Current Affairs - May 21, 2017 Current Affairs

The fullform of CRMM is Common Risk Mitigation Mechanism. India along with countries like Argentina, Burkina-Faso, Chad, France, Ivory Coast, Mali, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda and Yemen has jointly commissioned a study to define and a structure CRMM for solar power generation projects in solar-rich countries. It is aimed at a reduction in the cost of finance for renewable energy and the overall price of electricity.

The Japanese government approved a one-off bill allowing ageing Emperor Akihito to step down from the Chrysanthemum Throne. The bill is likely to receive swift final approval in parliament.

The Indian Men's compound archery team Abhishek Verma, Chinna Raju Srither and Amanjeet Singh won compound gold at World Cup stage 1 championships held in Shanghai, China. They defeated Colombia team to achieve the gold.

Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation had constituted a committee to prepare guidelines for de-siltation of Ganga River. The four-member committee is headed by Madhav Chitale includes Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, Secretary, Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, and Central Water and Power Research Station, Pune, Director Mukesh Sinha. The committee suggested good agricultural practices, river bank anti-erosion works and reclamation of adjoining lakes along the river.

Union Power minister Piyush Goyal announced that the rural electrification will provide every citizen affordable adequate electricity by 2022 and has set a target of setting up 175 gigawatt (GW) of renewable energy generation capacity by 2022, out of which 100 GW is to come from solar.

A team of scientists at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has named a new organism discovered by them after A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, a Former President of India. The name of the bacterium is Solibacillus kalamii. the species name is named after Abdul Kalam and genus name is Solibacillus.

An Indian boy Prashant Ranganathan has won the world's largest pre-college science competition "The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair"(Intel ISEF) in the US in the environmental engineering category for his project on bio-degradation of pesticides.

Hassan Rouhani re-elected as the President of Iran. He won his second term by presenting himself as the candidate of change and social freedoms that ended many sanctions and a 13-year standoff over Iran's nuclear programme. He was elected as President for his first term in 2013.

North Korea and Russia have started first ever 'passenger ferry service' to develop links and boost economic co-operation without being affected by United Nations sanctions. It is launched by a north Korean passenger Ferry Docking in Russia's port city of Vladivostok. A ferry is a merchant vessel used to carry passengers across a body of water.

World Metrology Day is celebrated on May 20 globally every year. The theme for World Metrology Day 2017 is Measurements for transport. It is an annual celebration of the signature of the Metre Convention on 20 May 1875 by representatives of seventeen nations.