Daily Current affairs - May 19th, 2017 for all competitive exams
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) stayed
the execution of former Indian naval officer Kulbhushan Jadhav, in a move
swiftly welcomed by the government but dismissed by Pakistan as a “basic
ruling” that said nothing about the merits or maintainability of the case.
- The
court accepted India’s argument that the failure by Pakistan to provide
required consular notification and access fell under the scope of Article
1 of the Optional Protocol of the Vienna Convention of Human Rights.
- ICJ president - Ronny
Abraham
PM to inaugurate Annual Meetings of African
Development Bank
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will
inaugurate the Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank
(AfDB) on May 23, 2017.
- This
is the first time in the history of AfDB Group that India would be hosting
the Annual Meetings of the bank.
- The
meetings are to be held from May 22 to 26 at Gandhinagar in Gujarat. The
core theme of the event is "Transforming
Agriculture for Wealth Creation in Africa".
NALSA offers instant legal aid to the poor
With a view to facilitating easier access to information, the
National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) under the chairmanship of Supreme
Court judge, Justice Dipak Misra, will set up State Legal Services Authorities’
offices all over the country with facilities that enable litigants to access
court documents, case status and connect to their advocates online and through
dedicated phone numbers.
- The
facility called ‘Legal Assistance Establishments’ or Nyaya Sanyog will
cater to poor litigants and the families of undertrials languishing in
jails to get quick access to justice.
- In such establishments, the legal aid beneficiaries would be able to get quick information about the status of their pending cases.
NITI Aayog holds the first Samavesh meeting
With an aim to bring together 32 premier
educational and policy research institutions to catalyse the
country’s development process, government think-tank NITI Aayog hold
the first Samavesh meeting.
- In
pursuance of the PM call for a New India 2022, the meeting comes under the
co-chairmanship of Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO and Shri Ratan P
Watal, Principal Adviser of NITI Aayog.
Government
invited comments on Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill
The government
has invited comments on ‘Fugitive Economic Offenders Bill, 2017’ that seeks to
deter economic offenders from fleeing the country by attaching and confiscating
properties owned by them in India.
- The
Bill makes provisions for a special court under the Prevention of Money
Laundering Act to declare a person a ‘Fugitive Economic Offender’.
- A Fugitive Economic Offender is a person who has an arrest warrant issued in respect of a scheduled offence and who leaves or has left India so as to avoid criminal prosecution, or refuses to return to India to face criminal prosecution.
Victoria
Memorial on Google Arts & Culture
Victoria
Memorial Hall (VMH) is introducing facilities of exploring its galleries at the
click of a button, courtesy the Google Arts and Culture project to commemorate
the occasion of International Museum Day.
- The
project offers viewers a 360-degree walk through traversing the galleries,
in Google Street View mode.
- The
galleries with The Art of Abanindranath Tagore, Gaganendranath Tagore:
Painter and Personality, and The Magnificent Heritage of India as seen by
the Daniells can be explored.
India’s first uterine transplant performed
A team of 12 doctors at the Pune’s Galaxy Care
Laparoscopy Institute (GCLI) successfully completed the highly complex and
delicate procedure of India’s first uterine transplant on a woman from Solapur
district.
- The
operation, in which the uterus was retrieved from the donor and
transplanted into the recipient.
- The operations are meant to help women who want to conceive but cannot because they were born without uterus, suffered damage to it or had to have it removed.
Punjab
launches campaign on hypertension
The Punjab Health Department has launched a
State-wide programme to sensitise people about hypertension and to educate them
on healthy lifestyle practices.
- The department plans to ask people to go for health check-ups and have their blood pressure checked at government hospitals in the State.
Luxurious Mumbai-Goa Tejas from May 22
The luxurious train, Tejas Express, will start
running between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus and Karmali in North Goa on May
22.
- The train will run at a speed of 130kmph and will cover the distance in nearly eight and a half hours.
China invokes Panchsheel
China re-invoked the doctrine of Panchsheel — or
the five principles of peaceful co-existence — as the template for addressing
India’s concerns over the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and the Belt
and Road Initiative.
Panchsheel lists:
1. Mutual
respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty,
2. Mutual
non-aggression,
3. Non-interference
in each other’s internal affairs,
4. Equality
and cooperation for mutual benefit
5. peaceful
co-existence.
GM to stop India sales by December
Following lukewarm demand for its cars, GM has
decided to cease vehicle sales operations in India by the end of 2017. GM will
stop sales of its Chevrolet brand of vehicles in India including the Beat,
Cruze, Tavera, Spark, Enjoy and Trailblazer on December 31, 2017.
- GM, which started operations in India in 1995, said the company’s manufacturing facility at Talegaon, near Pune, would hereafter serve as an export hub.
Start up India Summit to be held in Dubai
CGI (Consulate General of India) Dubai and
Embassy of India in Abu Dhabi in partnership with iSPIRIT, a nonprofit
think tank will host a two-day “Start-up India
Summit” in UAE on 23rd and 24th of May 2017.
- This is the first such “Start-Up Summit” being held in the UAE. The aim is to provide a shared platform for the Start-up ecosystem in both India and UAE for greater collaboration, exchange ideas, interact with academia, investors and industry.
ISRO gets Indira Gandhi Prize for 2014
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) was
presented with the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development
for the year 2014.
- The
prize was presented to ISRO Chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar by former Prime
Minister and Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust (IGMT) trustee Dr. Manmohan
Singh.
- The
ISRO was selected for the prize in 2014 by a jury headed by Vice-President
Hamid Ansari.
- It consists of a trophy made of banded Haematite Jasper, with a portrait of the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in Jaipur miniature paintings, a cash award of Rs.1 crore and a citation.
Anil Dave passes away
Union Environment Minister Anil Madhav Dave died
of a cardiac arrest in the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
- Mr.
Dave was unmarried, and he leaves behind several books such as Shivaji & Suraaj , Creation
to Cremation; rafting through a civilisation: a travelogue , andBeyond Copenhagen; Yes I Can, So Can We .
- Union Minister for Science and Technology Harshvardhan has been given additional charge of the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
Actor Reema Lagoo passes away
Veteran actor and theatre artist Reema Lagoo,
known for essaying the role of a mother to popular stars like Salman Khan and
Shah Rukh Khan at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital.
- Lagoo will be remembered for her roles in films like Maine Pyaar Kiya, Hum Aapke Hain Koun, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Kal Ho Naa Ho, and television serials like Tu Tu Main Main and Shrimaan Shrimati.
