May 21, 2017

21st May 2017 Important Daily Current Affairs

Daily Current Affairs of 21st May 2017

International Current Affairs

Today (21st May) is World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development.
- This day is a United Nations–sanctioned international holiday to help people learn about the importance of cultural diversity and harmony.
- Theme of the year 2017 : “Local Culture as a Driver for Economic Growth”
Chinese navy ships are visiting Myanmar and will conduct communications, search and rescue, and other joint exercises with the Myanmar navy, China's Defence Ministry has announced.

The ship visit started the day China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed to a framework for the disputed South China Sea, of which both China and Myanmar claim parts.

National Current Affairs

Former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi, was assassinated by a female suicide bomber on this day (21st May) 1991, while conducting an election campaign in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu.
The bomb attack was carried out by Thenmozhi Rajaratnam, also known as Dhanu, who was reportedly a member of the Sri Lankan militant organisation Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations has decided to make digital copies of the marksheets available to ICSE and ISC candidates along with the traditional hard copies from this year.

The students can now access the marksheets digitally anywhere from their DigiLocker, which is a service providing dedicated personal electronic space in a government-owned public cloud storage.

The Maharashtra government has decided to form 'Good morning' squads to monitor and stop open defecation across the state.

squads will comprise representatives from local bodies, self-help groups, NGOs, and students, among others.

The New Delhi Municipal Corporation operates an ambulance dedicated for the treatment of trees.

The ambulance is a customised vehicle, which can carry pesticides, fungicides, insecticides, a really long pipe fitted onto a motor, which is used to wash the leaves of the trees, and a tall ladder.

Awards & Honors

NASA paid tribute to late President APJ Abdul Kalam by naming a newly discovered organism after him.

As of now, the bacterium named 'Solibacillus kalamii' by NASA scientist Kasthuri Venkateswaran, is found only on the ISS, which is orbiting Earth at 400 km.
Note : Kalam had trained at NASA in 1963 before setting up India's first rocket-launching facility in Kerala.

Two Indian peacekeepers Brijesh Thapa & Private RaviKumar to be honored with United Nations medal awarded for courage & sacrifice in line of duty.
Brijmohan Sharma, popularly known as Breeze Sharma, has become the first civilian from the Indian Navy to summit Mount Everest.

He was also the fastest Indian at the world's toughest foot race, Badwater, in 2016.

Language learning app 'Memrise' was adjudged the best app for its design and user experience.
'TRANSFORMERS: Forged to Fight' won the best game award.
'ShareTheMeal' by United Nations won the award for the app with the best social impact.

India's Anshu Jamsenpa became 1st woman to conquer Mount Everest twice within five days.

Deaths

Businessman Matthunny Mathews (81) who had helped thousands of Indians to flee Kuwait during the Iraqi invasion in 1990 passed away.

With the help of Mathews,1.5 lakh Indian citizens were airlifted, the biggest evacuation of its citizens by any government.
Note : He was the inspiration behind Akshay Kumar's character in Bollywood film 'Airlift'.

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