NATIONAL UPDATES:
1.
Union Minister Anurag Thakur Launches Nationwide Fit India Freedom Rider Cycle
Rally:
Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports, Anurag Thakur has launched a
nationwide ‘Fit India Freedom Rider Cycle rally’ on World Bicycle Day. Thakur
said that by riding a bicycle we can accomplish the goal of the Fit India
Movement, the Khelo India movement, the Clean India movement & Healthy
India movement. Fit India Movement, Khelo India movement, Clean India movement
& Healthy India movement all can be accomplished by riding a bicycle. It’ll
also cut down the pollution level.
Notably, World Bicycle Day is observed on
June 3 every year to promote the use of bicycles and their benefits. The World
Health Organization (WHO) is of the opinion that providing bicycles to the
world’s poorest people and communities will help in the prevention of 1.5
million premature deaths and 5 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions each
year.
2.
Senior IPS Zulfiquar Hasan Becomes the New DG of BCAS: Senior IPS
officer, Zulfiquar Hasan has been appointed as the new Director-General of the
Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). The official order stated that
Zulfiquar Hasan has been appointed “for a tenure up to his superannuation on
31.10.2024”. West Bengal-cadre 1988-batch IPS officer, Zulfiquar Hasan has been
serving as the Special Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force
(CRPF) in Delhi. The post of the Director-General, BCAS has been vacant since
January 4 after incumbent Nasir Kamal opted for voluntary retirement.
Note: Bureau of Civil Aviation Security
Founded: January 1978.
3.
Centre Appoints S L Thaosen as Director General of Sashastra Seema Bal: A 1988-batch
Indian Police Service officer S L Thaosen has been appointed as the new
Director-General of the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). Thaosen, a Madhya
Pradesh-cadre IPS officer, has been serving as the Special Director General of
the Border Security Force (BSF). The Sashastra Seema Bal force guards the
country’s borders with Nepal (1,751 km) and Bhutan (699 km).
The post of SSB chief has been lying vacant
after incumbent DG Kumar Rajesh Chandra retired on December 31 last year.
Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) DG Sanjay Arora has been holding the
additional charge of the Sashastra Seema Bal DG since then.
Note: Sashastra Seema Bal Founded: 1963;
Sashastra Seema Bal Headquarters: New Delhi.
4.
Sachin Tendulkar to continue as UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador for 20th year: Sachin Tendulkar
will continue as United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) ‘Goodwill Ambassador’
for a record 20th year, working for the welfare of underprivileged children.
The iconic cricketer has been associated with UNICEF for a long for various
causes. In his almost two-decade-long partnership with UNICEF, he has been
vital in furthering the campaigns, especially the ones aimed at providing a
better future for underprivileged children. Key points:
a)
In
2003, he was chosen to take lead in the initiative to create awareness and
promote polio prevention in India.
b)
Later
in 2008, he was roped in to create and promote hygiene and sanitation among
communities and has been continuing to do so over the years.
c)
In
2013, he was appointed UNICEF Ambassador for South Asia to advocate good
hygiene and sanitation across the region.
d)
In
2019, he went on a three-day trip to Nepal to raise awareness for UNICEF
Nepal’s ‘Bat for Brain Development’ campaign.
Note: UNICEF Headquarters: New York, New
York, United States; UNICEF Head: Catherine M. Russell; UNICEF President: Tore
Hattrem; UNICEF Founded: 11 December 1946.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1. US
Frontier Overtakes Japan’s Fugaku As World’s Most Powerful Supercomputer: According to the
59th edition of the Top500 list of the world’s most powerful supercomputers
unveiled by Germany, ORNL’s Supercomputer Frontier from the US, a supercomputer
built using Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) architecture and equipped with
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) processors, outperformed Japan’s Supercomputer
Fugaku to become the world’s fastest supercomputer. Frontier’s nearest
competitor, Fugaku, has a performance score of 442 petaflops on the Linpack
benchmark, a standard for officially ranking global, publicly disclosed
supercomputers. While Fugaku was based on Arm’s core designs, US’s Frontier is
powered by AMD.
The supercomputer: Frontier: The supercomputer
– Frontier, which was built for the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge
National Laboratory (ORNL), has broken the exascale speed barrier with a
Linmark benchmark score of 1.1 exaflops, making it the world’s first
supercomputer to do so. Whereas, 1 exaflop is equivalent to 1,000 petaflops.
Frontier features a total of 8,730,112 cores and is designed on the newest HPE
Cray EX235a architecture with AMD EPYC 64C 2GHz processors. Frontier is also
ranked number one as the world’s most energy-efficient supercomputer, on the
Green500 list.
2.
International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression: 4th June: Every year on June
4th, the United Nations (UN) observes the International Day of Innocent
Children Victims of Aggression to raise awareness of the children who have been
victims of physical, mental, and emotional abuse around the world. On this day,
the United Nations reaffirms its commitment to preserve children’s rights.
International Day of Innocent
Children Victims of Aggression History: The very first International Day of
Innocent Children Victims of Aggression was observed on August 19, 1982. At the
time, the day was focused on victims of the Lebanon War. In 1982 Lebanon war,
Israel’s forces invaded southern Lebanon after repeated attacks and
counterattacks between Palestine Liberation Organisation and Israel Defense
Forces (IDF). The invasion was carried out after the assassination attempt of
Israeli ambassador.
OTHER UPDATES:
SPORTS
1.
Mens Hockey Asia Cup: India win bronze with 1-0 win over Japan: India defeated
Japan 1-0 to win bronze at the Men’s Hockey Asia Cup 2022 in Jakarta,
Indonesia. Japan had seven penalty corners while India had just two but India
led the circle penetration stats 11-10. India were down to 10 men in the last
minute of the match but they managed to hold on and win their second bronze
medal at the Asia Cup.
This was India’s 10th medal from the 11
editions of the continental meet held so far. India, champions in 2003, 2007
and 2017, have finished runners-up on five occasions and have won the bronze
medal twice. Indian captain Birendra Lakra was declared man of the match in the
bronze medal playoff.
In the finals of Asia Cup 2022: South Korea dashed
Malaysia’s hopes of a maiden Hero Asia Cup trophy as they reigned supreme with
a thrilling 2-1 final victory here at the GBK Sports Arena. This is the fifth
time the Korean side have lifted the prestigious trophy. They have won the
title in 1994, 1999, 2009 and 2013.
2.
Amit Shah laid foundation stone for an Olympic-level sports complex in
Ahmedabad:
The government wants to have international level grounds and venues for all
sports for the Olympics in Ahmedabad with the Sardar Patel Sports Complex,
Narendra Modi Stadium, Naranpura Sports Complex, and three more sports
complexes. Amit Shah, the Union Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation, laid
the foundation stone for an Olympic-level sports complex in Ahmedabad, Gujarat,
on Sunday (29 May) at a cost of Rs 632 crore. Key Points:
a)
The
world-class sports stadium is set across 18 acres in Ahmedabad’s Naranpura
neighbourhood, with facilities for playing and training in a variety of indoor
and outdoor activities, including swimming. It can also accommodate up to 7,000
people at once.
b)
This
enormous sports facility with over 1.15 lakh square metres of built up area
includes an indoor sports arena, a community sports arena, and an aquatic
stadium.
c)
The
BJP-led central and state administrations hope that the presence of the world’s
largest cricket stadium, the Sardar Patel Sports Complex, and the Naranpura
Sports Complex will make Ahmedabad a city where Olympic preparations may be
made.
BANKING AND FINANCE
1.
Former SBI officer Natarajan Sundar joins NARCL as MD & CEO: Former State Bank
of India executive Natarajan Sundar joined National Assets Reconstruction
Company Ltd (NARCL) as Managing Director and CEO on May 30. Sundar is a banking
veteran having served SBI for over 37 years and retired as Dy MD and Chief
Credit Officer of the bank.
Other appointments: NARCL appointed Mr
Karnam Sekar as the Independent Director and Non-Executive Chairman of the
Board. Sekar was the MD and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank from July 2019 to June
2020. Earlier he was MD and CEO of Dena Bank from Sep 2018 until its merger in
April 2019.
About the NARCL: NARCL, a special
purpose vehicle set up as a joint initiative of Public and Private Sector
Banks, is expected to take over bad loans from banks and focus on resolution
and recoveries. NARCL has shareholding from 15 Indian Banks and Canara Bank is
the sponsor bank of this ARC. Together with IDRCL, they are presently engaged
in completing the financial and legal due diligence of the identified accounts
for takeover from lenders.
BUSINESS AND ECONOMY
1.
LIC Launches Savings Life Insurance Plan Bima Ratna: The Life Insurance
Corporation of India (LIC), India’s largest insurer, has launched “Bima Ratna”
– a non-linked, non-participating, individual, savings life insurance plan. The
new plan, which is aimed at the domestic market, provides both protection and
savings. Key Features of LIC’s Bima Ratna Plan:
a)
Bima
Ratna can be purchased through Corporate Agents, Insurance Marketing Firms
(IMF), Brokers, CPSC-SPV, and POSP-LI employed by these intermediaries namely
Corporate Agents, Insurance Marketing Firms (IMF), and Brokers
b)
The
key features of the plan include Death benefits, Survival benefits, Maturity
benefits, Guaranteed Additions, Settlement Options, Grace Period and Revival
solutions among other things.
c)
The
Bima Ratna plan from LIC provides financial assistance to the policyholder’s
family in the case of the policyholder’s untimely death during the policy term.
It offers for periodic payments for the policyholder’s survival at specified
intervals to address various financial demands.
d)
The
plan also addresses liquidity requirements through a loan facility.
e)
Premiums
can be paid on a yearly, half-yearly, quarterly, or monthly basis (monthly
premiums can only be paid through the National Automated Clearing House (NACH))
or by deductions from salary.
Note: LIC Chairperson: M R Kumar; LIC
Headquarters: Mumbai; LIC Founded: 1 September 1956.
2. US
Overtakes China as India’s Largest Trading Partner in FY22: The United States
overtook China to become India’s top trading partner in 2021-22, reflecting
strong economic ties between the two countries. According to commerce ministry
data, in 2021-22, bilateral trade between the US and India stood at US$ 119.42
billion as against US$ 80.51 billion in 2020-21. Exports to the US increased to
US$ 76.11 billion in 2021-22 from US$ 51.62 billion in the previous fiscal,
while imports rose to US$ 43.31 billion as compared to around US$ 29 billion in
2020-21. During 2021-22, India’s two-way commerce with China aggregated at
$115.42 billion as compared to $86.4 billion in 2020-21. Exports to China
marginally increased to $21.25 billion last fiscal year from $21.18 billion in
2020-21, while imports jumped to $94.16 billion from about $65.21 billion in
2020-21.
India’s Top Trading Partners
2021-22:
In 2021-22, the UAE is India’s third-largest trading partner with USD 72.9
billion. It is followed by Saudi Arabia (USD 42.85 billion) as 4th, Iraq (USD
34.33 billion) as 5th, & Singapore (USD 30 billion) as its 6th largest
trading partner.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
1.
Sanjit Narwekar conferred with V Shantaram Lifetime achievement award at MIFF
2022:
The 17th edition of the Mumbai International Film Festival of India (MIFF 2022)
confers Dr V. Shantaram Lifetime Achievement Award on noted author and
documentary filmmaker Shri Sanjit Narwekar to commemorate his exquisitely deep,
remarkably diverse and inspiring body of work. Union Minister of Commerce &
Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution and Textiles Piyush
Goyal presented the award to Sanjit Narwekar along with a cash prize of Rs 10
lakhs (Rs 1 million), Golden Conch and a citation.
2. RJ
Umar receives the Immunisation Champion award by UNICEF: Radio Jockey Umar
Nisar (RJ Umar) from South Kashmir, has been awarded the ’01 Best Content
Award’ and the Immunization Champion award by United Nations International
Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) at the annual Radio4Child 2022 Awards in
Mumbai, Maharashtra. The award was presented by multi-Grammy Award-winning
music composer, environmentalist, and UNICEF celebrity supporter Ricky Kej, OIC
UNICEF, UP Dr Zafrin Chowdhury, chief of communications and advocacy and
partnerships, UNICEF India. The award has been conferred to Umar for his work
of providing awareness and countering rumours to reach audiences during the
pandemic.
OBITUARIES
1.
Bollywood Singer KK dies after performing at Kolkata concert: Noted Bollywood
singer KK (Krishnakumar Kunnath) who mesmerized music lovers for over three
decades is no more. The 53-year-old singer died in Kolkata after a live
performance. KK was regarded as one of the top singers of Bollywood. KK sang in
Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Assamese.
KK sang numerous hit songs in various films. Some of KK’s most popular songs that remain his best songs include Tu Hi Meri Shab Hai (Gangster), Tadap Tadap Ke Is Dil Se (Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam), Awarapan Banjarapan (Jism), Aankhon Mein Teri Ajab Si (Om Shanti Om) and Khuda Jaane (Bachna Ae Haseeno). His song Yaaron, released in 1999, made him a household name.
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