Latest Current Affairs – May 15 2018
1. Gujarat Governor given additional charge of Madhya Pradesh
Gujarat Governor Om Prakash Kohli was given the additional charge of Madhya Pradesh while the state’s Governor Anandiben Patel is on leave. Patel was appointed Madhya Pradesh Governor in January after she resigned as Gujarat’s Chief Minister in 2016 citing her 75-year age. She had replaced Kohli who had been handling the additional charge of Madhya Pradesh from August 2016.
2. Allahabad Bank CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian loses all powers
The Allahabad Bank board has stripped all functional responsibilities of the bank’s MD and CEO Usha Ananthasubramanian with immediate effect. This comes after the Finance Ministry asked Allahabad Bank board to divest Ananthasubramanian of all powers after she was charged by the CBI in the Nirav Modi case. Ananthasubramanian had headed PNB between August 2015 and May 2017.
3. Ex-BCCI Prez Manohar re-elected unopposed as ICC Chairman
Former BCCI President Shashank Manohar has been re-elected as the independent Chairman of International Cricket Council after he was the sole nominee put forward by the ICC Board. Manohar had become the first independent ICC Chairman in 2016. He had resigned from the post in March 2017 but deferred it days later on the request of the ICC Board.
4. PM Modi to visit Russia for informal summit with Putin
PM Narendra Modi will travel to Russia on May 21 for an informal summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the External Affairs Ministry announced. “The informal summit…is in keeping with the tradition of regular consultations between India and Russia at the highest levels,” it said. The two leaders will exchange their views on international matters, it added.
5. Bharti Airtel completes acquisition of Telenor India
India’s largest telecom operator Bharti Airtel completed the acquisition of the Indian arm of Telenor Communications. The Sunil Mittal-led company will begin integrating Telenor’s operations across seven circles and all its customers will be transitioned to the Airtel network seamlessly. Following the deal, Airtel’s mobile subscriber base in India now stands at over 33 crore.
6. Actress Margot Kidder passes away
Actress Margot Kidder, best known for playing the role of Lois Lane in the Superman film franchise of the 1970s and 1980s, passed away at the age of 69. An autopsy will be performed to determine the cause of her death. Margot, who suffered from a car accident in 1990, had experienced long-term mental health issues.
7. China to deliver world’s largest amphibious aircraft by 2022
China aims to deliver its domestically developed AG600, the world’s largest amphibious aircraft, by 2022, state media reported. The AG600, which can carry 50 people during maritime search-and-rescue missions, has been developed as part of a drive to modernise China’s military in a bid to handle territorial disputes in places like the South China Sea.
8. RBI places deposit, lending restrictions on Allahabad Bank
The RBI has asked state-owned Allahabad Bank to reduce its exposure to unrated and high-risk advances in view of deteriorating financial health. The central bank also restricted the lender’s access to raise high-cost deposits and creation of non-banking assets. Notably, the bank reported a loss of ₹3,509 crore for the March quarter amid worsening asset quality.
9. Renowned physicist E C G Sudarshan passes away at 86
Sudarshan, an outstanding theoretical physicist, has passed away at the age of 86 due to natural causes. Sudarshan had been teaching as a professor at University of Texas for over 40 years. He served as Honorary Advisory Council Member of Houston Sri Meenakshi Temple. He was associated with the temple from 1977.
He discovered the V – A theory of weak interactions while working on his PhD thesis under the late Robert E. Marshak. In 2007, the Indian government recognised and awarded the physicist with the second highest civilian award, Padma Vibhushan.
10. Heena bags gold, Nivetha bronze in Hannover
Indian shooter Heena Sidhu clinched the gold medal while compatriot P Shri Nivetha settled for bronze in the women’s 10m air pistol at the International Shooting Competitions of Hannover (ISCH) ahead of next week’s ISSF Munich World Cup.
The ISSF Munich World Cup will be held from May 22 to 29 and will be Heena’s second major competition after her twin medal success at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast and the World Cup in Korea.
11. India beats Tajikistan to win U-16 four-nation football tournament
Indian Under-16 National Team was crowned champions of the Four-Nation Tournament held in Serbia from May 09-13, 2018 after the Indian Colts defeated Tajikistan 4-2. The four-nation tournament played between India, Serbia, Tajikistan and Jordan.
India bagged a total of seven points in the tournament from their two wins against Jordan and Tajikistan, and a goalless draw against host nation Serbia.
12. India 3rd largest solar market in world: Mercom
India emerged as the third largest solar market in the world in 2017 behind China and the US, Mercom Communications India said in a report. As per the report, India set a new record with 9.6 GW of solar installations in 2017, which was more than double the 4.3 GW installed in 2016. The robust growth boosted the country’s total solar installed capacity to 19.6 GW as of December 2017.
Of the total 1.6 GW cumulative solar rooftop installations in India by 2017, 995 MW was installed last year.
13. Govt unveils National Wind-Solar Hybrid Policy
In yet another effort to boost clean energy generation, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has unveiled a National Wind-solar Hybrid Policy that which seeks to promote new projects as well as hybridisation of the existing ones. The MNRE is also in the process of launching a scheme for new hybrid projects under this policy, which are 10 to 15 percent cheaper than 100 percent solar or wind projects. The policy seeks to promote new hybrid projects as well as hybridisation of existing wind/solar projects.
14. WHO launches ‘REPLACE’ to eliminate trans fat in foods by 2023
The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a comprehensive plan – REPLACE, to eliminate industrially-produced artificial trans fats from the global food supply by 2023. The global health body estimates that every year, trans fat intake leads to over 5,00,000 deaths worldwide from cardiovascular diseases. Industrially-produced trans fats are contained in hardened vegetable fats such as margarine and ghee, and are often present in snack, baked, and fried foods. Manufacturers often use them as they have a longer shelf life than other fats.
In Denmark, the first country to mandate restrictions on industrially-produced trans fats, the trans-fat content of food products declined dramatically and cardiovascular disease deaths declined more quickly.
15. Four states ink MoUs with Centre on health protection mission
The states of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Uttarakhand agreed to implement the ambitious national health protection mission, which aims to provide an annual coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family. The four states and the Union Territory of Chandigarh inked MoUs with the Union Health Ministry for the implementation of Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Swasthya Suraksha Mission.
The centrally-sponsored scheme, which will provide a coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually and benefit more than 10 crore families belonging to the poor and vulnerable sections of the society, is likely to be launched in August.
16. Sulabh International founder Dr Bindeshwar Pathak honoured with Nikkei Asia Prize
The founder of Sulabh International, Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, has been honoured with the Nikkei Asia Prize in Japan for his contribution to Asia’s development. He has been described as “an Indian social reformer tackling two of his country’s biggest challenges — poor hygiene and discrimination”.
Nikkei Inc., one of the largest media corporations in Japan, has been presenting the awards since 1996 to honour people in Asia who have made significant contributions in one of the three areas: Economic and Business Innovation, Science, Technology and Environment and Culture and Community.
17. First all-woman Post Office Passport Seva Kendra starts operations in Phagwara, Punjab
The 192nd Post Office Passport Seva Kendra, opened in Phagwara, will be the first in the country to have all-women staff. Union Minister Vijay Sampla and Regional Passport Officer Harmanbir Singh Gill inaugurated the passport office.
18. China launches first India-dedicated investment fund
The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, a top state-run Chinese bank has launched China’s first India-dedicated publicly offered investment fund, urging the Chinese to invest heavily stating that the Indian economy is entering the “golden age of economic take-off”.
The move, regarded as significant by observers to boost investments in India, comes just about a fortnight after the first ever informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping at Wuhan, where the two leaders sought to give a new direction to the bilateral ties to tap their economic potential.
19. Government launches full-fledged Green Skill Development Programme
In its bid to create over five lakh job opportunities by 2021 through green skills, the government has launched a mobile application to begin enrolments in 30 expert course under its Green Skill Development Programme (GSPD). The cost of the programmes — which include 30 courses across 84 institutes like WII-Delhradun, Bombay Natural History Society in Mumbai, Botanical Survey of India in Pune and WWF in Delhi — will be supported by the Union Environment Ministry.
20. International Day Of Families is celebrated on 15 May
The International Day of Families is observed on the 15th of May every year. In 1993, the General Assembly of United Nations decided that 15 May of every year should be observed as The International Day of Families.
This day provides an opportunity to promote awareness of issues relating to families and to increase the knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting families.
This year (2018), the theme for the event is ‘Families and inclusive societies’.
