Vinay Mohan Kwatra has been appointed as India's next ambassador to France. He is currently a joint secretary in the Prime Minister's Office and will replace the retiring Mohan Kumar. India has also protested Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's participation in the 'Khalsa Day' event in Toronto over its support for Sikh separatism. Sanjay Mitra, a 1982 batch IAS officer, has been appointed as the next defence secretary of India.

1. Current Affairs: May 12, 2017
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May 12, 2017
Vinay Mohan Kwatra Appointed as Ambassador to France
Diplomat Vinay Mohan Kwatra has been appointed as
India’s next ambassador to France. He is currently serving
as joint secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).
Kwatra will succeed Mohan Kumar who is due to retire
soon. Kwatra has served in Indian diplomatic missions in
China and the US and has experience dealing with the UN
organisations such as International Labour Organisation (ILO) and World Health Organisation
(WHO). In the MEA, he had served as the joint secretary incharge of the counter-terrorism
division in the MEA.
India protests Participation of Canada’s PM at ‘Khalsa Day’
India has protested the participation of Canadian
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at ‘Khalsa Day’ in
Toronto that saw felicitation of Sikh separatist
elements and featured Khalistani flags and
posters of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. Mr.
Trudeau has become the first Canadian PM to attend the ‘Khalsa Day’ event in a decade since
Paul Martin in 2005. The Khalsa Day event was organised to mark the Sikh new year.

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May 11: National Technology Day
National Technology Day is being observed across India on
May 11 to mark India’s technological advancements. 2017
National Technology Day Theme: ‘Technology for inclusive
and sustainable growth’.
Significance: The day is being commemorated to celebrate
the anniversary of first of the five tests of Operation Shakti (Pokhran-II) nuclear test, held on 11
May 1998 in Pokhran, Rajasthan. The operation was led by the former President APJ Abdul
Kalam. After conducting two more tests as a part of the Pokhran-II/Operation Shakti initiative,
India was declared as a nuclear state by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Sanjay Mitra Appointed as Next Defence Secretary
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the
appointment of 1982 West Bengal cadre IAS officer Sanjay Mitra
as the next defence secretary. He will have a fixed tenure of two
years. Prior to this appointment, Mitra was the secretary in the
ministry of road transport and highways.
Other appointments: Anant Kumar Singh, a 1984 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh has been
appointed as the secretary in the textiles ministry. Anant Kumar Singh is the first officer from
the 1984 batch to get the secretary-level appointment. Rashmi Verma who was the secretary in
the textiles ministry has been moved to a similar position in the ministry of tourism.

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India's GM crop regulator approves commercial use of GM Mustard in
recommendations to the Environment Ministry
India's GM crop regulator has recommended the commercial use of genetically modified
mustard in a submission to the Environment Ministry amid
opposition by anti-GM groups. In its submission, the Genetic
Engineering Appraisal Committee, GEAC, the nodal regulator
for Genetically Modified GM) crop, has given a positive
recommendation, with certain conditions. With its green
signal, GEAC has pushed the hybrid plant developed by scientists at the Delhi University closer
to becoming the country's first edible GM crop.
Income Tax Department launches a new e-facility to link Aadhaar with Permanent
Account Number, PAN
The Income Tax Department has launched a new e-facility to link a person's Aadhaar with the
Permanent Account Number or PAN. The department's e-
filing website has created a new link on its homepage
making it easy to link the two unique identities of an
individual. An official release said, in case of any minor
mismatch in the Aadhaar name as compared to the actual
data in Aadhaar, a One Time Password will be sent to the mobile registered with Aadhaar. It
said, taxpayers should ensure that the date of birth and gender in PAN and Aadhaar are exactly
the same.

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SBI Life to hire eight banks to manage its IPO
SBI Life Insurance Co Ltd is set to hire eight banks
including Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas to
manage its up to 1 billion initial public offering of shares,
IFR reported on Friday, citing three sources with
knowledge of the deal. The life insurance arm of top
Indian lender State Bank of India will hire five local banks
- Axis Capital, ICICI Securities, JM Financial, Kotak and SBI Capital Markets.
Apple a country on its own and is 17th largest economy in the world
US technology giant Apple on Tuesday became the first
company ever in the world to enjoy a market capitalisation of
800 billion. If it were a country and iPhone its capital, it
would have been 17th largest economy in size after Indonesia.
Along with the Larry Page and Sergey Brin-founded Alphabet
(660 billion) and Bill Gates’ Microsoft (530 billion), the three ‘AAM’ (Apple, Alphabet and
Microsoft) firms are worth nearly 2 trillion, which equals the combined market capitalisation of
the 5,400 companies listed on BSE.

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India to become third-largest consumer economy by 2025: BCG
Even as the world economy struggles and many developed
countries are trying to alter their consumption through austerity
drive, India could end up as the third largest consumer economy by
2025 according to a report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
Consumption in India is set to triple to $4 trillion by 2025 as rising
affluence drives changes in consumer behaviors and spending
patterns that have big implications for companies, the BCG report --Center for Customer Insight
(CCI), The New Indian: The Many Facets of a Changing Consumer—said. ‚Nominal year-over-
year expenditure growth of 12% is more than double the anticipated global rate of 5% and will
make India the third-largest consumer market by 2025,‛ it added.
Sri Lanka has rejected China's request to dock one of its submarines in Colombo
this month, two senior government officials said on Thursday as the Indian prime
minister landed in the island nation
Sri Lanka last allowed a Chinese submarine to dock in the capital of Colombo in October 2014, a
move that triggered fierce opposition from its northern neighbour India, which worries about
growing Chinese activity in a country it has long viewed as
part of its area of influence. Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi arrived in Sri Lanka on Thursday for a two-day
official visit. A senior Sri Lankan government official said
China's request to dock one of its submarines in Colombo

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this month had been rejected. He said Sri Lanka was "unlikely" to agree to China's request to
dock the submarine at any time, given India's concerns. The official asked not to be named
because of the sensitivity of the matter.