Daily GK Updates - 31st May, 2019

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. PM Narendra Modi takes oath for the 2nd consecutive term: Narendra Damodardas Modi was sworn-in as the Prime Minister for the second time at a grand and star-studded ceremony in the sprawling forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhawan on 30th May, 2019. During the ceremony, Apart from PM Modi, 57 ministers administered the oath of office and secrecy by President Ram Nath Kovind. A total of 24 Cabinet Ministers took oath at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, followed by nine Ministers of State (Independent Charge) and 24 Ministers of State. The glittering ceremony was witnessed by a galaxy of leaders, diplomats, industrialists and prominent personalities from various fields.

Note: The function was attended by leaders from BIMSTEC countries and foreign envoys, Governors, Chief Ministers, Opposition leaders, corporate heads and film stars. Maithripala Sirisena (President of Sri Lanka), U Win Myint (President of Myanmar), Md. Abdul Hamid (President of Bangladesh), Dr Lotay Tshering (Prime Minister of Bhutan), K P Sharma Oli (Prime Minister of Nepal), Grisada Boonrach (Special Envoy of Thailand), Sooronbay Jeenbekov (President of the Kyrgyz Republic,) and Pravind Jugnauth (Prime Minister of Mauritius) witnessed the event.

2. Union Cabinet Ministers Portfolio 2019: A day after the incoming Union Council of Ministers was sworn in the portfolios of ministers was announced. Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier sent the list of portfolios for his Council of Ministers to President Ram Nath Kovind, after which the same was unveiled. Here's the full list of the Union Council of Ministers and their portfolios, under the Modi Government 2.0.

Narendra Modi	Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space; all important policy issues; and all other portfolios not allocated to any minister
Cabinet Ministers
‏Rajnath Singh	Defence
Amit Shah	Home Affairs
Nirmala Sitharaman	Finance; Corporate Affairs
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar	External Affairs
Nitin Gadkari	Road Transport and Highways; Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
DV Sadananda Gowda	Chemical and Fertilizers
Ram Vilas Paswan	Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
Narendra Singh Tomar	Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Rural Development; Panchayati Raj
Ravi Shankar Prasad	Law and Justice; Communications; Electronics and Information Technology
Harsimrat Kaur Badal	Food Processing Industries
Thawarchand Gehlot	Social Justice and Empowerment
Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank	Human Resource Development
Arjun Munda	Tribal Affairs
Smriti Irani	Women and Child Development; Textiles
Dr. Harsh Vardhan	Health and Family Welfare; Science and Technology; Earth Sciences
Prakash Javdekar	Environment, Forest and Climate Change; Information and Broadcasting
Piyush Goyal	Railways; Commerce and Industries
Dharmendra Pradhan	Petroleum and Natural Gas; Steel
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi	Minority Affairs
Prahlad Joshi	Parliamentary Affairs; Coal; Mines
Mahendra Nath Pandey	Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
Arvind Sawant	Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise
Giriraj Singh	Animal Husbandry, Dairying, and Fisheries
Gajendra Singh Shekhawat	Jal Shakti
Ministers of State (Independent Charge)
Santosh Kumar Gangwar	Labour and Employment
Rao Inderjit Singh	Statistics and Programme Implementation; Planning
Shripad Yesso Naik	Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH); MoS Defence
Dr. Jitendra Singh	Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region; MoS PMO; Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space
Kiren Rijiju	Youth Affairs and Sports; MoS Minority Affairs
Prahalad Singh Patel	Culture; Tourism
Raj Kumar Singh	Power; New and Renewable Energy; MoS Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
Hardeep Singh Puri	Housing and Urban Affairs; Civil Aviation; MoS Commerce and Industry
Mansukh L Mandaviya	Shipping; MoS Chemicals and Fertilizers
Ministers of State
Faggansingh Kulaste	Steel
Ashwini Kumar Choubey	Health and Family Welfare
Arjun Ram Meghwal	Parliamentary Affairs; Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
General (Retd) VK Singh	Road Transport and Highways
Krishan Pal	Social Justice and Empowerment
Danve Raosaheb Dadarao	Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution
G Kishan Reddy	Home Affairs
Parshottam Rupala	Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
Ramdas Athawale	Social Justice and Empowerment
Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti	Rural Development
Babul Supriyo	Environment, Forest and Climate Change
Sanjeev Kumar Balyan	Animal Husbandry, Dairying, and Fisheries
Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao	Human Resource Development; Communications; Electronics and Information Technology
Anurag Singh Thakur	Finance; Corporate Affairs
Angadi Suresh Channabasappa	Railways
Nityanand Rai	Home Affairs
Rattan Lal Kataria	Jal Shakti; Social Justice and Empowerment
V Muraleedharan	External Affairs; Parliamentary Affairs
Renuka Singh Saruta	Tribal Affairs
Som Parkash	Commerce and Industry
Rameswar Teli	Food Processing Industries
Pratap Chandra Sarangi	Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries
Kailash Choudhary	Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
Debasree Chaudhuri	Women and Child Development

3. Centre launches song ‘Hawa Aane De’ on air pollution: As the World Environment Day is approaching, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched a theme song ‘Hawa Aane De’ on air pollution. The song was launched in the national capital. The aim is to spread awareness regarding protecting the environment. Secretary of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched the song in the presence of actor Shekhar Suman and singer Shaan. World Environment Day is celebrated on June 05. This year the theme of Environment Day is ‘Air Pollution’.

4. Binny, India’s Only Orangutan Dies In Odisha Zoo: A 41-year-old orangutan at Odisha’s Nandankanan Zoological Park died following a prolonged illness. ”Binny”, the country’s lone orangutan passed away around 9:40 pm due to old-age related ailments followed by respiratory tract infection. The great ape was under treatment for the last one year by experts from the College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry OUAT who were under constant advice of the Orangutan experts from UK and Singapore.

5. IIT Guwahati signs MoU with ISRO to set up space technology: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati has signed an MoU with The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to set up an IITG-ISRO Space Technology Cell (STC) at the institute where Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi inaugurated a new academic complex and research and development building. IITG-ISRO STC would be first of its kind in the North-east region to augment research and capacity building processes in the field of space technology.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Trump announces tariffs on all Mexico goods: US President Donald Trump has announced tariffs on all goods coming from Mexico in a bid to curb illegal immigration. From 10th June 2019, a five percent tariff would be imposed and slowly raised until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied. President Trump has declared a national emergency to tackle what he claims is a crisis at the US southern border.

Note: Mexico President: Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Capital: Mexico City, Currency: Mexican peso

2. World No-Tobacco Day: 31st May: Every year, on 31st May, the World Health Organization (WHO) and global partners celebrate World No Tobacco Day (WNTD). The annual campaign is an opportunity to raise awareness on the harmful and deadly effects of tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure, and to discourage the use of tobacco in any form. The focus of World No Tobacco Day 2019 is on “tobacco and lung health.”

Note: In 1988, WHO’s World Health Assembly had passed a resolution calling for the celebration of World No Tobacco Day, every year on 31st May.

3. Israel to hold fresh polls as Netanyahu fails to form coalition govt: Israeli lawmakers voted to dissolve Parliament and hold fresh elections after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a coalition before a midnight deadline. He became the first prime minister-designate in Israel's history who was unable to form a government. Israeli lawmakers voted 74-45 in favour of dissolving the 21st Knesset (Israeli Parliament). The repeat general elections will be held on September 17. Netanyahu's victory in the April 9 polls securing him a record fifth term proved temporary. 

OTHER UPDATES:

BUSINESS AND ECONOMY

1. FICCI survey forecasts India’s GDP growth at 7.1% for FY20: The country’s median GDP is forecast at 7.10 percent for Financial Year 2020 and 7.20 percent for Financial Year 2021. The industry body FICCI’s economic outlook survey stated that the minimum and maximum growth estimate stood at 6.80 per 0cent and 7.3 percent for 2019-20. The survey was conducted in May 2019 among economists belonging to the industry, banking, and financial services sectors. Inflation is expected to remain moderate and the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation rate is projected at 3.1 percent in 2019-20, while, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation has a median forecast of 4 percent for 2019-20.

Note: FICCI stands for Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Headquarter- New Delhi. Established in 1927.

Daily GK Updates - 30th May, 2019

NATIONAL UPDATES:

1. Goa celebrates its statehood day: Goa celebrates its statehood day on 30th May. It was on this day in 1987 Goa became the 25th state of the Indian Union. It was a Union Territory along with Daman and Diu from December 1961 onwards when Goa was liberated from the colonial rule. Once Goa was liberated there was a controversy regarding merging Goa with the neighbouring state of Maharashtra or Mysore. However, an opinion poll of 1967 suggested that Goa, Daman, and Diu be Union Territory.

Note: Chief Minister of Goa - Pramod Sawant, Capital- Panaji, Governor- Mridula Sinha

2. Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal sworn in as Chief Justice of Meghalaya HC: Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal has been sworn in as the Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court. Governor Tathagata Roy administered him the oath of office in a ceremony at Raj Bhavan, Shillong. The Office of the Chief Justice of Meghalaya High Court fell vacant upon the retirement of Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir. Justice AK Mittal was the judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court before his appointment as the Chief Justice of the Meghalaya High Court.

Note: The Meghalaya High Court established in March 2013, after making suitable amendments in the Constitution of India and North-Eastern Areas (Re-organisation) Act of 1971.

3. Military tribunal allows Karambir Singh to take charge as new Navy Chief: The Armed Forces Tribunal cleared the way for Vice Admiral Karambir Singh to become the next Navy Chief, while it deferred for four weeks the matter of Vice Admiral Bimal Verma which seeks to quash Singh’s appointment. Karambir Singh, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command, will take over as the Navy Chief on 31st May 2019.

4. SC extends the tenure of NCDRC’s judicial member by one year: The Supreme Court has extended the tenure of Justice VK Jain, a judicial member of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), which was expiring on 30th May 2019. A vacation bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Aniruddha Bose stated the extension of tenure would be for one year or till the process of fresh appointment is completed. Justice Jain was appointed as a judicial member of the NCDRC on 30th May 2014.

Note:  The NCDRC is a quasi-judicial commission in India which was set up in 1988 under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. The head office of NCDRC is in New Delhi.

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:

1. US-UAE defense agreement comes into force: The United States and the United Arab Emirates have announced that mutual defense cooperation agreement had come into force, amid increasing tensions between Washington and Tehran. The DCA (Defense Cooperation Agreement) will enhance military coordination between the United States and the United Arab Emirates, further advancing an already robust military, political, and economic partnership at a critical time. US President Donald Trump bypassed Congress to sell USD 8.1 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia and other Arab allies, citing the alleged threat from Iran.

2. International Everest Day: 29th May: International Everest Day is being observed on 29th May. Nepalese Tenzing Norgay and New Zealand’s Edmund Hillary had climbed the Mt. Everest on this day (29th May) in 1953, as the first humans to achieve the feat. Nepal decided to observe the day as International Everest Day since 2008 when the legendary climber Hillary passed away.

Note:  Mount Everest, known in Nepali as Sagarmatha and in Tibetan as Chomolungma, is Earth’s highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas.

3. James Marape elected new Papua New Guinea PM: James Marape, a former finance minister and critic of a major global gas development deal, has been elected by parliament as the prime minister of Papua New Guinea. His election came after weeks of political turmoil that saw his predecessor, Peter O’Neill, resign having lost the support of the House after more than seven years in power.

4. Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari sworn in for second term as president:  Muhammadu Buhari has been sworn in for a second term as Nigeria’s president, following a campaign that focused on tackling security threats and rooting out corruption. He did not make a speech during the low-profile event attended by members of the diplomatic community. Buhari, a former military ruler, won 56 percent of the votes to defeat his main challenger, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) in the February 2019 election.

5. Nepal celebrates its 12th Republic Day: Nepal is celebrating its 12th Republic Day on 29th May 2019. A number of programmes are being organized in different parts of the country to mark the occasion. The main function was held at Army Pavilion in Kathmandu, which was attended by the President Bidya Devi Bhandari, Prime Minister K.P.Sharma Oli, cabinet ministers, senior government officials, heads and representatives of various diplomatic missions and other dignitaries.

OTHER UPDATES:

SPORTS

1. ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019: The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 begins on 30th May 2019. England will open the tournament at The Oval in London when they will take on South Africa. The World Cup will span 48 matches in all, of which 45 will make up the group stage. Each team will play nine group stage matches, and the top four will progress to the semifinals, similar to how the 1992 World Cup was held.

2. Manu Bhaker secures India 7th Olympic quota: Indian shooter Manu Bhaker (17-year) secured India its seventh Olympic quota with a fourth-place finish in the women's 10-meter air pistol event of the ISSF World Cup in Munich, Germany. This is India's first quota in women's 10-meter pistol. Bhaker shot 201 in the final to secure the quota for the Tokyo Games. She finished third in the qualification with a total of 582 points, shooting a solid 98 in her last two rounds.

3. Europa League final: Chelsea beat Arsenal 4-1: Chelsea got the better of its English Premier League rivals to win the Europa League final, beating Arsenal 4-1 in the Baku Olympic Stadium, Azerbaijan. Despite a bright start from the Gunners, Chelsea ran riot in the second half with three goals in quick succession. Chelsea won their fifth major Uefa European competition final, with only Liverpool winning more among eight English clubs.

Note: The UEFA Europa League is an annual football club competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their performance in their national leagues and cup competitions. It is the second-tier competition of European club football, ranking below the UEFA Champions League.

BANKING AND FINANCE

1. RBI sets up committee on corporate loans: RBI has constituted a six-member committee on the Development of Secondary Market for Corporate Loans to come up with recommendations to increase the efficiencies of the debt market and aid in the resolution of stressed assets. The committee, headed by TN Manoharan, Chairman, Canara Bank, will make recommendations on required policy/regulatory interventions for facilitating the development of the secondary market in corporate loans, including loan transaction platform for stressed assets.

AWARDS AND HONOURS

1. Annie Zaidi honoured with Nine Dots Prize 2019: Freelance writer Indian writer ‘Annie Zaidi’ has won the Nine Dots Prize 2019 for her entry ‘Bread, Cement, Cactus’- combining memoir and reportage, exploring concepts of home and belonging to her experience based in contemporary life in India. The prize included an award of 100,000 US dollar. It is a prestigious book prize created to award innovative thinking that addresses contemporary issues around the world.

Note: The winner of the Nine Dots Prize is supported to develop their response into a full-length book, which is published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) and given the opportunity to spend a term at the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), Cambridge University.

OBITUARIES 

1. Godfather actor Carmine Caridi dies aged 85: Carmine Caridi, known for roles in The Godfather franchise, has died at the age of 85. The veteran actor also appeared in the final part of “The Godfather” trilogy in a different role – Albert Volpe, an investor in Michael Corleone’s casinos who is killed in an attack at a hotel in Atlantic City.