- Comedian-actor Kapil Sharma has been acknowledged as the most viewed stand-up comedian in India and abroad by the World Book of Records London.
- May 21 is chosen as Anti-terrorism day in India to commemorate the death Anniversary of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
- May 21 was observed as World Day For Cultural Diversity.
- Indonesia’s Joko Widodo has been re-elected as president of the country, beating rival Prabowo Subianto, a retired general.
- Reliance Industries has toppled state-owned Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) to become the country’s biggest company by revenue.
- The State Bank of India (SBI)has announced a strategic partnership with the FMCG arm of The Art of Living – Sri Sri Tattva. Under this partnership, YONO users can avail a discount of 15% on the entire range of products offered by Sri Sri Tattva such as food, personal care, healthcare, homecare, BYOGI apparels and Shankara skincare products. Note: SBI Chairperson: Rajnish Kumar, Headquarters: Mumbai, Founded: 1 July 1955.
- The Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI)gas pipeline meeting was held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. The TAPI project, supported by the United States and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has been touted by Turkmenistan since the 1990s.
- South African Saray Khumalo has reached the highest point on the planet becoming the first black African woman to scale Mount Everest. Note: Sir Edmund Hillary and Nepalese Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay were the first people to reach the mountain’s summit on May 29, 1953.
- An author from Oman, Jokha Alharthi has won the prestigious Man Booker International Prize for “Celestial Bodies”, the story of three sisters of a desert country confronting its slave-owning past and a complex modern world.
- International Day for Biological Diversity was observed on 22 May. The theme for International Day for Biological Diversity 2019 is ‘Our Biodiversity, Our Food, Our Health’.
- Flight Lieutenant Bhawana Kanth became the first woman pilot of the Indian Air Force to qualify to undertake missions by day on a fighter aircraft.
- The World Health Organization (WHO)declared Algeria and Argentina as malaria-free, with no recorded cases of indigenous transmission of the disease since 2013 and 2010 respectively.
- The HDFC group has overtaken the 151-year-old Tata group to emerge as India’s most valuable by way of market capitalization (m-cap).
- India stands in a lowly 117th position out of 181 countries in the Kids Right Index, the annual global index which ranks how countries adhere to and are equipped to improve child rights. Iceland secured the top position in the index.
- Sethu FC clinched their first ever Indian Women’s League trophy after defeating Manipur Police at the Guru Nanak Stadium, in Ludhiana, Punjab.
- Multilateral funding agency Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced that it has signed an agreement to provide USD 750 million equivalent in Indian rupee long-term financing to electrify railway tracks in India. Note: Takehiko Nakao is the President of the Asian Development Bank.
- Volodymyr Zelenskiy took the oath of office as the president of Ukraine. He has replaced Petro Poroshenko.
- The Reserve Bank of India has announced that it will allow large modern currency chests to increase the service charges on cash deposited by non-chest bank branches from the existing rate of 5 per packet of 100 pieces to a higher rate subject to a maximum of Rs.8 per packet. Note: RBI 25th Governor: Shaktikant Das, Headquarters: Mumbai, Founded: 1 April 1935, Kolkata.
- India bags a total of 57 medals including 12 Gold, 18 Silver and 27 Bronze at India Open International Boxing tournament in Guwahati. MC Mary Kom, Shiva Thapa, L Sarita Devi, and Naman Tanwar won gold in their respective finals.
- Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) president Prem Singh Tamang, popularly known as PS Golay took oath as the Chief Minister of Sikkim. He was administered the oath by Governor Ganga Prasad.
- Cyril Ramaphosa, the head of the African National Congress, was sworn in for a five-year term as South Africa’s president.
- Apurvi Chandela grabbed a gold, winning the women’s 10m Air Rifle competition, at the year’s third International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup Rifle and Pistol tournament in Munich, Germany.
- China won the badminton world mixed-team championship, Sudirman Cup 2019 in Nanning, China. They beat Japan in men’s doubles, women’s singles and men’s singles to clinch the title for the 11th time.
- Facebook is planning to launch its own cryptocurrency, dubbed GlobalCoin, in early 2020, allowing users to make digital payments in a dozen countries.
- Leaders of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) were invited for PM Modi’s swearing-in ceremony on 30th May.
- Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar’s birth anniversary was celebrated on 28th May. Born on 28th May in 1883 near Nasik in Maharashtra, Savarkar was popularly called Veer Savarkar.
- Austrian Parliament has removed Chancellor Sebastian Kurz from office as he lost the no confidence in a special Parliamentary session. Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen named Vice Chancellor Hartwig Loger as the interim leader.
- Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has announced that it has launched ‘Bank on Wheels’ facility in 14 of its lead districts in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, besides Vijayawada.
- India has moved up one place to rank 43rd most competitive economy in the world, while Singapore has grabbed the top position, in the 2019 edition of the IMD World Competitiveness Rankings.
- Record 78 women candidates have been elected to the Lok Sabha in the recently held general elections.
- RBI has extended timings for customer transactions in the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system to 6:00 pm from 4:30 pm. Note: The RTGS is an online fund transfer system, supported by the RBI. RTGS enables transmission on a real-time basis. The minimum amount for the transaction to be eligible as an RTGS transfer is Rs.2 lakh.
- Naveen Patnaik took oath as the Chief Minister of Odisha for the fifth time after a decisive victory in the state elections that were held along with national elections. Odisha Governor Prof. Ganeshi Lal administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr. Patnaik.
- Pema Khandu was sworn- in as the Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh for a second term. Governor Dr. BD Mishra administered the oath of office and secrecy to the council of ministers.
- Scott Morrison has been sworn in as Australia’s Prime Minister.
- Sri Lanka has signed a tripartite agreement with India and Japan for development of eastern terminal of Colombo port. As per the agreement, Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA) will hold 51 percent majority stake in the port development while Japan and India will have combined stake of 49 percent.
- In ISSF shooting World Cup, in Munich Germany, India’s Saurabh Chaudhary won 10m Air Pistol Gold.
- Goa celebrated its statehood day on 30th May. It was on this day in 1987 Goa became the 25th state of the Indian Union. It was a Union Territory along with Daman and Diu from December 1961 onwards when Goa was liberated from the colonial rule. Note: Pramod Sawant is the 13th and current Chief Minister of Goa. Mridula Sinha is present Governor of Goa.
- YSR Congress party president YS Jagan Mohan Reddy took oath as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Governor ESL Narasimhan administered him the oath of office and secrecy.
- RBI has constituted a six-member committee, headed by TN Manoharan, on the Development of Secondary Market for Corporate Loans to come up with recommendations to increase the efficiencies of the debt market and aid in the resolution of stressed assets.
- International Everest Day was observed on 29th May. Nepalese Tenzing Norgay and New Zealand’s Edmund Hillary had climbed the Mt. Everest on this day (29th May) in 1953, as the first humans to achieve the feat. Note: Mount Everest, known in Nepali as Sagarmatha and in Tibetan as Chomolungma, is Earth’s highest mountain above sea level, located in the Mahalangur Himal sub-range of the Himalayas. The international border between Nepal and China runs across its summit point.
- Indian writer Annie Zaidi was announced as the 2019 winner of the USD 100,000 Nine Dots Prize, a prestigious book prize created to award innovative thinking that addresses contemporary issues around the world. Mumbai-based Annie Zaidi won for her entry ‘Bread, Cement, Cactus’- combining memoir and reportage to explore concepts of home and belonging rooted in her experience of contemporary life in India.
- James Marape has been elected as the prime minister of Papua New Guinea.
- Muhammadu Buhari has been sworn in for a second term as Nigeria’s president. Note: Abuja is the capital city of Nigeria. The naira is the currency of Nigeria.
- The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 began on 30th May 2019. England opened the tournament at The Oval in London when they took on South Africa.
- Chelsea defeated Arsenal 4-1 to win the Europa League final.
- As the World Environment Day is approaching, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change launched a theme song ‘Hawa Aane De’ on air pollution. The aim is to spread awareness regarding protecting the environment. World Environment Day is celebrated on June 05.
- Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati has signed an MoU with The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to set up an IITG-ISRO Space Technology Cell (STC) at the institute. Note: Kailasavadivoo Sivan is the chairperson of ISRO.
- World No-Tobacco Day was observed on 31st May. The focus of World No Tobacco Day 2019 is on “tobacco and lung health.”
- Cabinet Ministers under the Modi Government 2.0:
Narendra Modi – Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions; Department of Atomic Energy; Department of Space; all important policy issues; and all other portfolios not allocated to any minister.
Cabinet Ministers
- Rajnath Singh – Defence
- Amit Shah – Home Affairs
- Nirmala Sitharaman – Finance; Corporate Affairs
- Subrahmanyam Jaishankar -External Affairs
- Nitin Gadkari -Road Transport and Highways; Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
- DV Sadananda Gowda – Chemical and Fertilizers
- Ram Vilas Paswan -Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution
- Narendra Singh Tomar – Agriculture and Farmers Welfare; Rural Development; Panchayati Raj
- Ravi Shankar Prasad – Law and Justice; Communications; Electronics and Information Technology
- Harsimrat Kaur Badal -Food Processing Industries
- Thawarchand Gehlot -Social Justice and Empowerment
- Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank -Human Resource Development
- Arjun Munda – Tribal Affairs
- Smriti Irani- Women and Child Development; Textiles
- Harsh Vardhan -Health and Family Welfare; Science and Technology; Earth Sciences
- Prakash Javdekar -Environment, Forest and Climate Change; Information and Broadcasting
- Piyush Goyal – Railways; Commerce and Industries
- Dharmendra Pradhan – Petroleum and Natural Gas; Steel
- Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi -Minority Affairs
- Prahlad Joshi – Parliamentary Affairs; Coal; Mines
- Mahendra Nath Pandey -Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
- Arvind Sawant -Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise
- Giriraj Singh -Animal Husbandry, Dairying, and Fisheries
- Gajendra Singh Shekhawat – Jal Shakti