May 2021 Daily News Current Affairs

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May 31, 2021
1. Visits from India (May 2021) -
  1. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar Visited London (UK), to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of G7 countries, in which India was invited as a guest.
2. At 2021 UNESCO World Conference on Education for Sustainable Development, Tata Communications announced launch of School of Hope and Empowerment (S.H.E.) in collaboration with The Better India, to support women from small towns to overcome key barriers to entrepreneurship.
3. General Conferences (May 21 - 31, 2021) -
  1. Agri Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launched National Mobile Monitoring Software (NMMS) app and Area officer monitoring App. NMMS app will enable taking real time attendance of workers at Mahatma Gandhi NREGS worksites.
  2. G20 Health Summit co-hosted by European Commission and Italy (G20 presidency),deciding to develop a Rome Declaration of principles, to overcome Covid-19 pandemic.
  3. World Health Organization (WHO) along with UN Environment Programme (UNEP), World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), has set up an One Health High-Level Expert Panel to formulate a global plan for the prevention of spread of diseases from animals to humans (zoonotic diseases)
  4. As part of Its Vision 2030, Saudi Arabia included Indian epics Ramayana and Mahabharata in its new school curriculum. Notably, Vision 2030 aims to expand students' cultural knowledge and global exposure, also including Indian practises such as yoga and Ayurveda. English language has been made mandatory in Vision 2030.
  5. Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa launched platform Akanksha, to streamline Corporate Social Responsibility funding for developmental programmes in State.
  6. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launched SeHAT-OPD Portal, as online medical consultation service for armed forces personnel and ex-servicemen.
  7. Volcao Mount Nyiragongo (Democratic Republic of Congo) erupted after almost two decades.
  8. Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of External Affairs will set up 10 ‘One-Stop Centres’ across nine countries to support Indian women affected by violence in public or private spaces.
  9. China allowed Parents to have up to 3 children, ending its strict two-child policy.
  10. World's first Nano Urea Liquid for farmers has been introduced by Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO).
  11. West Bengal Govt approed implementation of several programmes promised in election manifesto, including a new credit card scheme for students to pursue higher education, and programme of free doorstep delivery of monthly ration.
4. May 31 is Observed as No Tobacco Day, established by World Health Organization (WHO).
  1. On this occasion, World Health Organisation (WHO) Honored India's Health Minister Harsh Vardhan with WHO Director-General Special Recognition Award, for his works in area of tobacco control.
  2. WNTD is one of eight official global public health campaigns marked by WHO, Others are -
    1. World Health Day - Apr 7
    2. World Blood Donor Day - June 14
    3. World Immunization Week - Last week of April
    4. World Tuberculosis Day - Mar 24
    5. World Malaria Day - Apr 25
    6. World Hepatitis Day - July 28
    7. World AIDS Day - Dec 1
5. 43rd GST Council meet under Chairmanship of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman -
  1. GST Council constituted a group of ministers (GoM) in order to decide on rates of COVID-19 relief material, headed by Meghalaya CM Conrad K Sangma.
6. National Statistical Office released Provisional Estimates of National Income for FY 2020-21, both at Constant (2011-12) and Current Prices -
  1. Real GDP (GDP at Constant (2011-12) Prices) -
    1. Estimated to be 135.13 lakh crores, as against First Revised Estimate of GDP for 2019-20 of 145.69 lakh crores, showing contraction of -7.3 % in 2020-21.
    2. In Q4 of 2020-21, GDP estimated at 38.96 lakh crores, against 38.33 lakh crore in Q4 of 2019-20, showing growth of 1.6 %.
7. RBI Released Annual Report 2020-21 -
  1. To make Accounting year equivalent to Financial year, accounting year of RBI was changed from July – June to April – March.
  2. Balance sheet size of RBI increased by 6.99 % to Rs 57.1 lakh crores from 53.3 lakh crores an year ago.
  3. Income -
    1. Gross total income for 2020-21 amounted to 1.33 Lakh Crores as compared to 1.49 Lakh Crores in 2019-20.
    2. Expenditure of RBI in 2020-21 remained 34146 Crores as compared to expenditure of 92540 Crores in 2019-20.
    3. 2020-21 ended with overall surplus of 99122 Crores, to be transferred to government. It is calculated by deducting expenditure from income (133272 - 34146 = 99126 Crores Approx). In 2019-20, Surplus transferred to Govt was 57127 Crores.
  4. Bank frauds of 1 Lakh and above -
    1. Decreased by 25 % in value to Rs 1.38 Lakh Crores in FY21 (2020-21), Compared to 1.85 Lakh Crores in FY 20 (2019-20). Frauds in terms of Numbers decreased 15% in the same period, to 7363.
    2. Public sector banks (PSBs) accounted for 59 % (81901 Crores) worth of Frauds in FY 21 (2020-21), Decreasing from 80 % in FY 20 (2019-20).
  5. Gold -
    1. RBI Holds 695 metric tonnes of gold as compared to 661 metric tonnes as on June 30, 2020.
  6. Securities -
    1. RBI’s holding of domestic securities increased from 11.7 Lakh Crores as on June 30, 2020 to 13.3 Lakh Crores as on March 30, 2021.
  7. Currency (at end-March 2020) -
    1. Value and volume of banknotes in circulation increased by 16.8 % and 7.2 % respectively, during 2020-21, as against increase of 14.7 % and 6.6 % respectively, during 2019-20.
    2. Total value of coins in circulation increased by 2.1 % in 2020-21, while total volume increased by 1.0 %.
  8. NPA -
    1. Gross non-performing assets (GNPA) ratio of scheduled commercial banks (SCBs) decreased to 6.8 % by end-December 2020 from 8.2 % in March 2020.
    2. Provision coverage ratio of SCBs improved to 75.5 % at end-December 2020 from 66.6 % in March 2020.

May 30, 2021

National Security Advisor Ajit Doval commissioned Indian Coast Guard (ICG) Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) Sajag into service.
Ministry of Education launched YUVA (Young, Upcoming and Versatile Authors)- Prime Minister’s Scheme For Mentoring Young Authors, an Author Mentorship programme to train young authors (below 30 years age), to promote reading, writing and book culture. Terms -
1. 75 authors will be selected through All India Contest in June-July 2021. winners will be announced on 15 August 2021.
2. Published books will be launched on 12 January 2022 on occasion of National Youth Day (Yuva Diwas).
3. Scholarship of 50000 per month for a 6 months will be paid.
May 30 is statehood day for Goa. On this day in 1987, Goa became 25th state of India. It was a Union Territory along with Daman and Diu from December 1961 onwards when Goa was liberated from Portugese rule.
Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launched Horticulture Cluster Development Programme, To ensure holistic growth of horticulture. In pilot phase, it will be implemented in 12 horticulture clusters out of 53 selected clusters.
UAE government awarded Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt with its Golden Visa, which essentially offers long-term residency to people with outstanding talents.
1. In 2019, UAE implemented a new system for long-term residence visas enabling foreigners to live, work & study there without need of a national sponsor & with 100% ownership of their business.
Book Languages of Truth: Essays 2003-2020 authored by noted author Salman Rushdie has been released.
English Football Club Chelsea defeated Manchester City to win 2020-21 UEFA Champions League title.
Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) DG Kuldeep Singh has been given additional charge as National Investigation Agency (NIA) chief.

2021 Asian Amateur Boxing Championships (DUBAI, UAE) -

Medal Table -

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Kazakhstan	8	6	2	16
2	Uzbekistan	7	6	5	18
3	Mongolia	3	0	5	8
4	India	2	5	8	15
5	Iran	0	2	2	4

India's 2 Gold Medals -
1. Sanjeet Kumar - Men's Heavyweight (91 kg)
2. Pooja Rani - Women's Middleweight (75 kg)

1st ever biography on Noted Bollywood actor Sanjeev Kumar has been announced, Written by Reeta Ramamurthy Gupta and Kumar's nephew Uday Jariwala.
Kim Boo-kyum has been named as New Prime Minister of South Korea.

May 29, 2021
1. May 29 is observed as International Everest Day. On this day in 1953, Nepalese Tenzing Norgay and New Zealand's Edmund Hillary climbed Mt. Everest, as first humans to achieve this feat.
  1. Nepal decided to observe the day as International Everest Day in 2008 when the legendary climber Hillary passed away.
  2. Notably, Hong Kong mountaineer Tsang Yin-hung recently recorded world's fastest ascent of Mt. Everest by a woman, in just 25 hours and 50 minutes.
  3. May 29 is also observed as World Digestive Health Day, by World Gastroenterology Organisation.
2. 29 May is observed as International Day of UN Peacekeepers, with 2021 theme is road to a lasting peace: Leveraging the power of youth for peace and security.
  1. 3 Indian peacekeepers, who laid down their lives while serving in UN peacekeeping missions in 2020, are among 129 personnel honoured on International Day of UN Peacekeepers 2021. Indian Personnel are Corporal Yuvraj Singh, Ivan Michael Picardo Mulchand Yadav.
  2. India will launch UNITE AWARE mobile tech platform for UN Peacekeepers to improve their safety and security in line of duty.
3. Govt appointed B.V.R. Subrahmanyam as new Commerce Secretary, who is also Chief Secretary of J&K.
4. Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) annouced renaming itself as Indian Broadcasting and Digital Foundation (IBDF), expanding its purview to cover digital platforms to bring all digital (OTT) players under one roof.
5. Severe Cyclonic Storm Yaas made landfall in Odisha and West Bengal, causing large scale losses.
6. Book India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present, by Shivshankar Menon has been released.
7. Madhya Pradesh Govt launched Ankur scheme, under which citizens will be awarded for planting trees during monsoon, and participating persons will be given Pranvayu Award.
8. J&K government Launched Special Assistance Scheme for COVID Mortalities (SASCM), by creating a special cell in the social welfare department to identify and support families affected by COVID-19.
  1. Under this, cash assistance of Rs 1000 per month shall be provided.
  2. Scheme also provides scholarship of 20000 per annum for school education and 40000 per annum for higher education.
9. At 74th World Health Assembly, Switzerland and World Health Organization (WHO) launched first WHO BioHub Facility, to enhance rapid sharing of viruses and other pathogens between laboratories and partners globally.
  1. Under the agreement, Switzerland will make available to WHO the Spiez Biocontainment Laboratory, as a repository for Sars-CoV-2 viruses or other pathogens with epidemic or pandemic potential.
  2. The Assembly was chaired by India's Health Minister Harsha Vardhan, as WHO's Executive Board chairman.
10. Naomi Mataʻafa is named as New and first female Prime Minister of Samoa (Oceanic Nation).
11. Poland's Robert Lewandowski won European Golden Boot for 2020-21 Saeason, for his 41 goals in 29 Bundesliga appearances for Bayern Munich (Germany), to claim top scorer spot in Europe.
May 28, 2021
1. May 28 is Birth Anniversary of Legendary freedom Fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, also called Veer Savarkar. May 28 is also observed as International Day of Action for Women's Health.
  1. May 28 is observed as World Hunger Day, an initiative of the Hunger Project.
2. Bollywood Actress Neena Gupta announcd her autobiography Sach Kahun Toh.
3. NASA announced designing an Earth System Observatory, to provide key information related to climate change, fighting forest fires, and improving real-time agricultural processes.
  1. Among its first integrated parts is NASA’s partnership with ISRO, which brings together 2 different kinds of radar systems that can measure changes in Earth’s surface less than a half-inch.
  2. This capability will be utilized in one of observatory’s first missions intended as a pathfinder, called NISAR (NASA-ISRO synthetic aperture radar). It will measure some of most complex processes such as ice-sheet collapse and natural hazards.
4. Padma Bhushan awardee noted gastroenterologist D Nageshwar Reddy (chairman of AIG Hospitals) became First Indian to win Rudolf V Schindler Award from American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE).
  1. It is highest category in Crystal Awards named after Dr Schindler, who is considered as “the father of gastroscopy.”
5. Mountaineer Aditya Gupta's new book 7 Lessons from Everest – Expedition Learnings from Life and Business, has been released, aiming to raise 1 crore for COVID-19 relief from sale proceeds.
6. ICICI Bank launched unique facility of linking a UPI (Unified Payments Interface) ID to its digital wallet ’Pockets’, marking a departure from current practice that demands such IDs be linked with a savings bank account.
7. Jagjit Pavadia, former Narcotics Commissioner of India has been elected president of International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), as first Indian to be heading this Vienna-based organization.
8. Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma appointed 13 ‘Guardian Ministers’ for 34 districts of state, to be entrusted with administrative roles and responsibilities of their assigned districts and oversee implementation of various government policies.
May 27, 2021
1. NASA announced its first mobile robot to moon in late 2023, Titled VIPER (Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover).
  1. It will be tasked with prospecting for lunar resources in permanently shadowed areas in lunar south pole region, by mapping distribution and concentration of water ice.
  2. It builds on a previous NASA rover concept called Resource Prospector, which was cancelled in 2018, to search for ice and other resources on and below lunar surface.
2. Guillermo Lasso has been named new President of Ecuador (South America).
3. Nobel Laureate Indian economist Amartya Kumar Sen has been awarded Spain’s top Princess of Asturias Award in Social Sciences category, by Spanish Prize Foundation. Other Winners of 2021 Princess of Asturias Awards -
  1. Concord - José Andrés and the World Central Kitchen
  2. Technical and Scientific Research - Katalin Karikó, Drew Weissman, Philip Felgner, Uğur Şahin, Özlem Türeci, Derrick Rossi and Sarah Gilbert
  3. Sports - Teresa Perales (Spain)
  4. Literature -Emmanuel Carrère (France)
  5. International Cooperation - CAMFED, Campaign for Female Education
  6. Communication and Humanities - Gloria Steinem (US)
  7. Arts - Marina Abramović (Serbia)
4. Geneva Open Men's Tennis 2021 -
  1. Singles - Casper Ruud (Norway). He defeated Denis Shapovalov (Canada)
  2. Doubles - John Peers (Australia) AND Michael Venus (New Zealand)
5. Punjab Govt renamed Mohali International Hockey Stadium after triple Olympian and Padma Shri Awardee Hockey Player Balbir Singh Sr.
6. Anatole Collinet Makosso is named as Prime Minister of Republic of Congo (Central Africa).
7. European Space Agency (ESA) reported breaking off of world’s largest iceberg from Antarctica, Named A-67, which measures 4320 square kilometres (half the size of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands).
  1. The finger-shaped iceberg broke off from the Ronne Ice shelf, a massive ice shelf that encompasses an area of more than 400,000 square kilometres located in the Weddell sea in Antarctica.
  2. Another iceberg A-74, sized 1270 square kilometres which is smaller than one-third of A-76, broke off the Brunt Ice shelf in Antarctica.
May 26, 2021
1. May 26, 2021 observed by UN as Global Vesak Day, observed on Full Moon in May, as most sacred day to Buddhists around world. In India, it is observed as Buddha Purnima. It was on Day of Vesak that -
  1. 2.5 millennia ago, in 623 B.C., Buddha was born.
  2. Buddha attained enlightenment.
  3. Buddha in his eightieth year passed away.
2. To address air pollution due to farm stubble burning and to reduce carbon footprints of thermal power generation, Ministry of Power will set up a National Mission on use of Biomass in coal based thermal power plants.
  1. It will support energy transition and moving towards cleaner energy sources.
3. 3rd Advance Estimates of production of major agricultural crops for 2020-21 released by Ministry of Agriculture -
  1. Total foodgrain production estimated at 305.44 million tonnes, 7.94 MT more than 297.50 million tonnes in 2019-20.
4. Assimi Goïta named as Prsident of Mali, after taking power from Bah Ndaw after 2021 Malian coup d'état.
  1. Also, Choguel Kokalla Maïga is named as Mali's New Prime Minister.
5. RBI cancelled Banking licence of Pune based Shivajirao Bhosale Sahakari Bank, ceasing it from carry on banking business.
6. Subodh Kumar Jaiswal has been appointed by Govt as new CBI director for 2 years.
May 25, 2021
1. Book The Spiritual CEO, by S. Prakash has been released.
2. Book Buddha in Gandhara, by Sunita Dwivedi has been released.
3. RBI Issued updated Guidelines for full-KYC Prepaid Payment Instruments (PPIs) -
  1. Mandating Interoperability by March 2022.
  2. Increasing Limit to 2 lakh for Full-KYC PPIs.
  3. Permitting Cash Withdrawal from Full-KYC PPIs of Non-Bank PPI Issuers. Conditions -
    1. Maximum limit of 2000 per transaction with an overall limit of 10000 per month per PPI.
    2. All cash withdrawal transactions performed using a card / wallet, shall be authenticated by an Additional Factor of Authentication (AFA) / PIN.
4. May 25 is observed as World Thyroid Day, observed since 2008.
  1. May 25 is also observed as International Missing Children’s Day.
5. International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) constituted an Expert Committee on Investment Funds to recommend road map for funds industry in IFSCs, to develop a comprehensive and consistent regulatory framework based on global best practices.
  1. Committee will be chaired by Nilesh Shah (MD of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company).
6. Sports Ministry approved 143 opening Khelo India Centres across 7 States, with budget 14.30 Crores, to be entrusted with one sports discipline each. States include Maharashtra (36), Mizoram (2), Goa (52), Karnataka (4), Madhya Pradesh (31), Arunachal Pradesh (16) and Manipur (2).
7. Noted Chemist and Bharat Ratna Awardee C.N.R. Rao received International Eni Award 2020, in Energy Frontiers Category, considered as Nobel Prize in Energy Research.
  1. Eni Awards are awarded by Italian oil and gas company Eni, to encourage better use of energy sources and increased environmental research. Award will be presented in October 2021, at Quirinal Palace in Rome (Italy).
  2. Other Recepients of ENI Awards 2020 -
    1. Energy Transition prize awarded to David T. Allen of University of Texas (US) for his researches on highly topical issue of fugitive methane emissions.
    2. Advanced Environmental Solutions prize awarded to Jürgen Caro and Jörg Kärger, from Universities of Hanover and Leipzig respectively (Germany), for development of micro-imaging techniques for observation of diffusive molecule flows in nanoporous materials.
    3. Young Researcher of the Year prizes awarded to Matteo Morciano, who has developed innovative technologies for passive drinking water production using solar energy, and Francesca De Falco, for her research about microplastic pollution.
    4. Young Talents from Africa prizes awarded to Alaa Abbas and Mohamed Ahmed Ismail Tarek (Egypt).
8. Cabinet Approvals (May 25, 2021) -
  1. General -
    1. Approved Home Affairs Ministry's proposal for creation of 1 post of Director in Senior Administrative Grade (SAG) at National Disaster Response Force Academy Nagpur. Academy will impart skill based practical training to over 5000 personnel annually.
    2. Approved opening of a new Consulate General of India in Addu City (Maldives), to help augment India's diplomatic presence in Maldives.
May 24, 2021
1. May 24 - Commonwealth Day in India. It is globally observed on Second Monday of March. However, in some nations Including India, it is observed on May 24.
  1. May 24 is Birth Anniversary of Queen Victoria (1819), who was Queen of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. On 1 May 1876, she adopted additional title of Empress of India.
2. Jharkhand ranked at top in ranking released by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, based on progress of the implementation of Smart City Mission's schemes. Rajasthan Ranks 2nd in list.
  1. Also, Karnataka ranked number one in establishing health and wellness centres (HWC) under Ayushman Bharat Program, to provide comprehensive primary healthcare in rural areas.
3. 6 Indian Sites have been added to UNESCO World Heritage Sites Tentative List, taking number of sites from India in tentative list to 48. Sites are -
  1. Ganga Ghats of Varanasi,
  2. Temples of Kancheepuram in Tamil Nadu,
  3. Satpura Tiger Reserve in Madhya Pradesh,
  4. Maharashtra Military Architecture
  5. Hire Benkal Megalithic site,
  6. Bhedaghat Lametaghat of Narmada Valley in Madhya Pradesh
4. Markets regulator SEBI doubled overseas investment limit of alternative investment funds and venture capital funds to $1,500 million.

May 23, 2021

6th UN Global Traffic Safety Week 2021 observed between May 17-23, 2021.
1. It is a biennial global road safety campaign hosted by WHO. 2021 theme is Streets for Life. It calls for 30 km/h speed limits to be the norm for cities, towns and villages worldwide, with #Love30 campaign.
2. May 23 is also observed as World Turtle Day.
FIH Honorary Awards -
1. Hockey India won Etienne Glichitch Award, for its contribution to the growth and development of the sport in India.
2. Pablo Negre Award - Uzbekistan Hockey Federation.
3. Theo Ikema Award - Polish Hockey Association.
4. HRH Sultan Azlan Shah Award - Sharon Williamson (New Zealand).
5. Guust Lathouwers Memorial Trophy - Ivona Makar.

Forbes' Highest Paid Athletes 2021 -

Top 5 -

Rank	Name	Sports	Earning
1	Conor McGregor (Ireland)	MMA	$180 million
2	Lionel Messi (Argentina)	Soccer	$130 million
3	Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)	Soccer	$120 million
4	Dak Prescott (United States)	Football	$107.5 million
5	Lebron James (United States)	Basketball	$96.5 million

Women -
1. Japanese Tennis Player Naomi Osaka is highest Paid Female Athlete for 2nd consecutive year, with 60 Million USD earnings. She is ranked 12th in overall list.

Book India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present, authored by Shivshankar Menon has been released.
Book Nehru, Tibet and China authored by Avtar Singh Bhasin has been released.

Red Bull's Belgian-Dutch F1 racer Max Verstappen won Monaco Grand Prix 2021 -

F1 Season 2021 -

Grand Prix	Winner	Race date
Bahrain Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	28 March
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	18 April
Portuguese Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	2 May
Spanish Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	9 May
Monaco Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	23 May
Azerbaijan Grand Prix		6 June
French Grand Prix		20 June
Styrian Grand Prix		27 June
Austrian Grand Prix		4 July
British Grand Prix		18 July
Hungarian Grand Prix		1 August
Belgian Grand Prix		29 August
Dutch Grand Prix		5 September
Italian Grand Prix		12 September
Russian Grand Prix		26 September
Japanese Grand Prix		10 October
United States Grand Prix		24 October
Mexico City Grand Prix		31 October
São Paulo Grand Prix		7 November
Australian Grand Prix		21 November
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix		5 December
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix		12 December

India's Narinder Batra has been re-elected as President of International Hockey Federation (FIH) for 2nd consecutive term. FIH has now reduced President's term from 4 to 3 years.
Naturalist Jane Goodall (UK) has been announced as 2021 winner of Templeton prize in recognition of her work on animal intelligence and humanity. She Considered to be the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees.
1. Templeton Prize is annually granted since 1972. Monetary value of the prize is adjusted so that it exceeds that of the Nobel Prizes. As of 2019, it is £1.1 million.
Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) appointed Rajesh Bansal as its CEO.
1. Reserve Bank Innovation Hub (RBIH) aims to promote innovation across financial sector by leveraging technology.
Microsoft announced to retire its iconic Internet Explorer (IE) browser, On June 15, 2022. Afterwards, Microsoft will instead promote Microsoft Edge as its web browser offering to all users.
1. Internet Explorer was once most widely used web browser, attaining a peak of about 95 % usage share by 2003.
2. Its usage share has since declined with launch of Firefox (2004) and Google Chrome (2008).

May 22, 2021

May 22 - International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB), first observed by United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in 1993. 2021 Theme is We’re part of the solution.
1. On this occasion, Shaji NM, also called Tuber Man of Kerala, has been awarded India Biodiversity Award 2021 in individual category of Conservation of domesticated species. He conserves wide array of around 200 tuber crops.

Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani overtook China’s Zhong Shanshan as second richest Asian. He now ranks 14th spot Globally on Bloomberg Billionaires Index,with net worth of $67 Billion. Top 5 -

Rank	Name	Net Worth	Country
1	Jeff Bezos	$189B	US
2	Elon Musk	$163B	US
3	Bernard Arnault	$162B	France
4	Bill Gates	$142B	US
5	Mark Zuckerberg	$119B	US

RBI approved surplus of 99122 crores to Central Government, for FY 21.
1. RBI, as manager of government finances, pays dividend every year from its surplus profit.
2. For FY 20, RBI had transferred 44% of its surplus to Government, at 57128 crores.
World’s fastest land animal, Cheetah which was declared extinct in India in 1952, will be re-introduced in India in November 2021 at Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh.
1. Under this, 14 Cheetah will be brought in from South Africa.
2. India’s last spotted Cheetah had died in Chhattisgarh in 1947 and was declared extinct in India in 1952.
National Health Authority (NHA) signed MoU with Telangana government,to implement Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY).
1. Telangana has integrated Ayushman Bharat scheme with its state scheme ‘Aarogyasri’ and the new name for the converged scheme is Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY Aarogyasri.
2. Under converged scheme, beneficiaries will be entitled to avail free healthcare coverage of up to 5 lakhs per family per year.

May 21, 2021
1. May 21 is observed as UN International Tea Day, observed since 2020.
  1. May 21 is also observed as World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, proclaimed by UNESCO in 2002.
2. May 21, death anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, is observed as Anti-Terrorism Day in India.
3. Indian Navy’s first destroyer INS Rajput has been decommissioned at Naval Dockyard Visakhapatnam, after serving nation for 41 years.
  1. INS Rajput was commissioned on 04 May 1980, at Poti, Georgia (erstwhile USSR), as lead ship of Rajput Class Destroyers.
4. India attracted highest ever total FDI inflow of US$ 81.72 billion during FY 21 (2020-21), 10% more than FY 20's US$ 74.39 billion. Other Stats for FDI Inflow during FY 21 -
  1. FDI equity inflow grew by 19% (US$ 59.64 billion),compared to previous FY 20 (US$ 49.98 billion).
  2. In terms of top investors, Singapore is at top with 29%, followed by U.S.A (23%) and Mauritius (9%).
  3. Gujarat is top recipient state with 37% share of total FDI Equity inflows, followed by Maharashtra (27%) and Karnataka (13%).
5. President appointed Prashant Kumar Mishra as Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh High Court.
6. India and Israrel signed a three-year work program (2021-2023) agreement for development in Agriculture cooperation, under Indo-Israel Agriculture Action Plan (IIAP).
  1. India and Israel are implementing INDO-ISRAEL Agricultural Project Centres of Excellence and INDO-ISRAEL Villages of Excellence.
  2. INDO-ISRAEL Villages of Excellence is a new concept aimed at creating a model ecosystem in agriculture across 8 states, alongside 13 Centers of Excellence within 75 villages.
7. TRIFED partnered with NITI Aayog to implement Van Dhan Yojana in 39 Tribal aspirational districts, as identified by NITI Aayog.
May 20, 2021
1. May 20 is observed as World Bee Day, being observed since 2018. 2021 Theme isBee engaged – Build Back Better for Bees”.
  1. May 20 is also observed as World Metrology Day. 2021 theme is Measurement for Health. The date is the anniversary of the signing of the Metre Convention in 1875.
2. Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Tauktae in Arabian Sea, became strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall in Gujarat, since 1998 Gujarat cyclone.
3. Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture (MCCIA) partnered with NABARD, to launch India’s first agro-export facilitation centre in Pune, to boost agricultural exports from region and adhere to global standards.
4. European Space Agency (ESA)'s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) interplanetary spacecraft entered crucial testing phase.
  1. It will study Jupiter's Galilean moons - Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. These are thought to have significant liquid water beneath their surfaces, making them potentially habitable environments.
  2. It is set for launch in June 2022 and will reach Jupiter in October 2029 after five gravity assists and 88 months of travel.
5. Women mountaineers, Baljeet Kaur (Himachal Pradesh) and Gunbala Sharma (Rajasthan) became first Indian women to summit Mount Pumori (7,161 meters) in Nepal.
6. General News / Events (May 11 - 20, 2021) -
  1. Tripura government launched an App to enable people to avail Central and state government schemes, called Jagrut Tripura.
  2. Iran unveiled its fastest supercomputer yet, named ‘Simorgh’, developed by Tehran’s Amirkabir University of Technology. Simorgh has performance capacity of 0.56 petaflops,
  3. China became first country to ban all synthetic cannabinoid substances, to curb manufacturing & trafficking of the drug.
  4. Manipur Govt Launched Moma Market Mobile App For Vegetable Delivery.
  5. Environment Ministry notifiesd area around Thane Creek Flamingo Sanctuary in Maharashtra as Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ).
  6. Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) launched mobile app Dost for Life, for psychological counselling of students and parents.
  7. National Gallery of Modern Art (New Delhi) created a virtual museum space through its online summer programme NAIMISHA 2021, to b held till 13th June 2021.
  8. Indian Railways commissioned Wi-Fi at 6000th Railway station, with commissioning of the same at Hazaribagh (Jharkhand), to connect passengers and general public with digital systems.
May 19, 2021
1. Cambridge University (UK) professors Shankar Balasubramanian (Indian-Origin) and David Klenerman won 1 million euro ($1.22 million) Millennium Technology Prize 2020, for developing a super-fast DNA sequencing technique that paved way for revolutionary healthcare advances.
2. India moved up to 3rd spot on EY’s Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index, due to good performance on solar photovoltaic (PV) front. Top 5 consist of US, China, India, UK and France.
3. India's Adani Green Energy acquired SoftBank-backed SB Energy Holdings Limited for enterprise value of $3.5 billion.
4. West Bengal Assembly passed resolution for creation of a legislative council in state.
  1. Presently, 6 states have a Legislative Council - Maharashtra, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Bihar.
  2. West Bengal earlier had a Legislative Council, which was formed in 1952. It was later abolished in 1969.
  3. State Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) is upper house of state assembly, analogous to Rajya Sabha in Parliament. Its establishment is defined in Article 169 of Constitution of India.
5. China launched ocean observation satellite Haiyang-2D into orbit, onboard Long March-2C rocket.
6. Telecom operator Reliance Jio announced constructing largest international submarine IAX and IEX subsea systems centred on India, to cater to increased data demand in India.
  1. 2 submarine cable systems to be deployed will connect India with Asia Pacific markets through Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia and other one with Italy, middle and north Africa.
7. American spacecraft launch service provider United Launch Alliance launched SBRIS (Space-Based Infrared System) Geo-5 Missile Warning Satellite, onboard Atlas V rocket. It is designed for missile warning, missile battlespace and defence characterization.
May 18, 2021
1. May 18 is Observed as International Museum Day, held since 1977. 2021 Theme is The Future of Museums: Recover and Reimagine.
  1. May 18 is also observed as World AIDS Vaccine Day.
2. Govt announced onetime enhance subsidy rates for DAP and other P & K fertilisers for upcoming Kharif season.
  1. Subsidy rate for DAP has been enhanced from 511 per bag to 1211 per bag, an increase of 700 per bag. This will ensure that DAP will continue to be available to farmers at last years’ price of 1200 per bag.
  2. Govt will spend additional 14775 crores as subsidy in Kharif season.
3. Penpa Tsering (Former speaker of Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile), has been elected as President of Central Tibetan Administration.
  1. Central Tibetan Administration is Tibet's elected parliamentary government based in Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh), also referred to as Tibetan Government in Exile.
  2. Since its formation in 1959, CAT has not been officially recognised by China.
4. Indian PSU ONGC Videsh (OVL) lost development rights for Farzad-B giant gas field in Iran to Iranian Petropars Group, amid Issues in negotiations between OVL and Iranian authorities.
  1. OVL owns 40 % participating interest (PI) in block, with Indian Oil Corporation owning 40 % PI and with Oil India remaining 20 %.
  2. National Iranian Oil Company signed contract worth $1.78 billion with Petropars Group for development of Farzad-B Gas Field.
  3. This gas field has reserves of 651 billion cubic metres, and is expected to record 28 million metric standard cubic meters per day (MMSCMD) of production within 5 years. Notably, India’s total gas consumption in FY21 was about 166 MMSCMD.
5. Russia and China began work of their biggest Joint Nuclear Power Project. Under it, Russia will jointly build four high-power nuclear power plants in two Chinese cities.
  1. Both countries signed a deal in 2018, to jointly build units 7 and 8 of Tianwan Nuclear Power Plant and units 3 and 4 of Xudapu Nuclear Power Plant.
May 17, 2021
1. May 17 - World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD), first observed on 17 May, 1969. It marks establishment of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and also signing of first International Telegraph Convention in 1865 in Paris. 2021 Theme is Accelerating Digital Transformation in challenging times.
  1. May 17 is also observed as World Hypertension Day, Observed Since 2006. 2021 Theme is Measure Your Blood Pressure, Control It, Live Longer.
2. American Basketball League National Basketball Association (NBA) announced creation of a new award Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Social Justice Champion Award, to recognise players who are making strides in fight for social justice. Winner will receive $100000 for charity of his choice.
  1. Also, American professional basketball player Kobe Bryant has been posthumously inducted into Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, as a part of Class of 2020.
3. Indian-American Neera Tanden has been named senior adviser to US President Joe Biden.
4. Barcelona FC (Spain) won UEFA Women’s Champions League for the first time, defeating Chelsa FC (UK).
5. Nepal's Mingma Tenji Sherpa created world record by scaling world's highest peak Mt. Everest, twice in shortest span of time (4 days). He climbed everest on May 7 and again on May 11, 2021.
May 16, 2021
1. May 16 Statehood Day of Sikkim. Sikkim Joined Indian Union as 22nd state on May 16, 1975.
  1. On this occasion, Book Sikkim: A History of Intrigue and Alliance, written by Preet Mohan Singh Malik has been released.
  2. May 16 is also observed as UN International Day of Living Together in Peace.
  3. May 16 is also observed as International Day of Light. It marks anniversary of first successful operation of laser in 1960 by physicist Theodore Maiman. It is being held since 2018.
  4. May 16 is also observed as National Dengue Day in India.
  5. May 16 is also observed as World Agri Tourism Day.
2. Andrea Meza from Mexico won Miss Universe Title for 2020.
  1. Miss India Adline Castelino had made it to top 4.
3. Punjab Govt named Malerkotla as new (23rd) district of State, carving out state's only Muslim-majority town from Sangrur district.
4. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced appointment of Ramesh Powar as Head Coach of Indian Women's Cricket Team.
5. World’s 50 Greatest Leaders list for 2021, released by Fortune Magazine -
  1. New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern topped The List, followed by mRNA Pioneers and Dan Schulman (PayPal CEO)
6. Wadia Group-owned airline GoAir rebranded itself as ‘Go First’, with motto You Come First.
May 15, 2021
1. Ministry of Tribal Affairs signed MOU with Microsoft, to support digital transformation of schools such as Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) and Ashram Schools.
  1. Microsoft will make AI curriculum available to tribal students in both English and Hindi at EMRS schools.
2. May 15 is observed as International Day of Families, proclaimed by United Nations General Assembly in 1993.
  1. May 15, 2021 is observed as International Astronomy Day. It is Observed twice a year - one in autumn and another in spring. Next Astronomy Day will be observed on October 9, 2021.
3. 2021 Italian Open Tennis -
  1. Men's Singles - Rafael Nadal (Spain). He defeated Novak Djokovic (Serbia).
  2. Women's Singles - Iga Świątek (Poland). She defeated Karolína Plíšková (Czech Republic)
  3. Men's Doubles - Croatia's Nikola Mektić AND Mate Pavić
  4. Women's Doubles - Sharon Fichman (Canada) AND Giuliana Olmos (Mexico)
4. Chinese Mars Mission Tianwen-1's Lander successfully landed on surface of Mars, making China 2nd Country (After US), to land a rover on Mars.
  1. The rover part has been named Zhurong, after a traditional fire god.
  2. Tianwen-1 mission was 2nd of 3 Martian missions launched during July 2020, after UAE's Hope orbiter, and before NASA's Mars 2020 mission, which landed Perseverance rover with attached Ingenuity helicopter.
5. Noted British Broadcaster David Attenborough has been named as People’s Advocate of COP26 for UK’s Presidency of UN Climate Change summit to be held in Glasgow (Scotland) in November 2021.
  1. Note that India-Born British politician Alok Sharma is named as President for COP26.
May 14, 2021
1. Book 1971: The Beginning of India's Cricketing Greatness, written by Boria Majumdar and Gautam Bhattacharya has been released.
2. Noted Author Ruskin Bond's new book All-Time Favourites for Children, has been released.
3. Nobel Prize-winning Japanese-British Author Kazuo Ishiguro's New Book Klara and the Sun Novel, has been released.
4. Asian Development Bank (ADB) launched Asia Pacific Tax Hub, to create an inclusive platform to promote strategic policy dialogue, improve knowledge sharing and strengthen coordination on tax policy and administration matters.
5. As per govt data, India added 12.1 gigawatt (GW) power generation capacity in 2020-21, of which 7.7 GW was from renewable energy sources (64 %).
  1. India is third largest producer and third largest consumer of electricity, with installed capacity of 384 GW. Of it, approx 38 % is from renewable energy sources.
May 13, 2021
1. Padmakumar M Nair has been appointed as CEO of the proposed National Asset Reconstruction Company, also called bad bank, for taking over stressed assets of Banks.
2. Govt Appointed Arun Kumar Singh as CMD of oil marketing firm Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL).
3. Martin Griffiths (UK) has been named as Under-Secretary-General for United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
4. India remained largest recipient of remittances in 2020, followed by China and Mexico, as per Migration and Development Brief report by World Bank.
  1. India -
    1. Remittances received by India in 2020 were USD 83 billion, slightly lower than USD 83.3 billion in 2019.
    2. Remittances outflow From India in 2020 was USD 7 billion, against USD 7.5 billion in 2019.
  2. Global remittance inflow was USD 540 billion in 2020, approx 2 % lower as compared to USD 548 billion in 2019.
  3. Largest remittance-sending country in 2020 was US (USD 68 billion), followed by UAE (USD43 billion), Saudi Arabia (USD34.5 billion).
5. Life in the Clock Tower Valley, debut book of journalist Shakoor Rather has been released.
6. HDFC Bank and Common Services Centres (CSCs) launched chatbot ‘Eva’ on CSCs Digital Seva Portal to support Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) in providing banking services for last mile rural consumers.
7. Tripura Govt launched Auro Scholarship Programme of Sri Aurobindo Society, for all students in state. It provides monthly micro-scholarship to students, to motivate them towards achieving better learning outcomes.
8. Indian-origin Columbia University (US) immunologist Sankar Ghosh has been elected to National Academy of Sciences (US) for his distinguished achievements in original research. He was among 120 newly elected members announced by Academy recently.
9. Former US Senator Bill Nelson has been appointed as new (14th) NASA administrator.
10. Indian-origin nutritionist Shakuntala Hark Singh Thilstad received World Food Prize 2021, for developing a holistic and nutritionally sensitive approach to seafood and food systems.
  1. The award is also known as Nobel Prize for Food and Agriculture, with $ 250000 prize money.
May 12, 2021
1. Cabinet Approvals (May 12, 2021)
  1. General -
    1. Approved proposal of Department of Heavy Industry for implementation of Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme National Programme on Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage, for achieving manufacturing capacity of 50 Giga Watt Hour (GWh) of ACC and 5 GWh of Niche ACC, with outlay of 18100 crores.
      1. ACCs are new generation advanced storage technologies that can store electric energy either as electrochemical or as chemical energy and convert it back to electric energy when required.
    2. Approved transfer of 1500 square metres of land belonging to Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) at Mussoorie to State Government of Uttarakhand, for infrastructure project Aerial Passenger Ropeway System between Dehradun and Mussoorie.
      1. It is is a mono-cable ropeway of 5580 meters length under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, between Purkul Gaon (Dehradun) and Library (Mussoorie), with estimated cost 285 crores.
      2. This will reduce traffic flow on road route from Dehradun to Mussoorie, and will help boost tourism.
  2. MOUs -
    1. MoU between Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA).
2. May 12 - International Nurses Day, Being observed since 1965. It is observed on Birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, noted British social reformer, statistician, and the founder of modern nursing. She was born on May 12, 1820. 2021 Theme is Nurses : A Voice to lead.
3. RBI cancelled licence of Bagnan (West Bengal) based United Co-operative Bank, forcing it to cease carrying on banking business.
  1. Under cancellation of licence and liquidation of a Bank, process of paying depositors is carried out as per DICGC Act 1961, which entitles depositers to receive up to INR 5 Lakh of their deposited money.
4. China launched 8th group of 3 Yaogan-30 satellites into orbit, onboard a Long March 2C rocket.
  1. Yaogan are earth-observing and remote-sensing satellites, also including Jianbing sub-family reconnaissance satellites.
5. Nagaland Conservationist Y Nuklu Phom has been named among winners of Whitley Awards 2021 (also known as Green Oscar), donated by MAVA Foundation, for his efforts in establishing a biodiversity peace corridor in Nagaland. Other Winners of Whitley Awards 2021 -
  1. Paula Kahumbu (Whitley Gold Award) (Kenya) Whitley Gold Award donated by the Friends of Whitley Fund for Nature
  2. Sammy Safari (Kenya) - Whitley Award donated by The Corcoran Foundation
  3. Iroro Tanshi (Nigeria) - Whitley Award donated by the Arcus Foundation
  4. Kini Roesler (Argentina) - Whitley Award donated by The Frank Brake Charitable Trust
  5. Pedro Fruet (Brazil) - Whitley Award donated by The William Brake Foundation
  6. Lucy Kemp (South Africa) - Whitley Award donated by Anne Reece
6. Industrial / Misc. Awards (May 2021) -
  1. Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) conferred Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) with Green Urja Award, for being leading public institution in financing renewable energy.
  2. International Invincible Gold Medal 2021 has been conferred on Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, by Maharshi Organisation.
  3. Emmy Award-nominated Indian choreographer Suresh Mukund won 10th Annual ‘World Choreography Award 2020’, becoming first Indian to do so. He won in TV Reality Show / Competition category, for his work on American TV reality show ‘World of Dance’.
  4. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik private secretary Karthikeyan Pandian has been conferred with President’s award by International Hockey Federation, through 47th FIH Congress, for his contribution in promotion of hockey in Odisha.
  5. SpiceHealth, a healthcare company founded by promoters of SpiceJet, won Gold Award at 2021 Asia-Pacific Stevie Awards for ‘Most Valuable Medical Innovation’ under coronavirus disease (Covid-19) response category.

May 11, 2021

May 11 - National Technology Day in India.
1. It marks anniversary of Pokhran Nuclear Tests (Operation Shakti) of 1998. It was coined by late PM Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, as a reminder of India’s technological advancements.
2. May 11 also marks flight of Hansa-3, India’s first indigenous aircraft which was developed by National Aerospace Laboratories.
3. Every year, Technology Development Board seeks applications for National awards for commercialization of technologies under 3 categories - National Awards, MSME awards, and Startup awards. In 2021, 15 winners have been selected for these awards.

Govt. issued schedule for Sovereign Gold Bonds Scheme 2021-22, to be issued in 6 tranches Between May - September 2021. Terms -

Sl. No.	Item
Issuance	To be issued by RBI on behalf of Government of India.
Eligibility	The Bonds will be restricted for sale to resident individuals, HUFs, Trusts, Universities and Charitable Institutions.
Denomination	The Bonds will be denominated in multiples of gram(s) of gold with a basic unit of 1 gram.
Tenor	Tenor of Bond will be 8 years with exit option after5th year to be exercised on the next interest payment dates.
Minimum size	Minimum permissible investment will be 1 gram of gold.
Maximum limit	Maximum limit of subscription shall be 4 KG for individual, 4 Kg for HUF and 20 Kg for trusts and similar entities.
Joint holder	In case of joint holding, investment limit of 4 KG will be applied to the first applicant only.
Issue price	Price of Bond will be fixed on the basis of simple average of closing price of gold of 999 purity, published by India Bullion and Jewellers Association. Discount of 50 per gram for online payments.
Payment option	Cash payment (upto 20000) or demand draft or cheque or electronic banking.
Redemption price	Redemption price will be in based on simple average of closing price of gold of 999 purity, of previous 3 working days published by IBJA.
Sales channel	Bonds will be sold through banks, Stock Holding Corporation of India, post offices and recognised stock exchanges or through agents.
Interest rate	2.50 percent % payable semi-annually.
Collateral	Bonds can be used as collateral for loans.
Tax treatment	Interest shall be taxable as per the provision of Income Tax Act 1961. Capital gains tax arising on redemption of SGB to an individual has been exempted.
Commission	Commission for distribution shall be paid at the rate of 1% of total subscription received by receiving offices and will be shared at least 50% of commission with agents.

Indian Navy hosted Goa Maritime Symposium (GMS-21), under aegis of Naval War College Goa, for the first time in virtual mode. Theme for GMS-21 IS Maritime Security and Emerging Non-Traditional Threats: A Case for Proactive Role for IOR Navies.
India-Born Tahera Qutbuddin became first Indian to win Sheikh Zayed Book Award 2021 in category Arabic Culture in Other Languages, for her book Arabic Oration: Art and Function'.
NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft began its 2-year mission back to Earth after collecting samples from asteroid Bennu, as NASA's first asteroid sample return mission. Bennu is 4.5 billion-year-old asteroid is around 320 million km from Earth.
Assam Govt launched a digital real-time Flood Reporting and Information Management System (FIRMS), making Assam First state to have a real-time digital flood reporting system.

May 10, 2021
1. May 10, 2021 is observed as First ever UN International Day of Argania.
  1. Argan tree is a native species of the sub-Saharan region of Morocco, which is resilient to a harsh environment under water scarcity, risk of erosion and poor soils.
2. Laureus Sports Awards 2021 -
  1. Sportsman of the Year Award: Rafael Nadal (Spain - Tennis).
    1. Its Nadal's 2nd title, after First in 2011.
  2. Sportswoman of the Year Award: Naomi Osaka (Japan - Tennis).
    1. This is Osaka’s second Laureus Sports Awards. In 2019, she won Breakthrough of the Year award.
  3. Team of the Year Award: Bayern Munich (German Football Club)
  4. Breakthrough of the Year Award: Patrick Mahomes (American football Player)
  5. comeback of the Year Award: Max Parrot (Canadian snowboarder)
  6. Sport for Good Award: KICKFORMORE by KICKFAIR
  7. Lifetime Achievement Award: Billie Jean King (US - Tennis)
  8. Athlete Advocate of the Year Award: Lewis Hamilton (British F1 Racer)
  9. Sporting Inspiration Award: Mohamed Salah (Egyptian footballer)
  10. Sporting Moment of the Year Award: Chris Nikic (American triathlete)
3. As First such move for Small Finance Banks, RBI will be conducting one special long term repo operation (SLTRO) for small finance banks (SFB) for each month, totalling 10000 crores.
  1. SLTRO will be valid for 3 years.
  2. Fresh lending can be done for loans of up to Rs 10 lakh. There will be no tenor restrictions.
4. Indian Railways Incudted 100th 12000 HP WAG 12 B Electric Engine, manufactured at Bihar's Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt Ltd. These 12000 horsepower (HP) engines are India's most powerful indigenous locomotives.
  1. Madhepura Electric Locomotive Factory is joint venture of Alstom SA of France with Indian Railways, for production of 800 high-power locomotives over 11 years, designed to run on Indian tracks at 120 km per hour.
5. General Conferences (May 1 - 10, 2021) -
  1. Tourism & Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel participated in Virtual G20 Tourism Ministers' Meeting, hosted by Italy.
  2. Archaeologists discovered oldest known human burial site so far, in Panga ya Saidi (Kenya), that offers insight into 78000 years old burial practices.
  3. Roads & Transport Minstry has set target of road construction of worth 15 lakh crores in 2 years, Targetting 40 KM/Day highways construction in current fiscal.
  4. Health Minister Harsh Vardhan Represented India at 3rd Arctic Science Ministerial (ASM3) - the global platform for discussing research and cooperation in Arctic region.
  5. Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad represented India at Virtual G-7 Digital & Technology Ministerial Meeting.
  6. Ethiopia designated Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and OLF-Shene as terrorist organisations, after recent violent incidents.
  7. Denmark passed legislation for allowing screening of future foreign investments, order to ensure that they don’t pose a threat to national security.
6. Odisha CM institited Manoj Das International Literary Award, in memory of eminent litterateur Manoj Das.
  1. Award will be conferred on litterateurs from Odisha for their creative contribution to English literature every year. It will carry a cash reward of Rs 10 lakh.
  2. Other New Awards -
    1. Manoj-Kishore Literary Talent Award - To honor their works to develop interest among youths in both Odia and English literature. It will be announced both in English and Odia categories and carry cash reward of Rs 1 lakh.
    2. Manmath-Manoj Memorial Award.
7. V Irai Anbu is named as new chief secretary of Tamil Nadu.
8. Global Policing organization Interpol Launched ID-Art app to help law enforcers identify stolen art. It allows users to check art against 52,000 works registered as stolen on Interpol’s database.
9. Ujjwala Singhania has been appointed as National President of FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO), the oldest women-led & women-centric business chamber of Southeast Asia.
10. Govt allowed non-government provident funds, superannuation and gratuity funds to invest up to 5% of their investible surplus in alternate investment funds (AIFs) that support infrastructure, MSMEs, venture capital funds and social venture capital funds.
11. IBM introduced world's first 2-nanometer chipmaking technology, claiming to 45% faster than mainstream 7-nanometer chips in common use and up to 75% more power efficient.
12. Israel, India and UAE signed a trilateral partnership with Israel-based Firm Ecoppia, which is producing an innovative robotic solar cleaning technology in India for a landmark project in UAE.
  1. Ecoppia specializes in robotic solutions for solar, with its manufacturing base in India and over 2700 MW of global projects.

May 09, 2021

G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (in-person) held in London (UK), attended by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on India's Behalf.
1. Also, 1st India-France-Australia Trilateral Foreign Ministerial Dialogue held in London, on sidelines of the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meet.
2. G7 Nations Include - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, UK, and US.
3. Indian attended the Summit on a special invitation from UK.
Meghan Markle's new book The Bench has been released. She is Duchess of Sussex, an American member of British royal family and former actress.
May 9 is Birth Anniversary of Pratap Singh I (Also called Maharana Pratap), the 13th Sisodia king of Mewar.
Misc. MOUs (May 2021) -
1. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Automaker Rolls-Royce signed MoU to establish installation and services support for Rolls-Royce MT30 marine engines in India.
PM Narendra Modi Attended Virtual India-EU Leaders' Meeting, with participation of all 27 EU Member Nations. This is first time EU hosted a meeting with India in EU+27 format.
1. India and EU agreed to resume discussions about a free trade agreement (FTA), 8 years after the talks got stalled.
2. India and EU launched comprehensive ‘Connectivity Partnership’, focused on enhancing digital, energy, transport and people-to-people connectivity.
World number two tennis player Naomi Osaka of Japan has been named “Sportswoman of the Year” at the 2021 Laureus World Sports Awards. This is Osaka’s second Laureus Sports Awards. In 2019, she won the “Breakthrough of the Year” award.
Actress Kalki Koechlin's First Book Elephant In The Womb, will be released soon.
Madrid Open Tennis 2021 (Spain) -
1. Men's Singles - Alexander Zverev (Germany). He defeated Matteo Berrettini (Italy)
2. Women's Singles - Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus). She defeated Ashleigh Barty (Australia)
3. Men's Doubles - Marcel Granollers (Spain) AND Horacio Zeballos (Argentina)
4. Women's Doubles - Czech Republic's Barbora Krejčíková AND Kateřina Siniaková

Mercedes' British F1 Racer Lewis Hamilton won Spanish Grand Prix 2021 -

This is Fifth Consecutive Spanish GP Win for Lewis Hamilton.

F1 Season 2021 -

Grand Prix	Winner	Race date
Bahrain Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	28 March
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	18 April
Portuguese Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	2 May
Spanish Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	9 May
Monaco Grand Prix		23 May
Azerbaijan Grand Prix		6 June
French Grand Prix		20 June
Styrian Grand Prix		27 June
Austrian Grand Prix		4 July
British Grand Prix		18 July
Hungarian Grand Prix		1 August
Belgian Grand Prix		29 August
Dutch Grand Prix		5 September
Italian Grand Prix		12 September
Russian Grand Prix		26 September
Japanese Grand Prix		10 October
United States Grand Prix		24 October
Mexico City Grand Prix		31 October
São Paulo Grand Prix		7 November
Australian Grand Prix		21 November
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix		5 December
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix		12 December

Bollywood Actor Anupam Kher won Best Actor award at New York City International Film Festival (US), for short film Happy Birthday.
1. The film also won Best Short Film award.
As per London-based property consultant Knight Frank's Global Prime Residential Index for Q1 2021, Indian Cities' Ranks is topped by New Delhi (32nd globally) and Global list is topped by Shenzhen (China).
Nepalese Sherpa Kami Rita scaled Mount Everest for record 25th time, breaking his own record for most ascents of Everest.
European Union approved Norway, Canada and US to participate in Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) defence initiative, as first time EU bloc has allowed a third state to participate in PESCO project.
1. The countries will now participate in Military Mobility Project in Europe, aimed at overcoming delays in moving troops across Europe.

May 08, 2021
1. May 8 - World Red Cross Day, also known as Red Crescent Day. It commemorates birth anniversary of Henri Dunant (born on 8 May 1828), the founder of Red Cross and International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
  1. May 8 is also observed as ‘World Thalassaemia Day’.
  2. May 8 is also observed as Victory in Europe Day, Marking formal end of World War II in Europe, when allied powers defeated German leader Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Forces, On May 8, 1945.
  3. May 08, 2021 is Also observed as World Migratory Bird Day. It is observed on second Saturday in May and in October.
  4. May 8 - 9 every year is also observed as Time of Remembrance for Those Who Lost Their Lives during Second World War.
2. RBI appointed Jose J. Kattoor as an Executive Director (ED). RBI currently has 12 EDs.
3. As per report by Rhodium Group, China emits 27 % greenhouse gas pollution of total global emission, US 2nd with 11 % and India 3rd (6 %).
4. Himachal Pradesh Govt began implementing Parvat Dhara Scheme, aimed at enhancing ground water levels. It Includes building ‘Forest Ponds’, to check depletion of groundwater and harvest rainwater.
5. US President Joe Biden issued executive order to set up Climate Change Support Office (CCSO) within Department of State, to advance US initiative to address global climate crisis.
6. RBI excluded Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) from 2nd Schedule of RBI Act, after it was earlier merged with DBS Bank India.
  1. Banks in 2nd Schedule of RBI Act, are known as Scheduled Commercial Banks.
7. RBI has set up an advisory group to assist second regulatory review authority (RRA 2.0) which was constituted recently, to streamline regulations and reduce compliance burden of regulated entities. It will be Headed by SBI MD S Janakiraman.
8. Gita Mittal (Former CJ of J&K HC) has been declared as one of two recipients of Arline Pacht Global Vision Award for 2021, along with Margarita Luna Ramos from Mexico.
  1. International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ) instituted this award in 2016. Gita Mittal is first Indian judge to receive this award.
  2. At present, Gita Mittal is Chairperson of Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC).
May 07, 2021
1. May 7 is Birth Anniversary of India’s first Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore. He started Vishwa Bharati University in Shantiniketan. His birth anniversary is also known as Pochise Boishakh.
2. 1st batch of 83 women soldiers inducted into Indian Army’s military police by Corps of Military Police Centre and School at Dronacharya Parade Ground in Bengaluru.
3. India signed contract for 2nd tranche of Euro 150 million Loan with European Investment Bank (EIB), for Pune Metro Rail project.
  1. EIB had earlier approved loan of Euro 600 million to fund Pune Metro Rail project. First tranche of Euro 200 million was signed in 2019.
4. Competition Commission of India Approvals (May 2021) -
  1. Approved acquisition of 100% stake of Ingram Micro Inc. by Imola Acquisition Corporation.
  2. Approved green channel notice filed by Kyndryl Holdings LLC and Grand Ocean Managed Infrastructure Services Private Limited, in relation to internal restructuring of IBM Corporation. IBM plans to spin off its global MIS Business into a new public company.
  3. Approved acquisition of YES Asset Management (India) and YES Trustee Limited, by GPL Finance and Investments.
  4. Approved acquisition of additional 25% shareholding of Adani Krishnapatnam Port by Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone. APSEZ will now hold 100% shareholding in Krishnapatnam Port.
5. Puducherry became Har Ghar Jal UT by ensuring that every rural home gets a household tap connection. Puducherry became 4th State/UT after Goa, Telangana and Andaman & Nicobar Islands to provide assured tap water supply to every rural home, under Govt’s Jal Jeevan Mission.
6. NITI Aayog and Payments Firm Mastercard released report Connected Commerce: Creating a Roadmap for a Digitally Inclusive Bharat, identifying challenges in accelerating digital financial inclusion in India, and measures for promoting the same.
May 06, 2021
1. World’s largest aeroplane, designed to transport hypersonic vehicles and facilitate easy access to space, completed Test Flight. It has been Built by Stratolaunch.
  1. Named ‘Roc’, It has twin-fuselage design and longest wingspan ever flown, at 385 feet (117 metres), surpassing the Hughes H-4 Hercules flying boat of 321 feet (98 m).
  2. It can carry 550,000-pound payload, and can launch rockets from high altitude.
2. Chinese Researchers produced lightest version of a uranium atom ever. It has 122 neutron, compared with 146 neutrons found in most of naturally occurring uranium, known as uranium-238.
  1. Isotopes of an element have same number of protons (92 in uranium’s case), but differing numbers of neutrons. New Uranium isotope has lowest number of Neutons and Protons ever at 214, making it uranium-214.
3. As Per OECD -
  1. China, US, India, and Luxembourg attracted most FDI in pandemic-hit 2020, with global FDI flows came down 38 % to 15-year low, at $846 billion.
  2. China overtook US as leading destination for FDI in 2020.
  3. India's FDI inflows had jumped 13 % to $57 billion in calendar year 2020.
4. Saudi Arabia joined US, Canada, Norway, and Qatar in forming a new platform called Net Zero Producers Forum, for oil and gas producers to discuss how to support implementation of Paris Agreement on climate change.
5. Bihar government named Tripurari Sharan as state chief secretary, after incumbent Arun Kumar Singh succumbed to Covid-19.
May 05, 2021
1. May 5 is observed as -
  1. World Hand Hygiene Day.
  2. International Day of the Midwife, Observed since 1991.
  3. Birth Anniversary of 7th President of India, Giani Zail Singh (1982 to 1987).
  4. May 05, 2021 is also observed as World Athletics Day. Date is decided by IAAF, however, the month stays the same as May.
2. China indefinitely suspended all activity under China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue, amid strained relations between two nations.
3. Marine research organization ProMare (US) in collaboration with IBM built world’s first AI ship, Mayflower 400.
4. Cabinet Approvals (May 05, 2021) -
  1. MOUs -
    1. UK - Global Innovation Partnership, Migration and Mobility Partnership.
  2. General -
    1. Approved Allocation of additional foodgrain under PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana Phase III- for another 2 months (May to June 2021) @ 5 kg per person per month, to 80 Crore beneficiaries covered under NFSA. Govt will bear full expenditure of over 26000 Crores for the same.
  3. CCEA Approvals -
    1. Approved strategic disinvestment and transfer of management control in IDBI Bank, by Govt nd LIC, who together own over 94% of equity of IDBI Bank (GoI 45.48%, LIC 49.24%).
5. Misc. Appointments (May 2021) -
  1. Life Insurer Kotak Mahindra Life named Mahesh Balasubramanian as MD.
  2. PSU THDC India Appointed Vijay Goel as CMD.
  3. Stefan Dinchev Yanev has been named caretaker Prime Minister of Bulgaria, after Boyko Borisov resigned.
  4. Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) secretary Manisha Kapoor has been appointed to executive committee of International Council for Advertising Self-Regulation (ICAS).
  5. Martha Karambu Koome is named as Kenya’s first woman chief justice. She is first woman to head any of three branches of government.
  6. Laurence des Cars became first female president of Musée du Louvre, world’s largest museum in Paris (France), in its 228 years History.
  7. President of Syria Bashar al-Assad has been re-elected for his 4th term.
  8. Christine Wormuth has been named by US Senate as first female secretary of US Army.
6. World’s longest pedestrian suspension bridge (516 Metres) named Arouca, opened in Portugal. It stays 175 metres above Paiva river and links two hills with granite cliff faces.
7. Covid-19 Pandemic Updates (May 2021) -
  1. Odisha Govt announced Gopabandhu Sambadika Swasthya Bima Yojana for journalists, declaring journalists as frontline Covid warriors. It will provide INR 2 lakh health insurance cover and 15 Lakh Life Insurance cover for journalists.
  2. Armed forces launched operation “CO-JEET” to aid COVID-19 relief efforts.
  3. Serum Institute of India (SII) announced to expand its vaccine business in UK, with investment of £240 million.
  4. Himachal Govt launched dedicated Covid-19 Helpline at 'Mukhyamantri Sewa Sanklap Helpline 1100.
  5. Japan and UN Development Programme (UNDP) partnered to provide oxygen generation plants to North Eastern Region in India, amid 2nd wave of COVID pandemic.
  6. Himachal Govt launched a state-wide wellness programme ‘AYUSH Ghar Dwar’, to promote Yoga & Ayurveda during 2nd wave of pandemic.
  7. Jharkhand govt Launched Amrit Vahini App, to enable booking Covid beds Online.
  8. Chhattisgarh Govt Launched Mahtari Dular Yojana, under which it will bear expenses of education of children orphaned due to Covid-19.
  9. Bihar government launched ‘HIT Covid App’ to ensure regular monitoring and tracking of Covid-19 patients who are in home isolation.
  10. IMF proposed $50 billion plan to end Covid-19 pandemic, with a target of vaccinating at least 40 % of world's population by end of 2021 and 60 % by end of 2022.
  11. National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) launched SAMVEDNA(Sensitizing Action on Mental Health Vulnerability through Emotional Development and Necessary Acceptance) Toll-Free Helpline (1800-121-2830), to provide psycho-social mental support for Children affected during COVID 19 Pandemic.
  12. Maharashtra government launched Mission Oxygen Self-Reliance, to meet state’s oxygen needs, giving Special incentives to oxygen-producing industries.
  13. Haryana launched Sanjeevani Pariyojana, to provide for supervised and quick medical care at home largely for people in rural areas with mild to moderate symptoms.
  14. UK Govt announced developmet of Global Pandemic Radar, as an advanced international pathogen surveillance network to identify COVID-19 variants and emerging diseases.
  15. PM Narendra Modi approved creation of PM-CARES for Children scheme, for children orphaned due to COVID-19. It includes free education and creating 10 lakh corpus for each child, which will be given to them on attaining age of 23.
8. 2021 Billboard Music Awards (US) -
  1. Top Artist - The Weekend
  2. Top New Artist - Pop Smoke
  3. Top Male Artist The Weekend
  4. Top Female Artist - Taylor Swift
  5. Other Notable Awards -
    1. Pink received Billboard Icon Award, Trae tha Truth received Change Maker Award and Drake received Artist of the Decade Award.
9. English player Mark Selby won World Snooker Championship for fourth time, defeating Shaun Murphy in Sheffield (England)
May 04, 2021
1. World Bank Group Entity International Finance Corporation (IFC) will provides up to $150 million to Bajaj Finance, to enable it to expand its lending to MSME sector.
  1. IFC also invested USD 40 Million in Online up-skilling platform Upgrad.
2. Indian PM Narendra Modi and UK PM Boris Johnson attended Virtual India-UK Summit. Both nations adopted an ambitious India-UK Roadmap to 2030 to steer cooperation for next 10 years. MoUs/Declarations -
  1. Launch of an Enhanced Trade Partnership
  2. Joint Declaration of Intent on cooperation in the fields of Digital and Technology
  3. Statement of Principles on new joint work between India and the UK on the India Energy Security Scenarios Calculator
  4. MOUs -
    1. India-UK Global Innovation Partnership
    2. India-UK Migration and Mobility Partnership
    3. Cooperation in field of Telecommunications/ICT
    4. Customs Cooperation and Mutual Administrative Assistance in customs matters
    5. Medical products regulation
    6. Pharmacopoeial Cooperation
3. RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das announced several relief measures, to support Economy during 2nd wave of COVID-19 Pandemic -
  1. Term Liquidity Facility of 50000 crores at repo rate to Ease Access to Emergency Health Services, With tenure up to 3 years.
  2. Special Long Term Repo Operations for Small Finance Banks (upto 31 Oct, 2021)-
    1. To support MSMEs, 3-year repo operations of 10000 crores, for fresh lending up to 10 lakh per borrower, available .
  3. Lending by Small Finance Banks (SFBs) to MFIs (asset size up to 500 crores) for on-lending to be classified as priority sector lending (up to 31 Mar, 2022).
  4. Stress Resolution Framework 2.0 for Individuals, Small Businesses and MSMEs -
    1. Borrowers with exposure up to 25 crores, who did not avail restructuring under previous framework, may be considered under Resolution Framework 2.0, valid till September 30, 2021.
    2. Borrowers who availed restructuring under earlier Framework, lending institutions can now increase period up to total 2 years.
    3. For small businesses restructured earlier, lending institutions can review working capital sanction limits, as a one-time measure.
  5. Floating Provisions and Countercyclical Provisioning Buffer -
    1. Banks can use 100% of their floating provisions as on 31 Dec 2020, for making specific provisions for NPAs, permitted up to 31 Mar 2022.
  6. Maximum days of overdraft in a quarter for state governments has been increased from 36 to 50 days, with number of consecutive days of OD increased from 14 to 21 days, available up to 30 Sep, 2021.
4. May 4 is observed as International Firefighters' Day (IFFD), established in 1999, after deaths of five firefighters in a bushfire in Australia.
  1. May 4 is also observed as Coal Miners Day.
  2. May 4, 2021 is also observed as World Asthma Day, observed on First Tuesday of May.
5. US approved sale of six P-8I patrol aircraft to India, for an estimated cost of USD 2.42 billion.
  1. P-8I aircraft is a variant of the Boeing P-8 Poseidon aircraft that serves as a replacement for US Navy’s P-3 fleet.
  2. Indian Navy is the first international customer for P-8 aircraft, with Indian variant called P-8I.
May 03, 2021
1. May 3 - World Press Freedom Day. 2021 Theme is Information as a Public Good and host nation is Namibia.
  1. In December 1993, UNGA following recommendation of UNESCO’s General Conference proclaimed 3 May as World Press Freedom Day.
  2. UNESCO marks World Press Freedom Day by conferring the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize, created in 1997.
  3. Investigative journalist and media executive Maria Ressa of Philippines has been named as 2021 laureate of UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.
2. Bengaluru teacher Shyamala Ganesh, the former director of the Japanese Language School, will be conferred Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays, by Japanese Govt.
3. Indian Navy launched Operation Samudra Setu-II to help in faster transportation of medical oxygen and other requirements from other countries to India, amid COVID-19 pandemic.
4. Misc. Sports News / Events (May 2021) -
  1. Indian boxer Amit Panghal (52kg) won bronze at Governor's Cup in St. Petersburg (Russia).
  2. Manchester City FC won English Football league 2020–21 EFL Cup and Premier League 2020-21 season.
  3. BCCI Announced Suspension of Indian Premier League 2021 (14th Edition), amid worsening COVID-19 Pandemic.
  4. Badminton World Federation named India's PV Sindhu and Canada’s Michelle Li as athlete ambassadors for International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Believe in Sport campaign, aimed at preventing competition manipulation.
  5. Sri Lankan Cricketer Thisara Perera announced retirement from international cricket.
  6. Arzan Nagwaswalla (Gujarat) became first Parsi cricketer to break into Indian Cricket team since 1975, after he was named as a reserve player in Test squad named for World Test Championship final.
  7. New Zealand Cricketer BJ Watling announced his retirement from international cricket, after playing World Test Championship final against India.
  8. Kazakhstan tennis player Roman Khassanov has been banned for 10 years, amid charges of corruption.
  9. New Zealand will host 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup, in Oct - Nov 2022.
  10. Arjan ‘Singh’ Bhullar became first Indian fighter to win ONE Heavyweight World Title at top-level (Mixed Martial Arts) MMA Championship in Singapore, defeating longtime heavyweight king Brandon ‘The Truth’ Vera.
  11. England Cricketer Harry Gurney retired from International Cricket.
  12. U-17 FIFA women’s World Cup will be held in India in October 2022.
  13. Badminton Association of India President Himanta Biswa Sarma has been elected as Member of BWF Council for period 2021-25.
  14. Indian hockey team goalkeeper PR Sreejesh has been re-appointed as a member of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) Athletes’ Committee.
  15. Atletico Madrid won Spanish Soccer League La Liga title, defeating Real Madrid.
  16. Ireland and England Cricketer Boyd Rankin Retired from International Cricket.
  17. England’s Richard Bland won British Masters golf tournament 2021, with India's Shubhankar Sharma finishing Tied-34th.
  18. Czech Republic Tennis Player Barbora Strýcová (Former top-ranked doubles player) Announced her Retirement from Tennis.
  19. Phil Mickelson (US) won PGA Golf Championship 2021, becoming oldest winner of this major golf championship.
  20. Ashok Kumar is named as only Indian referee to officiate in wrestling in Tokyo Olympics.
  21. Noted German footballer Sami Khedira announced retirement from Football.
5. Misc. Science News (May 2021) -
  1. Scientists discovered smallest known black hole in Milky Way galaxy, which is closest to our solar system (approx 1500 light years from Earth), nicknaming it as Unicorn. It is considered three times mass of our sun.
  2. Researchers identified fossil bone fragments of long-necked dinosaurs, known as Sauropods, around West Khasi Hill Districts in Meghalaya, dating back to 100-million years.
  3. NASA and aerospace Firm Axiom Space partnered to send four people in a first private astronaut mission to International Space Station (ISS) by 2022, known as AX-1 mission.
  4. Elon Musk-owned SpaceX will launch DOGE-1 Mission in 2022, which will first-ever commercial lunar payload, paid entirely in cryptocurrency Dogecoin.
  5. IIT Ropar Researchers and Monash University (Australia) developed a detector named ‘FakeBuster’ to identify imposters attending virtual conferences.
  6. IIT Ropar developed a first-of-its-kind IoT device AmbiTag that records real-time ambient temperature during transportation of perishable products, vaccines, body organs and blood, to help in knowing if transported item is still usable.
6. To encourage people to get COVID-19 Vaccinations, Central Bank of India launched a special deposit scheme offering an additional interest rate of 25 basis points, for those who get vaccinated. It is named Immune India Deposit Scheme, with maturity of 1111 days.
7. Govt has set foodgrains production target for crop year 2021-22 at record 307.31 million tonnes (151.43 mt during kharif (summer) and 155.88 mt during rabi (winter) season). It is 1.3% more than last year’s estimated production of 303.34 mt.
8. Apple announced first-of-its-kind carbon removal initiative, called the Restore Fund, which will invest in forestry projects. It is launched in partnership with Conservation International and Goldman Sachs.

May 02, 2021

May 2 - World Tuna Day.
1. May 2, 2021 is also World Laughter Day, first Sunday of May of every year. First celebration was on January 10, 1998, in Mumbai.
May 2, 2021 is 100th Birth Anniversary of Noted Filmmaker and Bharat Ratna Awardee Satyajit Ray (Born 2 May, 1921).
1. Ministry of Information & Broadcasting will organise year-long centenary celebrations of Shri Satyajit Ray across India.
2. In recognition of his legacy, Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Cinema has been instituted by govt, to be given at International Film Festival of India (IFFI) every year. It will consist of cash prize of 10 lakh rupees.
Wipro overtook HCL to be named 3rd largest Indian IT services company by market capitalization (2.65 trillion INR).
1. TCS remains at the top (11.51 trillion), followed by Infosys.
2. Wipro also recently announced its target to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2040, in line with objective of Paris Agreement to cap temperature rise to 1.5 degree Celsius.
Obituaries (May 2021) -
1. Bikramjeet Kanwarpal - Hindi Film and television actor.
2. Pandit Debu Chaudhuri - Noted Sitar maestro, and an awardee of Padma Bhushan, Padma Shri.
3. K V Anand - Noted cinematographer and Tamil film director.
4. Chaudhary Ajit Singh - Noted Farmers' leader and Former Union Minister. He was founder and chief of Rashtriya Lok Dal, and son of former PM Chaudhary Charan Singh.
5. Jagmohan Malhotra - Former Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and Goa and Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.
6. Chandro Tomar - Noted Indian sharpshooter from Bagpat (Uttar Pradesh), also known as Shooter Daadi. She won over 30 national championships.
7. Parul Debi Das - Assam's first female IAS officer.
8. V. Kalyanam - Freedom fighter and M K Gandhi's personal secretary during last his few years.
9. Manas Bihari Verma - Noted aeronautical scientist, who was instrumental in development of light combat aircraft Tejas.
10. Olympia Dukakis - Noted American actress.
11. G.M. Khan - Indian equestrian (Horse Rider) and Asian gold medalist (1982).
12. Shesh Narayan Singh - Noted Journalist.
13. Abhilasha Patil - Marathi and Hindi Actress.
14. Vanraj Bhatia - Noted Music Composer and Padma Shri Awardee.
15. Raghunath Mohapatra - Noted sculptor, former MP and Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan Awardee.
16. Ravinder Pal Singh - Former National hockey player.
17. Gutta Muniratnam - Noted social worker, founder of Rashtriya Seva Samithi and Padma Shri Awardee.
18. Homen Borgohain - Noted Assamese author and journalist. He won 1978 Sahitya Akademi Award in Assamese language for his novel Pita Putra.
19. Indu Jain - Noted media executive (Times Group chairperson).
20. KR Gouri Amma - first Revenue Minister of Kerala.
21. V. Chandrasekar - Former Noted table tennis player and Arjuna Award winner.
22. Anup Bhattacharya - Freedom fighter and Swadhin Bangla Betar Kendra musician.
23. Fortunato Franco - Former Indian footballer.
24. MK Kaushik - Former Indian Hockey Player and coach.
25. M S Narasimhan - Noted mathematician and recipient of Padma Bhushan, Ordre national du Mérite (France), Fellowship of Royal Society, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize and only Indian to receive King Faisal International Prize in field of science.
26. Sunil Jain - Noted financial journalist.
27. Jagannath Pahadia - Former Governor of Haryana, Bihar and former CM of his home state Rajasthan.
28. Chaman Lal Gupta - Former union minister of state of defence (2002 to 2004), hailing from Jammu and Kashmir.
29. K K Aggarwal - Noted cardiologist, and former President of Confederation of Medical Association of Asia and Oceania (CMAAO) and Indian Medical Association. He was also a Padma Shri Awardee.
30. Ki. Rajanarayanan -Noted Tamil writer.
31. Rajendrasinh Jadeja - Former Indian cricketer and former BCCI referee.
32. R L Bhatia - Former Governor of Kerala, Bihar.
33. Rewa Prasad Dwivedi - Noted Sanskrit scholar, poet and writer.
34. Sunderlal Bahuguna - Noted environmentalist and Chipko movement leader.
35. Srikumar Banerjee - Noted Indian Atomic Scientist and Former chairman of Atomic Energy Commission of India.
36. Vijay Patil - Noted Music Composer, better known as Raamlaxman.
  1. Raamlaxman is Laxman of duo composers Raam-Laxman. "Raam" (his partner Surendra) passed away after signing film Agent Vinod (1977).
  2. Laxman continued to retain Raam's name in Marathi as well as Hindi films.
37. Om Prakash Bhardwaj - Noted boxing coach and India's first Dronacharya awardee coach for boxing.
38. Yuan Longping - Noted Chinese scientist, also called father of hybrid rice. He developed a hybrid rice strain that vastly improved Rice output in China.
39. Lee Evans - Noted American sprinter. He won two gold medals in the 1968 Summer Olympics, setting world records in the 400 meters and the 4 × 400 meters relay, both of which stood for 20 and 24 years respectively.
40. H S Doreswamy - Noted Freedom fighter, known for his participation in the Quit India movement and Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan movement.
41. Alka Raghuvanshi - Noted Author And Art Curator. She was India’s first trained art curator, having trained at Goldsmiths College London.
42. Sakti Mazumdar - Indian Boxer. He competed in men's flyweight event at 1952 Summer Olympics.
43. Babagouda Patil - Former union minister. He was Minister of state for Rural Areas & Employment, under PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Mercedes' British F1 Racer Lewis Hamilton won Portugese Grand Prix -

F1 Season 2021 -

Grand Prix	Winner	Race date
Bahrain Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	28 March
Emilia Romagna Grand Prix	Max Verstappen (Belgian-Dutch)	18 April
Portuguese Grand Prix	Lewis Hamilton (UK)	2 May
Spanish Grand Prix		9 May
Monaco Grand Prix		23 May
Azerbaijan Grand Prix		6 June
French Grand Prix		20 June
Styrian Grand Prix		27 June
Austrian Grand Prix		4 July
British Grand Prix		18 July
Hungarian Grand Prix		1 August
Belgian Grand Prix		29 August
Dutch Grand Prix		5 September
Italian Grand Prix		12 September
Russian Grand Prix		26 September
Japanese Grand Prix		10 October
United States Grand Prix		24 October
Mexico City Grand Prix		31 October
São Paulo Grand Prix		7 November
Australian Grand Prix		21 November
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix		5 December
Abu Dhabi Grand Prix		12 December

Misc. Corporate News /Events (May 2021) -
1. To help MSMEs fight COVID-19, SIDBI lauched two loan products at concessional rate, which will help augment supply of essential Commodities. Products are SHWAS (SIDBI assistance to Healthcare sector in War Against Second wave of COVID19) and AROG (SIDBI Assistance to MSMEs for Recovery & Organic Growth during COVID19 pandemic).
2. Labour ministry hiked maximum sum assured payable under Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme 1976, from 6 to 7 lakh.
3. RBI imposed penalty of 3 crore on ICICI Bank, for non-compliance with directions related to shifting of securities between categories.
4. Jana Small Finance Bank launched I choose my number feature, giving its customers the option to select their chosen number as their bank account number.
5. RBI approved prepaid payment business (PPI) Licenses for Bajaj Finance and Eroute Technologies.
6. Geojit Financial Services partnered with Punjab National Bank to provide three-in-one account to Bank’s customers. The new service gives customers who have a savings account with PNB, a PNB Demat account and a Geojit trading account.
7. Google launched international money transfer facility for its payments app Google Pay users in US, enabling them to pay app users in India and Singapore, in partnership with remittance Firms Wise and Western Union Co.
8. Airtel Payments Bank launched DigiGold platform for customers to make investments in gold, in partnership with SafeGold.
9. Online investment platform Groww acquired Indiabulls Mutual Fund for 175 crores.
10. India is 2nd largest insurance-technology market in Asia-Pacific, accounting for 35 % of USD 3.66 billion insurtech-focused venture capital invested in APAC. China stands first with approx 43 % of investments.
11. RBI's Arm Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) will build Digital Financial Infrastructure named National Digital Financial Infrastructure (NADI), which will provide a roadmap and framework for future digital financial services growth in India.
12. SBI partnered with HyperVerge, to use its flagship Video Banking solution, to boost online account openings, Assisted by AI engines.
13. Kotak Mahindra Bank issued foreign portfolio investor (FPI) licence to the GIFT IFSC alternative investment fund (AIF) of True Beacon Global, as first FPI licence issued to an AIF incorporated in GIFT IFSC by any custodian bank or designated depository participant in India.
14. RBI Imposed Penalty of 1 Crore on each of Tamilnad Mercantile Bank and City Union Bank.
15. Equitas Small Finance Bank became first SFB to offer Online account opening facility for NRIs.
16. SEBI Imposed 5.25 crores Fine on Cairn India for Fraud under Share Buyback.
17. Aditya Birla Sun Life Insurance launched hyper-flexible savings plan, Vision LifeIncome Plus Plan, that provides guaranteed regular income plus flexible bonus pay-outs.
18. RBI imposed penalty of 10 crores INR on HDFC Bank, for contravention of provisions related to marketing and sale of third-party non-financial products to bank’s customers.
19. NPCI partnered with Turkey’s global payment solutions company PayCore, as a certified partner for RuPay SoftPOS to drive cashless payments across Turkey.
20. Tata Digital acquired a majority stake (64%) in online grocery BigBasket.
Indian Insurance Major Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has been named 3rd strongest and 10th most valuable insurance brand globally, in Brand Finance Insurance 100 report for 2021. Globally -
1. Most Valuable Brand – Ping An Insurance (China)
2. Most Strongest Brand - Poste Italiane (Italy)
T. Rabi Sankar has been named new RBI Deputy Governor. He replaces B.P. Kanungo, who retired recently.
1. Other3 RBI DG are - M. Rajeshwar Rao, M. D. Patra, M. K. Jain

May 01, 2021
1. May 1 is Formation day of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Both states were formed on May 01, 1960, when Bombay state was split.
  1. May 1, 2021 also marked as 400th Prakash Prav of Guru Teg Bahadur Ji (9th Sikh Guru).
2. May 1 - Labour Day, also known as International Worker's Day and May Day. In India, first celebration of the Labour Day was organised in Madras by Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan on May 1, 1923.
  1. Labour Day commemorates happenings of May 4, 1886, the Haymarket affair (Haymarket Massacre) in the Chicago. It was a big event as workers were on the general strike for their eight-hour workday, with protests getting violent.
3. Gross GST revenue collected in April 2021 remained at all time high of 1.4 Lakh crores (CGST 27837 crores, SGST 35621 Crores, IGST 68481 crores and Cess 9445 crores.
4. Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI) issued operational guidelines and and an online portal for Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Food Processing Industry (PLISFPI).
  1. It was approved as a Central Sector Scheme, with outlay of 10900 crores during 2021-22 to 2026-27, for boosting food prosessing industry.
5. State Assembly Election Results (May 2021) -
  1. Assam (126 Seats) -
    1. BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) retained power with 75 seats. BJP Largest party with 60 seats.
    2. BJP's Himanta Biswa Sarma named as 15th Chief Minister of Assam.
  2. Kerala (140 Seats) -
    1. CPI (M)-Led Allaince Left Democratic Front (LDF) retained power with 99 seats. Communist Party of India (Marxist) became single largest party (62 seats).
    2. CPI (M)'s Pinarayi Vijayan became first Chief minister of Kerala to be re-elected after completing a full term, for his 2nd term.
  3. Puducherry (30 Seats) -
    1. AINRC-BJP Alliance NDA Won 16 Seats. AINRC came largest party with 10 seats.
    2. AINRC's N. Rangaswamy named as New Chief Minister of UT of Puducherry, for his 4th term.
  4. Tamil Nadu (234 Seats) -
    1. Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) won clear majority with 133 seats.
    2. DMK's M. K. Stalin named as New CM of Tamil Nadu, replacing Edappadi K. Palaniswami (AIADMK).
  5. West Bengal (292 Seats) -
    1. All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) won clear majority, with 213 seats. BJP second with 77 seats.
    2. TMC's Mamta Bannerjee re-appointed as CM of West Bengal, for her 3rd Term.
6. Misc. Defence News (May 2021) -
  1. Indian Army launched first Green Solar Energy plant in North Sikkim to harness renewable energy, with capacity of 56 KVA.

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