Army Inducts Surface to Air Missile Akaash

ODISHA

Free Medicine Scheme Niramaya Launched in Odisha

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on May 1, 2015 launched 'Niramaya', a scheme under which 570 different medicines will be provided free of cost in government hospitals. At the initial stage, the scheme will cover three government-run medical colleges, 30 district headquarters hospitals, and Rourkela Government Hospital. CM Patnaik launched the Niramaya scheme in Bhubaneshwar. After Aahar food scheme, it is another poor-friendly government scheme of the Patnaik government in Odisha

TAMIL NADU

Jayalalithaa Becomes Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

After being acquitted by the Karnataka High Court in the disproportionate assets case, AIADMK General-Secretary and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu J. Jayalalithaa became the Chief Minister of the state for the fifth time.

Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah administered the oath of office and secrecy to Jayalalithaa at a simple and short ceremony in the Madras University Centenary Auditorium, Chennai on May 23, 2015

APPOINTMENTS

Achal K. Jyoti is New Election Commissioner

Anchal Kumar Jyoti, a former Chief Secretary of Gujarat, took over as the new Election Commissioner, filling one of the two vacancies in the three member body. Jyoti is a 1975-batch IAS officer wiio retired as state Gujarat CHef Secretary in January 2013^

Harbhajan Kaur Dheer : The Indian Origin Woman is First Asian Elected Mayor in UK

An Indian-origin councilor woman has became the first Asian woman elected Mayor of Ealing Council in London. Harbhajan Kaur Dheer, 62, at a ceremony at the Victoria Hall at Ealing Council became the Mayor of Ealing Council after succeeding councillor Tej Ram Bagha

Born in Punjab in 1953, Kaur came to Britain in 1975

New Tripura Governor Takes Charge

BJP leader Tathagata Roy took charge as the 16th governor of Left-ruled Tripura on May 20, 2015

Former Singapore Minister to be New Chancellor of Nalanda University

The Centre has announced the appointment of former Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo as the new Chancellor of Nalanda University, months after Nobel laureate Amartya Sen withdrew his nomination, accusing the NDA government of not being inclined to give him a second term.

S. Christopher is New Head of DRDO

The government on May 28, 2015 appointed distinguished scientist Dr. S. Christopher as Director General of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Dr. G. S. Reddy as Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar

Priti Patel

British Indian MP appointed Employment Minister in Prime Minister David Cameron's new Cabinet. Patel who won her Witham seat with 57-5% of the votes cast, was appointed the first ever UK Indian Diaspora Champion in 2013

Amitabha Chowdhury

Award-winning journalist and litterateur Amitabha Chowdhury died after a prolonged illness in Kolkata on May 1, 2015. He was 87.

Mr. Chowdhury began his career in 1948 with Jugantar, an influential daily in the city at that time, Later, he worked for Ananda Bazar Patrika and Aajkal.

Mr. Chowdhury received the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1961 for journalism and literature for his reportage on individual rights and community interests in India.

Later, he became the director of the International Press Institute, an umbrella organisation for editors and publishers of the world, from 1965-1968.

AWARDS/HONOURS

68th Cannes Film Festival Awards

French director Jacques Audiard's film 'Dheepan' was honoured with the Palme d'Or award at the 68th Cannes Film Festival conclusion on May 24, 2015 in Cannes, France

68th Cannes Film Festival Awards

Palme d'Or—Dheepan (dir : Jacques Audiard)

Grand Prix—Son of Saul (dir : Laszlo Nemes)

Best Director—Hou Hsiao-Hsien, (The Assassin)

Camera d'Or (best first feature)—La Tierra y la Sombra (Land and Shade) (dir: Cesar Augusta Acevedo)

Best Actor—Vincent Lindon, (The Measure of a Man)

Best Actress—(Joint) Rooney Mara, (Carol) Emmanuelle Bercot, (Mon Roi)

Best Short Film—Waves 98 (dir: Ely Dagher)

Man Booker International Prize 2015

Eminent Hungarian novelist Laszlo Krasznahorkai was honoured with the prestigious Man Booker International Prize for 2015 for his immense contribution to literature at a ceremony at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on May 20, 2015 carrying £ 60,000 as prize money. Marina Warner, the jury Chairman of the Man Booker International Prize 2015 compared Krasznahorkai's work to Franz Kafka and Samuel Beckett

Krasznahorkai wrote his first novel Satantango in 1985 and it was translated in English in 2012. The Melancholy of Resistance and Seiobo Down Below are the other great novels by Krasznahorkai

The Man Booker International Prize is given to honour a living author for his or her body of work, either written in English or available in English translation and overall contribution to fiction rather than of a single novel.

Chinua Achebe (late) of Nigeria, Philip Roth of USA and Alice Munro of Canada are the former winners of the Man Booker International awar

Mazen Darwish Gets UNESCO World Press Freedom Award 2015

Mazen Darwish, a Syrian journalist and human rights activist was on May 3, 2015 honoured with the prestigious Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Award 2015 on the occasion of World Press Freedom Day hosted by Latvia in Riga

Created in 1997, the annual UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize honours a person, organisation or institution that has commendably served to the cause of press" freedom and human rights anywhere in the world. The award carries $ 25,000 as prize money. UNESCO instituted the award in honour of Guillermo Cano Isaza, a Colombian journalist who was shot dead in Bogota on December 17, 1986. The Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Award is funded by the Cano Foundation (Colombia) and the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation (Finland)