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www.aspirantszone.com A2Z April 2018 Current Affairs PDF

A2Z Current Affairs PDF

for upcoming exams

April 2018

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MOU Industry/States/Others

S.No. Industry/State/Organisation Industry/State/Organisation Other Info

1 SJVN Limited Ministry of Power To achieve 9200 Million Units power generation during the 2018-19 under ‘Excellent’ category.

2 Adani Foundation Room to Read (Non-profit

organization)

For Project Utthan to develop the habit of

reading among children of classes 1 to 5.

3 PHD Chamber of Commerce

and Industry (PHDCCI)

Indian Yoga Association (IYA) To promote yoga, health and spiritual tourism

in the Krishna Circuit in Uttar Pradesh.

Top 34 global technology and securities firms, led by Microsoft and Facebook, have signed a Cybersecurity Tech Accord

to defend people from malicious attacks by cyber-criminals and nation-states.

India and World Expo 2020 signed participants contract for India s pavilion in the prestigious World Expo 2020 held once

in 5 years.

Appointments and Resignations

Name Post Institution

RishadPremji Chairman Nasscom

DebjaniGhosh President Nasscom

HimantaSarma President Badminton Association of India

RakeshBharti Mittal President Industry chamber Confederation of Indian

Industry (CII)

Former DoPT Secretary

BhanuPratap Sharma

Chairman Banks Board Bureau (BBB)

Lieutenant General PP Malhotra Director General National Cadet Corps (NCC)

Prakash Apte part-time Chairman Kotak Mahindra Bank

Lt Gen Bipin Puri Senior Colonel

Commandant

Army Medical Corps (AMC)

Rahul Bhatia Interim Chief Executive

Officer

IndiGo

Mario Abdo Benitez President Paraguay

Mukhammedkaliy Abulgaziyev Prime Minister Kyrgyzstan

Prince Charles President Commonwealth Nations

Viktor Orban Prime Minister Hungary

Carlos Alvarado Quesada President Costa Rica

Former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was elected chairman of the Boao Forum for Asia, which is currently

underway in China s Hainan province. Ban replaced Japan s Yasuo Fukuda.

The UN World Tourism Organization has appointed FC Barcelona s Argentine star Lionel Messi as an ambassador

to promote responsible tourism.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has appointed its first ever woman firefighter. Taniya Sanyal from Kolkata is

currently training in the capital and will be joining her team in a month.

Senior advocate Indu Malhotra has become the first woman lawyer to be elevated directly from the Bar as the

Supreme Court Judge.








Former CIA Director Mike Pompeo has been sworn in as the 70th US secretary of state after the Senate voted to

confirm him, 57-42.

Awards and Recognitions

Award Name Person/Institution Extra Knowledge

2017 Saraswati Samman Sitanshu Yashaschandra

India Talent Management Award Rana Kapoor MD & CEO Yes Bank

2018 Fortune World s Greatest

Leaders

The Students of Marjory Stoneman

Douglas and other schools of US

that witnessed gun violence.

BCCI s CK Nayudu Lifetime

Achievement Award

Diana Edulji and

Pankaj Roy (posthumously)

Veteran actor Dharmendra and filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani will be conferred with the prestigious Raj Kapoor

Lifetime Achievement and Raj Kapoor Special Contribution awards, respectively.

Veteran filmmaker Rakesh Roshan will be felicitated with a Lifetime Achievement honour at the Dadasaheb

Phalke Film Foundation Awards for his contribution as a producer, director, screenwriter, editor and actor in

Hindi films.

Vitabiotics, UK s number leading vitamin company, has been honoured with The Queen s Award for

Enterprise in Innovation for its Perfectil beauty Vitamin range.

Kutch-based Bhuj Mercantile Cooperative Bank has bagged the prestigious Banco Award for best performing

cooperative bank.

Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, veteran playback singer Asha Bhosle (lifetime achievement) and veteran

actor Anupam Kher (Special Award) were conferred the Master Deenanath Mangeshkar Smruti Pratishthan

Awards .

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has been awarded the National Intellectual Property

(IP) Award 2018 in the category Top R&D Institution/Organisation for Patents and Commercialisation.

Leading Indian agrochemical company, Parijat Industries (India) Pvt Ltd, has recently been conferred with

the top level National Safety Awards, Sarvashrestha Suraksha Puraskar gold award for the year 2017.

RECOGNITIONS

President Ram Nath Kovind was conferred with the Condecoracion, the highest honour accorded to a non-

citizen by the government of Equatorial Guinea while his visit there.

Poet, litterateur, author, lyricist and activist Javed Akhtar has been awarded the Shanti Doot award by one

of the most revered temples in India — the Sankat Mochan Hanuman Mandir in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh.

Actress Tamannaah Bhatia, who has worked in both the Hindi film industry and southern cinema, was

felicitated with Sridevi Award at the Zee Apsara Awards.

Electronic dance music artiste and music producer Anish Sood became the first Indian artiste to win the Best

Electronica/Dance Single at the 16th Annual Independent Music Awards (IMA) in London.








Mahir Pandhi, an aspiring model from New Delhi, has won Top Model India , which showcases diverse

talent and breaks stereotypes. The show gave a chance to 12 aspiring models to transform into

supermodels.

Google paid tribute to India s first superstar K.L. Saigal with a special Doodle to mark his 114th birth

anniversary. Born on April 11, 1904 in Jammu, Kundanlal Saigal was considered the first superstar of the

Hindi film industry. He sang 200 film and non-film songs that continue to enthrall generations of music

lovers even today.

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, human rights lawyer Indira Jaising and architect Balkrishna

Doshi have been named by Fortune magazine as the World s Greatest Leaders of 2018 at the 24th, 20th and

43rd places respectively.

65th National Film Awards for 2017 The 65th National Film Awards 2017 were announced on April 13, 2018 by the jury panel headed by eminent

filmmaker Shri Shekhar Kapur.

List of Awards

Best Feature Film: Village Rockstars (Assamese)

Best Actress: Sridevi for MOM

Best Actor: Ridhhi Sen for Nagar Kirtan

Best Director: Jayaraj for Bhayanakam

Best Supporting Actress: Divya Dutta for Irada

Best Supporting Actor: Fahad Fazil for Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum

Best Child Artiste: Bhanita Das for Village Rockstars

Best Popular Film:Baahubali: The Conclusion

Dada Saheb Phalke Award: Vinod Khanna

Best Action Direction:Baahubali 2

Best Choreography:Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (song: Gori Tu Latth Maar)

Best Special Effects:Baahubali: The Conclusion

Special Jury Award:Nagar Kirtan (Bengali)

Best Debut Film Of A Director: Sinjar (Jesari)

Best Short Film Fiction:Maiyat

Best Film On Family Values: Happy Birthday

Best Film for National Integration:Dhappa

Best Educational Film: The Girls We Were And The Women We Are

Best Anthropological Film: Name Place Animal Thing, Slave Genesis

Best Cinematography: Eye Test, Don

Best Adventure Film:Ladakh Chale Rickshaw Waale

Best Editing:Mrityubhoj

Best Music:Sword Of Liberty

Best Narration:The Lion Of Ladhakh

Best Book On Cinema: Matamgi Manipur

Best Critic On Cinema Award: Giridhar Jha, Special Mention to Sunil Mishra

Best Lyrics:March 22 (song: Mutthu Ratna)

Best Music Director: A R Rahman for Kaatru Veliyidai








Best Background Score: A R Rahman for MOM

Best Make-Up Artiste: Ram Razak for Nagar Kirtan

Best Costume: Govinda Mondal for Nagar Kirtan

Best Production Design: Santosh Rajan for Take Off

Best Editing:Village Rockstars

Best Sound Designer and Re-Recordist: Samuel George, Justin A Jose for Walking With The Film

Best On Location Sound Recordist:Unrserved

Best Location Sound: Mallika Das for Village Rockstars

Best Original Screenplay:Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum

Best Adapted Screenplay:Bhayankam

Best Playback Singer (Female): Shasha Tirupati for Vaan Varuvaan) from Kaatru Veliyidai

Best Playback Singer (Male): Yesudas for Poyi Maranja Kaalam from Viswasapoorvam Mansoor

Special Mention Awards: Pankaj Tripathy for Newton

Best Regional Films Awards (Best Hindi Film) :Newton

Dada Saheb Phalke Awards 2018 Winners List

Best Actor(Male): Akshay Kumar for Padman (Jury) and for Toilet: Ek Prem Katha

Best Actor(Female): Bhumi Pednekar for Toilet Ek Prem Katha

Most versatile actress: Manisha Koirala

Lifetime achievement award: Rakesh Roshan

Saraswatibai Dadasaheb Phalke Best actress (Lifetime) award: Farida Jalal

Best actress in a leading role (Padman) – Sonam Kapoor

Best actor in a character role – Rajesh Sharma

Best Playback singer (Female) – Neeti Mohan

Best TV anchor- Aditya Narayan Jha

Best entertainer (TV) – Manish Paul

Best playback singer (Jury)- Bhumi Trivedi

Best Stage Anchor- Siddharth Kannan

Best producer (short films)- Sandip Marwah

Most Entertaining Film (Sonu ki Titu ki Sweety) – Luv Ranjan

Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence Awards 2018

Excellence Awards are given out by Mumbai-based Dadasaheb Phalke Foundation. Until last year, the awards were

known as Dadasaheb Phalke Academy Awards.

Best actor (male): Shahid Kapoor

Best actor people s choice award: Ranveer Singh

Entertainer of the year: Kartik Aryan

Best actress (critics): Aditi Rao Hydari

Lifetime achievement award: Simi Garewal

Pride of Indian cinema: Sanjay Dutt

Path breaking producer of the year: Anushka Sharma and Karnesh Sharma

Best director: Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari






http://www.bollywoodlife.com/news-gossip/jennifer-winget-karan-patel-hina-khan-tv-celebs-who-received-dadasaheb-phalke-excellence-awards-2018/



Outstanding performance male: Rajkummar Rao, Rana Daggubati

Outstanding performance female: Tamannaah Bhatia, Kriti Sanon

Promising face of the year: Aahana Kumra

Best actor (male) Marathi: Vaibhav Tatwawaadi

Best actor (female) Marathi: Pooja Sawant

Best fashion designer of the year: Sanjukta Dutta

Socially conscious performance of the year: Rani Mukherjee

Best comic role: Tusshar Kapoor

Entertaining performance in reality show (Bigg Boss): Hina Khan

Best actress drama award: Jennifer Winget

Best actor (male) Television: Karan Patel

Best reality show judge: Shilpa Shetty

Best talk show host: Karan Johar

Best lyricist: Manoj Muntashir

Best performance in a short film: Divya Khosla Kumar

Iconic contribution towards music: Hans Raj Hans

Comic performer of the year: Sumona Chakraborty

Versatile singer: Rani Hazarika

Social and business entrepreneur of the year: Jaya Misra

Best talk show host award for Koffee with Karan : Karan Johar

Pulitzer Prize 2018 The Pulitzer Prize are awarded yearly in twenty-one categories for achievements in newspaper, magazine and online

journalism, literature, and musical composition in the United States.

List of Awards

Pulitzer Prize For Public Service (Jointly awarded to): The New York Times(for reporting led by Jodi Kantor

and Megan Twohey) and The New Yorker (for reporting by Ronan Farrow)

Pulitzer Prize For Breaking News Reporting – Staff of The Press Democrat

Pulitzer Prize For Investigative Reporting – Staff of The Washington Post

Pulitzer Prize For Explanatory Reporting (Jointly awarded to): The staffs of The Arizona Republic and USA

Today network

Pulitzer Prize For Local Reporting – Staff of The Cincinnati Enquirer

Pulitzer Prize For National Reporting (Jointly awarded to): The staffs of The New York Times and The

Washington Post

Pulitzer Prize For International Reporting – Clare Baldwin, Andrew R.C. Marshall, and Manuel Mogato of

Reuters

Pulitzer Prize For Feature Writing – Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah, freelancing for GQ

Pulitzer Prize For Commentary – John Archibald, of the Alabama Media Group

Pulitzer Prize For Criticism – Jerry Saltz of New York magazine

Pulitzer Prize For Editorial Writing – Andie Dominick of The Des Moines Register

Pulitzer Prize For Editorial Cartooning – Jake Helpern and Michael Sloan, freelancing for The New York Times








Pulitzer Prize For Breaking News Photography – Ryan Kelly of The Daily Progress

Pulitzer Prize For Feature Photography – photography staff of Reuters

Pulitzer Prize For Fiction – Less, by Andrew Sean Greer

Pulitzer Prize For Drama – Cost of Living, by Martyna Majok

Pulitzer Prize For History – The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea, by Jack E. Davis

Pulitzer Prize For Biography – Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, by Caroline Fraser

Pulitzer Prize For Poetry – Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016, by Frank Bidart

Pulitzer Prize For General Nonfiction – Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, by

James Forman Jr.

Pulitzer Prize For Music – DAMN. by Kendrick Lamar

Conference and Summits

Summit Place Extra Knowledge

1st Meeting of National Council on India s

Nutrition Challenges under POSHAN Abhiyaan

New Delhi

16th International Energy Forum Ministerial

Meeting

New Delhi

Global Logistics Summit New Delhi

Scientific Convention on World Homeopathy Day New Delhi

1st International SME Convention New Delhi

Taiwan Expo New Delhi Organized by Taiwan External

Trade Development Council

(TAITRA).

India-Wiesbaden Conference 2018 New Delhi Theme: Securing Global Supply

Chains through Government-

Industry Partnerships towards

Effective Implementation of

UNSC Resolution 1540 .

Global IT Challenge for Youth with Disabilities

(GITC), 2018

New Delhi 8th-11th November, 2018.

3rd 5G India Congress 2018 New Delhi

India Mobile Congress Aerocity, New Delhi To be held in October 2018.

Theme: NEW DIGITAL

HORIZONS: Connect. Create.

Innovate.

1st International SME Convention 2018 New Delhi Theme: Business Beyond

Borders

Secure India Conclave New Delhi

3rd Island Development Agency (IDA) Meeting New Delhi

15th World Rural Health Conference New Delhi Theme: Healing the Heart of

Healthcare: Leaving No One

Behind .

Home Expo India 2018 Greater Noida, UP

Happy Cities Summit 2018 Amaravati, Andhra








Pradesh

First Meeting of the NITI Forum for North East Agartala, Tripura

DefExpo India- 2018 Kancheepuram, Tamil

Nadu

Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting

(CHOGM)

London, United Kingdom

First Regional Conference of Eastern States on

Water Resources

Kolkata

Regional Conference on Urban Development:

Technological Solutions and Governance

Challenges

Ahmedabad, Gujarat

23rd Western Zonal Council Meeting Gandhinagar, Gujarat

10th Great Indian Travel Bazaar (GITB) Jaipur, Rajasthan

First India-Nordic summit Stockholm, Sweden

International conference on human rights Nepal Theme: Identifying challenges

and assessing progress:

addressing impunity and

human rights in South Asia

First international conference on Water,

Environment and Climate Change: Knowledge

Sharing and Partnership

Kathmandu, Nepal

India-Nepal Inter Governmental Committee (IGC)

Meeting

Kathmandu, Nepal Indian side led by Commerce

Secretary Rita Teaotia.

6th Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) and

Conclave of Chiefs

Tehran, Iran Navy Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba

attended the conclave to deepen engagement between navies of the two countries.

15th SCO Defence Ministers Meeting Beijing, China.

The 1st regional workshop on star rating of garbage- free cities, organized by the Ministry of Housing

and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in collaboration with the New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) was inaugurated in

New Delhi.

Morocco will host the 2021 annual meetings of the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund

(IMF).

International News

India will be the partner country for International Frankfurt Trade Fair, Ambiente 2019 to be held during

February 8-12, 2019 in Germany. India will take over the partner country globe from the Netherlands.

The Russian military has successfully tested its latest intercontinental ballistic missile Sarmat . Sarmat is

intended to replace the Soviet-designed Voyevoda, the world s heaviest ICBM known as Satan in the West.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Minister Sheikh Hasina announced she will be abolishing the quota system for

government jobs. The decision is being viewed as a victory for tens of thousands of students and job-seekers

who came out in protest against the reservation policy for special groups.








O Connell Tower of Ireland has reopened to the public here after 47 years following a bomb attack. It is the

tallest tower of Ireland.

China has aimed at making the free trade port system and operational mode of Hainan more mature by

2035.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has inaugurated the first unit of 969- MW Neelum Jehlum

Hydropower Project built with the financial and technical support of China in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

Nepal observed the famous Bisket Jatra in Bhaktapur and other parts of Kathmandu valley. The nine day

annual festival marks beginning of Nepali New Year.

According to the annual State of Global Air Report, published the Health Effects Institute(HEI), more than

95% of the world s population is breathing unhealthy air. India has largest numbers of people (560 million)

exposed to household air pollution in 2016 followed by 416 million in China.

Three-time Oscar winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg has created history by becoming the first director

whose films have globally taken in over $10 billion.

NASA has launched its newest planet-hunting spacecraft, Transit Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) from Cape

Canaveral in Florida to find thousands of new worlds beyond our Solar System.

Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown, 14, has become the youngest person to be named as one of the

world s 100 most influential people by TIME.

Singapore Airlines is set to launch the world s first non-stop flight, Airbus A350-900ULR (Ultra Long-Range),

with almost 20 hours in the air, by the end of this year connecting Singapore to New York.

Argentina s central bank (Central Bank of Argentina) has raised interest rates by 300 bps from 27.25 per cent

to 30.25 per cent to fight inflationary pressures.

National News Prime Minister of Nepal KP Sharma Oli arrived in India on a three-day State visit. During his visit, he was

presented an Honorary degree at GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology in the capital city of

Uttarakhand Dehradun.

PM Modi announced that on the occasion of Ambedkar Jayanti a Gram Swaraj Abhiyan would be

organised starting from 14th April to 5th May, 2018. This Abhiyan is being undertaken for reaching out to

poor households, spreading awareness about government welfare schemes and other people centric

initiatives.

The Central government has banned the import of Oxytocin and asked the customs department to prevent

any attempt to smuggle it into the country.

The government has amended Income Tax rules that will now allow transgenders to be recognised as an

independent category of applicants for obtaining a Permanent Account Number (PAN) for their tax-related

transactions.

The Centre released Rs 23,443 crore to the states under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment

Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) as part of the its early spending push. Funds released would be used to

undertake priority work under water conservation measures.

Union Commerce and Industry and Civil Aviation Minister, Suresh Prabhu launched digital initiatives by

Export Inspection Council (EIC) for ease of export at New Delhi.EIC is the official export certification body of

Government of India and has launched this flagship project of Digital India Initiative to keep pace with

changing dynamics of the world.








The Union Minister for Railways and Coal Shri Piyush Goyal launched UTTAM App for Coal Quality

Monitoring. UTTAM stands for – Unlocking Transparency by Third Party Assessment of Mined Coal

(uttam.coalindia.in). The Ministry of Coal and Coal India Limited (CIL) developed UTTAM,aims to provide an

App for all citizens and coal consumers to monitor the process of Third Party Sampling of coal across CIL

subsidiaries.

The Union Home Minister ShriRajnath Singh launched the web-based application e-FRRO (e-Foreigners

Regional Registration Office).

Ministry of Tourism in close collaboration with Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)

launched Adopt a Heritage Project to provide world class tourist facilities at the various natural/cultural

heritage sites, monuments and other tourist sites to make them tourist friendly, enhance their tourist

potential and cultural importance in a planned and phased manner across the country.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) launched Project Dhoop , an initiative aimed at

shifting the school assembly time to noon to ensure maximum absorption of Vitamin D in students through

natural sunlight.

All tobacco products and cigarette packs will have a national toll-free number printed on them from

September 2018 to assist users to quit addiction. The number is – 1XXX-XX-2356.

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has launched the much-awaited Virtual ID which will be a

random 16-digit number mapped to a person s Aadhaar number.

The UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) has recently replaced existing QR code on eAadhaar

having resident s demographic details now with a secured digitally-signed QR Code which contains

demographics along with photograph of the Aadhaar holder.

Gobardhan Yojna, a central government scheme for managing and converting cattle dung and solid waste

into manure and biogas, launched nationally from Haryana s Karnal District on April 30.

Gobar is an acronym for Galvanising Organic Bio Agro Resources. Through the scheme, the government aims

to ensure cleanliness in villages and generate energy by converting cattle dung and solid agricultural waste

into compost and biogas.

The scheme was announced by Finance Minister ArunJaitley in his budget speech this year. The government

aims to cover nearly 700 districts under the scheme in this financial year.

• To provide seamless vehicular movement for enhancing trade, business, health, education and tourism

between Indian, Myanmar and Thailand, the National Highways Authority of India has signed an agreement

for upgradation of Yagyi – Kalewa section of highway (Milepost 40/0 to Milepost 115/5) in Myanmar to two

lane with earthen shoulder.

• The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has signed an agreement with the Ministry of External Affairs, for

preparation of a Detailed Project Report (DPR) on the first phase for development of the Kalay Airport as a

green airport in Myanmar.

• One-stop bill payment platform Bharat BillPay registered a 75 per cent year-on- year growth in the number

of transactions at 31.5 million in March this year. The platform had recorded 18 million transactions in the

same month last year.

• E-way bill requirement for intra-state movement of goods has been rolled out in 5 states i.e. Gujarat,

Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala. The electronic e-way bill for inter-state

movement of goods valued over Rs 50,000 was rolled out on April 1.








• Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, re-elected to the Rajya Sabha in March, took oath for his new term

on April 15, 2018. He has been elected to the Rajya Sabha from Uttar Pradesh.

• The Minister of Commerce & Industry Shri Suresh Prabhu launched the FIEO GlobalLinker– a digital platform

for MSME exporters to digitise their businesses and join a global community of growing businesses.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO).

• The Bombay High Court has barred Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) from using water from Pavana

dam for maintaining Pune ground for Indian Premier League (IPL) 2018 matches till further orders.

• Karan Johar has become the first-ever Bollywood filmmaker to get a place at the famous Madame

Tussauds. The process has begun in London and it will take about six months for the wax figurine to be

ready.

• Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated the two-day Civil Services Day event in New Delhi on

April 20.

• The Government has inaugurated the new office of Central Project Monitoring Unit for the e-Vidhan

project of the Government at the Parliament House Annexe.

• 4 Indians feature on Time s 100 Most Influential People of 2018- Virat Kohli, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella,

Bollywood star Deepika Padukone and Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal.

• The Centre Government has approved the ordinance to award death sentence to the rapists of children

below the age of 12. The government has cleared the amendment in the Protection of Children from

Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

• Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar released three books based on Mahatma Gandhi s Champaran

movement of 1917 namely - Mister M K Gandhi Ki Champaran Diary, Champaran Andolan 1917 and Pir

Muhammad Munis: Kalam Ka Satyagrahi.

• Diu Smart City has become the first city in India that runs on 100% renewable energy during daytime

setting a new benchmark for other cities to become clean and green. Diu had been importing 73% of its

power from Gujarat until last year.

• Suresh Prabhu, chairs the first meeting of the think tank on the Framework for National Policy on E-

commerce.

• Central government has launched m-Awas Mobile App for allotment of General Pool Residential

Accommodation (GPRA) in Delhi. This allotment of government accommodation will be carried out

through Automated System of Allotment (ASA). This app is developed by National Informatics Center

(NIC).

• The HRD ministry launched 2nd Unnat Bharat Abhiyan. IIT Delhi has been designated to function as the

national coordinating institute for this programme. Under the programe students from 750 higher

educational institutions from across the country will adopt villages and visit them to get acquainted

with lifestyle of people there and the problems faced by them.

• Government of India has awarded Letter of Intent (LoI) to 9 agencies for 22 monuments under Adopt a

Heritage: Apni Dharohar, Apni Pehchaan scheme to protect, preserve and market the heritage of India.

• The power ministry data shows that all 5,97,464 inhabited villages in the country have been electrified

under Modi government.








• On April 29, 2018, Sikkim Chief Minister and Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) founder Pawan Kumar

Chamling surpassed record for former West Chief Minister Jyoti Basu to become the longest serving CM

of any Indian state. Chamling has been CM since December 12, 1994 and completed his 24th year.

• The National Disaster Response Authority (NDMA) conducted its first-ever Mock Exercise on Bio-

Disasters at the Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Airport in Patna. The aim of the 5 days training programme was

enhancing the preparedness of Airport Emergency Handlers (AEHs) to respond to CBRN emergencies at

the airports.

• The Dalmia Bharat Group has adopted the Red Fort for five years under the government s Adopt a

Heritage scheme.

• PM Narendra Modi launched the Van Dhan Scheme of Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED during the

celebrations of Ambedkar Jayanti at Bijapur, Chattisgarh on 14th April, 2018 for socio-enconomic

development of the tribals living in forests. Under Van Dhan, 10 Self Help Groups of 30 Tribal gatherers

would be constituted.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a summer internship linked to the Swachh Bharat campaign

from May 1, 2018 to July 31, 2018. The internship is an initiative of the Ministry of Drinking Water and

Sanitation (MDWS), Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and Ministry of Youth Affairs

and Sports (MYAS).

• Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani inaugurated the National Media Faculty

Development Centre at the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC) in New Delhi.

• Swedish-Swiss multinational giant ABB has commissioned India s first industrial solar microgrid at its

Vadodara manufacturing facility in Gujarat. The Vadodara factory is ABB s largest facility in India.

State News

Andhra Pradesh

The Andhra Pradesh government will soon constitute a Happiness Commission that will take up a series of

programmes to promote happiness in the state. AP became the second state in the country to introduce

an exclusive ministry for happiness in April 2017. Madhya Pradesh is the first.

East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh is all set to become the country s first LED street light district .

Tata Lockheed Martin Aerostructures (TLMAL) has inaugurated Indias first metal-to- metal bonding facility at

Adibatla, Hyderabad.

In a first of its kind in India initiative, IT major Tech Mahindra has established Andhra Pradesh Cyber Security

Operations Centre (APCSOC) in Vijayawada which is equipped with predictive threat analytics capabilities.

Assam

• The two-day Assam Spring Festival began at the Manas National Park where visitors will get to experience

the state s local food, music, handloom and handicrafts.

• M Venkaiah Naidu launched a health scheme of the Assam government named Atal Amrit Abhiyan that

offers free medical care of up to Rs 2 lakh for every individual from Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above

Poverty Line (APL) families. Rs 400 crore has been earmarked for the scheme in the financial year 2018-19

Bihar








• Prime Minister NarendraModi launched India s first all-electric high-speed locomotive in Bihar.The electric

locomotive, with a 12,000 horsepower (HP) was flagged off from Bihar s Madhepura loco factory.

Chhattisgarh

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has approved establishment of the first multipurpose Van DhanVikas Kendra

on the pilot basis for establishment in Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh.

Chhattisgarh bagged the State of the Year Award under the business leader category as part of the India

Business Leadership for the remarkable increase in business and services activities in various sectors.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first health centre under Ayushman Bharat Scheme in

Chhattisgarh s Bijapur on April 14.

Delhi

With an aim to combat the rising levels of air pollution in Delhi-NCR region, petrol pumps in the capital from

1st April 2018 started supplying ultra-clean Bharat Stage VI grade fuel (both petrol and diesel).

This move makes New Delhi the first city in the country to switch from BS-IV grade fuels to BS-VI (equivalent

to fuel meeting Euro-VI emission norms).

• The Delhi government launched the Mission Buniyaad scheme to improve learning levels of children from

classes 3 to 9.

Gujarat

• Gujarat govt. approved setting up a 5,000 MW capacity solar park at the Dholera Special Investment Region

(SIR), which would be the largest such entity in the world after its completion.

• Gujarat government has come up with a project named Pocket Cop under which smartphones containing

database of people with a criminal background would be distributed to 4900 police personnel in the state to

improve crime detection rate.

Haryana

• Haryana state government has decided to provide special benefits, including nutritional support, to

tuberculosis patients in an effort to eliminate the infectious disease by 2025.

• Haryana government has come up with Water ATM Policy to provide clean drinking water to people at

public places in cities. Residents of cities in Haryana can now look forward to having a water ATM every 400

metres.

• The Haryana government has made international shooter Gauri Sheoran as brand ambassador for its

Measles and Rubella (MR) vaccination campaign.

Himachal Pradesh

With an aim to promote breastfeeding, Himachal Pradesh Government launched Mother s Absolute

Affection (MAA) programme in the state. The aim of the programme was to make people aware about the

importance of breastfeeding.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur announced that the Suketi Fossil Park in Sirmaur district will

be developed through Asian Development Bank (ADB) assistance.

Jammu Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir s Budgam district has been shortlisted for Prime Minister Narendra Modi s excellence

award for promoting digital payments and cashless economy.








Kerala

In an effort to boost agricultural production and attract more people to farming, Kerala state government is

planning to launch a community radio at Kuttanad, also known as the `rice bowl of Kerala, to keep them

abreast of the latest developments in the sector. The Kuttanad Farm Radio will reportedly be the first

community radio in the country.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan launched Pravasi pension scheme. The scheme gives those hailing from

Kerala but living outside the state or country, a pension of Rs. 2,000 a month. People over the age of 60

years are eligible for the pension. To avail the scheme, one needs to pay Rs. 100 every month for five years.

Madhya Pradesh

Six years after it applied for the Geographical Indications (GI) tag for Kadaknath, a chicken breed whose

black meat is in demand in some quarters, Madhya Pradesh has got the coveted label.

Madhya Pradesh has bagged the Most Film Friendly State Award by the central government for its efforts to

ease filming in the state by creating a well-structured website, film friendly infrastructure and more.

Prime Minister NarendraModi launched the Rashtriya Gram SwarajAbhiyan in Mandla in Madhya Pradesh.

He unveiled a Road Map for overall development of tribals in the state during the next five years.

Maharashtra

India received its first LNG cargo from the US under a long-term supply deal when a ship carrying super-

cooled natural gas arrived at Dabhol in Maharashtra.

Mumbai, also known as the financial capital of India, has added another feather to its cap, becoming the

first city of the country to have as many as eight women police station in-charges.

The Centre, Maharashtra Government and World Bank signed a 420 million dollar project to help small and

marginals farmers in the Marathwada and Vidarbha region of the State.

Maharashtra state government has introduced free chemotherapy facility in 10 districts from June. The state

government will include more districts once the scheme is rolled out in these districts successfully.

Maharashtra government has made Aadhaar cards mandatory to avail any state-run free nutrition scheme

in a bid to bring in transparency and enable beneficiaries to get their entitlements directly in a convenient

and seamless manner.

The Maharashtra government led by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has set up an institution named

QUEST in Mumbai to evaluate and quantify special development budget allocations and their impact on

tribal development.

An exhibition titled Dhvani se Śabd aur Chinh was inaugurated at National Gallery of Modern Art, Mumbai

on April 21, 2018 speaking about artists who practiced in Southern states as well as artists who were born

there or had family trees and moved up North to become the greatest practitioners and pedagogues.

The Maharashtra government signed an MoU with the British Council to strengthen educational and cultural

cooperation.

Manipur

Manipur celebrated much-awaited five-day Shirui Lily State Festival in the Ukhrul district headquarters. The

festival aims to spread awareness and conserve the endangered state flower Shirui Lily , while also promote

the hill district as a potential tourist destination.

Odisha








People across Odisha celebrated Utkal Divas on 1st April 2018 to commemorate the formation of the state

in 1936.

Union Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship

ShriDharmendraPradhan, inaugurated the world-class Interpretation Centre and tourist facilities at Konark

Sun Temple at Konark.

Tamil Nadu

In a bid to use technology for farmers benefit, the Tamil Nadu Government has come out with a bi-lingual

mobile application Uzhavan (farmer) that will allow ryots to have access to nine types of services, including

details about their crop insurance.

Telangana

Telangana government has announced 2 percent reservation in state government jobs for sportspersons.

Uttar Pradesh

The much awaited India s longest elevated road was finally inaugurated by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi

Adityanath. The 10.3 km long Hindon Elevated Road s primary objectivity was to ease traffic movement from

Ghaziabad to New Delhi and vice versa.

The Uttar Pradesh Government launched the Ganga Hariteema Yojana, also known as Ganga Greenery

scheme, on in the 27 districts of Uttar Pradesh that are located on the bank of river Ganga.

Uttar Pradesh Government has ordered all government hospitals and orphanages to establish SHISHU

SWAGAT KENDRA- PALNA and put up cradles in front of their buildings so that parents can give up unwanted

babies safely.

Uttarakhand

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat launched a campaign called Devbhoomi dialogue at his

official residence calling upon them to look for self-employment opportunities in their chosen fields.

West Bengal

The West Bengal government has rolled out Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee s dream project Rupashree

which provides one time financial support to the marriages of poor women.

West Bengal government has given its approval to State Forest Department to apply for coveted Ramsar Site

recognition under Ramsar Convention to Sunderban Reserve Forest.

Finance and Banking News

Reserve Bank of India has decided to set up Data Sciences Lab to improve its forecasting, surveillance and

early warning detection abilities which will aid policy formulation.

The Reserve Bank of India switched back to the gross domestic product (GDP)-based measure to offer its

growth estimates from the gross value added (GVA) methodology, citing global best practices.

The State Bank of India (SBI) will be investing a total of Rs 80 billion in the Arun III hydropower project of

Nepal, which has 900 megawatts (MW) electricity production capacities.








The National Bank of Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) has come out with a Prompt Corrective

Action (PCA) Framework framework for regional rural banks (RRBs), much like the revised one the RBI

unveiled for scheduled commercial banks nearly a year ago.

The Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has slapped Rs 9 crore penalty on Bank of Baroda for failing to adhere

to anti-money laundering norms, and not having an effective system to report suspicious transactions linked

to the Rs 6,000 crore scam in its Delhi-based branch.

RBI imposed monetary penalty worth Rs. 3 crore on IDBI Bank for not complying with the outlined norms

related to reporting of bad loans.

ICICI Bank has launched a cross-border remittance facility Social Pay that can be used by NRIs for sending

money to their friends and family in India through social media like WhatsApp and e-mail.

IndusInd Bank has become the first lender to start using WhatsApp enterprise solution to provide basic

banking services to customers. Using the widely-used messaging service, customers can check their balance,

obtain a mini statement, check reward points as well as update Aadhaar.

Jio Payments Bank Limited has commenced operations as a payments bank with effect from April 3,

2018.Telecom major BhartiAirtel was the first to begin payment bank services in November 2016.

RBI dropped Axis Bank, which has been one of the largest importers of bullion, from the list of lenders

allowed to ship in gold and silver for the current fiscal year.

SIDBI launched Samridhhi- the virtual assistant on banks revamped universal loan portal

www.udyamimitra.in. A Bankability Kit (brought in partnership with Bank of Baroda and IDBI Bank) was

also launched.

Leading public sector bank, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) as part of their Customer First initiative launched

Internet of Things (IoT)-based customer feedback application on a pilot basis at its Cathedral branch in

Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Three trade receivable discounting systems (TReDS)—digital invoice discounting platforms—approved so far

by the RBI have jointly implemented a blockchain solution, which is expected to help reduce frauds in bills

discounting or receivable financing.

The platforms—RXIL, A.TReDS and M1xchange—had been set up to bring together buyers, sellers and

financiers for discounting the MSME invoices and provide them with timely funding.

This is billed as India s first live blockchain implementation in the enterprise financial segment.US-based

MonetaGo has designed and implemented the production solution.

• National E-Repository Limited (NERL), a group company of National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange

Limited (NCDEX ), has brought in ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank on board as the repository participants for

pledge finance.

• As part of the drive to double income of farmers by 2022, the government has raised the authorised capital

of NABARD by six times to Rs 300 billion (from Rs 50 billion) to help it increase its lending to the rural

economy.

• Central Vigilance Commission has asked banks to give details of any fraud worth over Rs. 3 crore to devise a

preventive mechanism. This data is originally lying with respective banks and the Reserve Bank of India.

• Kotak Mahindra Bank has surpassed SBI to become India s second-most-valued lender after HDFC Bank in

terms of market capitalisation.

The Centre has announced the release of Rs. 120.92 crores as co-contribution towards its Atal Pension

Yojana scheme.

According to the TRA Brand Trust Report 2018, State Bank of India was the most-trusted bank (both public

and private sector) in the country and ICICI topped the chart among the private ones.








Vikram Raichura, CEO of VivaConnect along with Radhika Raichura, announced their new venture INFIN8 .

INFIN8 offers a quick and easy process of connecting potential borrowers with multiple lenders through

both online (APP and Web) and offline, through India s most premium number 8080808080.

The Union Cabinet has approved a proposal for the promulgation of the Fugitive Economic Offenders

Ordinance 2018 that seeks to confiscate properties and assets of economic offenders, like Nirav Modi, who

flee the country to avoid facing criminal prosecution.

Private sector lender ICICI Bank has introduced first of its kind digital form which will help open current

accounts in a few hours.

Private sector lender Yes Bank has received Reserve Bank of India s (RBI) approval to open two

representative offices in London and Singapore. Its first representative office was opened in Abu Dhabi in

April 2015

Total deposits in Jan Dhan accounts crossed Rs 80,000 crore mark with more people joining the flagship

financial inclusion programme. The deposits, which have been steadily rising since March 2017, were at Rs

80,545.70 crore on April 11, 2018.

National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) has announced the launch of its e – Gsec platform for facilitating

the non-competitive bidding in Government of India Dated Securities (G-Sec) and Treasury Bills (T-Bills).

HDFC Bank has launched Interactive Robotic Assistant (IRA) 2.0, an interactive humanoid at its Koramangala

Branch in Bengaluru, Karnataka.

Reserve Bank of India has announced that it is withdrawing the restriction that limited foreign investors to

only investing in government and corporate bonds with tenures of three years or more.

India collected Rs 7.41 trillion in taxes in the first year of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for the period

ending March 31, 2018.

MOUs

A Memorandum of Undertaking (MoU) tailor-made to suit the requirements of serving soldiers, pensioners

and families, was signed between the Indian Army and HDFC Bank on the defence salary package.

SoftBank has signed a $930-million deal with China s energy conglomerate Golden Concord (GCL) to produce

and sell solar equipment in India. The project will have a 4 gigawatt-capacity and will produce solar ingots,

silicon wafers, batteries, and components.

A Memorandum of Undertaking (MoU) was signed between the Indian Army and Axis Bank on the Defence

Salary Package on 13 Apr 2018.Under the current MoU, the Army personnel will get free personal accident

death cover and free permanent total disability cover of Rs 30 lakh and free educational cover of up to Rs 2

Lakh for children between the age of 12 and 20 years. Recently, Indian Army has also signed a MoU with

HDFC bank.

The Indian Army renewed its MOU with Axis Bank, to offer Power Salute , a salary account, exclusively

designed for the Army personnel.

Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has entered into an agreement for information utility services with the National

E-Governance Services Limited (NeSL) to enable high-quality, authenticated information about debts and

defaults; which will have more transparency in maintaining the list of borrowers, debtors, creditors and loan

defaulters.








First bi-monthly policy review of fiscal

This is the fourth policy review in succession that the Reserve Bank of India s (RBI) six-member Monetary Policy

Committee (MPC) has kept the repo, or short-term interest rate for commercial banks, unchanged.

The RBI also revised downwards inflation in Q4 of FY18 from 5.1 per cent to 4.5 per cent.

RBI estimated that the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth for FY20 will range from 7.4 to 7.9 percent.

Current Monetary Policy Rates:

Repo Rate: Unchanged at 6%

Revrese Repo Rate: Unchanged at 5.75%

Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) Rate: Unchanged at 6.25%

Bank Rate: Unchanged at 6.25%

Cash Reserve Ratio: Unchanged at 4%

Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR): Unchanged at 19.5%

Business News Private sector lender IndusInd Bank has received RBI s approval to buy the securities services arm of IL&FS.

After conducting a seven-month-long pilot in India, Amazon Business announced the expansion of its Global

Selling programme by launching B2B selling for Indian exporters.

UC Browser has launched India s first women-only news channel where they aim to show women related

content, based on relationships, education, health, fashion and lifestyle.

M-commerce play, Myntra has acquired Witworks, a Bengaluru based technology startup, focused on

producing smart wearable devices and their underlying software.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country s largest IT outsourcing company has emerged as the first

Indian listed company to cross the $100-billion mark in terms of market capitalisation (m-cap).

US wireless carriers T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp. have inked about a $26 billion deal to form a

combined entity under the name T-Mobile. The agreement would leave just three major wireless carriers in

the US namely- T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T.

Economy News The Asian Development Bank (ADB) noted that the Indian economy is set to expand by:

7.3% in 2018-19

7.6% in 2019-20

The World Bank has predicted a growth rate of

7.3 percent in 2018

7.5 percent in 2019 and 2020.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects India s economy to grow at

7.4 per cent in 2018 from 6.7 per cent in 2017

7.8 percent in 2019.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said it expects India s gross domestic product (GDP) to grow at

7.3-7.7 per cent during the 2018-19 financial year.








Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel has said the country s economy growth is expected to

accelerate at 7.4 percent in the current fiscal year to March 2019 after a resilient performance in the

second half of the previous year.

India has been recording the highest growth rate amongst the Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa

(BRICS) economies, as per report of KPMG titled India Soars Higher . As per the report, Indian economy is

likely to grow at 7.4 per cent in 2018.

Global credit rating agency Fitch has projected India s growth at 7.3 per cent in current the fiscal and further

to 7.5 per cent in 2019-20. It has affirmed India s sovereign rating at BBB- with stable outlook, saying that

the country s medium-term growth potential is strong. BBB- rating indicates lowest investment grade.

India is now the world s sixth largest economy, displacing France according to International Monetary Fund s

World Economic Outlook (WEO) report. The five economies ahead are the United States, China, Japan,

Germany and United Kingdom.

The Indian economy likely to witness a GDP growth of 7.5 per cent this financial year (2018-19), says a

Deutsche Bank research report.

Apps Launches/ Portal/Helpline APP/Portal Company/Organisation Features/Use

Kamao (earn) AU Small Finance Bank Encourage stakeholders to refer prospective

customers, who want to open deposit accounts or get

loans, on the app and win rewards.

DARPAN (Digital

Advancement Of

Rural Post Office For A

New India)

Department of Posts

Study in India Portal HRD Ministry Promote Indian education to 200,000 international

students by 2023

Projects

Council of Ministers has given nod to form a Company for Managing Rs 770 crore World Bank funded Cold

Dam Water lifting Schemes. The firm is being called Shimla Jal Prabhandhan Nigam Limited (SJPNL).

India s second moon mission Chandrayaan-2 which is expected to be launched around October-

November 2018, is likely to cost Rs 800 crore. It includes Rs 200 crore for launching and Rs 600 crore for the

satellite.

Defence News The fifth Indo-Kyrgyzstan joint training exercise KHANJAR V culminated after a Joint Tactical Validation

Exercise and a closing ceremony held at Counter Insurgency Jungle Warfare School, Vairengte, Mizoram.

Indo-Korean joint anti-piracy, search and rescue exercise SAHYOG- HYEOBLYEOG 2018 was conducted off

the Chennai coast.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) conducted its biggest ever combat exercise (Gagan Shakti, 2018) along Pakistan

and China borders.








The Indian and Malaysian armies begins two week long joint military exercise Harimau Shakti from April 30

in dense forests of Sengai Perdik in Hulu Langat distric of Malaysia as part of efforts to bolster defence

cooperation.

Two days Coastal Security Exercise Sagar Kavach held in Kerala to strengthen and assess the loopholes in

the coastal security mechanism along Kerala shores.

The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by the Smt Nirmala Sitharaman, accorded approval to

Capital Acquisition Proposals of the Services valued at over Rs 3,687 crore.

Science & Technology

Nasa s Hubble Space Telescope has discovered the farthest individual star ever seen – an enormous blue

stellar body nicknamed Icarus located over halfway across the universe.

The star, harboured in a very distant spiral galaxy, is so far away that its light has taken nine billion years to

reach Earth.

NASA is all set for its first interplanetary launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on May 5 with

the Mars-bound InSight lander.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite

System-1I or IRNSS-1I from SatishDhawan Space Centre on Sriharikota Island.The IRNSS-1I will replace the

IRNSS-1A which was rendered ineffective as the onboard atomic clocks had failed.

Sports News

Tournament Winner Runner Up

South East Asian Women Handball

Championship (held at K.D. Singh Babu

Stadium in Lucknow, UP)

India Beat Bangladesh

Santosh Trophy football tournament (held at

the Vivekananda YuvabharatiKrirangan (Salt

Lake Stadium) in Kolkata, West Bengal)

Kerala Beat Bengal

11th Barcelona Open 2018 Rafael Nadal Stefanos Tsitsipas

Monte Carlo Masters 2018 Rafael Nadal (Spain) Kei Nishikori (Japan)

Bahrain Grand Prix 2018 German Ferrari driver Sebastian

Vettel

2018 Monterrey Open Spanish GarbiñeMuguruza

Miami Open (Men s Singles trophy) American John Isner

Miami Open title (Women s Singles trophy) American Sloane Stephens

Asian Armwrestling Championship Firuz (Tajikistan) Munkhbold (Mongolia);

Differently-abled Indian arm

wrestler Shrimant Jha

clinched the bronze medal

16th Federation Cup Junior National athletics

championship

Stuttgart Open 2018 Karolina Pliskova (Czech Coco Vandeweghe








Republic)

Azerbaijan Grand Prix 2018 Lewis Hamilton

Badminton Asian Championships 2018 (men s) Kento Momota (Japan)

Badminton Asian Championships 2018

(women s)

Tai Tzu Ying (China)

Sports

Indian women s cricket team captain Mithali Raj was adjudged Sportsperson of the Year while ace

shuttlersKidambi Srikanth and P V Sindhu bagged the best senior male and female athletes at the Telangana

Sports Journalists Association annual awards for 2017.

Pullela Gopichand was given best coach of the year award while triple Olympian and former national

Hockey player N Mukesh Kumar was honoured with the Lifetime Achievement award at the event.

Both Indian captains of men and women s cricket team, ViratKohli and Mithali Raj were named among

Wisden s leading cricketers of the year.

Ace Indian shuttler Kidambi Srikanth became World number 1 in men s singles category after Badminton

World Federation updated its weekly rankings. He overtook World Champion Danish Viktor Axelsen at the

top of rankings with 76,895 points.

Ankita Raina became only the third Indian woman tennis player to breach the top-200 rankings in singles.

Son of Dreams was unveiled to be the Official Mascot of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019.

Indian tennis ageless wonder Leander Paes became the most successful doubles player in the history of

Davis Cup as he combined with Rohan Bopanna to not only grab a record 43rd win but also bring the country

back in the tie against China.

The 2018 Asia Cup, that was earlier scheduled to be held in India, has now been moved out to the United

Arab Emirates.

India clinched the title of team champion in the 8th South Asian Judo Championship held in Kathmandu,

Nepal. India ended their campaign in the tournament with a total of 12 Gold medals and three Bronze

medals.

All 104 International Cricket Council (ICC) member countries will be granted T20I status. Currently, only the

18 member countries are eligible to play T20Is. All Women s team matches will be awarded T20

International status on July 1, 2018. All the men s team matches will be given T20 International status on

January 1, 2019.

India ended the 56th Belgrade International Boxing Tournament held in Serbia with three gold, five silver

and five bronze medals in all. The three gold medalists include Sumit Sangwan (91kg), Nikhat Zareen (51kg)

and Himanshu Sharma (49kg).

21st Commonwealth Games

The 2018 Commonwealth Games was held at the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia from 4 to 15 April

2018. Carrara Stadium was chosen as the venue to host the opening ceremony. The 2022 Commonwealth

Games is scheduled to be held in Birmingham, England.

PV Sindhu was India s flag-bearer at the opening ceremony of the of the 21st edition game while Mary

Kom carried India s flag at closing ceremony in Gold Coast.








Australia topped the medal table winning the most golds (80) and most medals overall (198). England and

India finished second and third respectively. With 26 Gold medals and a total of 66 medals, India finished

3rd for the tournament. Read More at: http://www.aspirantszone.com/commonwealth-games-2018-

overview/

Schemes and Policy

Scheme Name Information Outlay Sovereign Gold Bond Scheme

2018 Series-I

Interest Rate: 2.5%

Tenor: 8 years with exit option in 5th, 6th and 7th year

Minimum Size: 1 gram of gold.

Maximum Size: 4 KG for individual, 4 Kg for HUF and 20 Kg

for trusts and similar entities per fiscal (April-March)

Restructured Rashtriya Gram

Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) scheme

To be Implemented from April 2018-Marc h 2022

Aim: Making rural local bodies self-sustainable, financially

stable and more efficient.

Total cost- Rs.

7255.50 crore

Central Share -Rs.

4500 crore

State Share -Rs.

2755.50 crore.

National Bamboo Mission

(NBM)

Rs 1,290 crore

(with Rs 950 crore

as central share)

Gobardhan (Galvanizing

Organic Bio Agro Resources

Dhan) Scheme

Launched at national level from Karnal, Haryana

Government based BHIM app has introduced a new cashback scheme for customers as well as merchants. The

app now offers a cashback of Rs 51 for new customers on successful completion of their first transaction,

however, the merchants will be able to get a total of Rs 1,000 for opting BHIM app.

Committee

Head of Committee Purpose Vinay Sheel Oberoi The committee headed by former HRD Secretary VinaySheelOberoi will examine the

conduct of Class 10 and Class 12 examinations by the Central Board of Secondary

Education (CBSE) in order to prevent leak of question papers and revisit all aspects

related to security checks built into the system to ensure question papers reach

examinees without tampering.

Goutam Ghosh The West Bengal government set up a 18-member committee chaired by eminent

film director GoutamGhosh with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as the patron to

commemorate 100 years of Bengali cinema.

Bhupendrasinh

Chudasama

Human Resource Development Ministry constituted the committee under the

Chairmanship of Gujarat Education Minister ShriBhupendrasinhChudasama to

suggest the ways to make the maths subject easy.

Jayant Sinha The Government constituted a Task Force under the chairmanship of








ShriJayantSinha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation for fast-tracking the roll-out of

Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology. The Task Force will develop a roadmap

with implementable recommendations for Central as well as State Governments,

Industry and Research Institutions.

The Headquarters of the Task Force will be at Ministry of Civil Aviation, New Delhi.

Rankings

Index India’s Rank Other Information Commonwealth Innovation Index 10th Top three countries includes UK, Singapore

and Canada respectively

World Press Freedom Index 138 Top- Norway

Last- North Korea

• India has now become the largest importer of almonds in the world.

• India ranked 37th in the global startup ecosystem in 2017, according to a report released by global

startup ecosystem map Startupblink. United States topped the list.

• India is now the second-largest mobile phone producer in the world after China. According to the data

shared by Indian Cellular Association with the government, annual production of mobile phones in India

increased from 3 million units in 2014 to 11 million units in 2017.

• India emerged as the third most vulnerable country in terms of risk of cyber threats, such as malware,

spam and ransomware, in 2017, moving up one place over previous year, according to a report by

security solutions provider Symantec. The U.S. remains most vulnerable to such attacks.

• India has jumped 13 places in the last one year to be earn 130th spot in the latest annual Index of

Economic Freedom released by a top American think-tank.

• The Global Findex Report by World Bank states about 190 million Indian adults still don t have a bank

account, second only to China, despite the account ownership more than doubling from 35 per cent in

2011 to 80 per cent in 2017.

• India topped as the highest recipient of remittances globally in 2017, with its diaspora sending back $69

billion, according to the World Bank statement.

• India has been projected to be the second fastest growing country in the world for passenger traffic by

the Airports Council International (ACI) in its traffic forecasts between 2017-40. Vietnam tops with a 8.5

per cent growth rate, followed by India at 7.5 per cent and Iran at 7.3 per cent.

Rankings (Persons,Cities,Organisations and Others)

Hyderabad has been ranked the top city in the short-term Momentum Ranking of JLL s annual global survey.

The CMI Short-Term Momentum rankings published by Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) features Hyderabad,

Bengaluru, Pune and Kolkata among the top five cities with Delhi, Chennai and Mumbai also earning a spot

among the top 20 in the Global Top 30 index.

In the survey conducted across 53 airports in the country by AAI, Mangalore International Airport was

adjudged the cleanest. A team of officials from AAI had inspected the airport terminal, parking area, toilets,

commercial stalls, the road leading to the airport and customer lounge.








According to a report from OpenSignal, a wireless coverage mapping company, Patna has topped in 4G

connectivity among 20 of India s largest cities. It has emerged ahead of the likes of Bengaluru, Mumbai and

Delhi.

Online search engine Google is the most trusted Internet brand in India, followed by Facebook as per TRA

Brand Trust Report 2018.

Technology giant Microsoft India has been declared the most attractive employer brand, followed by e-

commerce giant Amazon India according to HR service provider Randstad s Employer Brand Research (REBR)

2018.

Loans from Banks

From To Amount Purpose Asian Development

Bank (ADB)

India USD 80 million

(Rs 512 crore)

To help improving skills of youth and modernising

institutes in Himachal Pradesh

World Bank (IBRD

credit)

India USD 125 (equivalent)

Innovate in India for Inclusiveness Project

Asian

Infrastructure

Investment Bank

(AIIB)

Madhya

Pradesh

USD 140 million It is the loan amount through which approximately 1.5

million rural residents in Madhya Pradesh will directly

benefit from improved livelihoods, education and

mobility.

The project will be co-financed with the World Bank.

World Bank Madhya

Pradesh

$ 210 million To improve the rural roads in Madhya Pradesh under

Madhya Pradesh Rural Connectivity Project. The project

will cover 10,510 km stretch of rural roads in Madhya

Pradesh that fall under the Chief Minister s Gram Sadak

Yojana (CMGSY) program.

Asian Development

Bank (ADB)

Uttarakhand Rs 1,700 crore For infrastructure development and creation of

sewerage treatment facilities in urban areas.

World Bank Meghalaya USD 48 million For Meghalaya Community – Led Landscapes

Management Project (MCLLMP)

The National Biopharma Mission of Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) has been

approved at a total cost of US$250 million for five years with 50% funding through World Bank Loan. The

Mission aims to make India a hub for design and development of novel, affordable and effective

biopharmaceutical products.

Miscellaneous News

The National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi in collaboration with the Embassy of Israel in India and the

Petach Tikva Museum of Art, Israel is organizing an exhibition titled To the End of Land -contemporary art

from Israel on the occasion of 25 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Google s Internet Saathi programme, which is aimed at making rural women digitally literate and enhance

their livelihood options, has touched 1.5 lakh villages so far, covering 1.5 crore women. Google is rolling out

this programme across the country in association with Tata Trust.








Books

Book Author Other Info Adi Shankaracharya: Hinduism s Greatest Thinker Shri Pavan Varma

Mister M K Gandhi Ki Champaran Diary Arvind Mohan

Champaran Andolan 1917 Ashutosh Partheshwar

Pir Muhammad Munis: Kalam Ka Satyagrahi Collected and edited by

Srikan

All Doors Opened Autobiography of

Padma Shri (Late)

Inder Sharma

My Journey from Marxism-Leninism to Nehruvian Socialism C H Hanumantha Rao

Obituaries

Name Profession Other Info Rajinder Sachar Former Delhi High Court Chief Justice

Bhimsain Khurana Filmmaker

C.V.Rajendran Movie Director

Surendra Nihal Singh Journalist He was former Chief Editor of The Statesman

and The Indian Express

Barbara Bush Former US first lady

Ajith Malayalam Actor

MuninBarua Assamese film-maker

T.V.R. Shenoy Journalist

Nabi Tajima She was World s oldest known person. 117

years old.

Dr Tony Daniel Athlete Joint secretary of All-India Athletic Federation

and Chairman of its technical committee

Important Days

Date Day Extra Info 2 April World Autism Awareness Day Empowering women and girls with autism

4 April International Day for Mine Awareness and

Assistance in Mine Action

Mine Action: Advancing Protection, Peace,

and Development

5 April National Maritime Day Indian Shipping – An Ocean of opportunity

6 April International Day of Sport for Development and

Peace

7 April World Health Day Universal health coverage: everyone,

everywhere

12 April International Day of Human Space Flight

14 April Ambedkar Jayanti or Bhim Jayanti

17 April World Hemophilia Day Sharing Knowledge Makes Us Stronger








18 April World Heritage Day (International Day For

Monuments and Sites)

21 April National Civil Services Day

22 April International Earth Day End Plastic Pollution

23 April World Book and Copyright Day Quotes Wishes Slogans Greetings

24 April National Panchayati Raj (PR) Diwas

25 April World Malaria Day End Malaria for good

26 April World Intellectual Property Day (WIP) Innovation – Improving Lives

26 April International Chernobyl Disaster Remembrance

Day

28 April World Day for Safety and Health at Work Occupational safety health (OSH)

vulnerability of young workers

29 April Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical

Warfare

24 April 2017

– 30 April

2017

World Immunization Week for 2017 Protected Together, #VaccinesWork








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