12th May 2017 Important Daily Current Affairs

sponsored links

Dear Great Ambitionists, here are today's (12th May 2017) Important Current Affairs updates. Happy Reading :)

Daily Current Affairs of 12th May 2017

International Current Affairs

• Today (12th May) is International Nurses Day.
• Florence Nightingale, founder of modern nursing, was born on this day in the year 1820 and hence this day is celebrated as International Nurses Day all over the world to mark the contributions nurses make to society.
• Theme of International Nurses Day 2017 : ‘Nursing: A voice to lead – Achieving the sustainable development goals’.
  
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi today participated in the International Vesak Day celebrations in the Colombo (Sri Lankan capital) as the Chief Guest.
• This is the biggest festival of Buddhists.
• Modi, on his second visit to Sri Lanka in two years, was received by his Sri Lankan counterpart Ranil Wickremesinghe at the venue amid traditional fanfare. 
• While speaking at International Vesak Day celebrations, Modi announced that Air India will operate direct flights between Colombo and Varanasi (Modi's Lok Sabha constituency) starting August.

National Current Affairs

• Telangana has become the 1st state to introduce a logo for vehicles driven by persons with hearing impairment.
• Note : The Centre had earlier allowed the grant of licenses to hearing impaired persons if they passed regular driving tests.
• To reduce unnecessary competition and stop education from becoming a trade, Tamil Nadu's Education Department has decided to not announce the first three ranks in the state board exams.
• The Election Commission today challenged the political parties to try to hack its Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) this Sunday or Monday. 
• The decision was taken after the poll panel held an all-party meeting over the EVM tampering issue. 
• Note : Several political parties, including AAP, Congress, Samajwadi Party and BSP, have raised doubts over the reliability of the EVMs.
• Indian Army has planned to re-introduce Cordon And Search Operations (CASO) as a part of its counter terrorism operations after a gap of 15 years. 
• The major objective behind the reintroduction of combing operations is to bring the situation in the Kashmir Valley under control.
• UPSC has decided to share online the scores and educational qualification of candidates who took competitive examinations and appeared till the final round. 
• The move will help private sector employers search for candidates suitable for them.

Banking, Business & Economic Affairs

• The State Bank of India (SBI) is going to introduce a new facility that would enable withdrawal of cash through ATMs using the bank’s mobile wallet. 
• However, the bank will charge ₹25 on every cash withdrawal transaction from the mobile wallet via ATMs. 
• Note : Meanwhile, SBI has denied media reports that it has increased service charges to ₹25 on regular ATM transactions.
• In order to handle or foil possible chemical, biological or nuclear-based attacks, India will buy Anti-Nuclear and Anti-Chemical Suits from the United States for ₹480 crore.
• The Income Tax department has launched a new e-facility to link a person's Aadhaar with the Permanent Account Number (PAN). 
• The new link requires a person to punch in his/her PAN number, Aadhaar number, and the "exact name as given in the Aadhaar card".
• Important Note : The government has made it mandatory for taxpayers to quote Aadhaar for filing income tax returns.
• India added 9.1 million new taxpayers during financial year 2016-2017 due to demonetisation of high-value currency notes in November, witnessing an increase of 80% annually.

New Appointments

• The Bahamas has elected Free National Movement's Hubert Minnis as its new Prime Minister, defeating incumbent Progressive Liberal Party's leader Perry Christie in a 34-5 parliamentary split.
• Justice Mukul Mudgal, who headed the panel probing the 2013 IPL spot-fixing scandal, was elected Head of FIFA's governance committee at the 67th FIFA Congress in Bahrain today.
• Mudgal was previously the committee's deputy chairman, having been elected to the post last year. 
• Note : All India Football Federation chief Praful Patel is the only other Indian on a FIFA committee.
• Diplomat Vinay Mohan Kwatra has been appointed as India’s next ambassador to France. 
• He is currently serving as joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). 
• He will replace Mohan Kumar who is due to retire soon.

Sports Current Affairs

• Indian wrestlers Anil Kumar and Jyoti won Bronze medals in their respective categories on the second day of the Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi today. 
• Sachin Tendulkar has bought a stake in the new Tamil Nadu franchise of the Pro Kabaddi League. 
• This is Tendulkar's second investment in a sports team, with the player owning the Kerala franchise in the Indian Super League.

Read more Daily Current Affairs updates from here
 

sponsored links