vulnerable cities to cyberattacks in 2019, followed by Delhi, Bengaluru
and Kolkata, Quick Heal Security Labs revealed. The ‘Annual Threat Report 2019’ put Maharashtra, Delhi and West
Bengal as the top three states at most risk.
Loans from Banks

 Asian Development Bank (ADB) has signed an agreement to provide long-term financing of $750 million equivalent
in Indian rupees — the largest single non-sovereign loan ever committed by ADB — to the Indian Railway Finance
Corporation (IRFC), to fund the Railways track electrification project.
 Asian Development Bank (ADB) has given in-principle nod for financing 4 metro rail projects and a Rs 30,000 crore
rapid rail corridor between Delhi and Meerut as part of its effort to improve urban transport system in India.
Books
Book Author Other Info
Game Changer Former Pakistan skipper Shahid In it, he has lashed out explosively
Afridi’s autobiography at India’s former southpaw and
winner of two World titles Gautam
Gambhir, taking their decade-old
on-and-off-field spat to another
level.
Darkness to light Former American basketball player,
Lamar Odom
Coming Round the Mountain Ruskin Bond

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

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best known for directing “Boyz N the

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

Theme 2019: "Sustainable Pension for all: The
1 May International Labour Day
Role of Social Partners"
2 May World Tuna Day
2 May 2019 (1st
World Password Day
Thursday of May)
Theme 2019: "Media for Democracy:
3 May World Press Freedom Day Journalism and Elections in Times of
Disinformation"
Theme 2019: "Midwives: Defenders of
5 May International Midwives’ Day
Women’s Rights"
United Nations Global Road Safety

6 May - 12 May Theme 2019: "Leadership for road safety"
Week
7 May 2019
World Asthma Day Theme 2019: "STOP for Asthma"
(1st Tuesday of May)
7 May World Athletics Day
8 May World Red Cross Day Theme 2019: "#Love"

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Theme 2019: "Universal access to quality

8 May International Thalassaemia Day thalassaemia healthcare services: Building
bridges with and for patients."
11 May National Technology Day
11 May 2019 (2nd

Theme 2019: "Protect Birds: Be the Solution to
Saturday of May and World Migratory Bird Day
Plastic Pollution!"
October)
11 May 2019
(2nd Saturday of World Fair Trade Day Live Fair, One Product at a Time
May)
Theme 2019: "Nurses – A Voice to Lead –
12 May International Nurses Day
Health for All"
12 May 2019
International Mothers’ Day
(2nd Sunday of May)
Theme 2019: "Families and Climate Action:
15 May International Day of Families
Focus on SDG13"
16 May National Dengue Day
16 May International Light Day
17 May World Hypertension Day Theme 2019: "Know Your Numbers"
World Telecommunication and Theme 2019: "Bridging the standardization
17 May
Information Society Day gap"
International Day Against

17 May Homophobia, Transphobia and Theme 2019: "Justice and Protection for All"
Biphobia
Theme 2019: "Museums as Cultural Hubs: The
18 May International Museum Day
Future of Tradition"
18 May World AIDS Vaccine Day
Theme 2019: "The International System of
20 May World Metrology Day
Units – Fundamentally better"
20 May World Bee Day
21 May Anti-Terrorism Day
World Day for Cultural Diversity for
21 May
Dialogue and Development
International Day for Biological Theme 2019: "Our Biodiversity, Our Food, Our
22 May
diversity Health"
23 May World Turtle Day

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25 May International Missing Children's Day

25 May World Thyroid Day
International Day of Action for
28 May
Women’s Health
International Day of United Nations Theme 2019: "Protecting Civilians, Protecting
29 May
Peacekeepers Peace"
Theme 2019: "Early Diagnosis and Treatment
29 May World Digestive Health Day
of GI Cancer"
31 May World No-Tobacco Day Theme 2019: "Tobacco and Lung Health"

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QUIZ ZONE:
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 Reasoning
 English
 Computer
 Weekly CA Quiz
 Daily Current Affairs Quiz
 Static GK
 Banking Awareness
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A2Z Current Affairs PDF

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Appointments and Resignations

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Awards and Recognitions

Desert Storm 2019 TVS Racing Held in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

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Conference and Summits

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Finance and Banking News

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Science & Technology

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 Indian Coast Guard Ship Vigraha Decommissioned.

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 ISSF World Cup held in Beijing, China

Rankings (Persons,Cities,Organisations and Others)

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Loans from Banks

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best known for directing “Boyz N the

Date Day Other Info

United Nations Global Road Safety

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Theme 2019: "Universal access to quality

11 May National Technology Day

11 May 2019 (2nd

International Day Against

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25 May International Missing Children's Day

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VISIT www.aspirantszone.com for New Pattern Questions in each section.

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