Taiwan becomes the first of any Asian country to legalise same-sex marriage with the passage of legislation giving gay couples the right to marry. On 17th May, the Lawmakers of Taiwan passed part of a bill that would allow gay couples to enter into exclusive permanent unions and apply for marriage registration with government agencies. The 66-to-27 vote recognizes same-sex marriages and gives couples many of the tax, insurance and child-custody benefits available to male-female married couples.
India has found problems with the current method under which the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) ranks countries based on their services trade policies, indicating the outcomes are biased and counter-intuitive.
The Indian Navy conducted significant missile tests boosting its anti-air warfare capabilities. The first cooperative engagement firing of the Medium Range Surface to Air Missile (MRSAM) or Barak-8 was held on the Western Seaboard. The firing was undertaken on the western seaboard by the INS Kochi and the INS Chennai wherein the missiles of both ships were controlled by one ship to intercept different aerial targets at extended ranges. Interestingly, one of the ships controlled the complete mission through its automated data links. The firing trials were carried out by Indian Navy, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).
CTBTO (The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation) offered India an ‘Observer‘ status and an access to International Monitoring System (IMS) data. CTBT is a global treaty that runs IMS which constantly monitors the Earth for nuclear explosions and shares evaluative findings with its member states. CTBTO’s headquarters is in Vienna, Austria.
Union Ministry of Environment announced a project to create DNA Database for Indian Rhinos. This is done in order to curb poaching and collect evidence for wildlife crimes including Rhinos. The deadline to meet this project is 2021. The database will be kept in the Wildlife Institute of India(WII) headquartered in Dehradun, Uttarakhand.
Former Indian cricketers Sourav Ganguly and Sanjay Manjrekar are inducted into the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) commentary panel for World Cup 2019. World Cup 2019 will begin from May 30, 2019 in England and Wales. The debut commentary will be made by Michael Clarke, former Australian batsman, who was the captain of the 2015 World Cup winning team and Nasser Hussain, Ian Bishop, Kumar Sangakkara, Michael Atherton, Brendon McCullum, Graeme Smith and Wasim Akram are also the part of panel.
The Kerala State Assembly is undertaking E-Vidhan, an initiative to digitize all records. The first phase of the project is expected to be completed in 14 months. The project is expected to cost around Rs.40 crore. Once the project is completed, all the Assembly proceedings like submission of notice by a member, question and answers, and all the other correspondence and business concerning the Assembly will go paperless.
Maharashtra Cabinet approved to circulate an ordinance to amend the Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Reservation Act, 2018, and also approved to recompense the fees to the general category-students, who will be affected after the promulgation of the ordinance. Previously the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court did not grant 16% reservation to the Maratha community students for admissions to post-graduate (PG) medical courses and dental courses because the admission process had begun much earlier.
Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) notified that for better human resource management, it will conduct annual performance appraisal report (APARs) of over 46,000 Group B and C officers (IRS– Indian Revenue Service officers in Customs and Central Excise in 2016-17) online in SPARROW (Smart Performance Appraisal Report Recording Online Window).
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