25 May

Today (25th May) is International Missing Children’s Day.

Today is Towel Day.
- This day is celebrated every year on 25 May as a tribute to the author Douglas Adams by his fans.
- On this day, fans openly carry a towel with them, as described in Adams’ The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy or share their folded animal towels to demonstrate their appreciation for the books and the author.
Mumbai has been ranked the world’s second most densely populated city with 31,700 people per sq km, by the World Economic Forum (WEF) citing UN Habitat Data.
- Bangladesh’s capital Dhaka topped the list with 44,500 people per sq km.
- Rajasthan’s Kota has been ranked the world’s seventh most densely populated city with 12,100 people per sq km.
- Top 10 in the List
  - Dhaka (Bangladesh)
  - Mumbai (India)
  - Medellin (Columbia)
  - Manila (Philippines)
  - Casablanca (Morocco)
  - Lagos (Nigeria)
  - Kota (India)
  - Singapore
  - Jakarta (INdonesia)
- Bihari delicacy litti-chokha will represent India at the5-day World Street Food Congress to be held in the Philippines capital,
- Nepali Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, also known as ‘Prachanda’, resigned today honouring a power-sharing agreement between his party and the ruling Nepali Congress party.
  - Prachanda resigned just nine months after coming to power, weeks ahead of the final round of local body elections which are taking place for the first time in over two decades in the country.

National News Affairs

The Minister of State for Communications Manoj Sinha has launched3 new initiatives. They are :
- BSNL’s Satellite Phone Service :
  - The service will cover areas where no networks are present and will be provided by INMARSAT which has 14 satellites.
  - This service will be initially offered to government agencies and later opened for others citizen in phased manner.
- Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Sanchar Kaushal Vikas Pratisthan Scheme :
  - This is a skill development scheme named after RSS ideologue Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya that will train rural youth to maintain mobile towers, repair optical fibres and fix other communication technologies across India.
- Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Telecom Skill Excellence Award Scheme : The government will reward people doing innovative work in the telecom space under this scheme.
It is not mandatory to provide age proof for Aadhaar enrolment but a valid document is required to correct the date of birth registered for the unique identity, UIDAI announced today.
Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma has launched Swachh Bharat app at the National Museum in New Delhi today.
- This app will enable visitors to report garbage on the premises of the ASI monuments across the country.
- Around 30 galleries in the National Museum have already been equipped with a device that will make use of the intranet to connect to the app.

Banking, Business & Economic Affairs

The Union Cabinet today approved abolition of foreign investment regulator the Foreign Investment Promotion Board(FIPB).
- The 25-year-old body responsible for approving foreign investment proposals was constituted under the Prime Minister’s Office in the wake of the economic liberalisation of the early 1990s.
- Note : In the Budget, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had proposed to abolish the body.
The Union Cabinet has given its approval for allocating 5%of the Central Road Fund (CRF) for the development of the National Waterways.

New Appointments

Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led Digital wallet Paytm has added 3 independent directorsto its newly-launched Payments Bank’s board.
- PV Bhaskar – Former Executive Director of RBI
- Ash Lilani– Co-founder and managing partner at Saama Capital
- GS Sundararajan – Former Director at Shriram Group
- Note : The Payments Bank is being led by Paytm’s Vice President of Business, Renu Satti.

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