23rd May 2015 - Important Current Affairs updates

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International Affairs

• Today (23rd May) is World Turtle Day.
• This day is being observed to bring attention to, and increase knowledge of and respect for, turtles and tortoises, and encourage human action to help them survive and thrive.
• Founder of World Turtle Day : American Tortoise Rescue
• A trial run of Bus Service between Bangladesh capital Dhaka and Guwahati, the capital of Indian state of Assam began. 
• The service was launched by the Bangladesh road transport minister Obaidul Quader and Indian High Commissioner Pankaj Saran at the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) bus depot with an aim to promote people-to-people contact.
• The UN has adopted a resolution calling for stronger cooperation in stemming the illicit transfer and misuse of small arms and light weapons, underlining the suffering they have caused to civilians.
• UN Secretary-General : Ban Ki-moon
• Ireland becomes first country to legalise same-sex marriage by popular vote.
• More than 3.2m people were asked whether they wanted to amend the country's constitution to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.
• A total of 1,201,607 voters backed the reform in the countrywide vote, which worked out to 62.07% in favour.

National Affairs

• AIADMK Chief J Jayalalithaa takes oath as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for the fifth
  
  time.
• 28 ministers also took oath .
• In a significant ruling, the Kerala High Court has said that being a Maoist is not a crime and police cannot detain a person merely because he is a Maoist.
• "Being a Maoist is of no crime, though the political ideology of Maoists would not synchronise with our constitutional polity. It is a basic human right to think in terms of human aspirations," the court said.
• Gujarat has achieved one hundred percent targets under the Jyoti Gram Yojana, the scheme, which was launched by then State Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
• Under the scheme, more than 18,600 villages in the state have been provided 24 hours three phase electricity.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch Doordarshan's 'Kisan TV' on May 26 to coincide with the first anniversary celebrations of the NDA government.
• Note :  In his Union Budget 2014 speech, our Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced that a TV channel will be dedicated to the agriculture sector, for which he had marked an outlay of Rs 100 crore.

Awards & Honors

• Two Indian peacekeepers are among the 126 military, police and civilian personnel who will be posthumously awarded Dag Hammarskjold Medal, a prestigious UN medal next week for their courage and sacrifice while serving in the world body's peacekeeping operations last year.
• Lance Naik Nand Ram : He served with the UN Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) 
• Raju Joseph : He had served in a civilian capacity with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS)  
• The will be honored with this prestigious award on the International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers which is observed annually on May 29.
• Note : Last year, eight Indian soldiers had posthumously received the medal, named after the second UN Secretary-General.

Business & Economy

• ArcelorMittal and Steel Authority of India signed a MoU to set up an automotive steel manufacturing facility in India, marking renewed interest in the country by the Luxembourg-based steelmaker. 
• The project will be set up through a Joint Venture (JV).
• The proposed JV will construct a state-of-the-art cold rolling mill and other downstream finishing facilities in India that will offer technologically advanced steel products to India's rapidly growing automotive sector, said a joint statement by the two companies.
• ArcelorMittal Chairman & Chief Executive : Lakshmi Niwas Mittal 
• SAIL Chairman : CS Verma

New Appointments

• Indian-origin councillor Parvinder Singh Batth was chosen as the mayor of Britain’s Wokingham Borough Council.
• He became the first Sikh to hold the position.

Sports

• Final of the ‎IPL‬ Cricket will be played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata tomorrow evening between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.
• AIBA Women's Junior World Championship
• Indian boxers clinch three gold and two silver medals on the final day of the event.
• Gold Medal Winners :
• Savita (50kg)
• Mandeep Sandhu (52kg) and
• Sakshi (54kg) struck
• Silver Medal Winners
• Soniya (48kg) and
• Niharika Gonella (70kg)

Careers

• UPSC will hold the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2015 on the 23rd of August 2015.
• The Preliminary Examination will be common for the candidates applying for Civil Services Examination and Indian Forest Service Examination.
• Candidates are required to apply through online mode on the Commission’s website www.upsconline.nic.in and no other mode is allowed for submission of application. 
• The commencement of filling online applications will start from today and conclude on the 19th of next month.

• Check Current Affairs updates of 22nd May 2015 from here
• Check Current Affairs updates of 21st May 2015 from here 
• Check Current Affairs updates of 20th May 2015 from here
• Check Current Affairs updates of 19th May 2015 from here

Read more Daily Current Affairs updates from here

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