Important Daily Current Affairs of 29th May 2021
National
1. The J&K LG has launched the ‘SASCM’ scheme for families who have lost a breadwinner.
- Manoj Sinha, the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, has announced a special financing program for households that have lost their sole earner as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.
- The spouse and the eldest member of the family will receive cash assistance of Rs 1,000 every month under the program, dubbed ‘’ or ‘Special Assistance Scheme for Covid Mortalities (SASCM)’.
2. The government of Madhya Pradesh has launched a program to reward people who plant trees.
- The government of Madhya Pradesh has announced the commencement of Ankur, a program in which citizens will be rewarded for planting trees during the monsoon season. People who take the initiative to plant saplings will be recognized with the Pranvayu Award.
- According to the official, anybody interested in participating in the tree-planting initiative can register via the Vayudoot app. Participants must share a photo of themselves planting the seedling and another photo of themselves caring for the seedling for 30 days.
International
3. Christine Wormuth is confirmed as the first female Army Secretary by the United States Senate.
- Christine Wormuth, the first female Secretary of the Army, was unanimously confirmed by the Senate.
- During a hearing earlier this month, Wormuth, who oversaw President Joe Biden’s transition team at the Pentagon, received an overwhelmingly positive response from members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
- Her confirmation elevates her to one of the most important officials in a traditionally male-dominated defense establishment. Biden has chosen her as the second woman to a top Pentagon position. Kathleen Hicks is the deputy secretary of defense.
4. Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has been re-elected for a fourth term.
- Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president, has been re-elected for a fourth consecutive seven-year term in a landslide victory, receiving 95.1 percent of all ballots cast. Since 17 July 2000, the 55-year-old Assad has served as Syria’s 19th President.
- The United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy claimed the election was “neither free nor fair” on the day of the vote, while Syria’s splintered opposition labeled it a “farce.”
Banking & Finance
5. Paytm is planning a $3 billion IPO, the country’s largest ever.
- Paytm, the digital payments behemoth is considering a USD 3 billion initial public offering later this year.
- If successful, the proposed Initial Public Offering (IPO) would be the largest of its kind. Coal India’s Rs 15,200 crore initial public offering (IPO) in 2010 was the country’s largest to date.
- The startup, which is backed by SoftBank and Alibaba, is trying to raise over USD 3 billion (about Rs 21,700 crore) at a valuation of well over USD 25 billion.
6. HDFC Bank faces a Rs 10 crore penalty from the RBI for irregularities in its auto loan portfolio.
- HDFC Bank has been fined Rs 10 crore by the Reserve Bank for regulatory compliance violations related to its vehicle lending portfolio.
- The penalty was imposed after an investigation into a whistleblower’s allegation about irregularities in the lender’s vehicle loan portfolio.
Business & Economy
7. Tata Digital acquires a 64% share in BigBasket.
- Tata Digital has purchased a majority share in online supermarket BigBasket, pitting the country’s largest conglomerate against established e-commerce firms in a move that pits the country’s largest conglomerate against entrenched e-commerce firms. The financial terms of the purchase were not disclosed by the salt-to-software group’s digital subsidiary.
- According to regulatory papers, it purchased a 64 percent share in Supermarket Grocery Supplies, which controls BigBasket.
- BigBasket’s board of directors authorized the purchase earlier this week, and Tata Digital has invested $200 million in the egrocer, valuing it at $2 billion post-money.
8. In the year 2021, Zeta will become the 14th Indian unicorn.
- Zeta, a provider of banking technology solutions, became the 14th unicorn this year after raising $250 million in a series-C round from Japanese investment giant SoftBank.
- Zeta’s value has increased by more than threefold as a result of SoftBank’s investment.
- The firm, which has clients such as HDFC Bank, RBL Bank, IDFC First Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank, raised the funding from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 at a valuation of almost $1.5 billion.
Appointments
9. For the first time in 228 years, the Louvre has a female director.
- Laurence des Cars, a historian, is the first female president of the Musée du Louvre, the world’s largest museum, in 228 years. President Emmanuel Macron of France selected her as the first female president of the Musée du Louvre.
- Laurence des Cars, 54, is the current director of the Musée d’Orsay, a renowned museum dedicated to 19th-century art in Paris. She will succeed current president Jean-Luc Martinez, who has led the Orsay museum for the previous eight years, on September 1, 2021.
10. B.V.R. Subrahmanyam will be the Secretary of Commerce.
- B.V.R. Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary Jammu & Kashmir, has been appointed as an officer on special assignment in the Department of Commerce by the Cabinet Appointments Committee (ACC). An order issued by the Union Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
- Mr Subrahmanyam is a Chhattisgarh cadre 1987 batch IAS officer who was deputed to Jammu & Kashmir in June 2018. When the state was divided into two Union Territories in 2019, he was the Chief Secretary. He has extensive bureaucratic expertise, having served as Joint Secretary in Manmohan Singh’s Prime Minister’s Office.
11. RAW chief Samant Goel and IB chief Arvind Kumar have been given a one-year extension.
- Samant Kumar Goel, the head of the Research and Analysis Wing, and Arvind Kumar, the head of the Intelligence Bureau, have been given a one-year extension in their positions.
- Goel, a 1984-batch IPS officer from the Punjab cadre, will stay on as Secretary of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) for another year when his current term ends on June 30.
- Similarly, Kumar, an Assam and Meghalaya cadre IPS officer, would remain in charge of the Intelligence Bureau for a year after June 30.
12. The International Narcotics Control Board, based in Vienna, has elected Jagjit Pavadia as its new president.
- The former Indian Narcotics Commissioner, Jagjit Pavadia, has been chosen as President of the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB). Pavadia, a retired official of the Indian Revenue Service (Customs), is the first Indian and only the second woman to be named Chief of the worldwide organization.
- From 2006 until 2012, she served as the Narcotics Commissioner of India, Central Bureau of Narcotics.
Awards
13. Dr. D Nageshwar Reddy receives the Rudolf V Schindler Award for the first time as an Indian.
- Dr. D Nageshwar Reddy, Chairman of AIG Hospitals, has received the prestigious Rudolf V Schindler Award from the American Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE). At the ASGE’s annual Crystal Awards virtual presentation, the award was presented.
- Dr. Reddy is the first Indian medical practitioner to receive this honor. The Rudolf V Schindler Award is the highest honor bestowed by the prestigious Crystal Awards and is named after Dr. Rudolf V Schindler, known as “the father of gastroscopy.”
14. A woman from Hong Kong has broken the record for the fastest ascent of Everest.
- Tsang Yin-hung, a Hong Kong-based mountaineer, has set the world record for the fastest female ascent of Everest, taking slightly under 26 hours.
- On May 23, Tsang, 44, set a new record by climbing the 8,848.86-meter (29,031-foot) Everest summit in a span of 25 hours and 50 minutes. It was her third try to reach the summit of the Himalayan mountain.
- Tsang became the first woman from Hong Kong to reach the summit of the Himalayan peak in 2017. Prior to this, Nepali Phunjo Jhangmu Lama held the record for the fastest woman to summit Everest, completing the climb in 39 hours and 6 minutes in 2018.
Sports
15. The PGA Championship is won by Phil Mickelson.
- Phil Mickelson, an American professional golfer, has made history by winning the 2021 PGA Championship at the age of 50.
- Mickelson became the oldest player in PGA Tour history to win a major title with this victory. This is his sixth significant accomplishment.
- At the age of 50 years, 11 months, and 7 days, Mickelson has broken the record for becoming the oldest major championship winner in history. This record was previously held by Julius Boros of the United States, who won the 1968 PGA Championship at the age of 48 years, 4 months, and 18 days.
Environment
16. Within the next five years, the global average temperature might rise by 1.5 degrees Celsius.
- There’s a 40% probability that the global average temperature will be 1.5 degrees Celsius greater than it was before the Industrial Revolution in at least one of the next five years—and the odds are only increasing.
- According to an annual climate assessment led by the United Kingdom Met Office and published by the World Meteorological Organization, that degree of temperature increase would most likely be temporary.
- However, the statistic is significant because, when they signed the Paris Agreement in 2015, most world leaders pledged to take efforts that would keep global warming to 1.5°C and far below 2°C by the end of the century.
Books & Authors
17. Shivshankar Menon’s book “India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present”
- Shivshankar Menon’s book “India and Asian Geopolitics: The Past, Present” was recently published.
- The first section of the book, which covers the time roughly from decolonization to globalization, is more historical in nature and follows a chronological framework. The second section examines contemporary Asia, with a focus on China and its interactions with others, particularly India.
Important Days
18. World Digestive Health Day: 29 May
- Every year on May 29, World Digestive Health Day (WDHD) is commemorated. The World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO) and the WGO Foundation are collaborating to put on the event (WGOF).
- Every year, the day is dedicated to a certain digestive ailment or problem in order to raise public awareness of the condition’s prevention, prevalence, diagnosis, management, and treatment. “Obesity: An Ongoing Pandemic” is the topic of WDHD 2021.
- World Digestive Health Day was established in 2004 to commemorate the 45th anniversary of the World Gastroenterology Organisation’s founding. Over 100 member societies and 50,000 individual members make up the organization’s global membership.
19. International Everest Day: 29th May
- The 29th of May is designated as International Everest Day. Tenzing Norgay of Nepal and Edmund Hillary of New Zealand were the first humans to summit Mt. Everest on this day in 1953.
- When famed climber Hillary Clinton died in 2008, Nepal declared the day International Everest Day.
- Every year on May 29, Everest Day commemorates Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa’s first summit of Mt. Everest on that date in 1953.
- In Kathmandu and the Everest region, the day is commemorated with memorial services, processions, and special festivities.
20. International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers: 29 May
- Every year on May 29, the “International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers” is commemorated.
- The day is commemorated to honor all men and women who have served and continue to serve in United Nations peacekeeping operations for their high level of professionalism, dedication, and courage, as well as those who have died in the service of peace.
- The United Nations General Assembly declared the day on December 11, 2002, and it was first observed in 2003. “The Road to a Lasting Peace: Leveraging the Power of Youth for Peace and Security,” is the theme for 2021.
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