GK and Current Affairs Updates

The ISRO successfully launched the first 'Made in India' space shuttle
•    It is called the Reusable Launch Vehicle.
•    It was launched early on 23rd May morning from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
•    The test launch is important because in 2011, the U.S.'s Nasa abandoned its reusable space shuttle project
•    The RLV-TD is described as "a very preliminary step" in the development of a reusable rocket, the final version of which is expected to take 10-15 years.
•    The government has invested Rs 95 crores in the project.•    ISRO chairman Kiran Kumar said that it is essentially an attempt bring down the cost of making infrastructure for space.•    The RLV is a mechanism to bring down the cost of launch. We intend to go through a series of technology demonstration exercises, the first one of which we call HEX-01, that is a hypersonic experiment. It is called a winged body," Kumar said.•    This is the first of a series of experiments and India still have a long way to go till it reach the actual RLV, which will give a tremendous capacity in terms of launching at a very low cost.

The term Medicines with the Red campaign was appreciated by the Global Review on Antimicrobial Resistance.
•    The review was commissioned by the UK Prime Minister David Cameron in 2014 and chaired by economist Jim O’Neil.
•    As per the review, India led the way so far with its idea of a ‘Red Line Campaign’ for antibiotics packaging.
•    It has several key messages - learn how to identify prescription drugs; curb self medication; and become more aware of the dangers of misusing antibiotics.
•    The campaign was named so as it was mandated that all prescription only drugs should be marked with a vertical red line on the pack.
•    The packs with red lines should be consumed only on doctor’s advice and the patients need to complete full course as prescribed by the doctor.
•    The campaign was launched by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in February 2016.
•    The launch of the campaign became inevitable due to growing misuse of antibiotics across the country.

Barcelona finished its season on a high by capturing the Copa Del Rey title.
•    Jordi Alba scored seven minutes into extra time and Neymar sealed the victory late to give Barcelona a 2-0 win over Sevilla for its second straight Copa Del Rey title.
•    Neymar closed the scoring in stoppage time after another perfect set-up by Messi to give Barcelona its 28th Copa trophy.
•    It was the seventh time in team history that Barcelona won both domestic titles in the same season. 
•    The Catalan club also lost Luis Suarez with an apparent muscle injury early in the second half. The Uruguay striker, who cried on the bench after being substituted, had been crucial for Barcelona in the final stages of the Spanish league, scoring 14 goals in the last five matches.
•    Sevilla, trying to win its sixth Copa title and first since 2010, controlled possession after Barcelona went a man down and was close to scoring several times, with its best chance coming on a low shot from outside the area by Banega that struck the post in the 50th.

BJP leader and former IPS officer Kiran Bedi was on 22nd may 2016 appointed as Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry.
This post was under the additional charge of Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Island for nearly two years.
•    The appointment comes three days after the Congress-DMK alliance won 17 seats in the 30-member state Assembly. AIADMK, which contested the elections on its own, won four seats while BJP could not get even a single seat.
•    The LG post in the Union territory had been lying vacant after the Narendra Modi Government sacked UPA nominee Virendra Kataria on July 12 barely a year after he had been appointed. Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Island Lt Gen Ajay Singh had been given additional charge of Puducherry.
•    Kiran Bedi is a retired Indian Police Service officer, social activist, former tennis player and politician from India. 
•    She remained in service for 35 years before taking voluntary retirement in 2007 as Director General, Bureau of Police Research and Development.

India’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) formally started merger of 5 associative banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank with itself. The merged entity will have India’s one-fourth of the deposit and loan market.Post-consolidation, SBI’s market share will increase from 17 per cent to 22.5-23 per cent, while the total business of the merged entity will be over 35 lakh crore rupees.Against this backdrop, it is pertinent to analyse pros and cons of consolidation in the Indian banking sector.
•    Consolidation will help in leveraging the synergies among the banks that have diverse portfolios, focus areas and coverage areas.
•    As the government is the only common owner of all the PSBs, the process of consolidation is much easier and effortless.
•    Indian companies are going global. Now we are home to many multinational companies that have presence in various sectors of the economy. Again this context, big-ticket Indian banks are the most proper platforms to deliver financial services to them.
•    At present, there is not a single Indian bank in the top 50 global banks list. The consolidation is expected to fill this gap, and, consequently, help build the ‘Brand India’ among international investors.
•    International experience is also favourable towards consolidation. Banks in Japan gained a lot as a result of large scale merger and acquisition process between 1990 and 2004.
•    Experts argue that consolidation should take place in a positive environment. The present process of consolidation is not driven by the inherent strength of the banking system. It is resorted to escape from the problem of NPAs.
•    There are apprehensions among the labour unions that the consolidation will lead to job losses.

On 19^th May President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated an Intelligent Operations Centre (IOC) in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
President Mukherjee also launched a Mobile App Monitor for transformation of President’s Estate into a smart township. The Smart President’s Estate will work around the 4H theme of a Humane, Hi-tech,Heritage and Happy Township.
•    The IOC is a software solution designed by IBM.
•    It helps collect and make sense of the rich data streaming in from several sources within the Estate to provide intelligent insights.
•    It offers integrated data visualization, near real-time collaboration and deep analytics that will help agencies prepare for problems, coordinate and manage response efforts and enhance efficiency of services.
•    The Monitor mobile application is a Residents collaboration tool of the Intelligent Operation Center.
•    The application will help residents and domain (Energy, Water, Horticulture, Waste and Security) supervisors to collaborate in a smarter way for their observations.
•    It will enable residents to report issues such as broken street lights, electricity failure, water wastage etc. and check resolution status using their mobile devices.
•    It will allow residents to report these issues using their mobile devices in the Estate on a real time basis.
•    These reported observations can be used to provide enough details such as location coordinates, address to concerned departments.
•    This will help the residents of the Estate become more socially responsible, aware and collaborative.

India and Central European country Slovenia signed a protocol in second week on May 2016 to amend an existing double taxation avoidance treaty in Ljubljana. This new agreement will curb tax avoidance and tax evasion.
•    The protocol was signed by Indian ambassador to Slovenia Sarvajit Chakravarti, and Slovenian Finance Minister Dusan Mramor on behalf of Slovenia.
•    This agreement will widen the scope of the existing framework of exchange of tax related information.
•    The framework is likely to help curb tax evasion and tax avoidance between the two countries.
•    It will also enable mutual assistance in collection of taxes.
•    Slovenia, formerly a part of erstwhile Yugoslavia, attained Independence in 1991. India recognized Slovenia on 11 May 1992.
•    Soon after recognition, the then Foreign Minister of Slovenia Dimitrij Rupel visited India on 18 May 1992.
•    Slovenia opened its resident mission in New Delhi on 1 August 2002. While, India opened its resident Mission in Ljubljana in February 2007.

On 21st May ‘International Buddha Poornima Diwas 2016’ was celebrated to commemorate Buddha’s Birth, Sambodhiprapti and Mahaparinirvana falling on the auspicious full moon day of the month of Vaishakh. 
•    Rajnath Singh, Union Minister for Home Affairs was the Chief Guest. Dr. Mahesh Sharma, Minister of State for Culture & Tourism (I/C) and Civil Aviation, Shri Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Home Affairs and Shri Upendra Kushwaha, Minister of State for Human Resources Development were present at the occasion. 
•    Bhaghwan Buddha was a very large hearted person and solutions to all problems of mankind are contained in his teachings. 
•    Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar adopted Buddism as he was greatly influenced with the sacred teachings of Bhagwan Buddha. 
•    He wished all Buddhists worldwide on this auspicious occasion.
•    Ministry of Tourism has launched a programme namely “Swadesh Darshan” which has a special component of “Buddhist Circuit” which connects all religious places of Buddhism very conveniently
•    Government of India attaches great importance to Buddh Poornima and now onwards it will be celebrated every year like this.
•    UN recognizes the importance of this day. The UN Day of Vesak Celebration is internationally a cultural and humanistic festival of the United Nations International Organizing Committee. 

On 20 May 2016 The US House of Representatives gave its nod to a bipartisan legislation to improve defence ties with India.
In this regard, an amendment to the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) was approved by the House. The amendment is dubbed as ‘Enhancing Defence and Security Co-operation with India’.
•    The legislation, once approved by the Senate and the President, will bring the country’s bilateral relations with India on par with its NATO allies and Israel.
•    It seeks to promote greater defence trade and encourage additional military cooperation between the United States and India.
•    The legislation is primarily aimed at easing restrictions on sale of defence equipment and technology transfer to India.
•    It encourages the executive branch to designate an official to focus on US-India defence cooperation.
•    It will facilitate the transfer of defence technology and maintain a special office in the Pentagon dedicated exclusively to the US-India Defence Technology and Trade Initiative (DTTI).
•    On the bilateral front, the legislative approval is an important milestone in the US-India relations as it addresses one of the tricky issues of defence technology transfer and sale.
•    The legislation will give enough leverage to the executive branch of the US Government in dealing with India. For India, it encourages the government to authorize enhanced military planning with the USA.
•    The future missions of mutual interest will be such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, counter piracy, and maritime domain awareness.

Former Finance Secretary,Ratan P Watal has been appointed as the Principle Adviser for social sector in Niti Aayog. He has been appointed to the post for three years. 
The new appointment for Watal comes a fortnight after his two-month extended tenure ended in April. He was to retire in February. However, Watal later got a two-month extension as the Finance Secretary. 
Watal, a retired IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, had been Finance Secretary between August last year and April this year.
•    The National Institution for Transforming India Aayog  or NITI Aayog is a Government of India policy think-tank established by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to replace the Planning Commission.
•    The stated aim for NITI Aayog’s creation is to foster involvement and participation in the economic policy-making process by the State Governments of India.
•    It has adopted a “bottom-up” approach in planning which is a remarkable contrast to the Planning Commission’s tradition of “top-down” decision-making.
•    One of the important mandates of NITI Aayog is to bring cooperative competitive federalism and to improve centre state relation .
•    This is well reflected when Indian Prime Minister appointed three sub-groups of chief ministers for making recommendations in three important areas (centrally sponsored schemes, skill development and Swachh Bharat).
•    NITI Aayog will provide opportunities, that the previous Planning Commission structure lacked, to represent the economic interests of the State Governments and Union Territories of India.