Current Affairs Quiz - May, 2019

Notes:
Acharya Balkrishna, the Managing Director of Patanjali Ayurved Ltd., has received the ‘UNSDG 10 Most Influential People in Healthcare Award’ on behalf of Patanjali Group of Institutions in Geneva, Switzerland. Balkrishna was among keynote speakers of the UNSDG (United Nations Sustainable Development Goals) organisation. The others are Randy Oostra, UNICEF executive director Henrietta H Fore, WHO director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Abe Lee. Patanjali Ayurved produces a range of Ayurvedic medicinal and personal care products, among other consumer items. The company was co-founded by Baba Ramdev and Balkshrina.

Notes:
Prem Singh Tamang, the president of Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) and popularly known as P S Golay, has been sworn-in as the new chief minister of Sikkim. Governor Ganga Prasad administered the oath of office to Mr. Golay in a grand ceremony at the Palzor stadium in Gangtok. Mr. Golay is not a member of the state assembly at present as he did not contest the polls. The SKM won 17 of the 32 legislative Assembly seats in the State in the recently held Assembly polls. The Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), which had ruled the State for 25 years, won 15. Mr. Golay succeeded Pawan Chamling of the SDF who has the record of longest-serving Chief Minister of the country, ruling the State for five consecutive terms for a little over 24 years.

Notes:
Russia has recently launched the third and final Project 22220 LK-60Ya-class nuclear-powered icebreaker – the Ural – at the Baltic Shipyard in St Petersburg to open up Arctic shipping routes.The ship is one of a trio that when completed will be the largest and most powerful icebreakers in the world. It is part of an ambitious programme to renew and expand its fleet of the vessels in order to improve its ability to tap the Arctic’s commercial potential. The Ural will eventually be handed over to Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy corporation Rosatom in 2022 after the two other icebreakers in the same series – Arktika (Arctic) and Sibir (Siberia) – enter service. The main task for the Project 22220 icebreakers will be to clear passages for ship traffic on the Northern Sea route, which runs along the Russian Arctic coast from the Kara Sea to the Bering Strait. As per estimated of U.S. Geological Survey, the Arctic holds oil and gas reserves equivalent to 412 billion barrels of oil, about 22% of the world’s undiscovered oil and gas.

Notes:
Scott Morrison has been sworn-in as new Prime Minister of Australia, after retaining the position in the 2019 general election. Along with Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack, Mr. Morrison was sworn in by Queen Elizabeth’s official representative , Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove, at a ceremony in the capital, Canberra. Mr. Morrison became Australia’s 30th Prime Minister through an internal party vote in August 2018 in which he replaced Malcolm Turnbull as chief of the ruling Liberal Party. The 46th Parliament of Australia is expected to open in the first week of July.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted a 6-member committee to review the existing state of mortgage securitisation in India and suggest measures to deepen it. The committee on the development of housing finance securitisation market, headed by Bain & Co Senior Advisor Harsh Vardhan, will review the regulations relating to Mortgage-Backed Securitization (MBS) currently in place, and make specific recommendations on suitably aligning the same with international norms. It will recommend specific measures for facilitating secondary market trading in mortgage securitisation instruments, such as broadening the investor base, and strengthening the market infrastructure.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has constituted a six-member task force, headed by Canara Bank chairman T.N. Manoharan, on the development of secondary market for corporate loans. The terms of reference of the task force would include review of the existing state of the market for loan sale or transfer in India as well as the international experience in loan trading. Further the task force will be required to make recommendations on required policy or regulatory interventions for facilitating development of secondary market in corporate loans, including loan transaction platform for stressed assets. The task force has been asked to submit its report by the end of August 2019. In India, banks sell their stressed loans to the Asset Reconstruction Companies, but have practically no other alternatives. However, globally, there is a healthy corporate loan market where banks can offload their stressed assets and those get traded.

Notes:
India has been ranked 43rd most competitive economy in the 2019 edition of the IMD World Competitiveness Rankings on the back of its robust economic growth, a large labour force and its huge market size. In the 2019 rankings, India has scored well on several economic parameters and tax policies but has lagged in terms of public finance, societal framework, education infrastructure, health and environment. Singapore has topped the index, followed by Hong Kong SAR and United States. The IMD World Competitiveness Rankings, established in 1989, incorporate 235 indicators from each of the 63 ranked economies to evaluate their ability to foster an environment where enterprises can achieve sustainable growth, generate jobs and increase welfare for its citizens.

Notes:
To celebrate 2019 World Environment Day (WED), the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change (MoEFCC) has recently launched the song ‘Hawa Aane De’ to spread awareness about Air pollution. The theme song is written by Swanand Kirkire and sung by Shantanu Mukherjee, Kapil Sharma, Sunidhi Chauhan and Shankar Mahadevan. The film has been directed by Romanchak Arora. Every year, Union Environment Ministry celebrates WED focusing on the theme declared by UNEP and organizes several events. This year, the theme of Environment Day is ‘Air Pollution’. Hence, the events will include launch of film competition on environment, release of several books and three thematic sessions on Air Pollution, Waste Management and Forests: the Green Lungs of cities. It is noteworthy that to combat air pollution, MoEFCC has recently launched the National Clean Air programme (NCAP) which is a mid-term 5 Year Action Plan with targets of 20-30% reduction of PM 2.5 and PM 10 concentration in 102 cities, out of which 84 cities have already submitted their action plan. The main objective of NCAP is to control and abate air pollution across the country. It is a multi sectoral and collaborative approach with mainstreaming and integration.

Notes:
Admiral Karambir Singh has taken charge as the 24th Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS) from Adm. Sunil Lanba, who stepped down upon retirement. He is the first helicopter pilot of the Navy to become the CNS. Prior to this post, Adm. Singh was the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-in-C) of the Eastern Naval Command, headquartered in Visakhapatnam. During his long and distinguished service spanning nearly 39 years, Adm. Singh has served in a variety of Command, Staff and Instructional appointments. The tenure of a Service Chief is three years or 62 years of age, whichever is earlier.

Notes:
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will observe 2019 Financial Literacy Week (FLW) across the country from 3rd to 7th of June. The theme this year is – ‘Farmers and how they benefit by being a part of the formal banking system’. The posters and leaflets will be used to spread awareness and spread the message of financial literacy among the farming community. The RBI has advised banks to display the posters and content in their rural bank branches, Financial Literacy Centres, ATMs and websites. It will also undertake a mass media campaign this month on Doordarshan and All India Radio to disseminate essential financial awareness messages to farmers.