1. KV Kamath appointed first President of New Development Bank of BRICS nations

i. ICICI Bank’s non-executive chairman KV Kamath has appointed as the first President of the New Development Bank of BRICS nations.

ii. The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a proposed multilateral development bank operated by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) as an alternative to the existing World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

iii. The New Development Bank headquarter will be in Shanghai, China.

iv. As per the agreement, the Bank will have a rotating chair and its first President will be from India.

v. The bank which is likely to begin operationalised within one year, with subscribed capital of $50 billion divided equally between its five founders.

2. National Technology Day observed today

i. National Technology Day celebrated every year on May 11 since 1999. It is a very special day for Indian Technology because India achieved a huge technological advancement on the day.

ii. The first, indigenous aircraft “Hansa-3” was test flown at Bangalore on this day. Not only this, India also performed successful test firing of the Trishul missile on the same day.

iii. India also executed three successful nuclear tests, carried out at Pokhran, in Rajasthan May 11.

iv. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has greeted people on the occasion of National Technology Day. In his message, Mr Modi said, technology has the power to transform lives of people.

3. Karanataka HC acquitted Jayalalithaa

i. Karnataka High Court acquitted AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa in the 19-year-old disproportionate assets case.

ii. The Court came to the conclusion that the percentage of assets amassed by her in relation to her known sources of income was merely 8.12 percent in excess and not as claimed by the prosecution.

iii. Reacting to her acquittal, Jayalalithaa in a statement said that truth and justice have finally prevailed in the DA case. She thanked God and the people of Tamil Nadu.Ms Jayalalithaa said that the case was a conspiracy by DMK to destroy AIADMK.

iv. The party sources said that a formal announcement on the date of Ms Jayalalithaa’s return as Chief Minister will be announced soon.

v. The single judge bench of Justice C R Kumaraswamy delivered the judgement, just a day ahead of the three-month deadline set by the Supreme Court to complete the hearing on appeals by her and three others. The Verdict comes on the appeal filed by Ms. Jayalalitha and three others convicted in the case.

4. PM Narendra Modi launches 3 social security schemes

i. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched three new national social security schemes in Kolkata.

ii. A total of 101 banks including regional rural banks and cooperative banks are going to sell these insurance products to their customers.

iii. The schemes — two insurance products and one pension product — are targeted especially to the unorganised sector and economically weaker population but others can enrolled themselves as well.

iv. A massive 80% of the country’s population is still outside the insurance coverage while the government estimated that merely 11% of the working population are under pension net

i. Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana: It is a new life insurance plan which will offer Rs 2 lakh cover at Rs 330 premium every year.

Age limit: Bank account holders in the age 18 to 50 years are eligible to take this facility. The life risk cover will get terminated after 55 years.

ii. Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana: The scheme will offer a renewable one year accidental death cum disability cover of Rs 2 lakh at Rs 12 premium every year. The insured will get Rs 1 lakh in case of partial permanent disability.

Multiple bank account holders are eligible to join the schemes through any one of the savings accounts. The government has directed banks to sell the policies to all their account holders by May 31 but the deadline can be extended to August 31, this year.

iii. Atal Pension Yojana: The scheme is for the people in the unorganised sector who are outside a formal pension net so far. Under this scheme, subscriber will get guaranteed minimum pension from the age of 60. The pension could be Rs 1000, Rs 2000, Rs 3000, Rs 4000 or Rs 5000 per month, depending on the size of contribution. Aadhar number is not mandatory for joining the pension scheme. Age limit: The pension scheme would allow subscribers of age 18 to 40.

Note: The government has promised to co-contribute 50% of total contribution or Rs 1000 per annum whichever is lower, for the first five years. Subscribers without any social security and who don’ pay income tax will get this added benefit. However, people have to enroll themselves before December 31, this year to get government contribution.

5. Indian origin Priti Patel gets cabinet rank in David Cameron’s Conservative team

i. Indian origin Priti Patel gets cabinet rank as Prime Minister David Cameron today promoted her the new Employment Minister of Britain.

ii. She was re-elected from Witham in Essex with a big majority in the May 7 general election.

iii. The Conservatives won a 12-seat majority in the House of Commons in Thursday’s election, taking 331 of the 650 seats, which freed them of the need for any coalition considerations of the past opening up a number of Liberal Democrat Cabinet posts to fill.

6. “Father of the euro” Alexandre Lamfalussy passed away

i. Economist Alexandre Lamfalussy, one of the founding fathers of the European single currency, died on Saturday at the age of 86.

ii. Lamfalussy, was the first president of the European Monetary Institute, the predecessor of the European Central Bank.

iii. He later oversaw the implementation of a new system designed to streamline EU regulation for the financial services industry, known as the Lamfalussy process 

7. HDFC in world’s top 10 list of consumer finance firms

i. HDFC has emerged the only Indian company among the world’s 10 biggest consumer financial services firms, after giants like American Express, Visa and Mastercard.

ii. HDFC is ranked 7th on the list, compiled by business magazine Forbes, where American Express is placed on the top followed by Capital One Financial, Visa, Discover Financial Services and Orix in the top-five. Mastercard is ranked sixth.

iii. HDFC is followed by CIT Group of the US at eighth position, Taiwan’s Hua Nan Financial at 9th and China’s Franshion Properties is at the 10th place.

iv. Others ranked lower include Samsung Card, Kaisa Group, Orient, Nelnet, Jabal Omar Development and KWG Property.

8. K Satish Reddy appointed new Chairman of National Safety Council

i. K Satish Reddy, has been appointed as the new chairman of the National Safety Council (NSC). He replaced Venu Srinivasan.

ii. Presently he is the Chairman of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd.

Note: The NSC is the apex body set up by the Govt. of India, Ministry of Labour and Employment, to generate, develop and sustain a voluntary movement on safety, health and environment at the national level. It conducts specialised courses and workshops, carries out safety audits and risk assessments, and facilitates awareness camps in organisations and so on.

9. NASA developed ‘robotic eel’ to explore Jupiter’s moon Europa

i. NASA is developing a ‘robotic eel’ that could explore the icy water of Jupiter’s moon Europa and power itself with energy derived from local magnetic fields. The goal is to enable amphibious exploration of gas-giant moons like Europa.

ii. The U.S. space agency has selected 15 proposals for study under Phase I of the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC), a programme that aims to turn science fiction into science fact through the development of pioneering technologies.

10. e-commerce centre launched in Delhi

i. The government of India launched a dedicated e-commerce Centre in New Delhi to cater the e-commerce business enterprises.

ii. The centre was inaugurated by Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

ii. Communication and IT Minister said, e-commerce business has grown up to 70 thousand crore rupees and with the capacity of handling 30 thousand parcels per day this dedicated Centre will play a crucial role in e-business.

11. Elizabeth Wilson of The Graduate film, passed away

i. Veteran Hollywood actress Elizabeth Wilson passed away, following age-related illness at New Haven, Connecticut. She was 94.

ii. She was known for her memorable role as the mother acting of Dustin Hoffman’s character, Benjamin Braddock, in Mike Nichols’ 1967 film The Graduate.

12. Indian Army & Bank of India signed an agreement on Defence Salary Package

i. Indian Army and the Bank of India (BOI) signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Defence Salary Package.

ii. The agreement will benefit a large number of serving and retired Army personnel who own their accounts with BOI.

iii. The first MoU was signed in 2011 and was valid for a period of three years. The revised MoU is modified to suit the requirements of serving soldiers, pensioners and families. Number of additional facilities was incorporated in the revised MoU after concerted efforts.

13. President inaugurates ‘Namaste Russia’ festival in Russia

i. President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated a seven-month-long festival of Indian culture “Namaste Russia”, and said it would be enjoyed and appreciated across Russia.

ii. It is cultural bonds that build solid bridges friendship and understanding between peoples and countries,” Mukherjee said.

iii. “We celebrate these affinities and strengthen them through regular cultural festivals in our countries,” he said after inaugurating the festival.

14. INS Sardar Patel Commissioned in Gujarat’s Porbandar

i. INS Sardar Patel was commissioned in Gujarat’s Porbandar by Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel.

ii. Navy chief RK Dhowan said will help boost security of Gujarat’s 1600-km coastline.

15. Nico Rosberg won Spanish Grand Prix of Formula One

i. Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg of Germany won Spanish Grand Prix Formula 1 World Championship title by winning the final race held at Barcelona in Spain.

ii. Lewis Hamilton of Britain stood at the second position, Sebastian Vettel of Germany representing the Ferrari team stood at the third position in the race.

iii. This is the ninth championship title for Rosberg in his Forumula 1 career and the first victory in the 2015 season.

16. Petra Kvitova wins Women’s single Madrid Open title

i. Czech player Petra Kvitova defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia by 6-1, 6-2 in the final to lift the Women’s Singles title of the tournament.

ii. This was Petra Kvitova’s second Mutua Madrid Open Women’s Singles Title. Earlier she had won it in 2011.

17. Andy Murray wins Men’s single Madrid Open title

i.Andy Murray defeated Rafael Nadal in the final to win the Madrid Masters Men’s Singles Title.

ii. He defeated Nadal in a straight set by 6-3 6-2.

iii. Defending champion Nadal was aiming for a record fifth win in Madrid but Murray outclassed his Spanish opponent to lift his first Masters Tennis title on clay.

18. Bopanna
& Mergea wins Men’s double Madrid Open
title

i. Rohan Bopanna (India) and Florin Mergea
(Romania) pair defeated Marcin Matkowski (Poland) and Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia)
pair by 6-2, 6-7, (5-7) to won the 2015 Madrid Open Men’s doubles Title.

19. Casey &
Yaroslava wins Women’s double Madrid
Open title

i. Casey
Dellacqua (Australia) and Yaroslava Shvedova (Russia) pair defeated Spanish
pair Garbie Muguruza and Carla Suárez Navarro by 6-3, 6-7,(4-7) to won the 2015
Madrid Open Women’s doubles Title.

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