Current Affairs Daily Digest – May 31 2019

1. Mohana Singh becomes 1st woman fighter pilot to fly Hawk jet

Flight Lieutenant Mohana Singh has become the first woman fighter pilot to be qualified to undertake missions by day on Hawk advanced jet aircraft, an official statement said. Her training involved flying both air-to-air combat and air-to-ground missions. She has a total of over 500 hours of incident-free flying of which 380 hours are on the Hawk Mk 132 jet.

2. Mississippi River flood becomes the longest-lasting in over 90 years

Mississippi River flood becomes the longest-lasting in over 90 years. Flooding in the Mississippi River is on the record for being the longest-lasting in more than 90 years since the “Great Flood” of 1927. It is due to relentless, record-breaking spring rainfall. In the month of June also, Mississippi River will continue to rise as runoff from snowmelt upstream in combination with rainfall runoff moves through the river system.

About the Mississippi River:

• It is the second-longest river and Chief River of the second-largest drainage system on the North American continent
• Source: Lake Itasca, Minnesota, United States
• Mouth: Gulf of Mexico

3. Former Flipkart Executive Sandeep Patil appointed as India Managing Director of Truecaller

Former Flipkart Executive Sandeep Patil appointed as India Managing Director of Truecaller. Former Flipkart Executive Sandeep Patil appointed as India Managing Director of Truecaller. He served as the head of consumer and commercial lending vertical at Flipkart until his new appointment with Truecaller.

Sandeep Patil will be leading business strategies to expand the company and increase its revenue. He will be supervising the teams based in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru. India is the largest market for Truecaller with 60-70% of global revenue and user base. It has 100 million daily active users in the country.

4. Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa received baton of Chairman COSC

Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa received baton of Chairman COSC. Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa received the baton of Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee from outgoing Chairman COSC and Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba, Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa will be the Chairman COSC with effect from May 31, 2019, consequent to relinquishment of charge by Admiral Sunil Lanba upon superannuation.

5. Former basketball player, Lamar Odom launched a new book ‘Darkness to light’

Former basketball player, Lamar Odom launched a new book ‘Darkness to light’. Former American professional basketball player, Lamar Odom, aged 39, launched a new book titled ‘Darkness to light’. The book reveals the dark secrets of his life.

He is the ex-husband of Khloe Kardashian, an American media personality, socialite, model, businesswoman and entrepreneur. In his book, he has opened up about his relationship with ex-wife Khloe Kardashian, his difficult childhood, past overdoses and addictions to drugs, alcohol, and sex.

6. Goldman Sachs to invest USD250 mn to construct one of its largest global workspaces in Bengaluru

Goldman Sachs to invest USD250 mn to construct one of its largest global workspaces in Bengaluru
New York-based investment and financial services major Goldman Sachs have pumped in $250 million to construct one of its largest global workspaces in Bengaluru.Bengaluru, with 2,500 techies, is the second-largest engineering talent base of Goldman Sachs after New York.

7. James Marape appointed as the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea

Lawmakers of Papua New Guinea elected James Marape as its 8th prime minister. He belongs to Pangu Party. He succeeded Peter O Neill of People’s National Congress party, who was pressured to resign by a series of political defections in recent days, and tensions over a multi-billion-dollar gas project signed this year with French company Total and the US firm ExxonMobil. Marape earlier served as the finance minister of Papua New Guinea while he was a member of the People’s National Congress party and he resigned on April 2019.

About Papua New Guinea:

• Capital: Port Moresby
• Currency: Papua New Guinean kina

8. Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport of Indore Gets International Status

Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport of Indore Gets ‘International’ Status. Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport of Indore, Madhya Pradesh was declared as International Airport. The Indore airport facilitates round the clock operations and was given its World Standardization Certificate by the UK. About Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Airport

About Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar:

• The airport is named after Maharani Ahilya Bai Holkar of Indore
• It is the busiest airport in Central India and it is operating 24*7.
• It is conferred with the World Standardization Certification by the United Kingdom.
• International airports have customs and border control facilities to enable passengers to travel between countries.

9. Military tribunal allows Karambir Singh to take charge as new Navy Chief

Military tribunal allows Karambir Singh to take charge as new Navy Chief. The Armed Forces Tribunal made Vice Admiral Karambir Singh to become the next Navy Chief while it deferred for four weeks the matter of Vice Admiral Bimal Verma which seeks to quash Singh’s appointment. Karambir Singh, who is the Commander-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command, will take over as the Navy Chief on 31st May 2019.

He was commissioned into the Indian Navy in July 1980 and earned his wings as a helicopter pilot in 1982. He has extensive experience with the HAL Chetak, Kamov Ka-25, and Kamov Ka-28 helicopters

10. Indias last Orangutan Binny died due to prolonged illness

Binny, a 41-year-old orangutan, at Odisha’s Nandankanan Zoological Park died on 29 May following a prolonged illness. She was suffering from cold and old age related respiratory tract issues. Accordingly, the treatment was going on. The lone female orangutan Binny was brought to Nandankanan Zoo from Pune’s Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park on 20 November 2003, when she was 25 years old. Since her arrival, she has been alone in her zoo enclosure and zoo officials failed to arrange a male partner for her.

Orangutan:

• Orangutans are one of the world’s three extant species of great apes and are native to Indonesia and Malaysia.
• Orangutans are currently found only in the rain forests of Borneo and Sumatra. They are considered to be among the most intelligent primates. An orangutan can live up to 45 years in the wild and even more in zoos.

11. New Wasp species identified in Goa

Scientists have recently identified a new species of wasp from the genus Kudakrumia in Goa. The wasp species was collected from Western Ghats forest. It is any insect of order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita which means neither a bee nor an ant. Wasps are proficient at controlling pest populations and thus are deployed to protect crops. For instance in Brazil, farmers control sugarcane crop borers with a kind of parasitic wasp.

12. Nirmala becomes first full-time female Finance Minister of India

Nirmala Sitharaman has become the first full-time female Finance Minister of India, replacing Arun Jaitley who had opted out of the new Cabinet because of health issues. In 2017, she had also become the first full-time female Defence Minister of India. Indira Gandhi had briefly taken additional charge of Finance and Defence ministries during her tenure as Prime Minister.

13. World No Tobacco Day observed on May 31

World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) is observed around the world every year on 31 May. It is intended to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption around the globe. The member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) created World No Tobacco Day in 1987. In 2019 The theme is Make Every Day World No Tobacco Day.

14. Indian-origin Anita Bhatia appointed UN Deputy Executive Director

She has been appointed the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) for Resource Management, Sustainability and Partnerships. Ms. Bhatia holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from Calcutta University, a Master of Arts in Political Science from Yale University and a Juris Doctor in Law from Georgetown University.

Ms. Bhatia served for several years as Director of Global Partnerships for the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank Group’s private sector arm.