1) International Day of Living Together in Peace 2022: 16 May
•The International Day of Living Together in Peace is held on 16th May every year. The day is celebrated on the 16th of May throughout the world and with its annual observance, it aims to urge people to live together in a united and peaceful way. Individuals can attain this by listening to each other and respecting one another despite their differences.
•Living together in peace is all about accepting differences and having the ability to listen to, recognize, respect and appreciate others, as well as living in a peaceful and united way.
2) International Day of Light 2022 Observed on 16th May
•The International Day of Light is celebrated on 16 May each year, the anniversary of the first successful operation of the laser in 1960 by physicist and engineer, Theodore Maiman. This day is a call to strengthen scientific cooperation and harness its potential to foster peace and sustainable development. The laser is a perfect example of how a scientific discovery can yield revolutionary benefits to society in communications, healthcare and many other fields.
3) Vesak Day or Buddha Purnima 2022 celebrates on 16 May 2022
•This year Vesak Day or Buddha Purnima has celebrated on 16 May 2022. “Vesak”, the Day of the Full Moon in the month of May, is the most sacred day to millions of Buddhists around the world. It was on the Day of Vesak two and a half millennia ago, in the year 623 B.C., that the Gautama Buddha was born. It was also on the Day of Vesak that the Buddha attained enlightenment, and it was on the Day of Vesak that the Buddha in his eightieth year passed away.
•The birth of Gautama Buddha is commemorated by Buddhists and Hindus all over the world as the major festival of Buddha Purnima in countries like India, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma, Thailand, Tibet, China, Korea, Laos, Vietnam, Mongolia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia and Sri Lanka (where it is called Vesak) but every country celebrates it differently.
4) Prime Minister attended the 2nd Global COVID-19 Virtual Summit
•Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a reform of the UN health authority and a review of its vaccine approval processes a week after the government challenged the WHO’s numbers for mortality during the Covid outbreak.
•Mr. Modi also called for the World Trade Organization to be more flexible on the issue of patent waivers, where a joint India-South Africa proposal made in 2020 has yet to be adopted, speaking at the second global Covid summit, which was virtually addressed by US President Joseph Biden and a number of other leaders including from the African Union, European Union, Canada, Germany, South Africa, Japan, and South Korea.
5) Manik Saha named as new chief minister of Tripura
•Rajya Sabha MP and BJP state president Manik Saha is all set to take over as the new Chief Minister of Tripura. Manik Saha, the BJP State unit president and lone Rajya Sabha MP from Tripura, was elected as legislature party leader at a meeting held at the Chief Minister’s official residence. The decision was taken at a legislature party meeting following the resignation of CM Biplab Kumar Deb.
•Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb has stepped down from his position after meeting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J.P. Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during a two-day trip to New Delhi. Mr. Deb made the announcement after submitting his resignation to Governor S.N. Arya at the Raj Bhavan in Agartala. The State is slated to go to Assembly elections in 2023.
7) Nidhi Chibber named as CBSE new chief 2022
•Senior IAS officer, Nidhi Chibber has been appointed as the chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) in a top-level bureaucratic reshuffle effected by the Centre. Chibber, a 1994 batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Chhattisgarh cadre, is currently Additional Secretary, Ministry of Heavy Industries. She has been appointed as chairperson of the CBSE in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary to the government of India, an order issued by the Personnel Ministry.
8) Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan appointed President of UAE
•The Supreme Council of the Union elected Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Ruler of Abu Dhabi, as President of the UAE. The Council held a meeting at the Mushrif Palace in Abu Dhabi, headed by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. He has replaced Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who died at the age of 73.
•Sheikh Mohamed began wielding power in a period when his half-brother Sheikh Khalifa suffered bouts of illness, including a stroke in 2014. Under his low-key direction, the UAE has put a man in space, sent a probe to Mars, and opened its first nuclear reactor.
9) Gaganyaan Mission 2023: S2000 human-rated rocket booster tested successfully
•At Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully completed the static test of a human-rated solid rocket booster (HS200) for the Gaganyaan programme.
•According to the Bengaluru-based space agency, the HS200 is the human-rated version of the S200 rocket booster of the satellite launch vehicle GSLV Mk III, also known as LVM3.
