1. Gotabaya appoints Ranil as Sri Lanka Prime Minister
Tags: Person in news International News
Ranil Wickremesinghe, a veteran opposition MP, was sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Sri Lanka for the sixth time in an effort to end the current political crisis in the country.
Gotabaya's elder brother Mahinda Rajapaksa resigned as prime minister on May 9.
Wickremesinghe's United National Party (UNP) was wiped out in the 2020 general elections, with Rajapaksa winning a two-thirds majority.
Wickremesinghe is currently the only MP from his party.
Reason of crisis in Sri Lanka
Mahendra Rajapaksa announced huge tax cuts in his manifesto in the 2019 election, leading to a huge drop in revenue.
Sri Lanka is primarily a tourism-based economy. The Easter bombings in 2019 resulted in a sharp drop in tourist arrivals, which was further exacerbated by the COVID crisis.
Huge infrastructural debt.
Misguided policies of the authoritative regime
Due to Covid, there was a further decline in the export of tea, rubber and the tourism sector came to a standstill.
Remittances also dropped significantly
2. Rajiv Kumar to be new Chief Election Commissioner of India
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Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar would take charge as the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) on May 15 after the incumbent Sushil Chandra retired on May 14.
Kumar has been a member of Election Commission of India since September 1, 2020.
Prior to that, he served as the chairman of the Public Enterprises Selection Board.
1984-batch IAS officer of the Bihar/Jharkhand cadre, Kumar retired from the civil service in February 2020 from the post of Union Finance Secretary.
Kumar has also been the Director, Central Board of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), SBI, NABARD.
Kumar has been credited with being instrumental in conceptualising and implementing mergers and acquisitions in the financial sector.
With his effort, the National Pension System (NPS) was streamlined, benefiting about 18 lakh central government employees.
In pursuance of clause (2) of Article 324 of the Constitution, the President shall appoint Rajiv Kumar as the Chief Election Commissioner.
3. Lt Gen Gajendra Joshi takes over as GOC Strike 1
Tags: Defence Person in news
Lieutenant General Gajendra Joshi has taken over the charge of new General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Strike 1 or 1 Corps.
He took over the reins of 1 Corps from Lt Gen MK Katiyar.
Lt Gen Gajendra Joshi had vast operational experience in the form of operations in Sri Lanka during Operation Pawan.
He was actively involved in counter-insurgency operations as a Battalion Commander in South Kashmir and as a Sector Commander in Manipur.
He has commanded a division along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir.
His staff experience includes appointments to the General Staff Officer-Grade 1 (Operations) of the Mountain Division, Colonel General Staff (Operations) at Corps Headquarters in the High Altitude Area, Military Operations at Army Headquarters and Deputy Director General of Military Intelligence.
About Strike 1 or 1 Corps
I Corps is a military field formation of the Indian Army.
Its headquarter is in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh.
It was established on 1st April 1965.
It was launched in the Sialkot sector.
The Corps retaliated during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
In the 1971 war against Pakistan, corps 1 took part in the Battle of Basantar.
Currently it is a 'Strike Corps' within the Indian Army's Central Command.
Central Command headquarters is at Lucknow.
4. PM condoles demise of noted Santoor maestro, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma
Tags: National Person in news
The Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed deep grief over the demise of noted Santoor maestro, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma.
He died on 10 May at the age of 84.
The renowned musician, who breathed his last in Mumbai, had been suffering from kidney-related issues for the past six months and was on dialysis.
The Jammu-born musician, also a Padma Vibhushan recipient, is believed to be the first musician to have played Indian classical music on the santoor.
He began learning santoor at the age of thirteen.
He was instrumental in popularising the santoor and taking it to a global scale with his style.
His first ever performance was in Mumbai in 1995.
He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1986, the Padma Shri in 1991 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2001.
5. Priyanka Mohite becomes first Indian woman to scale five peaks above 8,000 m
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Priyanka Mohite, a resident of Satara in western Maharashtra, on May 05, 2022, became the first Indian woman to scale five peaks above 8,000 metres after climbing Mount Kanchenjunga.
Priyanka successfully completed her expedition to the world's third highest peak Kangchenjunga (8,586 m) on May 05 at 4.52 pm.
Priyanka Mohite is the youngest mountaineer from Maharashtra and the third shortest in the country to scale the world's highest mountain peak Mount Everest (8,848 m).
He scaled Africa's highest mountain peak Mount Kilimanjaro (5,895 m), located in Tanzania, in 2016.
In the year 2018, Priyanka successfully climbed Mount Lhotse (8,516 metres).
In the year 2019, she became the first female mountaineer from India to scale Mount Makalu (8,485 m), the fifth highest peak in the world.
Priyanka had completed the fourth phase of the campaign to reach five mountain peaks higher than eight thousand in April 2021 by stepping on Mount Annapurna (8,091 m), the world's tenth highest peak.
Priyanka Mohite was awarded the Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award in the year 2020.
6. On Birth Anniversary, PM Pays Tribute To Rabindranath Tagore
Tags: Person in news Important Days
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 9th May paid tributes to Rabindranath Tagore on his birth anniversary.
About Rabindranath Tagore
He was born on 7 May 1861 in Calcutta.
He is also known as 'Gurudev', 'Kabiguru' and 'Biswakabi'.
Rabindranath Tagore was a Bengali poet, novelist, and painter.
He was a good friend of Mahatma Gandhi and is said to have bestowed upon him the title of Mahatma.
He had always emphasised that unity in diversity is the only possible way for the national unity of India.
He spoke at the World Parliament of Religions in the years 1929 and 1937.
His notable works include Gitanjali, Ghare-Bair, Gora, Mansi, Balak, Sonar Tori.
He is also remembered for his song ‘Ekla Chalo Re’.
He published his first poems at the age of 16 under the name 'Bhanusimha'.
He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913 for his work Gitanjali.
He was the first non-European person to receive the Nobel Prize.
He died on 7 August 1941 in Calcutta.
7. PM Modi expresses grief on passing away of Odia Writer Rajat Kumar Kar
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed grief over the demise of eminent litterateur Rajat Kumar Kar.
Rajat Kumar Kar, a Padma Shri awardee, passed away at a private hospital in Bhubaneswar on 8th May.
Rajat Kumar Kar, a Padma Shri awardee in 2021 for literature and education, had heart-related ailments and was undergoing treatment.
He was an orator on Jagannath culture, he was known for his commentary during the annual Rath Jatra on TV and radio for six decades.
He was also instrumental in the revival of Odisha's dying art of Pala.
He was 88 years old.
8. Sudhanshu Dhulia, Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala take oath as Supreme Court judges
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President Ram Nath Kovind has appointed Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Gujarat High Court Judge Justice Jamshed Burjor Pardiwala as Supreme Court judges.
Justice Dhulia took oath first and then Justice Pardiwala took oath.
These judges would be 33 and 34, filling the number of sanctioned judicial posts of the court.
Justice Dhulia is the second judge to be elevated from the Uttarakhand High Court.
Justice Dhulia was elevated as a judge of the High Court of Uttarakhand in November 2008.
He later became the Chief Justice of the Gauhati High Court on January 10, 2021.
Justice Pardiwala will be the sixth member of the Parsi community to become a Supreme Court judge.
His father, Burjor Kawasji Pardiwala, had served as the Speaker of the Seventh Legislative Assembly of Gujarat apart from being a lawyer.
The President appointed the two judges on May 7 within days of the Supreme Court collegium's recommendation last week.
Along with Justices Dhulia and Pardiwala, the Ramana Collegium has appointed a total of 11 judges to the Supreme Court with effect from August 2021.
Of the 11 judges, Justice B.V. Nagarathna, is in line to be the first woman Chief Justice of India, albeit for 36 days, in 2027.
9. Air Marshal Sanjeev Kapoor assumes the Appointment of Director General (Inspection and Safety)
Tags: National Defence Person in news
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Air Marshal Sanjeev Kapoor assumed the appointment of Director General (Inspection and Safety) of Indian Air Force at Air HQ New Delhi on 01 May.
The Air Marshal is a graduate of the National Defence Academy and was commissioned into the Flying Branch of the Indian Air Force in December 1985 as a transport pilot.
He is an alumnus of Defence Services Staff College (DSSC) Wellington, College of Defence Management and National Defence College.
He is a qualified Flight Instructor with over 7700 hours of flying experience on various aircraft in the IAF list.
He has commanded an operational transport squadron and a major transport base.
He is a recipient of Vayu Sena Medal and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal.
10. PM Modi pay tributes to philosopher Lord Basavanna on Basava Jayanti
Tags: National Person in news
The Prime Minister paid tributes to Jagadguru Basaveshwara (Basavanna) on the auspicious occasion of Basava Jayanti on 3 May.
According to the Hindu calendar, Basavanna is born on the third day of the month of Vaishakha in the Shukla Paksha.
About Jagadguru Basaveshwara
He was born in Bagewadi (of the undivided Bijapur district of Karnataka) during 1131 AD.
He was a 12th-century Kannada social reformer, poet and philosopher during the rule of King Bijjala I of the Kalachuri-dynasty in Karnataka.
He is the founding saint of the Lingayat sect.
His philosophy was based on the principles of arivu (true knowledge), ethos (right conduct), and anubhava (divine experience), which brought about a social, religious, and economic revolution in the 12th century.
He spread social awareness through his poetry, popularly known as Vachan.
As a social reformer, he worked towards the upliftment of the underprivileged classes and women and believed that all human beings are equal irrespective of class, caste, creed and gender.
