May 25, 2018 - EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect ... they have a lawful basis for process
INTERNATIONAL
The Netherlands join International Solar Alliance (ISA)
• Three government-to-government agreements were signed between India and Netherland which included the Framework Agreement of the International Solar Alliance (ISA). With this, the Netherlands became the sixty-fourth signatory member country. • The Netherlands is India’s third largest export partner in Europe (after the UK and Germany), with exports worth $8.69 billion in 2017-18. • The country is the fifth largest investor in India with a cumulative investment of $ 23 billion for the period 2000 to December 2017. • The International Solar Alliance (ISA) is an alliance of more than 121 countries, most of them being sunshine countries, which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. • The primary objective of the alliance is to work for efficient exploitation of solar energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. • This initiative was first proposed by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a speech during Paris Climate Change Summit in November 2015.
EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) comes into effect
• Some high-profile US news websites are temporarily unavailable in Europe after new EU data protection rules (GDPR) came into effect.
• Under the GDPR, companies working in the EU - or any association or club in the bloc must show they have a lawful basis for processing personal data or face hefty fines. • The GDPR was legislated following the findings that Facebook, Google, Instagram and WhatsApp have been forcing users to consent to targeted advertising to use the services. • GDPR: Lawmakers of European Union passed the new legislation in April 2016, according to which misusing or carelessly handling personal information will bring fines of up to 20
million euros ($23.4m; £17.5m), or 4% of a company's global turnover. • All EU citizens now have the right to see what information companies have about them, and to have that information deleted. • Companies must also tell all affected users about any data breach and tell the overseeing authority within 72 hours.
Pakistan Parliament passes bill to merge FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
• Pakistan’s Parliament passed a constitutional amendment bill seeking the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
• The bill seeks an amendment to Article 1 of the Constitution, which defines the country’s territory and mentions Fata as a separate entity along with other four provinces. • The restive tribal areas will now be directly governed by federal and provincial governments instead of through an agent, as had been the case since colonial times. • Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (abbreviated as KP) is one of the four administrative provinces of Pakistan, located in the northwestern region of the country along the international border with Afghanistan. It was previously known as the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) until 2010
STATE
Telangana announces unique life insurance scheme for farmers
• Telangana government announced a scheme to provide life insurance of up to Rs 5 lakh per farmer in the state.
• Under the scheme, the state government plans to pay the entire premium every year on August 1. The total premium amount will be credited to LIC, the implementing agency. • Further, irrespective of the reason for which a farmer dies, including natural reasons, the insured amount will be paid to the nominee within 10 days of the claim.
• Small and marginal farmers in Telangana account for 93 per cent. There are 18 lakh farmers whose holdings are less than one acre. Their livelihood is entirely agriculture and farming. When the farmer dies for any reason, his family will face a lot of hardship. Therefore, this insurance is provided. • State Government is already giving Rs 8,000 per acre under Rythu Bandhu towards investment support and supplying free power round the clock.
PM Modi unveils projects of Rs 27,000 crore in Jharkhand
• Prime Minister Naendra Modi during his Jharkhand visit, laid the foundation stone of the revival of the Sindri Urea plant. The plant, shut for two decades, near Dhanbad, is being revived with an investment of about 7 thousand crore rupees. • The PM also laid the foundation stone of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Deoghar, for strengthening health services in the state. It will cost 1,103 crore rupees. This 750-bedded hospital will be built on 237-acre land, which will be completed in the next four years. • PM also laid the foundation stone of 4000 MegaWatt Super thermal power plant in Patratu, Ramgarh, which is a joint venture with NTPC.
SPORTS
India bag Silver & Bronze in Archery World Cup Stage II in Turkey
• India opened its account with a silver and a bronze medal in the compound section of the ongoing second stage of the archery World Cup Stage II.
• Third seeded mixed pair of Abhishek Verma and Jyothi prevailed over Belgian duo of Reginald Kools and Sarah Prieels 158-155 in the bronze play-off to add a second medal to India's tally. • The Archery World Cup is a competition, started in 2006, organized by the World Archery Federation, where the archers compete in four different stages in four different countries and the best eight archers of each category.
PERSON IN NEWS
Ramesh Chand Meena elected Chairperson of TRIFED
• The General Body meeting of Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd. (TRIFED) was held on May 25, 2018 in which the 11th Board of Directors was reconstituted and the Office Bearers were elected unanimously. • Ramesh Chand Meena was elected as the Chairperson and Smt. Pratibha Brahma was elected as the Vice Chairperson of TRIFED. • The vision of TRIFED is overall development for tribal people of India through sustainable and comprehensive marketing support of their products and achieving convergence and coherence with other development partners working in this field to enhance their income and improve the quality of their life.
Prof Ganeshi Lal appointed as new Governor of Odisha
• The President on May 25, 2018 appointed Governors to two poll-bound states, Mizoram and Odisha.
• BJP leaders Kummanam Rajasekharan and Prof Ganeshi Lal will take over as Governor of Mizoram and Odisha, respectively. • Before that Bihar Governor Satya Pal Malik was holding additional charge of Odisha.
Book titled "The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace" released
• The book titled ''The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace'' was released in May 2018.
• The book has been written jointly by former chief of Pakistani intelligence agency ISI Asad Durrani, former RAW chief AS Dulat and journalist Aditya Sinha. • The book was released jointly by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former vice
president Hamid Ansari, former Union minister Yashwant Sinha.
DEFENCE & SECURITY
Commissioning of Fourth Ship of Landing Craft Utility MK-IV (IN LCU L54)
• Vice Admiral GS Pabby, AVSM, VSM, Chief of Materiel commissioned IN LCU L54 into the Indian Navy today at Port Blair.
• IN LCU L54 is the fourth Landing Craft Utility (LCU) Mk-IV class to be inducted into the Indian Navy. • The ship has been indigenously designed and built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers, Kolkata. • The Commissioning of L-54 is yet another manifestation of the country’s indigenous design and ship building capability.
