Current Affairs 15th May 2021| Current Affairs News

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CURRENT AFFAIRS: IMPORTANT DAYS

International Day of Families – Observed on May 15

• The International Day of Families is observed on the 15 May every year.
• The themeof this year’s International Day of Families is “Families and New Technologies.”
• The Day was proclaimed by the UN General Assembly in 1993 and reflects the importance the international community attaches to families.
• Gender equality and children’s rights in contemporary families”.
• The United Nations proclaimed the year 1994 as the International Year of Families.
• This day is marked to celebrate the bond of families, societies, traditions, and culture around the world.
• It has been held every year since 1995.
• Family provides a sense of stability and a feeling of home, for people of all ages.

Armed Forces Day – Observed on Third Saturday of May

• May15 this year 2021, commemorates the very special Armed Forces Day.
• Celebrated on the third Saturdayof May every year, this is a very crucial day dedicated to honour the US military forces for relentlessly providing security and protection to the nation.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NATIONAL NEWS

Punjab CM Capt Amarinder’s Eid gift: Muslim-dominated Malerkotla becomes new district

• Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh announced the creation of a new district of Malerkotla, carving the state’s only Muslim-majority town from Sangrur district.
• Adjoining Amargarh and Ahmedgarh will also form part of Punjab’s 23rd district, according to the announcement at a state-level event on Eid-ul-Fitr.
• According to Malerkotla, which is 35 km from the Sangrur district headquarters, a district status was a pre-poll promise by the Congress.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Paris city council plans to reduce car traffic in centre of French capital by 2022

• A plan to drastically reduce car trafficin the centre of the French capital Paris by 2022 has been put forward by the city council.
• The councilinformed, low-traffic zones will result in a less polluted, greener, more peaceful and safer city.
• During the COVID pandemic, Parisadded hundreds of kilometres of cycle lanes.

About France:

• Capital: Paris
• Currency: Euro
• President: Emmanuel Macron

CURRENT AFFAIRS: STATE NEWS

Himachal Pradesh: AYUSH Dept launches statewide wellness programme ‘AYUSH Ghar Dwar’ 

• In Himachal Pradesh, AYUSH Division launched a state-wide wellness programme ‘AYUSH  Ghar Dwar’ for COVID-19 sufferers, in Sloan district.
• The initiative aims to offer a Holistic Healthcare Strategy by way of AYUSH to make sure not solely bodily but in addition psychological, social and religious wellbeing to COVID sufferers by way of AYUSH.
• The Ayush Ghar Dwar program is being launched by AYUSH Vibhag Himachal Pradesh in collaboration with the Artwork of Dwelling Group.
• Beneath this program round 1000 digital teams might be made on totally different social media platforms by way of which educated instructors on Ayurveda will conduct digital periods on Yoga, Pranayam, Respiratory Workout routines, Meditation, therapies, medicines and practices to calm the thoughts apart from others.

About Himachal Pradesh:

• Capital: Shimla
• Governor: Bandaru Dattatreya
• Chief minister: Jai Ram Thakur

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BUSINESS NEWS

Reliance Jio offers free talk time for JioPhone users 

• Jio announces free talk time offerfor JioPhone users during Covid pandemic.
• Reliance Jio said it is working with RelianceFoundation to provide 300 free minutes of outgoing calls per month, which amounts to 10 minutes per day, for the entire period of the pandemic.
• The company stated that, The scheme will be available to JioPhone users who have not been able to recharge due to the ongoing pandemic.
• Reliance Jio is the first company to announce free talk time for users in the second wave of pandemic wherein many states have imposed lockdowns or lockdown-like restrictions as a desperate measure to restrict the spread of the virus.

TRAI reported Jio tops in 4G download speed, Vodafone in upload in April

• Reliance Jiotopped the 4G speed chart with a data download rate of 20.1MBbps, while Vodafone was ahead of others in upload speed at 6.7 Mbps in April, according to the latest data from telecom regulator TRAI.
• Jiohas almost three times higher download speed compared to its closest competitor Vodafone.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: BANKING NEWS

ADB records totally USD 3.92 billion loan to India in 2020

• The Asian Development Bankstated that, it has committed a record USD 3.92 billion in sovereign loans for 13 projects to India in 2020, including USD8 billion in COVID-19 related projects to support the government’s pandemic response.
• ADB also approved financing to help the government improve equitable access to comprehensive primary health care in urban areas.

About ADB:     

• Headquarters: Manila, Philippines
• President: Masatsugu Asakawa

World Bank extends USD 80.5 million to Sri Lanka 

• The World Bank extended USD 80.5 million to Sri Lanka for its COVID-19 vaccination drive.
• This useful and timely resource will help us ensure equitable vaccine deployment among the eligible populations of Sri Lanka, said Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi, after the agreement was signed with the global financial body.
• Sri Lanka has so far inoculated 1.1 million people with the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine, of whom 244,000 people have been given the second dose.
• The vaccination programme was rolled out in late January after India gifted 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine. 

About World Bank:

• Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States
• Parent organization: World Bank Group
• President: David Malpass

CURRENT AFFAIRS: APPOINTMENT AND RESIGNATION NEWS

Indian-American Neera Tanden appointed as White House senior adviser

• Indian-American Neera Tanden has been appointed senior adviser to US President Joe Biden, two months after she withdrew her nomination as Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget due to stiff opposition from Republican senators.
• Tanden (50) is slated to join the White House.

Bata India Ltd appointed Gunjan Shah as new CEO

• Footwear major Bata India Limited announced the appointment of Gunjan Shah as its new Chief Executive Officer.  
• Shah will be at the helm of the brand’s operations in India.
• He takes over from Sandeep Kataria who has been elevated as the Global CEO of Bata Brands.
• Shah has extensive experience of working across varied sectors spanning Consumer Durables, Telecom and FMCG.

Wipro appointed Tulsi Naidu as its Board of Directors

• IT Company Wiprohas appointed Zurich Insurance Group CEO for Asia Pacific Tulsi Naidu as an independent director on its board for five years, the company stated that his appointment  effective July 1, 2021.
• The appointmentof Naidu is subject to the approval of shareholders.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: AWARDS AND HONOURS

Classical musician Pandit Rajeev Taranath, scientist Dr K Kasturirangan bagged Basavashree awards

• Classical musician Pandit Rajeev Taranathand space scientist Dr K Kasturirangan will receive the prestigious Basavashree award for 2019 and 2020, respectively, announced Murugha Mutt pontiff Dr Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru.

CURRENT AFFAIRS : ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

Groww to acquire Indiabulls MF for Rs 175 crore             

• On May 11, 2021, Online investment platform Groww announced that it will be acquiring Indiabulls Mutual Fund for a total consideration of Rs 175 crore. 
• The digital platform will acquire Indiabulls Asset Management Company (IBAMC) and the trustee company for Rs 175 crore, which includes a cash and equivalent component of Rs 100 crore.
• The Alternate Investment Fund (AIF) and Portfolio Management Service (PMS) businesses will be demerged from the existing IBAMC structure, and remain under Indiabulls Housing Finance.

About Groww :

• Groww’s co-founder and chief executive : Lalit Keshre
• Headquarters : Bengaluru
• Founded: 2016

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

NITI Aayog set up CovAid portal for real-time monitoring of relief                                                  

• The NITI Aayog has set up a dedicated portal CovAid for tracking all aid coming via missions or by individual organisations.
• It can be tracked online end-to-end till distribution by the donors. 
• HLL Lifecare Limited and Concor have been engaged for logistical support.
• The Indian Red Cross Society is the consignee for all consignments of donations from foreign countries being received by the missions.
• HLL Lifecare is functioning as the customs agent for the processing of customs and other regulatory clearances.
• The mission forwards the list to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) which is further shared with the health ministry for allocation.

About CovAid portal :

• It is a completely transparent system for distribution of foreign aid with a detailed SOP (standard operating procedure)
• The SOP has been laid out to ensure that the states with high active cases receive supplies on a priority basis.

Note :

• Indian government has also launched a vaccine registration app CoWin (Covid Vaccine Intelligence Work) to make India’s vaccination drive smoother.

About NITI Aayog :

• Formed: 1 January 2015
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Chairperson: Narendra Modi
• CEO : Amitabh Kant

NASA, Axiom Agree to First Private Astronaut Mission on International Space Station

• On May 10, 2021, NASA and Axiom Space have signed an order for the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station by January 2022.
• It has been designated as Axiom Mission 1 (AX-1).
• It will consist of a crew of 4 astronauts and it will be launched from NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, US.

4 Astronauts :

• The 4 Astronauts are Michael López-Alegría– veteran of 4 spaceflights and vice chairman of Axiom Space.
• Larry Connor, an American actual property entrepreneur who will function pilot on the mission
• Mark Pathy, a Canadian investor and philanthropist.
• Eytan Stibbe, an Israeli businessman and fighter pilot.

About Axiom Space :

• Founded: 2016
• Headquarters location: Houston, Texas, United States
• Founders: Michael Suffredini, Kam Ghaffarian
• President & CEO : Michael Suffredini

About NASA :

• Headquarters: Washington, D.C., United States
• Founder: Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Founded: 29 July 1958, United States
• Administered by: Steve Jurczyk

CURRENT AFFAIRS : SPORTS NEWS

2021 AIBA Men’s World Boxing Championships held in Belgrade    

• The dates of the 2021 AIBA Men’s World Boxing Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia.
• The tournament will be held from 26 October – 6 November 2021.
• The event will be overseen by the President of Serbia, Mr. Aleksandar Vucic, who is the Head of the Local Organising Committee (LOC).

Note : 

• The previous edition of the AIBA Men’s World Boxing Championships was hosted by Ekaterinburg, Russia in 2019.

About AIBA :

• AIBA – International Boxing Association
• Headquarters : Lausanne, Switzerland
• President: Umar Kremlyov
• Founded: 1946

Rugby World Cup : Women’s Rugby World Cup to kick off on New Zealand in October 2022                 

• On May 12, 2021, World Rugby released a new schedule for the Women’s World Rugby Tournament.
• For 2022 women’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, with the tournament to run from 8th October to 12th November 2022.
• The final and bronze medal match will be played at Auckland’s Eden Park on Nov. 12.
• The 12-team tournament was actually held in 2021, but it was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The tournament has been extended from 35 to 43 days, allowing all teams a break of at least five days between matches.

About Rugby World Cup :

• The Rugby World Cup is a men’s rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. 
• The tournament was first held in 1987, when the tournament was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia.

 Kazakhstan Davis Cup tennis player Roman Khassanov banned for corruption

• The International Tennis Integrity Agency Informed that Roman Khassanov a tennis player who represented Kazakhstan in the Davis Cup has been banned for 10 years after admitting a string of corruption charges.
• The offenses which took place from 2014 through 2018.
• He has been banned from attending any official tennis events and fined $100,000, with all but $25,000 of that sum suspended.
• The charges included breaking rules against fixing or attempting to fix any aspect of an event and soliciting or accepting money or other benefits.
• Khassanov had a career-high ranking of 671 in 2018 and mostly played lower-level Futures and Challenger events.

About International Tennis Integrity Agency :

• Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
• Founded: 2021

CURRENT AFFAIRS : OBITUARIES

Times Group Chairperson Indu Jain passes away           

• On May 13, 2021, Times Group chairperson Indu Jain Passed Away.
• She was 84.

About Indu Jain :

• She was the chairperson of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd (BCCL).
• Indu Jain was married to the late Ashok Kumar Jain, former chairman of Times Group or BCCL.
• She was the founder president of Ficci Ladies Organisation.
• From 1999, she also served as chairperson of Bharatiya Jnanpith Trust, founded in 1944 a literary and research foundation presenting India’s highest literary awards for work in Indian languages.

Achievements :

• Jain was the recipient of the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India Padma Bhushan in 2016. 
• In 2018, She got an award for Lifetime Contribution to Media by the All India Management Association.
• In 2019 for translating excellence in corporate governance into reality, she got the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.
• She also got an Lifetime Achievement Award by the Indian Congress of Women.

About Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd (BCCL) :

• CEO: Raj Jain
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Founded: 1838, Mumbai
• Vice chairman of BCCL : Samir Jain 
• Managing director at BCCL : Vineet Jain
• BCCL publishes English dailies The Times of India and The Economic Times.

About Ficci Ladies Organisation :

• Establishment : 1983
• Purpose : To promote entrepreneurship and professional excellence among women in India.

Daily CA On May 14 :

• Chief Justice of India N.V. Ramana launched an official mobile application for Journalists to cover proceedings of the apex court.
• The Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) has granted permission for emergency use of anti-COVID-19 therapeutic application of the drug 2-deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) developed by Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS).
• Prime Minister Mario Draghi has appointed diplomat Elisabetta Belloni as the head of Italy’s spy agency, the first woman to lead the Department of Information Security (DIS).
• The Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information, or HmbBfDI, said that it has issued an injunction that prevents Facebook from processing personal data from WhatsApp.
• K P Sharma Oli was set to be reappointed as Nepal Prime Minister as the Opposition alliance of Nepali Congress and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre) failed to muster majority support to form the next government.
• According to a statement released by the Ministry of Finance, the residential project – ‘Rivali Park’, situated in suburban Mumbai, was the first housing project in the country to have received funding under the government’s SWAMIH Fund, managed by the SBICap ventures.
• Low–cost carrier GoAirhas rebranded itself as Go First, the company announced. The purpose of the revamp is to fully embrace the ultra–low–cost airline model to gain an advantage over its peers.
• Blue Dart, a leading express logistics service provider, said it formed Blue Dart Med-Express Consortium with a mission of revolutionizing the delivery of vaccines and emergency medical supplies to the remotest parts of India using drones.
• Airtel Payments Bank launched DigiGold, a digital platform for its customers to make investments in gold. DigiGold has been launched in partnership with SafeGold, a provider of digital gold.
• TVS Motor Company has announced the appointment of Robert Hentschel as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Vittorio Urciuoli as Chief Technical Officer (CTO) of The Norton Motorcycle Co. Ltd.
• Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd (SMIPL) announced that appointment of Satoshi Uchida as its new Company Head as part of a global revamp by parent Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC).
• India-born entrepreneur Rajesh Agrawal has been re-appointed as London’s Deputy Mayor for Business by Mayor Sadiq Khan after he won a second term in local elections.
• The appointment of former India spinner Ramesh Powar as India women’s cricket team head coach came as a surprise after the Cricket Advisory Committee (CAC) chose him for the post, replacing WV Raman.
• SoftBank and OneWeb will jointly engage in technical and product development for Japan and global markets.
• On May 08, 2021, The navies of India and Indonesia carried out a military drill in the Southern Arabian Sea. It is focused on further improving their interoperability.
• Kusal Perera was named Sri Lanka’s ODI captain ahead of their three-match series against Bangladesh.  It is Starting From May 23, 2021.
• On May 12, 2021, Former Director of Central Bureau of Investigation Rahothaman passed away.
• On May 08, 2021, Epidemiologist Smarajit Jana passed away.

Daily CA On May 15 : 

• The International Day of Families is observed on the 15 May every year. The themeof this year’s International Day of Families is Families and New Technologies.
• May15 this year 2021, commemorates the very special Armed Forces Day.
• Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh announced the creation of a new district of Malerkotla, carving the state’s only Muslim-majority town from Sangrur district.
• A plan to drastically reduce car trafficin the centre of the French capital Paris by 2022 has been put forward by the city council.
• In Himachal Pradesh, AYUSH Division launched a state-wide wellness programme ‘AYUSH  Ghar Dwar’ for COVID-19 sufferers, in Sloan district.
• Jio announces free talk time offerfor JioPhone users during Covid pandemic. Reliance Jio said it is working with Reliance Foundation to provide 300 free minutes of outgoing calls per month, which amounts to 10 minutes per day, for the entire period of the pandemic.
• Reliance Jiotopped the 4G speed chart with a data download rate of 1MBbps, while Vodafone was ahead of others in upload speed at 6.7 Mbps in April, according to the latest data from telecom regulator TRAI.
• The Asian Development Bankstated that, it has committed a record USD 3.92 billion in sovereign loans for 13 projects to India in 2020, including USD8 billion in COVID-19 related projects to support the government’s pandemic response.
• The World Bank extended USD 80.5 million to Sri Lanka for its COVID-19 vaccination drive. This useful and timely resource will help us ensure equitable vaccine deployment among the eligible populations of Sri Lanka, said Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi, after the agreement was signed with the global financial body.
• Indian-American Neera Tanden has been appointed senior adviser to US President Joe Biden, two months after she withdrew her nomination as Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget due to stiff opposition from Republican senators.
• Footwear major Bata India Limited announced the appointment of Gunjan Shah as its new Chief Executive Officer.  
• IT Company Wiprohas appointed Zurich Insurance Group CEO for Asia Pacific Tulsi Naidu as an independent director on its board for five years, the company stated that his appointment  effective July 1, 2021.
• Classical musician Pandit Rajeev Taranathand space scientist Dr K Kasturirangan will receive the prestigious Basavashree award for 2019 and 2020, respectively, announced Murugha Mutt pontiff Dr Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru.
• On May 11, 2021, Online investment platform Groww announced that it will be acquiring Indiabulls Mutual Fund for a total consideration of Rs 175 crore. 
• The NITI Aayog has set up a dedicated portal CovAid for tracking all aid coming via missions or by individual organisations. It can be tracked online end-to-end till distribution by the donors.
• On May 10, 2021, NASA and Axiom Space have signed an order for the first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station by January 2022. It has been designated as Axiom Mission 1 (AX-1).
• The dates of the 2021 AIBA Men’s World Boxing Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. The tournament will be held from 26 October – 6 November 2021.
• On May 12, 2021, World Rugby released a new schedule for the Women’s World Rugby Tournament. For 2022 women’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, with the tournament to run from 8th October to 12th November 2022.
• The International Tennis Integrity Agency Informed that Roman Khassanov a tennis player who represented Kazakhstan in the Davis Cup has been banned for 10 years after admitting a string of corruption charges.
• On May 13, 2021, Times Group chairperson Indu Jain Passed Away.