1. Sanjay Mitra Appointed as Next Defence Secretary
The GOI has named Road Transport and Highways Secretary Sanjay Mitra as its new Defence secretary in a top-level bureaucratic reshuffle. Mitra will take over as the secretary after the present incumbent, G Mohan Kumar, completes his tenure on May 24, an order issued by the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) said. The Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC) decided Mitra would till then function as an Officer on Special Duty in the Defence Ministry.
2. Justice Mudgal elected as Chairman of FIFA Governance Committee
Justice (Retd.) Mukul Mudgal has been elected as head of FIFA’s governance committee at the world football governing body’s 67th Congress in Bahrain’s capital city of Manama.
Justice Mudgal’s name was proposed by the FIFA Council yesterday for the vacant position of the governance chief after Miguel Maduro was reportedly ‘fired’ for his role in blocking Russian World Cup official Vitaly Mutko from retaining his seat on ruling council.
3. Adiyogi bust declared world’s largest by Guinness Records
The 112-feet tall bust of ‘Adiyogi’ Lord Shiva at the Isha Yoga Foundation has been declared the world’s largest bust by the Guinness Book of World Records. The Guinness had announced this on its website. The bust at the Isha Yoga Foundation on the outskirts of Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu was unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 24 February.
4. Nagpur to become 1st Indian city to have electric cabs
Nagpur is set to become the country’s first city to get a fleet of electric cabs. The pilot project will see around 200 electric cabs in Nagpur and the local body will also provide charging stations across the city. The Centre currently runs the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles scheme and aims to go completely electric by 2030.
5. GOI launches Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine against Pneumonia
6. RBI asks banks to keep ATMs shut till software is updated
In order to avoid ‘WannaCry’ ransomware from spreading, RBI has asked banks to not operate ATMs till their software is updated. In this regard, RBI has asked banks to update specific Windows patches on ATMs urgently. The advice comes as over 60% of ATMs in India run on an outdated version of Windows and hence, are vulnerable to the attack.
7. India and UK signs MoU to increase efficiency of urban transport system
India & UK have agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on bilateral cooperation in urban transport policy planning, technology transfer and institutional organization of transport.
Under the proposed MOU, the Transport For London (TFL) will share with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways its expertise on the mobility and efficiency of transport system and methodologies to facilitate the planning and delivery of mobility solutions including ticketing , passenger information, major project financing, infrastructure maintenance strategies and behavioural change and public transport promotion.
8. Edouard Philippe named new French Prime Minister
French President Emmanuel Macron has appointed Edouard Philippe, a relatively unknown 46-year-old lawmaker, as prime minister. Philippe is the mayor of the Normandy port of Le Havre, a trained lawyer and an author of political thrillers. He’s also a member of the mainstream-right Republicans party that was badly battered by Macron’s victory in the presidential campaign.
It is the first time in modern French political history that a president has appointed a prime minister from outside his camp without being forced to by a defeat in parliamentary elections.
9. Emmanuel Macron inaugurated as youngest French President
Emmanuel Macron was inaugurated as France’s new president at the Elysee palace in Paris, and immediately launched into his mission to shake up French politics, world economics and the European Union. The 39-year-old Macron is the youngest president in the country’s history and the 8th president of France’s Fifth Republic, which was created in 1958.
Macron takes charge of a nation that, when Britain leaves the European Union in 2019, will become the EU’s only member with nuclear weapons and a permanent seat on the U.N. Security Council.
10. May 15 – International Day of Families
The International Day of Families is observed on the 15th of May every year.This year’s observance focuses on the role of families and family-oriented policies in promoting education and overall well-being of their members. In particular, the Day is to raise awareness of the role of families in promoting early childhood education and lifelong learning opportunities for children and youth.
The Day highlights the importance of all caregivers in families, be it parents, grandparents or siblings and the importance of parental education for the welfare of children. It focuses on good practices for work-family balance to assist parents in their educational and caregiving roles. Good practices from the private sector in support of working parents, as well as youth and older persons in the workplace are also highlighted.
2017 Theme: “Families, education and well-being”
11. Lewis Hamilton Wins Spanish Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes stole a stunning victory in the Spanish Grand Prix from Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Race result
12. Nadal beats Thiem to win 5th Madrid Masters title
Rafael Nadal beat Dominic Thiem 7-6 (10-8) 6-4 to win his fifth Madrid Open title and move into the world’s top four. The Spaniard has now won three straight titles, after his Barcelona Open and Monte Carlo Masters victories, while his record on clay this year is 15-0.
Nadal, who beat defending champion Novak Djokovic in the semi-final, has now won his 30th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title, tying the all-time record with Serbia’s Djokovic.
13. Racer Arjun Maini first Indian to win a GP3 race
Indian driver, Arjun Maini is really making his presence felt in the global motorsport arena and has created history by becoming the first ever Indian to win a race in the GP3 Series. Driving for Jenzer Motorsports, the Bangalore boy secured a fantastic win in Race 2 of Round 1 at Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona. This is Arjun’s first victory in the GP3 Series, and also his first win in the past two years. The win definitely adds to a fantastic weekend, having joined Haas F1 Team as part of the driver development program.
14. Ramudri Rao wins gold at the World Para Athletics Grand Prix
Ramudri Someswara Rao has won a gold medal in men’s 200m T44 event at the 2017 World Para Athletics Grand Prix in China. Someswara Rao clocked 25.29 seconds in the finals, followed by Lal Vinay Kumar who clocked 26.15 seconds.
Someswara Rao had become the fastest Indian blade runner in the recently concluded 17th National Para Athletics Championship, held at Jaipur.
15. Mumbai Indians becomes first team to win 100 T20 matches
Two times IPL champions Mumbai Indians (MI) reached a new milestone as they became the first team in history to win 100 T20 matches. The Mumbai outfit defeated Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens by 9 runs in their final match of the league stage of IPL 2017.
Mumbai’s first big triumph came in 2011 when they won the Champions League T20. They won the coveted IPL trophy for the first time in 2013 under the leadership of Rohit Sharma and repeated the feat in 2015.
16. Former Puducherry CM Subrahmanyan Ramaswamy passes away
Former Puducherry Chief Minister S Ramaswamy died at his residence after a brief illness. He was 80 and is survived by wife and three sons.
Ramaswamy began his political career in DMK from student days. He was Home Minister in the DMK-CPI coalition ministry from 1969 to 1973. He shifted his allegiance to the AIADMK in 1973. He became Chief Minister in 1974 heading the AIADMK-CPI coalition ministry for a brief period. He was also the Chief Minister in the AIADMK government in 1977, which lasted in office for a little over one year.
