Current Affairs Update – 21st May, 2016

Hello and welcome to exampundit. Here are the important Current Affairs of 21st May, 2016. These are important for the upcoming UIIC AO 2016, SBI PO & SBI Clerk 2016 Mains Exams.

• India and Central European
  country Slovenia on 17 May 2016 signed a protocol to amend an existing double
  taxation avoidance treaty in Ljubljana. This new agreement will curb tax
  avoidance and tax evasion.
• The protocol was signed by Indian
  ambassador to Slovenia Sarvajit Chakravarti, and Slovenian Finance Minister
  Dusan Mramor on behalf of Slovenia.

• This agreement will widen the
  scope of the existing framework of exchange of tax related information.
• The framework is likely to help
  curb tax evasion and tax avoidance between the two countries.
• It will also enable mutual
  assistance in collection of taxes.

• Union Health Minister on 20 May
  2016 launched the ‘Kayakalp Fortnight’ at All India Institute of Medical
  Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. It has to be observed from the date of launch to 3
  June 2016 throughout the country in various Central Government hospitals.
• The aim of the Kayakalp Fortnight
  is to intensify Kayakalp initiative under the Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan.
• Under the initiative, various
  activities towards cleanliness will be undertaken during the fortnight.
• As part of it senior officers of
  the Ministry will be inspecting various Central Hospitals in the country to
  take stock of the existing status and to intensify the Swachhta drive.

• The term Medicines with the Red
  Line was in news on 19 May 2016 as the campaign was appreciated by the Global
  Review on Antimicrobial Resistance.
• The review was commissioned by
  the UK Prime Minister David Cameron in 2014 and chaired by economist Jim
  O’Neil.
• As per the review, India led the
  way so far with its idea of a ‘Red Line Campaign’ for antibiotics packaging.

• The 27th edition of the
  India-Indonesian CORPAT (Coordinated Patrol) concluded on 19 May 2016 in
  Belawan, Indonesia.
• The closing ceremony Belawan saw
  the two navies conducting interactive session on measures to enhance
  inter-operability.
• The 27th CORPAT was conducted
  from 29 April to 19 May 2016.

• The closing ceremony was held
  from 16 May to 19 May 2016.
• Indian Naval Ship Karmuk entered
  Belawan harbour on 16 May 2016 with the Senior Officer Commodore Girish Kumar
  Garg.
• The ship was escorted by
  Indonesia Navy ship KRI Imam Bonjol into the harbour.
• The first woman IFS officer from
  Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dr Shalia Shah, Counsul General of India in Medan
  (Indonesia), was present to receive the Port Blair based ship.

• The US House of Representatives
  on 20 May 2016 gave its nod to a bipartisan legislation to improve defence ties
  with India.
• In this regard, an amendment to
  the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) was approved by the House. The
  amendment is dubbed as ‘Enhancing Defence and Security Co-operation with
  India’.

• The legislation, once approved by
  the Senate and the President, will bring the country’s bilateral relations with
  India on par with its NATO allies and Israel.
• It seeks to promote greater
  defence trade and encourage additional military cooperation between the United
  States and India.
• The legislation is primarily
  aimed at easing restrictions on sale of defence equipment and technology
  transfer to India.
• It encourages the executive
  branch to designate an official to focus on US-India defence cooperation.

• Anurag Thakur is set to be
  unanimously elected as the BCCI’s youngest President in the Board’s Special
  General Meeting (SGM) here tomorrow, replacing Shashank Manohar who quit the
  position to take up the ICC chief’s job.
• Thakur, who resigned as the
  Secretary of the Board, got the signatures of all six east zone units in his
  BCCI presidential nomination form as he completed the formalities in presence
  of former India captain and CAB president Sourav Ganguly here.
• Just to show solidarity, all the
  six east units, Cricket Association of Bengal, Assam CA, Tripura CA, NCC and
  Jharkhand SCA signed his nomination papers even though the rules require only
  one unit to nominate the name for presidential candidate.

• Transport Minister of Turkey
  Binali Yildirim on 20 May 2016 emerged as the country’s Prime Minster. He was
  named as the prime minister after he was formally chosen for the post in a
  closed vote.
• He will be the sole candidate for
  the Justice and Development Party (AKP) leadership at a special party congress
  on 22 May 2016.
• He will succeed Ahmet Davutoglu,
  who earlier stepped down from the post following an increasing public rift with
  Erdogan.
• The AKP will hold the special
  congress to elect a new leader on 22 May 2016.

• A team of scientists on 18 May
  2016 successfully tested hypersonic superjet technology as part of the
  Hypersonic International Flight Research Experimentation (HIFiRE) program.
• As part of the test, scramjet
  attached to a rocket booster was successfully sent to an altitude of 278 km at
  Mach 7.5 (seven times the speed of sound).
• The test was conducted in the
  world’s largest land-based testing range in Woomera, South Australia.

• It is one of the largest
  collaborative research programs between Australia and the USA.
• It aims to explore the
  fundamental science of hypersonics and the potential for next generation
  aeronautical systems.

Regards

Team ExamPundit