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CURRENT AFFAIRS OF MAY 2024

Awards
The Indian military peacekeeper serving with the United Nations Organization Stabilization
Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) who has been awarded the
prestigious 2023 United Nations Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award – Major Radhika
Sen

The Bengaluru based medical institution which has been awarded the Nelson Mandela Award
for Health Promotion for 2024 by the World Health Organization – NIMHANS

The book written by German writer Jenny Erpenbeck, translated by Michael Hofmann, which
has been named the winner of the International Booker Prize 2024 – Kairos

The film written and directed by Payal Kapadia, which has become the first film from India to
win the Grand Prix at 77th Cannes Film Festival in France – All we imagine as light

The short film written and directed by Chidanand Naik, a student of Film and Television
Institute of India (FTII), which has received the Cannes’ La Cinef Award for Best Short at 77th
Cannes Film Festival in France – Sunflowers were the first ones to know

The Indian author, recipient of Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, who has been awarded the
Sahitya Akademi Fellowhsip – Ruskin Bond

The Palestinian journalists covering Gaza who have been chosen to be awarded the 2023
UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize – Niloofar Hamedi, Elaheh Mohammadi
and Narges Mohammadi

Defence
The former Indian Army officer serving as staff member of United Nations Department of Safety
and Security who has been killed in the attack by Israel on Gaza – Colonel (Retd.) Waibhav Anil
Kale

The Defence PSU on whose completion of 250 years of establishment (1774) a commemorative
coin has been released by the Govt of India – Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd

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The 7th edition of India-France Joint Military Exercise conducted from 13 to 26 May 2024 at
Umroi in Meghalaya is named – Exercise Shakti

Sports
The mountaineer from Bhopal who has become the oldest Indian woman to climb Mt Everest
by doing it at the age of 55 years on 19 May 2024 – Jyoti Ratre

The Indian badminton players who have won the Men's Doubles title at the Thailand Open 2024
defeating Chinese pair of Chen Bo Yang and Liu Yi – Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty

The chess player from Tamil Nadu who has become the 85th person to secure the Grandmaster
norm – P Shyaamnikhil

The country which has won the 2024 Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament defeating Pakistan
in the finals at Ipoh, Malaysia – Japan

The mountaineer from Nepal who has broken his own record of climbing Mt. Everest for the
most number of times by doing it for the 29th time on 12 May and 30th time on 22 May 2024 –
Kami Rita Sherpa

The Indian bowler who has become the first Indian cricketer to take 350 wickets in T20 matches
(International and IPL matches included) – Yuzvendra Chahal

The team which has won both the 2024 Thomas Cup and Uber Cup badminton championships
defeating Indonesia in both the finals in Chengdu, China – China

The Captain of the Indian squad announced for the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup to be held in
June 2024 – Rohit Sharma

The West Indies cricketer who has been banned by ICC for five years for violating anti-
corruption codes – Devon Thomas

Persons
The Indian-born aviator and commercial pilot who has become the first Indian space tourist by
flying aboard a spacecraft of Blue Origin NS-25 – Gopi Thotakura

The President of Iran who along with its Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian died in an
helicopter crash near village Uzi in East Azerbaijan in Iran – Ebrahim Raisi

The former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar and Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar who passed away on
13 May 2024 – Sushil Kumar Modi

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Miscellaneous
The city in which the World Hydrogen Summit 2024 was held from 13 to 15 May 2024 –
Rotterdam, Netherlands

The three European nations which have formally recognized Palestine as a State – Spain,
Norway and Ireland

The tropical cyclone which arose in Bay of Bengal and made a landfall in Bangladesh and killed
over 50 people in Bangladesh and India in May 2024 was named – Cyclone Remal

The Lok Sabha constituency in which Union Ministry of Home Affairs has given its approval to
the Uttar Pradesh government's renaming of 8 railway stations – Amethi

The State which has suspended licenses of 14 medicines of Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd –
Uttarakhand

BHISHMA Portable Hospital

1. The hospital was tested by the Indian Air Force at Agra by air-dropping it and making it
operational within 12 minutes.
2. The portable hospital has been developed as part of Project BHISHMA (Bharat Health
Initiative for Sahyog Hita and Maitri).
3. It consists of a fully equipped operation theatre, mini-ICUs, ventilators, blood-testing
equipment, an X-ray machine, and even a cooking station.
4. A shelter facility and power generator make it entirely self-sufficient during
emergencies.
5. The life-saving equipment are packed in a set of mini-cubes and a combination of these
mini-cubes is used to set up a mobile hospital capable of performing life-saving surgery.

UNESCO Memory of the World

Three Indian literary works were added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Asia-Pacific
Regional Register during the tenth meeting of the Memory of the World Committee for Asia
and the Pacific (MOWCAP), held in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Ramcharitmanas by Goswami Tulsidas

Panchatantra by Vishnu Sharma

Sahṛdayāloka-Locana by Acharya Anandvardhan

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New GI Tags
Kutch Ajrakh (hand block painting) of Ajrakhpur, a village in Kutch, Gujarat

First Pig Kidney Transplant

• The first man to receive a genetically modified pig kidney transplant died on 11 May
2024, two months after the operation.
• Richard Slayman, 62, underwent the surgery in March 2024.
• The operation was carried out at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Boston (USA).
The kidney from the pig had undergone 69 genome edits to make it suitable for use in
humans.

Important Days of May 2024

World Asthma Day: 02 May 2024 (1st Tuesday of May)

Theme: Asthma Education Empowers
Designated by: Global Initiative for Asthma
First Observed in: 1998
World Press Freedom Day: 03 May 2024
Theme: A Press for the Planet: Journalism in the face of the environmental crisis
Designated by: UN General Assembly
First Observed in: 1994
World Red Cross and Crescent Day: 08 May 2024
Theme: Keeping Humanity Alive
Designated by: International Committee of the Red Cross
First Observed in: 1948
World Migratory Bird Day: 11 May 2024
Theme: Insects
Designated by: AEWA Secretariat
First Observed in: 2006
International Nurses Day: 12 May 2024
Theme: Our Nurses, Our Future
Designated by: International Council of Nurses
First Observed in:1974
International Day of Families: 15 May 2024
Theme: Families and Climate Change
Designated by: UN General Assembly
First Observed in: 1994

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World Telecommunication and Information Society Day: 17 May 2024
Theme: Digital Innovation for Sustainable Development
Designated by: UN General Assembly
First Observed in: 2007
World Hypertension Day: 17 May 2024
Designated by: World Hypertension League
First Observed in: 2005
World Bee Day: 20 May 2024
Theme: Bee engaged with Youth
Designated by: UN General Assembly
First Observed in: 2018
World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development: 21 May 2024
Designated by: UN General Assembly
First Observed in: 2003
International Day for Biological Diversity: 22 May 2024
Theme: Be part of the plan
Designated by: UN General Assembly
First Observed in: 2001
World Football Day: 25 May 2024
Designated by: UN General Assembly
First Observed in: 2024
Note: 2024 marks the 100th anniversary of the first international football tournament in history
with the representation of all regions, which took place on May 25, 1924, during the summer
Olympic games held in Paris.
International Day for UN Peacekeepers: 29 May 2024
Theme: Fit for the future, Building better together
Designated by: UN General Assembly
First Observed in: 2003
World No Tobacco Day: 31 May 2024
Theme: Protecting children from tobacco industry interference
Designated by: World Health Organisation
First Observed in: 1987

Indian Premier League 2024

• Participants - 10
• Matches - 74
• Winners - Kolkata Knight Riders (3rd title)
• Runners-up - Sunrisers Hyderabad
• Most valuable player - Sunil Narine (Kolkata Knight Riders)
• Most runs (Orange Cap) - Virat Kohli (Royal Challengers Bengaluru) (741)

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 • Most wickets (Purple Cap) - Harshal Patel (Punjab Kings) (24)

Books in News
Night Watch, by Jayne Anne Phillips (Knopf) (the book has been awarded 2024 Pulitzer Prize for
Fiction)

Abbreviations in News
BHISHM – Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita and Maitri

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