Daily Current Affairs 8th May, 2019

Daily Current Affairs 8 May 2019 for Banking/Insurance/SSC and other related exams.

NATIONAL NEWS

India and Bangladesh agreed to jointly produce film on the life of Mujibur Rahman

India and Bangladesh will co-produce a film on the life and works of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman and a documentary on Bangladesh Liberation War. A Delegation from Bangladesh led by Adviser to Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Dr. Gowher Rizvi met Secretary and other officials of Information & Broadcasting Ministry and focussed on various aspects of making of feature film. The co-production was earlier announced by the Prime Ministers of both the countries.

• The movie will be directed by acclaimed filmmaker Shyam Benegal who, along with writer of the movie Atul Tiwari, was also present during the meeting. The Bangladesh Delegation assured full cooperation in ensuring smooth logistics for shooting the movie in Bangladesh.
• Extra info.:
  Bangladesh Capital: Dhaka
  Currency: Taka

GRIHA Council Launched “GRIHA for Existing Day Schools”

Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA) Council has launched ‘GRIHA for Existing Day Schools’, a new rating tool to evaluate environmental performance of existing schools across India.

• GRIHA council was founded by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) with support from Ministry of New and Renewable Energy along with variety of experts in the fields related to sustainability of built environment from across the country.

Modi second most followed politician globally: Report

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has become the second most-followed politician in the world with a social media audience of 110,912,648 million on platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, a study by online visibility management and content marketing SaaS platform SEMrush said recently. 

• The most-followed politician globally was former US President Barack Obama, who has 182,710,777 followers on his Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts.
• With almost 110 million followers worldwide, Modi has overtaken US President Donald Trump who has 96 million followers globally.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

NASA spacecraft to hit an asteroid in 2022

NASA is planning to launch a spacecraft aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will hit a small moonlet in the binary asteroid system Didymos in September 2022. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) NASA’s first mission to demonstrate a planetary defence technique is scheduled to be launched in mid-2021.

• By using solar electric propulsion, DART will intercept the target when the asteroid will be within 11 million km of Earth.
• Extra info.:
  The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Headquarters: Washington, D.C., U.S.

BANKING & FINANCE

Talocity to enable AI-backed hiring in Yes Bank

Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based HR solutions provider Talocity would provide Yes Bank its AI-supported “touchless” technology for the bank’s hiring process and human resource (HR) operations. Talocity’s blend of automation enables Yes Bank to further enhance their hiring process and HR operations, to attain high quality talent.

• The candidates are interviewed by an AI bot on a one-way video platform and Talocity’s machine learning and AI capabilities create personality reports, for each job applicant, which tells Yes Bank about the applicant’s relevance to the job.
• Extra info.:
  Yes Bank Headquarters: Mumbai

BUSINESS & ECONOMY

RBI directs banks to enhance housing loan limits for eligibility under priority sector lending

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has directed banks to enhance the housing loan limits for eligibility under priority sector lending (PSL) to Rs 35 lakh in metropolitan centres (with population of ten lakh and above) and Rs 25 lakh in other centres. In order to bring the RRBs and SFBs at a level playing field with other Scheduled Commercial Banks, it has now been decided to enhance the housing loan limits for eligibility under PSL.

• Accordingly, in respect of RRBs and SFBs, housing loans to individuals up to Rs 35 lakh in metropolitan centres (with population of ten lakh and above) and Rs 25 lakh in other centres, provided the overall cost of the dwelling unit in the metropolitan centres and at other centres does not exceed Rs 45 lakh and Rs 30 lakh, respectively, will be eligible for classification under PSL.

India’s MICE tourism growing at 8 pc a year: FICCI-Yes Bank report

A new report by industry body FICCI says that strong economic growth coupled with rapid emergence of India on the global horizon is poised to drive the growth of MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) tourism at a much faster rate.

• India is a late entrant in the segment with a little share on the global scale. Of the total 12,563 international meetings in a year, it hosts only 175 – or just 1.4 per cent to rank 24th worldwide.
• In 2018, MICE tourism in India was pegged at Rs 25,000 crore with 8 per cent growth year-on-year, said the report titled ‘India Inbound Tourism: Unlocking the Opportunity’.
• Extra info.:
  FICCI Headquarters: New Delhi

Mastercard Announces $1 Billion Investment In India

Global card payments brand Mastercard has announced its plan of investing $1 billion in India operations over the period of next five years. About $350 million of the total amount would be invested in setting up of a local payments processing centre as per the Reserve Bank of India’s mandate to store all payments data locally.

• This is the first such processing centre of the company outside of the US and could provide service markets such as Southeast Asia and Asia-Pacific.
• Extra info.:
  Mastercard Headquarters: New York
  CEO: Ajaypal Singh Banga

Airtel, Hughes to combine India VSAT operations

Bharti Airtel and Hughes Communications India announced an agreement to combine their VSAT operations in India and leverage the demand for secure connectivity in a rapidly growing digital economy.

• Hughes will have majority ownership while Airtel will have a significant shareholding in the combined entity that will benefit from enhanced scale, improved operational efficiencies and wider market reach. The partnership will bring amazing synergies to the forefront and combine the proven capabilities of both the companies.

SPORTS

Amul to sponsor Afghanistan in 2019 World Cup

Amul has been announced as the principal sponsor of the Afghanistan cricket team for the upcoming World Cup, slated to be held in England and Wales from May 30.

• The logo of brand Amul will appear on the leading arm of the Afghanistan team playing jerseys as well as on the training kits throughout the showpiece event.
• Extra info.:
  Afghanistan Capital: Kabul
  Currency: Afghan afghani

APPOINTMENTS

Senegal MPs pass reform to scrap post of prime minister

Senegalese lawmakers approved a constitutional reform to scrap the post of prime minister, the first initiative of President Macky Sall‘s second term in office. The government approved the measure last month before sending it to the parliament where the presidential party enjoys a majority.

• Sall has been in power since 2012 and secured 58 percent of the popular vote in the recent election.
• Extra info.:
  Senegal Capital: Dakar 
  Currency: Franc

Mali’s President Names New Government Under PM Boubou Cisse After Protests

Mali’s president has named a new government after its predecessor resigned last month amid widespread protests over an upsurge of deadly inter-communal violence. Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced the new executive of 37 members under Prime Minister Boubou Cisse, who was appointed on April 22 to oversee the formation of a “broad-based” government.

• Last week, Cisse signed a pact with opposition and majority party representatives in the capital Bamako, declaring their willingness to set up a “politically-inclusive” new government.
• Extra info.:
  Mali Capital: Bamako
  Currency: Franc

AWARDS

Indian crew The Kings wins ‘World of Dance’

The Kings, a hip-hop dance crew from Mumbai, has found international glory with their victory on American reality television show “World of Dance”, taking home a cash prize of $1 million.

• Judges Jennifer Lopez, Ne-Yo and Derek Hough stood up in awe of the finale performance of the NBC show by the all-men group The Kings, which performed a high-octane sequence involving stunts in slow-motion.

OBITUARIES

Former billiards player Derek Sippy Passes Away

Former billiards player, coach and administrator Derek Sippy passed away in Mumbai. He was the Indian team’s coach at recently concluded Asian Under-21 Boys Snooker and Asian Women Snooker tournament in Chandigarh.

• A senior office-bearer of the The Billiards and Snooker Association of Maharashtra (BSAM) said Sippy, after his active days as a billiards player, served the cue sport in capacity as an administrator and also as a coach.

The voice of Kerala’s Mappila songs, Eranholi Moosa passes away

Veteran Mappilapaattu singer and Vice Chairman of Kerala Folklore Akademi Eranholi Moosa passed away at his residence in Chalil near Thalassery due to old-age ailments. He was 79.  He was serving as the Vice Chairman of Kerala Folklore Akademi, head quarted at Kannur, since 2017.

• Ernholi Moosa, popularly known as Sulthan of Mappilappttu, sung thousands of Mappila songs at various stages, including in the Gulf countries. He also sung for Malayalam cinema. Moosa also starred in a Malayalam movie “Gramaphone” in 2015.

Father of ‘legal education’ Madhava Menon passes away

Considered as the tallest figure in modern legal education N.R. Madhava Menon passed away in Thiruvananthapuram at a private hospital. He was 84. 

• He was the Founder Director of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) and the National Judicial Academy, Bhopal, besides the Founder Vice Chancellor of the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS).

West Indies cricketer Seymour Nurse passes away

Former West Indies batsman Seymour Nurse passed away after suffering from a prolonged illness. Nurse has played 29 Test matches for the team between 1960 and 1969.

• Nurse was a middle-order batsman who made his Test debut against England in 1960. In all, Nurse scored 2523 runs in the Test format at an average of 47.6.

Renowned Sikh historian passes away at 95

Renowned Sikh historian Kirpal Singh passed away at his home in Chandigarh. He was 95. The first chronicler of India’s partition, Kirpal Singh is survived by two sons and a daughter. His wife, Joginder Kaur, passed away at age 93 in September last year.

IMPORTANT DAYS

World Asthma Day

May 7 was observed as World Asthma Day. The day is meant to raise awareness about asthma and is supported by Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA), National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (NHLB) and World Asthma Foundation.

• World Asthma Day is usually observed on first Tuesday of May. This year the theme of World Asthma Day is STOP for Asthma.

World Athletics Day 2019

The World Athletics Day is commemorated annually on the 7th of May in order to give importance to sports among the youth. The objective behind celebrating World Athletics Day is to promote athletics as the primary sport in schools and institutions and to encourage and introduce new talent and youngsters in the field of athletics.

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