DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS : May 29, 2019

Dear Aspirants,

Daily Current Affairs (May 29, 2019) like many other sections is inevitable and this also helps to score in the Banking awareness, Static GK and Financial Awareness sections. Remember, Banking Awareness and Static Awareness Questions are asked from the General Awareness section. This will also help you to ride your preparations for the forthcoming exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

Telangana to set up country’s first ‘Block chain District’ in Hyderabad

Telangana released a draft block chain policy to set up country’s first ‘Block chain District’ in Hyderabad.
Telangana released a draft block chain policy to set up country’s first ‘Block chain District’ in Hyderabad.
It is aimed to create an ecosystem for major block chain companies, start-ups for promoting research, innovation and industry collaboration.
Telangana Government signed an agreement with Tech Mahindra to set up the Block chain district in 2018.

About Tech Mahindra

CEO: C. P. Gurnani
Headquarters: Pune

Ministry of Petroleum appointed a high level committee to make strategies to reduce crude oil imports

A high-level committee appointed by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gashas recommended a higher natural gas price for producers from existing discoveries among measures to bring down India’s dependence on crude oil imports.

Members of the committee:

The High-Level Committee constituted by the Centre consisted of Dr. Anil Kakodkar, an eminent Scientist and Sidharth Pradhan, an expert on financial and tax issues.

Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma launched a new project to boost medicinal plant cultivation

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma launched a new project to boost medicinal and aromatic plants cultivation named “Aroma Mission”.
“Aroma Mission” a project of Rs.18 crore launched to give importance for agriculture and allied sectors so that farmers earn the benefits from it.
CM inaugurated a processing unit of essential oils and insisted institutions like CSIR-CIMAP to undertake more researches in this field.
Broomsticks and bay leaves were categorized as ‘Agro Forestry’ items. Central Institute of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) is a plant research laboratory of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

About Meghalaya

Capital: Shillong
Governor: Tathagata Roy

ADR says nearly half of the newly-elected Lok Sabha members have criminal charges

According to the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), nearly half of the newly-elected Lok Sabha members have criminal charges against them, a 26% increase as compared to 2014.
Of the 539 winning candidates analyzed by the ADR, as many as 233 MPs or 43% have criminal charges.
The BJP has 116 MPs or 39% of its winning candidates with criminal cases, followed by 29 MPs (57%) from the Congress, 13 (81%) from the JDU, 10 (43%) from the DMK and nine (41%) from the TMC.
In 2014, 185 Lok Sabha members (34%) had criminal charges and 112 MPs had serious criminal cases against them. In 2009, 162 (nearly 30%) out of the 543 Lok Sabha MPs had criminal charges and 14% had serious criminal charges.
In the new Lok Sabha, nearly 29% of the cases are related to rape, murder, attempt to murder or crime against women.
There is an increase of 109%, in 2019, in the number of MPs with declared serious criminal cases since 2009.
It also said the eleven winners, five from the BJP, two from the BSP, one each from the Congress, the NCP and the YSR Congress Party, and an Independent, have murder charges against them.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

China rejected US call for dialogue with Dalai Lama

China rejected U.S. Ambassador Terry Branstad’s call to Beijing to engage in substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama.
China cited the reason as it firmly opposes the foreign interference in Tibet and its internal affairs.

The visit:

Mr. Branstad visited Tibet from May 19 to 25, the first such visit by a U.S. ambassador to China to the remote Himalayan region since 2015, where access is restricted for diplomats and journalists.
He expressed concerns regarding the Chinese government’s interference in Tibetan Buddhists’ freedom to organize and practice their religion. China had briefed the Ambassador about China’s religious and ethnic policies and also about socio-economic development in Tibet.

India, Sri Lanka and Japan signed a deal to develop container terminal at Colombo

Sri Lanka, Japan, and India signed an agreement to jointly develop the East Container Terminal at the Colombo Port on 28th May.

The joint initiative is estimated to cost between $500 million and $700 million.

The signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC)is significant, given that the countries had been negotiating the deal since last year with little success.

As per the agreement, the Sri Lanka Ports Authority (SLPA) retains 100% ownership of the East Container Terminal (ECT), while the Terminal Operations Company is jointly owned. Sri Lanka will hold a51% stake in the project and the joint venture partners will retain 49%.

BANKING & FINANCE

Indian Overseas Bank launches ‘Bank on Wheels’ facility

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.
A dedicated banking correspondent will accompany the vehicle with a micro-ATM inside the van to take care of services such as account opening, enrollment of customers in Social Security Scheme, passbook printing, and other financial inclusion activities.
MD & CEO of IOB – R Subramaniakumar
Headquarters – Chennai.

RBI extended time window for using the RTGS for customer transactions

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that the time-window for using the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) for customer transactions will be extended from 4:30 pm to 6 pm on all working days.
It will be effective from June 1, 2019.
The current RTGS service window for customer transactions is available to banks from 8 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. on a working day.

Charges for the transactions:

There shall be no charge for transactions between 8 am and 11 am.
A charge of Rs.2 will be levied on every transaction conducted between 11 am and 1 pm.
Rs.5 shall be charged for every transaction between 1pm and 6pm.

Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS):

Real-Time means the processing of instructions at the time they are received. Gross Settlement means that the settlement of funds transfer instructions occurs individually.
RTGS is an electronic form of funds transfer where the transmission takes place on a real-time basis. RTGS is considered to be fasted payment method mandated for high-value interbank transactions by the central bank.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

SpiceJet became fourth Indian airline to have a 100 aircraft in its fleet

SpiceJet became fourth Indian airline to have a 100 aircraft in its fleet.
Budget airline SpiceJet has added a new Boeing 737 aircraft to its fleet, taking its total strength to 100 aircraft.

The other three domestic airlines with 100 Aircraft fleet are:

– Air India

– Jet Airways

– IndiGo

Eight domestic carriers namely Air India, IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir, Air India Express, Vistara, AirAsia and Alliance together have 595 planes in their fleet at the moment.

Spicejet

It is a Gurugram based budget carrier. It has an aircraft fleet of 30 Bombardier Q-400s, 68 Boeing 737s, and two Boeing 737 freighters.
At present SpiceJet on an average operates 575 daily flights to around 62 destinations 53 domestic and 9 international.

Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme:

Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme is a regional airport development and Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS). It was launched by Ministry of Civil Aviation of Government of India.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS

Maldives Ex-Leader Mohamed Nasheed Tipped as New Speaker

The former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed has been nominated as the country’s parliamentary speaker.
Nasheed was unanimously chosen to head the People’s Majlis, or the parliament, by his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) which won a near three-quarter majority in the 87-member assembly in April.
President – Ibrahim Mohamed Solih
Capital – Male
Currency – Maldivian rufiyaa

Alapan Bandyopadhyay appointed as new Home Secretary for West Bengal

Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee appointed Alapan Bandyopadhyay, an IAS officer of the 1987 batch, as the new Home Secretary for West Bengal.
He succeeds Atri Bhattacharya Alapan Bandyopadhyay was in charge of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Department with additional charge of Industry, Commerce and Enterprises Department.
Ajit Ranjan Bardhan as the new principal secretary of the North Bengal Development Department (NBDD)

About West Bengal

Capital: Kolkata
Governor: Keshari Nath Tripathi
Chief Minister: Mamata Banerjee (AITC)

Malawi’s President Peter Mutharika re-elected for the second term

Malawi’s president Peter Mutharika of Democratic Progressive Party won the re-elections with 38.5% votes.
The victory was announced in Blantyre, Malawi by the head of the Malawi Electoral Commission (MEC) Jane Ansah.
He won the elections against the opposition candidate Lazarus Chakwera from the Malawi Congress Party (MCP) who secured 35.4% of the votes.
Former Vice President Saulos Chilima secured third position with 20% votes.
Malawi has been independent since 1964 and it was the 6th presidential election held since single-party rule ended in 1994.

About Malawi:

Capital: Lilongwe
Currency: Malawian Kwacha

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

NASA unveiled the plans about the Artemis program

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.
Artemis 1 will be an uncrewed mission around the Moon planned for 2020.
Artemis 2 will orbit Earth’s satellite with a crew around 2022.
Artemis 3 that will put astronauts on lunar soil in 2024, including the first woman.

SPORTS NEWS

Rahi Sarnobat clinched gold in the women’s 25m pistol in 2019 ISSF World Cup

Rahi Sarnobat clinched gold in the women’s 25m pistol at the season’s thirdInternational Shooting Sport Federation World Cup in Munich, Germany.
By this win, she sealed an Olympic quota place for India in style.
She secured 37 (out of 50 shots) in the final. This is India’s first Olympic quota spot in this event. Sarnobat, the Asian Games champion, was second in the final behind compatriot Bhaker.
However, once she got the lead, she maintained it till the gold medal shot.
Olena Kostevych of Ukraine won silver with 36 hits while Bulgaria’s Antoaneta Boneva won bronze with 26.

Ivo Karlovic-Oldest Man to win a match at the French Open 2019 for 46 years

Croatia’s Ivo Karlovic became the oldest man to win a match at the French Open 2019 for 46 years on 28 May.
He beat Spain’s fellow veteran Feliciano Lopez in a first-round duel.
Forty-year-old Ivo Karlovic became the oldest player to win a match at Roland Garros and defeated 37-year-old Feliciano Lopez to secure 7-6(4), 7-5, 6-7(7), 7-5 in three hours and six minutes to reach the second round at the clay-court Grand Slam for the sixth time.
This was the oldest men’s match in combined age at Roland Garros during the Open Era, and the seventh-oldest match at a Grand Slam. Karlovic hit 35 aces and saved five of the six break points he faced to win his first match since Indian Wells.

IMPORTANT DAYS

May 28 – World Hunger Day

The Hunger Project started an initiative known as World Hunger Day.
It is being observed on May 28.
It is a global organisation committed to finding a tenable solution to world hunger .
Celebrating sustainable solutions to hunger and poverty is the aim of this day.
This year’s theme for World Hunger Day is #SustainabilityIs

Attend Current Affairs Quiz for the Month of May – 2019 from the link that is provided below.