Current Affairs One-Liner : 26th May 2023

• National:
• Kerala has declared itself India’s first “total e-governed state”. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan made the declaration in Thiruvananthapuram. The government launched a single window portal named e-Sevanam which offers 900 government services online

• On 24th May 2023, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) launched UDAN 5.1 to further enhance connectivity to remote areas of the country and achieve last-mile connectivity through helicopters. This follows four successful rounds of the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) - Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) and with version 5.0 of the fifth round underway
• The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has extended the due date for furnishing the application by the charitable or religious trusts and institutions for re-registration/approval from November 25, 2022 to September 30, 2023
• India’s AI supercomputer ‘AIRAWAT’ has secured the 75th position in the prestigious Top 500 Global Supercomputing List. The announcement was made during the 61st edition of the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC 2023) held in Germany. This places India at the forefront of AI supercomputing nations worldwide
• World Bank report, the role of cities in addressing the global climate challenge is crucial. The report titled Thriving: Making Cities Green, Resilient, and Inclusive in a Changing Climate said that cities are home to more than half of the world’s population and responsible for about 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions
• Union Ayush Minister Shri Sarbananda Sonowal visited Pharmacopoeia Commission for Indian Medicine & Homoeopathy (PCIM&H), Ghaziabad and inaugurated the “e-Office portal of PCIM&H” and the “Online portal”. The online portal is for selling the softcopies of pharmacopoeial monographs
• Iran has successfully test-launched a ballistic missile with a potential 2,000-km range on Thursday. The missile is an upgraded version of Iran’s Khoramshahr 4 ballistic missile and has been named the "Kheibar". It is capable of carrying a 1,500-kg warhead
• Hemidactylus pakkamalaiensis is a new species of gecko that has been identified in the Pakkamalai Hills in Villupuram district of Tamil Nadu. It is genetically related to H. easai and H. graniticolus, but differs significantly from these closely related species by having fewer femoral pores
• The All India Football Federation (AIFF) has declared that June 23, the birth anniversary of Pradip Kumar Banerjee, India’s captain in 1960 Rome Olympics and popularly known as PK, will henceforth be celebrated as ‘AIFF Grassroots Day
•  The Indian Navy and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have released the Gaganyaan Recovery Training Plan at the Water Survival Training Facility (WSTF) at INS Garuda. This is a major milestone in India’s human spaceflight programme Gaganyaan Mission
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be launching a Rs 75 denomination coin to mark the inauguration of the new Parliament building. The coin will have the inscription ‘Parliament Complex’ with the image of the new building. The inauguration is scheduled for Sunday, May 28
• Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya inaugurated the 8th edition of the International Conference on ‘India Pharma & India Medical Device 2023’ organized by the Department of Pharmaceuticals in association with Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) from May 26 - 27, 2022 in New Delhi
• Two cheetah cubs died in Kuno National Park (KNP) in Sheopur in Madhya Pradesh on May 25 due to “sweltering heat and weakness”. This came two days after a cheetah cub died on Tuesday, with officials suspecting dehydration and weakness
• Economy:

• The government is making attempts to link the tax collection at source (TCS) payments made by individuals to the taxes deducted from their income sources (TDS), so that the new 20% TCS norms for certain international spends from July 1 can be smoothened
• The Indian government has notified an increase in the tax exemption limit for leave encashment benefits received by non-government employees at the time of retirement from ₹3 lakh to ₹25 lakh, as promised in the Union Budget. This comes into effect from April 1
• The Central government of India has raised its wheat production estimate for 2023 to 112.74 million tonnes (mt) in its third advance estimate1. This is due to a sharp rise in acreage and higher yields
• State-owned Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) has emerged as the top performer among public sector lenders in terms of loan and deposit growth in percentage terms during 2022-231. It also recorded the highest growth in profitability with the bottom line growing almost 126 per cent to Rs 2,602 crore during the year
• World:
• Japan has approved additional sanctions against Russia over its war on Ukraine. These sanctions include freezing the assets of dozens of individuals and groups and banning exports to Russian military-related organizations. Japan also criticized the signing of a deal between Russia and Belarus on Thursday formalizing the deployment of Moscow’s tactical nuclear weapons in its ally’s territory
• Russia has announced that it will shut down Sweden’s consulate in St Petersburg and its own mission in Gothenburg. It will also expel five Swedish diplomats. This move came after Sweden said in late April it was expelling five Russian diplomats for ‘activities not compatible’ with their diplomatic status
• South Korea has successfully launched its domestic Nuri rocket and sent operational satellites into orbit. The Nuri rocket is South Korea’s first fully homegrown launch vehicle. It lifted off from Naro Space Center on South Korea’s south coast carrying eight small satellites skyward
• Sports:
• Star Indian shuttlers PV Sindhu and HS Prannoy advanced to the women’s and men’s singles semifinals of the Malaysia Masters Super 500 tournament with hard-fought wins over their respective opponents. Sindhu defeated China’s Zhang Yi Man in an hour and 14 minutes with a score of 21-16, 13-21, 22-20
• India and Pakistan have been drawn in the same group for the Men’s Junior Asia Cup 2023 to be held in Salalah, Oman from May 23-June 1 this year. They are in Pool A along with Japan, Thailand and Chinese Taipei in the 10-team competition and will meet on May 27 in a group clash
• Important Days:
• International Missing Children’s Day is observed annually on May 25 to commemorate missing children and generate awareness about the kidnappings of children. The day is widely referred to with a forget-me-not flower as its emblem
• World Thyroid Day is observed every year on May 25 to educate people on thyroid diseases and be aware of the symptoms. It was first observed in 2007 by the members of the Thyroid Federation International. This global healthcare day was created to honor the European Thyroid Association (ETA) which was formed in the year 1965
• Appointments:

• Senior judge Ioannis Sarmas has been named as Greece’s caretaker prime minister after a general election failed to produce a new government. He was appointed to replace outgoing prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis after an inconclusive ballot
• Realme has appointed Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan as their brand ambassador. The announcement comes ahead of the launch of the Realme 11 Pro 5G series in India
• Justice S Vaidyanathan has been named as Acting Chief Justice of Madras High Court. He was appointed by President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday with effect from May 25, 2023
• Obituary:
• Tina Turner, the legendary singer and dubbed the ‘Queen of Rock ‘n’ Roll’, has passed away at the age of 83 after suffering a long illness. She had suffered numerous illnesses in recent years, including intestinal cancer, stroke and kidney failure

• Banking:
• Union government has approved a digital communication system between Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) banks and the Central Economic Intelligence Bureau (CEIB) to check defaults on loans of over Rs 50 crore. The new system was cleared by the Union finance minister in due consultation with all the stakeholders
• Paytm has launched its UPI SDK (Software Development Kit) offering, aimed at streamlining the checkout process for online merchants. With the Paytm UPI SDK, customers can make UPI payments directly within the app of online merchants, without being redirected to the Paytm app