. NEWS BULLETIN―21 Week-1, June 2019
NATIONAL
The Modi Government announced the portfolios of the
Union Council of Ministers.
―BJP national president Amit Shah has been allotted Home
Ministry ―Former Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar has been allotted
External Affairs Minister.
―Former Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been
allotted Finance Ministry.
―Former Home Minister Rajnath Singh will take over as the
Defence Minister.
―Nitin Gadkari will continue as the Minister of Road
Transport and Highways and Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises.
―Ravi Shankar Prasad will continue as the Law Minister,
with additional responsibility of Information Technology and
Telecommunications.
―Piyush Goyal will continue as the Railways Minister with
the addition of Commerce Ministry.
―Dharmendra Pradhan will continue as the Petroleum
Minister along with additional responsibility of Steel ministry.
―Smriti Irani, will continue as the Textiles Minister, along
with Women and Child Development.
―Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has been allotted newly created
Jal Shakti ministry.
―Narendra Singh Tomar has been allotted agriculture
ministry along with Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.
―Thawarchand Gehlot has been allotted the Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment.
―Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda has been
allotted the new Tribal Affairs Ministry.
―Ramesh Pokhriyal has been allotted Human Resources
Ministry.
―Prakash Javadekar has been allotted the Environment and
Forests Ministry and Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
―Pralhad Joshi has been allotted Ministry of Coal along with
Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.
―Kiren Rijiju is the new Sports Minister.
―R.K. Singh will continue as the power and renewable energy
minister,
―Hardeep Puri has been allotted Civil Aviation ministry.
―Prime Minister Modi will himself hold the portfolios of
Department of Personnel and Training, Atomic Energy and
Space.
―The other important portfolios are as follow:
―D.V. Sadananda Gowda: Minister for Chemicals and
Fertilizers.
―Ram Vilas Paswan: Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food
and Public Distribution.
―Harsimrat Kaur Badal: Minister for Food Processing
Industries.
―Dr. Harsh Vardhan: Minister for Health and Family
Welfare; Minister for Science and Technology; and Minister
for Earth Sciences.
―Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi: Minister for Minority Affairs.
―Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey: Minister for Skill
Development and Entrepreneurship.
―Arvind Sawant: Minister for Heavy Industries and Public
Enterprise.
―Giriraj Singh: Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy and
Fisheries.
78 Members of the 17th Lok Sabha are women.
―This has also taken the total number of women Lok Sabha
members to the all-time high of 14 percent.
―11 percent of the 16th Lok Sabha members were women.
Whereas 5 percent of the 1st Lok Sabha members were women.
―Both Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have sent 11 women
members each to the 17th Lok Sabha. This is the highest number
of female MPs that a state has sent.
―Uttar Pradesh has sent more women MPs because there is a
larger number of Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.
―West Bengal sent more women MPs because 41 percent of
all the Trinamool Congress contestants were women.
―One third of all the elected MPs from Odisha are women.
This is due to the fact that 33 percent of all the BJD candidates
were women.
―Neither NDA nor UPA was able to clear the Bill for reserving
33 percent of the Parliament seats for women.
―Approximately 8,000 individuals contested in the 17th Lok
Sabha elections. Less than 800 of these were women. One-third
of these 800 contested as independent candidates.
―Both BJP and Congress did not give tickets to more than 12
percent women candidates each.
―Globally on an average 24 percent of the National
Legislation members are females.
―In South Asia 18 percent of the National Legislation
members are female.
―European Union and Latin America & Caribbean countries
have as much as one third women in the national legislatures.
―There are many countries which have better women
representation than India. For example, Rwanda (61 per cent)
Cuba and Bolivia (both 53 per cent), Mexico (48 per cent) and
Sweden (47 per cent).
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Cabinet Ministers of India 2019
―India’s women representation in the Parliament is even
worse than that of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and
Nepal.
India invited the leaders of all BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal
Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic
Cooperation) countries for Modi’s searing in ceremony.
―BIMSTEC includes all countries in the Bay of Bengal
region: Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and
Bhutan.
―In addition, leaders from the Kyrgyz Republic (who is chair
of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) and Mauritius (who
was the chief guest at Pravasi Bhartiya Divas) were also
invited.
―Few Tamil cinema stars like Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan
were also invited for the ceremony.
―All the SAARC leaders - including the Prime Minister of
Pakistan - were invited for PM Modi’s oath-taking ceremony in
2014.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that we would not
take a ministerial position in the 17th Lok Sabha.
―He made this announcement citing health issues.
―Arun Jaitley said that he had undergone serious health
challenges during the last 18 months and as such he would like
to take time for treatment and recuperation.
―As a Finance Minister of the country Jaitley was
instrumental in clearing multiple legislations including the
legislation for Goods and Services Tax.
The Left parties’ performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha
elections was their worst performance till date.
―In the aftermath of the performance CPI has once again given
a call for reunification of the Communist parties.
―CPI is arguing that the Left parties in India are facing an
unprecedented challenge in its history.
―CPI has also admitted that it might lose the national party
status.
―This is not the first time that CPI has called for reunification.
It has been doing that time and again.
Rahul Gandhi announced his decision for stepping down
as the Congress President, and asked the party to look for a
successor. Rahul Gandhi clarified that he would continue in the
current position until a successor is found. The decision to
resign was taken by Rahul Gandhi after the party suffered its
second-worst defeat in history under his leadership.
―In the aftermath of the defeat many state Congress presidents
resigned and many others offered to resign. Post defeat,
Congress leaders in Rajasthan started rumbling and there were
tensions emerging in the JD(S)-Congress government in
Karnataka.
―Many different Congress leaders and opposition leaders of
other parties had already approached Rahul for reconsidering
his decision. But till now he has remained un-waivered.
―Congress will not get Leader of the Opposition status
because it has less than 55 MP or less than ten percent of the
total MPs in the House.
The Government has granted the Justice Rohini
Commission an extension till July 31, 2019.
―The Rohini Commission under the leadership of the Justice G
Rohini (retired) was constituted under Article 340 of the Indian
Constitution for examining the sub-categorisations of the Other
Backward Classes (OBC). Constituted on October 2, 2017, the
commission was originally supposed to give report within a
period of three months. This is the sixth time that the
commission has been granted an extension.
―These extensions have been given in the light of the
“voluminous data involved and time required for analysis to
prepare a comprehensive report”.
LAW The Centre Government has told the Supreme Court that it
neither supports registration of FIR nor CBI investigation into
Rafale fighter jets deal due its sensitive nature.
―The Centre Government is seeking dismissal of the petition
seeking review of the Supreme Court’s December 14 verdict
providing clean chit to the government in Rafale deal.
―The three-judge bench of the SC on May 10 reserved its
verdict on the pleas seeking review of the December 14
judgement in the Rafale case.
The Brazil Supreme Court has ruled to make homophobia
and transphobia a crime equivalent to crimes like racism.
―The Supreme Federal Tribunal of Brazil has 11 judges. Six of
them have favoured the ruling.
―In 1989, Brazil made racism a crime punishable with a
sentence of up to five years.
―The Supreme Court ruled that homophobia should be treated
at par with racism until the nation’s legislature enacts a specific
legislation for LGBT group.
Supreme Court has refused to grant arrest protection to
newly elected BSP MP from Uttar Pradesh; Atul Rai.
―Atul is accused of raping a college student. The vacation
bench of the Supreme Court said that it was not interested in
providing relief to Rai. In the past the Supreme Court had
refused to provide interim arrest protection to Rai.
―An FIR was registered against Rai on the complaint of a
student that he sexually assaulted her.
The Gujarat local court sentenced two cattle owners to
imprisonment. The accused were charged with leaving their
bovines on the public road in Vadodara in 2017. The
Vadodara Municipal Corporation had pressed charges
against them for negligence.
―The complaint by VMC was filed under section 308 of the
Indian Penal Code. The section deals with the attempting to
culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The case was part
of the VMC drive to deal with cattle menace on the streets.
―The accused Alpesh Rabari and Hitesh Rabari, also have to
pay a fine of Rs 5000 each.
Rajasthan High Court has directed the State Government to
cancel the licences of all illiterate drivers i.e. drivers who are
unable to read and write. The Rajasthan High Court while
passing the order termed the illiterate drivers as a menace for
pedestrians.
― The Court said that illiterate individuals are unable to
understand the road signs and caution warnings on highways
and city roads. The High Court also directed the State transport
Authorities to issue appropriate instructions in this regard.
The Court also said that the action should be taken in cases
where the licences are issued to individuals without the
capability of reading and writing.
STATES
Arunachal Pradesh Governor Brig
(Retd) B D Mishra has invited the BJP
leader and Chief Minister designate
Prem Khandu for forming the
government in the state.
―Post poll the 41 BJP party legislators
unanimously elected Khandu as their
leader. ―This is the first time that Arunachal
will see full-fledged BJP government. Arunachal Pradesh CM-
Shri Prem Khandu
―BJP in Arunachal Pradesh achieved a landslide victory in the
Assembly polls under Khandu;s leadership.
―Khandu helped the BJP to increase its share from seven
assembly seats in 2014 to 41 seats in 2019.
―The only regional party – the People’s Party of Arunachal
(PPA) –won one assembly seat in the state.
YSR Congress chief Yeduguri
Sandinti Jaganmohan Reddy is all
set to become the second Chief
Minister of Andhra Pradesh post
bifurcation.
―The YSR Congress won 151 of the
175 assembly seats in the state. The YSR Congress also managed to
win 22 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in
the state.
Naveen Patnaik took oath and
became the Chief Minister of Odisha
for the fifth consecutive term.
―With this achievement Patnaik has
become one of the longest-serving
Chief Minister’s in India.
―Some of the other long serving
Chief Ministers of India include:
―Pawan Kumar Chamling, Sikkim
(24 years, 5 months, 14 days).
―Pawan holds the distinction of being
the longest serving chief minister of
independent India.
―Pawan is the founder and president of the Sikkim
Democratic Front. He has been ruling Sikkim since 1994. He
was defeated in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
―Jyoti Basu, West Bengal (23 years, 4 months, 15 days)
―Jyoti Basu, a member of the Communist Party of India
(Marxist) served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal from
1977 to 2000.
―Gegong Apang, Arunachal Pradesh (22 years, 8 months, 6
days)
―Gegong Apang is the third longest serving Chief Minister.
Apang has represented both BJP and Congress as Chief
Minister. He is currently the member of Janata Dal (Secular)
―Lal Thanhawla, Mizoram (22 years, 1 month, 25 days)
―Lal Thanwala represents Congress party. He was elected as
CM five times.
―Virbhadra Singh, Himachal Pradesh (21 years, 11 days).
―Virbhadra Singh has served as Himachal Pradesh chief
minister for 21 years (not consecutive terms).
―Virbhadra Singh represents Congress.
Sikkim Krantikari Morcha
(SKM) president Prem Singh
Tamang, popularly known as
P.S. Golay, on May 27, 2019 took
oath as the chief minister of
Sikkim. He was administered the
oath by governor Ganga Prasad at
Paljor Stadium.
―The SKM, founded in 2013,
won a slender majority in the 32-
member Sikkim legislative
assembly by bagging 17 seats
against 15 won by SDF led by P.K. Chamling.
―The Chamling government was ousted by the SKM after over
24 years of rule. After taking charge of the office at Tashiling
state secretariat, Golay announced a five-day working week for
state government employees.
ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
American Government has removed India and Singapore
from the list of countries whose currency it monitors.
―The American Government has made this decision in the light
of the recent developments including the steps taken by India.
―The list still includes names of countries like China, Japan,
South Korea, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Singapore, Malaysia
and Vietnam.
―India was net purchaser of foreign exchange in 2017. Since
then RBI steadily sold reserves for most of 2018.
―In 2018 the net sales of the foreign currency reached 1.7
percent of the GDP.
―India has kept adequate foreign exchange reserves as per the
IMF metrics.
―America placed India in its currency monitoring list of
countries with potentially questionable foreign exchange
policies in May 2018.
―Five other countries i.e. China, Germany, Japan, South
Korea and Switzerland were also placed on the list with India.
India stopped importing Iranian oil after the expiration of
the American waiver granted for the same.
―In 2018 US had granted waiver to eight countries for six
months for buying Iranian crude. The waiver ended on May 2,
2019.
―With this stopping, India has become the latest country to
comply with US sanctions on Iran.
―Besides India, Greece, Italy, Taiwan and Turkey have stopped
importing crude from Iran.
―India had stopped its imports after USA refused to extend
exemption further.
―Under American pressure, India has stopped crude imports
from both Venezuela and Iran.
―India was meeting 10 percent of its need from Iran crude.
―India is facing another complication as it is developing Iran’s
Chabahar port. US has exempted the development of this port
from the Iranian sanctions as of now; but this can change in the
future.
―Chabahar port is used for supplies and humanitarian
assistance to Afghanistan.
―The current US sanctions were imposed (or reimposed
depending on the perspective) after US pulled out of the 2014
nuclear accord between Iran and six other nuclear powers.
―The American Government is pressurising Iran into entering
nto a new deal that will cover both Iran’s nuclear program and
Iran’s ballistic missile program. ―US target is to reduce Iran crude oil exports to zero.
―American sanctions are having serious affects on the Iranian
economy. The value of its currency has dropped to all time low,
its inflation rate has increased by more than four times.
Foreign investors are moving away from Iran. Iran claims that
the sanctions against it are illegal.
Kerala government has taken a decision of levying 1
percent cess on GST from June 1st. The extra cess is being
levied for dealing with the devastations that the state saw in the
aftermath of 2018 floods.
―With this decision Kerala has become the first Indian state
to levy calamity cess. The extra cess will not be imposed on
daily essential items like wheat, edible oil, pulses etc. The cess
will be imposed for a period of two years.
―The government is expecting to raise Rs 600 crore through
the cess. The cess was announced in the annual budget of state
and approved by the then FM, Shri Arun Jaitley in the GST
Council.
―Last year Kerala experienced the worst floods in more than a
century. The floods were designated as Level 3 calamity event.
Andhra Pradesh CM – Shri Jagan Mohan Reddy
Odisha CM – Shri Naveen Patnaik
Sikkim CM - Shri P.S. Golay
In Nissan Motor case, the Permanent Court of Arbitration
in Singapore has rejected India’s argument that the Court does
not have jurisdiction for handling the case. ―Indian government will most likely file an appeal in the
Singapore’s Supreme Court. The acceptance of India’s
argument would have led to the throwing out of the whole case.
―In 2016 Japan’s Nissan sent a legal notice to the Indian
Government claiming Rs 5,000 (USD 720 million) crores. This
claim included Rs 2,900 crore in unpaid incentives and Rs
2,100 crore in damages (interest, costs etc). Nissan claimed that
this amount was due to it as incentives as part of the 2008
agreement for setting up a car manufacturing facility in Tamil
Nadu. The Tamil Nadu government promised number of
incentives including tax breaks to Nissan and France’s
Renault when they agreed to set up manufacturing facility in
the state. These incentives included tax benefits.
―Consequently, Nissan and Renault invested to the tune of Rs
6,100 crore in the factory. The factory can manufacture around
4,80,000 vehicles annually.
―The factory also provides job to more than 40,000
individuals. Tamil Nadu government has been trying to settle
the matter with Nissan but till now an acceptable agreement
has remained a distant dream.
―In case of a settlement, Nissan will have an option of
withdrawing its arbitration case against India.
―Nissan took India to Court for alleged violation of the
Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)
between India and Japan. CEPA provides certain protections to
Japanese firms investing in India and vice versa.
―In 2017, India filed a plea claiming that the arbitration court
in Singapore does not have authority to deal with the issue for
multiple reasons including tax related issues which are not
covered by the CEPA.
DEFENCE & SECURITY
For the first time in the history, an all-women crew of the
Indian Air Force flew a medium lift helicopter (Mi-17 V5).
―The crew flew the Mi-17 V5 helicopter as part of IAF’s Battle
Inoculation Training. ―Parul Bharadwaj – the crew leader – has become the first
woman pilot of IAF to fly Mi-17 V5.
―Co-pilot Flying Officer Aman Nidhi is the first woman
Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot from Jharkhand.
―The third crew Flight Lieutenant Hina Jaiswal is the first
woman flight engineer of the Indian Air Force.
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully tested a locally developed 500 kg
class guided bomb.
―The 500 kg class Inertial Guided Bomb was dropped from
Su 30 MKI combat jet at Pokhran in Rajasthan.
―The tested bomb is capable of carrying different warheads.
―Last week Indian Air Force had successfully test fired the
BrahMos cruise missile from a Sukhoi jet at the Andaman and
Nicobar Islands.
Indian Air Force transport aircraft AN-32 has been certified
to fly on blended aviation fuel containing up to 10 per cent of
indigenous bio-jet fuel.
―The certificate was granted by aero-engine test facilities at
Chandigarh.
―The certificate was granted after one year of evaluation tests
and trails using the blended aviation fuel.
―These tests and trials followed the international aviation
standards.
―The indigenous bio-jet fuel was produced by the CSIR-IIP
lab at Dehradun in 2013.
―Till now the fuel was not tested or certified for commercial
use due to the lack of testing facilities in civil aviation sector,
―In 2018, the Indian Air Force permitted the use of its
resources for testing, evaluating and certifying the bio-jet fuel.
―Since 2018, Indian Air Force engineers and flight test crew
have been evaluating the fuel against international standards.
―In a statement IAF has announced this as a step in promoting
the ‘Make in India’ mission as this bio-fuel would be produced
from Tree Borne Oils (TBOs) sourced from tribal areas and
farmers, augmenting their income substantially.
SPORTS
On the eve of ICC men’s World
Cup, ICC launched the criiio
campaign for celebrating diversity
of cricket.
―Under the campaign the fans of
cricket have been asked to share
pictures and videos of how and
where they play cricket.
―The videos and pictures have to be
shared by using the newly launched
criiio and visiting the site criiio.com.
―ICC has planned a series of
programs for the next 12 months; this is first of these programs. ―Different individuals across the world play cricket
differently. Criiio is a celebration of all of these ways.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 has started.
―The opening ceremony of the games took place at the Mall
located opposite the Buckingham Palace in London (United
Kingdom).
―The ceremony was hosted by former England cricketer
Andrew Flintoff, Shibani Dandekar and Comedian Paddy
McGuinness.
―The captains of 10 teams participating in the World Cup met
with the British Royal family at a gala event which took place
before the opening ceremony.
―English singer John Newman performed ‘Feel the love’ at the
start of the event.
―The opening ceremony concluded with the official theme
song of the ICC World Cup 2019; ‘Stand By’.
The seventh season of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) will
start from July 20, 2019. The starting time of the matches have
also been changed from 8.00 PM to 7.30 PM.
―Bengaluru Bulls is the defending champion of the seventh
PKL season.
Apurvi Chandela won the
women’s 10m Air Rifle at the
year’s third International
Shooting Sport Federation
(ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol
stage in Munich, Germ any.
―Apurvi defeated the Wang
Luyao of China by attaining a
score of 251 against Wang’s score of 250.8.
―This is Apurvi’s second ISSF World Cup gold medal of
2019. She won the first gold by attaining the world record score
at Delhi. Overall this is Apurvi’s fourth ISSF medal.
INTERNATIONAL
The results of the European Union elections 2019 have been
announced. Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party received the highest
number of votes and seats in the European parliament.
Apurvi Chandela
―This is the first time that euro-sceptic party like the Brexit
Party has secured more than 25% of seats (29 out of 73) by
acquiring 31.71% of votes.
―The pro-EU Liberal Democrats attained the second position
by securing 15 seats by acquiring 20% of votes.
―The Labour party attained the third position by securing 10
seats. The fourth position was secured by the pro-European,
environmentalist Greens with seven seats.
―The Green parties in Europe are moving up due to the
growing climate concerns. This is a counterpoint to the far-
right and anti-migrant parties that have been growing in
popularity across Europe in recent years.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
According to media reports Huawei’s in-house operating
system, codenamed ‘HongMeng’ will not be ready till 2020.
―This will create difficulty for the company as the US
government has imposed a global ban on it by adding its name
to the Entity List.
―Consequently, Google cancelled the company’s Android
licence.
―While cancelling the license, Google clarified that the Play
Store and Play Protect services will continue to work on
Huawei phones for now. But there is no certainty over the future
course of action.
―Microsoft also stopped selling Huawei laptops in its online
store. It might also cancel Windows license for the firm.
SUMMIT & ORGANIZTION
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed
gratitude for India’s contribution to the United Nations and its
peacekeeping missions. ―India currently contributes around 6,400 peacekeepers to
various missions across the world. India is the fourth largest
contributor of uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping.
―Indian Peacekeepers are currently deployed on the UN peace
operations in Abyei, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Haiti, Lebanon, the Middle East, South Sudan and the
Western Sahara.
ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
An all-white, albino panda has been reportedly seen at the
Wolong National Nature Reserve in the southwestern
province of Sichuan, China.
―This is the first of its kind documented sighting of fully while
giant panda in the world. White Panda’s get their colour due to
the rare genetically inherited genes that prevents the normal
synthesis of melanin.
BASIC GK ASPECTS
BOOKS & AUTHORS The Good Son―by You Jeong Jeong
The Selected Works of Abdullah the Cossack―by HM Naqvi
I Have Become The Tide―by Githa Hariharan
The Lost Decade (2008-2018) ―by Puja Mehra
Caste as Social Capital―by R. Vaidyanathan.
APPOINTMENTS Justice A K Mittal has taken oaths as the new Chief Justice
of the Meghalaya High Court
―The oaths of the office were administered by the Governor
Tathagata Roy at the Raj Bhawan of Meghalaya in the presence
of the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, and his cabinet
ministers.
―Justice Mittal is the most senior judge of the Punjab and
Haryana High Court. Justice Mittal is replacing Chief Justice
Mohammad Yaqoob Mir.
Lonnie Bunch has been appointed as the 14th secretary of
the Smithsonian Institution. Bunch is the first African
American to be appointed as a Smithsonian secretary.
―Bunch is replacing David Skorton. David Skorton has been
appointed as the president and CEO of the Association of
American Medical Colleges.
―Smithsonian Institution was founded in 1846. Smithsonian
Institution is the world’s largest museum, education and
research complex, with 19 museums and a National Zoological
Park.
PEOPLE IN NEWS
Prem Tinsulanonda died on 26th May, 2019 at the age of 98
in Thailand. Prem was an army commander, prime minister and
adviser to the royal palace. Prem was regarded as one of the
most influential political figures of Thailand. Prem was best
known for his long-standing devotion to the monarchy,
especially the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Nobel Prize winner physicist Murray Gell-Mann died on
24th May, 2019 at the age of 89. Murray contributed towards
discovery and classification of subatomic particles. Murray
transformed physics by his eightfold model of classifying
subatomic particles based on electric charge, spin and other
characteristics.
―Murray was awarded with the Nobel Prize in 1969 for his
contributions and discoveries concerning the classification of
elementary particles and their interactions.
MUST-KNOW
BJP: Bharatiya Janata Party
TMC: All India Trinamool Congress
BJD: Biju Janata Dal
NOTA: None of The Above
NDA: National Democratic Alliance
UPA: United Progressive Alliance
BIMSTEC: Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral
Technical and Economic Cooperation
SCO: Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
SAARC: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
OBC: Other Backward Classes
LED: Light-Emitting Diode
IMF: International Monetary Fund
GST: Goods and Services Tax
ISSF: International Shooting Sport Federation
ICC: International Cricket Council
DAYS/ANNIVERSARIES
28th May every year is celebrated as Menstrual Health Day.
―The day is celebrated for raising awareness about the
importance of proper menstrual hygiene.
―The poor knowledge about menstrual hygiene, coupled with
the presence of taboos and stigma, restricted access to hygiene
menstrual products and poor sanitation infrastructure have
significantly negative impact on the educational opportunities,
health and overall social status of females across the world.
―The Menstrual Health day helps in breaking silence, raising
awareness and changing negative social norms around the issue
of menstrual health.
. NEWS BULLETIN―22 Week-2, June 2019
NATIONAL
The Centre Government has confirmed the unemployment
figures of 6.1 percent during 2017-18. This is the highest
unemployment in the 45 years. The released data shows 7.8
percent of all employable urban youths as unemployed. This
figure is 5.3 percent for the rural youth.
―Participation rate for males and females for the quarter
ending December 2018 was 73.6 percent and 19.5 percent
respectively.
―This data confirms the data in the pre-election leaked report
on unemployment which was being denied by the government.
―This was in top of the poor performance of agriculture and
manufacturing sector in January-March period.
―This is the first time in the last two years that India’s GDP has
registered growth lower than China’s GDP growth.
The Newly elected BJP government has reconstituted eight
key Cabinet Committees.
―The centre government has acknowledged the slowing down
of economy and pressing need for job creation and announced
setting up of two new cabinet committees on Investment and
Growth, and Employment and Skill Development
―The Cabinet Committees and their members are as under:
―Appointments Committee of the Cabinet: Prime Minister
Modi and Amit Shah.
―Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs panel: PM Modi
(Chair), Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, DV
Sadananda Gowda, Narendra Singh Tomar, Nirmala
Sitharaman, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, S
Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan.
―Growth and Cabinet Committee on Employment and
Skill Development: PM Modi (Chair), Amit Shah, Nirmala
Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, Piyush Goyal, Ramesh
Pokhriyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mahendra Nath Pandey,
Santosh Kumar Gangwar and Hardeep Singh Puri.
―Cabinet Committee on Accommodation: Amit Shah
(chair), Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal.
―Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs: Amit Shah
(chair), Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramvilas Paswan, Narendra Singh
Tomar, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash
Javadekar and Prahlad Joshi.
―Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs: PM Modi (chair),
Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramvilas
Paswan, Narendra Singh Tomar, Ravi Shankar Prasad,
Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Harsh Vardhan, Piyush Goyal, Arvind
Ganpat Sawant, and Prahlad Joshi.
―Cabinet Committee on Security: PM Modi (chair) Amit
Shah, Rajnath Singh, Sitharaman and S Jaishankar.
―Cabinet Committee on Investment: PM Modi (Chair), Amit
Shah, Nirmala Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Gadkari and Piyush
Goyal as members.
A new gender equality index created by Equal Measures
2030 has ranked India 95 among 129 countries.
―India attained a score of 56.2 out of 100 on the gender
parameter of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
―Countries such as Ghana, Rwanda and Bhutan have done
better than India on the index.
―India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have been rated very poor in
terms of women education.
―The index covers 14 of the 17 SDGs and ranks countries on
51 parameters ranging from health to climate change and
violence.
―A score of 100 on the index means that the set target for the
indicator has been achieved. For example; 50 percent women
representation in the national legislature or 100 percent girls
completing secondary education.
―129 countries reviewed scored an average of 65.7 out of 100.
―No country emerged as the world’s top or even as one in top
ten performer across all the measured parameters.
―The parameter ranks a score below 59 as a poor score.
―Denmark has received the highest marks in the index.
Finland has received the second highest score. They have been
followed by Sweden, Norway and Netherlands.
―Countries marked by conflict: Niger, Yemen, Congo, Chad
etc. have received the lowest scores in the index.
Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) has re-elected Sonia Gandhi as
its leader.
―Sonia Gandhi has been re-elected to
the Lok Sabha from Rae Bareli
constituency in Uttar Pradesh. ―Congress cannot claim the leader of
the opposition status because it only has
52 members in the Lok Sabha. Congress
will need three more members for claiming the post.
―The appointment of Congress Leader of Lok Sabha has not
been done yet.
The Government of India has
merged the ministries of Water
Resources and Drinking Water and
Sanitation to form a new Jal Shakti
Ministry.
―All the water related works will be
merged and made part of this
ministry. ―The scope of the new ministry will
include international and interstate
water disputes, Namami Gange project, clean drinking water
projects etc.
―Forming of the new ministry was one of the polls promises
of the BJP during the recent Lok Sabha elections.
―The newly created ministry will be headed by Cabinet
Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
On 3rd June, 2019 the Indian Air Force aircraft AN-32
went missing over Arunachal Pradesh.
―The aircraft with 13 people onboard took off from the Jorhat
in Assam and was supposed to land at the Mechuka Advanced
Landing Ground in Shi Yomi, Arunachal Pradesh.
―The aircraft took off at 12:30 PM and it was supposed to land
at 1:30 PM. The contact with the aircraft was lost at 1:00 PM.
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Sonia Gandhi
Ministry of Jal Shakti
―Indian army, IITB
and state police
personnel are helping
Indian Air Force on
land while Indian Navy
aircraft and ISRO
satellites are helping for
remote search and rescue operation.
―Yomi situated on China border is one of the remotest
locations in Arunachal Pradesh. ―AN-32 is a soviet era, soviet designed aircraft used by Indian
Air Force.
―No signs (including wreckage) of the aircraft were found until
the time of writing this bulletin.
Railway ministry is exploring the possibility of running
Vande Bharat express on Mumbai-Pune and Nasik-Vadodara
lines. Currently Vande Bharat Express is running between New
Delhi and Varanasi. This train reduced the travel time between
the cities by almost 40 per cent.
LAW The Special Session Court in Vadodara, Gujarat has rejected
the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s (ACB) closure report on Arjun
Vanzara bribery case.
―Arjun Vanjara is an IPS officer DG Vanzara’s son. Arjun
was a mamlatdar in Vadodara at the time of his arrest. Arjun
was caught red handed in 2016 while accepting a bribe of Rs
75,000. ACB filed a closure report under Section 169 of the
Criminal Procedure Code citing lack of evidence in the case.
―ACB also claimed that there was no relationship between the
complainant and Arjun.
―The Session Court has not accepted the closure report and has
asked the police to conduct further investigation into the case.
Delhi High Court has asked the Centre Government to make
its stand on the Uniform Civil Code clear.
―The Delhi High Court has also asked the government to
constitute a High-Level Expert Committee for drafting the
code within a prescribed time.
―In addition, the Delhi High Court also issued notice to the
Law Commission of India and the Ministry of Home Affairs
for the same plea.
―The information is being sought by the Delhi High Court on
a Public Interest Litigation seeking directions for framing a
uniform civil code in the country under Article 44 of the
Constitution of India.
―The petition claimed that existence of personal laws
contradicted the Article 14 (right to equality), Article 15 (right
against discrimination) and Article 21 (right to life and liberty)
of the Constitution of India.
―Uniform civil law will replace the current personal laws.
The existing personal laws are based on ―different scriptures
and customs of different religious communities.
―The uniform civil code will have a common set of rules
applicable to every citizen of India.
Centre Government has approached the Supreme Court
challenging the Madras High Court order quashing the land
acquisition order for the Salem-Chennai green corridor project.
―Salem-Chennai green corridor project is a 273 km, Rs 10,000
crore eight lane green corridor connecting Salem and Chennai
with the Centre Government ‘Bharatmala Pariyojana’
scheme. The project will reduce the travel time between the two
cities by 50%. The project will pass through reserved forest and
water bodies.
―The Madras High Court held that the project required
compulsory environment clearance because it negatively
affected the environment.
―The appeal has been accepted by the vacation bank of the
Supreme Court.
―Earlier, the Madras High Court had said that environmental
clearance was mandatory since the project would have an
adverse impact on the environment, including water bodies.
STATES
SP-BSP have announced that they will contest the upcoming
by polls in the Uttar Pradesh separately.
―SP-BSP alliance failed miserably during the recently
concluded Lok Sabha elections in the state.
―Both the parties have clarified that this break is not a
permanent break and that both the parties can come together
in future if needed.
Uttar Pradesh cabinet has taken a decision to increase
penalties for traffic violations by 100 percent.
―The fines for using mobile phone while driving or being on
a two-wheeler without helmet have been increased from Rs
500 to Rs 1,000.
―Similarly, the fine to violators driving without license has
been doubled to Rs 1,000 (earlier Rs 500), driving without
number plate will attract a fine of Rs 500 (earlier Rs 300).
―The UP cabinet has also given permission to proposal
allowing vehicle owners in the state to port the registration
number of their vehicles.
The Midday Meal Schem e for 51 drought-hit tehsils in
Gujarat during summer vacation
in schools has been stopped.
―The decision has been taken
because the Drought
Declaration Certificates of
these tehsils have ended on May
31, and the Revenue
Department has not taken any
steps for renewing them.
―The Revenue Department had
issued certificates declaring
moderate to severe drought in 51 tehsils of Ahmedabad,
Banaskantha, Bhavnagar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Kutch,
Mehsana, Morbi, Patan, Rajkot and Surendranagar districts.
Odisha Government has held talks with the Centre
Government for looking into the feasibility of implementing the
Ayushman Bharat Yojana in the state.
― According to Indu Bhushan, the CEO Ayushman Bharat,
the main challenge for the state is integration of the state health
assurance scheme Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) with
the national scheme.
―Implementation of the scheme in the state will lead to Centre
bearing a part of the burden of the scheme. This will reduce
budgetary pressure for the state government.
―State government announced various populist schemes
during the run-up to the elections. Reducing budgetary pressures
will help the state in meeting these needs.
―Till now the Odisha Government has been reluctant to
implement the scheme in the state.
ECONOMIC AFFAIRS
United States has finally taken India out of the
Generalised System of Preferences Scheme (GSP).
―The benefits under the scheme which included duty free
imports of Indian goods to US worth $6 billion or more will end
on June 5. India has been part of the GSP program since 1975.
India was the largest GSP beneficiary.
Missing IAF plane AN-32
―Withdrawal of GSP benefits is likely to impact the exports of
approximately 1,900 products.
―Approximately 11 percent of the total Indian exports to US
were under GSP. US is one of the largest trading partners of
India. India’s goods trade surplus with US was $21.3 billion in
2018. Indian Government has termed this development as
“unfortunate”.
―United States had announced that India’s access to the
scheme will be removed, but it did not issue notification for the
same due to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in India.
―Tensions between India and USA have been slowly rising in
the past two years due to many actions of the Indian
government. India has cut the maximum retail prices of life
saving cardiac stents and essential knee implants by more than
65 percent.
―India imposes high tariffs on information and technology
products.
―USA is claiming that these actions along with many others do
not provide equitable and reasonable access to Indian
markets.
Director General GST (Pune) has raised a tax demand of
Rs 4,002 crore and 346 crore against Indian Oil Corporation
(IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL)
respectively. ―The tax demand has been raised for alleged non-payment of
excise duty on the ethanol which the companies mixes with
petrol.
―Both IOC and HPCL are contesting this demand claiming
that use of sugarcane extract ethanol for mixing with fuel is
exempt from tax.
―Oil refiners in India add 5 to 10 percent ethanol into petrol
as per the government directive.
―The directive has been issued by the government with the
view of reducing India’s dependence on oil imports.
―IOC is one of the largest tax payers in India. In 2018-19
alone it paid taxes to the tune of Rs 1.93 lakh crore.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) has increased the
US’s GDP growth forecast for 2019 to 2.6 percent.
―IMF expects US’s GDP growth in 2020 to fall to 2 percent.
―According to the IMF, US economy will grow slightly faster
in 2019, than it was projected in past, but there are material
risks associated with the economy.
―These material risks include the risk of damage from the
ongoing US-China trade wars, widening inequalities and
rising debt levels.
―IMF also says that the US-China trade war should be sorted
out at the earliest because the war is significantly threatening
the global economy.
―IMF had earlier reduced its estimates of China’s GDP
growth rate to 6.2 percent.
Union Ministry of Mines has decided to invite tenders for
auctioning of 48 operating non-captive iron and manganese
ore mines whose leases will expire in March 2020.
―The distribution of these mines is as following: Odisha (24),
Jharkhand (6), Karnataka (6), Gujarat (5), Andhra Pradesh (3),
Rajasthan (2), Himachal Pradesh (1) and Madhya Pradesh (1).
―These mines cumulatively produce around 45 million tonnes
of iron and manganese ores.
―The lease of 329 merchant mines in total is expiring in March
2020. 281 of these 329 merchant mines are non-working mines.
―The Ministry has also instituted a committee for looking into
the post-auction issues that can emerge. For example, transition
from old to new lessee.
―This invitation for sending tenders is expected to help steel
companies like JSW Steel and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL).
―The tenders will be issued towards the end of July.
DEFENCE & SECURITY
Garuda 2019 is set to start from July 1 in France, and will
continue for two weeks.
―Garuda 2019 will be one of the largest air exercises between
France and India.
―The exercise will involve engagement between Indian
contingent of 30 Sukhoi fighters and French Rafale aircrafts.
―These exercises will also involve use of other supporting
assets like mid-air refuellers.
―These exercises will help Indian Air Force personnel to get
an idea about the Rafale fighters.
―India is purchasing 36 Rafale fighters at the approximate cost
of Rs 58,000 crore. The first of these aircrafts is expected to be
delivered in September.
―Indo-French defence ties have been steadily improving for
some time now.
Indo-French navy exercises Varuna were held in May this
year.
―In 2019 India and France signed an agreement allowing the
use of each other’s military facilities
including opening naval bases to
warships.
―There are Indo-French
discussions on the possibility of
holding tri-services military
exercise between the armed forces
of the two nations.
On 2nd June, 2019, Indian Navy
successfully conducted live mating
exercise between the new Deep
Submergence Rescue Vehicles (DSRVs) with and Indian Navy submarine Sindhudvaj.
―In the exercise personnel from INS Sindhudvaj were
successfully transferred from the submarine to the DSRV.
―DSRVs are equipped with sophisticated radar and a
remotely operated vehicle.
―DSRVs with a crew of 3 personnel can rescue upto 14
personnel from the disabled submarines.
―The maiden trials of the DSRV were conducted on October
15, 2018 and it was inducted into Navy in December 2018.
―The current exercise has ended the training phase of DSRV
on the East Coast.
―This is an historical achievement for the Indian Navy. This
achievement will allow Indian Navy to emerge as Submarine
Rescue Provider in the region.
POLICY AND GOVERNMENT
INITIATIVES
The Governing Council of
the NITI Aayog is set to meet
on June 15.
―This will be the first
meeting of the Governing
Council under the newly
formed Government.
―This will be the fifth council
meeting since the inception
of the Niti Aayog.
―The meeting of the
Governing Council – chaired by PM Modi – will include
discussion on issues like water management, agriculture,
security etc.
―Governing Council of Niti Aayog is made up of all the Chief
Ministers of states, Lieutenant Governors of Union
Territories, relevant Union Ministers and Senior Government
Officers.
Centre Government is considering re-introduction of the
Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill in the Parliament.
―The BJP government was unable to get the bill passed through
the Rajya Sabha during the government’s last term.
―The previous BJP government did not have majority in the
Rajya Sabha. Therefore, the bill passed through Lok Sabha but
it was not able to get it through the Rajya Sabha.
―The opposition parties claimed that the Bill was interfering
with the power of the states and as such was not federal in
nature. The Amendment Bill proposes stricter punishments for
traffic violations, simplification of the vehicle registration
processes and overhauling of the traffic and transport
framework of India.
The Government of India is planning to provide One kg
sugar to approximately 16.3 crore additional families.
―The sugar will be provided at the subsidised rate at the
approximate cost of Rs 4,727 crore.
―The distribution of this additional sugar will be done through
the public distribution system (PDS). The government is also
thinking about reducing its buffer stock of food grains before
the monsoon. At present the Food Corporation of India has
large buffer stocks of wheat and rice. Some of these stocks are
being kept in open space due to lack of storing facility.
―The overflowing of stock was due to procurement of wheat
and rice during last five years coupled with the bumper
production. Food Corporation of India is trying to sell the stock
to bulk customer, but they are not willing to buy at high rates
when cheaper options are available in the open market.
―Currently the government is distributing sugar under the
Antyodaya Anna Yojana at the rate of Rs 13.5 per kg.
Approximately 2.5 crore families benefit from this.
―Currently the government distributes food grain under the
National Food Security Act. Wheat is supplied at Rs 2 per kg
and rice is supplied at Rs 3 per kg. Approximately 80 crore
individuals benefit from this.
Madhya Pradesh Government is bringing a new gun
licensing rule in Gwalior-Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh.
―Individuals seeking gun licence in the region will have to
plant at least 10 tree saplings.
―The saplings can be planted on the earmarked revenue land,
in cases where the individual seeking licence does not own land.
―The individuals seeking license will have to click a selfie with
the planted sapling at the time of planting and after one month
of the planting. Both the selfies will have to be attached with the
licence application.
―In addition, a Patwari will have to confirm the planting of the
saplings. The exemption is available only if the license is sought
because of an immediate threat to the applicant’s life. In such
cases the planting of the saplings will have to be done after
obtaining the licence.
―The Gwalior-Chambal region is known for its infatuation
with firearms.
SPORTS
The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has issued a
warning against the use of performance enhancing drugs.
―WFI has made it clear that is has zero tolerance policy
against the use of performance enhancing drug.
―Recently Asian Championship silver medallist Reena failed
to clear the drug test and was put under provisional suspension.
INTERNATIONAL
The United States visa application now requires entering of
data like social media usernames, email addresses and phone
numbers held in past etc.
―These new requirements are part of US Governments drive
to enhance screening of potential immigrants and visitors.
―The revised visa application forms with the additional data
requirement have been approved.
―Approximately 15 million foreigners annually are expected
to be affected by this change.
―In past these additional identifiers were only taken from
people who were shortlisted for additional scrutiny, for
example, people who have travelled to terrorist-controlled
areas.
―Almost all the applicants of immigrants and non-immigrant
visas will have to provide this additional information.
―Certain diplomatic and official visa applicants are exempted
from the new requirements.
―The new changes have been made for strengthening the
process of vetting applicants and confirming their identity.
―The change in the data requirements was first purposed in
March 2018.
Taiwan has been trying to purchase more defence equipment
from USA.
―The new equipment under consideration includes 66 F-16
fighter jets, 108 M1A2 Abrams tanks, 1,240 TOW anti-armor
missiles, 409 Javelin anti-tank missiles and 250 Stinger man-
portable air defence systems.
―America is the main defence supplier of Taiwan.
―China regards Taiwan as its territory.
―Clearing of these purchases will create more tension in the
already tense American-Chinese relationship.
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
The American Government has announced its decision of
significantly reduce the federal spending on medical research
that uses tissues from aborted foetuses.
―The reduction will be achieved by terminating all such
researches within the National Institute of Health.
―This decision placates the anti-abortion groups that have
been lobbying hard for this.
―The scientists are not happy about this and they claim that the
research has helped millions of individuals across the globe.
―While taking this step, the Department of Health and
Human Services said that the current US government’s top
priority includes promotion of dignity of human life from
conception to natural death.
―The Department has clarified that the ongoing 200 research
projects (with NIH grants) that involve foetal tissue will not be
stopped. But their renewal will be considered by the newly
instituted ethics advisory board.
SUMMIT & ORGANIZTION
United Nation’s General
Assembly has elected Tijjani
Muhammad-Bande as its next
president. ―Tijjani will preside over the 47th
session of the General Assembly
scheduled to start in September, 2019
―Tijjani is the Nigeria’s
Ambassador to the UN.
―Tijjani will replace the current
General Assembly President Maria
Fernanda Espinosa. Tijjani wants to hasten the reform process Tijjani Muhammad-Bande
of the United Nations Security Council for making it more
democratic and efficient.
―There are many high-level meetings scheduled during the 74th
session of the General Assembly. These include a high-level
Political Forum, the Secretary-General’s Climate Summit, the
high-level events on Universal Health Coverage, etc.
―Tijjani’s candidature was supported by India.
ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY
According to the recent India Meteorological Department
(IMD) data, North and South India will receive below normal
monsoon in 2019.
―IMD expects monsoon in these areas to be below normal in
July and normal in August. IMD said that there was a 41 percent
possibility of a normal monsoon.
―The El-Nino will continue during the rainy season and this
can negatively impact the monsoon in India. IMD also clarified
that the El-Nino effect can end towards the end of the monsoon
season. El-Nino phenomena deals with the heating of water in
the Pacific Ocean.
―The Long Period Average rainfall over India as a whole from
1951-2000 is 89 centimeters.
―Rainfall over 110 percent of the Long Period Average is
regarded as excess. Rainfall within 96-104 percent of the Long
Period Average is regarded as normal. Rainfall within 90-96
percent of the Long Period Average is regarded as below
normal.
―Rainfall less than 90 percent of the Long Period Average is
regarded as deficient. According to IMD India is likely to
receive 95 percent and 99 percent of its LPA in July and August
respectively.
―According to IMD the North West India is expected to
receive 94 percent of LPA, central India is expected to receive
100 percent of LPA, southern peninsula is expected to receive
97 percent of the LPA and North East India is expected to
receive 91 percent of LPA. There is 8 percent plus or minus
model error chances. The monsoon is expected to hit Kerala
around June 6.
Nepali climbers have completed a cleaning drive on Mount
Everest. The cleaning drive has resulted in removal of four
bodies and almost 11 tonnes of garbage from the area from the
Mount Everest to its approach below the base camp.
―The people returning from the Mount Everest say that its
slopes are littered with human excrement, oxygen bottles, tents,
ropes, ladders, cans, plastic wrappers etc.
―During the clean up drive a team of 20 sherpa climbers
collected five tonnes of garbage from different camp sites
above the base camp and six tonnes of garbage from the area
below the base camp. 2019 season is the deadliest Mount
Everest climbing season since 2015. In May, 2019 nine and two
climbers died on the Nepali and Tibetan side of the Mountain.
―A permit to scale Mount Everest from Nepal side cost
$11,000. This year 381 permits were issued by the Nepali
government.
BASIC GK ASPECTS
BOOKS & AUTHORS The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for Human
Future at the New Frontier of Power―by Shoshana Zuboff
Art Attacks: Violence and Offence-Taking in India―by
Malvika Maheshwari
Global Capitalism and the Great Crisis―by Ernesto
Screpanti
An American Marriage―by Tayari Jones.
AWARDS AND HONOURS Former President of India
Pratibha Patil has been honoured
with Mexico’s “Orden Mexicana
del Aguila Azteca” (Order of the
Aztec Eagle). ―Order of the Aztec Eagle is the
highest Mexico’s civilian award
that can be presented to foreigners.
―The award is given to foreigners
for their contributions in improving
the bilateral ties of Mexico; their
outstanding services to Mexico or their outstanding services to
humanity.
―Pratibha is the first Indian woman President and the second
Indian President to receive the honour.
―S. Radhakrishnan was the first Indian President to receive
the honour.
―Other Indian recipients of the honour include Rajju Shroff,
Amartya Sen, Satish Gujral, Raghupati Singhania etc.
APPOINTMENTS Reserve Bank of India has
approved the appointment of Rakesh
Makhija as the Chairperson of the
Axis Bank.
―Rakesh will sever Axis Bank for a
period of three years as a non-
executive, part time chairperson. ―Rakesh is known for his
contribution to industry and
technology.
―Rakesh has held various
management positions in the SKF Group. He has also acted as
the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Tata
Honeywell Ltd.
Gianni Infantino has been re-elected as the FIFA’s President
unopposed. Gianni is a Swiss-Italian and a law yer by
profession. His new term will be of four years. Gianni has been
the President of FIFA since February 2016.
PEOPLE IN NEWS
Jaspal Inder Singh Kalra died in Delhi on June 4, 2019 at
the age of 71.
―Kalra was suffering from a prolonged illness.
―Jiggs Kalra has a number of achievements under his name.
―He was the first Asian to be inducted into the International
Food and Beverage Gourmet Hall of Fame.
―He was regarded as the first to bring lost north-Indian recipes
into limelight.
―Kalra’s book Prashad: Cooking with Indian Masters is
used as a textbook in hospitality schools across India.
Brij Mohan Khaitan passed away on 2nd June, 2019 at the
age of 92.
―Brij Mohan founded one of the world’s largest bulk tea
producer Mcleod Russel.
―Mohan is survived by his younger son Aditya Khaitan and
daughter Divya Jalan.
Harish Kumar passed away on 2nd June, 2019 in an accident.
―He died along with three other folk artists in a car accident
when their SUV collided with a stationary truck.
―They were travelling from Jodhpur in Rajasthan to Ajmer.
―Harish was best known for Rajasthani fold dance forms like
ghoomar, kalbelia,, bhawai etc.
Mrs. Pratibha Patil
Rakesh Makhija
―Harish rose to fame after his appearance on India’s Got
Talent in 2010.
―Kumar is survived by his wife and sons aged 8 and 10.
Rajesh Patnekar has been appointed as the Speaker of the
Goa Legislative Assembly.
―Rakesh is a BJP MLA from Goa.
―The office of the Speaker of the Goa had been lying vacant
since the death of Manohar Parrikar in March, 2019.
―Rajesh was nominated to the post of Speaker after the
officiating Speaker refused to take up the post full time.
Prakash Pant died on June 5, 2019 at the age of 58 in USA
where he was staying for treatment.
―Prakash had been suffering from prolonged illness.
―Prakash was Uttarakhand’s minister for parliamentary
affairs and finance.
―Prakash was a BJP MLA from Pithoragarh.
―Prakash was regarded as one of the most important and
knowledgeable members of the Uttarakhand’s cabinet.
―Prakash was also one of the contenders to the post of the
Chief Minister in 2017.
MUST-KNOW
GDP: Gross Domestic Product
SDG: Sustainable Development Goals
IAF: Indian Air Force
ISRO: Indian Space Research Organisation
SP: Samajwadi Party
BSP: Bahujan Samaj Party
GSP: General System of Preferences Scheme
IOCL: Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.
HPCL: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.
IMF: International Monetary Fund
DSRV: Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicles
PDS: Public Distribution System
WFI: Wrestling Federation of India
UNSC: United Nations Security Council
IMD: Indian Meteorological Department
DAYS/ANNIVERSARIES
World No Tobacco Day is celebrated across the world on
May 31st,
―The World No Tobacco Day 2019 focused on tobacco and
lung health.
―Smoking causes direct and indirect deaths of approximately
seven million individuals across the globe annually.
3rd June every year is celebrated as the World Bicycle Day.
―The General Assembly of the United States declared 3rd June
as the World Bicycle day for acknowledging the uniqueness,
longevity and versatility of the bicycle which has been in use
for two centuries now.
―The first World Bicycle Day was celebrated in 2018.
June 5 every year is celebrated across the globe as the World
Environment Day.
―World Environment Day is a United Nation’s initiative for
creating global awareness about the environment and for
encouraging actions for protecting the environment.
―The World Environment Day was first celebrated in 1974.
Today the day is celebrated in more than 100 countries of the
world.
―The World Environment Day is celebrated every year with a
different theme.
―“Air Pollution” is the theme of the World Environment Day,
2019.
―The World Environment Day is hosted by a different
country every year. The idea is to draw attention to the
environment challenges faces by the country and to raise
worldwide support for tackling them.