IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF MAY 21&22, 2017

IMPORTANT CURRENT AFFAIRS OF MAY 21&22, 2017

May 21st is observed as Anti-Terrorism Day in the memory of former Indian PM Mr. Rajiv Gandhi
i. All over India, May 21st is observed as Anti-Terrorism Day in the memory of former Indian PM Mr. Rajiv Gandhi who passed away on this day.
ii. On this day in the year 1991, former India’s PM Rajiv Gandhi was killed brutally by terrorist attacks. Rajiv Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India, while conducting an election campaign in Sriperumbudur (located near Chennai) in Tamil Nadu was assassinated by a suicide bomber on 21 May 1991.
2. Arunachal’s Anshu Jamsenpa is the first woman to scale Mt Everest twice in 5 days

i. Arunachal Pradesh mountaineer Anshu Jamsenpa has become the world’s first woman to scale Mt Everest twice in five days.

ii. Her ascent of the world’s tallest peak in the Himalayas at 7.45 am on 21st May 2017 was her fifth overall and the second after 16th May 2017.
3. NASA names bacteria after Abdul Kalam

i. Scientists at NASA have named a new organism discovered by them after the much-loved A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
ii.The name of the bacterium is Solibacillus kalamii, the species name is after Dr. Abdul Kalam and genus name is Solibacillus which is a spore-forming bacteria.
4. Tejas Express to make its debut on Mumbai-Goa route

i. India’s state-of-the-art high-speed train Tejas Express, which can run up to the speed of 200km per hour, has made its trip between Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, Mumbai, and Karmali, North Goa.
ii. The train will cover a distance of 579km in 8.5 hours with halts at Dadar, Thane, Panvel, Ratnagiri and Kudal.
iii. The 15-coach train has two classes chair car and executive chair car and is equipped with facilities like secured gangways, automatic doors, LCD screens, Wi-Fi, tea-coffee vending machines, magazines, bio-toilets, hand dryers etc.
5. Tata Sons appoints Saurabh Agrawal as Group CFO

i. Tata Sons has appointed Saurabh Agrawal, an investment banker who was formerly with the Aditya Birla Group, as its Group Chief Financial Officer. He will join the company from July 2017. 

ii. Agrawal, among India’s most successful investment bankers, brings with him over two decades of experience in the capital markets.
6. Cochin Port Trust bags two awards

i. Cochin Port Trust has received two Best Performance Awards from Ministry of Shipping for the highest growth in operating surplus and also for achieving third highest growth in cargo traffic among the major ports in the year 2016-17.
ii. The awards were received from Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping Nitin Gadkari by P Raveendran, Chairman, and A V Ramana, Deputy Chairman, Cochin Port Trust at a function held at Goa Port Trust.
7. India's Prashant Ranganathan wins top intel International science award in US

i. An Indian boy has won the world’s largest pre-college science competition, The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) in the US in the environmental engineering category for his project on biodegradation of pesticides. 
ii. The name of his project was ‘Biodegradation of Chlorpyrifos using native bacteria’ which was based on the theme that farmers should not use pesticides.
8. Deveshwar, Soumitra Chatterjee conferred Bengal's highest civilian award

i. Thespian Soumitra Chatterjee and Y.C. Deveshwar were conferred the Banga Samman, West Bengal's highest civilian award, by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
ii. The Banga Samman awards were instituted in 2011 after Banerjee came to power. Celebrated artists, singers, sportspersons, filmmakers, intellectuals have been honored with these awards in the past.

9. Karnataka Bank inks pact with LIC

i. Karnataka Bank Ltd has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India for selling life insurance products of LIC.
ii. The bank signed the corporate agency agreement with LIC in Mangaluru, Karnataka. The bank will be able to provide the vast choice of life insurance products to its customers across all its 769 branches with this MoU.
10. Hassan Rouhani wins Presidential Re-election in Iran

i. Hassan Rouhani was re-elected as the President of Iran after winning Iranian presidential elections 2017. 
ii. This is his second term as Iran's President. He was first elected as Iran's President in 2013. 
iii. In the Iranian Presidential Elections, Hassan Rouhani defeated his Conservative opponent Ebrahim Raisi by winning 57% of the total seats. The elections were labeled as the “most competitive ever”.
11. Alexander Zverev win Italian Open title by defeating Novak Djokovic

i. Alexander Zverev defeated the world no. 2 ranking player Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-3 to win the Italian Open, 2017. The final was held in Rome, Italy. 
ii. The 20-year-old Zverev became the youngest player to win a Masters 1000 event since Djokovic won in Miami a decade ago at 19. 
iii. The Italian Open women's Singles Title 2017 was won by Ukraine's Elina Svitolina.
12. Bengaluru FC wins Federation Cup

i. The Bengaluru FC defeated Mohun Bagan (2-0) to lift 38th Federation Cup football tournament at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack, Odisha. 
ii. In the tightly contested tussle befitting a final, BFC overcame a bit of hard luck to ride on C.K. Vineeth’s extra-time brace and bag the prestigious title despite the unavailability of two of key players, Sunil Chhetri and Cameron Watson.
13. Mumbai Indians win IPL title for the third time

i. In Cricket, Mumbai Indians lifted the 10th Indian Premier League trophy for the third time, as they recorded a scintillating 1-run win against Rising Pune Supergiant in the title clash at Hyderabad during final.
ii. Mumbai successfully defended a total of 129 and restricted Pune to 128/6 to lift their third IPL trophy. Krunal Pandya from Mumbai Indians was named the man of the match.