• During his Korea visit, the final destination of his three-nation tour, Modi andPresident Park Geun – hye held discussions and resolved to add “new substance, speed and content” covering defence, trade and investment, and regional cooperation to take the bilateral ties to a qualitatively higher level.
    • South Korea decided to provide $10 billion to India for infrastructure, development of smart cities, railways, power generation and other diversified areas as the two countries agreed to upgrade their bilateral relationship to a “special strategic partnership”
    • Modi invites Korean companies to invest in India’s infrastructure sector; assures them of business friendly environment
  • Modi today Concluded his Three Nation visit to China, Mongolia and South Korea where he held bilateral talks and signed several pacts to bolster India’s relations with the three countries.
    • He began his six-day sojourn from China on May 14th.
    • He then travelled to Mongolia, from where he flew to South Korea.
National Affairs
  • The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee paid homage to Neelam Sanjiva Reddy, former President of India on his Birth Anniversary at Rashtrapati Bhavan today (May 19, 2015).
    • Sanjeeva Reddy was the sixth President of India, who served from 1977 to 1982.
  • Gujarat government has decided to form ahigh-level task force to study the growing habitat of Asiatic lions.
    • This was decided after the latest census revealed that population of Asiatic lion has increased outside the protected area of Gir National Park and Sanctuary.
    • This task force will analyze the census data in the wake of growing lion population outside Gir Wildlife Sanctuary, the only adobe of Asiatic lions.
    • The aim of the task force will be to prepare a report about growing habitat of lions outside the sanctuary and suggest measures to reduce man-animal conflicts.
  • Infosys has become the first Indian company to join the RE100 renewable energy campaign, a global initiative where companies pledge to use only renewable power.
    • The initiative was launched in New York in September 2014 and has already seen global giants, such as IKEA, Swiss Re, Formula E, H&M, Mars, Nestlé, Philips, make a commitment to use only clean energy.
    • Note : Infosys met 29 percent of its electricity needs through green power in the fiscal year 2015.

New Appointments

  • Former Union minister and BJP MP S S Ahluwalia was today appointedChairman of a Joint Committee of Parliament that will go into the provisions of the controversial land acquisition bill.
    • The Joint Committee of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha consisting of 30 members will submit its report on the first day of Monsoon Session on the land bill which has  been already passed by the Lower House.

People in News

  • Delhi High Court issues notice to TERI Director General RK Pachauri on a plea seeking cancellation of his anticipatory bail in a sexual harassment case.
    • TERI – The Energy and Resources Institute

Business & Economy

  • Telecom arm of Reliance Industries (RIL), Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJio), has signed a pact with Chinese firm Huawei for sourcing various 4G devices, which includes smartphones, tablets and mifi dongles.
    • RJio plans to launch 4G service this year in around 5,000 towns and cities, accounting for over 90 per cent of urban India and over 2.15 lakh villages.

Science & Technology

  • The 4th and last anti-submarine warfare ship being made for the Indian Navy was launched at Kolkata today, adding a feather to the cap of domestic manufacturing for naval forces.
    • The ship named as ‘Kavaratti`has been built by GRSE.
      • GRSE : Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited.
    • Kavaratti is the last of four ASW class stealth corvettes being built for the Indian Navy under Project 28.
    • Important Points to Note : 
      • The other three ships of the same class are INS Kamrota, Kadmattand Kiltan.
      • Of the three, Kamrota was delivered to the navy in 2014, and has been commissioned.
      • Kadmatt and Kitan are expected to be delivered between 2015 and 2017.
      • Chief of Naval Staff : Admiral R.K. Dhowan
      • Minister of State for Defense : Rao Inderjit Singh

Even More:

1. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has notified that higher service tax of 14% which was proposed in the budget speech this year will be effective from 1st June this year which will be inclusive of an education cess. Currently, the basic service tax rate is 12% and education cess is levied at the rate of 3% of the basis tax, which takes the total service tax rate to 12.36%. Service tax is levied on all services except those in the negative list.

2. Sixth edition of National Conference on Nuclear Energy was held in New Delhi with the theme of ‘Nuclear Energy: a Clean Energy option.’ It was organized by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), which is one of the apex trade associations of India.

3. Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Jagat Prakash Nadda, will join as President of the 68th Session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) at Geneva as India assumes the Presidency of the WHA, the high decision making body of the World Health Organisation (WHO). India assumed the presidency position after a long gap of 19 years.

4. Draupadi Murmu was sworn in as the first woman Governor of Jharkhand. She succeeds Syed Ahmed, who was transferred as Manipur Governor.

5. M J Joseph has been appointed as the Controller General of Accounts (CGA) by Union Ministry of Finance. He suceeds Jawahar Thakur. Before this appointment, he was Director General (DG) of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

CGA is the principal Accounts Adviser to the Union Government. He is responsible for maintaining and establishing a technically sound management accounting system.

6. Reliance Industries (RIL) owned Telecom Company Reliance Jio Infocomm has signed a pact with Chinese firm Huawei for sourcing various 4G devices including smartphones, tablets and Wifi dongles. Reliance Jio Infocomm plans to launch 4G service in around 5,000 towns and cities this year.