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- After South Korea withdrew their bid to host the Asian Cup Football Tournament, China will now be hosting the 2023 AFC Asian Cup as it was the sole other bidder. South Korea would have hosted the 24-nation AFC Asian Cup after 63 years but because the Korea Football Association wanted to strategically focus on a joint bid with North Korea to host Women’s World Cup in 2023, it withdrew from hosting the tournament.
- 17th May is observed as World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) and this year marks the 50th anniversary. The day marks the establishment of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and also the signing of the first International Telegraph Convention in 1865 in Paris. This year’s theme was ‘Bridging the standardization gap’.
- Indian Navy successfully test fired Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) on the Western Seaboard. These missile are now fitted onboard Kolkata Class Destroyers (comprised of INS Kolkata, INS Kochi and INS Chennai) and in future, would be fitted on all major warships of the Indian Navy.
- US President Donald Trump has proposed rolling out a new immigration plan named ‘merit-based immigration system’ which will replace the existing green cards with ‘Build America’ visa. The permanent legal residency would be given based on the individual’s points for their age, civic sense, job opportunities and knowledge. Besides this, all immigrants applying will be required to pass a civics exam prior to admission and learn English.
- Buddha Purnima, also known as Vaishak Purnima, was celebrated on 18th May 2019. This year marked the 2563rd birth anniversary of the Buddha and is celebrated every year on the full moon day in the month of Vaishakha.
- A comprehensive training strategy called National Training Workshop of Master Trainers was held at Indian Habitat Centre in New Delhi to impart training to trainers engaged in the upcoming 7th Economic Census.
- The prices of 9 non-scheduled cancer drugs was reduced by up to 87% by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA). This decision was taken in continuation of NPPA’s efforts to bring down drugs prices. Earlier in February, the government had capped about 42 cancer drugs at 30%.
Nandan Nilekani - The Reserve Bank of India appointed committee on ‘suggestions on promoting digital payment’ headed by Nandan Nilekani has submitted its report to the Governor of RBI Shaktikanta Das. In January 2019, the RBI had set up a panel on deepening digital payments with a view of encouraging digitisation of payments and enhancing financial inclusion via digitisation.
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