1- Winners of 2015 Mutua Madrid Open

Men’s singles Title

Andy Murray

Britain’s ace tennis player Andy Murray has won the 2015 Mutua Madrid Open Men’s Singles Title. In the final match he defeated defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain by 6-3, 6-2 score. This is Andy Murray’s first Mutua Madrid Open title.

Women’s singles Title

Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic has won the 2015 Mutua Madrid Open Women’s Singles Title. In the final match she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia by 6-1, 6-2 score. This was Petra Kvitova’s second Mutua Madrid Open Women’s Singles Title. Earlier she had won it in 2011.

Men’s doubles Title

Rohan Bopanna (India) and Florin Mergea (Romania) pair won the 2015 Mutua Madrid Open Men’s doubles Title. In the final match, they defeated Marcin Matkowski (Poland) and Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia) pair by 6–2, 6–7, (5–7), [11–9] score.

Women’s doubles Title

Casey Dellacqua (Australia) and Yaroslava Shvedova (Russia) pair won the 2015 Mutua Madrid Open Women’s doubles Title. In the final match, they defeated Spanish pair Garbiñe Muguruza and Carla Suárez Navarro by 6–3, 6–7,(4–7), [10–5] score.

About Mutua Madrid Open

Mutua Madrid Open is a professional tennis tournament. It is played on outdoor clay courts at the Park Manzanares in Madrid, Spain. Billionaire businessman and former Romanian ATP player, Ion Țiriac is the current owner of the tournament.

2- KV Thomas renominated as Chairman of Public Accounts Committee

KV Thomas

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has renominated Prof. Kuruppassery Varkey Thomas as Chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) for a second term of one year. For the first term, Thomas was nominated in August 2014. He is the senior Congress Parliamentarian from Ernakulum Constituency, Kerala.

About Public Accounts Commission (PAC)

PAC is one of the most important finance committees in the Parliament along with the Committee on Estimates and the Committee on Public Undertakings. It is constituted every year and consists of 22 members – 15 from Lok Sabha and 7 from Rajya Sabha. The members from Lok Sabha are elected from amongst its members according to the principle of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote. Members from Rajya Sabha elected by that House in like manner are associated with the Committee. Speaker usually appoints the Chairman of the PAC. It should be noted that a minister cannot be elected to as member of Committee. It should be noted that since 1967, Chairman of PAC is senior member of the main Opposition party.

Function of PAC: The key function of PAC is to examine annual audit reports of Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) after they are tabled in Parliament by President. Prior to KV Thomas, senor BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi was chairman of PAC for four consecutive years during 15th Lok Sabha (2009-2014). Note- CAG usually submits 3 audit reports. They are audit report on appropriation accounts, audit report on finance account and audit report on public undertakings.

3- May 11: National Technology Day

National Technology Day – A Proud Day of every India

Every year, `National Technology Day’ is observed across India on May 11. This day glorifies the importance of science in day-to-day life and motivates students to adopt science as a career option. National Technology Day is being commemorated to celebrate the anniversary of first of the five tests of Operation Shakti (Pokhran-II) nuclear test which was held on 11 May 1998 in Pokhran, Rajasthan. Apart from Pokhran nuclear test, on this day first indigenous aircraft Hansa-3 was test flown at Bangalore and India also conducted successful test firing of the Trishul missile on the same day. Considering all these achievements 11 May was chosen to be commemorated as National Technology Day. To commemorate this day, Technology Development Board (TDB) has instituted a National Award. This award is conferred on to various individuals and industries for their successful achievement in commercialization of Indigenous Technology.

Read More about National Technology Day

4- President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurates Namaste Russia festival in Moscow

President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated Namaste Russia, a festival of Indian culture in Moscow during the last leg of his tour in Russia. Namaste Russia will be six month long festival i.e. form May to November 2015. The festival seeks to enthrall the Russian audience with cultural events from India. The festival is being hosted under the patronage of Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. Russian State Concert Company SODRUZHESTVO and Jawaharlal Nehru Cultural Centre at the Embassy of India in Moscow are the organisers of the festival. As part of the inauguration of this festival, Kathak dance performance was given by a team of dancers choreographed by Padma Bhushan Kumudini Lakhia. This festival seeks to enhance and boost cultural bonds that build solid bridges of friendship and understanding between peoples of both countries. The festival will be toured in various regions in Russia that will help people living in different regions of Russia to deepen their engagement with contemporary and classical Indian Culture. As part of this festival, an exhibition of Indian painting and sculpture will be also organized

5- Asiatic lion population in Gir sanctuary increases to 523: Census report 2015

Gir Forest Sanctuary

According to 2015 census report, the number of Asiatic lions in Gir sanctuary of Gujarat and its surrounding areas has gone up to 523.

This 14th census lion census, has registered 27 percent increase in the number of Asiatic lions compared to 2010 census which had registered 411 Asiatic lions.

As per recent census,

• There are 201 female, 109 male lions and 213 sub-adults as well as cubs in Gir sanctuary and other protected areas in Gir Somnath, Junagadh, Amreli and Bhavnagar districts of Saurashtra region of Gujarat.
• 268 lions were sighted in Junagadh district and 44 lions in the Gir-Somnath district. While 174 lions were sighted in Amreli district and 37 lions in Bhavnagar districts.
• The lions’ habitat area has almost doubled in last five years and has considerably increased to 22,000 square kilometers.

About 2015 lion census

• Lion census is being carried out at every 5 years by Gujarat state forest department.
• 2015 Lion census exercise was carried out from 1st to 5th May, 2015.
• The lion population was registered using Global Positioning System (GPS) incase of direct sighting or direct contact methods.
• The census was conducted by more than 2 thousand persons. It included 600 units of enumerators, government officials, trackers, wildlife experts, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Note: Asiatic lions found in Gir sanctuary are only wild population of Asiatic lions in the world. They are categorised as endangered species in International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red list.

6- Dedicated E-Commerce Centre of India Posts launched in New Delhi

Dedicated E-Commerce Centre of India Posts, a government-operated postal system was launched in New Delhi to cater the e-commerce business enterprises.

It was launched by Union Communication and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad at Safdarjang, New Delhi. This project is implemented by Department of Posts, through Delhi Postal Circle.

This processing centre will exclusively handle all the e-commerce business and play a crucial role in India’s e-business which has grown up to 70 thousand crore rupees in past few years.

It is capable of handling 30000 parcels (articles) per day. It will also facilitate to collection of parcels from the e-commerce customers by processing and dispatching them within 24 hours to respective destination. For this purpose the centre will use quickest available transportation facility like flight or trains.

The leading e-commerce customers, Yepme, Amazon, Snapdeal, Paytm etc are using this newly established e-commerce Centre for processing of their e-commerce parcels.

7- PM Narendra Modi inaugurates IISCO’s plant at Burnpur

PM Narendra Modi inaugurates IISCO’s plant at Burnpur

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the modernised and expanded part of the IISCO Steel Plant in Burnpur near Asansol distrct of West Bengal.

IISCO Steel Plant is a fully-owned subsidiary of Steel Authority of India (SAIL).

Newly expanded plant is built by Union Government at a cost of 16000 crore rupees and spreads across 953 acres. The mordernisation of plant has made it environment friendly as it is equipped with the latest and advance green technologies that has zero emission.

With this modernisation and expansion, plant’s current production capacity has increased to 2.9 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) compared to previous capacity of 0.85 mtpa.

This plant will also play an important role in meeting industry steel demand in India as it will help in attaining nation’s target of producing 300 million tonnes of steel by 2025.

It will also help SAIL to enhance and achieve target capacity 50 million tonnes of steel production by 2025.

8- KV Kamath named as first President of New Development Bank of BRICS nations

Eminent banker Kundapur Vaman Kamath was appointed as first President New Development Bank (NDB) of BRICS nations.

He will have of five year term after the bank becomes operational within one year.

About Kundapur Vaman Kamath

• Born on 2 December 1947 in Mangalore, Karnataka.
• Kamath is the Chairman of the India’s largest private sector bank, Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI). He was ICICI Bank’s managing director and CEO from 1996 to 2009
• Kamath also had served as Chairman of India’s second-largest Indian IT services company, Infosys Limited. He had taken charge from N R Narayana Murthy.
• He also had worked with Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila in its Private Sector department in 1988. In ADB, he had held various projects in Indonesia, India, China, Bangladesh and other emerging nations.
• He was conferred with Padma Bhushan Award in 2008.

About New Development Bank (NDB)

• BRICS group of nations comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa in 2014 had inked a pact to set up NDB and emergency reserve fund.
• This agreement was signed during the 6th BRICS Summit being held in Fortaleza, Brazil.
• To begin with, the bank will start operating with $50 billion in initial capital with the five BRICS contributing $10 billion each.
• According to the pact, the capital of the bank will be divided equally among the five participating nations and initially it will focus on infrastructure projects member countries.
• The headquarters of the bank will be located in Shanghai, China and it will have a regional office in Johannesburg, South Africa.
• The chairmanship of the bank will be rotational and its first President will come from India for the first 5 years followed by Brazil and Russia.

Note: BRICS nations comprise 40 per cent of the world’s population and accounts for nearly US $ 16 trillion in GDP.

9- MIDC signed a MoU with SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd to fund MSMEs

The Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) on 9 May 2015 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd to provide easy finance to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) for their growth. Accordingly, both MIDC and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) Venture Capital jointly created funds of 200 crore rupees. Of the total amount, the MIDC contributed 75 crore rupees, while SIDBI provided the remaining amount of 125 crore rupees.

The reason behind this tie-up of MIDC and SIDBI Venture Capital is to make it easier for MSME to obtain loans from banks for their expansions or various business purposes. The rate of interest at which finance would be provided to the MSMEs is yet to be decided.

The MoU was signed by MIDC CEO Bhushan Gagrani and Ananta P Sarma, MD and CEO of SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd.

10- Hollywood actress Elizabeth Wilson passed away

Elizabeth Wilson

Veteran Hollywood actress Elizabeth Wilson passed away on 9 May 2015 following age-related illness at New Haven, Connecticut. She was 94. Wilson is survived by her sister Mary Muir Wilson and several nieces and nephews.

Elizabeth Wilson was famously known for her memorable film role as the mother of Dustin Hoffman’s character, Benjamin Braddock, in Mike Nichols’ 1967 film The Graduate. She made her Broadway debut in 1953 in Picnic. After seeing the fame of Wilson’s role in The Graduate, Mike Nichols casted her in his various films including Catch-22 (1970), The Day of the Dolphin (1973) and Regarding Henry (1991) and on Broadway in his 1973 revival of Uncle Vanya.

She also appeared in numerous productions including The Good Woman of Setzuan, Threepenny Opera, The Importance of Being Earnest, Morning’s at Seven, You Can’t Take It With You, Ah, Wildnerness! and the acclaimed 1996 revival of Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance.

She won Obie Awards for her work in Taken in Marriage in 1979 and Anteroom in 1986.

11- Discus thrower Vikas Gowda won Gold at Jamaican International Invitation meet

Vikas Gowda

Ace Indian discus thrower Vikas Gowda on 10 May 2015 won Gold at Jamaican International Invitation meet.  The meet was held in Kingston, Jamaica. He came up with an effort of 65.14m to win his event.

Chad Wright of Jamaica was second with a throw of 61.84m while Jared Schuurmans of United States was third with an effort of 61.62m.

Gowda, the reigning Commonwealth Games champion and Silver medal winner of 2014 Asian Games, has thrown the discus over 65m three times in the last three weeks. The 31-year-old national record holder first came up with a throw of 65.25m at Chula Vista on 24 April 2015 to qualify for World Championships in Beijing in August 2015. The United States-based Indian is yet to qualify for next year’s Rio Olympics for which he need to cross the qualifying standard of 66m. His national record stands at 66.28m.

12- Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg of Germany won Spanish Grand Prix of Formula One

Mercedes racing driver Nico Rosberg of Germany on 10 May 2015 won the Spanish Grand Prix Formula 1 World Championship title by winning the final race held at Barcelona in Spain. While his team mate Lewis Hamilton of Britain stood at the second position, Sebastian Vettel of Germany representing the Ferrari team stood at the third position in the race.

This is the ninth championship title for Rosberg in his Forumula 1 career and the first victory in the 2015 season having lost the four earlier races viz., Australian, Malaysian, Chinese and Bahrain Championships held in the season.

Sergio Perez (Mexico) and Nico Hulkenberg (Germany) of Force India were at the 13th and 15th positions respectively in the final race.

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