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National:
1. A. Vellayan was resigned from the chairmanship of the Murugappa Group Corporate Board. He also relinquished the post of Chairman in the Coromandel International Ltd. and the EID Parry India Ltd.
2. Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and ArcelorMittal signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up an automotive steel manufacturing facility under a Joint Venture (JV) arrangement in India.
3. AIADMK General Secretary J. Jayalalithaa was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for fifth time. Along with her, 28 others were sworn in as ministers in her Cabinet. She is the 18th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu and succeeded O. Panneerselvam who resigned following her acquittal in the disproportionate assets case by the Karnataka High Court.
4. India reached 6th position in terms of scientific publications, according to the reports of Department of Science and Technology. At present, India and UK are collaborating in various sectors in fields like nuclear energy, solar energy, monsoon and public health, rejuvenation of Ganga River and climate change.
5. Andaman & Nicobar Police proposed to reserve 33% of the seats for the posts of constable and sub-inspector for women. Union Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also approved 33% reservation for women in police forces of all union territories, including Delhi, citing difficulties faced by women complainants to approach the male-dominated police force.
6. Authorities of the Gangotri National Park in Uttarakhand opened the Nelong Valley for tourists for the first time since its closure in 1962. Nelong valley, situated 45 km away from the Indo-China border in the Uttarkashi district, was closed for civilians after the 1962 war between both the countries.
7. Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) reported that India has registered green building projects of over three billion sq ft area. The achievement has put India at the second position in the world green building footprint. IGBC aims to rope in 10 billion sq ft by 2022. IGBC is a part of the industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), which is involved in promoting the green building movement in India.
8. A group of researchers from the Konkan Cetacean Population Study (CPS) team between March and May 2015 spotted two Blue Whales (mother-calf pair) and four Bryde’s whales near Kunkeshwar off the Sindhudurg coast in Maharashtra. This is for the first time after 100 years that the Blue Whales were sighted off the coast of Maharashtra. Last time, a blue whale was sighted in waters of Maharashtra was in 1914.
9. The Union Cabinet gave its approval for setting up of a new Ammonia-Urea Complex at Namrup in Assam. The complex will be set up on Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode by a joint venture (JV). It will be of 8.64 lakh metric tonnes annual capacity and will be operationalised with an investment of 4500 crore rupees.
10. Bilateral naval exercise SIMBEX-15 between India and Singapore commenced on 23rd May 2015 in Singapore. It is 3 days exercise which will conclude on 26th May 2015.
This edition of naval exercise will give traditional emphasis on anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and more complex maritime exercises. It will involve various facets of naval operations such as air and surface practice firing, air defence, maritime security and search & rescue operations.
For this edition of exercise, Indian navy is represented by
INS Satpura: an indigenously built guided missile stealth frigate with integral helicopter.
INS Kamorta: an indigenous anti-submarine warfare (ASW) corvette.
P 8I Aircraft: It is a long Range Maritime Reconnaissance Anti- Submarine (LRMRASW) aircraft.
11. Tanishq Abraham, 11-year-old Indian-American child prodigy created a record by graduating from California College with three associate degrees in science, maths and foreign language studies. He is native of Sacramento, California and youngest to graduate from the American River College (ARC), in Sacramento, California.
12. Uttar Pradesh Government amended State Film Policy to attract tourism. Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh (UP) Akhilesh Yadav inaugurated the UP Film Bnadhus’s Website and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up a Film City.
13. Union Government has approved 21 proposals of Foreign Direct Investment (DI) amounting to over 280 crore rupees. The approved FDI proposals were based on recommendations of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB).
14. Indian-origin entrepreneur Ranjit Singh Baxi elected as the Head of the Bureau of International Recycling, a global organisation that facilitates free and fair trade of recyclables in a sustainable and competitive world economy.
15. Delhi Government tied up with Rotary Club for revamping government schools in the state by upgrading sanitation and strengthening basic infrastructure facilities like drinking water and toilets.
16. Expert committee on Health Insurance of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) chaired by M. Ramaprasad in its report has suggested changing the wordings of disclaimer in advertisements of insurance companies.
Till date, as per the IRDA mandate all insurance companies issued a disclaimer, “Insurance is a subject matter of solicitation”, in all their advertisements. The Committee recommended the following wordings for the disclaimer “Before buying, know the conditions and exclusions, to make a well-informed decision.”
17. Lt. General (Retd) Nirbhay Sharma has sworn-in as the 17th governor of Mizoram. Justice T Vaiphei, Judge of the Gauhati High Court administered him the oath of office as per provisions of Article 159 of Indian Constitution.
Nirbhay Sharma will succeed West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi who was given additional charge of Mizoram in April 2015. Prior to this appointment, he was serving as Governor of Arunachal Pradesh. He was transferred to Mizoram by President Pranab Mukherjee on 12th May 2015.
18. Gujarat Government has initiated Sloth Habitat Project in Jessore wildlife sanctuary to provide better habitat to sloth bears.
The project aims at restoring the ecology of sloth bears in the sanctuary by planting fruit trees and removing unwanted plant species that have intruded in the habitat. Unwanted encroached plant species like Lantenaspp and Prospisjuli-flora, which is called as Gando Baval in local language will be removed.
19. PM Narendra Modi launched India’s first television channel DD Kisan dedicated to farmers in New Delhi. The 24×7 channel is owned by public service broadcaster Doordarshan (DD) and is dedicated to agriculture and allied sectors.
Some features of DD Kisan:
» DD Kisan will disseminate real-time inputs to farmers on new farming techniques, water conservation and organic farming.
» The channel will also share best farm practices in different parts of the country, quiz shows for farmers, a bottoms-up approach involving agriculturists.
» Channel show will also invite programme suggestions from general public and real-time interaction with experts and farm scientists.
20. Forbes magazine’s 12th annual list of World’s 100 most powerful women: German Chancellor Angela Merkel (1st), Hillary Clinton (2nd), Melinda Gates (3rd), US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen (3th), GM CEO Mary Barra (5th), IMF Chief Christine Lagarde (6th), Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff (7th), Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg (8th), YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki (9th) and US First Lady Michelle Obama (10th).
Four Indians have been named in Forbes magazine’s 12th annual list of World’s 100 most powerful women. They are:
» Arundhati Bhattacharya: First woman (and youngest) Chairperson of State Bank of India (SBI) was placed at 30th position.
» Chanda Kochhar: Managing Director (MD) and CEO of India’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank was placed at 35th position.
» Kiran Mazumdar: Shaw: Founder, Chairman and MD of Biocon Limited was placed at 85th position.
» Shobhana Bhartia: Chairperson and Editorial Director of the Hindustan Times Group was placed at 93rd position. It should be noted she has appeared on the list for the first time.
Two women of Indian-origin PepsiCo Chief Indra Nooyi (15th position) and Cisco Chief Technology and Strategy Officer Padmasree Warrior (84th position) also have appeared in the list.
21. Union government has constituted a 10-member committee to review and revitalise public private partnership (PPP) mode of infrastructure development. The committee will be chaired by under former finance secretary Vijay Kelkar and submit its report within a period of 3 months from the date of its Constitution.
Members of Committee: C.S. Rajan, Dr. Shekhar Shah, S.B. Nayar, Pradeep Kumar, Vikram Limaye, Sudipto Sarkar, P.S. Behuria, Sharmila Chavaly, Representative of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.
22. Vietnamese Defence Minister is on a 3-day official visit to India. India and Vietnam signed a Joint Vision Statement on Defence Cooperation for the period 2015-2020. It was signed by Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and his Vietnamese counterpart Minister for National Defence General Phung Quang Thanh in New Delhi. Apart from this statement, a MoU on cooperation between the Coast Guards of the two countries was also signed.
23. Airtel’s chief product officer Anand Chandrasekaran has resigned after nearly a 13 month stint with the company.
24. Delhi Government approved mandatory Global Positioning System (GPS) in all public transport vehicles from June 2015. The decision was taken keeping in view the security and safety of commuters, especially women. The GPS devices will be available from Driving Licence Appointment and Payment System (DIMTS).
25. The Complete Story of Indian Reforms: 2G, Power & Private Enterprise: A Practitioner’s Diary: Pradeep Baijal, former Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman. The author in the book has claimed that former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had warned him of consequences if he did not co-operate in the 2G scam. He also claimed that even CBI warned him that he would be harmed if he did not cooperate.
26. The Delhi High Court allowed Greenpeace India to operate two of its domestic accounts and access its fixed deposits. The court said it was giving the interim relief to the Non-Government Organisation (NGO) so that it can continue to work at the moment. The court clarified that the NGO cannot utilise the amount frozen by the government.
The court was hearing a plea of Greenpeace India to de-freeze its international and national bank accounts. The high court bench of Justice Rajiv Shakdher also allowed Greenpeace to encash its fixed deposits and utilise the funds for running the organisation.
27. The Wildlife Conservation Trust (WCT) conducted the tiger estimation study in non-protected areas of Maharashtra. It claimed that as many as 48 tigers have inhabited outside the protected areas in forests of Chandrapur district.
The survey claims that total number of such animals has now increased to 120 in the zone which is home to Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR). As per the survey, the number of big cats in the district stands at 120, including 60 in core area and 12 in buffer area of TATR.
28. State forest department of Himachal Pradesh has set up the satellite tracking system to check the forest fire incidents during summer season, which aims to preserve the precious forest fire incidents during summer season. In case of any fire incident, the forest officials will immediately receive SMS on their mobiles.
29. Tripura government has decided to withdraw the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), 1958 from the remaining areas of the state.
Union Government had enforced AFSPA in Tripura after the relentless violence and bloodshed in tribal areas of state in February 1997. Since then, it was reviewed and extended in every six months as per the provisions of the Act.
The last six-month extension was given in November 2014 and its term ends by the end of May 2015. At the time of imposition of Act in the state, there were only 42 police stations and two-third of the entire police station areas were under this Act. Presently, the number of police station areas are 74 and out of them 26 police stations are fully and four police stations partly under this Act.
30. Mango, Jackfruit mela will be held at Lalbagh in Karnataka from 29th May to 26th June is set to be inaugurated by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. The mela, apart from having nearly 100 stalls, will also have an exhibition of varieties of mangoes.
31. Shantanu Khosla resigned as the Managing Director (MD) of Procter and Gamble (P&G), India. Khosla joined the firm in 1983, when P&G, the world’s largest consumer company acquired Richardson Hindustan Ltd. that is known for its Vicks brand.
32. Forum for Human Rights and Justice (FHRJ) organised a Marathon named as Ajanmi Beti Ke liye Daud (Protecting the Unborn Girl) in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. The objective of this Marathon is to save girl child and arrest the declining sex ratio in the hill state.
33. The Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs notified the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2014 in the Official Gazette. Sixteen amendments pertaining to winding up of companies, board resolutions, bail provisions and utilisation of unclaimed dividends have been incorporated into the Act by amending the Companies Act, 2013.
34. The Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports gave its nod for recognising certain sports federations representing indigenous sports disciplines as Regional Sports Federations (RSFs). The decision is aimed at promoting sports having only regional spread.
35. Yaduveer Raj Urs, was crowned as the new Maharaja of Mysuru, a titular and nominal head of the 600-year-old Wadiyar dynasty in southern India. The coronation ceremony was held at the Wadiyar dynasty’s Amba Vilas Palace in Mysuru. He is 23-year-old and economics graduate from the University of Massachusetts, US.
International:
1. The United States (US) Army developed Blast proof Wallpaper to protect soldiers from explosions. A prototype was displayed at an exhibition of army innovations held at the Pentagon. The ballistic wallpaper was displayed at the Department of Defense Lab Day among 100 innovations from US Army engineers.
2. The British sports business magazine SportsPro released the World’s 50 Most Marketable 2015 report. According to SportsPro’s listing of the top 50 most marketable athletes in the world for 2015, Eugenie Bouchard, Tennis player from Canada, topped the list. Virat Kohli of India was at 6th position in that list. Another Indian, ace shuttler Saina Nehwal was placed at the 44th position.
3. Russian government officially has enacted a law banning undesirable non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the country.
4. China has set up a gold sector fund involving 65 countries along the ancient Silk Road. It has been set up in China’s northwest Xi’an city during ongoing forum on investment and trade. The fund will be led by Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE) and is expected to raise 16.1 billion dollars in three phases. It should be noted that it is the largest fund set up by China in the gold sector.
5. United Nation Security Council (UNSC) adopted a resolution calling for stronger cooperation among member nations in stemming the illicit transfer and misuse of small arms and light weapons. UNSC resolution comes in wake of underlining suffering caused by small arms and light weapons to civilians.
6. Republic of Ireland became first country in the world to constitutionally legalise same-sex marriage. The referendum on this issue to amend country’s written constitution was passed with a resounding 62.1% ‘Yes’. Off the total voter turnout of 60.5%, 1,201,607 people voted in favour of same-sex marriage, while 734,300 voted against it.
7. A new scientific study has found that a sudden and massive ice loss in a previously stable region of Antarctica is causing small changes in the gravitational field of the Earth. This study was led by Dr. Bert Wouters, a Marie Curie Fellow at the University of Bristol, England and was recently published in Science Journal.
The changes were observed using the CryoSat-2 satellite, a mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) dedicated to remote-sensing of ice.
8. HAL has signed an MoU with BAE Systems for upgradation of Hawk Mk132, development of combat Hawk for Indian and export markets and maintenance solutions for supporting Jaguar and Hawk fleet.
9. Saudi Arabia is planning to build the world’s largest hotel with 10,000 rooms at a whopping $3.5 billion in the holiest city of Mecca.
10. An ancient aqueduct dating back 2,000 years ago was unearthed near Har Homa in in East Jerusalem city of Israel. The discovered lower aqueduct was used in ancient times to transport water into the city of Jerusalem.
11. Ciudad Acuna in Mexico was hit by a tornado killing at least 13 people and injuring several. It was the first tornado to hit Acuna since the city’s foundation, more than 100 years ago. The city Acuna lies on US-Mexico border.
12. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched a strategic framework for its newly-established Space Agency. The Director-General of UAE Space Agency is Mohammed Nasser Al-Ahbabi. The framework is aimed at launching satellite missions and the first Arab unmanned probe to Mars called Hope Probe by 2021.
13. NATO launched the Arctic Challenge Exercise based in the north of Norway, Sweden and Finland. The exercise involves 115 fighter planes and 3600 troops from nine countries. The participant countries include all NATO members like the US, Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands as well as neutral Switzerland.
14. Glaciers in the Everest region of the Himalayas could shrink at least 70% or even disappear entirely by 2100 due to global warming as per the study that was undertaken by team of researchers from International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD). For this study, ICIMOD researchers from Nepal, France and Netherlands had studied glaciers in the Dudh Kosi basin in the Nepal Himalaya.
15. United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has unanimously adopted a resolution on the protection of journalists in conflict zones. The resolution has urged member nations, governments and armed groups to take appropriate steps in order to ensure accountability for crimes committed against journalists, media professionals in situations of armed conflict.
16. “3 Bahadur” becomes Pakistan’s first computer-animated feature-length film. It is directed by Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy. The film is produced by Waadi Animations which is a join-venture of SOC films and ARY Films. Film’s plot focuses on three eleven-year-old friends, Amna, Saadi and Kamil, who set out to save their community from the evils that plague it. The film is set in a fictional town called Roshan Basti (Town of light). The film was released by ARY Films on 22nd May 2015 in Pakistan.
17. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair resigned as the Special Envoy of the Middle East Quartet. He sent his resignation to the United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and is expected to officially step down in June 2015.
18. The annual UN hunger report titled State of Food Insecurity in the World 2015 was released by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP).
In India, 194.6 million people are still undernourished. India still has the second-highest estimated number of undernourished people in the world.
As per the report, the number of hungry people in the world has dropped to 795 million. Today, 795 million people are undernourished globally, which is 216 million less than the number of hungry people in 1990–92. The decline is more pronounced in developing regions, despite population growth.
In the developing regions, the prevalence of undernourishment, which measures the proportion of people who are unable to consume enough food for an active and healthy life, has declined to 12.9% of the population.
19. The US state of Nebraska abolished death penalty after a veto override was passed through the its legislature. This measure was backed by a coalition of conservatives who oppose execution as a form of punishment.
20. Nobel peace prize winning organisation OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons) has achieved major milestone of destroying 90% of the global chemical weapons stockpile.
OPCW has mentioned that around 65,000 metric tonnes of declared chemical weapons, mostly from US and Russian arsenals of cold war era have been destroyed in a safe manner. It also includes total of 1,300 metric tonnes of chemical weapons removed from Syria in 2014.
21. Scientists have discovered a new human ancestor species of Australopithecus deyiremeda in Afar region of Ethiopia. The upper and lower jaw of the species was unearthed by an international team of scientists led by Dr. Yohannes Haile-Selassie from Cleveland Museum of Natural History.
Economics:
1. Two-wheeler major Hero MotoCorp has clocked sales of 100,000 motorcycles and scooters on online marketplace Snapdeal. At an average of Rs 50,000 for each unit, the value of the sales achieved online would be approximately Rs. 500 Cr.
2. State-run Corporation Bank cut base rate or minimum lending rate by 0.25% point to 10 per cent, a move which will lead to lower EMIs for its customers. The bank has revised the base rate for lending from 10.25% to 10%.
3. Paytm is set to allow 1,00,000 sellers from Chinese etailer Alibaba’s online shopping portal AliExpress to start retailing on its platform in India from August 2015. The Delhi-based company, which crossed $1.5 billion (about Rs 9,600 crore) in gross merchandise value (GMV) during the year till April end, expects an additional $1.5 billion from AliExpress business alone in the next six months.
4. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) notified that the Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) or the Registered Foreign Portfolios Investors (RFPIs) can now invest up to 49% of the paid up capital in the Gammon Infrastructure Projects Limited under the Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS).
Mergers & Acquisition:
1. Alibaba, the biggest e-commerce company in the world has tied up with Gurgaon-based Allcargo. This move will faster the deliveries for the Chinese etailer’s customers in India.
Appointment:
1. G. Mohan Kumar has been appointed as the Secretary of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
2. M. Chandramohan, an IT specialist, was re-elected as secretary of GOPIO Singpore.
3. Ranjit Singh Baxi, chairman of J & H Sales (International) ltd., has been elected as the head of the Bureau of International Recycling, a global organisation that facilitates free and fair trade of recyclables in a sustainable and competitive world economy. He will serve a two-year term as president of the Brussels-based recycling association.
4. Parvinder Singh Batth, an Indian-origin Conservative party councillor was chosen as the mayor of United Kingdom’s Wokingham Borough Council. With this, he became the first Sikh to hold the Mayor’s position in UK. He succeeds Councillor UllaKarin Clark for this post and will serve till 2016.
5. Union Government has appointed Manoj Mishra as Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of state-run National Fertilizers Ltd (NFL).
6. Jony Ive has been promoted to a newly created designation of Chief Design Officer in Apple Inc. He will handover managerial responsibilities of industrial design and user interface design to Richard Howarth and Alan Dye respectively.
7. Sunil D’Souza was appointed as the Managing Director (MD) of Indian home appliances maker Whirlpool India Ltd. Prior to this appointment, he was the Head of PepsiCo’s VIMAPS Business Unit located in Malaysia. He has been with PepsiCo for about 15 years, holding various senior management positions in Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and India.
8. Switzerland in its official gazette that was released in the fourth week of May 2015 made public the names of two Indian women with Swiss bank accounts. These names were among the scores of foreign national names that were made public so that they can be probed in their respective countries. The two Indians named in the gazette are Sneh Lata Sawhney and Sangita Sawhney. The country has provided only date of births of these two women.
9. India get its first transgender college principal when Manabi Bandopadhyay takes charge of Krishnagar Women’s College in West Bengal. Manabi is currently associate professor in Bengali at Vivekananda Satobarshiki Mahavidyalaya.
10. Dr. Selvin Christopher was appointed as the Director General (DG) of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Sports:
1. Mercedes racing driver Nico Rosberg of Germany won the Monaco Grand Prix Formula 1 World Championship title by winning the final race held in Monaco.
2. Badminton World Federation (BWF) released the latest single’s rankings. The ranking was topped by Ace shuttler Saina Nehwal. She was followed by Li Xuerui of China.
3. IPL 2015:
Mumbai Indians clinched their second IPL title following a crushing 41-run win over Chennai Super Kings in the final held at Eden Garden, Kolkata.
Mumbai Indians (MI) is owned by India’s biggest conglomerate, Reliance Industries led by Mukesh Ambani through its 100% subsidiary IndiaWin Sports.
Ownership of MI: IndiaWin Sports Pvt Ltd (Stake: 98.3%), Teesta Retail Pvt Ltd. (Stake: 1.7%).
» Champion: Mumbai Indians (Rs. 15 Cr. Prize Money)
» Runner-up: Chennai Super Kings (Rs. 10 Cr. Prize Money)
» Man-of-the-Final: Rohit Sharma (MI)
» Maximum Sixes award in the final: 3 – Kieron Pollard (MI)
Awards:
» Orange Cap (Most Runs): 562 runs in 14 innings – David Warner (Sunrisers Hyderabad)
» Purple Cap (Most Wickets): 26 wickets in 16 innings – Dwayne Bravo (Chennai Super Kings)
» Emerging Player: Shreyas Iyer (Delhi Daredevils) – 439 runs in 14 innings
» Fair Play Award: Chennai Super Kings
» Best Catch of the Tournament: Dwayne Bravo (CSK Vs RR). Took Shane Watson’s catch at the boundary
» Most Valuable Player: Andre Russell (Kolkata Knight Riders)
Other Important Statistics:
» Total centuries: 4 (AB de Villiers, Chris Gayle, Brendon McCullum and Shane Watson)
» Highest Individual Score: 133 not out – De Villiers (RCB Vs MI)
» Fastest Century: Chris Gayle – 46-ball ton Vs Kings XI Punjab
» Fastest Half Century: 19 balls – Andre Russell (KKR Vs KXIP) and Harbhajan Singh (MI Vs KXIP). Russell won the award as he had better strike rate.
» Most Sixes (Maximum Season award): 38 – Chris Gayle (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
» Most Fours: 65 – David Warner (SRH)
» Total sixes in the tournament: 692
» Total wickets in the tournament: 686
» Highest Team Total: 235/1 – RCB VS MI
» Lowest Team Total: 88-10 – KXIP VS RCB
4. Indian boxers have rounded off a brilliant run at the Doha International Tournament by winning four gold, one silver and two bronze medals. The silver medal was won by Gaurav Bidhuri in 52 kg category. While Mandeep Jangra and Vikas Krishan bagged bronze medals in 69kg and 75kg categories respectively. Gold medal winners are
» L. Devendro Singh
» Shiva Thapa
» Manish Kaushik
» Manoj Kumar
5. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) recommended Contract system for Indian women cricket team. The recommendations were released at the finance committee meeting held in Delhi.
On the lines of Men’s cricket, a Contract system for international Women cricketers was proposed. It was also proposed to have more international fixtures for the Indian women’s cricket team.
6. Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara was named as the International Cricketer of the Year 2015 while the middle order batsman Ajinkya Rahane was named as the CEAT Indian Cricketer of the Year 2015.
List of Award winners:
» International Lifetime Achievement Award: Kapil Dev
» International Cricketer of the Year: Kumar Sangakkara
» Indian Cricketer of the Year: Ajinkya Rahane
» International Batsman of the Year: Hashim Amla
» International Bowler of the Year: Rangana Herath
» T20 Player of the Year: Dwayne Bravo
» Popular Choice Award: Kieron Pollard
» Special Performance of the Year Award: Rohit Sharma
» Domestic Cricketer of the Year: R. Vinay Kumar
» Young Player of the Year: Deepak Hooda
7. Trevor Bayliss was appointed as the head coach of England cricket team. With this appointment, Bayliss became the first Australian to coach England.
Bayliss has led Sri Lankan team from 2007 to 2011 and later in 2014 took temporary charge of Australia for their Twenty20 series in South Africa. He has coached Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Sydney Sixers in Australia’s Big Bash League.
8. Abhinav Bindra has become the fourth Indian shooter to win a quota place for the 2016 Rio Olympics. He got qualified to 2016 Olympics after finishing sixth in the Men’s 10 metre Air Rifle final at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) Shooting World Cup held in Munich, Germany.
Awards & Recognition:
1. Indian film Masaan has won the prestigious critics prize in the Uncertain Regard category at the 68th Cannes Film Festival after it was premiered on 20th May 2015.
The film is directoral debut of Neeraj Ghaywan and a joint production of Manish Mundra, Macassar Productions, Arte France Cinema, Sikhya Entertainment & Phantom Films. It stars Vicky Kaushal, Shweta Tripathi along with Richa Chadda and Sanjay Mishra. The film is a narrative set based in Varanasi and its characters connected with the Ganga.
2. Cannes Films Festival 2015:
List of awards at the Cannes Film Festival Feature Films:
» Palme d’Or: Dheepan, directed by Jacques Audiard
» Grand Prix: Saul Fia (Son of Saul), directed by Laszlo Nemes
» Award for Best Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien for Nie Yinniang (The Assassin)
» Award for Best Screenplay: Michel Franco for Chronic
» Award for Best Actress Ex-aequo: Emmanuelle Bercot in Mon Roi, directed by Maiwenn and Rooney Mara in Carol, directed by Todd Haynes
» Award for Best Actor: Vincent Lindon in La Loi Du Marché (The Measure of a Man), directed by Stephane Brize
» Jury Prize: The Lobster, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
Short Films:
» Palme d’Or - Short Film: Waves ’98 directed by Ely Dagher
Uncertain Regard:
» Un Certain Regard Prize: Hrútar (RAMS) directed by Grímur Hakonarson
» Jury Prize – Un Certain Regard: Zvizdan (The High Sun) directed by Dalibor Matanic
» Directing Prize of Un Certain Regard: Kishibe No Tabi (Journey to the Shore) directed by Kurosawa Kiyoshi
» Un Certain Talent Prize: Comoara (The Treasure) directed by Corneliu Porumboiu.
Promizing Future Prize Ex-aequo:
» Nahid directed by Ida Panahandeh
» Masaan Directed by Neeraj Ghaywan
Cinefondation:
» 1st Prize Cinéfondation: Share directed by Pippa Bianco
» 2nd Prize Cinéfondation: Locas Perdidas (Lost Queens) directed by Ignacio Juricic Merillán
» 3rd Prize Cinéfondation Ex-aequo: Victor XX directed by Ian Garrido López
» The Return of Erkin directed by Maria Guskova
Golden camera:
» Camera d’or: La Tierra Y La Sombra directed by César Augusto Acevedo
3. Two Indian peacekeepers have been chosen posthumously for United Nation’s Dag Hammarskjold Medal. They are Lance Naik Nand Ram and Raju Joseph. They have been chosen for this award for their courage and sacrifice while serving in UN peacekeeping operations in 2014 and lost their lives as a result of hostile acts, accidents and disease. They will be presented with this medal on 29th May 2015 i.e. on the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers.
4. Gurnimrat ‘Nimmy’ Sidhu, an Indian-origin teacher, has been honoured by Oxford University for helping one of her students get into the world-famous varsity. She is the head of science at Oaks Park High School in north-east London, is among 12 teachers to win the ‘University of Oxford Inspirational Teacher Award’ set up to encourage more state-funded schools to connect with the university.
Science & Technology:
1. China-based Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. launched LiteOS operating sytem meant for Internet of Things (IoT) based devices.
The technology is part of the Agile Internet of Things (IoT) solution, which consists of three core components viz., Agile IoT gateway, Agile Controller and LiteOS, developed to augment the digitization of areas such as production, manufacturing and logistics.
Internet of Things (loT): IoT refers to a network of internet connected devices which are embedded with electronic sensors and data transmitting technologies. By using the Internet, the data collected by sensors in the IoT devices like cars, power systems and even as small as tooth brushes transmitted to other networked devices and data processing systems. Thus, the information generated by processing the data will be used by the companies and individuals to make better decisions.
Some features of LiteOS:
» It is the world’s most lightweight IoT OS with a size of 10KB.
» It supports zero configuration, auto-discovery and auto-networking.
» It can be widely applied to different areas including smart homes, wearables, connected vehicles and other industries.
» It helps to simplify the development of smart hardware to enhance IoT connectivity.
» It will be opened to all developers, which enables them to quickly develop their own IoT products.
2. ICICI Bank, India’s largest private sector bank, launched Voice Recognition Service (VRS), which authenticates customers based on their speech patterns. This service will allow customers to execute banking transactions through Bank’s call center in a quick, secure and convenient manner. With this, ICICI became the first bank in India to offer this service and it will be available to over 33 million customers of its savings account and credit card.
3. NRI scientist Latha Venkataraman created first single-molecule device. The electronic device has a potential of real-world technological applications for nanoscale devices. Under the direction of Venkataraman, researchers created a single-molecule diode which performs 50 times better than all prior designs.
Death:
1. The Princeton University mathematician John Forbes Nash Jr. died along with his wife in a car crash on 23rd May 2015. He was 86. His taxi crashed on the New Jersey Turnpike in Monroe Township when the driver lost control. Oscar-winning film, A Beautiful Mind was inspired by his life.
2. Veteran jazz musician Bob Belden passed away on 20th May 2015 after suffering a heart attack. He was 58. Belden was a jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger and producer who was among the first American musicians to perform in Iran since its 1979 revolution in 2015 when he toured there.
3. Argentine footballer Cristian Gomez died during a game on 24th May 2015. Gomez, 27, of Atletico Parana collapsed on the pitch during a second-tier game against Boca Unidos. After collapse, the defender was taken to a hospital in the city of Corrientes, where doctors were unable to revive him.
4. The British actor Terry Sue-Patt passed away on 22nd May 2015 in east London. He was 50. He was found dead at his home, however the cause of his death was not known. Sue-Patt was best known for playing the role of school pupil named Benny Green in children’s TV series Grange Hill. He appeared in the show’s first episode in 1978 and left the show in 1982. He also did some minor roles in shows like General Hospital, Jackanory and The Bill.
Important Dates:
1. The United Nations (UN) observed the International Day for Biological Diversity (IBD) on 22th May 2015. The theme for the year 2015 is Biodiversity for Sustainable Development.
Click here to download GK Eduwrap – Monthly Edition – May 2015 in PDF format