Current Affairs Updates - 26th May 2018

Current Affairs Updates - 26th May 2018

In our today's Current Affairs Updates for 26th May 2018 we have brought to you some of the Latest News Headlines  such as Lt Gen Devraj Anbu is the new Vice Chief of Army Staff, Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad Appointed As Next Chairman of PCI and others.Each of the news have been placed under the most relevant category so that it becomes easy to go through them topic wise. Based on these we are going to come up with One Liner Static GK and Daily Current Affairs Quiz very soon. Aspirants should go through these in details as they are very important for the upcoming government examinations like IBPS PO, IBPS CLERK, SSC CGL and SSC CHSL. 

New Appointments: National

Airtel Payments Bank said that it has appointed former ICICI Bank senior executive Anubrata Biswas as its Managing Director and CEO. 

• In his new role, Biswas will be responsible for driving Airtel Payments Bank's mission of taking convenient and innovative digital banking services to the doorstep of every Indian, the statement said.

Charan Singh, the RBI chair professor at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, has been appointed as the non-executive chairman of Punjab & Sind Bank, Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Kumar tweeted.

• Anjali Bansal, the former managing director of TPG Private Equity, has been appointed at Dena Bank, while Tapan Ray, the former corporate affairs secretary, will take charge at Central Bank of India. The three appointees will be part-time non-official directors on the boards of the three public sector banks.

Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad Appointed As Next Chairman of PCI

• Former apex court judge Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad was appointed on 24th November as the next chairperson of the Press Council of India (PCI).

Lt Gen Devraj Anbu is the new Vice Chief of Army Staff

• Lt. Gen. Devraj Anbu has been appointed as the new Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS). He is presently GOC-in-C (General Officer Commanding-in-Chief) Northern Command. 

Banking, Economic & Financial Affairs

The Common Services Centre SPV (CSC SPV) and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has signed a pact for providing financial support to Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) across CSCs.

• Minister of Electronics & IT and Law & Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “CSC SPV and SIDBI signed an MoU for providing financial support to CSCs across the country.”

HDFC Bank launched its Digital Loans against Mutual Funds (LAMF), in partnership with transfer agent CAMS. 

• Digital Loans against Mutual Funds is available for resident Indians and for portfolios that have individual holdings. 

Mumbai Banks' credit grew by 12.64 per cent year-on-year to Rs 85,51,099 crore in the fortnight ended May 11, 2018, according to an RBI data. 

• Banks' deposits grew by 7.61 per cent to Rs 1,13,92,165 crore in the fortnight ended May 11, 2018, compared with Rs 1,05,86,083 crore in the fortnight ended May 12, 2017, the data by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed. 

Rankings & Indexes

India has moved one notch higher, to the 44th place in terms of competitiveness, in the annual rankings compiled by International Institute for Management Development (IMD) which placed the US in the top slot. 

• The US became the most competitive economy globally driven by its strength in economic performance and infrastructure, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore in the second and third place, respectively. 

National Affairs

Rajasthan launches ‘Nidaan’ software for disease monitoring

• A new software, ‘Nidaan’, has been launched in Rajasthan for presumptive diagnosis and monitoring of seasonal and non-communicable diseases as well as the trends of ailments found in specific areas. It is expected to help in formulation of specific action plans for control of diseases

The Union Cabinet approved an ordinance to set up the country's first national sports university in Manipur. Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said a bill to set up the university in Imphal (west) is already pending in parliament.

• The proposal to set up the national sports university in Manipur was initially announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while Rs. 100 crore funds for it were allocated in the 2014-15 budget.

International Affairs

Nepal has become the first country in south-east Asia to eliminate trachoma, world's leading cause of preventable blindness of infectious origin, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said in a statement

• Nepal's achievement is commendable and results from a strong political commitment, intense community engagement and impressive leadership demonstrated by civil society

Defence & Railway News

India and Nepal's joint military exercise Surya Kiran-XIII will be held at Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh district from May 30 to June 12.

• The exercise would comprise of nearly 300 soldiers from both Nepali and Indian armies who would share their respective experiences of counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism operations.

Schemes / Programme

Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar launched Samagra Shiksha scheme for school education.

• The scheme focuses on improving quality of education, enhancing the Learning outcomes and using technology to empower children and teachers.

Agreements/ MoUs Signed

CSC SPV and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) signed an MoU for providing financial support to CSCs across the country in the auspicious presence of Minister of Electronics & IT and Law & Justice, Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad.

• Praising the efforts of CSCs in improving women's health and hygiene through Stree Swabhiman initiative, he said that, CSCs are doing outstanding work by providing low-cost sanitary napkins to girls and women in rural India. 

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who is in India at PM Modi's invitation held wide-ranging discussions on bilateral and international issues at the Hyderabad House.

• Prime Minister Modi laid emphasis on cooperation in the fields of agriculture and food security, saying that such cooperation is important in realizing the aim of doubling farmers incomes.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who is in India at PM Modi's invitation held wide-ranging discussions on bilateral and international issues at the Hyderabad House.

• Both leaders acknowledged the private sector's role in boosting trade and investment. PM Modi assured investors from the Netherlands that government of India is committed to economic reforms.

India-Netherlands-Sweden to collaborate for research programme on HIV/AIDS

• The Governments of India and The Netherlands will announce the launch of the first-of-its-kind collaborative research programme on HIV/AIDS, between India, The Netherlands and Sweden.

Summit /Conference / Events

5th India CLMV Business Conclave held at Phnom Penh, Cambodia on 21-22 May 2018

• The Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India along with Ministry of Commerce of Cambodia organized the 5th India-CLMV Business Conclave in Phnom Penh on 21-22 May 2018.

Pakistan hosts its first SCO anti-terrorism meeting in Islamabad

• Pakistan is hosting a three-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation-Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (SCO-RATS) meeting in Islamabad from today – its first ever since the country became a member of SCO in June last year.

Union minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore will inaugurate the 'ASEAN India Film Festival' on May 25'

• The Film Festival will be a platform for people of the film industry of member countries to explore areas of cooperation in the domain of cinema and cultural cooperation.

Awards & Honours: Sports

Former World Champion Tejaswini Sawant continued to assert her prowess in rifle prone event by bagging the gold in the Grand Prix in Munich,a prelude to the World Cup

• It was a revival of old memories for Tejaswini as she had won the World Championship gold in prone in 2010 in Munich. She had recently won gold in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast.

Awards & Honours: Miscellaneous

IIT Bombay Wins Clarivate Analytics India Innovation Award 2018

• IIT Bombay has won the Clarivate Analytics India Innovation Award 2018 in the Academic Institutions category. The award places IIT Bombay in the top 12 innovators in India.

 A community reserve in Arunachal Pradesh has been awarded the India Biodiversity Award for its effort to conserve the critically endangered bird

• Singchung Bugun Village Community Reserve Management Committee (SBVCR) of Arunachal Pradesh was awarded the India Biodiversity Award, 2018, on Tuesday, on the occasion of the International Day for Biological Diversity, at Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University in Hyderabad.

The Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi presented the prestigious Nari Shakti Puraskar 2017 to the members of the INSV Tarini team in New Delhi on May 24, 2018.

• The all-women team comprised six members including Lt Commander Vartika Joshi, Lt Commander Pratibha Jamwal, Lt Commander Swathi Patarpalli, Lt Aishwarya Bodapatti, Lt SH Vijaya Devi and Lt Payal Gupta.

Other Sports & Award Related News

Vivo Announces 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ Campaign, "My Time, My FIFA World Cup

• Vivo, the official smartphone sponsor of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, has launched a new global campaign titled "My Time, My FIFA World Cup", at Beijing's Olympic Forest Park