Daily Current Affairs 14th May, 2019

Daily Current Affairs 14 May 2019 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

DRDO conducts successful flight test of high-speed expendable aerial target

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducted a successful flight test of ABHYAS high-speed expendable aerial target (HEAT) from Interim Test Range, Chandipur in Odisha.

• The pilotless target aircraft are used by the DRDO and the three services for testing their different types of missiles including air-to-air missiles and surface to air missiles. The ABHYAS is an advanced expendable target which can be used for simulating different types of aircraft and missiles.

Hyderabad Rajiv Gandhi International Airport ranked 8th best in the world

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport has been declared as the eighth best airport in the world. In the 2019 annual rating report by AirHelp, an organization that specializes in air traveller rights, Doha’s Hamad International Airport, Tokyo Haneda International Airport, and Athens International Airport have retained their top three positions in the list.

• The Rajiv Gandhi International Airport at Hyderabad is ranked right after Singapore’s Changi Airport, which has been acknowledged as one of the newest state-of-art airports in the world. The Hyderabad airport attained a rating of 8.27 out of 10, while the first-ranking Hamad International Airport received 8.39 on a scale of 10.

Jet Airways’ CFO Amit Agarwal resigns from the board

Debt-laden and grounded Jet Airways’ Chief Financial Officer and Deputy Chief Executive Officer Amit Agarwal has resigned from his positions. Jet Airways stopped its operations on April 17. It is under the management control of State Bank of India-led consortium of lenders following a debt-restructuring plan.

• Several top executives and board members have quit the airline. Former Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi resigned from his position as Non-Executive and Non-Independent Director on the airline’s board citing personal reasons and time constraints.

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Nabard announces Rs. 700-cr venture capital fund for agri, rural startups

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) announced a Rs 700-crore venture capital fund for equity investments in agriculture and rural-focused startups. NABARD has been contributing to other funds till now and this is the first time that the rural development bank has launched a fund of its own.

• The fund has been launched by Nabventures, a subsidiary of NABARD, and has a proposed corpus of Rs 500 crore with an option to retain over-subscriptions of Rs 200 crore, called as the greenshoe option.

HDFC ERGO launches cover for vector borne diseases

HDFC ERGO General Insurance Company, India’s third-largest non-life insurance provider in the private sector, announced the launch of ‘Mosquito Disease Protection Policy’. This new policy will cover an individual against common mosquito-borne diseases like Dengue Fever, Malaria, Chikungunya, Japanese Encephalitis, Kala-azar, Lymphatic Filariasis and Zika Virus.

• HDFC ERGO launched this new policy which will cover hospitalisation expenses incurred during the treatment of any mosquito-borne disease. This cover is available for individuals between the age group of 91 days to 65 years.

SPORTS

Virat Kohli named as International Cricket of the year

Amid all the World Cup hype, India skipper Virat Kohli has bagged the International Cricketer of the year award while Smriti Mandhana was honoured with the International women cricketer of the year award during the CEAT International Cricket Awards 2019.

• Kohli has accumulated 10843 runs in the one-day international (ODI) cricket and scored 6613 runs in the longest format. Whereas, Mandhana has 1951 runs under her belt in ODI cricket and 1298 runs in the shortest format.
• Moreover, Mohinder Amarnath, the former India all-rounder, was conferred with the Life Time Achievement award during the event.

India’s GS Lakshmi becomes first female ICC match referee

Former India women cricketer GS Lakshmi became the first female to be appointed to the ICC International Panel of Match Referees. The 51-year-old, who first officiated as a match referee in domestic women’s cricket in 2008-09, has overseen three women’s ODI matches and as many women’s T20I games.

• Following close on the heels of Claire Polosak, who earlier this month became the first ever woman umpire to stand in a men’s ODI, Lakshmi will be eligible to referee international games with immediate effect.

Manchester City wins Premier League title 2019

Manchester City have been crowned Premier League champions for the second consecutive season after a 4-1 win over Brighton. It means City are the first side in a decade to win successive titles having won the trophy last year with a record 100 points.

• City finish the 2018-19 with a remarkable 98 points just one ahead of Liverpool in second.

APPOINTMENTS

Dinesh Pangtey appointed as CEO of LIC Mutual Fund

Dinesh Pangtey has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer of LIC Mutual Fund. He started his career as a direct recruit officer with LIC of India in 1984 and has risen through the ranks to this senior position.

• Prior to taking over as CEO of LIC Mutual Fund, Dinesh Pangtey was Director and Chief Executive Officer at LIC HFL AMC.

ITC Managing Director Sanjiv Puri named Chairman

Sanjiv Puri, Managing Director of diversified conglomerate ITC Ltd, was appointed the company’s new Chairman in the place of veteran Yogi Deveshwar, who passed away recently. The appointment of Puri, till now the Managing Director, was made by ITC at a meeting of its Board of Directors. 

• Puri was mentored by Deveshwar for the dual role of Chairman-cum-Managing Director for a transition originally scheduled for 2021-22.

Praveen Pardeshi takes charge as BMC Commissioner

Praveen Pardeshi took charge as the Commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). Pardeshi replaced Ajoy Mehta, a 1984-batch IAS officer, who was recently appointed as Maharastra’s new chief secretary.

• Pardeshi is a 1985-batch IAS officer. Previously, he was posted as Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Click here to read Daily Current Affairs