Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2019

Notes:
The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has launched an awareness programme on Goods and Services Tax (GST) in collaboration with Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Institute Limited to help small scale businesses. The purpose of the GST programme is to impart basic knowledge and skills required to fulfil various requirements under the GST Act. It would be beneficial to people who are engaged in maintaining accounts and filing of various indirect tax returns. The main objective of the programme is to impart skills to book keeping professionals to file various regular GST returns along with the various compliance requirements. Those who have passed Class 12 are eligible for the course, which will be offered in January and July cycle of admissions.

Notes:
Ace India goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh has been nominated for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award by Hockey India. While, Midfielder Chinglensana Singh Kangujam and forward Akashdeep Singh and women’s team defender Deepika have been nominated for the Arjuna Award. Hockey India has also nominated R.P. Singh and Sandeep Kaur for Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement, while coaches Baljeet Singh, B.S. Chauhan and Romesh Pathania have been proposed for Dronacharya Award.

Notes:
The Generalized System of Preference (GSP) is the largest and oldest US trade preference programme and is designed to promote economic development by allowing duty-free entry for thousands of products from designated beneficiary countries. Recently, it is in news because a group of 25 influential American lawmakers has urged the US Trade Representative – Robert Lighthizer – not to terminate the GSP programme after the expiry of the 60-day notice on 3rd May 2019. They argued that terminating GSP for India would hurt American companies seeking to expand their exports to India. They also urged to continue negotiating a deal that protects and promotes jobs that rely on trade – both imports and exports – with India. President Donald Trump announced on March 4, the US intends to terminate India’s designations as a beneficiary developing country under the GSP programme.

Notes:
M Jayshree Vyas, a professionally-qualified chartered accountant, has been appointed as the first independent woman director of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Though still late by at least a few weeks from the deadline of April 1 given to all top 500 listed companies based on their market capitalisation for appointing an independent woman director on their board. The delay happened as BSE was awaiting market regulator SEBI’s approval on the appointment. As of April 6, 51 of the top 500 NSE-listed companies by market capitalisation (including BSE) did not have independent woman director, according to nseinfobase.com run by Prime Database. In March alone, about 50 companies made a beeline to appoint an independent woman director. BSE already has two non-executive women directors namely Usha Sangwan and Rajeshree Sabnavis on its Board. The Companies Act of 2013 mandates a certain class of companies to have at least one woman director on board. SEBIs, in compliance with the Companies Act 2013, made it compulsory to have at least one woman on a board from October 2014.

Notes:
State-owned telecom firm BSNL has become the first operator to start optical fibre-based high-speed broadband service in Pulwama with launch of ‘Bharat Fibre’. This is the first such FTTH (fibre-to-the-home) service deployment in the (Kashmir) Valley under this unique revenue share model. The Bharat Fibre services are provided on the optical fibre right up to the customer premises. This service has been launched in a business partnership model with the local channel partner of Pulwama area, on a revenue sharing basis. BSNL provides FTTH service with a monthly charge in the range of Rs 777-16,999 in over 160 telecom districts with a minimum speed of 2 megabit per second (mbps).

Notes:
The 16th Ministerial Meeting of Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD-2019) was held in Doha, Qatar from April 30-May 2 with theme “Partners in Progress”. Gen. (Dr) V.K. Singh (Retd), Minister of State for External Affairs led the Indian delegation. In his address, the Minister expressed profound sorrow for April 21 terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka and emphasized the need for the world community to expeditiously adopt the UN Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism (UNCCIT). On the basis of 2019 theme, Dr. Singh underlined India’s desire for working cooperatively with all ACD Member States in line with the Government of India’s approach of “Collective Efforts, Inclusive Growth”. He also urged the Member States to join the International Solar Alliance launched in November 2015.

Notes:
According to the latest data from US space agency NASA, the giant asteroid named 99942 Apophis is expected to approach dangerously close to the Earth on April 13, 2029. However, there is no need to worry as it will be about 31,000km away from the surface of the Earth. This is going to be a great opportunity for asteroid scientists as it’s relatively rare for such a large object to pass so close to the Earth. The colossal asteroid is named after the Egyptian god of chaos and destruction. Apophis was discovered in 2004 by U.S. astronomers. Since then, optical and radar telescopes have tracked Apophis as it continues on its orbit around the sun, so scientists know well its future trajectory. Current calculations shows that Apophis still has a small chance of impacting earth.

Notes:
India is officially invited to Group of 7 (G-7) industrialized nations summit along with Australia, Chile and South Africa. The summit is scheduled to be held in Biarritz, France in August 24-25, 2019. According to analysts, the invitation clearly reflects the strong strategic connect between India and France. And also, the invitation to Australia, France and Chile besides India reflects the French emphasis on the Indian Ocean and the Pacific region. The G-7 groups together the US, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Japan and Germany. This is not first time that India will be present at this exclusive club. In 2005, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had attended the G-8 +5 meet in Gleneagles in Scotland at the invitation of then British prime minister Tony Blair.

Notes:
Two Indians – an Indian police officer Jitender Kumar deployed to the UN mission in Congo and a consultant Shikha Garg with the UN development programme, killed in the Ethiopian Airlines plane crash, are among 115 UN peacekeepers and staff honoured by the global organisation for their sacrifice. They lost their lives in the service of peace between January 2018 and March 2019. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, along with top UN officials and Peacekeeping personnel paid tribute to 115 peacekeepers from 43 different nations, who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty at the solemn ceremony on May 5, 2019.

Notes:
The Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) has recently appointed Dragan Mihailovic (from Serbia) as head coach of the men’s national team in a move linked to the long term goal of Olympic Games qualification. The VFI also announced the appointment of Pryemyslaw Gaszyoski and Valadimir Radosevic as the team’s physio trainer and physiotherapist respectively. Besides the men’s national team, the trio will also look after the men’s U-23 team and other junior teams representing India. All the three have been appointed for 5 months and will work with the team for the Asian Championships scheduled to be held in Iran during September.