Current Affairs: Daily GK Update 21st and 22nd May 2017

1. May 21st is observed as Anti-Terrorism Day in the memory of former Indian PM Mr. Rajiv Gandhi
i. All over India, May 21st is observed as Anti-Terrorism Day in the memory of former Indian PM Mr. Rajiv Gandhi who passed away on this day.
ii. On this day in the year 1991, former India’s PM Rajiv Gandhi was killed brutally by terrorist attacks. Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India, while conducting an election campaign in Sriperumbudur (located near Chennai) in Tamil Nadu was assassinated by a suicide bomber on 21 May 1991.


Static Takeaways-

• Rajiv Ratna Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was Prime Minister of India, serving from 1984 to 1989.
• He took office after the 1984 assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, his mother, to become the youngest Indian premier.

2. Arunachal’s Anshu Jamsenpa is the first woman to scale Mt Everest twice in 5 days

i. Arunachal Pradesh mountaineer Anshu Jamsenpa has become the world’s first woman to scale Mt Everest twice in five days.

ii. Her ascent of the world’s tallest peak in the Himalayas at 7.45 am on 21st May 2017 was her fifth overall and the second after 16th May 2017.

Static Takeaways-

• Mount Everest height is about 8,848 meters above sea level
• First Persons to climb Mt Everest in 1953 are Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

3. NASA names bacteria after Abdul Kalam

i. Scientists at NASA have named a new organism discovered by them after the much-loved A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
ii.The name of the bacterium is Solibacillus kalamii, the species name is after Dr. Abdul Kalam and genus name is Solibacillus which is a spore-forming bacteria.

Static Takeaways-

• Dr. Kalam was the 11th President of India became on 25th July 2002
• APJ Kalam also known as Missile Man of India and his full name is Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam
• India’s first indigenous Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV-3) was developed by Dr. APJ Kalam for ISRO
• NASA headquarter is in Washington, D.C. USA.

4. Tejas Express to make its debut on Mumbai-Goa route

i. India’s state-of-the-art high-speed train Tejas Express, which can run up to the speed of 200km per hour, has made its trip between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai, and Karmali, North Goa.
ii. The train will cover a distance of 579km in 8.5 hours with halts at Dadar, Thane, Panvel, Ratnagiri and Kudal.
iii. The 15-coach train has two classes chair car and executive chair car and is equipped with facilities like secured gangways, automatic doors, LCD screens, Wi-Fi, tea-coffee vending machines, magazines, bio-toilets, hand dryers etc.

Static Takeaways-

• Railway Minister of India is Suresh Prabhu
• First Railway Minister of  Independent India is John Mathai.

5. Tata Sons appoints Saurabh Agrawal as Group CFO

i. Tata Sons has appointed Saurabh Agrawal, an investment banker who was formerly with the Aditya Birla Group, as its Group Chief Financial Officer. He will join the company from July 2017. 

ii. Agrawal, among India’s most successful investment bankers, brings with him over two decades of experience in the capital markets.

Static Takeaways-

• Chairman of Tata Sons is N. Chandrasekaran
• Founder of Tata is Jamsetji Tata and it was founded in 1868.

6. Cochin Port Trust bags two awards

i. Cochin Port Trust has received two Best Performance Awards from Ministry of Shipping for the highest growth in operating surplus and also for achieving third highest growth in cargo traffic among the major ports in the year 2016-17.
ii. The awards were received from Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari by P Raveendran, Chairman, and A V Ramana, Deputy Chairman, Cochin Port Trust at a function held at Goa Port Trust.

Static Takeaways-

• CM of Kerala is Pinarayi Vijayan and governor is P.Sathasivam
• Periyar Tiger Reserve is situated in Kerala.

7. India’s Prashant Ranganathan wins top intel International science award in US

i. An Indian boy has won the world’s largest pre-college science competition, The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) in the US in the environmental engineering category for his project on biodegradation of pesticides. 
ii. The name of his project was ‘Biodegradation of Chlorpyrifos using native bacteria’ which was based on the theme that farmers should not use pesticides.

Static Takeaways from above News-

• The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) is a program of Society for Science & the Public (the Society)
• This is the world’s largest international pre-college science competition.

8. Deveshwar, Soumitra Chatterjee conferred Bengal’s highest civilian award

i. Thespian Soumitra Chatterjee and Y.C. Deveshwar were conferred the Banga Samman, West Bengal’s highest civilian award, by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
ii. The Banga Samman awards were instituted in 2011 after Banerjee came to power. Celebrated artists, singers, sportspersons, filmmakers, intellectuals have been honored with these awards in the past.

Static Takeaways-

• CM of West Bengal is Mamta Banerjee and governor is Keshari Nath Tripathi
• The Buxa Tiger Reserve is situated in West Bengal.

9. Karnataka Bank inks pact with LIC

i. Karnataka Bank Ltd has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India for selling life insurance products of LIC.
ii. The bank signed the corporate agency agreement with LIC in Mangaluru, Karnataka. The bank will be able to provide the vast choice of life insurance products to its customers across all its 769 branches with this MoU.

Static Takeaways from above News-

• Mr.Mahabaleshwara M.S is the Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer of Karnataka Bank
• V. K. Sharma is the current chairman of LIC
• LIC is Headquartered in Mumbai.

10. Hassan Rouhani wins Presidential Re-election in Iran

i. Hassan Rouhani was re-elected as the President of Iran after winning Iranian presidential elections 2017. 
ii. This is his second term as Iran’s President. He was first elected as Iran’s President in 2013. 
iii. In the Iranian Presidential Elections, Hassan Rouhani defeated his Conservative opponent Ebrahim Raisi by winning 57% of the total seats. The elections were labeled as the “most competitive ever”.

Static Takeaways from above News-

• Tehran is the Capital of Iran and its Currency is Iranian rial.

11. Alexander Zverev win Italian Open title by defeating Novak Djokovic

i. Alexander Zverev defeated the world no. 2 ranking player Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3 to win the Italian Open, 2017. The final was held in Rome, Italy. 
ii. The 20-year-old Zverev became the youngest player to win a Masters 1000 event since Djokovic won in Miami a decade ago at 19. 
iii. The Italian Open women’s Singles Title 2017 was won by Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina.

Static Takeaways from above News-

• Alexander Zverev is the professional German tennis player
• Italian open is also known as Rome Masters and Italian Championship
• Rome is the Capital city of Italy
• The currency of Italy is Euro.

12. Bengaluru FC wins Federation Cup

i. The Bengaluru FC defeated Mohun Bagan (2-0) to lift 38th Federation Cup football tournament at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, Odisha. 
ii. In the tightly contested tussle befitting a final, BFC overcame a bit of hard luck to ride on C.K. Vineeth’s extra-time brace and bag the prestigious title despite the unavailability of two of key players, Sunil Chhetri and Cameron Watson.

Static Takeaways from above News-

• Bengaluru FC is currently owned by Mumbai-based Company, JSW Group
• The Club was formed in July 2013
• Federation Cup was started in the year 1977

13. Mumbai Indians win IPL title for the third time

i. In Cricket, Mumbai Indians lifted the 10th Indian Premier League trophy for the third time, as they recorded a scintillating 1-run win against Rising Pune Supergiant in the title clash at Hyderabad during final.
ii. Mumbai successfully defended a total of 129 and restricted Pune to 128/6 to lift their third IPL trophy. Krunal Pandya from Mumbai Indians was named the man of the match.

Static Takeaways-

• Orange Cap in IPL 2017 refers to the most runs taken by a batsman which is David Warner from Sunrise Hyderabad team has taken 641 runs in 2017 tournament.
• Purple Cap in IPL 2017 refers to the most wickets taken by a bowler which is Bhuvneshwar Kumar from Sunrise Hyderabad team has taken 26 overall wickets in 2017 tournament.
• Hyderabad team was the winner of 9th IPL tournament in 2016.

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