Professional Documents
Culture Documents
GA May 2016
GA May 2016
i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the country's first solar powered e-boats at the Assi
Ghat in the river Ganga, Varanasi.
ii. The initiative is aimed at reducing pollution and keeping the Ganga river clean.
iii. With the help of this e-boats, the boatmen will be able to save rs. 500 a day without spending on
diesel.
i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) at Ballia,
Uttar Pradesh. It will benefit the poor, especially the women.
ii. The scheme aims to provide cooking gas connections to five crore below-poverty-line beneficiaries
over the next three years.
iii. PM Ujjwala Yojana will provide 5 crore LPG connections to BPL Families and the Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved 8000 crore rupees for the next 3 years starting from
financial year 2016-17.
i. Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has launched a special drive 'One Employee-One
EPF' to encourage EPF members to consolidate their multiple accounts.
ii. The drive has been launched by Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya in New Delhi.
iii. The initiative of launching the Mission consolidation One Member One EPF Account is a step
towards encouraging EPF members to access enhanced IT enabled services through Universal Account
Number that are linked with Aadhaar.
4. Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam & Odia now classical languages of India
i. All four Southern languages - Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Odia are now the classical
languages of India.
ii. Earlier, Sanskrit alone had this status. Demands have come to grant the classical status to Marathi
as well.
iii. Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma gave this information in the Lok Sabha. He elaborated that any
language to have a classical status must have high antiquity going back to 1500 to 2000 years. Ancient
texts and literature are also considered a valuable heritage. The literary traditions must be original
and not borrowed from another speech community, he added.
5. India and New Zealand sign agreement for direct Air Service
i. India and New Zealand has signed a bilateral air services agreement that would facilitate the
operation of direct flights between two countries.
ii. The deal was signed in the presence of the President Pranab Mukherjee, who was on a three-day
state visit to New Zealand and the New Zealand Prime Minister John Key.
iii. Now as per the agreement, New Zealand airlines can operate flights to seven select Indian cities
while Indian airlines can fly to any point in New Zealand along with intermediate points in Australia,
Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong.
i. National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has entered into collaboration with
German government for a special programme on 'Soil Protection and Rehabilitation for Food Security'.
ii. The programme is part of the German government's recently introduced special initiative 'One
World, No Hunger' initiative.
iii. India is the only country in Asia chosen for this initiative. As part of the collaboration, NABARD is
anchoring two major programmes soil conservation and rehabilitation of degraded land programme
in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. It is also conducting innovation of watershed development and
climate change adaptation programmes in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra, Gujarat and
Rajasthan.
i. Paytm, India's largest mobile payments has partnered with the Wipro ltd, a IT services major, to
implement technology infrastructure for its upcoming Payment bank business.
ii. As per this deal, Wipro will provide the core banking solution like the anti-money laundering
solution and regulatory reporting solution for Paytm.
iii. This deal can into existent as Paytm is expected to roll out the payments bank later this year.
i. Airtel, the enterprise arm of Bharti Airtel and networking player GBI has announced the partnership
to increase its direct reach in West Asian countries.
ii. Till now, the Airtel Business only offers enterprise services to its clients in the Middle East.
iii. But after this partnership, the company can extend its network and further enhance the benefits
for their customers and partners.
i. IT services company Wipro has inaugurated Saudi Arabia's first all women business and technology
park (WBP) at the Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University in Riyadh.
ii. The WBP is a joint venture between Wipro and the university, with oil firm Saudi Aramco acting as
the strategic adviser.
iii. The initiative is expected to create nearly 21,000 jobs by 2025.
i. Anil Ambani-led Reliance Defence has received 15 new industrial licences to manufacture a range of
defence equipment.
ii. The total number of licences is the highest held by a private firm in India.
ii. Reliance Defence had last week collaborated with three Ukrainian firms including two state-owned
firms for their range of military equipment.
i. The Jammu and Kashmir government has signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)
Delhi for setting up an IIT in Jammu.
ii. About 625 acres of land has been approved at Jagti in Nagrota for the IIT, while regular classes will
commence from the current session at a temporary campus.
i. Australian entrepreneur Craig Wright has reportedly confirmed that he created digital payment
system bitcoins and provided technical proof for his claims.
ii. The creator of bitcoin had earlier developed it under the pseudonym 'Satoshi Nakamoto'.
iii. Bitcoins is a virtual currency system in which users exchange bitcoins for transactions and 'mine'
bitcoins by sharing their computing power.
i. 1982 batch IAS officer of Himachal Pradesh Cadre Ajay Mittal took charge as the Information and
Broadcasting Secretary.
ii. Mr Mittal succeeded Sunil Arora who retired on Saturday.
iii. Prior to his appointment, Mr Mittal was serving as Additional Chief Secretary for Transport, Social
Justice and Empowerment Department in Himachal Pradesh.
i. The Formula One championship leader Nico Rosberg has won the Russian Grand Prix in Sochi.
ii. It's his fourth-straight win of this season.
iii. His Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen has finished at 2nd and 3rd
respectively in the race.
15. Vijender Singh records 5th consecutive victory in Professional Boxing
i. Star Indian pugilist Vijender Singh recorded his 5th consecutive victory in Professional Boxing.
ii. He defeated Frenchman Matiouze Royer at London's Copper Box Arena via knock-out.
iii. Royer was Vijender's most experienced rival till date, with 44 bouts, including 14 wins, under his
belt before the match. Vijender, whose last four wins were all knock-outs or technical knock-outs,
was declared the winner in the fifth round of the six-round super middleweight contest.
i. The World Press Freedom Day (3rd May) was observed across the world with the theme Access to
Information and Fundamental Freedoms - This Is Your Right!
ii. The day proclaimed by the United Nations in 1993, is celebrated on May 3 every year.
iii. The main aim of day is to draw focus on the freedom of information, protecting journalism from
censorship, and ensuring safety for journalists.
i. Parliament has passed Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2016.
ii. The bill will allow transfer of captive mines from one allotted to another without auction.
iii. The Bill also allow for merger and acquisition of companies with captive mining leases.
i. Union government has launched an initiative named MICE which is based on meetings, incentives,
conferences and exhibitions for the up gradation of tourism sector in India.
ii. As per this initiative, Tourism Ministry allocated funds to the States and Union Territories
administrations to develop tourism-related infrastructure.
iii. Earlier Tourism Ministry has launched 'Swadesh Darshan' scheme to develop time-bound tourist
circuits in the country.
4. Indian Railways sign MoU with Haryana and Punjab to plant trees alongside railway track
i. The Union Ministry of Railways and Forest Department of Haryana & Punjab have inked
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for plantation of trees alongside Railway Track on Railway Land
Boundary.
ii. The MoU paves way for planting around 5 lakh trees alongside Railway Track on Railway Land
Boundary prior to Monsoon Season.
iii. With this Indian Railways can contribute substantially towards the Green India Mission.
i. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has inaugurated an insurance scheme
'Chandranna Bima Yojana' for the working class people.
ii. The total investment is around rs. 132 Crore for the implementation of this scheme.
iii. Under the scheme, 5 Crore workers would be covered under the scheme, 5 Lakh would be paid if
the Insurer worker met with an accidental fatal and 5 Lakh for Permanent disability and Rs. 3 Lakh for
Partial disability.
6. ADMM Plus Exercise on Maritime Security and Counter Terrorism begins in Brunei
i. The ADMM-Plus (ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting Plus) Exercise on Maritime Security and Counter
Terrorism (Ex MS & CT) has started in Brunei.
ii. The nine day exercise seeks to strengthen the strong bilateral ties and extensive maritime
interactions between India and ASEAN countries.
iii. ADMM Plus Ex MS & CT is a multinational naval exercise conducted under the aegis of ADMM Plus
consortium. It aims at enhancing mutual understanding with respect to maritime security issues and
streamlining drills on counter-terrorism operations at sea.
i. State-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has announced the commissioning of a 600 MW coal-
based thermal power plant in Madhya Pradesh.
ii. The unit has been commissioned at the 1x600 MW Jhabua Thermal Power Project (TPP) located in
Seoni district in Madhya Pradesh.
iii. The project has been developed by Jhabua Power Ltd (JPL), a subsidiary of Avantha Power &
Infrastructure Ltd (APIL). This is the second project of APIL commissioned by BHEL after the 1x600
MW Avantha Bhandar TPP at Raigarh in Chhattisgarh.
i. An Indian American Sikh woman from California, Harmeet Kaur Dhillon has been elected to an
important position in the Republican party at the US national level.
ii. She was born in Chandigarh, India but raised in rural North Carolina after her Sikh parents moved
to the US.
iii. She was elected as the newest national committee woman of the Republican National Committee.
She was the first woman elected to this position of vice chair of the California Republican Party.
i. Three eminent Indian Born scientists listed in the fifty scientists elected as Fellows of the Royal
Society, a premier scientific academy of the U.K and the Commonwealth.
ii. Their names had appeared on the list of 50 new fellows and 10 new Foreign Members announced by
the Royal Society.
iii. They are- Physicist Sriram Ramaswamy, Director of TIFR Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences,
Hyderabad, 2nd - Biochemist Ramanujan Hegde, MRC Laboratory of Microbiology, U.K. and 3rd -
Applied mathematician Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan, Harvard University.
i. Future Groups Chief Executive Kishore Biyani has been appointed managing director of Bharti
Retail as part of the reconstitution of the board following their merger pact announced last year.
ii. Rakesh Biyani, who is also a director at Future Group, has also been appointed as Joint Managing
Director of Bharti Retail, which will be later renamed as Future Retail Ltd and listed on stock
exchanges.
i. Rohit Sharma became the Brand Ambassador of world famous Swiss luxury watch maker Hublot. The
Mumbai batsman is the second cricketer who have been assigned for the role.
ii. Earlier renowned cricketer after former Australian captain Michael Clarke have been associated
with the brand.
iii. The Swiss Watch company observed a lot of common between the Brand and Rohit Sharma as he
combines traditional batting technique with entertainment.
i. Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar has agreed to become India's Olympic goodwill ambassador,
alongwith actor Salman Khan and Shooter Abhinav Bindra.
ii. AR Rahman was also approached by Indian Olympic Association to become goodwill ambassadors of
Indian contingent for 2016 Rio Olympics.
iii. This comes after superstar Salman Khan's appointment as goodwill ambassador created furore,
with top athletes like Milkha Singh and Yogeshwar Dutt criticizing the move.
14. Virat Kohli nominated for Khel Ratna and Ajinkya Rahane for Arjuna Award
i. BCCI has nominated Indian Test captain Virat Kohli for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna
Award and his teammate Ajinkya Rahane for Arjuna Award. These nominations by BCCI have come
after a gap of four years.
ii. Other sports bodies and associations are also in the process of sending their nominations. Sports
persons nominated for the Khel Ratna Award so far are Incheon Asian Games gold medallist shooter
Jitu Rai, squash star Dipika Pallikal, athlete Tintu Luka and ace golfer Anirban Lahiri. For Arjuna
Awards, Athletes Lalita Babar and OP Jaisha, shooters PN Prakash and Apurvi Chandela, and
archer Laxmirani Majhi have been nominated.
iii. The Khel Ratna award carries a cash prize of Rs 7.5 lakh along with a citation while the Arjuna
Award will carries a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh and a citation.
15. Leicester City's Jamie Vardy named FWA Footballer of the Year 2016
i. Leicester City striker forward Jamie Vardy was named 2015-16 Footballer of the Year by the
Football Writers Association (FWA).
ii. He will be honoured with the prestigious FWA accolade, which has been running since 1948, at a
gala dinner in London on 12 May 2016.
iii. With this he joined the likes of Bobby Moore, George Best, Eric Cantona, Thierry Henry and
Cristiano Ronaldo among its past winners. Vardy, who topped the vote among FWA members, scored
22 goals in 34 Premier League appearances this season.
i. The Lok Sabha passed the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Bill, 2015 for the
establishment of funds under the public accounts of Centre and each State towards
compensatory afforestation.
ii. It also provides for additional afforestation and penal compensatory afforestation to
regulate collected funds. The bill seeks to establish the National Compensatory
Afforestation Fund under the Public Account of India and a State Compensatory
Afforestation Fund under the Public Account of each state.
iii. The payments into the funds include compensatory afforestation, net present value of
forest (NPV), and any project specific payments.
2. Financial inequality highest in India, China: IMF
i. According to IMF, Financial inequality is highest in India and China among Asia Pacific
countries despite the two being among the fastest growing economies.
ii. China and India have grown rapidly and reduced poverty sharply, however, this
impressive economic performance has been accompanied by increasing levels of inequality.
iii. On India, the report said inter provincial inequality is lower in India than in China, and
rising inequality in India has been found to be primarily an urban phenomenon. The two
countries have introduced a number of policies to tackle the rising inequality.
i. The 63rd National Film Awards ceremony was held in New Delhi. During the ceremony,
the Directorate of Film Festivals of India presents its annual National Film Awards to
honour the best films of 2015 in the Indian cinema. The awards were announced on 28
March 2016.
ii. Actors Amitabh Bachchan and Kangana Ranaut received National Awards for their roles in
'Piku' and 'Tanu Weds Manu Returns' respectively at the 63rd National Film Awards
ceremony.
iii. Meanwhile, veteran actor Manoj Kumar was conferred with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award
at the ceremony. The awards were presented to the actors by President Pranab Mukherjee.
i. Coal and Power Minister Piyush Goyal has introduce a new portal for Contract Labour
Payment Management System.
ii. According to officials, the portal provides access to all contract workers, through a
Workers Identification Number (WIN), to view their personal details and payment status.
Contract workers can also register their grievance through this portal.
iii. The Web portal is created for monitoring compliance of labour payment and other
benefits to contract workers under the Contract Labour (Regulation & Abolition) Act, 1970.
It is an integrated framework for all subsidiaries of CIL. The Central Mine Planning
and Development Institute (CMPDI), the consultancy arm of CIL, will maintain the portal.
i. To mark the 155th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, India will organize a
cultural festival in Egypt next week. It will build the connections between the people of the
two countries who share strong cultural bonds.
ii. The festival will be host from 8 May to 12th May by the Embassy of India in Cairo and
Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture.
iii. The Indian embassy has held several programmes on Tagore as part of a build up to the
festival, which will be organised in cooperation with Egyptian Ministry of Culture, Supreme
Council of Culture, Cairo Opera House, National Library and Museum of Modern
Art.
i. The world's smallest engine has been created at Cambridge University by UK based
researchers. The engine is fueled by lasers and gold and a few billionths of a metre in size,
which uses lights to power the engine.
ii. The engine will help to develop nano-machines that can navigate in water, sense the
environment around them or even enter living cells to fight disease.
iii. The engine is powered by laser light and named the ANT ( actuating nano-transducer ).
The microscopic ANT engine, which cannot be seen by the human eye, is believed to be up
to a hundred times more powerful than any other engine known to man if you take its
force to weight ratio into account.
i. NSE, the national stock exchange is all set to launch a new trade receivable and credit
exchange platform for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
ii. This new exchange will help MSMEs to file their bill against large companies, which can
be accepted electronically and auctioned so that these small enterprises are paid
immediately.
iii. The new exchange platform will be a joint venture of NSE and Small Industries
Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and could be the first specialized exchange for micro
SMEs. The platform would be known as 'Trades Exchange' as it' will be based on the
Trade Receivables Discounting System (TReDS). The new platform will be operational by
the end of this year.
i. JSW Energy Ltd, led by Mr. Sajjan Jindal has agreed to buy a 1,000 MW power plant of
Jindal Steel and Power Ltds (JSPL), which is located in Chhattisgarh.
ii. The total value of the deal is rs. 6,500 crore. After the acquisition, JSW Energy will have
a total power generation capacity of 5,531 megawatts.
iii. The transaction is scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2018. JSW Energy is a part of
JSW Group. Presently, Jindal Steel's net debt at the end of 2015 stood at rs.46,000 crore,
seven times its current market valuation.
i. Uber, the online cab service provider has announced its global partnership with the third
party payment platform, Alipay.
ii. With the help of this partnership, Uber will be able to provide its service in more than
400 cities globally.
iii. Alipays collaboration with Uber reflects a step forward of Ant Financials global
strategy and it also extends to the Alipays strategic global partners like Paytm in India. As
currently, Uber riders in India can avail the facility through Paytm platform. Its aims to
bring better experiences for its users globally.
i. Italian sports car manufacturer Ferrari has appointed its Chairman Sergio Marchionne as
the new CEO with "immediate effect".
ii. Marchionne replaced 69-year-old Amedeo Felisa, who retired from his post when the
carmaker's board of directors met to discuss the first-quarter results.
i. Sameer Chadha was on 3 May 2016 appointed as the partner and Chief Executive Officer
(CEO) of KPMG's offshore arm in India.
ii. Chadha joined KPMG Global Services (KGS) from Barclays Shared Services, where he was
the Chief Executive Officer.
iii. Chadha has 25 years of experience with leading organisations across the financial
services and consumer goods sectors. KPMG India Pvt Ltd offers financial advisory services,
business advisory services, tax and regulatory services and risk advisory services.
i. Nihal Bitla, who was suffering from the rare genetic condition progeria, died in a hospital
in Telangana at the age of 15 years.
ii. The disease aged him eight times faster than normal children thus shortening his life
span.
iii. Nihal was the face of the Progeria Research Foundations campaign, which was working
to detect undiagnosed children living in India.