Current Affairs - May 1, 2019 Current Affairs

President Ram Nath Kovind appointed Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka of the Bombay High Court as the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court. And Kerala High Court Judge Justice P.R. Ramachandra Menon as Chief Justice Of Chhattisgarh High Court.

Hima Das was named in India's women 4x400m relay team for the World Relays to begin in Yokohama, Japan next month. Hima made the cut despite pulling out of the Asian Athletics Championships in Doha earlier this month due to lower back pain. She was dropped out midway through her 400-metres heats and was later ruled out of the Women's 4x400m relay and Mixed 4x400m relay races.

India was the world's fourth biggest military spender in 2018 behind the United States, China, and Saudi Arabia, according to new data think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). India was the fifth largest military spender in 2017. France also figures on the list of top five spenders that together accounted for 60% of the global military spending in 2018. According to the SIPRI data, China was the second-largest military spender in 2018. India accounts for 3.7% of the global defence spending. In contrast, India's military spending went up by 3.1% to $66.5 billion.

India has won 13 medals, including two gold, four silver and seven bronze at the Asian Boxing Championships. Boxer Amit Panghal picked up his second successive gold medal of the year, claiming the top honours in the 52-kilogram category. National champion Deepak Singh and Kavinder Singh Bisht in 56-kilogram category signed off with silver medals after close losses.

The 42-edition of Porsche Tennis Grand Prix was held in Porsche Arena in Stuttgart, Germany from April 22 to April 28, 2019.The prize money for the event was $8,86,077. Kvitova beat Kontaveit to win maiden Stuttgart title.A world number three Czech tennis player, Petra Kvitova beat Estonian Anett Kontaveit by 6-3, 7-6 (B) to win Stuttgart's Porsche Grand Prix 2019 in women's single.The 29-year old Kvitova, two-time Wimbledon Champion, won her second title of the year after Sydney in January 2019. Germany's Mona Barthel & Anna-Lena Friedsam won women's doubles A 28-year old Mona Barthel and a 25-year old Anna-Lena Friedsam, both from Germany defeated Russian player Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Czech player Lucie Safarova in the women's double final by 2-6, 6-3 and 10-6.

The six-member expert committee led by former RBI governor Bimal Jalan was appointed on December 26, 2018 to review the Economic Capital Framework (ECF) for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It is in news recently because the Jalan panel is likely to submit its report by June 2019. The panel is expected to spell out details regarding how the RBI should handle its reserves and whether it can transfer its surplus to the government. The report is also expected to detail the amount the central bank should transfer to the government. The terms of reference of the committee would be to review status, need and justification of various provisions, reserves and buffers presently provided for by the RBI. The committee will also review best practices followed by the central banks globally in making assessment and provisions for risks, to which central bank balance sheets are subjected.

Paytm has launched a recurring payment service for merchants that are working on a digital subscription model. The move will allow the subscription-based businesses to collect payments from their subscribers effortlessly. Recurring payments are an automatic payment system wherein the merchants automatically charge their customers for a specified service on a pre-arranged schedule.

All India Football Federation (AIFF) recommended the names of Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and Jeje Lalpekhlua for the prestigious Arjuna award 2019. The federation had been pushing the cases of the two footballers since 2017 but the Arjuna award committee continued to ignore their claims. In 2017, the AIFF recommended the two along with Bembem Devi but only the last name was conferred with it.

The report titled, 'The Belt and Road Initiative Progress, Contributions and Prospects' released by the Leading Group for Promoting the Belt and Road Initiative had previously listed the BCIM as a BRI project. But, owing to the fact that India had skipped the Belt and Road Forum (BRF), the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor ran the possibility to be excluded from the list of projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) umbrella. The BRI is a major initiative speared by China to reconstruct the ancient Silk Road connectivity across Eurasia and Africa.This has come to limelight after a document attached with the Joint Communique of the Leaders' Roundtable of the BRF that concluded in Beijing, the website did not list the BCIM as a project under the BRI.

According to the 2019 Global Food Policy Report (GFPR), rural areas continue to be in a state of crisis and threatening to slow the progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals, global climate targets, and improved food and nutrition security due to hunger, malnutrition, poverty, environmental degradation. 821 mn people in the world are facing chronic food deprivation.The report was prepared by the Washington DC-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). Rural transformation and revitalization have been the pre-eminent goal of India's development efforts since independence, according to the report.

Steel maker SAIL has introduced a pension scheme for its current as well as former employees. Under this scheme, all executive employees who were on rolls of the company on or after January 1, 2007, as well as non-executive employees on rolls on or after January 1, 2012, shall be covered in the scheme. The scheme will extend coverage to more than 55,000 ex-employees.

US is withdrawing from the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty, in response to concerns from gun rights activists that it could impinge on Americans right to bear arms. Former US President Barack Obama signed the treaty in 2013 and sent the treaty to the Senate for ratification. The Trump administration has withdrawn from a number of international agreements including the Iran nuclear deal.

Alfred Brownell, an environmental lawyer, and activist was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize. He was awarded for exposing alleged abuse by the palm oil company Golden Veroleum Liberia and helping to prevent it from converting about 50 km2 of the forest. He won the Goldman prize along with five others for grassroots environmental activism.

Olivier and Tony awards winner for writing 'Children of a Lesser God', Mark Medoff passed away at the age of 79 at Mesilla Valley Hospice in Las Cruces, New Mexico after a prolonged battle with multiple myeloma, cancer, and renal failure. The screen adaptation of "Children of a Lesser God" earned an Oscar nomination. He was born on 18th March 1940 in Mount Carmel, Illinois, United States.'Children of a Lesser God' won the 1980 Tony award for Best Play which was about the tale of a love affair between a speech teacher and a deaf woman who struggle to overcome the communications gap.

Wipro Consumer Care has signed an agreement to acquire Splash Corporation, a Philippines-based personal care company. The transaction strengthens Wipro's consumer care portfolio in personal care and completes its South-East Asian footprint. This is Wipro's 11th acquisition in the consumer line business and the 9th acquisition in the personal care segment overall.

A study has found that social media fraud increased by 43% in 2018. The cybercriminals are increasingly relying on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and other legitimate social media and messaging platforms to sell stolen identities, credit card numbers and other ill-gotten gains. The name of the report is Current State of Cybercrime - 2019, released by RSA security.

The "Politics of Jugaad: The Coalition Handbook" has been authored by journalist Saba Naqvi. In it, the author examined the possibility of a coalition government after 2019 Lok Sabha polls. It traces the history of political alliances in the country taking into account their performance on economic and and social policies, among others. The book also makes a study of the Congress' "tryst with dynasty" with Priyanka Gandhi Vadra taking a plunge into active politics for the party helmed by her brother Rahul Gandhi.

World number one Kento Momota retained his Badminton Asia Championships title in Shanghai. He defeated Shi Yuqi of China 21-12, 11-11, 21-18. Yamaguchi, a silver medallist two years ago, won the women's crown with a victory over He Bingjiao 21-19, 21-9.

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has officially celebrated the first-ever International Day of Multilateralism and Diplomacy for Peace on 24th April 2019 for the international observance. The day is a reaffirmation of the UN Charter and its principles of resolving disputes among countries through peaceful means. It acknowledges the use of multilateral decision-making and diplomacy in achieving peaceful resolutions to conflicts among nations.

India wrapped up their campaign at the Asian Wrestling Championships at Xi'an, China, on a resounding note with 16 medals. Men's freestyle wrestlers bagged eight medals comprising one gold, three silver and four bronze. Women wrestlers claimed four bronze. These included Harpreet Singh's silver in 82kg and bronze by Gyanender in 60kg on the final day of the competitions.