DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS: May 8, 2019

Dear Aspirants,

Daily Current Affairs (May 8, 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

NIOS, NHMPH ink MoU in Mumbai:

The National Institute of Open Schooling Ministry of Human Resources Development and National Health Mission of Public Health Department of Government of Maharashtra signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Mumbai.
The MOU focused at offering Vocational programmes to the Health Service Providers of Providers of National Health Mission (NHM) through National Institute of Open Schooling.

MNRE holds ‘Chintan Baithak’ with the stakeholders of Renewable Energy (RE) sector:

Ministry of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE) held a ‘Chintan Baithak’ with the stakeholders of Renewable Energy sector in New Delhi.

The ‘Baithak’ (meet) was chaired by Secretary, MNRE, Shri Anand Kumar and saw good participation from Renewable Energy (RE) sector including the representatives of major RE developers, equipment manufacturers, financers, regulators, think-tanks, industry bodies and skill developers.

GRIHA Council launches rating system to evaluate environmental performance of schools:

In a bid to evaluate the environmental performance of existing schools across India, GRIHA Council released a rating tool ‘GRIHA for Existing Day Schools’.

The product-launch event had taken place at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. Mr. Dinesh Kumar, Head, Department of Education in Science and Mathematics, National Council of Educational Research and Training, and other dignitaries were present at during the launch.
It was founded by TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) with an active aid from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and from various environment- sustainability experts across India.

Direct tax collections fall short of ₹82,000 crore in FY 19:

Direct Tax collections fell short by ₹82,000 crore at 11.18 crore during 2018-19 with lower corporate tax collections emerging as one of the reasons for the lower mop.

The government had set a target of ₹12 lakh crore. Total tax collection numbers indicate that it got 13.4% more than the previous fiscal but fell short of the revised target of 18%.

KVIC distributes over 1 lakh bee-boxes under ‘Honey Mission’:

Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) has distributed more than one lakh bee-boxes among farmers and unemployed youths across the country in less than two years under its ‘Honey Mission’ initiative.

KVIC Chairman Vinai Kumar Saxena said the commission has so far distributed 1,01,000 bee-boxes, which had happened for the first time in India.

‘Honey Mission’ was launched in August 2017 in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for ‘Sweet Revolution’ in 2016 while introducing Banas Honey project at Deesa in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district.

INTERNATIONAL

India, Bangladesh to jointly produce a movie on life, works of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman:

India and Bangladesh will co-produce a film on the life and works of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and a documentary on Bangladesh Liberation War.
The movie will be directed by acclaimed filmmaker Shyam Benegal who, along with writer of the movie Atul Tiwari, was also present during the meeting. The Bangladesh Delegation assured full cooperation in ensuring smooth logistics for shooting the movie in Bangladesh.
It was announced that Prasar Bharati has decided to carry Bangladesh TV on DD Free Dish platform without charging carriage fees.

NASA’s First Planetary Defense Technology Demonstration to Collide with Asteroid in 2022:

The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), NASA’s first mission to demonstrate a planetary defense technique will get one chance to hit its target, the small moonlet asteroid is 150 m tall which orbiting a larger body in the binary asteroid system Didymos. DART slams into its target – Didymos B – in September 2022.

The spacecraft will collide with the asteroid at a speed of approximately 6 kmps (km per second) and this collision will change the speed of the asteroid in its orbit by fraction of 1%.

BANKING & BUSINESS

Dollar swap auction boosts forex kitty by USD 4.7 billion to USD 418.5 billion:

The country’s foreign exchange reserves soared by USD 4.368 billion to USD 418.515 billion in the week to April 26, helped by the second dollar-rupee swap auction, RBI data showed. In the swap auction conducted on April 23, the Reserve Bank had received bids worth USD 18.65 billion against USD 5 billion on offer.
The Special Drawing Rights with the International Monetary Fund was down by USD 5.9 million to USD 1.449 billion. The country’s reserve position with the Fund also declined USD 13.6 million to USD 3.341 billion, the according to the Reserve Bank.

RANKINGS/ REPORTS BY VARIOUS ORGANISATIONS

India’s MICE tourism growing at 8 pc a year: FICCI-Yes Bank report

A new report by industry body FICCI says that strong economic growth coupled with rapid emergence of India on the global horizon is poised to drive the growth of MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) tourism at a much faster rate.
India is a late entrant in the segment with a little share on the global scale. Of the total 12,563 international meetings in a year, it hosts only 175 – or just 1.4 per cent to rank 24th worldwide. In 2018, India ranked 5th in the Asia Pacific region in MICE tourism.

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’.

APPOINTMENTS

Mali’s President Names New Government under PM Boubou Cisse after Protests:

Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced the new executive of 37 members under Prime Minister Boubou Cisse, who was appointed on April 22 to oversee the formation of a “broad-based” government.

SPORTS

FIFA announces two new award categories to promote women’s football globally:

Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) announced two new award categories to promote women’s football across the globe. The two new award categories are off Women’s Goalkeeper of the year and a Women’s Team of the year.

This announcement means and both men and women will be up for receiving accolades in the same categories at the FIFA Best ceremony in Milan on September 23, 2019.

Windies record highest ODI first-ever 350+ run opening stand:

West Indies player John Campbell and Shai Hope created the history by making first-ever 350 plus run opening stand after sharing 365 runs for the 1st wicket against Ireland. The venue of the match was Clontarf Cricket Club Ground, Dublin, Ireland.

Previously, the highest first wicket opening stand was 304 runs in ODI cricket by Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman and Imam-ul-Haq against Zimbabwe in 2018.

IMPORTANT EVENTS OF THE DAY

World Athletics Day: May 7th

The World Athletics Day-2019 is observed on the 7th May. Actually the IAAF (International Amateur Athletic Federation) is authorized to decide the date of this day. The first World Athletics Day was observed in the 1996.

World Asthma Day: May 7th

World Asthma Day is an annual event organized by the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) to improve asthma awareness and care around the world. World Asthma Day takes place on the first Tuesday of May.

Theme: “STOP for asthma”

World Red Cross Day: May 8th

World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day is celebrated on 8 May each year. This date is the anniversary of the birth of Henry Dunant, who was born on 8 May 1828.

Theme: ‘#Love’

World Thalassemia Day 2019: May 8th

World Thalassemia Day is observed on May 8. This day is meant to raise awareness about thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder which is characterised by less haemoglobin and lesser than normal blood cells.
Theme: “Universal access to quality thalassaemia healthcare services: Building bridges with and for patients”

OBITUARY

Former billiards player Derek Sippy dies in Mumbai:

Former billiards player, coach and administrator Derek Sippy died. His death was confirmed to Press Trust of India (PTI) by Manav Panchal, Honorary Secretary of the Billiards and Snooker Association of Maharashtra (BSAM).

Former West Indies batsman Seymour Nurse dies at 85:

Former West Indies batsman Seymour Nurse has died at the age of 85 after a long illness. Barbados-born Nurse made his Test debut against England in 1960 and was a powerful middle-order batsman and top-class fielder.

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