Dear Aspirants,
The General Awareness Section plays an important role in scoring well above cut off marks in any competitive exam. The Banking Awareness and Static Awareness questions asked in the General Awareness Section are based on Current Affairs mainly. So you need to prepare well this section to score good marks. Here is the Daily GK Update to get you acquainted with the top events that made the headlines today!
National News
1. Union Cabinet Ministers Portfolio 2019: Check Complete List Here
i. A day after the incoming Union Council of Ministers was sworn in, the portfolios of ministers were announced. Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier sent the list of portfolios for his Council of Ministers to President Ram Nath Kovind, after which the same was unveiled.
ii. Modi took oath as the PM for a second consecutive term. 57 other members of the Council of Ministers, including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, and Sadananda Gowda, also took the oath. A total of 24 Cabinet Ministers took oath at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, followed by nine Ministers of State (Independent Charge) and 24 Ministers of State.
iii. Here’s the full list of the Union Council of Ministers and their portfolios, under the Modi Government 2.0.
Narendra Modi – Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space; all important policy issues; and all other portfolios not allocated to any minister
Cabinet Ministers
- Rajnath Singh – Defence
- Amit Shah – Home Affairs
- Nirmala Sitharaman – Finance; Corporate Affairs
- Subrahmanyam Jaishankar – External Affairs
- Nitin Gadkari – Road Transport and Highways; Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
- DV Sadananda Gowda – Chemical and Fertilizers
- Ram Vilas Paswan – Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
- Narendra Singh Tomar – Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Rural Development; Panchayati Raj
- Ravi Shankar Prasad – Law and Justice; Communications; Electronics and Information Technology
- Harsimrat Kaur Badal – Food Processing Industries
- Thawarchand Gehlot – Social Justice and Empowerment
- Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank – Human Resource Development
- Arjun Munda – Tribal Affairs
- Smriti Irani – Women and Child Development; Textiles
- Dr. Harsh Vardhan – Health and Family Welfare; Science and Technology; Earth Sciences
- Prakash Javdekar – Environment, Forest and Climate Change; Information and Broadcasting
- Piyush Goyal – Railways; Commerce and Industries
- Dharmendra Pradhan – Petroleum and Natural Gas; Steel
- Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi – Minority Affairs
- Prahlad Joshi – Parliamentary Affairs; Coal; Mines
- Mahendra Nath Pandey – Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
- Arvind Sawant – Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise
- Giriraj Singh – Animal Husbandry, Dairying, and Fisheries
- Gajendra Singh Shekhawat – Jal Shakti
Ministers of State (Independent Charge)
- Santosh Kumar Gangwar – Labour and Employment
- Rao Inderjit Singh – Statistics and Programme Implementation; Planning
- Shripad Yesso Naik – Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH); MoS Defence
- Dr. Jitendra Singh – Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region; MoS PMO; Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space
- Kiren Rijiju – Youth Affairs and Sports; MoS Minority Affairs
- Prahalad Singh Patel – Culture; Tourism
- Raj Kumar Singh – Power; New and Renewable Energy; MoS Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
- Hardeep Singh Puri – Housing and Urban Affairs; Civil Aviation; MoS Commerce and Industry
- Mansukh L Mandaviya – Shipping; MoS Chemicals and Fertilizers
Ministers of State
- Faggansingh Kulaste- Steel
- Ashwini Kumar Choubey – Health and Family Welfare
- Arjun Ram Meghwal – Parliamentary Affairs; Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises
- General (Retd) VK Singh – Road Transport and Highways
- Krishan Pal – Social Justice and Empowerment
- Danve Raosaheb Dadarao – Consumer Affairs, Food, and Public Distribution
- G Kishan Reddy – Home Affairs
- Parshottam Rupala – Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
- Ramdas Athawale – Social Justice and Empowerment
- Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti – Rural Development
- Babul Supriyo – Environment, Forest and Climate Change
- Sanjeev Kumar Balyan – Animal Husbandry, Dairying, and Fisheries
- Dhotre Sanjay Shamrao – Human Resource Development; Communications; Electronics and Information Technology
- Anurag Singh Thakur – Finance; Corporate Affairs
- Angadi Suresh Channabasappa – Railways
- Nityanand Rai – Home Affairs
- Rattan Lal Kataria – Jal Shakti; Social Justice and Empowerment
- V Muraleedharan – External Affairs; Parliamentary Affairs
- Renuka Singh Saruta – Tribal Affairs
- Som Parkash – Commerce and Industry
- Rameswar Teli – Food Processing Industries
- Pratap Chandra Sarangi – Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries
- Kailash Choudhary – Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
- Debasree Chaudhuri – Women and Child Development
2. Centre launches song ‘Hawa Aane De’ on air pollution
i. As the World Environment Day is approaching, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched a theme song ‘Hawa Aane De’ on air pollution. The song was launched in the national capital. The aim is to spread awareness regarding protecting the environment. Secretary of Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched the song in the presence of actor Shekhar Suman and singer Shaan. World Environment Day is celebrated on June 05.
3. Binny, India’s Only Orangutan Dies In Odisha Zoo
i. A 41-year-old orangutan at Odisha’s Nandankanan Zoological Park died following a prolonged illness. ”Binny”, the country’s lone orangutan passed away around 9:40 pm due to old-age related ailments followed by respiratory tract infection.
ii. The great ape was under treatment for the last one year by experts from the College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry OUAT who were under constant advice of the Orangutan experts from UK and Singapore.
4. Narendra Modi takes oath as PM for the second term
i. National Democratic Alliance leader Narendra Modi was sworn in as Prime Minister for the second consecutive term. President Ram Nath Kovind administered the oath of Office and Secrecy to him and a team of 57 ministers at a glittering ceremony on the forecourts of the Rashtrapati Bhawan, New Delhi.
ii. Besides 24 Cabinet ministers including Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani, and Piyush Goyal, 9 were sworn in as Minister of State with Independent charge and another 24 as Minister of State.
Important Takeaways for RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Mains-
1. After Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, Narendra Modi is the third prime minister of the country who has been able to retain power for a second term with full majority in Lok Sabha.
2. The NDA together has a strength of 353 MPs in the 543-member Lok Sabha out of which the BJP has a majority of 303 MPs.
Agreement
5. IIT Guwahati signs MoU with ISRO to set up space technology
i. Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati has signed an MoU with The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to set up an IITG-ISRO Space Technology Cell (STC) at the institute where Assam Governor Jagdish Mukhi inaugurated a new academic complex and research and development building.
ii. IITG-ISRO STC would be first of its kind in the North-east region to augment research and capacity building processes in the field of space technology.
Important Takeaways for RRB NTPC/IBPS RRB Mains-
1. The ISRO is the space agency of the Government of India headquartered in Bengaluru.
2. Kailasavadivoo Sivan is the chairperson of ISRO.
Important Days
6. World No-Tobacco Day: 31st May
i. Every year, on 31st May, the World Health Organization (WHO) and global partners celebrate World No Tobacco Day (WNTD). The annual campaign is an opportunity to raise awareness on the harmful and deadly effects of tobacco use and second-hand smoke exposure, and to discourage the use of tobacco in any form.
ii. The focus of World No Tobacco Day 2019 is on “tobacco and lung health.”
Economy/Banking/Financial News
7. FICCI survey forecasts India’s GDP growth at 7.1% for FY20
i. The country’s median GDP is forecast at 7.10 percent for Financial Year 2020 and 7.20 percent for Financial Year 2021. The industry body FICCI’s economic outlook survey stated that the minimum and maximum growth estimate stood at 6.80 per 0cent and 7.3 percent for 2019-20.
ii. The survey was conducted in May 2019 among economists belonging to the industry, banking, and financial services sectors. Inflation is expected to remain moderate and the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) based inflation rate is projected at 3.1 percent in 2019-20, While, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation has a median forecast of 4 percent for 2019-20.
Important Takeaways for SBI PO/Clerk Mains-
1. FICCI stands for Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
2. Headquarters of FICCI is in New Delhi.
3. FICCI established in 1927.
International
8. Trump announces tariffs on all Mexico goods
i. US President Donald Trump has announced tariffs on all goods coming from Mexico in a bid to curb illegal immigration. From 10th June 2019, a five percent tariff would be imposed and slowly raised until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied.
ii. President Trump has declared a national emergency to tackle what he claims is a crisis at the US southern border.
Important Takeaways for LIC AAO/ADO Mains-
1. President of Mexico is Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.
2. Capital of Mexico is Mexico City.
3. The Mexican peso is the currency of Mexico.