CHRONICLE MAY 2018

PRAKRITI

·         Prakriti, a 25-year girl from Bihar has been inducted as the first direct-entry combat officer in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.

 

Wang Yi

·         China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi will now be its key negotiator with India on the vexed border issue after Beijing promoted him to the post of State Councilor, the country's top diplomat.

 

Vladimir Putin

·         Vladimir Putin won a fourth term as Russia's president, adding six year in the Kremlin for the man who has led the world's largest country for all of the 21^st century.

 

Bidya Devi Bhandari

 

·         Nepal's first woman President Bidya Devi Bhandari has been re-elected for a second term in office. Bhandari, the left alliance's candidate, defeated her Nepali Congress rival Kumari Laxmi Rai in the election.

·         She became Nepal's first women President in 2015.

 

N Chandrasekaran

 

·         Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran has been elected President of the court of the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for three years. He will replace K. Kasturirangan.

 

Samina Baig

·         Renowned mountaineer Samina Baig from Pakistan was appointed the National Goodwill Ambassador for Pakistan by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). She is the first Pakistani woman to climb Mount Everest.

Stephen Hawking

·         The world-renowned British theoretical Physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking has passed away.

·         He is the author of book, A Brief history of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. The cosmology treatise has sold approximately 10 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling science books of all time.

 

Mauritius

·         President Ram Nath Kovind was the Chief Guest at 50^th year celebration of Mauritian Independence Day.

 

Pritzker Architecture Prize

·         Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi, known for his pioneering work in low-cost housing, has won the Pritzker Nobel equivalent for the field. He is the first Indian to receive the honor. He will be awarded $100,000(£80,591) at a ceremony in Toronto in May. 

 

Committee to Study Issues in Fintech Space

·         The government has set up a steering committee to consider various issues relating to the development of Fintech space in India with a view to make Fintech related regulations more flexible and generate enhanced entrepreneurship.

·         The eight-member committee headed by Economic Affairs Secretary, Subhash Chandra Garg will also focus on how Fintech can be leveraged to enhance financial inclusion of MEMEs.

 

Tribunal on Mahanadi Water

·         The centre has constituted three member Mahanadi water Disputes tribunal to adjudicate the dispute between Odisha and Chhattisgarh over sharing the river's water.

·         Supreme Court judge AM Khanwilkar will be the Chairman of the tribunal, with Justice Ravi Ranjan of the Patna High Court and Justice Indermeet Kaur Kochhar of the Delhi High Court being the other two members.

·         The Tribunal, which will have its head quarters in Delhi, has been constituted following the Supreme Court orders in January in a suit filed by the Odisha Government.

 

9^th Report of Dalwai Committee

·         To double farmer incomes by 2022, an eight-member inter-ministerial committee headed by Mr. Ashok Dalwai was constituted. It has been providing its suggestions by uploading its reports to the Agri Ministry website. Here are some highlights of the 9^th out of 14- report uploaded recently.

·         The Committee stresses on Secondary agriculture, which is an important and independent activity and a division needs to be created in all the three departments of the agriculture ministry to promote it.

 

First ISA Meet

 

·         The first conference of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) was held in Delhi.

·         The ISA is the first international treaty based organisation headquartered in Gurugram, India.

·         It was established following the Paris Declaration as an alliance dedicated to the promotion of solar energy among its member countries. Of the 121 countries associated with ISA, 61 have joined the alliance and 32 have ratified the framework agreement.

 

 

 

Jhunjhunu

·         The 2011 census brought Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan the Ignominy of being the district with the lowest sex ratio of 837 girls per 1000 boys among 33 districts of the state. Seven years on, the district is being hailed as a model with the sex ratio at birth (SRB) touching an impressive 955 girls per 1000 boys.

·         It is from here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently launched the pan-India expansion of Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) programme to cover all 640 districts on Women's Day on March 8 along with the National Nutrition Mission.

 

Pabitora Sanctuary

·         Assam's Pabitara wildlife sanctuary, which just spans 48 one-horned rhinos according to a recent census compared to 93 recorded in the last census carried out in 2012. While majority of the rhinos in the state are in Kaziranga national Park, rhinos are also found in Pabitora wildlife sanctuary and Manas national Park.

 

India's first Insect Museum

·         India's first insect museum has been inaugurated at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.

 

Gulf Shield -1

·         The Gulf Shield -1 military exercise of 23 countries including Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states was held in Eastern Region of Saudi Arabia. It was organised by Ministry of defence of Saudi Arabia. The one-month exercise was largest military drill in this region.

 

Exercise 'Varuna' 2018

·         The Indian Navy and the French navy will conduct naval exercise 'Varuna' in three sea areas, namely, the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and South Western Indian Ocean.

·         Both the countries are conducting bilateral maritime exercise since May 1993. Since 2001, the exercises have been named VARUNA and there have been fifteen editions of the same till date. The last edition of VARUNA was conducted off the French Coast in Apr-2017.