Notes:
Rakesh Kapur, Joint Managing Director of Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) has been elected as the new Chairman of the International Fertilizer Association (IFA) at the 2017 IFA annual conference in Marrakech, Morocco. He is also the Chairman of the Fertiliser Association of India (FAI). With this, Kapoor has become the third Indian to hold this prestigious position in IFA’s 90 years’ history. The Paris-based IFA is the global fertiliser association with 500 members representing 68 countries, including 24 members from India.

Notes:
The 2017 HCL Asian Junior Tennis Championship will be hosted by Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL) at Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune, Maharashtra from May 29. The tournament is the most reputed tennis championship in the Asian circuit for the under 18 category. The championship is being held in association with the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association and under the aegis of the International Tennis Federation (ITF); Asian Tennis Federation (ATF); and All India Tennis Association (AITA). This is the only B1 category tournament in India, in which players from 11 countries in the region – Thailand, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Hong-Kong, Malaysia, China, Sri Lanka, Iran and India will participate. The 6-day Championship will witness participation from over 100 Indian and international players in the Singles and Doubles categories for both boys and girls.

Notes:
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated India’s longest bridge “Dhola-Sadia Bridge” in Assam on May 26, 2017. This three lane, 9.15 kilometre bridge has been built over river Lohit, a tributary of the Brahmaputra river. It links Dhola in Assam to Sadia. The bridge will reduce the distance from Rupai on NH- 37 in Assam to Meka-Roing on NH-52 in Arunachal Pradesh by 165 KM. The travel time between the two places will come down from the current six hours to just one hour, a total five hour reduction. This will result in saving of petrol and diesel worth Rs 10 Lakh per day. It will also cater to the strategic requirements of the country in the border areas of Arunachal Pradesh, besides facilitating numerous hydro power projects coming up in the state.

Notes:
The Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath has launched a massive immunization drive in 38 districts to eradicate Japanese Encephalitis (JE) from Kushinagar district on May 25, 2017. The government also launched a toll free number “18001805544” to get or provide any information about encephalitis. His several cabinet colleagues also participated in the launch programmes in different districts. The government has fixed the target of immunisation of above 88 lakh 55 thousand children in the age group of one to 15 during the drive in the targeted districts. The drive will be continued by June 11, 2017.

Notes:
Rajan Anandan, Google’s vice-president for South East Asia and India, has been appointed new chairman of Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). He took over charge from FreeCharge’s co-founder and chief executive officer Kunal Shah. Beside this, Deep Kalra, chairman and group CEO of MakeMyTrip, has become the new Vice-Chairman of IAMAI. Umang Bedi has been elected as the new treasurer, while Dr Subho Ray continues to be the President of the association. The tenure of the new council will be for two years. The IAMAI is a not-for-profit industry body registered under the Societies Act, 1986. Its mandate is to expand and enhance the online and mobile value added services sectors. The headquarters is located at Mumbai, Maharashtra.

Notes:
The capital of Bangladesh “Dhaka” is the world’s most crowded city with a population density of 44,500 people per square kilometre, released by World Economic Forum (WEF), citing UN Habitat data. According to UN Habitat data, of the top 10 most densely populated cities in the world, six are in Asia, three are in Africa and one is in South America. India’s financial capital Mumbai, home to 31,700 people per square kilometre has acquired second place, where as Kota in Rajasthan with 12,100 people per square kilometre was ranked seventh. Others in the list include Medellin in Columbia (3rd), Manila in Philippines (4th, 14,800), Casablanca in Morocco (5th, 14,200), Lagos in Nigeria (6th, 13,300), Singapore (8th, 10,200) and Jakarta in Indonesia (9th, 9,600).

Notes:
The 2017 World Street Food Congress (WSFC) will be held in Manila, Philippines from May 31 to June 4, 2017 with theme “Re-Imagine Possibilities”. In the fest industry’s global movers and shakers, leaders and innovators, entrepreneurs, chefs, street vendors, and food aficionados come together to share ideas, development and opportunities in a collaborative environment. The Bihari delicacy litti choka will represent India in the international food festival. Litti Choka is a two-dish combination which is wheat baked balls stuffed with roasted spices and Chokha a mixture of roasted potato tomatoes onions with garlic chillies among others.

Notes:
Anurag Tripathy, a 1998 batch officer of Indian Railway personnel Service (IRPS), has been appointed the new secretary of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) for a period of five years.

Notes:
The Mathikettan Shola National Park is located in Poopara village of Udumbanchola taluk in Idukki district of Kerala. It is home to beautiful and rare animals like tigers, panthers, wild elephants, giant grizzled squirrel, flying squirrels, spotted deer and Nilgiri tahrs. The park abounds in snakes such asking cobras, pythons, vipers and rat snakes, turtles, crocodiles and lizards. The national park is a biodiversity hotspot and plays a vital role in safeguarding wildlife in the region. The terrain acts as a natural defense in the protection of the animals and protects their natural habitat.

Notes:
Kanwar Pal Singh Gill (82), the former Director General of Police (DGP) of Punjab, has recently passed away in Delhi on May 26, 2017. He was known for rooting out Sikh militancy from Punjab. During Indira Gandhi tenure, Gill mounted ‘Operation Black Thunder’, a critical success in the war against terrorism. In two tenures as DGP Punjab, he led one of the most successful counter-terrorist operations, bringing Punjab from the verge of disintegration to complete normalcy. He also worked for the Chhattisgarh government as a security adviser to help control Naxal activities in 2006. Gill was an author, editor, speaker, consultant on counter-terrorism, president of the Institute for Conflict Management and president of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF).