General Knowledge & Current Affairs
May 2022 - 16th to 22nd
- Manik Saha takes oath as Tripura’s new CM
- Devasahayam Pillai becomes 1st Indian layman to be declared saint by Pope
- Indian Navy carries out successful maiden firing of first indigenously developed Naval Anti-Ship Missile
- India’s first indigenous trainer aircraft, HANSA-NG successfully completes engine relight test in air; designed and developed by CSIR-NAL
- Home Ministry issues notification for the unification of three municipal corporations into a single entity — Municipal Corporation of Delhi
- Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal resigns
- PM Modi holds virtual meeting with PM of Cambodia Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen
- EC to lead ‘Democracy Cohort on Election Integrity’ with 100 nations
- Rajiv Gandhi assassination: SC orders release of convict AG Perarivalan after 31 years
- Defence Minister Rajnath Singh launches 2 indigenously built warships ‘Surat’ and ‘Udaygiri’; built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd (MDL)
- India hosts SCO-RATS (Shanghai Cooperation Organisation–Council of Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure) meet; focus on the situation in Afghanistan
- India is the ‘Country of Honour’ at Cannes Film Festival in France
- Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs & Culture Arjun Ram Meghwal launches mental health helpline
- PM returns from day-long visit to Lumbini in Nepal
- Gyanvapi case: Varanasi Court sacks advocate commissioner, grants survey team 2 more days to file report
- Jamaica: President Nath Kovind meets PM Andrew Holness in Kingston
- PM Modi virtually addresses Yuva Shivir organised by Shree Swaminarayan Temple in Vadodara
- High Court sets aside Delhi government’s doorstep ration delivery scheme ‘Mukhymantri Ghar Ghar Ration Yojna’
- US special envoy Uzra Zeya meets Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in Dharamshala
- I&B Minister Anurag Thakur inaugurates India Pavilion at Cannes Film Festival in France
- First vessel carrying relief materials for Sri Lanka left from Chennai Port
- President Kovind reaches Kingstown, capital of Saint Vincent and Grenadines, after concluding his three-day visit to Jamaica
- EAM S Jaishankar participates in BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting virtually; chaired by China’s State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
- Supreme Court transfers Gyanvapi mosque case to District Judge of Varanasi
- Final decision rests with President if council of ministers and LG have difference of opinion: Delhi High Court
- Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey give up perks, privileges as part of austerity measure
- ICMR (Indian Council of Medical Research), NCDC (National Centre for Disease Control) put on alert as WHO confirms 80 monkeypox cases in 11 countries
- Assam floods: 18 dead; over 8 lakh affected in 32 districts, Nagaon worst hit
- Gujarat: CM Bhupendra Patel scraps Par-Tapi-Narmada river-link project
- Anti-Terrorism Day observed in India on May 21
- Union Minister Bhupender Yadav addresses 8th BRICS Environment Ministers Meeting
- International Day of Families celebrated on May 15’ theme: ‘Families and Urbanization’
- Russia suspends electricity supply to Finland
- Finland and Sweden formally apply to join the NATO alliance
- Climate Change: Greenhouse gas, sea level rise set new records in 2021
- International Museum Day observed on May 18; theme: “The Power of Museums”
- Japan approves plan to release Fukushima nuclear plant wastewater
- Taliban orders UN female staff in Afghanistan to wear hijab
- France: President Emmanuel Macron names Elisabeth Borne as new PM
- Siege at Azovstal steel plant ends in Mariupol as hundreds of Ukrainian fighters surrender: Russia
- Sri Lanka: Parliament defeats no-trust motion against President Gotabaya Rajapaksa
- Sri Lankan govt. to sell its national airline to stem losses
- Sweden to start NATO application process, says PM Magdalena Andersson
- World Telecommunication and Information Society Day celebrated on May 17; theme: ‘Digital technologies for older persons and healthy ageing’
- World Hypertension Day observed on May 17
- Somalia: Hassan Sheikh Mohamud elected new next President by parliament
- Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra wins Eurovision Song Contest
- UNGA to organise First International Migration Review Forum in New York on May 17-20
- Global Food Security Call to Action’ chaired by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken
- World Bank announces up to $30 bn to address food security crisis
- Afghan Taliban order women TV anchors to cover their faces
- Ukraine war adds to hunger woes; 47 mn people risk starvation: UN
- Sri Lankan: PM Ranil Wickremesinghe declares country bankrupt amid fuel crisis and food shortages
- Indonesia: President Joko Widodo announces to lift ban on palm oil exports from May 23
- World Bee Day celebrated on May 20; theme: ‘Bee Engaged: Celebrating the diversity of bees and beekeeping systems’
- Australia: Scott Morrison loses national elections, Labor Party’s Anthony Albanese to become the new PM
- Russia says destroyed ‘large’ shipment of Western weapons to Ukraine in Zhytomyr region
- Sri Lanka lifts state of emergency amid economic crisis, anti-govt protests
- Meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) trade ministers held in Bangkok
- Dominica withdraws illegal entry case against fugitive Mehul Choksi
- Centre extends wheat procurement season till May 31
- Cabinet empowers boards of PSEs to decide on closure, divestment of units/subsidiaries
- Cabinet amends biofuels policy, advances ethanol blending target to 2025-26
- S&P cuts FY23 India growth forecast to 7.3% on inflation, Ukraine war
- EAC-PM (Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister) report recommends scheme for urban jobless, universal basic income
- Centre announces formation of Cotton Council of India under Chairmanship of Suresh Bhai Kotak
- Comply with rules or exit from India, govt tells Virtual private network (VPN) providers
- BSE appoints former RBI deputy governor S. S. Mundra as a chairman
- Ruchi Soya acquires food business of Patanjali Ayurved for Rs 690 crore
- Adani forays into health care, diagnostics, sets up subsidiary ‘Adani Health Ventures’
- KLM veteran Pieter Elbers to replace Ronojoy Dutta as IndiGo CEO from Oct 1
- Shares of LIC list at 8.6% discount to issue price after IPO
- Wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation rate rises to the highest level in the current 2011-12 series at 15.08% in April
- Piramal Group Chairman Ajay Piramal receives Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE)
- Jhunjhunwala-backed Akasa Air gets its airline code QP
- Rakesh Jhunjhunwala-backed Akasa Air gets its airline code QP; start operations from July
- Adani Group acquires Switzerland-based Holcim Ltd.’s entire stake in Ambuja Cements Ltd. and ACC Ltd.
- NEFT, RTGS facility to be available for post office savings account holders from this date
- RBI asks for option of interoperable card-less cash withdrawal at ATMs from banks, ATM networks, white label ATM operators, and the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)
- India remains attractive for FDI investors: RBI
- SC orders constitution of special court for cheque bounce cases
- Centre decides to lift price capping on raw jute with effect from May 20
- Platinum Jubilee Celebrations of the Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai held
- India, fastest-growing major economy, projected to grow 6.4% in 2022: UN
- FDI inflow at all-time high of $83.57 bn in 2021-22
- Reserve Bank board approves Rs 30,307 cr dividend payment to govt for FY22
- RBI directs banks to offer card less cash withdrawal facility across all ATMs
- Jet Airways gets DGCA nod to fly again
- Jeep India launches SUV Meridian, price starts from Rs 29.9 lakh
- India’s foreign exchange reserve decline by $2.67 billion to $593 billion
- Govt to give Rs 200 per cylinder subsidy to poor for 12 cylinders in a year
- Central excise duty on petrol cut by Rs 8 per litre and on diesel by Rs 6 per litre
- Govt. reduces customs duty on raw materials and intermediaries for plastic products
- Single National Portal for Biotech researchers and Start-Ups named ‘BioRRAP’ launched by Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh
- IDBI Bank to sell 25% stake in Ageas Federal Life Insurance for Rs 580 cr
- Union Minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar announces NASSCOM to launch portal to promote digitization of small and medium enterprises
- FINLAND, SWEDEN
Finland and Sweden both formally submitted their applications to join NATO. The two Nordic countries had stayed outside the alliance since its inception in 1949, for fear of provoking the Kremlin. NATO’s border with Russia will double in length. - UKRAINE
Russian forces pulled back from the area around Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second city. Elsewhere, the invaders continued to make slow progress. In Mariupol more than 250 fighters, who had been holed up in the Azovstal steel works, surrendered. - FRANCE
Emmanuel Macron appointed Elisabeth Borne as prime minister of France. Her first task will be to ensure that the president retains his majority in parliamentary elections due next month. - UK
Northern Ireland’s main unionist party, the DUP, blocked the formation of a new power sharing executive in the province, after Sinn Féin, an Irish nationalist party, won the most seats in a recent election. The DUP says it wants the British government to scrap or fundamentally change the Northern Ireland protocol, a post-Brexit agreement which creates a customs border with the rest of the United Kingdom. - LEBANON
In Lebanon an alliance led by Hezbollah, a Shia political party-cum militia, lost its majority in parliament at an election, while independent candidates gained ground. A new government could take months to emerge. - ZIMBABWE
Ten days after Zimbabwe’s president, Emmerson Mnangagwa, announced a ban on all bank lending, including overdrafts, the country’s central bank lifted it. The ban had been intended to curb spiralling inflation. - MALI
The junta in African nation Mali, has withdrawn the country from a regional counterterrorism force, the G5 Sahel, blaming it for failing to make progress against the jihadists who control large parts of the country. - SOMALIA
Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, who was Somalia’s president from 2012 to 2017, was elected to another term. The election ended a constitutional crisis created by his predecessor, whose term should have ended a year ago. - SRI LANKA
Ranil Wickremesinghe took over as prime minister of Sri Lanka, as the country attempts to navigate an economic and political crisis. The government is negotiating with the IMF for a bailout. - NORTH KOREA
North Korea reported nearly 2 million cases of “fever”. Outsiders assume this means covid19. As the Omicron variant spreads, at least 56 people have died, officially. No North Koreans have been vaccinated. - MEXICO
The number of people in Mexico officially listed as “disappeared” has risen to 100,000 from 73,000 two years ago. any are thought to have been murdered by criminal gangs, sometimes with “varying degrees of acquiescence or omission” by officials, as a un report delicately put it.
- Indian men’s badminton team beat Indonesia 3-0 in final at Bangkok to win first ever Thomas Cup title; Lakshya Sen and Kidambi Srikanth won singles, Chirag Shetty & Satwiksairaj Rankireddy won doubles match
- Football: Gokulam Kerala FC retains I-League crown
- Football: Liverpool beat Chelsea on penalties to win
- Women’s World Boxing Championships in Istanbul: Manisha Moun (57kg) and Parveen Hooda (63kg) win bronze medals
- Supreme Court appoints 3-member Committee of Administrators to manage affairs of All India Football Federation FA Cup title in England
- Former Australian cricketer Andrew Symonds dies at 46 in road accident
- Odisha wins Hockey India Senior Women’s National Championship; beats Karnataka in the final played at Bhopal
- Football: Eintracht Frankfurt of Germany wins UEFA Europa League title
- Tata Consultancy Services World 10K Bengaluru: Kipkorir Kimeli (men’s) and Irene Cheptai (women’s) triumph in record time
- India’s Nikhat Zareen wins gold medal at the Women’s World Boxing Championship in Istanbul in flyweight (52 kg) category
