- National:
- MoHUA’s Mega Campaign ‘Meri LiFE, Mera Swachh Shehar’ campaign was launched by the Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Hardeep S. Puri on 15th May 2023 to promote the waste management principles of Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle (RRR
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi virtually flagged off Uttarakhand’s first Vande Bharat express train on May 25. The semi-high-speed train will connect Dehradun to the national capital New Delhi. The train will reduce the previous travel time by 2 hours.
- Ladakh Monlam Chenmo festival. It is an annual five-day-long Great Prayer Festival of Ladakh, a mass prayer camp by Buddhist monks and nuns for world peace and happiness. It is held between the 4th and the 11th of the first month of the Tibetan Buddhist calendar
- According to a report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), Tata Group is the only Indian company to feature in the list of top 50 most innovative companies in the world in 2023. The list has been topped by Apple Inc., followed by Tesla Inc., and Amazon.com, Inc. at second and third rank respectively
- Sarathi’ is a first of its kind digital onboarding journey for merchants to enable instant POS installation. The platform streamlines the application process with real-time database checks and live video verification. It also eliminates the need for cumbersome forms and reduces the chance of errors
- According to the World Bank’s annual report ‘State and Trends of Carbon Pricing 2023’, revenues collected from carbon taxes and Emissions Trading Systems (ETS) globally have reached a record high, about US$95 billion in 2022 despite the challenging context for governments facing high inflation, fiscal pressures, and energy crises
- According to Knight Frank’s ‘Data Centre Q1 2023’ report , Shanghai (2,692 MW), Tokyo (2,575 MW) and Mumbai (2,337 MW) have emerged as the top data centre markets in the Asia-Pacific region
- CCAvenues’PayPal integration to offer merchants in Middle East global payment acceptance platform, this is a partnership between CCAvenue, a payments aggregator in the Middle East and a part of the Infibeam Avenues group, and PayPal, a global online payment platform
- Energy Disputes Arbitration Centre (EDAC) is a sectoral-based arbitration centre established with the aim of solving disputes in Central Asia, Europe, Balkans, Middle East and Africa regions regarding Energy and Infrastructure Law
- According to Forbes, the 30 Under 30 Asia Class of 2023 features 300 of the most promising young entrepreneurs, leaders, and trailblazers from across Asia
- Kerala Healthcare Service Workers and Healthcare Service Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) Amendment Ordinance, anyone found guilty of causing grievous bodily harm to any healthcare worker or professional would be punished with imprisonment ranging from one year to seven years and a fine of Rs one lakh to Rs 5 lakh
- Territorial administration of Puducherry signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Engineering Limited on May 22 2023 to prepare a concept paper, initiate consultations with stakeholders and a detailed report to develop the infrastructure of the tourism spots in Puducherry and Karaikal
- India will unveil its new 18 petaflop supercomputer for weather forecasting institutes later this year, Union Earth Sciences Minister Kiren Rijiju said on May 24, 2023. The new supercomputer will be bought at a cost of Rs 900 crore
- Economy:
- Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has recently tightened the overseas investment norms for alternative investment funds (AIFs) and venture capital funds (VCFs)
- BSE and NSE have put the securities of Adani Enterprises under the short-term ASM framework from Thursday. This means that the applicable rate of margin for the stock will be 50 per cent or existing margin whichever is higher, subject to a maximum of 100 per cent
- World:
- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has officially launched his US presidential campaign on Wednesday, May 24, 2023. He is one of the Republican candidates who will challenge former President Donald Trump for the nomination.
- The UK government has announced a new immigration crackdown targeted at overseas students, including Indians, and their visa right to bring dependant family members to the country while enrolled at a British institution.The new rule will only allow international students on postgraduate courses currently designated as research programmes to bring in their family members, including children and elderly parents, as their dependants
- Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov, translated by Angela Rodel, has become the first Bulgarian novel to win the International Booker Prize 2023. It is a novel about a clinic that recreates the past for Alzheimer’s patients and explores the dangers of nostalgia and memory
- Sports:
- The Indian junior men’s hockey team kicked off their campaign at the Men’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 in Salalah, Oman with a solid 18-0 win over Chinese Taipei in their first Pool A match on Wednesday Araijeet Singh Hundal top-scored with four goals
- P V Sindhu, India’s world champion and sixth seed in the tournament, beat Japan’s Aya Ohori by 21-10, 21-15 in just 34 minutes to enter the women’s singles quarterfinals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 badminton tournament in Kuala Lumpur
- Murali Sreeshankar and Jeswin Aldrin made it one-two for India in men’s long jump at the International Jumping Meeting, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze level event, in Kallithea, Greece on Wednesday
- Appointments:
- Paytm Payments Bank (PPBL), PPBL has received RBI approval to re-appoint Vijay Shekhar Sharma as part-time chairman for a year, starting from May 23, 2023. Sharma is also the CEO of Paytm, the parent company of PPBL
- Jayakumar S. Pillai has been appointed as Deputy Managing Director on the Board of IDBI Bank for a period of three years. He is currently working as Chief General Manager and Circle Head in Canara Bank, Mumbai
- Sourav Ganguly, the former captain of the Indian cricket team and the former president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), has been appointed as the brand ambassador of Tripura tourism by the Chief Minister Manik Saha
- China has appointed its envoy to the US Qin Gang as the new foreign minister to succeed incumbent Wang Yi, and has appointed vice-foreign minister Xie Feng as the new ambassador to the US. Xie Feng arrived in Washington on Tuesday, May 23
- U.T. Khader is a former minister and five-time Congress MLA from Mangalore who became the new speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly on May 24, 2023. He is the first Muslim to hold the post in Karnataka
Questions:
Q.1 Which state became a 100% electric traction state after the inauguration of the Delhi-Dehradun Vande Bharat Express?a. Uttar Pradesh
b. Haryana
c. Himachal Pradesh
d. Uttarakhand
Q.2 Who has been appointed as the Deputy Managing Director on the Board of IDBI Bank?
a. Suresh Khatanhar
b. Samuel Joseph Jebaraj
c. Jayakumar S. Pillai
d. Rakesh Sharma
