Current Affairs - May 22, 2019 Current Affairs

The Ministry of Corporate affairs plans to introduce an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system in the MCA 21 portal. The introduction seeks to make the compliance process easier as well as ensure routine enforcement activities are done on autopilot basis. It will be introduced when Ministry will roll out Version 3 of the MCA 21. Earlier this year, the ministry sought applications from service providers to develop as well as operate the upgraded version of MCA 21 system.

On 21st May, the UAE celebrated World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development to highlight its efforts in promoting tolerance and cultural diversity. The event coincides with the country's declaration of 2019 as the Year for Tolerance. The UAE has cultural relations with many countries and is an active member of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO.

Reliance Industries has toppled state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to become the country's biggest company by revenue. The Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate, in the 2018-19 fiscal year that ended March 31, reported a turnover of Rs 6.23 lakh crore. In comparison, IOC posted a turnover of Rs 6.17 lakh crore for the fiscal. It was also the most profitable company in the country with a net profit of more than double that of IOC in FY2019.

NASA has recently discovered evidences of water, ice and organic molecules on Ultima Thule's surface, farthest place in universe. NASA has published the first profile of Ultima Thule revealing details about the complex space object.

An American politician, Nancy Pelosi has been honored with the 2019 John F Kennedy Profile in Courage Award at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. She has been recognized for her efforts to pass former President Barack Obama's 2010 health care law and for helping Democrats reclaim control of the U.S. House during last year's elections. Pelosi is serving as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since January 2019. First elected to Congress in 1987, she is the only woman to have served as Speaker and is the highest-ranking elected woman in United States history.

The State Bank of India (SBI) has announced a strategic partnership with the FMCG arm of The Art of Living - Sri Sri Tattva. Under this partnership, YONO users can avail a discount of 15% on the entire range of products offered by Sri Sri Tattva such as food, personal care, healthcare, homecare, BYOGI apparels and Shankara skincare products.

The 2019 Indo-Myanmar coordinated patrol (IMCOR) is taking place from 20 May to 28 May 2019 in Port Blair at Andaman and Nicobar Command. This is the 8th edition of the coordinated patrol (CORPAT) between India and Myanmar. The Indo-Myanmar coordinated patrol IMCOR began on 20th May 2019. For the Opening Ceremony of 2019 edition, Myanmar Navy Ships arrived on 20 May 2019 in Port Blair at Andaman and Nicobar Command. It will be undertaken by Myanmar ships viz. UMS King TabinShweHtee (77C) and UMS Inlay (OPV5D) with Indian Naval Ship, INS Saryu.

Legendary stand-up comedian Sammy Shore, the Co-Founder of Comedy Store, passed away aged 92 at home from natural causes in Las Vegas, USA. He is the father of actor and comedian Pauly Shore. Both spent the past 20 years together as a father-son comedy team. He hails from in Las Vegas, USA. He co-founded the world-famous Comedy Store in Los Angeles with screenwriter and actor Rudy De Luca in 1972. He has authored books like "The Man Who Made Elvis Laugh" and "The Warm-Up". Before his death, he was finishing up a book titled "Last Comic Sitting (Confessions of a Pissed-Off Comic)".

Twenty-Two Indian women boxers including MC Mary Kom have assured medals by entering the Semi-Finals of India Open International Boxing tournament in Guwahati. Ace boxer Mary Kom had an easy win against Nepal's Mala Rai in the Quarter Final last night. She will face compatriot Nikhat Zareen in the much anticipated Semi-Final in the 51 kg category. Assam girls Jamuna Boro, Ankushita Boro, and Pwilao Basumatary have also entered the Semi-Finals. Another crowd favorite L Sarita Devi also defeated her opponent in the 60 kg category and stormed into the Semi-Final.

Facebook Global Holdings registered a new cryptocurrency firm named 'Libra Networks LLC' in Geneva, Switzerland. It will provide financial and technology services by developing related hardware and software components. Facebook has been very secretive about its new cryptocurrency project. Facebook had registered the trademark "Libra" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Facebook has hired 2 cryptocurrency compliance experts who formerly worked at the major crypto exchange Coinbase to assist in their work.

The flagship program of Prime Minister Modi, Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) which provides crop insurance to farmers has failed. Recently, a senior official from Agriculture Ministry disclosed that out of Rs 1,400 crore designated fund for the North-Eastern state annually under PMFBY, only around 0.57% or Rs 8 crore was spent in 2018-19.Four North-eastern states are not covered under PMFBY and the states are Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.Other large states like Bihar and West Bengal had earlier withdrawn from crop insurance scheme and launched their own state-level scheme and states like Punjab had never joined the scheme.

Flye' a new computer program developed by Australian National University (ANU) can help develop precision medicine. It will be helpful to find out a person's genetic makeup. The research is published in Nature Biotechnology. Flye is a step-by-step procedure for computers to assemble genomes. It will enable the process to be much faster and accurate than the current best practice methods. With the use of long DNA sequences, Flye will improve the reliability of genome assemblies and lead to a range of biomedical applications. A long DNA sequence ranges between 5,000 and 20,000 DNA letters, whereas short sequences are typically 200 letters.

Spanish Navy ship 'Mendez Nunez' (Frigate) with a crew of 30 officers and 135 sailors is on Mumbai visit from May 18 to 23. The ship is on Overseas Deployment, and is docked at the Mumbai Port Trust.The Commanding Officer of 'Mendez Nunez' will interact with Rear Admiral Rajesh Pendharkar, Flag Officer Commanding, Maharashtra Naval Area, during its stay, it said. According to the communique, Indian Naval Ships (INS) and submarines have been visiting Spanish ports during overseas deployments.The visit by the Spanish Navy ship to Mumbai would further strengthen the existing bonds between the two navies.

Google has suspended all business with Huawei that requires the transfer of hardware, software and technical services and cancelled its Android license.

The Indo-Myanmar coordinated patrol (IMCOR) began on May 20, 2019 at Andaman and Nicobar Command. For this purpose, Myanmar Navy Ship UMS King TabinShweHtee (773) and UMS Inlay (OPV-54) arrived at Port Blair.

Recently, centre has issued a "drought advisory" to six states named Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu due to water storage in dams dropped to a "critical level". Centre has asked these 6 six states to use water judiciously. Central Water Commission (CWC) always issues drought advisory whenever the water level in reservoirs is 20 percent less than the average of live water storage figures of the past 10 years. According to figures released by CWC, the total water storage available was 35.99 billion cubic metres, which is 22 percent of the total storage capacity of these reservoirs.

National Cadet Corps girls mountaineering expedition team of 20 from Sikkim was flagged off to Mt Tenchenkhang, situated in Western Sikkim. This is the first girls expedition team ever since 1970. This expedition was flagged off by Additional Director General Major General Sanjay Gupta in New Delhi. The expedition team is led by Lt Col Madhab Boro. It constitutes 3 officers (including Medical Officer), 17 Permanent Instructional staff and 20 NCC Girl Cadets from All India NCC directorates.

Niti Aayog has circulated a cabinet note to provide Rs 7,500 crore for the establishment of AIRAWAT, a cloud computing platform along with research institutes. This is part of the policy think tank's proposal to create an institutional framework for artificial intelligence (AI) in the country. Niti Aayog would present the cabinet note to the new government as they want an institutional framework as well as a transparent policy in place for AI.

The King of Comedy, Kapil Sharma, has been named as most viewed stand-up comedian in India and abroad by World Book of Records London. He had started his career as a stand-up comedian from different comedy shows and got fame from "Comedy Nights with Kapil". He had made his Bollywood debut in movie Kis Kisko Pyaar Karoon and his second movie was Firangi.

India's fastest train 'Vande Bharat Express' completed 1 Lakh kilometers without missing a single trip. It was flagged off by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi under 'Make In India' Initiative, on February 15, 2019, from New Delhi to Varanasi. This 16 coach train began its commercial run from February 17, 2019.The indigenously-built high-speed train was manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai.This high-speed train is expected to replace Shatabdi Express trains soon.The train has facilities like high-speed onboard WiFi, GPS-based passenger information system, touch-free bio-vacuum toilets, LED lighting, mobile charging points, and a climate control system which automatically adjusts to the temperature.