International Labour Day is observed on May 1st to pay tribute to the contribution of workers across the world. It is also Maharashtra Day & Gujarat Day- on this day in 1960 the 2 states attained statehood after Bombay had been divided on linguistic lines.
It is also known as Workers’ Day or International Workers’ Day.
India’s largest state-run oil refiner & fuel retailer- Indian Oil names Shrikant Madhav Vaidya as Chairman. Currently, he is the director of refineries in the company & will succeed Sanjiv Singh, who demits office on June 30. He is a Chemical Engineer.
IOC is headquartered in New Delhi.
Deepak Mittal has been appointed India's next Ambassador to Qatar, while Piyush Srivastava goes to Bahrain in the same capacity, as per an official release of Ministry of External Affairs. The new appointees are of the 1998 batch of Indian Foreign Service.
Qatar Capital- Doha, Bahrain Capital- Manama.
Mercom India Research has released a data report, India Solar Market Leaderboard 2020, which reveals the solar industry market leaders that emerged during the calendar year (CY) 2019. India is the third-largest solar market in the world as per the report.
Cumulative solar installations of India- 35.7 GW.
Nearly 5 million people were displaced in India in 2019- the highest in the world so far- according to a recent report from the IDMC titled ‘The Global Report on Internal Displacement (GRID 2020)’.The centre is a part of the Norwegian Refugee Council.
IDMC- Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre.
India has been placed at 53rd spot among 117 nations in terms of budget transparency & accountability, according to the Open Budget Survey conducted by International Budget Partnership. India's Budget process bagged a transparency score of 49 out of 100.
Global average transparency score is 45.
The US placed India on the ‘Priority Watch List’ for lack of sufficient measurable improvements to its intellectual property framework on the ‘long-standing’ and ‘new challenges’ that have negatively affected American right holders over the past year.
US placed 10 countries, including India and China.
G20 Digital Economy Ministers meeting was convened recently. A ministerial statement was issued by the G20 Digital Economy Task Force at the meet. The Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad represented India. A virtual G20 meet was held on March 2020.
Saudi Arabia assumed the G20 Presidency on 1 December 2019.
The IMD has released 169 new names for the tropical cyclones in the Indian Ocean Region. The names were contributed by 13 countries namely India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Thailand, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Pakistan, Bangladesh & Iran.
Indian Meteorological Department is headquartered in New Delhi.
Chhattisgarh has topped the list of states in providing employment to over 18 lakh unskilled labourers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Around 77.85 lakh people are engaged in work under the MGNREGS scheme.
Chhattisgarh provided employment to 18.51 lakh workers.
The Centre has officially brought the Cauvery Water Management Authority under the Jal Shakti Ministry. CWMA was earlier under the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation. Modi government formed the Jal Shakti Ministry.
Minister of Jal Shakti -Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services (Mahindra Finance) said global financial services group Manulife has acquired 49 per cent stake in its wholly owned subsidiary Mahindra Asset Management Company. This agreement was announced in June 2019.
Manulife has invested $35 million to pick up 49% stake.
Agra Smart City created a GIS dashboard to show various hotspots, heat maps, positive cases, recovered cases, etc of COVID-19. This dashboard developed on IGiS platform is an indigenous technology which brings GIS, Image Processing, Photogrammetry & CAD.
GIS- Geographic Information Systems.
Scientists at S. N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata have developed cost-effective nanomedicine that promises treatment of a number of diseases by altering oxidative stress in the body. It may provide hope in India’s fight against COVID-19.
It can decrease/ increase Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) in body.
The All India Institute of Medical Sciences has invited advance appointments for tele-consultations from follow-up patients of the hospital. The follow-up patients can now book advance appointments for tele-consultation by calling the number 9115444155.
AIIMS had started UHID (Unique Health Identification).
Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank (KVGB), a regional rural bank headquartered in Dharwad, has launched a loan scheme ‘Vikas Abhaya’ to provide relief to borrowers whose business activities are disrupted on account of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chairman of KVGB- P Gopi Krishna.
Former India football captain Chuni Goswami, who led India to the 1962 Asian Games gold, passed away in Kolkata. Goswami played 50 matches for India as a footballer from 1956 to 1964. India finished runners-up in 1964 Asian Cup under his leadership.
He also played first-class cricket for Bengal.
Thangjam Dhabali Singh has been conferred the ‘Order of Rising Sun’ by the Japan government for promoting a better understanding of Japan in India and deepening ties between the two countries. Order was constituted by Japanese Emperor Meiji in 1875.
Thangjam is the founder of Manipur Tourism Forum (MTF).
Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd has increased its stake in US-based SkyTran Inc, a venture-funded technology company that develops pod car transport systems. It has raised its holding in SkyTran to 26.31% from 17.37% on a fully diluted basis.
SkyTran aims to solve traffic congestion problem.
Glenmark Pharmaceuticals said has received the Indian drug controller's approval to conduct clinical trial on Favipiravir, the antiviral drug that is being used in the treatment of Covid-19 in few countries. It became the 1st company to get nod from DCGI.
DCGI- Drug Controller General of India.