National & International Appointments
1. Captain Abhilasha Barak becomes first woman combat pilot in Indian Army
- Captain Abhilasha Barak from Haryana, has become the first woman officer to join the Army Aviation Corps as a combat aviator after successfully completing her training.
- She was awarded the coveted wings along with 36 other army pilots by the DG and Colonel Commandant of Army Aviation in Nashik.
- She was commissioned into the Indian Army from the Officers Training Academy, Chennai in 2018.
- She has been assigned to the second flight of 2072 Army Aviation Squadron.
Defense
2. Exercise Bongosagar begins at Mongla port
- The third edition of Indian Navy and Bangladesh Navy Bilateral exercise, Bongosagar has commenced at Port Mongla, Bangladesh.
- Aim: Developing a high degree of interoperability and joint operational skills.
- The exercise includes two phases: Harbour Phase and Sea Phase
- The harbour phase includes professional and social interactions and friendly sporting fixtures.
- The sea phase facilitate ships from both the navies to participate in intensive surface warfare drills.
Defense
3. India launching Project WARDEC AI-powered wargame centre
- The Army Training Command has signed an MoU with Rashtriya Raksha University (RRU) to develop first-of-its-kind simulation-based training centre ‘Wargame Research and Development Centre’ in New Delhi.
- A prototype name ‘WARDEC’ has been gove to this project and use artificial intelligence (AI) to design virtual reality wargames.
- The centre will be used by the Army to train its soldiers and test their strategies through “metaverse-enabled gameplay”.
Agreement
4. NMCG signs quadripartite agreement for Sewage Infrastructure Development
- The National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has signed two quadripartite agreements for development of sewage infrastructure.
- First agreement: NMCG, Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority, M/s. Maheshtala Waste Water Management Private Limited and Union Bank of India, to stop the flow of sewerage into River Ganga from the town.
- The other agreement is a Substitution Agreement between NMCG, KMDA, MWWMPL and Oesterreichische Entwicklungsbank.
National Affairs
5. National Achievement Survey 2021 report released by the Education Ministry
- Department of School Education and Literacy has released the National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 report to assesses the health of school education system in the country.
- The survey has evaluated the children’s learning competencies at classes 3, 5, 8 and 10th with a cycle period of three years.
- The survey conducted in 22 regional language.
- About 34 lakh students of 1.18 lakh schools in 720 districts from both rural and urban areas have participated in NAS 2021.
National Affairs
6. PM Modi inaugurates India’s biggest drone festival
- PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate India’s biggest drone festival at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi and interact with kisan drone pilots as well as witness open-air drone demonstrations.
- ‘Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022’ is a two-day event and being held on May 27 and 28.
- Many government officials, foreign diplomats, armed forces, public sector undertakings, private companies, central armed police forces, and drone startups will participate in the event.
State Affairs
7. Shirui Lily festival begins in Ukhrul, Manipur
- The fourth edition of the Shirui Lily Festival has began at Shirui village in Ukhrul district, Manipur.
- The four-day festival was inaugurated by the Governor La Ganesan, which is taking place after a gap of two years.
- The Shirui Lily blooms from late May to early June only on the Shirui village hilltop.
- Aim of festival: To spread awareness about the rare Shirui flower and encourage tourism in Manipur.
- Chief Minister: N Biren Singh
National & International Appointments
8. Gaurav Sachdeva appointed as CEO of e-commerce venture JSW One Platform
- JSW group has appointed Gaurav Sachdeva as the CEO of e-commerce venture of the group JSW One Platforms.
- He will be responsible for creating a strong and healthy transparent platform that will ease buying and selling of steel and other products for manufacturing and construction MSMEs in the country.
- Prior to joining JSW Ventures, he worked in leading institutions like Citibank, Bank of America and Infosys.
- JSW group Founder: Sajjan Jindal; headquarters: Mumbai
National & International Organizations
9. WEF's Travel and Tourism Development Index 2021 released
- The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) has released the Travel & Tourism Development Index which comprises 117 countries.
- Top 10: Japan, United States, Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, United Kingdom, Singapore, Italy
- India is the top scorer in South Asia and placed at 54th (fall by 8 rankings).
- The WEF's index has shown various positive trends but the tourism and travel industry is still facing hurdles to recover properly.
- World Tourism Day: 27 September
Banking & Finance
10. IndusInd Bank ties up with Mahagram to develop digital payments system
- Mahagram (Rural NEO Bank) has signed a partnership with the IndusInd Bank to digitize the nation's payment ecosystem and provide a wider scope to transact for its customers in rural India.
- Aim: To boost financial inclusion, encourage socio-economic development, mitigate the risks of a shadow economy, and accelerate the growth of a cashless society.
- Mahagram was founded in 2015 to enable rural women to save money at the local Kirana stores.
- Mahagram CEO: Ram Shriram
Banking & Finance
11. UCO Bank ties up with NBFC Paisalo Digital for agriculture loan
- UCO Bank has signed a co-lending agreement with NBFC Paisalo Digital Limited for agriculture business to capitalize the underbanked and under-serviced population.
- The tie-up will give a boost to the agriculture advance of the bank and it is a win-win situation for the bank as well as the NBFC.
- The Government of India aims to help agriculture and other small borrowers who are the backbone of the Indian economy.
- UCO Bank MD & CEO: Soma Sankara Prasad
Banking & Finance
12. GIC buys 7.5% stake in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail
- GIC (sovereign wealth fund) is acquiring a 7.5% equity stake in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail (ABFRL) for Rs 2,195 crore.
The investment will be made by way of preferential equity and warrants. - In the first tranche, the GIC will invest Rs 770 crore, while the rest amount of Rs 1,425 crore would be infused within 18 months.
- After the investment, Aditya Birla Group will hold a controlling stake of 51.9% in the company.
- Aditya Birla Group Chairman: Kumar Mangalam Birla
Books & Authors
13. Ruskin's book titled 'Listen to Your Heart: The London Adventure' released
- Ruskin Bond has released his latest book titled "Listen to Your Heart: The London Adventure" on his 88th birthday (19th May 2022).
- Published by: Penguin Random House India (PRHI).
- The book highlighted how he spent four years of his life in the Channel Islands and England.
- Ruskin Bond was born in 1934, in Kasauli, and he grew up in Dehradun, Shimla, Jamnagar, and New Delhi.
- His first novel: The Room on the Roof
- Awards: Padma Shri (1999) and Padma Bhushan (2014).
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