1. Sheikh Mohammed named UAE President
Tags: Person in news International News
On May 14, the rulers of the United Arab Emirates unanimously appointed Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as the nation's president.
The country's seven sheikhs, who are the rulers of the UAE, took the decision at a meeting held at the Al Mushrif Palace in Abu Dhabi.
The post fell vacant after the country's president and ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, 73, died on 13 May.
The transition of power marks only the third time this U.S.-allied nation of seven sheikhdoms has selected a President since becoming an independent nation in 1971.
The UAE has had a presidential system since it emerged as an independent nation in 1971.
Important facts about UAE
There are no rivers in the UAE
The UAE was the first country in the world to appoint a minister for artificial intelligence
The Arabian Oryx is the national animal of the UAE
Six of the world’s tallest hotels are in the UAE
It is located on the southeast end of the Arabian Peninsula.
The country's form of government is an absolute monarchy.
Each emirate of the UAE is ruled by a separate royal family.
The falcon is the UAE's national symbol
Capital city - Abu Dhabi
7 Emirates of the UAE - Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Fujairah, Ajman, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Quwain.
Religion - Muslims 76%, Christians 19%
Language - Arabic
Currency - Dirhams
National Day - 2 December
2. UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed passes away
Tags: Person in news International News
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan (73 years), the President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, passed away on May 13, 2022.
Expressing his deepest condolences on the passing away of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Indian Prime Minister said that India-UAE relations have prospered under his guidance.
The Government of India has declared a day of national mourning on his death. During this time no public festival will be celebrated in any government offices.
The UAE government has declared 40 days of national mourning in the country on the death of Sheikh Khalifa. During this, the national flag will remain at half-mast. All government offices and private institutions including ministries will also remain closed for three days.
The world's tallest building 'Dubai's Burj Khalifa' was also named after the late President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum to be Acting President :
According to the UAE's constitution, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, the ruling Vice President and Premier of Dubai, will take over as acting president until the country's Federal Council meets within 30 days to elect a new president.
Born in 1948, Sheikh Khalifa became the President of the UAE in 2004 after the death of his father. He was the country's second president and the 16th leader of Abu Dhabi.
About UAE -
Capital- Abu Dhabi
Prime Minister- Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
Currency- UAE Dirham
3. kinetic communication portal
Tags: National News
Minister of Communications, Electronics and Information Technology Ashwini Vaishnav launched Gatishakti Sanchar Portal in New Delhi.
IMPORTANT FACTS -
The unified and centralised portal will facilitate the smooth expansion of digital communication infrastructure across the country.
The portal was envisioned to streamline the process for transparency, accountability and effective monitoring of various digital based projects.
This portal will be helpful in implementing a 5G network across the country.
This portal will speed up the integration process for the Government's Broadband for All initiative.
4. El Salvador released the design of the bitcoin city
Tags: International News
Nayib Bukele, President of El Salvador, the smallest country in Central America, released the design of a bitcoin city under construction.
The city of Crypto will be built near the Conchagua volcano on the Gulf of Fonseca in the southeast of the Central American country.
Bitcoin City was first announced during the Latin American Bitcoin and Blockchain Conference.
Releasing the layout of the bitcoin city, an investment of 30 thousand dollars has been made by the government.
Countries adopting bitcoin
El Salvador is the first country in the world to recognize bitcoin as an official currency last year.
Recently, the Central African Republic became the second country in the world and the first in Africa to recognize bitcoin.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION -
About El Salvador -
El Salvador is the smallest and most densely populated country in Central America.
Capital - San Salvador
President- Nayib Bukele
currency - bitcoin
5. Campbell Wilson named as MD and CEO of Air India
Tags: Person in news National News
Tata Sons has announced the appointment of Campbell Wilson as the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Air India.
Wilson's appointment comes after Turkey's Ilkar IC decided not to take the role of Chief Executive of Air India.
Wilson is currently the CEO of Scoot, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines.
Wilson has 26 years of experience in both full service airlines and low cost airlines.
Other appointments -
Chief Commercial Officer of Air India - Nipun Aggarwal
Chief Human Resource Officer of Air India - Suresh Dutt Tripathi
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION -
Establishment of Air India - 1932
Air India Headquarters- New Delhi
Founder of Air India- Ratan Tata
President of Air India- N Chandrasekaran
6. Ujjwala scheme : 90 lakh beneficiaries did not refill the cylinder
Tags: Government Schemes National News
In the last financial year, 90 lakh beneficiaries of flagship welfare scheme Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana did not refill their cylinders.
Along with this, there are about 1 crore beneficiaries who have filled the cylinder only once in a year after taking LPG connection.
About the PM Ujjwala Yojana
It is a central government scheme launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016.
The aim of the scheme was to provide Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) connections to five crore women of below poverty line (BPL) households in the first phase.
In the second phase, a target has been set to provide LPG connections to eight crore women by March 2020.
Under this scheme financial assistance of Rs 1600 is provided to BPL families for each LPG connection.
The scheme was expanded in April 2018 to include women beneficiaries from seven more categories (SC/ST, PMAY, AAY, Most backward classes, tea garden, forest dwellers, Islands).
Nodal Ministry - Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MoPNG)
Ujjwala Scheme 2.0
It aims to provide maximum benefits to migrants who live in other states and find it difficult to furnish address proof.
They only have to give "Self Declaration" to get the benefit.
Under Ujjwala 2.0, an additional 10 million LPG connections will be provided to the beneficiaries.
7. NITI Ayog launches National Data and Analytics Platform
Tags: National News
NITI Aayog launched the National Data and Analytics Platform on 13 May.
The Platform was launched by NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Suman Beri in the presence of NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant.
This public launch follows a beta release of the platform in August 2021 that provided access to a limited number of users for testing and feedback.
The platform will help policymakers, academics and researchers to easily examine data without having to process it.
The portal will have 200 datasets from more than 46 ministries.
New datasets will be added up to the village level in the future.
Aim of the platform
To democratise access to government data by making data accessible, interoperable and interactive for open public use.
About NITI Aayog
NITI Aayog is the premier policy think tank of the Government of India.
The Government of India constituted the NITI Aayog in place of the Planning Commission, which was established in 1950.
This step was taken to better meet the needs and aspirations of the people.
On 18 September 2021, the Prime Minister approved the reconstitution of NITI Aayog, as under:
Chairperson : Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India
Vice Chairperson: Dr Rajiv Kumar (currently Suman Beri)
Full-Time Members:
VK Saraswat
Prof. Ramesh Chand
Dr VK Paul
Ex-Officio Members:
Rajnath Singh, Minister of Defence
Amit Shah, Minister of Home Affairs and Minister of Cooperation
Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance and Minister of Corporate Affairs
Narendra Singh Tomar, Minister of Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare
8. Saudi Aramco overtakes Apple as world’s most valuable company
Tags: International News
Recently, Saudi petro company Aramco overtook Apple and received the status of the world's most valuable company.
Apple shares fell due to a slowdown in the technology sector, while the Saudi company's shares rose due to the continuous rise in oil prices.
Due to the fall in stocks, Apple's market cap has dropped 20 per cent to 2.37 lakh crore, while Aramco's market cap has climbed 28 per cent to 2.42 lakh crore.
Aramco's profits have soared 124 per cent after the sharp rise in worldwide oil prices following the Russo-Ukraine war.
Important facts
Establishment of Saudi Aramco- 1933;
Saudi Aramco Headquarters- Dhahran, Saudi Arabia;
Saudi Aramco CEO- Amin H. Nasser
9. BHARAT TAP Initiative launched
Tags: National News
The Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs launched the BHARAT TAP initiative at the ‘Plumbex India’ exhibition on 12 May.
At the exhibition, NARDECO (National Real Estate Development Council) MAHI’s ‘Nirmal Jal Prayas’ initiative was also launched.
About BHARAT TAP Initiative
It will provide large-scale low flow, sanitary-ware thereby significantly reducing water consumption at the source.
This is expected to save about 40% water.
This will result in water saving and energy saving due to less water.
The initiative will be rolled out across the country and will lead to a renewed focus on water conservation efforts.
About MAHI’s ‘Nirmal Jal Prayas’ initiative
The initiative of Nirmal Jal Prayas will focus on groundwater mapping.
This initiative is very important to save ground water and it will save 500 crore litres of water per year.
10. MoU signs with UNDP for strategic partnership on Agriculture, Crop Insurance and Credit
Tags: National News
The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and United Nations Development Program have signed a Memorandum of Understanding.
Under this UNDP will provide technical support towards Centre’s aspirational Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana scheme (PMFBY) and Kisan Credit Card - Modified Interest Subvention Scheme.
UNDP will support the Ministry of Agriculture for the implementation of combined agricultural credit and crop insurance.
While farmers paid a twenty one thousand crore rupees premium under PMFBY, they have received more than one lakh fifteen thousand crore rupees as compensation.
Under the Kisan Credit Card scheme, extensive efforts are being made to give benefits to those farmers who were not able to take advantage of the scheme earlier.
About The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
It is the leading agency of the United Nations.
It works to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality in 170 countries and territories.
It helps countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities, and to build resilience to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Its work is concentrated in three focus areas; sustainable development, democratic governance and peace building, and climate and disaster resilience.
