. NEWS BULLETIN―21 Week-1, June 2019

NATIONAL

The Modi Government announced the portfolios of the

Union Council of Ministers.

―BJP national president Amit Shah has been allotted Home

Ministry ―Former Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar has been allotted

External Affairs Minister.

―Former Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been

allotted Finance Ministry.

―Former Home Minister Rajnath Singh will take over as the

Defence Minister.

―Nitin Gadkari will continue as the Minister of Road

Transport and Highways and Micro, Small and Medium

Enterprises.

―Ravi Shankar Prasad will continue as the Law Minister,

with additional responsibility of Information Technology and

Telecommunications.

―Piyush Goyal will continue as the Railways Minister with

the addition of Commerce Ministry.

―Dharmendra Pradhan will continue as the Petroleum

Minister along with additional responsibility of Steel ministry.

―Smriti Irani, will continue as the Textiles Minister, along

with Women and Child Development.

―Gajendra Singh Shekhawat has been allotted newly created

Jal Shakti ministry.

―Narendra Singh Tomar has been allotted agriculture

ministry along with Rural Development and Panchayati Raj.

―Thawarchand Gehlot has been allotted the Ministry of

Social Justice and Empowerment.

―Former Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda has been

allotted the new Tribal Affairs Ministry.

―Ramesh Pokhriyal has been allotted Human Resources

Ministry.

―Prakash Javadekar has been allotted the Environment and

Forests Ministry and Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

―Pralhad Joshi has been allotted Ministry of Coal along with

Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

―Kiren Rijiju is the new Sports Minister.

―R.K. Singh will continue as the power and renewable energy

minister,

―Hardeep Puri has been allotted Civil Aviation ministry.

―Prime Minister Modi will himself hold the portfolios of

Department of Personnel and Training, Atomic Energy and

Space.

―The other important portfolios are as follow:

―D.V. Sadananda Gowda: Minister for Chemicals and

Fertilizers.

―Ram Vilas Paswan: Minister for Consumer Affairs, Food

and Public Distribution.

―Harsimrat Kaur Badal: Minister for Food Processing

Industries.

―Dr. Harsh Vardhan: Minister for Health and Family

Welfare; Minister for Science and Technology; and Minister

for Earth Sciences.

―Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi: Minister for Minority Affairs.

―Dr. Mahendra Nath Pandey: Minister for Skill

Development and Entrepreneurship.

―Arvind Sawant: Minister for Heavy Industries and Public

Enterprise.

―Giriraj Singh: Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy and

Fisheries.

78 Members of the 17th Lok Sabha are women.

―This has also taken the total number of women Lok Sabha

members to the all-time high of 14 percent.

―11 percent of the 16th Lok Sabha members were women.

Whereas 5 percent of the 1st Lok Sabha members were women.

―Both Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have sent 11 women

members each to the 17th Lok Sabha. This is the highest number

of female MPs that a state has sent.

―Uttar Pradesh has sent more women MPs because there is a

larger number of Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.

―West Bengal sent more women MPs because 41 percent of

all the Trinamool Congress contestants were women.

―One third of all the elected MPs from Odisha are women.

This is due to the fact that 33 percent of all the BJD candidates

were women.

―Neither NDA nor UPA was able to clear the Bill for reserving

33 percent of the Parliament seats for women.

―Approximately 8,000 individuals contested in the 17th Lok

Sabha elections. Less than 800 of these were women. One-third

of these 800 contested as independent candidates.

―Both BJP and Congress did not give tickets to more than 12

percent women candidates each.

―Globally on an average 24 percent of the National

Legislation members are females.

―In South Asia 18 percent of the National Legislation

members are female.

―European Union and Latin America & Caribbean countries

have as much as one third women in the national legislatures.

―There are many countries which have better women

representation than India. For example, Rwanda (61 per cent)

Cuba and Bolivia (both 53 per cent), Mexico (48 per cent) and

Sweden (47 per cent).

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Cabinet Ministers of India 2019

―India’s women representation in the Parliament is even

worse than that of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh and

Nepal.

India invited the leaders of all BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal

Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic

Cooperation) countries for Modi’s searing in ceremony.

―BIMSTEC includes all countries in the Bay of Bengal

region: Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Nepal and

Bhutan.

―In addition, leaders from the Kyrgyz Republic (who is chair

of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation) and Mauritius (who

was the chief guest at Pravasi Bhartiya Divas) were also

invited.

―Few Tamil cinema stars like Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan

were also invited for the ceremony.

―All the SAARC leaders - including the Prime Minister of

Pakistan - were invited for PM Modi’s oath-taking ceremony in

2014.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that we would not

take a ministerial position in the 17th Lok Sabha.

―He made this announcement citing health issues.

―Arun Jaitley said that he had undergone serious health

challenges during the last 18 months and as such he would like

to take time for treatment and recuperation.

―As a Finance Minister of the country Jaitley was

instrumental in clearing multiple legislations including the

legislation for Goods and Services Tax.

The Left parties’ performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha

elections was their worst performance till date.

―In the aftermath of the performance CPI has once again given

a call for reunification of the Communist parties.

―CPI is arguing that the Left parties in India are facing an

unprecedented challenge in its history.

―CPI has also admitted that it might lose the national party

status.

―This is not the first time that CPI has called for reunification.

It has been doing that time and again.

Rahul Gandhi announced his decision for stepping down

as the Congress President, and asked the party to look for a

successor. Rahul Gandhi clarified that he would continue in the

current position until a successor is found. The decision to

resign was taken by Rahul Gandhi after the party suffered its

second-worst defeat in history under his leadership.

―In the aftermath of the defeat many state Congress presidents

resigned and many others offered to resign. Post defeat,

Congress leaders in Rajasthan started rumbling and there were

tensions emerging in the JD(S)-Congress government in

Karnataka.

―Many different Congress leaders and opposition leaders of

other parties had already approached Rahul for reconsidering

his decision. But till now he has remained un-waivered.

―Congress will not get Leader of the Opposition status

because it has less than 55 MP or less than ten percent of the

total MPs in the House.

The Government has granted the Justice Rohini

Commission an extension till July 31, 2019.

―The Rohini Commission under the leadership of the Justice G

Rohini (retired) was constituted under Article 340 of the Indian

Constitution for examining the sub-categorisations of the Other

Backward Classes (OBC). Constituted on October 2, 2017, the

commission was originally supposed to give report within a

period of three months. This is the sixth time that the

commission has been granted an extension.

―These extensions have been given in the light of the

“voluminous data involved and time required for analysis to

prepare a comprehensive report”.

LAW The Centre Government has told the Supreme Court that it

neither supports registration of FIR nor CBI investigation into

Rafale fighter jets deal due its sensitive nature.

―The Centre Government is seeking dismissal of the petition

seeking review of the Supreme Court’s December 14 verdict

providing clean chit to the government in Rafale deal.

―The three-judge bench of the SC on May 10 reserved its

verdict on the pleas seeking review of the December 14

judgement in the Rafale case.

The Brazil Supreme Court has ruled to make homophobia

and transphobia a crime equivalent to crimes like racism.

―The Supreme Federal Tribunal of Brazil has 11 judges. Six of

them have favoured the ruling.

―In 1989, Brazil made racism a crime punishable with a

sentence of up to five years.

―The Supreme Court ruled that homophobia should be treated

at par with racism until the nation’s legislature enacts a specific

legislation for LGBT group.

Supreme Court has refused to grant arrest protection to

newly elected BSP MP from Uttar Pradesh; Atul Rai.

―Atul is accused of raping a college student. The vacation

bench of the Supreme Court said that it was not interested in

providing relief to Rai. In the past the Supreme Court had

refused to provide interim arrest protection to Rai.

―An FIR was registered against Rai on the complaint of a

student that he sexually assaulted her.

The Gujarat local court sentenced two cattle owners to

imprisonment. The accused were charged with leaving their

bovines on the public road in Vadodara in 2017. The

Vadodara Municipal Corporation had pressed charges

against them for negligence.

―The complaint by VMC was filed under section 308 of the

Indian Penal Code. The section deals with the attempting to

culpable homicide not amounting to murder. The case was part

of the VMC drive to deal with cattle menace on the streets.

―The accused Alpesh Rabari and Hitesh Rabari, also have to

pay a fine of Rs 5000 each.

Rajasthan High Court has directed the State Government to

cancel the licences of all illiterate drivers i.e. drivers who are

unable to read and write. The Rajasthan High Court while

passing the order termed the illiterate drivers as a menace for

pedestrians.

― The Court said that illiterate individuals are unable to

understand the road signs and caution warnings on highways

and city roads. The High Court also directed the State transport

Authorities to issue appropriate instructions in this regard.

The Court also said that the action should be taken in cases

where the licences are issued to individuals without the

capability of reading and writing.

STATES

Arunachal Pradesh Governor Brig

(Retd) B D Mishra has invited the BJP

leader and Chief Minister designate

Prem Khandu for forming the

government in the state.

―Post poll the 41 BJP party legislators

unanimously elected Khandu as their

leader. ―This is the first time that Arunachal

will see full-fledged BJP government. Arunachal Pradesh CM-

Shri Prem Khandu

―BJP in Arunachal Pradesh achieved a landslide victory in the

Assembly polls under Khandu;s leadership.

―Khandu helped the BJP to increase its share from seven

assembly seats in 2014 to 41 seats in 2019.

―The only regional party – the People’s Party of Arunachal

(PPA) –won one assembly seat in the state.

YSR Congress chief Yeduguri

Sandinti Jaganmohan Reddy is all

set to become the second Chief

Minister of Andhra Pradesh post

bifurcation.

―The YSR Congress won 151 of the

175 assembly seats in the state. The YSR Congress also managed to

win 22 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in

the state.

Naveen Patnaik took oath and

became the Chief Minister of Odisha

for the fifth consecutive term.

―With this achievement Patnaik has

become one of the longest-serving

Chief Minister’s in India.

―Some of the other long serving

Chief Ministers of India include:

―Pawan Kumar Chamling, Sikkim

(24 years, 5 months, 14 days).

―Pawan holds the distinction of being

the longest serving chief minister of

independent India.

―Pawan is the founder and president of the Sikkim

Democratic Front. He has been ruling Sikkim since 1994. He

was defeated in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

―Jyoti Basu, West Bengal (23 years, 4 months, 15 days)

―Jyoti Basu, a member of the Communist Party of India

(Marxist) served as the Chief Minister of West Bengal from

1977 to 2000.

―Gegong Apang, Arunachal Pradesh (22 years, 8 months, 6

days)

―Gegong Apang is the third longest serving Chief Minister.

Apang has represented both BJP and Congress as Chief

Minister. He is currently the member of Janata Dal (Secular)

―Lal Thanhawla, Mizoram (22 years, 1 month, 25 days)

―Lal Thanwala represents Congress party. He was elected as

CM five times.

―Virbhadra Singh, Himachal Pradesh (21 years, 11 days).

―Virbhadra Singh has served as Himachal Pradesh chief

minister for 21 years (not consecutive terms).

―Virbhadra Singh represents Congress.

Sikkim Krantikari Morcha

(SKM) president Prem Singh

Tamang, popularly known as

P.S. Golay, on May 27, 2019 took

oath as the chief minister of

Sikkim. He was administered the

oath by governor Ganga Prasad at

Paljor Stadium.

―The SKM, founded in 2013,

won a slender majority in the 32-

member Sikkim legislative

assembly by bagging 17 seats

against 15 won by SDF led by P.K. Chamling.

―The Chamling government was ousted by the SKM after over

24 years of rule. After taking charge of the office at Tashiling

state secretariat, Golay announced a five-day working week for

state government employees.

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

American Government has removed India and Singapore

from the list of countries whose currency it monitors.

―The American Government has made this decision in the light

of the recent developments including the steps taken by India.

―The list still includes names of countries like China, Japan,

South Korea, Germany, Italy, Ireland, Singapore, Malaysia

and Vietnam.

―India was net purchaser of foreign exchange in 2017. Since

then RBI steadily sold reserves for most of 2018.

―In 2018 the net sales of the foreign currency reached 1.7

percent of the GDP.

―India has kept adequate foreign exchange reserves as per the

IMF metrics.

―America placed India in its currency monitoring list of

countries with potentially questionable foreign exchange

policies in May 2018.

―Five other countries i.e. China, Germany, Japan, South

Korea and Switzerland were also placed on the list with India.

India stopped importing Iranian oil after the expiration of

the American waiver granted for the same.

―In 2018 US had granted waiver to eight countries for six

months for buying Iranian crude. The waiver ended on May 2,

2019.

―With this stopping, India has become the latest country to

comply with US sanctions on Iran.

―Besides India, Greece, Italy, Taiwan and Turkey have stopped

importing crude from Iran.

―India had stopped its imports after USA refused to extend

exemption further.

―Under American pressure, India has stopped crude imports

from both Venezuela and Iran.

―India was meeting 10 percent of its need from Iran crude.

―India is facing another complication as it is developing Iran’s

Chabahar port. US has exempted the development of this port

from the Iranian sanctions as of now; but this can change in the

future.

―Chabahar port is used for supplies and humanitarian

assistance to Afghanistan.

―The current US sanctions were imposed (or reimposed

depending on the perspective) after US pulled out of the 2014

nuclear accord between Iran and six other nuclear powers.

―The American Government is pressurising Iran into entering

nto a new deal that will cover both Iran’s nuclear program and

Iran’s ballistic missile program. ―US target is to reduce Iran crude oil exports to zero.

―American sanctions are having serious affects on the Iranian

economy. The value of its currency has dropped to all time low,

its inflation rate has increased by more than four times.

Foreign investors are moving away from Iran. Iran claims that

the sanctions against it are illegal.

Kerala government has taken a decision of levying 1

percent cess on GST from June 1st. The extra cess is being

levied for dealing with the devastations that the state saw in the

aftermath of 2018 floods.

―With this decision Kerala has become the first Indian state

to levy calamity cess. The extra cess will not be imposed on

daily essential items like wheat, edible oil, pulses etc. The cess

will be imposed for a period of two years.

―The government is expecting to raise Rs 600 crore through

the cess. The cess was announced in the annual budget of state

and approved by the then FM, Shri Arun Jaitley in the GST

Council.

―Last year Kerala experienced the worst floods in more than a

century. The floods were designated as Level 3 calamity event.

Andhra Pradesh CM – Shri Jagan Mohan Reddy

Odisha CM – Shri Naveen Patnaik

Sikkim CM - Shri P.S. Golay

In Nissan Motor case, the Permanent Court of Arbitration

in Singapore has rejected India’s argument that the Court does

not have jurisdiction for handling the case. ―Indian government will most likely file an appeal in the

Singapore’s Supreme Court. The acceptance of India’s

argument would have led to the throwing out of the whole case.

―In 2016 Japan’s Nissan sent a legal notice to the Indian

Government claiming Rs 5,000 (USD 720 million) crores. This

claim included Rs 2,900 crore in unpaid incentives and Rs

2,100 crore in damages (interest, costs etc). Nissan claimed that

this amount was due to it as incentives as part of the 2008

agreement for setting up a car manufacturing facility in Tamil

Nadu. The Tamil Nadu government promised number of

incentives including tax breaks to Nissan and France’s

Renault when they agreed to set up manufacturing facility in

the state. These incentives included tax benefits.

―Consequently, Nissan and Renault invested to the tune of Rs

6,100 crore in the factory. The factory can manufacture around

4,80,000 vehicles annually.

―The factory also provides job to more than 40,000

individuals. Tamil Nadu government has been trying to settle

the matter with Nissan but till now an acceptable agreement

has remained a distant dream.

―In case of a settlement, Nissan will have an option of

withdrawing its arbitration case against India.

―Nissan took India to Court for alleged violation of the

Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)

between India and Japan. CEPA provides certain protections to

Japanese firms investing in India and vice versa.

―In 2017, India filed a plea claiming that the arbitration court

in Singapore does not have authority to deal with the issue for

multiple reasons including tax related issues which are not

covered by the CEPA.

DEFENCE & SECURITY

For the first time in the history, an all-women crew of the

Indian Air Force flew a medium lift helicopter (Mi-17 V5).

―The crew flew the Mi-17 V5 helicopter as part of IAF’s Battle

Inoculation Training. ―Parul Bharadwaj – the crew leader – has become the first

woman pilot of IAF to fly Mi-17 V5.

―Co-pilot Flying Officer Aman Nidhi is the first woman

Indian Air Force (IAF) pilot from Jharkhand.

―The third crew Flight Lieutenant Hina Jaiswal is the first

woman flight engineer of the Indian Air Force.

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully tested a locally developed 500 kg

class guided bomb.

―The 500 kg class Inertial Guided Bomb was dropped from

Su 30 MKI combat jet at Pokhran in Rajasthan.

―The tested bomb is capable of carrying different warheads.

―Last week Indian Air Force had successfully test fired the

BrahMos cruise missile from a Sukhoi jet at the Andaman and

Nicobar Islands.

Indian Air Force transport aircraft AN-32 has been certified

to fly on blended aviation fuel containing up to 10 per cent of

indigenous bio-jet fuel.

―The certificate was granted by aero-engine test facilities at

Chandigarh.

―The certificate was granted after one year of evaluation tests

and trails using the blended aviation fuel.

―These tests and trials followed the international aviation

standards.

―The indigenous bio-jet fuel was produced by the CSIR-IIP

lab at Dehradun in 2013.

―Till now the fuel was not tested or certified for commercial

use due to the lack of testing facilities in civil aviation sector,

―In 2018, the Indian Air Force permitted the use of its

resources for testing, evaluating and certifying the bio-jet fuel.

―Since 2018, Indian Air Force engineers and flight test crew

have been evaluating the fuel against international standards.

―In a statement IAF has announced this as a step in promoting

the ‘Make in India’ mission as this bio-fuel would be produced

from Tree Borne Oils (TBOs) sourced from tribal areas and

farmers, augmenting their income substantially.

SPORTS

On the eve of ICC men’s World

Cup, ICC launched the criiio

campaign for celebrating diversity

of cricket.

―Under the campaign the fans of

cricket have been asked to share

pictures and videos of how and

where they play cricket.

―The videos and pictures have to be

shared by using the newly launched

criiio and visiting the site criiio.com.

―ICC has planned a series of

programs for the next 12 months; this is first of these programs. ―Different individuals across the world play cricket

differently. Criiio is a celebration of all of these ways.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 has started.

―The opening ceremony of the games took place at the Mall

located opposite the Buckingham Palace in London (United

Kingdom).

―The ceremony was hosted by former England cricketer

Andrew Flintoff, Shibani Dandekar and Comedian Paddy

McGuinness.

―The captains of 10 teams participating in the World Cup met

with the British Royal family at a gala event which took place

before the opening ceremony.

―English singer John Newman performed ‘Feel the love’ at the

start of the event.

―The opening ceremony concluded with the official theme

song of the ICC World Cup 2019; ‘Stand By’.

The seventh season of the Pro Kabaddi League (PKL) will

start from July 20, 2019. The starting time of the matches have

also been changed from 8.00 PM to 7.30 PM.

―Bengaluru Bulls is the defending champion of the seventh

PKL season.

Apurvi Chandela won the

women’s 10m Air Rifle at the

year’s third International

Shooting Sport Federation

(ISSF) World Cup Rifle/Pistol

stage in Munich, Germ any.

―Apurvi defeated the Wang

Luyao of China by attaining a

score of 251 against Wang’s score of 250.8.

―This is Apurvi’s second ISSF World Cup gold medal of

2019. She won the first gold by attaining the world record score

at Delhi. Overall this is Apurvi’s fourth ISSF medal.

INTERNATIONAL

The results of the European Union elections 2019 have been

announced. Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party received the highest

number of votes and seats in the European parliament.

Apurvi Chandela

―This is the first time that euro-sceptic party like the Brexit

Party has secured more than 25% of seats (29 out of 73) by

acquiring 31.71% of votes.

―The pro-EU Liberal Democrats attained the second position

by securing 15 seats by acquiring 20% of votes.

―The Labour party attained the third position by securing 10

seats. The fourth position was secured by the pro-European,

environmentalist Greens with seven seats.

―The Green parties in Europe are moving up due to the

growing climate concerns. This is a counterpoint to the far-

right and anti-migrant parties that have been growing in

popularity across Europe in recent years.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

According to media reports Huawei’s in-house operating

system, codenamed ‘HongMeng’ will not be ready till 2020.

―This will create difficulty for the company as the US

government has imposed a global ban on it by adding its name

to the Entity List.

―Consequently, Google cancelled the company’s Android

licence.

―While cancelling the license, Google clarified that the Play

Store and Play Protect services will continue to work on

Huawei phones for now. But there is no certainty over the future

course of action.

―Microsoft also stopped selling Huawei laptops in its online

store. It might also cancel Windows license for the firm.

SUMMIT & ORGANIZTION

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has expressed

gratitude for India’s contribution to the United Nations and its

peacekeeping missions. ―India currently contributes around 6,400 peacekeepers to

various missions across the world. India is the fourth largest

contributor of uniformed personnel to UN peacekeeping.

―Indian Peacekeepers are currently deployed on the UN peace

operations in Abyei, Cyprus, the Democratic Republic of the

Congo, Haiti, Lebanon, the Middle East, South Sudan and the

Western Sahara.

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

An all-white, albino panda has been reportedly seen at the

Wolong National Nature Reserve in the southwestern

province of Sichuan, China.

―This is the first of its kind documented sighting of fully while

giant panda in the world. White Panda’s get their colour due to

the rare genetically inherited genes that prevents the normal

synthesis of melanin.

BASIC GK ASPECTS

BOOKS & AUTHORS The Good Son―by You Jeong Jeong

The Selected Works of Abdullah the Cossack―by HM Naqvi

I Have Become The Tide―by Githa Hariharan

The Lost Decade (2008-2018) ―by Puja Mehra

Caste as Social Capital―by R. Vaidyanathan.

APPOINTMENTS Justice A K Mittal has taken oaths as the new Chief Justice

of the Meghalaya High Court

―The oaths of the office were administered by the Governor

Tathagata Roy at the Raj Bhawan of Meghalaya in the presence

of the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, and his cabinet

ministers.

―Justice Mittal is the most senior judge of the Punjab and

Haryana High Court. Justice Mittal is replacing Chief Justice

Mohammad Yaqoob Mir.

Lonnie Bunch has been appointed as the 14th secretary of

the Smithsonian Institution. Bunch is the first African

American to be appointed as a Smithsonian secretary.

―Bunch is replacing David Skorton. David Skorton has been

appointed as the president and CEO of the Association of

American Medical Colleges.

―Smithsonian Institution was founded in 1846. Smithsonian

Institution is the world’s largest museum, education and

research complex, with 19 museums and a National Zoological

Park.

PEOPLE IN NEWS

Prem Tinsulanonda died on 26th May, 2019 at the age of 98

in Thailand. Prem was an army commander, prime minister and

adviser to the royal palace. Prem was regarded as one of the

most influential political figures of Thailand. Prem was best

known for his long-standing devotion to the monarchy,

especially the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Nobel Prize winner physicist Murray Gell-Mann died on

24th May, 2019 at the age of 89. Murray contributed towards

discovery and classification of subatomic particles. Murray

transformed physics by his eightfold model of classifying

subatomic particles based on electric charge, spin and other

characteristics.

―Murray was awarded with the Nobel Prize in 1969 for his

contributions and discoveries concerning the classification of

elementary particles and their interactions.

MUST-KNOW

BJP: Bharatiya Janata Party

TMC: All India Trinamool Congress

BJD: Biju Janata Dal

NOTA: None of The Above

NDA: National Democratic Alliance

UPA: United Progressive Alliance

BIMSTEC: Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral

Technical and Economic Cooperation

SCO: Shanghai Cooperation Organisation

SAARC: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation

OBC: Other Backward Classes

LED: Light-Emitting Diode

IMF: International Monetary Fund

GST: Goods and Services Tax

ISSF: International Shooting Sport Federation

ICC: International Cricket Council

DAYS/ANNIVERSARIES

28th May every year is celebrated as Menstrual Health Day.

―The day is celebrated for raising awareness about the

importance of proper menstrual hygiene.

―The poor knowledge about menstrual hygiene, coupled with

the presence of taboos and stigma, restricted access to hygiene

menstrual products and poor sanitation infrastructure have

significantly negative impact on the educational opportunities,

health and overall social status of females across the world.

―The Menstrual Health day helps in breaking silence, raising

awareness and changing negative social norms around the issue

of menstrual health.

. NEWS BULLETIN―22 Week-2, June 2019

NATIONAL

The Centre Government has confirmed the unemployment

figures of 6.1 percent during 2017-18. This is the highest

unemployment in the 45 years. The released data shows 7.8

percent of all employable urban youths as unemployed. This

figure is 5.3 percent for the rural youth.

―Participation rate for males and females for the quarter

ending December 2018 was 73.6 percent and 19.5 percent

respectively.

―This data confirms the data in the pre-election leaked report

on unemployment which was being denied by the government.

―This was in top of the poor performance of agriculture and

manufacturing sector in January-March period.

―This is the first time in the last two years that India’s GDP has

registered growth lower than China’s GDP growth.

The Newly elected BJP government has reconstituted eight

key Cabinet Committees.

―The centre government has acknowledged the slowing down

of economy and pressing need for job creation and announced

setting up of two new cabinet committees on Investment and

Growth, and Employment and Skill Development

―The Cabinet Committees and their members are as under:

―Appointments Committee of the Cabinet: Prime Minister

Modi and Amit Shah.

―Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs panel: PM Modi

(Chair), Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, DV

Sadananda Gowda, Narendra Singh Tomar, Nirmala

Sitharaman, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, S

Jaishankar, Piyush Goyal and Dharmendra Pradhan.

―Growth and Cabinet Committee on Employment and

Skill Development: PM Modi (Chair), Amit Shah, Nirmala

Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, Piyush Goyal, Ramesh

Pokhriyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Mahendra Nath Pandey,

Santosh Kumar Gangwar and Hardeep Singh Puri.

―Cabinet Committee on Accommodation: Amit Shah

(chair), Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal.

―Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs: Amit Shah

(chair), Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramvilas Paswan, Narendra Singh

Tomar, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Prakash

Javadekar and Prahlad Joshi.

―Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs: PM Modi (chair),

Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, Ramvilas

Paswan, Narendra Singh Tomar, Ravi Shankar Prasad,

Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Harsh Vardhan, Piyush Goyal, Arvind

Ganpat Sawant, and Prahlad Joshi.

―Cabinet Committee on Security: PM Modi (chair) Amit

Shah, Rajnath Singh, Sitharaman and S Jaishankar.

―Cabinet Committee on Investment: PM Modi (Chair), Amit

Shah, Nirmala Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Gadkari and Piyush

Goyal as members.

A new gender equality index created by Equal Measures

2030 has ranked India 95 among 129 countries.

―India attained a score of 56.2 out of 100 on the gender

parameter of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

―Countries such as Ghana, Rwanda and Bhutan have done

better than India on the index.

―India, Pakistan and Bangladesh have been rated very poor in

terms of women education.

―The index covers 14 of the 17 SDGs and ranks countries on

51 parameters ranging from health to climate change and

violence.

―A score of 100 on the index means that the set target for the

indicator has been achieved. For example; 50 percent women

representation in the national legislature or 100 percent girls

completing secondary education.

―129 countries reviewed scored an average of 65.7 out of 100.

―No country emerged as the world’s top or even as one in top

ten performer across all the measured parameters.

―The parameter ranks a score below 59 as a poor score.

―Denmark has received the highest marks in the index.

Finland has received the second highest score. They have been

followed by Sweden, Norway and Netherlands.

―Countries marked by conflict: Niger, Yemen, Congo, Chad

etc. have received the lowest scores in the index.

Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) has re-elected Sonia Gandhi as

its leader.

―Sonia Gandhi has been re-elected to

the Lok Sabha from Rae Bareli

constituency in Uttar Pradesh. ―Congress cannot claim the leader of

the opposition status because it only has

52 members in the Lok Sabha. Congress

will need three more members for claiming the post.

―The appointment of Congress Leader of Lok Sabha has not

been done yet.

The Government of India has

merged the ministries of Water

Resources and Drinking Water and

Sanitation to form a new Jal Shakti

Ministry.

―All the water related works will be

merged and made part of this

ministry. ―The scope of the new ministry will

include international and interstate

water disputes, Namami Gange project, clean drinking water

projects etc.

―Forming of the new ministry was one of the polls promises

of the BJP during the recent Lok Sabha elections.

―The newly created ministry will be headed by Cabinet

Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.

On 3rd June, 2019 the Indian Air Force aircraft AN-32

went missing over Arunachal Pradesh.

―The aircraft with 13 people onboard took off from the Jorhat

in Assam and was supposed to land at the Mechuka Advanced

Landing Ground in Shi Yomi, Arunachal Pradesh.

―The aircraft took off at 12:30 PM and it was supposed to land

at 1:30 PM. The contact with the aircraft was lost at 1:00 PM.

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Sonia Gandhi

Ministry of Jal Shakti

―Indian army, IITB

and state police

personnel are helping

Indian Air Force on

land while Indian Navy

aircraft and ISRO

satellites are helping for

remote search and rescue operation.

―Yomi situated on China border is one of the remotest

locations in Arunachal Pradesh. ―AN-32 is a soviet era, soviet designed aircraft used by Indian

Air Force.

―No signs (including wreckage) of the aircraft were found until

the time of writing this bulletin.

Railway ministry is exploring the possibility of running

Vande Bharat express on Mumbai-Pune and Nasik-Vadodara

lines. Currently Vande Bharat Express is running between New

Delhi and Varanasi. This train reduced the travel time between

the cities by almost 40 per cent.

LAW The Special Session Court in Vadodara, Gujarat has rejected

the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s (ACB) closure report on Arjun

Vanzara bribery case.

―Arjun Vanjara is an IPS officer DG Vanzara’s son. Arjun

was a mamlatdar in Vadodara at the time of his arrest. Arjun

was caught red handed in 2016 while accepting a bribe of Rs

75,000. ACB filed a closure report under Section 169 of the

Criminal Procedure Code citing lack of evidence in the case.

―ACB also claimed that there was no relationship between the

complainant and Arjun.

―The Session Court has not accepted the closure report and has

asked the police to conduct further investigation into the case.

Delhi High Court has asked the Centre Government to make

its stand on the Uniform Civil Code clear.

―The Delhi High Court has also asked the government to

constitute a High-Level Expert Committee for drafting the

code within a prescribed time.

―In addition, the Delhi High Court also issued notice to the

Law Commission of India and the Ministry of Home Affairs

for the same plea.

―The information is being sought by the Delhi High Court on

a Public Interest Litigation seeking directions for framing a

uniform civil code in the country under Article 44 of the

Constitution of India.

―The petition claimed that existence of personal laws

contradicted the Article 14 (right to equality), Article 15 (right

against discrimination) and Article 21 (right to life and liberty)

of the Constitution of India.

―Uniform civil law will replace the current personal laws.

The existing personal laws are based on ―different scriptures

and customs of different religious communities.

―The uniform civil code will have a common set of rules

applicable to every citizen of India.

Centre Government has approached the Supreme Court

challenging the Madras High Court order quashing the land

acquisition order for the Salem-Chennai green corridor project.

―Salem-Chennai green corridor project is a 273 km, Rs 10,000

crore eight lane green corridor connecting Salem and Chennai

with the Centre Government ‘Bharatmala Pariyojana’

scheme. The project will reduce the travel time between the two

cities by 50%. The project will pass through reserved forest and

water bodies.

―The Madras High Court held that the project required

compulsory environment clearance because it negatively

affected the environment.

―The appeal has been accepted by the vacation bank of the

Supreme Court.

―Earlier, the Madras High Court had said that environmental

clearance was mandatory since the project would have an

adverse impact on the environment, including water bodies.

STATES

SP-BSP have announced that they will contest the upcoming

by polls in the Uttar Pradesh separately.

―SP-BSP alliance failed miserably during the recently

concluded Lok Sabha elections in the state.

―Both the parties have clarified that this break is not a

permanent break and that both the parties can come together

in future if needed.

Uttar Pradesh cabinet has taken a decision to increase

penalties for traffic violations by 100 percent.

―The fines for using mobile phone while driving or being on

a two-wheeler without helmet have been increased from Rs

500 to Rs 1,000.

―Similarly, the fine to violators driving without license has

been doubled to Rs 1,000 (earlier Rs 500), driving without

number plate will attract a fine of Rs 500 (earlier Rs 300).

―The UP cabinet has also given permission to proposal

allowing vehicle owners in the state to port the registration

number of their vehicles.

The Midday Meal Schem e for 51 drought-hit tehsils in

Gujarat during summer vacation

in schools has been stopped.

―The decision has been taken

because the Drought

Declaration Certificates of

these tehsils have ended on May

31, and the Revenue

Department has not taken any

steps for renewing them.

―The Revenue Department had

issued certificates declaring

moderate to severe drought in 51 tehsils of Ahmedabad,

Banaskantha, Bhavnagar, Devbhumi Dwarka, Jamnagar, Kutch,

Mehsana, Morbi, Patan, Rajkot and Surendranagar districts.

Odisha Government has held talks with the Centre

Government for looking into the feasibility of implementing the

Ayushman Bharat Yojana in the state.

― According to Indu Bhushan, the CEO Ayushman Bharat,

the main challenge for the state is integration of the state health

assurance scheme Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) with

the national scheme.

―Implementation of the scheme in the state will lead to Centre

bearing a part of the burden of the scheme. This will reduce

budgetary pressure for the state government.

―State government announced various populist schemes

during the run-up to the elections. Reducing budgetary pressures

will help the state in meeting these needs.

―Till now the Odisha Government has been reluctant to

implement the scheme in the state.

ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

United States has finally taken India out of the

Generalised System of Preferences Scheme (GSP).

―The benefits under the scheme which included duty free

imports of Indian goods to US worth $6 billion or more will end

on June 5. India has been part of the GSP program since 1975.

India was the largest GSP beneficiary.

Missing IAF plane AN-32

―Withdrawal of GSP benefits is likely to impact the exports of

approximately 1,900 products.

―Approximately 11 percent of the total Indian exports to US

were under GSP. US is one of the largest trading partners of

India. India’s goods trade surplus with US was $21.3 billion in

2018. Indian Government has termed this development as

“unfortunate”.

―United States had announced that India’s access to the

scheme will be removed, but it did not issue notification for the

same due to the ongoing Lok Sabha elections in India.

―Tensions between India and USA have been slowly rising in

the past two years due to many actions of the Indian

government. India has cut the maximum retail prices of life

saving cardiac stents and essential knee implants by more than

65 percent.

―India imposes high tariffs on information and technology

products.

―USA is claiming that these actions along with many others do

not provide equitable and reasonable access to Indian

markets.

Director General GST (Pune) has raised a tax demand of

Rs 4,002 crore and 346 crore against Indian Oil Corporation

(IOC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL)

respectively. ―The tax demand has been raised for alleged non-payment of

excise duty on the ethanol which the companies mixes with

petrol.

―Both IOC and HPCL are contesting this demand claiming

that use of sugarcane extract ethanol for mixing with fuel is

exempt from tax.

―Oil refiners in India add 5 to 10 percent ethanol into petrol

as per the government directive.

―The directive has been issued by the government with the

view of reducing India’s dependence on oil imports.

―IOC is one of the largest tax payers in India. In 2018-19

alone it paid taxes to the tune of Rs 1.93 lakh crore.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) has increased the

US’s GDP growth forecast for 2019 to 2.6 percent.

―IMF expects US’s GDP growth in 2020 to fall to 2 percent.

―According to the IMF, US economy will grow slightly faster

in 2019, than it was projected in past, but there are material

risks associated with the economy.

―These material risks include the risk of damage from the

ongoing US-China trade wars, widening inequalities and

rising debt levels.

―IMF also says that the US-China trade war should be sorted

out at the earliest because the war is significantly threatening

the global economy.

―IMF had earlier reduced its estimates of China’s GDP

growth rate to 6.2 percent.

Union Ministry of Mines has decided to invite tenders for

auctioning of 48 operating non-captive iron and manganese

ore mines whose leases will expire in March 2020.

―The distribution of these mines is as following: Odisha (24),

Jharkhand (6), Karnataka (6), Gujarat (5), Andhra Pradesh (3),

Rajasthan (2), Himachal Pradesh (1) and Madhya Pradesh (1).

―These mines cumulatively produce around 45 million tonnes

of iron and manganese ores.

―The lease of 329 merchant mines in total is expiring in March

2020. 281 of these 329 merchant mines are non-working mines.

―The Ministry has also instituted a committee for looking into

the post-auction issues that can emerge. For example, transition

from old to new lessee.

―This invitation for sending tenders is expected to help steel

companies like JSW Steel and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL).

―The tenders will be issued towards the end of July.

DEFENCE & SECURITY

Garuda 2019 is set to start from July 1 in France, and will

continue for two weeks.

―Garuda 2019 will be one of the largest air exercises between

France and India.

―The exercise will involve engagement between Indian

contingent of 30 Sukhoi fighters and French Rafale aircrafts.

―These exercises will also involve use of other supporting

assets like mid-air refuellers.

―These exercises will help Indian Air Force personnel to get

an idea about the Rafale fighters.

―India is purchasing 36 Rafale fighters at the approximate cost

of Rs 58,000 crore. The first of these aircrafts is expected to be

delivered in September.

―Indo-French defence ties have been steadily improving for

some time now.

Indo-French navy exercises Varuna were held in May this

year.

―In 2019 India and France signed an agreement allowing the

use of each other’s military facilities

including opening naval bases to

warships.

―There are Indo-French

discussions on the possibility of

holding tri-services military

exercise between the armed forces

of the two nations.

On 2nd June, 2019, Indian Navy

successfully conducted live mating

exercise between the new Deep

Submergence Rescue Vehicles (DSRVs) with and Indian Navy submarine Sindhudvaj.

―In the exercise personnel from INS Sindhudvaj were

successfully transferred from the submarine to the DSRV.

―DSRVs are equipped with sophisticated radar and a

remotely operated vehicle.

―DSRVs with a crew of 3 personnel can rescue upto 14

personnel from the disabled submarines.

―The maiden trials of the DSRV were conducted on October

15, 2018 and it was inducted into Navy in December 2018.

―The current exercise has ended the training phase of DSRV

on the East Coast.

―This is an historical achievement for the Indian Navy. This

achievement will allow Indian Navy to emerge as Submarine

Rescue Provider in the region.

POLICY AND GOVERNMENT

INITIATIVES

The Governing Council of

the NITI Aayog is set to meet

on June 15.

―This will be the first

meeting of the Governing

Council under the newly

formed Government.

―This will be the fifth council

meeting since the inception

of the Niti Aayog.

―The meeting of the

Governing Council – chaired by PM Modi – will include

discussion on issues like water management, agriculture,

security etc.

―Governing Council of Niti Aayog is made up of all the Chief

Ministers of states, Lieutenant Governors of Union

Territories, relevant Union Ministers and Senior Government

Officers.

Centre Government is considering re-introduction of the

Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill in the Parliament.

―The BJP government was unable to get the bill passed through

the Rajya Sabha during the government’s last term.

―The previous BJP government did not have majority in the

Rajya Sabha. Therefore, the bill passed through Lok Sabha but

it was not able to get it through the Rajya Sabha.

―The opposition parties claimed that the Bill was interfering

with the power of the states and as such was not federal in

nature. The Amendment Bill proposes stricter punishments for

traffic violations, simplification of the vehicle registration

processes and overhauling of the traffic and transport

framework of India.

The Government of India is planning to provide One kg

sugar to approximately 16.3 crore additional families.

―The sugar will be provided at the subsidised rate at the

approximate cost of Rs 4,727 crore.

―The distribution of this additional sugar will be done through

the public distribution system (PDS). The government is also

thinking about reducing its buffer stock of food grains before

the monsoon. At present the Food Corporation of India has

large buffer stocks of wheat and rice. Some of these stocks are

being kept in open space due to lack of storing facility.

―The overflowing of stock was due to procurement of wheat

and rice during last five years coupled with the bumper

production. Food Corporation of India is trying to sell the stock

to bulk customer, but they are not willing to buy at high rates

when cheaper options are available in the open market.

―Currently the government is distributing sugar under the

Antyodaya Anna Yojana at the rate of Rs 13.5 per kg.

Approximately 2.5 crore families benefit from this.

―Currently the government distributes food grain under the

National Food Security Act. Wheat is supplied at Rs 2 per kg

and rice is supplied at Rs 3 per kg. Approximately 80 crore

individuals benefit from this.

Madhya Pradesh Government is bringing a new gun

licensing rule in Gwalior-Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh.

―Individuals seeking gun licence in the region will have to

plant at least 10 tree saplings.

―The saplings can be planted on the earmarked revenue land,

in cases where the individual seeking licence does not own land.

―The individuals seeking license will have to click a selfie with

the planted sapling at the time of planting and after one month

of the planting. Both the selfies will have to be attached with the

licence application.

―In addition, a Patwari will have to confirm the planting of the

saplings. The exemption is available only if the license is sought

because of an immediate threat to the applicant’s life. In such

cases the planting of the saplings will have to be done after

obtaining the licence.

―The Gwalior-Chambal region is known for its infatuation

with firearms.

SPORTS

The Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has issued a

warning against the use of performance enhancing drugs.

―WFI has made it clear that is has zero tolerance policy

against the use of performance enhancing drug.

―Recently Asian Championship silver medallist Reena failed

to clear the drug test and was put under provisional suspension.

INTERNATIONAL

The United States visa application now requires entering of

data like social media usernames, email addresses and phone

numbers held in past etc.

―These new requirements are part of US Governments drive

to enhance screening of potential immigrants and visitors.

―The revised visa application forms with the additional data

requirement have been approved.

―Approximately 15 million foreigners annually are expected

to be affected by this change.

―In past these additional identifiers were only taken from

people who were shortlisted for additional scrutiny, for

example, people who have travelled to terrorist-controlled

areas.

―Almost all the applicants of immigrants and non-immigrant

visas will have to provide this additional information.

―Certain diplomatic and official visa applicants are exempted

from the new requirements.

―The new changes have been made for strengthening the

process of vetting applicants and confirming their identity.

―The change in the data requirements was first purposed in

March 2018.

Taiwan has been trying to purchase more defence equipment

from USA.

―The new equipment under consideration includes 66 F-16

fighter jets, 108 M1A2 Abrams tanks, 1,240 TOW anti-armor

missiles, 409 Javelin anti-tank missiles and 250 Stinger man-

portable air defence systems.

―America is the main defence supplier of Taiwan.

―China regards Taiwan as its territory.

―Clearing of these purchases will create more tension in the

already tense American-Chinese relationship.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

The American Government has announced its decision of

significantly reduce the federal spending on medical research

that uses tissues from aborted foetuses.

―The reduction will be achieved by terminating all such

researches within the National Institute of Health.

―This decision placates the anti-abortion groups that have

been lobbying hard for this.

―The scientists are not happy about this and they claim that the

research has helped millions of individuals across the globe.

―While taking this step, the Department of Health and

Human Services said that the current US government’s top

priority includes promotion of dignity of human life from

conception to natural death.

―The Department has clarified that the ongoing 200 research

projects (with NIH grants) that involve foetal tissue will not be

stopped. But their renewal will be considered by the newly

instituted ethics advisory board.

SUMMIT & ORGANIZTION

United Nation’s General

Assembly has elected Tijjani

Muhammad-Bande as its next

president. ―Tijjani will preside over the 47th

session of the General Assembly

scheduled to start in September, 2019

―Tijjani is the Nigeria’s

Ambassador to the UN.

―Tijjani will replace the current

General Assembly President Maria

Fernanda Espinosa. Tijjani wants to hasten the reform process Tijjani Muhammad-Bande

of the United Nations Security Council for making it more

democratic and efficient.

―There are many high-level meetings scheduled during the 74th

session of the General Assembly. These include a high-level

Political Forum, the Secretary-General’s Climate Summit, the

high-level events on Universal Health Coverage, etc.

―Tijjani’s candidature was supported by India.

ENVIRONMENT AND ECOLOGY

According to the recent India Meteorological Department

(IMD) data, North and South India will receive below normal

monsoon in 2019.

―IMD expects monsoon in these areas to be below normal in

July and normal in August. IMD said that there was a 41 percent

possibility of a normal monsoon.

―The El-Nino will continue during the rainy season and this

can negatively impact the monsoon in India. IMD also clarified

that the El-Nino effect can end towards the end of the monsoon

season. El-Nino phenomena deals with the heating of water in

the Pacific Ocean.

―The Long Period Average rainfall over India as a whole from

1951-2000 is 89 centimeters.

―Rainfall over 110 percent of the Long Period Average is

regarded as excess. Rainfall within 96-104 percent of the Long

Period Average is regarded as normal. Rainfall within 90-96

percent of the Long Period Average is regarded as below

normal.

―Rainfall less than 90 percent of the Long Period Average is

regarded as deficient. According to IMD India is likely to

receive 95 percent and 99 percent of its LPA in July and August

respectively.

―According to IMD the North West India is expected to

receive 94 percent of LPA, central India is expected to receive

100 percent of LPA, southern peninsula is expected to receive

97 percent of the LPA and North East India is expected to

receive 91 percent of LPA. There is 8 percent plus or minus

model error chances. The monsoon is expected to hit Kerala

around June 6.

Nepali climbers have completed a cleaning drive on Mount

Everest. The cleaning drive has resulted in removal of four

bodies and almost 11 tonnes of garbage from the area from the

Mount Everest to its approach below the base camp.

―The people returning from the Mount Everest say that its

slopes are littered with human excrement, oxygen bottles, tents,

ropes, ladders, cans, plastic wrappers etc.

―During the clean up drive a team of 20 sherpa climbers

collected five tonnes of garbage from different camp sites

above the base camp and six tonnes of garbage from the area

below the base camp. 2019 season is the deadliest Mount

Everest climbing season since 2015. In May, 2019 nine and two

climbers died on the Nepali and Tibetan side of the Mountain.

―A permit to scale Mount Everest from Nepal side cost

$11,000. This year 381 permits were issued by the Nepali

government.

BASIC GK ASPECTS

BOOKS & AUTHORS The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for Human

Future at the New Frontier of Power―by Shoshana Zuboff

Art Attacks: Violence and Offence-Taking in India―by

Malvika Maheshwari

Global Capitalism and the Great Crisis―by Ernesto

Screpanti

An American Marriage―by Tayari Jones.

AWARDS AND HONOURS Former President of India

Pratibha Patil has been honoured

with Mexico’s “Orden Mexicana

del Aguila Azteca” (Order of the

Aztec Eagle). ―Order of the Aztec Eagle is the

highest Mexico’s civilian award

that can be presented to foreigners.

―The award is given to foreigners

for their contributions in improving

the bilateral ties of Mexico; their

outstanding services to Mexico or their outstanding services to

humanity.

―Pratibha is the first Indian woman President and the second

Indian President to receive the honour.

―S. Radhakrishnan was the first Indian President to receive

the honour.

―Other Indian recipients of the honour include Rajju Shroff,

Amartya Sen, Satish Gujral, Raghupati Singhania etc.

APPOINTMENTS Reserve Bank of India has

approved the appointment of Rakesh

Makhija as the Chairperson of the

Axis Bank.

―Rakesh will sever Axis Bank for a

period of three years as a non-

executive, part time chairperson. ―Rakesh is known for his

contribution to industry and

technology.

―Rakesh has held various

management positions in the SKF Group. He has also acted as

the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the Tata

Honeywell Ltd.

Gianni Infantino has been re-elected as the FIFA’s President

unopposed. Gianni is a Swiss-Italian and a law yer by

profession. His new term will be of four years. Gianni has been

the President of FIFA since February 2016.

PEOPLE IN NEWS

Jaspal Inder Singh Kalra died in Delhi on June 4, 2019 at

the age of 71.

―Kalra was suffering from a prolonged illness.

―Jiggs Kalra has a number of achievements under his name.

―He was the first Asian to be inducted into the International

Food and Beverage Gourmet Hall of Fame.

―He was regarded as the first to bring lost north-Indian recipes

into limelight.

―Kalra’s book Prashad: Cooking with Indian Masters is

used as a textbook in hospitality schools across India.

Brij Mohan Khaitan passed away on 2nd June, 2019 at the

age of 92.

―Brij Mohan founded one of the world’s largest bulk tea

producer Mcleod Russel.

―Mohan is survived by his younger son Aditya Khaitan and

daughter Divya Jalan.

Harish Kumar passed away on 2nd June, 2019 in an accident.

―He died along with three other folk artists in a car accident

when their SUV collided with a stationary truck.

―They were travelling from Jodhpur in Rajasthan to Ajmer.

―Harish was best known for Rajasthani fold dance forms like

ghoomar, kalbelia,, bhawai etc.

Mrs. Pratibha Patil

Rakesh Makhija

―Harish rose to fame after his appearance on India’s Got

Talent in 2010.

―Kumar is survived by his wife and sons aged 8 and 10.

Rajesh Patnekar has been appointed as the Speaker of the

Goa Legislative Assembly.

―Rakesh is a BJP MLA from Goa.

―The office of the Speaker of the Goa had been lying vacant

since the death of Manohar Parrikar in March, 2019.

―Rajesh was nominated to the post of Speaker after the

officiating Speaker refused to take up the post full time.

Prakash Pant died on June 5, 2019 at the age of 58 in USA

where he was staying for treatment.

―Prakash had been suffering from prolonged illness.

―Prakash was Uttarakhand’s minister for parliamentary

affairs and finance.

―Prakash was a BJP MLA from Pithoragarh.

―Prakash was regarded as one of the most important and

knowledgeable members of the Uttarakhand’s cabinet.

―Prakash was also one of the contenders to the post of the

Chief Minister in 2017.

MUST-KNOW

GDP: Gross Domestic Product

SDG: Sustainable Development Goals

IAF: Indian Air Force

ISRO: Indian Space Research Organisation

SP: Samajwadi Party

BSP: Bahujan Samaj Party

GSP: General System of Preferences Scheme

IOCL: Indian Oil Corporation Ltd.

HPCL: Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd.

IMF: International Monetary Fund

DSRV: Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicles

PDS: Public Distribution System

WFI: Wrestling Federation of India

UNSC: United Nations Security Council

IMD: Indian Meteorological Department

DAYS/ANNIVERSARIES

World No Tobacco Day is celebrated across the world on

May 31st,

―The World No Tobacco Day 2019 focused on tobacco and

lung health.

―Smoking causes direct and indirect deaths of approximately

seven million individuals across the globe annually.

3rd June every year is celebrated as the World Bicycle Day.

―The General Assembly of the United States declared 3rd June

as the World Bicycle day for acknowledging the uniqueness,

longevity and versatility of the bicycle which has been in use

for two centuries now.

―The first World Bicycle Day was celebrated in 2018.

June 5 every year is celebrated across the globe as the World

Environment Day.

―World Environment Day is a United Nation’s initiative for

creating global awareness about the environment and for

encouraging actions for protecting the environment.

―The World Environment Day was first celebrated in 1974.

Today the day is celebrated in more than 100 countries of the

world.

―The World Environment Day is celebrated every year with a

different theme.

―“Air Pollution” is the theme of the World Environment Day,

2019.

―The World Environment Day is hosted by a different

country every year. The idea is to draw attention to the

environment challenges faces by the country and to raise

worldwide support for tackling them.