Current Affairs Current Affairs May 2019

  The Central government has asked the state transport departments to make it mandatory for all EVs to use the green number plates, irrespective of the year in which they were bought. The new mandate is supposed to help provide preferential treatment to the vehicles with no carbon emissions, like parking, free entry in congested areas as well as a concessional toll on highways.
Source: India Times

 India’s largest bank State Bank of India has moved to a new interest rate regime on large savings account deposits as well as short-term loans. Earlier, SBI had announced that it will link its interest rate on savings account with a balance above Rs1 lakh and short-term loans like overdraft and cash credit facility to Reserve Bank of India’s repo rate, effective 1 May 2019.  The interest rates on large SBI savings account deposits and interest rate on some short-term loans will automatically change as and when RBI changes its repo rate. This will help in better transmission of RBI’s policy rates into the banking system.
Source- DD News

  LIC Housing Finance (LIC HFL) has launched ‘Udyam’, a skilling center in Bengaluru. It was launched in association with Lok Bharti Education Society, the implementing partner. The Centres of Excellence will provide training to marginalised youth in the BFSI, retail, and IT/ ITES sectors.
Source: The Hindu Business Lines 

  Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara has been named as the next President of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), becoming the first non-British President of the club. Sangakkara will take up the post on October 1 and will serve for a period of one year. In 2012, Sangakkara was awarded Honorary Life Membership of the Club.
Source- The Quint

  BSE, formerly known as the Bombay Stock Exchange, has appointed its first independent woman director Jayshree Vyas. BSE already has two non-executive women directors namely Usha Sangwan and Rajeshree Sabnavis on its Board. Vyas is a professionally-qualified chartered accountant, working as the managing director of Shree Mahila Sewa Sahakari Bank, Ahmedabad, since 1986. She helped in launching the first financial literacy programme in Sewa Bank in 2001.
Source: Economic Times

 Six grassroots environmental activists received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. Known as the Green Nobel Prize, the Goldman Prize honors environmental activists from each of the six continental regions: Europe, Asia, North America, Central America and South America, Africa and islands and island nations.
The winners of the award are-
  • Alfred Brownell, Liberia
  • Bayarjargal Agvaantseren, Mongolia
  • Ana Colovic Lesoska, North Macedonia
  • Jacqueline Evans, Cook Islands
  • Alberto Curamil, Chile
  • Linda Garcia, United States
Source: Ecowatch

  Rapper Drake set a record with the most wins ever, taking home 12 honours at the Billboard Music Awards. Drake surpassed singer Taylor Swift to become the top award recipient in the Billboard Music Awards history. He won 12 awards, bringing his career total to 27. Swift has won 23 Billboard Music Awards. Drake won the top artist and top Billboard 200 album, among others.
Source: Business Standard

  The Netherlands has emerged as the third largest foreign direct investor in India during 2017-18, with investments pegged at about $2.67 billion across sectors. The Netherlands was also the second largest destination for foreign investment by Indian companies, after Singapore, with investments worth $12.8 billion in 2017.
Source: The Hindu Business Line

  May 1 is celebrated as ‘Maharashtra Day’ and ‘Gujarat Day’. In 1960, the Bombay Reorganization Act was passed by India’s Parliament to divide the multilingual state of Bombay into Gujarat and Maharashtra. The legislation came into effect on May 1, 1960. The state of Bombay formerly comprised of speakers of different languages such as Marathi, Gujarati, Konkani, and Kutchi. During the mid-1950s, a movement known as the Samyukta Maharashtra Andolan started demanding a separate Marathi-speaking state while Mahagujarat Movement aimed at the formation of a state for Gujarati-speaking people. The movements ended with the creation of the Bombay Reorganization Act.
Source: India Today

 The United Nations (UN) established World Tuna Day on May 2 to raise awareness about the importance of tuna and to promote more sustainable fishing practices. It was observed for the first time in 2017.
Source: UN.Org


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