GENERAL AWARENESS–CURRENT AFFAIRS MONTH OF MAY–2019 List of Important Days May 1 - International Workers' Day (Labour Day or May Day) (Theme - “Sustainable Pension for all: The Role of Social Partners”) May 3 - World Press Freedom Day (Theme – “Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation”) May 4 - International Firefighters' Day May 5 - International Midwives Day (Theme – “Midwives: Defenders of Women's Rights”) May 6 - International No Diet Day (The symbol of International No Diet Day is a light blue ribbon) May6-12 - 5th United Nations Global Road Safety Week (Theme - “Leadership for road safety”) May 7 - Border Road Organization’s (BRO) 59th rising day May 8 - World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day (Theme - “#Love”) May 8 - World Thalassemia Day (Theme - “Universal access to quality thalassaemia healthcare services: Building bridges with and for patient”) May 11 - National Technology Day May 15 - International Day of Families (Theme-“Families and Climate Action: Focus on(Sustainable Development Goals) SDG 13”) May 16 - Sikkim Day May 17 - World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD 2018) (Theme – “Bridging the standardization gap”) May 18 - International Museum Day (Theme – “Museums as Cultural Hubs: The future of tradition”) May 21 - World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development May 21 - Anti-Terrorism Day May 22 - International Day for Biological Diversity (Theme – “Our Biodiversity, Our Food, Our Health”) May 23 - World Turtle Day (Theme – “Save Turtles”) May 25 - International Missing Children's Day May 25 - Towel Day May 28 - Menstrual hygiene day (Theme - “It's Time for Action”) May 29 - International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers (Theme - “Protecting Civilians, Protecting Peace”) May 30 - Hindi Journalism Day May 30 - Goa was celebrated its 32nd Statehood Day May 31 - World No Tobacco Day (Theme – “Tobacco and Lung Health”) Reserve Bank of India • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed a monetary penalty on 5 Pre-Paid Payment Instrument (PPI) issuers which include Vodafone’s m-pesa and Phonepe, for violating its regulatory guidelines under provisions of Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007. CSB, Ch-17, Ph: 044-24333346 GA/May’19/Page-1 − Other facing Penalty includes, Western Union Financial Services Inc., MoneyGram Payment Systems Inc, (both are US firms) for compounding of contravention and non-compliance of RBI guidelines and on Mobile Payments and Private and GI Technology. • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) withdrew its April 24 circular which mandated banks to disclose their exposure to IL&FS and its group entities in their notes to financial statements. − RBI had also directed lenders to reveal provisions required to be made against it. − This comes after the NCLAT allowed banks to declare defaulting loans of IL&FS as bad loans. • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has proposed to introduce a mobile application to help visually challenged citizens identify Indian currency notes, and has invited bids from technology firms for the same. − Currently, intaglio printing-based identification marks on banknotes of ₹100 and above help the visually challenged recognize currency. • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has released a vision document for ensuring a safe, secure, convenient, quick and affordable e-payment system. − The move comes as the apex bank expects the number of digital transactions to increase more than four times to 8,707 crore in December 2021. • According to RBI release the 'Payment and Settlement Systems in India: Vision 2019 - 2021', with its core theme of 'Empowering Exceptional E-payment Experience', envisages to achieve "a highly digital and cash-lite society" through the goal posts of Competition, Cost-effectiveness, Convenience and Confidence (4Cs). • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) directed Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) with asset size of over ₹5,000 crore to appoint a Chief Risk Officer (CRO) to better manage risk. • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)'s central has decided to create a specialized supervisory and regulatory cadre within the RBI to strengthen the supervision and regulation of commercial banks, urban cooperative banks and non-banking financial companies. • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has increased the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) time window for customer transactions (initial cut-off) from 4.30pm to 6pm, effective June 1. • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has lifted a ban on bank use of Aadhaar for KYC verification, adding the banks can now do so with the customer's consent. State Bank of India • India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has linked its interest rates on large savings account deposits and some short-term loans to the RBI's repo rate effective May 1. − The bank is now offering interest of 3.25% per annum on savings accounts with deposits above ₹1 lakh. − Cash credit accounts and overdrafts with limits above ₹1 lakh will attract an interest of 8.25% per annum. • India's largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) reduced the lending rates by a marginal 5 basis points across all tenors, effective 10 April. − The revised one-year marginal cost of funds-based lending rate (MCLR) stands at 8.50 percent down from 8.55 percent earlier. − The lender has also cut interest rates on housing loans up to Rs 30 lakh by 10 bps. Other Banks • Bandhan Bank CEO Chandra Shekhar Ghosh announced that the lender is going to reduce its promoter holding to mandated level of 40% through offer-for-sale route. − Bandhan Bank is set to acquire Gruh Finance, a move which would reduce promoter holding to 61% from the present 82%. CSB, Ch-17, Ph: 044-24333346 GA/May’19/Page-2 • State-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) is planning to rationalize 800-900 branches across the country, following its merger with Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank. • State-run Punjab National Bank (PNB) could take control of two-three small state-run banks. − These small lenders could include Oriental Bank of Commerce, Andhra Bank and Allahabad Bank. • The ICICI Bank announced that it is going to buy a 9.9% stake in India International Exchange (INX), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) for nearly ₹ 31 crore. − The exchange posted a loss of ₹ 31 crore in 2018-19 while its total revenue stood at ₹ 2.25 crore. INX is located at GIFT City in Gujarat. Supreme Court • The Supreme Court has said a person has no "right" to be represented by a lawyer in "in-house" proceedings initiated by banks or financial institutions to declare them willful defaulters. High Courts and Sessions Courts • A single bench of Rajasthan High Court has ordered the state government to withdraw all light motor vehicle driving licences of the illiterate. Election Commission • Election Commission has come up with a new initiative to provide real-time trends and results of the Lok Sabha vote counting across the states and union territories. − The counting trends and results will be available on the Commission Website at www.results.eci.gov.in as well as on the Voter Helpline App. • A total of 65,14,558 voters opted for NOTA (None-Of-The-Above) option, in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. − In 2014, as many as 60,02,942 voters had opted for NOTA. − The highest percentage of NOTA was recorded in the state of Bihar with 2% voters (8,17,139) opting for it. − In Uttar Pradesh, which has 80 Lok Sabha seats, 7,25,079 voters opted for NOTA. States • The states of Maharashtra and Gujarat were divided and given statehood under the Bombay Reorganization Act on 1st May in the year 1960. • Purple frog (Nasikabatrachus sahyadrensis) could be soon designated as Kerala’s state amphibian. • The Tamil Nadu government has issued an order to district collectors for issuing income and asset certificates to persons belonging to general category for availing reservation under the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) quota. • The Kerala Legislative Assembly recently announced an initiative to digitize all its records and proceedings under its ambitious project called E-Vidhan which enables state legislature to go fully digital and completely paperless. • Milk and Milk products are more likely to be unsafe or substandard than other food products sold in Delhi, according to test reports of food samples analyzed by the Delhi food safety department. • Rajasthan government has introduced Balakot airstrike and IAF Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman as topics in Class 9 Social Science textbooks. • Kerala Becomes 1st Indian State to tap into Masala Bond Market by listing the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB)’s masala bond worth of USD 312 million (Rs 2,150 crore) in London Stock Exchange (LSE)’s International Securities Market (ISM). CSB, Ch-17, Ph: 044-24333346 GA/May’19/Page-3 • Maharashtra Governor Vidyasagar Rao signed an ordinance promulgated by the state government that upholds admissions given to students under the Maratha quota in postgraduate medical and dental courses. • In a first-of-its-kind initiative, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to use cold mix tar and chemical concrete to fill the city's potholes and repair roads during monsoon. Place in the News • India for the first time is going to host and participate in a major army competition involving 8 countries, including China and Russia, in Jaisalmer. − The event called the ‘Army International Scout Masters Competition 2019’ will be held in August this year. Personalities • Nobel laureate, genius poet and the man behind composing India’s national anthem, Rabindranath Tagore's 158th Birth Anniversary was observed on 7th May 2019. • India’s Captain Aarohi Pandit became world’s first woman to cross Atlantic Ocean (AO) solo in a Light Sports Aircraft (LSA) named Mahi. • Gopal Shrestha, a 56-year-old from Nepal's Pokhara, became the 1st HIV-infected climber to scale the world's highest peak, the Mount Everest.