| The State in which the retirement age of doctors has been raised from 60 to 62 years | Uttar Pradesh |
| The well-known Indian film director, dialogue writer, actor and politician who passed away on 30 May 2017 | Dasari Narayana Rao |
| The campaign launched by Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation to promote toilet use and freedom from open defecation under the Swachh Bharat Mission is named | Darwaza Band |
| The Governor of Manipur and former Rajya Sabha MP who has been appointed as the Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia University | Najma Heptulla |
| The country which has won the Sudirman Cup 2017 (Badminton) defeating China in the finals at Gold Coast, Australia | South Korea |
| The tropical cyclone which recently caused widespread impacts across Sri Lanka, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bangladesh, and Northeast India was named | Cyclone Mora |
| The place in Karnataka where a newly built Aeronautical Test Range (ATR) of the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) was inaugurated by the Defence Minister Shri Arun Jaitley | Chitradurga |
| The longest river bridge in India (9.15 km length) built across Lohit river connecting the villages Dhola and Sadiya which was inaugurated by the Prime Minister on 26 May 2017 is named | Bhupen Hazarika Setu |
| The former IPS officer, DGP of Punjab Police and Padma Shri recipient of 1989 who passed away on 26 May 2017 | KPS Gill |
| The Indian cricketer who has been awarded the CEAT Cricket Rating's International Cricketer of the Year Award 2016-17 | Ravichandran Ashwin |
| The African country which has been accepted as the new member (14th) of OPEC | Equatorial Guinea |
| The venue of 2017 session of Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction held from 22 to 26 May 2017 (Minister of State for Home Affairs, Shri Kiren Rijiju is leading the Indian delegation) | Cancun, Mexico |
| The new Defence Secretary who has taken over the post from Shri G. Mohun Kumar | Sanjay Mitra |
| The English actor best known for playing the secret agent James Bond in films like 'The Man with the Golden Gun', 'The Spy Who Loved Me' who passed away on 23 May 2017 | Roger Moore |
| The new Chairman of National Commission of Minorities | Gairul Hasan Rizvi |
| The Ethiopian politician and academic who has been elected as the new Director General of World Health Organisation for a 5-year term to succeed Margaret Chan with effect from 01 July 2017 | Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus |
| The place in Assam where the Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of AIIMS to be completed in about 4 years | Kamrup |
| The country in which world's largest floating solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant with a capacity of 40 MW became operational | China |
| The Indian wildlife and environment cartoonist who has been awarded this year’s WWF International President’s Award for his efforts to inspire change and attitudes towards nature | Rohan Chakravarty |
| The new bacterium found on the International Space Station by NASA scientists and named after Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam | Solibacillus kalamii |
| The first semi-high speed train Tejas with facilities like on-board like LED TV and tea/coffee vending machine, flagged off by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu will run between | Mumbai CST and Karmali (Goa) |
| The Indian actress who has been awarded the International Humanitarian Award instituted by Asian Voice, a leading British Asian newsweekly | Jacqueline Fernandez |
| The team which has won the Federation Cup 2016-17 football tournament defeating Mohan Bagan in the finals in Cuttack | Bengaluru FC |
| The venue of the first meeting of CMs of 5 States on Indo-China Border chaired by the Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh (Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh) | Gangtok |
| The bilateral naval exercise between the Navies of Singapore and India in the South China Sea from 18 to 24 May is named | SIMBEX-17 |
| The annual joint Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise being conducted by Indian Navy's Western Naval Command at Karwar naval station is named | Karavali Karunya |
| The car manufacturing company which has decided to stop selling its cars in India from the end of this year | General Motors |
| The MD and CEO of ICICI Bank who has been awarded the Woodrow Wilson Award by the Woodrow Wilson Centre in Washington DC | Ms Chand Kochhar |
| The Union Minister of State for Environment, Forests and Climate Change who passed away on 18 May 2017 | Anil Madhav Dave |
| The Indian mountaineer from Arunachal Pradesh who has become the first woman in the world to scale Mt. Everest twice in 5 days | Anshu Jamsenpa |
| The wildlife biologist and scientist with the Mysuru-based Nature Conservation Foundation who has been awarded the Whitley Award for his work to protect tiger corridors in Karnataka | Sanjay Gubbi |
| The renowned environmentalist from Assam who has been awarded the Whitley Award, also known as the Green Oscars, for her efforts in conserving greater adjutant storks | Purnima Devi Barman |
| The new Prime Minister of France who has been appointed by the President Emmanuel Macron | Edouard Philippe |
| The airport in India which has become the busiest single runway airport in the world with 837 flights per day (beating London's Gatwik airport which operates 757 flights/day) | Chattrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai |
| The country which has banned captive breeding of dolphins and killer whales in order to eventually put an end to marine circuses | France |
| The new base year of the all-India Index of Industrial Production (IIP) which has been revised from 2004-05 to reflect the changes in the industrial sector and to also align it with the base year of other macroeconomic indicators like the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Wholesale Price Index (WPI) | 2011-12 |
| The Indian film actor who has been appointed by WHO as its goodwill ambassador for hepatitis in South-East Asia region | Amitabh Bachchan |
| The missile system with a range of 15 km acquired from Israel which was test-fired from a test range in Odisha | Spyder |
| The South American nation which has declared an end of its public health emergency over Zika, the mosquito-borne virus | Brazil |
| The vaccine which has been included in the Universal Immunization Programme of India by the Union Health Minister Shri JP Nadda | Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine (PCV) |
| The legendary cricketer who has been named an Honorary Life Member of the Marylebone Cricket Club, as he became the fourth Indian to do so after Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly | VVS Laxman |
| The theme of National Technology Day observed on 11 May 2017 | Technology for Inclusive and Sustainable Growth |
| The first Hindi entertainment channel to be launched by Discovery channel is named | Discovery JEET |
| The new President (12th) of South Korea who has assumed the office on 10 May 2017 | Moon Jae-in |
| The Indian pacer who has become the leading wicket-taker in Women's One-Day Internationals in a match against South Africa surpassing Australian Cathryn Fitzpatrick's record of 180 wickets | Jhulan Goswami |
| The country with which India is conducting Co-ordinated Patrol (CORPAT) from 09 – 25 May 17 under the aegis of Andaman and Nicobar Command | Indonesia |
| The mascot of Asian Athletics Championship to be held in Bhubaneshwar from 06 to 09 July 107 | Olly (Olive Ridley turtle) |
| The British actress, model and activist who has been awarded the first genderless award for the Best Actor at the MTV Movie and TV Awards | Emma Watson |
| The candidate of En Marche!(political party) who has won France's 2017 Presidential elections defeating Marine Le Pen of the National Front | Emmanuel Macron |
| The place in Maharashtra where India's First Integrated Bio‐refinery for Renewable Fuels & Chemicals for producing ethanol from a variety of biomass was inaugurated by Shri Nitin Gadkari | Rahu, Pune |
| The north-eastern state which has been declared a disturbed area under the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act for 3 more months from 03 May 2017 | Assam |
| The variety of mango grown in Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh which has been granted GI (geographical indication) tag (the mango is named after the town it is grown in) | Banganapalle |
| The first Indian woman to be appointed Chief Justice of a High Court who passed away on 05 May 2017 | Leila Seth |
| The State which has become the first in the coutnry to shift to January to December format for financial year | Madhya Pradesh |
| Social worker and Chairperson of Women's Indian Association who has been awarded the Avvaiyar Award for 2017 by Tamil Nadu government | Padma Venkataraman |
| The portal launched by the Ministry of Communications for Information sharing on Mobile Towers and EMF Emission Compliances is named | Tarang Samachar |
| The city which has become the first in the world to get its own font (the font known by the city's name has been developed by Microsoft and is available in 23 languages for Office 365 users) | Dubai |
| The Chief Minister who has been chosen for the Transformative Chief Minister Award in recognition for his role in advancing the US-India partnership at the state level by the US India Business Council | Chandrababu Naidu |
| The medieval saint on whose 1000th birth anniversary a commemorative stamp was released by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi | Sri Ramanujacharya |
Designated by: Global Initiative for Asthma
Theme: Asthma: Better Air, Better Breathing
Designated by: UN General Assembly
First Observed in: 1994
Theme: Critical Minds for Critical Times: Media’s role in advancing peaceful, just and inclusive societies
Designated by: International Committee of the Red Cross
First Observed in: 1948
Theme: Everywhere for Everyone
Designated by: United Nations General Assembly
First Observed in: 2000
Designated by: AEWA Secretariat
First Observed in: 2006
Theme: Their future is our future
Note: International Migratory Bird Day started in 1993 is observed in Canada, Mexico, US and Central America.
Designated by: UN General Assemby
Theme: Families, education and well-being
First Observed in: 1994
Designated by: United Nations General Assembly
Theme: Big Data for Big Impact
First Observed in: 2007
Designated by: UN General Assembly
Theme: Biodiversity & Sustainable Tourism
First Observed in: 2001
Designated by: American Tortoise Rescue
First Observed in: 2000
Designated by: United Nations General Assembly
First Observed in: 2003
Theme: Investing in Peace around the World
Designated by: World Health Organisation
First Observed in: 1987
Theme: Tobacco - a threat to development
Swachh Survekshan 2017 was carried out in 434 cities across the country and the following are th highlights of the survey.
Criteria and weightages for different components of sanitation related aspects used for the Survey are:
A: Solid Waste Management including Door-to-Door collection, Processing and Disposal, ODF status etc: 45% of total 2,000 marks i.e 900 marks
B: Citizen feedback : 30% i.e 600 of total marks
C: Independent observation : 25% i.e 500 marks
Quality Council of India which conducted the survey deployed 421 assessors for on the spot assessment of 17,500 locations in 434 cities and towns. Another 55 persons regularly monitored the survey process in real time.
Top 10 cities
1. Indore, 2. Bhopal, 3. Visakhapatnam, 4. Surat, 5. Mysuru, 6. Tiruchirapally, 7. New Delhi Municipal Council, 8. Navi Mumbai, 9. Vadodara and 10. Chandigarh
The last 10
434. Gonda (UP), 433. Bhusawal (Maharashtra), 432. Bagaha (Bihar), 431. Hardoi (UP), 430. Katihar (Bihar), 429. Bahraich (UP), 428. Muktsar (Punjab), 427. Abohar (Punjab), 426. Shahjahanpur (U.P.) and 425. Khurja (UP).
Other rankings at National Level
Fastest Mover Big City: Faridabad (Haryana)
Fastest Mover Medium City: Rewa (M.P.)
Fastest Mover Small City: Khargone (M.P.)
Cleanest Medium City: Tirupati (A.P.)
Cleanest Small City: Ambikapur (Chhattisgarh)
Zonewise Best cities
| Category | North Zone | South Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Cleanest Big City | New Delhi Municipal Council | Tiruchirapally, T.N. |
| Fastest Moving Big City | Varanasi | Vijayawada, A.P. |
| Cleanest Medium City | Karnal, Haryana | Kakinada, A.P. |
| Fastest Moving Medium City | Jhansi, U.P. | Ongole, A.P. |
| Cleanest Small City | Leh, J & K | Suryapet, Telangana |
| Fastest Moving Small City | Ferozpur, Punjab | Tadipatri, A.P. |
| Category | East Zone | West Zone |
|---|---|---|
| Cleanest Big City | Jamshedpur, Jharkhand | Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra |
| Fastest Moving Big City | Bhubaneswar, Odisha | Gwalior, M.P. |
| Cleanest Medium City | Bhilainagar, Chhattishgarh | Ujjain, M.P. |
| Fastest Moving Medium City | Rourkela, Odisha | Sagar, M.P. |
| Cleanest Small City | Chas, Jharkhand | Navsari, Gujarat |
| Fstest Moving Small City | Rajnandgaon, Chhattisgarh | Pithampur, M.P. |
| Category | North East Zone |
|---|---|
| Cleanest Big City | Gangtok, Sikkim (Cleanest State Capital) |
| Fastest Moving Big City | Aizwal, Mizoram (Overall) |
| Cleanest Medium City | Nagaon, Assam (Overall outside capital cities) |
Tholkappiyar Award 2015-16: Dr. R. Kalaikkovan
Tholkappiyar Award 2014-15: Dr. A. Krishnamurthy
Tholkappiyar Award 2013-14: Dr. S.N. Kandaswamy
Launched by: Minister of Human Resource Development Shri Prakash Javadekar and Minister of State for Defence Dr. Subhash Bhamre jointly
Purpose: To help create a spirit of respect for our real heroes.
Details: A wall of 15 x 20 to be designated in 1,000 educational institutions across the country. Portraits of Param Vir Chakra (PVC) decorated soldiers will be displayed on the walls to instil sense of nationalism among the students. This is part of a nationwide ‘Vidya Veerta Abhiyan’, initiated by writer and former Rajya Sabha member Shri Tarun Vijay.
Launch date: 05 May 2017
Launch Vehicle: Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-F09)
Launched from: Sriharikota
The 2230 kg South Asia Satellite (GSAT-9) is a geosynchronous communications and meteorology satellite by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) region.
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka are the users of the multi-dimensional facilities provided by the satellite.
Confessions of a Dying Mind: The Blind Faith of Atheism - Haulianlal Guite
SAMPADA: Scheme for Agro-Marine Processing and Development of Agro-Processing Clusters
SIMBEX: Singapore-India Maritime Bilateral Exercises
Akademi Ratna (Akademi Fellow)
| Person | Field |
|---|---|
| Shri Arvind Parikh | Sitar |
| Smt. R. Vedavalli | Carnatic Vocal |
| Shri Ram Gopal Bajaj | Theatre |
| Shri Sunil Kothari | Dance Scholar |
Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards in the field of Music
| Person | Field |
|---|---|
| Shri Prabhakar Karekar and Smt Padma Talwalkar | Hindustani Vocal |
| Shri Arvind Mulgaonkar | Tabla |
| Shri Kala Ramnath | Violin |
| Smt Neela Ramgopal and Smt K Omanakutty | Carnatic Vocal |
| Shri J. Vaidyanathan | Mridangam |
| Shri Mysore M Manjunath | Violin |
| Shri Ningthoujam Shyamchand Singh | Nata Sankirtana |
| Smt Ratnamala Prakash and Hussain brothers (Ahmad Hussain and Mohd Hussain) | Sugam Sangeet |
Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards in the field of Dance
| Person | Field |
|---|---|
| Smt Geeta Chandran | Bharat Natyam |
| Shri Jitendra Maharaj | Kathak |
| Shri Kalamandalam Ramachandran Unnithan | Kathakali |
| Shri Maisnam Kaminikumar Singh | Manipuri |
| Shri AB Bala Kondala Rao | Kuchipudi |
| Shri Ratikanta Mohapatra | Odissi |
| Shri Haricharan Bhuyan Borbayan | Sattriya |
| Shri Gopal Prasad Dubey | Chhau |
| Smt Anita Ratnam | Contemporary |
Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards in the field of Theatre
| Person | Field |
|---|---|
| Shri Kusum Kumar | Playwriting |
| Shri Satyabrata Rout, Shri Bipin Kumar and Shri Rajkamal Nayak | Direction |
| Shri Gireesan V, Shri Oinam Biramangol Singh and Shri Mohan Joshi | Acting |
| Smt Anjana Puri | Music for theatre |
| Shri K Govind Bhat | Yakshagana |
Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards in the field of Traditional/Folk/Tribal Music/Dance/Theatre
| Person | Field |
|---|---|
| Smt Annabattula Lakshmi Mangatayaru and Smt Leela Sai | Kalavantulu (A.P.) |
| Shri Yogesh Gadhavi | Folk music (Gujarat) |
| Shri Vidyanand Saraik | Folk music (Himachal Pradesh) |
| Shri Somnath D. Chari | Traditional Music (Goa) |
| Shri Laxmidhar Raut | Pala (Odisha) |
| Shri Charanji Lal | Mand (Rajasthan) |
| Shri Gulzar Ahmad Ganai | Chakri (Jammu & Kashmir) |
| Shri Braj Kishore Dubey | Folk Music (Bihar) |
| Shri Prabhitangsu Das and Shri Dattatreya Aralikatte | Puppetry |
Sangeet Natak Akademi Awards - Overall Contrubution/Scholarship to Performing Arts
| Person | Field |
|---|---|
| Shri Pappu Venugopal Rao | Scholarship |
| Shri Avinash Pascricha | Overall Contribution |
According to UN Habitat the following are the most crowded cities in the world.
| City | People/SqKm |
|---|---|
| Dhaka, Bangladesh | 44,500 |
| Mumbai, India | 31,700 |
| Medellin, Columbia | 19,700 |
| Manila, Philippines | 14,800 |
| Casablanca, Morocco | 14,200 |
| Lagos, Nigeria | 13,300 |
| Kota, India | 12,100 |
Public Affairs Index (PAI) is a data driven platform to rank the 30 States of India from the lens of governance. While it is a complex task to rank the Indian states which are economically, culturally and socially so diverse, Public Affairs Centre (PAC) has developed PAI as a unique statistical tool to evaluate the performance of governance in the States. PAI is largely based on secondary data and has been extracted from Union Government Ministries and Departments.
PAI 2016 ranked the states of India on the basis of 10 broad themes, spread across 25 focus subjects and focusing on 68 individual indicators. The report also incorporates a study on Sentiment Analysis.
While the new PAI 2017 report is similar to PAI 2016, it has been upgraded and made more comprehensive. PAI 2017 has 10 themes, 26 focus subjects and 82 indicators. It also includes a new study on Inequality, which focuses on the extent of the gap existing between the various strata of society from an economic, social and gender perspective.
The following are the top 5 ranked States in the PAI 2017
| State | Score |
|---|---|
| Kerala | 0.551 |
| Tamil Nadu | 0.543 |
| Gujarat | 0.536 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 0.535 |
| Karnataka | 0.531 |
The following are the top ranked in each theme of the PAI 2017
| Theme | State |
|---|---|
| Essential Infrastructure | Goa |
| Support to Human Development | Kerala |
| Social Protection | Jammu and Kashmir |
| Women and Children | Nagaland |
| Crime, Law and Order | Nagaland |
| Delivery of Justice | Tripura |
| Environment | Arunachal Pradesh |
| Transparency and Accountability | Haryana |
| Fiscal Management | Telangana |
| Economic Freedom | Gujarat |
| Inequality | Kerala |
Winners: Mumbai Indians
Runner-up: Rising Pune Supergiant
Orange Cap for the leading run-scorer: David Warner
Purple Cap for the leading wicket-taker: Bhuvneshwar Kumar
Most Valuable Player: Ben Stokes
Emerging Player of the Tournament: Basil Thampi
Fair Play Award: Gujarat Lions
Stylish Player of the Season: Gautam Ghambir
The Minister of Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu released Third Party Audit Report on Station Cleanliness and Inaugurated Swachh Rail Portal. First survey conducted by IRCTC in 2016 by conducting interviews of passengers at the stations on various parameters of cleanliness and rating them on these basis. The second survey has been conducted by Quality Council of India (QCI) who with the help of their partners have conducted the survey of 407 major railway stations (75 A1 category and 332 A category stations) of Indian Railways.
The parameters adopted for conducting the survey are: Evaluation of Process of cleanliness in Parking, main entry area, main platform, waiting room,(33.33%) direct observation by QCI assessors of cleanliness in these areas (33.33%) and passenger feedback(33.33%). A 24x7 control room was set up and images were geo-tagged to monitor progress.
The following are the first 3 rankings in each category as per the survey:
| Rank | A1 Category Station (Out of 75) | A Category Station (Out of 332) | Railway Zone |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Vishakhapatnam, East Coast Railway | Beas, Northern Railway | South East Central Railway |
| 2. | Secunderabad, South Central Railway | Khammam, South-Central Railway | East Coast Railway |
| 3. | Jammu Tawi, Northern Railway | Ahmednagar, Central Railway | Central Railway |
The Year of Polar Prediction is to be observed from mid-2017 to mid-2019 in order to cover an entire year in both the Arctic and Antarctic. The initiative involves the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Germany’s Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) and a wide array of partners around the globe.
Section 139AA of the Income-tax Act, 1961, as inserted by the Finance Act, 2017 provides for mandatory quoting of Aadhaar / Enrolment ID of Aadhaar application form for filing of return of income and for making an application for allotment of Permanent Account Number with effect from 1st July, 2017. Section 139AA (3) of the Act empowers the Central Government to notify the person(s) or State(s) to which the requirement of quoting of Aadhaar / Enrolment ID shall not apply.
The Central Government vide notification dated 11th May, 2017 has notified that the requirement of quoting of Aadhaar / Enrolment ID shall not apply to the following individuals if they do not possess the Aadhaar / Enrolment ID:
The Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh unveiled a new doctrine to deal with Left Wing Extremism which is encompassed in the word SAMADHAN
S - Smart Leadership
A - Aggressive Strategy
M - Motivation and Training
A - Actionable Intelligence
D - Dashboard Based KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and KRAs (Key Result Areas)
H - Harnessing Technology
A - Action plan for each Theatre
N - No access to Financing
1. Haymarket affair is associated with which of the following days?
2. Which of the following memorials has been approved to go digital with the setting up of an interpretation centre and three LED screens?
3. Indian has recently been elected to head to which agency of the UNO?
4. Which of the following has launched Express Wi-Fi service in India to provide Internet connectivity to people in poor or zero connectivity areas?
5. With which musical instrument was Ustan Raees Khan who passed away on 06 May 2017, associated?
6. Who is the director of the film A Death in the Gunj?
7. With which of the following is Bajrang Punia associated?
8. Which of the following events occurred on May 11, which is observed as National Technology Day?
9. What is the scientific name of Seemai Karuvelam an invasive species of plant?
10. From which country is India importing M777 Ultra Light Howitzer Guns?
11. Hassan Rouhani is the President of -
12. What is the position of India in the production stainless steel in the world?
13. Which country manufactures Derby Beyond Visual Range (BVR) missile which were test fired by indigenous Tejas aircraft recently?
14. Which company manufactures Airlander-10, the largest flying aircraft at present?
15. National Museum organised an exhibition to mark the return of 3 stone sculptures from which country?
16. Which city is the first in the world to have a Robocop, an artificial intelligence-powered robot in its police force?
17. At which of the following places was Cobra Lily (Arisaema translucens) rediscovered after 84 years?
18. Which State observes its Statehood Day on 30 May?