current affairs of 21 may 2013

7/28/2019 Current Affairs of 21 May 2013

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Current Affairs of May 2013

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-Abdul Hamid became the new president of Bangladesh to replace ZillurRahman

-Government of India revised the creamy layer criteria for of Other BackwardClasses (OBCs) from 4.5 lakh rupees to 6 lakh rupees. OBC reservation quotacan be availed only of the annual income limit is below the creamy layer limit set by the Govt from time to time. Hence this increase will help more people in

OBC category to avail the reservation in got jobs and education opportunities.The limit is increased this time to make it in tune with the increase in

consumer price index.

-Govt gave its nod for establishing Gandhi Heritage Sites Mission, aimed at conserving the heritage sites associated with Mahatma Gandhi.

- ISRO announced its plan to launch of the communication launch of GSAT-14on July. The satellite launch vehicle GSLV D5 will be used to carry this satelliteto orbit.

-RoboBee, a Bee sized Robot is developed by researchers of HarvardUniversity. It has the ability to sense and fly like a bee.

-IBM scientists released the smallest movie of the world named - A Boy andHis Atom. The movement of atoms are magnified and tracked as a movie.

-India joins the Artic council as an observer. Six nations - China, Italy, Japan,Republic of Korea. Singapore and India – are the new observers to the Articcouncil. It is a body of eight Artic countries - Canada, Denmark, Finland,Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States.

-India has indigenously developed vaccine against rotavirus. This will reduce

the cost of vaccination dramatically. Rotavirus is the major cause of diarrhoeadeaths among children.



-Dr. Aparajita Datta, Indian biologist, is honoured with the Whitley Award2013. It is to honour her efforts to save the endangered hornbills in EasternHimalayas. The Whitley award is also known as Green Oscar.

-RBI has projected the GDP growth of the country for the year 2013 14 as5.7%

-ADB (Asian Development Bank) announced that it has plans to provide 6billion Dollars to India over next 3 years. India is the biggest borrower of ADB

-The supreme court of India provided approval for operations to KudankulamNuclear PowerPlant.

-President Pranab Mukherjee unveiled ‘Bichitra’, an online collection of

Tagore’s works. This is in the occasion of Tagore’s 150th birth anniversarycelebrations.

-World’s first gun created using the 3D printer technology is successfullytested in US. 3D printing technology is envisaged as the future of manufacturing. This technology allows consumers to download designs at home and printed using 3D technology, rather than buying it from shops.

www.gkworld.org-The Central government announced its plans for setting up of an expert committee under to draw up a composite development index of individualstates. It will be chaird by chief economic advisor Raghuram Rajan.

-Uttar Pradesh, country’s most populous state, accounted for the largest number of mobile subscribers in India, as per a survey. India is the world's

second largest mobile phone market in terms of subscribers.

Appointments:

1) New President of Bangladesh : Abdul Hamid was sworn in as Bangladesh

President replaced Zillur Rahman.

2) New Prime Minister of Malaysia : Najib Razak .



3) New Chief Minister of Karnataka : Y. Siddaramaiah .

4) New Governor of Arunachal Pradesh : Nirbhay Sharma.

5) New Comptroller & Auditor General of India : Shashi Kant Sharma

Appointed as the new CAG after replacing Vinod Rai.

6) New Chairman of the Board of Governors of Medical Council of India : Dr R

K Srivastava.

7) New Chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights

(NCPCR): Kushal Singh.

Awards:

1) Vyas Samman 2011 & 2012 : Ramdarash Mishra and Dr Narendra Kohli

were conferred with the Vyas Samman Award for the year 2011 and 2012

respectively.

2) ISRO Young Scientists Award for 2013 : Jenita Mary Nongkynrih.

3) Dadasaheb Phalke Award for Lifetime Achievement : Pran, the Veteran

actor got DPA.

4) Asom Ratna Award 2012 : Indira Goswami.

5) Man Booker International Prize 2013 : Lydia Davis.

6) Gershwin Prize : Carole King Became the First Woman to Receive Gershwin

Prize.

7) Jnanpith Award 2011 : Pratibha Ray Conferred With the 47th Jnanpith

Award for the Year 2011.

8) NTR National Literary Award : Manoj Das, the Noted Oriya writer waspresented the NTR National Literary Award.Obituaries :

1) Rituparno Ghosh, National Award Winning Filmmaker died at the age of 49.

Important Days:



May 1 Workers Day (International Labour Day).

May 3 Press Freedom Day.

May 8 World Red Cross Day.

May 11 National Technology Day.

May 15 International Day of the Family.

May 17 World Telecommunication Day.

May 24 Commonwealth Day.

May 31 Anti-Tobacco Day.

Sports:

1) India's shuttler PV Sindhu won her maiden Grand Prix Gold title winning

Malaysia

Open women's final defeated, Gu Juan of Singapore.

2) Madrid Open :

-In the Men's Singles title clash of the Madrid Open, World Number Five

Nadal defeated Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka to win the title.

-In the Women's Singles, World Number One Serena Williams of the United

States defeated Russian Maria Sharapova, to win the title.

3) Italian Open :

-Serena Williams defeated Victoria Azarenka to win Italian Open 2013.

-Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federar to win Italian Open 2013

4) Preeti Beniwal won gold in 2013 Senior National Women's Boxing

Championship.



5) Mumbai Indians Defeated Chennai Super Kings in Final to win its First IPL

Trophy.

-Najib Razak is sworn in as the Prime Minister of Malaysia. He is getting asecond term as the prime minister of Malaysia.

-As per the Fortune magazine, Walmart Replaced ExxonMobil and recordedHighest Revenue in2012.

-This year’s world asthma day is observed with the theme - You Can ControlYour Asthma. Every year, the first Tuesday of May is observed as the worldasthma day

-Sir Alex Ferguson announced his retirement from the role of manager of Manchester United. Ferguson, the most successful football manager of alltimes, managed Manchester United for 26 years.

-India nominated Himalayan National Park and Hill forts of Rajasthan forWorld Heritage sites recommendations of 2013. The UNESCO’s WorldHeritage Committee will decide on conferring World heritage site status tothese places.

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-The government of India approved the National Cyber Security Policy.

-ESA (European Space Agency) approved Biomass, the satellite that can weighthe forests of the Earth. It is expected to be launched in 2020. He satellite cansense trunks and branches of the trees from orbit, and this data can be used inanalysing carbon amount stored in forests.

-The Brazilian Roberto Azevedo is named as the head of the World TradeOrganisation, WTO.-Rajasthan Royals players S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandilia and Ankit Chavan havebeen arrested by the Delhi Police on charges of spot-fixing in the IndianPremier League



-Mittu Chandilya is appointed as the CEO of AirAsia India. AirAsia India is thejoint venture of AirAsia and Tata Sons.

-Cyclone named 'Mahasen' hits Bangladesh and Myanmar.

-The Govt of India on decided to declare the year 2013 as Water ConservationYear. Several programs are planned to spread awareness on importance of water conservation.

-Govt of India approved the policy to develop aviation hubs across cities in

India. An aviation hub is an airport which is used as intermediate point fortransferring airtravellers from origin to destination. The policy will focus ondeveloping both aviation hubs for both global and domestic travellers.

-Govt of India approved proposal to establish National Skill Development Agency (NSDA). This initiative aims to increase employability among theyouths of the country.

-National Stock Exchange (NSE) launched country’s first dedicated debt trading platform.

-This year’s National Florence Nightingale Awards were presented by thePresident. This award is instituted to recognise the selfless services of nurses.

-A multi-media initiative, named as ‘Bharat Nirman’ is launched by ministry of Information and broadcasting to showcase the UPA Government’s nine years

in power.

-RBI directed banks to follow the Clean Note Policy which aims at providingclean currency notes to public. RBI guideline demands banks not to staplecurrency notes, withdraw soiled notes from circulation and stop writing of any kind on the watermark area of currency notes.

-Govt of India signed a MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) withNetherlands on technical co-operation of different fields of urban planning.

-Direct Benefit Transfer (DBTL) is launched for LPG in Aadhaar covereddistricts. This scheme aims at providing subsidy for LPG directly to the bank



account of beneficiaries. Consumers need to link bank Aadhar details withtheir bank accounts for getting this benefit.

-Central Govt decided to set up the Financial Stability and Development

Council (FSDC). The goal is to strengthen and institutionalise the mechanismfor maintaining financial stability and development. This council will beheaded by RBI Governor.

-A project known as Priyadarshini scheme is launched by the Minsitry of Women and child development to help women SHGs (Self Help Group)

-Yahoo announced its plans to acquire Tumblr, the micro blogging service for1.1 billion dollars.

-The Graamin Haat initiate of Madhya Pradesh Cottage and Village IndustryDepartment bagged United Nations Public Service Award for year 2013. TheGraamin Haat project aims at empowering the society through Women’s self-help groups.

-Former English football team captain David Beckham announced hisretirement from professional football. He played for Manchester United andReal Madrid football clubs. At the time of retirement he was playing for ParisSaint-German football club.

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-Shashi Kant Sharma took charge as the new Comptroller and Auditor General(CAG) of India, succeeding Vinod Rai who retired after an eventful five-and-a-half years in the role. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) is aconstitutional authority responsible for auditing all receipts and expenditure

of the Government of India and the state governments.

-World Telecommunication and Information Society Day is celebrated on 17May 2013. The goal is to make information and communication moreaccessible to people living in remote areas. This year’s theme is - ICTs andimproving road safety.



-World Health Organization recognised Department of Yoga Therapy andTraining of Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga (MDNIY) as the WHOCollaborating Centre in Traditional Medicine.

-Scientists at Chinese university Zhejiang announced that they have producedthe lightest material ever created, known as carbon aerogel.contract is of Rs1100 crore.

-Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is elected as a Rajyasabha member for thefifth time. He is elected from Assam.

-A new Fast patrol Vessel named as Abhinav is built by Cochin ShipyardLimited for IndianCoast Guard.

-The HR ministry has decided to set up a National Testing Agency (NTA)which will be responsible to change the present situation of multiple entranceexaminations for various higher education courses.

-OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) reducedIndia’s growth estimate for 2013. As per its report the growth will be 5.3 percent instead of 5.9 per cent.

-RBI decided to launch the inflation indexed bonds (IIBs). The goal is to

discourage investors to use gold as an instrument to hedge against inflation.IIBs will have a maturity period of 10 years. IIBs are linked to inflation of thecountry. Hence if the inflation is higher, returns also will be higher. This is

considered as a better option compared to gold and real estate.

-American author Lydia Davis is declared the winner of the Man BookerInternational Prize.

-Indian National Defence University will be set up in Gurgaon. It will be a

dedicated institution for training and research of military studies.

-The International Day for Biological Diversity is observed on May 22. Thisyear’s theme is Water and Biodiversity.

-India and United Kingdom signed MoU on Cooperation in Health sector.



-Anti-Terrorism Day is observed in 21 May 2013, the anniversary of martyrdom of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

-Year 2014 is declared as the friendship year to promote understanding

between India and China

-Pratibha Ray received the 47th Jnanpith Award for the year 2011 fromPresident Pranab Mukherjee. She is the fourth Oriya writer to receive thisaward.

-ISRO Navigation Centre (INC) which is established at Indian Deep SpaceNetwork (IDSN) complex near Bangalore is inaugurated. It is part of IRNSS(Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System), an independent navigationsatellite system.

-The 80-Year-Old Japanese Mountaineer Yuichiro Miura became oldest man toclimb Mount Everest.

-The Union Govt of India approved Malayalam as a classical language.Kannada, Tamil and Telugu languages are already declared as classicallanguages.

-Professor Ramdarash Mishra is awarded Vyas Samman for the year 2011. Dr

Narendra Kohli received Vyas samman for the year 2012.

-UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), the authority responsible

for providing Aadhaar cards has inaugurated three Aadhar enabled services -e-KYC, OTP authentication and Iris authentication. All these services help toprovide authentication of individuals to different agencies, in case of requirement.

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-India has decided to strengthen its co-operation with Saudi Arabia on

counter-terrorismactivities.

-The Govt of India plans for a green energy corridor project, which aims at providing electricity from renewable sources with conventional power



stations in the national power grid. The Power Grid Corporation of India Ltdwill be working on this project. Germany will be providing technicalassistance for this project.

-RBI imposed several restrictions to banks and NBFCs (Non-Banking FinancialCompanies) for proving gold loans. These restrictions are aimed at reducingthe demand and the inbound shipments of gold to the country.

-66th Cannes Film Festival ended with French-Tunisian filmmaker Abdellatif Kechiche winning the prestigious Palme d'Or award for his film “Blue is the

Warmest Colour”-The nation the New Air Force Station at Thanjavur isdedicated to the country by the defence minister A K Antony

-Mr S K Roy is appointed as the managing director of Life Insurance

Corporation (LIC) of India.

-The Indian telecom sector is currently the second largest telephone network in the world. China has the largest telephone network in the world.

-India plans to launch its navigational satellite on June 12. Apart fromnavigation services, it will also help in disaster and fleet management. Thesatellite will be known as Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System-1A. Thesatellite can provide navigation services similar to GPS (Global Positioning

System).

-TCS (Tata Consultancy Services) won a six-year contract from the

Department of Posts (DoP). The contract is aimed at end-to-end ITmodernization programme of India Post.

-Sarabjit Singh, the Indian prisoner in Pakistani jail, is murdered by fellow Jailinmates in Lahore.

-South Korea rebuilds its 600 year old cultural heritage gate Namdaemun, alsoknown as National Treasure Number One. It was destroyed by an arsonist in2008.

-IMF (International Monetary Fund) mentioned that providing subsidy asdirect cash transfer using Aadhar will save 0.5% of India’s GDP.



-Japan’s Mount Fuji got the approval from ICOMOS as the UNESCO WorldHeritage site. ICOMOS (International Council on Monuments and Sites)approval is the pre-condition for UNESCO world heritage site declaration.UNESCO meet on June 2013 is supposed to officially announce Mount Fuji as

the world heritage site.

-The Union Cabinet approved the National Urban Health Mission for fiveyears. The goal of National Health Mission is to reduce infant mortality rate,maternal mortality rate and increase universal access to reproductive healthcare.

-Ireland’s government passed the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill. Thebill states when life-saving abortions can be performed. The law in Irelanddoes not allow abortion, and this bill gives specific exceptions and clarity to

the law. The bill was proposed in the context of the death of an Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar in 2012, due to pregnancy related issues.

Current Affairs of May 2013

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current affairs of 21 may 2013

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