exambazaar current affairs apr 2019

www.exambazaar.com/current-affairs

CURRENT AFFAIRS APRIL2019

Important Current Affairs for IAS, SSC, Bank, RRB and Other

Government Exams

WITH SYNOPSIS

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https://www.exambazaar.com/current-affairs

Current Affairs Digest Apr 2019


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APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

01 Apr Zuzana Caputova becomes Slovakia's first female President

01 Apr Envoy to India appointed Pakistan Foreign Secretary

02 Apr SoftBank’s top executive Alok Sama to leave firm

02 Apr Manu Sawhney takes charge as ICC Chief Executive

02 Apr Praful Patel set to be first Indian to be elected in FIFA Executive Council

02 Apr Vinod Dasari replaces Siddharth Lal as CEO of Royal Enfield

03 Apr Rajan Anandan logs into Sequoia, Caesar Sengupta to rule Google India

04 Apr KPMG India chairman Arun Kumar elected as member of top US think tank

04 Apr Lori Lightfoot elected Chicago mayor in historic vote

04 Apr Air Marshal D Choudhury takes over as SASO Hq WAC

05 Apr Papa Kehte Hain actress, Mayoori Kango now heads a division in Google India

06 Apr Vikram Kirloskar takes charge as new CII president

06 Apr UK appoints Amal Clooney as new media freedom champion

08 Apr Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s party declares sweeping election victory

09 Apr Vice Admiral Verma moves tribunal for being overlooked as next navy chief

09 Apr Graham Reid named chief coach of India’s men’s hockey team

09 Apr Donald Trump orders firing of US Secret Service chief

10 Apr Thyssenkrupp appoints Manish Mehan as CEO with effect from April 1

11 Apr SC Collegium recommends names of 5 judges as Chief Justices of High Courts

12 Apr Vikram Nath, new Chief Justice of A.P. High Court

12 Apr Former Indian pacer Raju Kulkarni resigns as CIC chairman

12 Apr Disney India loses its top executive Abhishek Maheshwari to Byju's

12 Apr Cairn India’s CEO and CFO quit

13 Apr Google diversity chief leaves amid controversies

14 Apr H.P. Minister Anil Sharma resigns from Cabinet

16 Apr US appoints Indian to advise it on earth-observation and remote-sensing policies

17 Apr Ajay Dixit elevated as Cairn CEO as Sudhir Mathur calls it a day

17 Apr Punjab National Bank appoints Rajesh Yaduvanshi as Executive Director

19 Apr Deutsche Bank appoints Kaushik Shaparia as CEO to succeed Ravneet Gill

20 Apr Mali's PM Maiga resigns over surge in violence




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20 Apr Ex-Nissan executive and Ghosn ally Jose Munoz appointed Hyundai COO

21 Apr Dhinakaran elected AMMK general secretary

23 Apr Zelinskiy wins Ukrainian presidential race by landslide

23 Apr Network18's Manish Maheshwari takes over as Twitter India MD on April 29

23 Apr Ansal Properties' Joint MD and CEO Anil Kumar resigns

25 Apr Shri Rajendra Kumar Nayak Took Over as CGDA

25 Apr Wipro BFSI prez Farooq resigns after 5 yrs at helm

25 Apr SBI appoints eight new DMDs and many other CGMs

26 Apr Former Army chief Dalbir Suhag appointed Indian envoy to Seychelles

26 Apr Sri Lanka's defence secy Hemasiri Fernando resigns over Easter blasts

27 Apr AIFF appoints Doru Isac as technical director Indian football team

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

01 Apr Sports India Open 2019: Viktor Axelsen downs Kidambi Srikanth to claim title

01 Apr Sports Roger Federer defeats Isner in Miami final for 101st title

01 Apr Sports Lewis Hamilton wins Bahrain Grand Prix

02 Apr Sports Asian Airgun Championships: India finish with 16 gold medals

02 Apr Sports Saurav Ghosal becomes first Indian male to enter top-10 in PSA rankings

05 Apr People PM Narendra Modi awarded UAE's highest civilian honour Zayed Medal

05 Apr Sports Sahaj Grover retains Boardwalk Pearson chess title

08 Apr Sports 73-year-old Isaak Hayik is world’s oldest soccer player

08 Apr Sports Lin Dan wins Malaysia Open to end title drought

09 Apr Sports Krishna Nagar wins two golds at the para badminton championship

11 Apr National Tirupati station gets gold rating for green initiative

11 Apr National VIT named most innovative private institution

12 Apr Sports Paralympian Deepa Malik named for New Zealand Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship

12 Apr Sports Magnus Carlsen back to his best after sealing fourth title in Shamkir

13 Apr International Image of a crying toddler at US border wins 2019 World Press Photo award

13 Apr National Russia awards PM Narendra Modi with highest state honour

16 Apr Sports Tiger Woods wins Masters for first major title in 11 years

16 Apr National Rohit Yadav sets under-18 National record










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17 Apr International Pulitzer Prize: jailed Reuters reporters, U.S. border photographers win awards

18 Apr People Aretha Franklin posthumously awarded Pulitzer Prize for contribution to music

18 Apr Defence 150 Indian peacekeepers in S Sudan awarded medal of honour for dedicated service

20 Apr People LSE names a professorship after economist Amartya Sen

20 Apr

Science,

Technology,

Environment

Gagandeep Kang becomes first Indian woman to be elected Royal Society Fellow

20 Apr People Indian-American Professor Sree Sreenath inducted into Cleveland International Hall of Fame

22 Apr Sports Asian Athletics Championships: Indians bag 5 medals including two silvers on opening

22 Apr Sports Asian Athletics Championship: Dutee Chand breaks national record

22 Apr Sports Asian Weighlifting: Jeremy Lalrinnunga smashes Youth World record, national senior record

22 Apr Sports Monte Carlo tennis: Fognini wins maiden Masters title

23 Apr Sports Mirabai wins bronze at Asian weightlifting championship

23 Apr Sports Gomathi gives India its first gold at the championships

24 Apr Sports Asian Championships: Bajrang reclaims gold at Wrestling with tough win in final

24 Apr Sports Capablanca chess: Grover keeps title with four straight wins

24 Apr Sports Asian Athletics: Swapna takes heptathlon silver; Dutee disappoints

25 Apr People Former Dena Bank MD Karnam Sekar appointed as IOB's new MD and CEO

25 Apr People Indian-origin boy, 15, UK's youngest accountant

25 Apr Sports PU Chitra gives 3rd gold for India in Asian Athletics Championships

25 Apr Sports Amit Dhankar, Viky settle for silver at the Asian Championships

26 Apr Sports Asian Wrestling Championships: Kakran, Manju hand India twin bronze medals

27 Apr Sports Pardeep Singh clinches a bronze in Asian Weightlifting Championships

27 Apr Sports Asian Boxing Championships: Amit Panghal wins gold in 52 kg category

27 Apr Sports ISSF World Cup: With silver, Divyansh secures India’s fourth Olympic quota in shooting

28 Apr Sports AIFF to recommend Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Jeje Lalpekhlua for Arjuna Award

28 Apr Sports BCCI recommends Bumrah, Shami, Jadeja and Poonam Yadav for Arjuna award

28 AprBusiness and

Economy BHEL employee Padmanabhan bags bravery award

29 Apr Sports India finish with 16 medals at Asian Wrestling Championships

29 Apr Sports Asian Badminton championships: Yamaguchi first Japanese women to lift title

29 Apr Sports India top medal tally at Beijing Shooting World Cup

30 Apr










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30 Apr People Alfred Brownell wins Goldman Environmental Prize for fighting palm oil industry

IMPORTANT DATES

04 Apr

Science,

Technology,

Environment

NuGen Mobility Summit 2019 held today

06 Apr International Theresa May asks Donald Tusk to delay Brexit to June 30

27 Apr International Free media essential for democracy: UN chief on World Press Freedom Day

30 Apr International International Dance Day 2019 celebrated on today










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1. National

GOVERNMENT POLICIES & SCHEMES

06 Apr India, Brazil ink treaty for repatriation of sentenced prisoners

India and Brazil have sealed a treaty for repatriation of convicted prisoners so that they can serve

their remaining jail term in their own country.

POINTS TO NOTE

A sentenced person will be transferred under this agreement only on the conditions that the sentenced person is a

national of the receiving state, the death penalty has not been imposed on the sentenced person, the judgment is

final and there is no inquiry, trial or any other proceeding is pending against the sentenced person in the transferring

State.

As per the pact, the two countries agree to maintain highest possible mutual cooperation in all matters related to the

transfer to sentenced persons pursuant to the terms and provisions of this agreement, a person sentenced in the

territory of one contracting state may be transferred to the territory of the other contracting state in accordance with

the provisions of this agreement in order to serve the sentence imposed on him and to that end, may express to the

transferring state or to the receiving state his or her wish to be transferred under the terms of this agreement.

09 Apr Ration card not acceptable proof of identity to vote

The Election Commission has allowed 11 identity cards as acceptable ‘proof of identity’ documents to

cast vote in the ensuing elections.

POINTS TO NOTE

Though any of the specified documents would be accepted, top priority would always be given to the identity card

issued by the Election Commission.

Section 144 would be in place from 6 pm on April 9 and all political campaigning should end by 5 pm.

Liquor outlets would remain closed till the morning of April 12 in Chittoor. Election officials have so far seized ₹12.5

crore worth cash and material and liquor bottles worth a total of ₹2.5 crore.










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14 Apr Drug advisory board proposes stringent norms for medical devices

Drugs Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), India’s top drug advisory body, has recommended that the

Health Ministry should notify all medical devices under the drug laws.

POINTS TO NOTE

When enforced, this translates into medical devices being treated as drugs, more stringent tracking systems,

mandatory reporting of all adverse reactions and registration of device before it is allowed into the market.

Currently of the 5,000-6,000 medical devices in the Indian market, there are only 23 notified medical devices under

government control.

When enforced, medical devices will be recognised as drugs under Section 3 (b) (iv) of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act,

1940.

16 Apr Cabinet approves MoU between India and Bolivia on Cooperation in the field of Geology and Mineral

Resources

The mou between India and Bolivia in the field of geology was signed in Bolivia in March 2019.

POINTS TO NOTE

The MoU will provide an institutional mechanism between India and Bolivia for cooperation in the field of Mineral

Resources.

The MoU provides for exchange of information on resources, laws and policy, organization of seminars to exchange

views on development strategies, encouragement of transfer of technologies between the two countries, promotion

of value addition, which will enable taking up of activities like documentation and dissemination etc.

20 Apr 20 states join pan-India single emergency helpline number '112'

The Emergency Response Support System is a single pan-India emergency number '112', which is an

internationally recognised number, to target all types of emergencies.

POINTS TO NOTE

The '112' helpline is an integration of police (100), fire (101) and women (1090) helpline numbers and the project is

being implemented under the central government's Nirbhaya Fund.

The 20 states and UTs include Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,

Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands,

Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Jammu and Kashmir and Nagaland.










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27 Apr Centre sanctions Rs 4,000 cr for women safety projects under Nirbhaya Fund

A total of Rs 200 crore has been released for the Central Victim Compensation Fund for women

safety.

POINTS TO NOTE

According to a Home Ministry document, the highest Rs 2,919.55 crore has been sanctioned under the 'Safe City

Project' being implemented in eight cities -- Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Ahmedabad and

Lucknow -- to provide safety to women in public places.

The key objectives of the project is to support the victims of rape, acid attacks, crime against children, human

trafficking etc.

COMMITTEES & MEETS

14 Apr Indian Joint Registry of hip, knee surgeries launched

The registry was launched by Corin Wilson, Acting British Deputy High Commissioner, in the

presence of 400 orthopaedic surgeons from across the globe at the 13th edition of the National

Congress of Indian Society of Hip and Knee Surgeons (ISHKS).

POINTS TO NOTE

The registry has been put together by ISHKS along with Northgate Public Services – who also set up the National Joint

Registry for the U.K. government.

The IJR will serve as a highly secure platform to store data on hip and knee surgeries across India and will churn out

focused reports for surgeons and patients to access, thereby helping them make more informed choices and better

implant selection as well as post-surgery monitoring.

OTHERS










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07 Apr Noted Tamil scholar Silamboli Su. Chellappan dies

His discourses on the Tamil epic Silapathikaram were very popular. He has written Silamboli,

Silapathikara Sinthanaigal, Sanga Ilakiya Thaen and other books.

POINTS TO NOTE

Mr. Chellappan was born in Siviyampalayam, near Namakkal. He began his career as a mathematics teacher and later

obtained a doctorate in Tamil. He held posts such as director of Tamil Development and founder-director of World

Tamil Research Centre.

He began these discourses at the age of 24 years and on hearing his speech, veteran Tamil scholar R.P.Sethupillai gave

him prefix Silamboli which would go on to stay with him.

Mr. Chellappan propagated the rich values of the epic to the nook and corner of State and abroad for more than 60

years.

07 Apr Does NaMo TV violate Model Code of Conduct? 94% say 'yes'

NaMo TV carries the picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its logo. The channel mostly

broadcasts election rallies, speeches of PM Modi and other top BJP leaders.

POINTS TO NOTE

Opposition parties have alleged that the channel is a "brazen violation" of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC).

Several Opposition parties, including the CPI(M) and Congress, have written to the Election commission demanding

action against the BJP over the channel.

09 Apr President releases the India rankings – 2019 and the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation

Achievements

He also released the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA) and presented

the ARIIA awards to the top two institutions.

POINTS TO NOTE

The President noted that besides overall rankings, category-specific rankings have been undertaken for colleges and

universities, as well as subject-specific rankings for engineering, management, pharmacy, architecture, law and

medicine. He said that a ranking system of such a nature fosters a spirit of healthy competition between institutions.

This is vital because all institutions are today competing for talent – teaching talent, research talent, the most talented

students, and even the most enlightened administrators.










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10 Apr IIT-Madras tops NIRF higher education rankings

Seven IITs appear in the top 10 list of the National Institution Ranking Framework for 2019, while

Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi and Banares Hindu University, Varanasi, take the remaining

places.

POINTS TO NOTE

The rankings, published annually since 2016, are based on multiple parameters, including teaching, learning and

resources; research and professional practice; graduation outcomes; outreach and inclusivity; and the perception of

the public, academics and employers.

Overall, 3,127 institutions applied for different categories of the NIRF this year.

With regard to engineering, apart from the IITs, Anna University, Chennai, and NIT, Tiruchi, also make it to the top 10.

Management rankings are topped by IIM-Bangalore, while XLRI, Jamshedpur, is the only institute apart from IIMs in

the top 10. Delhi’s Miranda House tops the list of colleges, followed by Hindu College, Delhi, and Presidency College,

Chennai. VIT, Vellore, tops the list of private or self-financed institutions.

11 Apr Tirupati station gets gold rating for green initiative

The Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) has awarded gold rating to the Tirupati railway station in

Andhra Pradesh.

POINTS TO NOTE

The IGBC-CII, in association with the Environment Directorate of the Indian Railways, has developed the green railway

stations rating system to encourage adoption of green concepts to reduce its carbon footprint and enhance user

experience.

The system takes into consideration water conservation, waste management, energy efficiency and fossil fuel usage.

11 Apr VIT named most innovative private institution

Varsity also features in top 20 of recently released NIRF rankings. Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT)

has secured the top spot among private institutions in the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation

Achievements (ARIIA 2019) awarded by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).

POINTS TO NOTE

In order to promote innovations in Higher Education Institutions (HEI), MHRD came out with ARIIA. The process of

getting data from institutions, considering them and finalising the institutions took several months and the ranks

were declared by President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday.

The ranks were declared in two categories — government-funded institutions and private-funded institutions.










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11 Apr SC Collegium recommends names of 5 judges as Chief Justices of High Courts

The Collegium said it finds Justice Menon suitable in all respects for being appointed as Chief Justice

of the Chhattisgarh High Court.

POINTS TO NOTE

The five names are -- Delhi High Court Judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat, Kerala High Court Judge Justice P R Ramachandra

Menon, Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge Justice A K Mittal, Allahabad High Court Judge Justice Vikram Nath and

Bombay High Court Judge Justice A S Oka.

The Collegium recommended the appointment of Justice Bhat after noting that the office of the Chief Justice of the

Rajasthan High Court has fallen vacant after the recent transfer of Justice Pradeep Nandrajog to Bombay High Court.

11 Apr EC order restraining Modi biopic applies to NaMo TV as well

The EC has banned the release of the Modi biopic, saying any such film that subserves purpose of

any political entity or individual should not be displayed in the electronic media.

POINTS TO NOTE

Any poster or publicity material concerning any such certified content, which either depicts a candidate (including

prospective) for the furtherance (or purported to further) of electoral prospects, directly or indirectly, shall not

be put on display in electronic media in the area where MCC is in force.

The movie starts Vivek Oberoi in lead role portraying the life of Modi.








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13 Apr Russia awards PM Narendra Modi with highest state honour

The Order of St Andrew the Apostle is the highest state decoration of Russia and was awarded to

Narendra Modi.

POINTS TO NOTE

It was awarded for exceptional services in promoting special and privileged strategic partnership between the Russian

Federation and the Republic of India and friendly relations between the Russian and Indian peoples.

The award was extended on behalf of Russian President Vladimir Putin with whom Modi shares a strong chemistry.

The two leaders met on numerous occasions including an informal summit over past five years promoting defence

and economic partnership. Putin was the only P-5 leader who telephoned Modi after the Pulwama terror attack as he

defended India's right to self-defence.

15 Apr Nizamabad poll may make it to Guinness Records

For the first time in the country since electronic voting machines (EVMs) were introduced in 1998, as

many as 12 ballot units at each polling station were used.

POINTS TO NOTE

Using M3 machines that can accommodate 384 names, the election in this Lok Sabha constituency with 185 candidates

was successfully conducted, dispelling widespread doubts about the feasibility.

So far, the record was for the conduct of polling with four ballot units which were the M2 models with a maximum of

64 names.

Over 7,000 EVMs, which is also a record, were pressed into service comprising seven Assembly segments. Polling

stations were set up in accordance with EVMs that arrived in large number. Special training was given to staff,

awareness camps were held on the voting system by setting up model polling stations under EC guidance.

The poll per cent was 68.1%, considered reasonably good for Lok Sabha polls

16 Apr Rohit Yadav sets under-18 National record

He broke the under-18 boys’ National record with a preliminary round throw of 81.75m (old record

79.29m) at the National javelin throw open at the SAI Regional Centre.

POINTS TO NOTE

Haryana’s Poonam Rani (women, 49.53m) and Jyoti (under-18, 44.86m) won gold in their respective categories while

Bihar’s Anjana Kumari (44.84m) and Gujarat’s Dhruvi Parmar (34.79m) won the under-20 and under-16 titles.

Meanwhile, in the second National 400m Open in Lucknow, Haryana’s Vikrant Panchal sparkled with a 48.06s

in the under-20 boys’ semifinals.










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17 Apr UN owes India $38 mn for peacekeeping operations: Antonio Guterres

As of March 31, 2019, the total amount payable to troop- and police-contributing countries with

respect to active peacekeeping missions was $265 million.

POINTS TO NOTE

The UN owes $38 million to India, followed by Rwanda ($31 million), Pakistan ($28 million), Bangladesh ($25 million)

and Nepal ($23 million), Guterres said in his report.

The arrears to troop- and police-contributing (TCCs/PCCs) countries could increase to $588 million by June

2019 "in the worst-case scenario".

The UN chief added that which troop- and police-contributing countries will or will not be paid depends on

the cash position of the individual missions to which they contribute and is not determined by their

individual capacity to shoulder that unfair burden.

27 Apr Supreme Court stays inquiry commission proceedings into Jayalalithaa death, serves notice to Tamil

Nadu government

Instead of conducting an impartial inquiry, the Justice (retd.) A. Arumughaswamy Commission of

Inquiry has converted itself into an adversary, Apollo Hospitals told a Bench led by Chief Justice of

India Ranjan Gogoi.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Bench acknowledged submissions made by senior advocate Aryama Sundaram and advocate Rohini

Musa, for the hospital, that the proceedings before the inquiry panel is causing “grave prejudice” to the

hospital’s reputation.

Mr. Sundaram informed the court that the Justice Arumughaswamy Commission has taken to filing applications “on its

own behalf before itself”.

These applications filed by the Commission to itself allege that the hospital had shown negligence in the treatment of

Jayalalithaa, who died on December 5, 2016.

27 Apr JIM, a skill training centre, inaugurated at Sri City

Japanese Ambassador in India Kenji Hiramatsu on Friday formally inaugurated the Japan-India

Institute for Manufacturing (JIM), a residential skill training centre, in Sri City.

POINTS TO NOTE

Besides core technical skills, students will be groomed in Japanese manufacturing practices and processes.

Successful completion of the course will make them industry-ready. Sri City-JIM, a fully residential institute set up in

partnership with Sri City and some Japanese units, would train the youth and contribute to the mission of ‘Skill India’

and ‘Make in India’.








https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/supreme-court-stays-inquiry-commission-proceedings-into-jayalalithaa-death-serves-notice-to-tamil-nadu-government/article26956916.ece



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30 Apr Pakistan releases 55 Indian fishermen, 5 civilians as 'goodwill gesture'

The Indian fishermen and citizens, arrested in Pakistan, were released from Karachi's Malir jail

amidst tension between the two countries after the Pulwama terror attack.

POINTS TO NOTE

The released prisoners were taken to the Karachi Cantonment Railway Station under heavy security, where they

boarded the Business Express for Lahore.

As a goodwill gesture amid tension with India, Pakistan had announced to release 360 Indian prisoners,

including 355 fishermen and five civilians, during April.

Fifty-five of the men were arrested for illegal fishing in Pakistan's territorial waters, while the other five were

detained for crossing the border illegally.










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2. International

MOU'S / AGREEMENTS

07 Apr Hyundai Motor, Tencent tie up to develop self-driving cars software

The agreement was signed on the sidelines of a business forum held in Seoul by the South Korean

government and China's Guangdong province

POINTS TO NOTE

Both companies plan to conduct joint research and development on safety and security systems.

The two companies are also exploring ways to utilize Tencent’s popular WeChat messaging app in developing China-

targeted car models.

Hyundai, the world’s 5th largest automaker together with affiliate Kia Motors, has been fostering partnerships with

self-driving tech and social media firms as it aims to introduce highly automated vehicles by 2020 and fully

autonomous vehicles by 2030.

07 Apr Singapore, Malaysia reach agreement to end months-long airspace dispute

Under the deal, Singapore will halt instrument landing system procedures at its Seletar Airport, while

Malaysia will open up a restricted area near the countries' border.

POINTS TO NOTE

This will allow Malaysia Airlines' subsidiary Firefly to start operations at Seletar Airport this month.

In December, Malaysia said it wanted to take back control of airspace managed by the city-state since 1974, as

Singapore's new instrument landing system at its small Seletar airport involved a flight path over Malaysian

airspace.

The ministers also said in the joint statement that the two countries have set up a committee to review the 1974

airspace agreement.

Singapore was once part of Malaysia but they separated acrimoniously in 1965, clouding diplomatic and economic

dealings for years.

COMMITTEES & MEETS










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11 Apr Kerala floods to feature in World Reconstruction Conference

The devastating 2018 floods and the rebuilding measures launched by Kerala in the grim aftermath

will feature in the fourth World Reconstruction Conference.

POINTS TO NOTE

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is scheduled to lead the Kerala delegation that also includes Chief Secretary Tom Jose;

Venu V., Principal Secretary (Disaster Management); and Sekhar L. Kuriakose, Member Secretary, Kerala State Disaster

Management Authority (KSDMA).

Scheduled to be held in Geneva on May 13 and 14, the WRC coincides with the five-day session of the Global Platform

for Disaster Risk Reduction (GPDRR), which is an important meeting point for organisations involved in disaster risk

reduction, including UN agencies. WRC evaluates and shares global experiences in post-disaster recovery and

rebuilding, and encourages dialogue among stakeholders.

24 Apr Islamic State claims responsibility for Sri Lanka bombings

The Sri Lankan government has blamed National Thowheeth Jamaath for the deadly attacks on

Easter day.

POINTS TO NOTE

At least 45 children were killed in the blasts, UNICEF said. Among those killed were 34 foreign nationals, including 10

Indians.

The police and military remained on high alert after reports of an unidentified container truck and a van in Colombo,

believed to be carrying explosives.

OTHERS

01 Apr Envoy to India appointed Pakistan Foreign Secretary

Sohail Mahmood, the current High Commissioner of Pakistan to India is scheduled to take charge as

the next Foreign Secretary in Islamabad.

POINTS TO NOTE

Mr. Mahmood who was called home for consultation amidst escalating tensions between Delhi and Islamabad,

following the Pulwama terror attack and the Balakot air strike has served an eventful tenure as envoy to New Delhi.

Following his return from Pakistan last month, Mr. Mahmood celebrated the National Day of Pakistan on the High

Commission premises on 22 March and spoke about the urgent need to deescalate tension. Mr. Mahmood succeeded

Abdul Basit as the High Commissioner to India in 2017.










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03 Apr New Zealand lawmakers pass initial vote for new gun controls

The bill would ban the types of weapons a gunman used to kill 50 people at two mosques last month.

POINTS TO NOTE

Only one lawmaker from the 120 that sit in Parliament voted against the legislation in a bipartisan display of unity.

Tuesday’s vote was the first of three that lawmakers must pass before the bill becomes law.

Police Minister Stuart Nash said far too many people have access to dangerous firearms and that in New Zealand gun

ownership remains a privilege, not a right.

04 Apr Lori Lightfoot elected Chicago mayor in historic vote

Lori Lightfoot is a 56-year-old former federal prosecutor and practicing lawyer who has never before

held elected office.

POINTS TO NOTE

She beat Toni Preckwinkle, who is also an African American woman, by a wide margin of 74 to 26 per cent in early

voting results with most ballots counted.

Lightfoot will become Chicago’s first openly gay mayor and the first African American woman to hold the post. Since

1837, Chicago voters have elected only one black mayor and one female mayor.

05 Apr European Parliament approves no-deal Brexit visa waiver

The law means British visitors making trips of fewer than 90 days to the Schengen passport-free

zone will not need visas, even if Britain crashes out of the EU without a deal in place.

POINTS TO NOTE

However it would be conditional on the UK granting the same rights to EU citizens in return.

The legislation containing the offer had been delayed over its description of Gibraltar as a "colony".

The European Parliament approved the law on Thursday, meaning it will come into effect once EU states have given it

the final sign-off.

The final draft includes the description of Gibraltar as a "colony of the British Crown" in a footnote.










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06 Apr Theresa May asks Donald Tusk to delay Brexit to June 30

The Government's policy has always been and remains to leave the European Union in an orderly

way, and without undue delay.

POINTS TO NOTE

In the European Council Decision of 22 March, taken in agreement with the United Kingdom, the European Union and

the United Kingdom agreed that if the House of Commons had approved the Withdrawal Agreement by 29 March

2019, the period provided for by Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union would be extended until 22 May 2019 to

provide for ratification.

The House of Commons declined to approve the Withdrawal Agreement and take up that option. Therefore without

an agreement further extension at the European Council you have convened for 10 April, the United Kingdom will

leave the European Union without a deal at 2300 BST on 12 April 2019.

07 Apr China's marriage rate drops for fifth straight year

Tying the knot is no longer a "necessity" for today's young adults, with many preferring the single life.

POINTS TO NOTE

The marriage rate dropped from 9.9 per 1,000 people in 2013 to a five-year low of 7.2 per 1,000 people in 2018, the

National Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Civil Affairs said.

Experts said the increasing costs of living and child education constitute another factor for the downward trend in the

marriage rate.

People between the ages of 20 and 24 had the highest record of marriage registrations before 2012, while people

between the ages of 25 and 29 became the mainstay in 2017, accounting for 36.9 per cent of all registered couples.

07 Apr Pakistan partially opens airspace for west-bound flights from India

Pakistan had kept its airspace fully closed after an Indian Air Force strike on a terror camp in Balakot

on February 26.

POINTS TO NOTE

It opened one of the 11 routes for west-bound flights. Therefore, airlines such as Air India and Turkish Airlines have

started using it.

Pakistan on March 27, opened its airspace for all flights except for Bangkok, New Delhi and Kuala Lumpur.

Since February 26, many foreign airlines have suspended their Delhi-bound flights as it was commercially unviable for

them to take a longer route through Mumbai airspace.










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07 Apr Indonesia's Go-Jek joins 'decacorn' ranks with $10 billion valuation

New York-based CB insights has listed Go - Jek among 19 decacorns around the world.

POINTS TO NOTE

That would make Go - Jek Indonesia’s first startup to join the $10 billion market-valuation club, and the second in

Southeast Asia after rival ride-hailing service Grab.

Go - Jek and Grab are battling for supremacy in the Southeast Asian market after Uber pulled out of the region last

year. Grab recently raised about $1.5 billion from SoftBank Group Corp.’s Vision Fund, bankrolling its effort to expand

into new services across the region. That means it’s received about $4.5 billion from investors over the past year.








https://www.exambazaar.com/exam



20



08 Apr Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s party declares sweeping election victory

Ibrahim Mohamed Solih’s Maldivian Democratic Party was leading in 60 of the 87 seats in parliament

following Saturday’s vote.

POINTS TO NOTE

Provisional results that were still coming out Sunday evening pointed to the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP)

heading for a big win in the parliamentary election, securing some 60 out of the total 87 seats in the people’s Majlis or

parliament.

The main opposition Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM), led by former President Abdulla Yameen, whose leadership

was tainted by accusations of large-scale corruption and an authoritarian slant, fielded candidates in just a quarter of

the constituencies.

As per results declared so far, PPM has lost in most of them. Complete results from the Election Commission are

awaited.

09 Apr Donald Trump orders firing of US Secret Service chief

Trump instructed his acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney to fire Secret Service Director Randolph

Alles.

POINTS TO NOTE

This is announced , one day after the resignation of another top national security official, Homeland Security Secretary

Kirstjen Nielsen.

It is described as "a near-systematic purge" at the Department of Homeland Security.

10 Apr Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey took just $1.40 as salary in 2018

Dorsey had declined all direct compensation and benefits for three years in 2015, 2016 and 2017.

POINTS TO NOTE

As CEO, Dorsey saw the startup through two rounds of funding by venture capitalists.

As the service began to grow in popularity, Dorsey chose the improvement of uptime as top priority, even over

creating revenue – which, as of 2008, Twitter was not designed to earn.

Dorsey described the commercial use of Twitter and its API as two things that could lead to paid features. He says his

three guiding principles, which he says the company shares, are simplicity, constraint and craftsmanship.










21



10 Apr US moves to put new tariffs on billions worth of EU imports

The WTO ruled in May last year that the EU had in fact provided some illegal subsidies to Airbus,

hurting U.S. manufacturer Boeing.

POINTS TO NOTE

While the size of the tariffs is small compared with the hundreds of billions the U.S. and China are taxing in their trade

war, it suggests a breakdown in talks with the EU over trade at a time when the economy is already slowing

sharply.

The U.S. and EU have been negotiating since last year about how to avoid tariffs that President Donald Trump

has wanted to impose to reduce a trade deficit with countries like Germany.

10 Apr Scientific Convention on World Homoeopathy Day Inaugurated Today

The World Homoeopathy Day is observed to commemorate the birth anniversary of the founder of

Homoeopathy, Dr. Christian Fredrich Samuel Hahnemann.

POINTS TO NOTE

Memoranda of Understanding (MOU’s) were also exchanged with the Directorate of AYUSH Chandigarh administration

on undertaking research on epidemic diseases like Dengue, Influenza like illness, Chikungunya, Tuberculosis and other

infectious diseases and with JSPS Government Homeopathic Medical College, Ramanthapur, Hyderabad for

undertaking clinical research .

During the inaugural session, “Souvenir of Convention” , a Dossier on ‘Homoeopathy – A Science of Gentle Healing’, a

coffee table book, the ‘Standard Treatment Guidelines’ on 15 more diseases which have been developed by CCRH

based on expert consensus were also released.

The ‘CCRH Archives on Homeopathy’ a digital repository of accumulated knowledge in homeopathy, having important

homoeopathic literary material spread all over the world was officially launched.

10 Apr IMF forecasts dip in global growth in 2019

India’s growth projected to pick up from 7.1% last year to 7.3% this year and 7.5% in 2020.

POINTS TO NOTE

This lower projection is due to lower global expansion in the second half of 2018 caused by U.S.-China trade tensions,

macroeconomic stress in Turkey and Argentina, tighter credit policies in China and financial tightening plus a

normalisation of monetary policy in advanced economies.

The IMF expects growth to pick up in the second half of the year driven by an accommodative policy stance in

advanced economies, the prospects of easing of trade tensions between the U.S. and China and ramped up fiscal and

monetary stimulus by China to counter the trade war’s effects.










22



11 Apr Woman lived to 99 with most organs on wrong side of body

It was only after she died that medical students discovered that all her internal organs 'except for her

heart' were in the wrong place.

POINTS TO NOTE

People with the condition known as situs inversus with levocardia often have life-threatening cardiac ailments and

other abnormalities.

Cameron Walker's class at the university in Portland was examining the heart of a cadaver last year when they noticed

the blood vessels were different.

When they opened the abdominal cavity, they saw that all the other organs were on the wrong side.

The unusual blood vessels helped the heart compensate.

11 Apr New Zealand Parliament votes to ban semi-automatic weapons

The bill needs only the approval of New Zealand's governor general, a formality, before becoming

law.

POINTS TO NOTE

A bill outlawing most automatic and semi-automatic weapons and banning components that modify existing

weapons was passed by a vote of 119 to 1 in the House of Representatives after an accelerated process of debate and

public submission.

The law includes a buy-back scheme under which owners of outlawed weapons can surrender them to police in return

for compensation based on the weapon's age and condition.

Anyone who retains such a weapon after the law formally passes on Friday faces a penalty of up to five years in

prison. Some exemptions have been allowed for heirloom weapons held by collectors or for professional pest control.










23



11 Apr Hong Kong's stock market overtakes Japan to be world's third largest

Hong Kong's market cap was $5.78 trillion as of Tuesday, compared with $5.76 trillion for Japan.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Asian city’s Hang Seng Index climbed 17 per cent this year through Tuesday, when it closed at its highest since

June 15. Internet giant Tencent holdings Ltd has been the main driver with a 22 per cent gain. Japan’s Topix

index advanced 8.3 percent in that period.

Both markets declined Wednesday, as an economic outlook from the International Monetary Fund renewed concern

about a slowdown in global growth and after the US threatened tariffs on the European Union.

11 Apr Standard Chartered to pay $1.1 billion for sanctions violations

The settlement by the London-based bank is among the most severe imposed for sanctions

violations, some of which occurred not long after Standard Chartered settled similar charges in 2012.

POINTS TO NOTE

The London-based banking firm set aside $900m in February in preparation for the settlements.

Standard Chartered has also undertaken to improve its compliance procedures.

The bulk of the settlement, $639m, relates to breaches of US sanctions against Burma (Myanmar), Cuba, Iran, Sudan

and Syria.











24



13 Apr Image of a crying toddler at US border wins 2019 World Press Photo award

Ten Hoopen's pictures, which show families and children as they made their way from Honduras in

mid-October to the US border 'showed a high sense of dignity'.

POINTS TO NOTE

The picture of the wailing toddler was published world-wide and caused a public outcry about Washington's

controversial policy to separate thousands of migrants from their children.

Moore was taking pictures of US Border Patrol agents on a moonless night in the Rio Grande valley on June 12 last

year when they came across a group of people who tried to cross the border.

13 Apr $7-a-month Disney streaming service to take on Netflix, launch on Nov 12

Disney said it has struck deals with Roku Inc and Sony Corp to distribute Disney+ on streaming

devices.

POINTS TO NOTE

Uts new family-friendly streaming service will cost $7 monthly or $70 annually with a slate of new and classic TV

shows and movies from some of the world's most popular entertainment franchises in a bid to challenge the digital

dominance of Netflix.

The ad-free monthly subscription called Disney+ is set to launch on Nov. 12 and in every major global market over

time, the company said.

In addition to Disney films and TV shows, it will feature programming from the Marvel superhero universe, the "Star

Wars" galaxy, "Toy Story" creator Pixar animation, the National geographic channel and the entire library of "the

Simpsons".

13 Apr China trying to create its own globally decisive naval force through BRI: Pentagon

India has objected to the CPEC as it is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and

boycotted a high-profile Belt and Road Forum organised by China last year.

POINTS TO NOTE

China is vigorously pursuing the Belt and Road initiative (BRI), offering billions of dollars of loans for

infrastructure projects to different countries as it looks to expand global influence.

The BRI focuses on improving connectivity and cooperation among Asian countries, Africa, China and Europe.

The project has become a major stumbling block in India-China relations as the controversial USD 60 billion China

Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has been listed as its "flagship project".

India has objected to the CPEC as it is being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and boycotted a high-

profile Belt and Road Forum organised by China last year.










25



14 Apr ISIS claims responsibility for deadly suicide attack in Pakistan's Quetta

A suicide bomber blew himself in the Hazarganj fruits and vegetable market in Quetta, in an attack

believed to be targeting the minority Hazara Shia community.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed 21 people and wounded more than 50 others in

Quetta, the provincial capital of Pakistan's restive Balochistan province.

The Pakistani officials have repeatedly denied presence of the ISIS in the country, but the Middle Eastern terror group

has claimed a number of attacks in the past.

On Friday, a faction of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it collaborated

with the banned Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ).

The LeJ is a Sunni militant group, which has claimed responsibility for several deadly attacks against the minority Shia

community in Pakistan, including the 2013 blasts in Quetta that killed over 200 Hazara Shias.

15 Apr Indonesians to vote in world’s biggest single-day election

President Joko Widodo, a former furniture salesman who launched his political career as a small-city

mayor, is standing for re-election in a contest with ex-general Prabowo Subianto, whom he narrowly

defeated in 2014.

POINTS TO NOTE

Mr. Widodo has touted a record infrastructure drive and deregulation as major successes during his tenure, calling it a

first step to tackle inequality and poverty in Southeast Asia's biggest economy.

Mr. Prabowo, who has close links to some hardline Islamist groups, and his running mate, business tycoon Sandiaga

Uno, have pledged to boost the economy by slashing taxes as much as 8 percentage points, and focus on key

infrastructure projects.

More than 192 million will also vote in national and regional legislative elections, being contested by more than

245,000 candidates, in what is being described as the world's biggest single-day election.










26



17 Apr Pulitzer Prize: jailed Reuters reporters, U.S. border photographers win awards

In other categories, coverage of mass shootings in the United States and investigations into U.S.

President Donald Trump featured prominently. The New York Times and the Washington Post also

took two Pulitzers each.

POINTS TO NOTE

Reuters

Two of this year's honorees have been jailed for 490 days in Myanmar for their role in uncovering the killings.One

photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon showed migrants fleeing tear gas launched by U.S. authorities into Mexico at the

San Diego-Tijuana border. In the image a mother grabs her twin daughters by the arm, one in diapers and

wearing rubber sandals, the other barefoot, as a teargas cannister emits its fumes.

In another image, an aerial photo, Mike Blake was the first to photograph the detention facility in Tornillo, Texas,

where children walked in single file, like prisoners.











27



18 Apr Peru ex-president Alan Garcia dies after shooting himself

The shocking end for the man who twice ruled Peru but more recently was ensnared in the

Odebrecht corruption scandal comes amid national upheaval over endemic corruption involving

nearly every former living president.

POINTS TO NOTE

Garcia repeatedly professed his innocence and said he was the victim of false testimony by political enemies who

accused him of taking more than $100,000 from the Brazilian construction giant.

Odebrecht admitted in a 2016 plea agreement with the U.S. Justice Department that it paid nearly $800 million

throughout Latin America in exchange for lucrative public works contracts.

The stunning turn of events comes four months after Garcia tried to seek asylum in Uruguay as prosecutors in Peru

investigated allegations he illegally took payments from Odebrecht.

He remained there for a little more than two weeks before having his request denied. In rejecting his claim, the South

American nation's embassy said there was no evidence to support Garcia's contention that he was being targeted

politically.

18 Apr Trump vetoes bill to end U.S. support for Yemen war

The veto was the second of his presidency, after he overrode a congressional resolution that aimed

to reverse the border emergency he declared in order to secure more funding for his wall between

the United States and Mexico in March.

POINTS TO NOTE

Mr. Trump argued that U.S. support for the bloody war between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and Iran-

aligned Houthi rebels was necessary for a variety of reasons, “first and foremost” to “protect the safety of the more

than 80,000 Americans who reside in certain coalition countries.

The resolution was a harsh bipartisan rebuke to Mr. Trump that took the historic step of curtailing a President’s war-

making powers — a step he condemned in a statement announcing his veto.










28



19 Apr UNESCO World Heritage Day 2019: History, Theme and Significance

In the year 1982, the International Council on Monuments and Sites declared 18 April as World

Heritage Day to raise awareness about monuments and other sites which form a part of our history

and culture.

POINTS TO NOTE

UNESCO approved of this day in the year 1983 and since then the day is dedicated to informing people about the sites

which have achieved the status of heritage, their importance and the problems involved in protecting these

sites. World heritage day also aims to seek recognition for the people involved in preserving these sites,

especially scientists, archaeologists, geographers and engineers. World Heritage Day 2019 will explore the

theme surrounding rural landscapes. Heritage rural sites form an integral part of our lives especially because

they include activities of agriculture and fishing. Hence, it is crucial to protect and preserve these sites which

will only be achieved through efforts of combined efforts of the international community.

19 Apr Nepal launches its first satellite from USA

The satellite NepaliSat - 1 was developed by the Nepalese scientists and was launched at 2:31 am

(Nepal time).

POINTS TO NOTE

Two Nepali scientists, Aabhas Maskey and Hariram Shrestha who are currently studying at Japanese Kyushu Institute

of Technology, developed the satellite under the BIRDS project of their institute.

NepaliSat-1 is a low orbit satellite which will be in the 400-km distance from the Earth's surface. It will be

stationed at ISS.

The satellite will take photographs on a regular basis to gather geographical information of the country.

The satellite has a Nepali flag and the NAST logo. It also has the name of the scientists involved in the making of the

satellite.

Nepal Academy of Science and Technology has invested nearly Rs 20 million for the satellite that weighs 1.3 kilograms,

a small satellite with limited capability.










29



20 Apr Mali's PM Maiga resigns over surge in violence

The government had come under mounting pressure over its handling of violence in the restive

Mopti region.

POINTS TO NOTE

Members of the Dogon ethnic group -- a hunting and farming community with a long history of tension with the

nomadic Fulani people over access to land -- were accused of being behind the mass killing.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Bamako on April 5 to protest against the upsurge of violence,

accusing the government of not doing enough to stop it. The protest was called by Muslim religious leaders,

organisations representing the Fulani herding community, opposition parties and civil society groups.

Mali has been struggling to restore stability since Islamist extremists linked to Al-Qaeda took control of the

country's vast desert north in early 2012.

While the jihadists were largely driven out in a French-led military operation that began in January 2013, huge

areas are still in the grip of lawlessness, despite a 2015 peace agreement with some armed groups that sought

to definitively stamp out the Islamist threat.

22 Apr Bomb blasts kill more than 200 in Sri Lankan churches, hotels on Easter Sunday

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for the attacks in a country which was at war for

decades.

POINTS TO NOTE

Following the developments, authorities blocked access to social media including Facebook, Whatsapp and Viber to

“prevent” misinformation. A curfew was declared till Monday morning.

No group has claimed responsibility for the blasts. Investigating authorities in Sri Lanka are yet to disclose the names

of the suspects or the alleged perpetrators.

27 Apr Free media essential for democracy: UN chief on World Press Freedom Day

Facts, not falsehoods, should guide people as they choose their representatives, UN Secretary

General Antonio Guterres said.

POINTS TO NOTE

The main celebration of World Press Freedom Day this year will take place in Addis Ababa, from May 1-3. The overall

theme of the event will be the role of media in elections and democracy. Some 100 national events around the world

are expected to complement the main celebration.

The day was proclaimed by the UN general Assembly in 1993 following a Recommendation adopted at the

twenty-sixth session of UNESCO's General Conference in 1991.








https://wap.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=mali



30



27 Apr Wanted Sri Lanka radical Zahran Hashim died in hotel attack: President Maithripala Sirisena

Zahran Hashim appeared in a video released by the ISIS group after they claimed the bombings, but

his whereabouts after the blasts was not immediately clear.

POINTS TO NOTE

More than 250 people were killed in the attacks against three churches and three hotels. A fourth planned attack on a

hotel failed.

Security forces had been on a desperate hunt for Hashim, believed to be around 40, after the government named the

group he led -- the National Thowheeth Jama'ath -- as its prime suspect.

His appearance in the IS video, where he is seen leading a group of seven others in a pledge of allegiance to IS chief

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, only heightened fears about the radical.

27 Apr 34 mummies found in hidden Egyptian tomb

The archaeologists found approximately 30 mummified bodies in the primary chamber -- the bodies

of men, women and children -- and an estimated further four in a side chamber.

POINTS TO NOTE

Steps led down from the surface to the tomb, which comprised two burial chambers and was sealed off by a wall.

The archaeologists found approximately 30 mummified bodies in the primary chamber -- the bodies of men,

women and children -- and an estimated further four in a side chamber.

Two mummies, found overlapping, were believed to be the bodies of a mother and her child.








https://www.exambazaar.com/qp



31



28 Apr Japanese government announces scholarships

The Japanese government’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)

has announced scholarships for international students aspiring to study in Japan.

POINTS TO NOTE

Selection tests will be held on July 13 and 14. The last date to apply is June 14.

MEXT will forward the results by January 2020 along with the name of the institute/university. Further details are

available at the Culture and Information Section of the Consulate General of Japan in Chennai and its website.

28 Apr US may deny visas to Pakistanis

Pakistan is the latest to join the list of 10 nations that have been imposed with sanctions under a

US law according to which countries refusing to take back deportees and visa over-stayers will be

denied American visas.

POINTS TO NOTE

Consular operations in Pakistan remain "unchanged" as of now but as a result of such a sanction mentioned in ia a

federal register notification dated April 22, the US may withhold visas of Pakistanis beginning with its senior

officials. Notably eight of these countries have been slapped with such visa sanctions under the Trump

administration.

Two of them Ghana and Pakistan have been included in the list this year.The other countries include Guyana

in 2001, the Gambia in 2016, Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea, and Sierra Leone in 2017, Burma and Laos in 2018.

29 Apr UAE gives birth certificate to girl born to Hindu father and Muslim mother

As per the marriage rules for expatriates in UAE, a Muslim man can marry a non-Muslim woman but

a Muslim woman cannot marry a non-Muslim man.

POINTS TO NOTE

Sharjah-based expat Kiran Babu and Sanam Saboo Siddique, who got married in Kerala in 2016, faced and unusual

situation when their daughter was born in July 2018.

The UAE has declared 2019 as the Year of Tolerance to highlight UAE as an exemplary example of a tolerant nation,

bridging the communication gap between different cultures and build an environment where people accept each

other as they are.










32



30 Apr International Dance Day 2019 celebrated on today

With each and every province having its own unique regional dance form, the performing art has

always been a significant part of Indian culture.

POINTS TO NOTE

The day strives to encourage participation and education in dance through events and festivals held on the date all

over the world. UNESCO formally recognize ITI to be the creators and organizers of the event.

The event takes place every year on 29th April, the anniversary of the birth of Jean Gorges Noverres (1727–1810),

the creator of modern ballet.

30 Apr IS chief Baghdadi appears on video for first time after 2014

He appeared for the first and last time in public in Mosul in 2014, where he declared an Islamic

"caliphate" in the swathes of territory IS then held in Syria and Iraq.

POINTS TO NOTE

It is unclear when the footage was filmed, but the man said to be Baghdadi referred in the past tense to the months-

long fight for Baghouz, IS's final bastion in eastern Syria which ended last month.

His last voice recording to his supporters was released in August, eight months after Iraq announced it had

defeated IS and as US-backed forces closed in next door in Syria.

30 Apr PM Pedro Sánchez's Socialist Party wins Spanish General Election

Socialists have won snap elections, without the necessary majority to govern solo, in a fragmented

political landscape marked by the far-right’s entry into Parliament.

POINTS TO NOTE

A significant development was the rise of the ultra-nationalist Vox party, which garnered just over 10% of the vote in a

country that has had no far-right party to speak of since the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975.

Mr. Sánchez’s Socialist Party (PSOE) got 123 lawmakers out of 350, or close to 29% of votes — short of an absolute

majority but much better than the 85 seats it got in 2016.








https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Georges_Noverre



33



3. Regional and State


03 Apr EC orders removal of Jharkhand’s ADG

The Election Commission on Monday ordered the removal of Jharkhand’s Additional Director-General

(Special Branch) Anurag Gupta, against whom it had got a case registered in March 2018 for alleged

misuse of his official position to interfere in the poll process.

POINTS TO NOTE

The FIR was registered on March 29 last year and disciplinary proceedings were also initiated against him.

He will not be allowed to visit Jharkhand till the completion of election process.

The EC directed that he be divested of the present assignment immediately.

03 Apr AFSPA withdrawn partially from Arunachal Pradesh

A Home Ministry official said the “disturbed area” tag was withdrawn from the four police station

areas due to the improvement of law and order situation there.

POINTS TO NOTE

After 32 years of AFSPA, which gives sweeping powers to security forces, was partially removed from three of nine

districts of Arunachal Pradesh but would remain in force in the areas bordering Myanmar.

The State, which was formed on February 20, 1987, had inherited the controversial AFSPA enacted by Parliament in

1958 and applied to the entire State of Assam and the Union Territory of Manipur. After Arunachal Pradesh,

Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland came into being, the Act was appropriately adapted to apply to these states as

well.










34



08 Apr Two-day per week ban on vehicles in Jammu-Srinagar highway comes into force

The ban on civilian traffic on Sundays and Wednesdays will be in force till May 31. The ban will be in

place from Udhampur to Baramulla via Srinagar.

POINTS TO NOTE

The ban was imposed in view of large number of security personnel being moved around for election duty in the

state.

Army, police and CRPF personnel have been deployed at all intersections leading to the highway to ensure that

civilian traffic does not interfere with movement of convoys of security forces.

08 Apr NGT fines Andhra Pradesh govt Rs 100 crore over failure to stop sand mining

The green panel said it is the duty of the government to provide complete protection to the natural

resources as a trustee of the public at large.

POINTS TO NOTE

The tribunal directed the state government to deposit Rs 100 crore 'environment compensation' with the Central

pollution control board within a month.

It also constituted a committee comprising Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment, Forest and

climate change (MoEF&CC), National Institute of Mines, Dhanbad, IIT Roorkee and Madras school of to undertake

environment damage assessment within three months and furnish a report to this Tribunal.

The tribunal's direction came on a plea filed by Andhra Pradesh resident Anumolu Gandhi, alleging illegal sand mining

was causing damage to Krishna, Godavari rivers and their tributaries in the state.

14 Apr NHPC plans 100Mw solar park in Odisha; invites bids from EPC contractors

NHPC has already commissioned a 50 Mw solar project in Tamil Nadu and another wind power

project of equal capacity in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan.

POINTS TO NOTE

The selected developer will be responsible for ensuring the construction of a 132KV transmission line and evacuation

arrangement over and above its core mandate of the plant’s operation and maintenance for 10 years.

NHPC's plan assumes significance as the state government, in its Renewable Energy Policy-2016, is planning to add

2,200 Mw capacity of solar energy by 2022. According to KPMG estimates, the envisaged solar capacity needs Rs 13,500

crore in investments.










35



21 Apr States to have cyber forensic labs, DNA testing facilities soon to check crimes against women

Five states - Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Uttarakhand -

have already set up cyber forensic training laboratories.

POINTS TO NOTE

DNA testing facilities are being set up at forensic science laboratories of 13 states and Union Territories -- Uttar

Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, Punjab,

Rajasthan, Mizoram, Manipur, Tripura and Delhi -- at a cost of Rs 131.09 crore.

A total of 3,664 personnel, including 410 public prosecutors and judicial officers, have been trained for the purpose.

MOU'S / AGREEMENTS

26 Apr Ministry of New and Renewable Energy okays 18 Mw solar rooftop plan in Odisha

The cost for development of 1 Mw of rooftop solar project is roughly estimated at Rs 7 crore.

POINTS TO NOTE

The state has already executed 4 Mw roof top projects in the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. The projects

were executed by Azure Power Mercury Pvt Ltd. and Baripada. Buildings without solar rooftop projects in

Cuttack and Bhubaneswar are also likely to be included.

The towns identified for coverage by solar rooftop projects are Sambalpur, Burla, Hirakud, Rourkela, Puri,

Khurda, Berhampur, Chhattrapur, Jeypore, Koraput, Sunabeda, Balasore.

The developers will be selected trough a tender to be floated by state run Green Energy Development Company Ltd

(Gedcol) after withdrawal of the model code of conduct (for elections).

OTHERS








https://wap.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=bhadrak



36



04 Apr 3rd Goa Anti Tobacco Film Festival on May 31

The Entertainment Society of Goa (ESG) in association with the Goa Department of Public Health-

Dentistry, and the Goa Dental College and Hospital is set to hold the 3rd Goa Anti tobacco festival on

May 31.

POINTS TO NOTE

The festival will select ad films to spread the message of harmful effects of tobacco use and also to decrease the

occurrence of oral cancer and heart disease and to promote film art through non-profit screening of these films.

This festival, whose ultimate objective is to make Goa smoke-free, will have two separate categories — one for

Goa and another for national films.

For the national films section, Hindi or English language films produced by an Indian production house, individuals,

students and educational or social institutions from across the country will be considered

15 Apr Voters will not be allowed to carry mobile phones to polling booths in Karnataka

Voters will not be allowed to carry their mobile phones within a 100-metre radius of polling stations

on the day of voting on April 18. Based on the d

POINTS TO NOTE

Voters will not be allowed to carry their mobile phones within a 100-metre radius of polling stations on the day of

voting on April 18.

Based on the directives from the Election Commission (EC), officials have advised people not to carry their mobiles

while coming to vote.

Only the presiding officers of the respective polling stations are authorised to use mobile phones for communication

15 Apr RGUHS to grant permanent affiliation to its colleges

It will be given to those with good infrastructure and teaching facilities.The varsity will, however,

reserve the right to conduct surprise inspections.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), Karnataka plans to grant permanent affiliation to its colleges

if they are found to have good infrastructure and teaching facilities. Around 650 medical, dental, nursing,

ayurveda, homeopathy, unani pharmacy, physiotherapy, and other allied health sciences colleges are

affiliated to the university.

At present, the local assessment committees visit each college every year and recommend to the university to

grant or reject affiliation.

Dr. Sacchidananda,Vice-Chancellor of RGUHS, said that granting permanent affiliation would help both the college

managements as well as the university. He said that once a few colleges get permanent affiliation, other colleges

would also strive to get the same, which would improve the quality of colleges as there are higher standards required

to get this tag.








https://www.thehindu.com/tag/119-81/goa/?utm=bodytag



37



18 Apr 2nd Marshal Arjan Singh Memorial International Hockey Tournament 2019 kicks off at Chandigarh

2nd Marshal Arjan Singh Memorial International Hockey Tournament is being organised by Air Force

Sports Control Board at Astro Turf Hockey Ground, 3 Base Repair Depot, Air Force Chandigarh from

16 April to 25 April 2019.

POINTS TO NOTE

First match was played between Indian Air Force and Sri Lankan Air Force. IAF won the match 3 -1. Leading

Aircraftsman Damanjit Singh scored 03 goals for Indian Air Force and Lahlru Weerasoorlya scored the solitary goal for

Sri Lankan Air Force.

Second match was played between Integral Coach Factory (ICF) Chennai and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

ICF Chennai won the match 6-2.










38



4. Business and Economy


01 Apr Government extends PAN-Aadhaar linking deadline to September 30

It is mandatory to quote and link Aadhaar number while filing the return of income w.e.f. April 1,

2019.

POINTS TO NOTE

Those looking to file their income tax returns on or after April 1, 2019 will still have to quote their PAN while doing so.

This is the sixth time the government has extended the Aadhaar-PAN linking deadline.

In June 2018, the government had made linking the Pan card and Aadhaar card compulsory by March 31, 2019. The

reasons cited behind this move was to weed out fake PAN cards and accounts from the system and track financial

transactions.

02 Apr India levies anti-dumping duty on solar cell component from four nations

Imports of components used in solar industry have increased as India launched an ambitious national

solar policy named Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission in January 2010.

POINTS TO NOTE

Department of Revenue has said that after considering the recommendations of the commerce ministry's investigation

arm DGTR, it is imposing the duty, which is in the range of $537 to $1,559 per tonne, on imports of "Ethylene Vinyl

Acetate sheet for solar module" being exported by these four nations.

Imposition of the duty is required to offset dumping and injury caused by dumped imports from China, Malaysia,

Saudi Arabia, and Thailand.

The product is a polymer based component used in the manufacturing of solar PV (Photo Voltaic) modules.

Imports of the sheets from these countries increased to 6,367 tonne during the period of investigation (October 2016

to September 2017) from 4,674 tonne in 2016-17. The imports stood at $1,025 tonnes in 2015-16 and $594 tonnes in

2014-15.










39



04 Apr Centre pays sovereign guarantees to ADB, KfW for IL and FS

Payment of around $2 million or Rs 13.84 crore has been made to ADB at the least in the last couple

of months and around Rs 5 crore has been paid to KfW, sources said.

POINTS TO NOTE

The payment has not been disclosed at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), even thought the

appellate tribunal has asked both the government and the IL&FS board to take its approval before any step regarding

the cash-strapped group.

It has come to light that, in 2009, the government of India had issued a sovereign guarantee on behalf of

Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS).

10 Apr India highest recipient of remittances at $79 billion in 2018

India was followed by China (USD 67 billion), Mexico (USD 36 billion), the Philippines (USD 34 billion),

and Egypt (USD 29 billion), according to World Bank.

POINTS TO NOTE

Over the last three years, India has registered a significant flow of remittances from $62.7 billion in 2016 to $65.3

billion 2017.

In Pakistan, remittance growth was moderate (seven per cent), due to significant declines in inflows from Saudi Arabia,

its largest remittance source. In Bangladesh, remittances showed a brisk uptick in 2018 (15 per cent).

According to the report, remittances to low-and middle-income countries reached a record high of $529 billion in 2018,

an increase of 9.6 per cent over the previous record high of $483 billion in 2017.

10 Apr Govt manages to meet revised fiscal deficit target of 3.4% of GDP

The revised target has been met with the help of expenditure savings and other measures including

the rollover of the fuel subsidy. As a result, the shortfall in tax collection has been matched.

POINTS TO NOTE

The interim Budget presented in February revised upward the fiscal deficit arget to 3.4 per cent from 3.3 per cent of

GDP estimated earlier for 2018-19.

There has also been some increase in non-tax revenue collection, especially on account of disinvestment procedures.

About Rs 25,000-30,000 crore worth of subsidies due to PSU oil companies for selling LPG and kerosene oil below the

cost during 2018-19 have been rolled over and will now be paid in the current financial year.










40



12 Apr EU, UK agree to delay Brexit until Halloween

Leaders of the 27 remaining EU member states met for more than six hours before agreeing after

midnight to postpone Brexit until October 31.

POINTS TO NOTE

Just two days before Britain was due to leave the EU, its leaders spent a long dinner meeting wrangling over whether

to save Britain from a precipitous and potentially calamitous Brexit, or to give the foot-dragging departing nation a

shove over the edge.

Several months have passed since May and the EU struck a deal laying out the terms of Britain's departure and the

outline of future relations. All that was needed was ratification by the British and European Parliaments.

But UK lawmakers rejected it three times. As Britain's departure date of March 29 approached with no resolution in

sight, the EU gave Britain until Friday to approve a withdrawal plan, change course and seek a further delay to Brexit,

or crash out of the EU with no deal to cushion the shock.

16 Apr Agreement between India-Denmark on renewable energy approved by Cabinet

The signing of the pact will help in strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

POINTS TO NOTE

The areas of cooperation would include technical capacity building for management of offshore wind projects,

measures to develop and sustain a highly efficient wind industry -- onshore as well as offshore, measures to ensure

high quality of wind turbines, components and certification requirements, forecasting and scheduling of offshore

wind.

The Indo-Danish Centre of Excellence in Integrated Renewable Power would work on renewable energy resource

assessments with focus on onshore and offshore wind, hybridisation of wind, solar, hydro and storage

technologies, testing and R&D, and skill development/capacity building.










41



19 Apr India suspends cross-LoC trade with Pakistan, says route being ‘misused’ to smuggle weapons,

drugs

It said a stricter regulatory and enforcement mechanism is being worked and the issue of the

reopening the trade routes will be revisited once they are implemented.

POINTS TO NOTE

It takes place through two trade facilitation centres located at Salamabad in Uri of Baramulla district, and Chakkan-da-

Bagh in Poonch district.

This trade takes place four days a week and is based on barter system and zero-duty.

The measure has been taken in the backdrop of the Pulwama terror attack following which India stepped up

its military and strategic offensive against Pakistan and also withdrew the most favoured nation (MFN) from

its neighbour.

21 Apr Govt extends last date for GST sales return for March until April 23

The last date for filing summary sales return and payment of taxes for March is April 20, 2019.

POINTS TO NOTE

Glitches in GSTN is leading to frequent extensions in the filing of tax returns. Tax filers also need to improve the habit

of filing at the last date, leading to burden on the servers resulting in the collapse of the same.

The government has extended the last date for filing summary sales return, GSTR-3B, for March month by

three days until April 23.











42



23 Apr U.S. ends waiver for India on Iran oil

Exemptions from sanctions for a 180-day period enabled imports of commodity. The exemptions

were granted last November for a 180-day period for India and seven other countries, and are due to

expire on May 2.

POINTS TO NOTE

India, China and U.S. allies Japan, South Korea and Turkey will be the most impacted by the non-renewal of waivers.

The other three currently exempted countries — Italy, Greece and Taiwan — have already reduced their imports to

zero.

Oil exports from Iran hit a low of 1.0 to 1.0 million bpd in March this year – down from 2.5 million bpd in April 2018.

The U.S. announced that it would withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) or “ Iran deal” in

May.

24 Apr Govt extends ban on import of milk products from China

Food regulator FSSAI had recommended extending the ban until all labs at ports are modernised to

test the chemical.

POINTS TO NOTE

The ban was imposed on apprehensions of presence of melamine in some milk consignments from China. Melamine

is a toxic chemical used for making plastics and fertilisers.

Although India does not import milk, milk products from China, it has imposed the ban as a preventive measure.

24 Apr RBI approves proposal of HDFC for holding 9.9 pc stake in Bandhan Bank

Gruh Finance, the affordable housing finance arm of HDFC Ltd, was taken over by Bandhan Bank in a

share-swap deal in January.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Gruh Finance deal will reduce stake of Bandhan Financial Holdings Ltd in Bandhan Bank to about 61 per cent

from the current 82 per cent.

The share swap ratio for the merger will be 568 shares of Bandhan Bank for every 1,000 shares of Gruh Finance.










43



24 Apr RBI swap auction gets bids more than thrice the notified amount

The move would help shore up the country’s foreign exchange reserves which are now close to $415

billion.

POINTS TO NOTE

The second dollar-rupee buy/sell auction also saw healthy demand with the Reserve Bank of India getting 255 bids

worth $18.65 billion compared with the notified amount of $5 billion.

Dealers said high cut-off premium indicated banks mostly stayed away but companies and NBFCs saw it as a

good opportunity to lower hedging costs compared with the secondary market.

The cut-off premium was 838 paisa compared with 776 paisa the last time.

In a statement after the auction, RBI said liquidity injected in the first leg was ₹34,874 crore.

25 Apr Non-filers of GST returns for 2 months to be barred from generating e-way bills from June 21

In the GST regime, businesses have to file monthly tax returns by the 20th day of the subsequent

month.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has notified June 21, 2019, as the day from which any

"consignor, consignee, transporter, e-commerce operator or courier agency" would be barred from generating

electronic way or e-way bill for failure to file tax returns for the stipulated time period as mentioned in the GST rules.

Businesses opting for composition scheme have to file quarterly returns by the 18th day of the subsequent month

following the end of a quarter.

28 Apr ISB launches Centre for Business Markets

With an aim to provide Indian corporates access to research in B2B marketing, Indian Business

school launched Business markets.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Centre is a collaborative effort of the ISB and the Institute for Study of Business Markets in the U.S.A.

The CBM aims to provide Indian corporates access to state-of-the-art research in B2B marketing, sales and

purchasing.

It seeks to achieve this goal by means of what it describes as a blend of theory and practice so as to enhance

performance, competence and capabilities of the companies.

The conference on ‘Contemporary Challenges in Business Markets for Companies Operating in Growth

Economies’ on the day of the Centre’s launch witnessed seven academics, including Rajendra Srivastava, Dean

of Indian School of Business, and Sundar Bharadwaj, a professor at University of Georgia, among others,

speaking on the subjects connected to the industry.










44



29 Apr Govt may debar Deloitte for five years over alleged misconduct in IL and FS case

This extreme action is being warranted after Deloitte's alleged misdemeanours and conduct in the

IL&FS case.

POINTS TO NOTE

In January, 2018, nine years after the Satyam scandal stunned corporate India, SEBI banned Price Waterhouse (PW)

from providing audit services to listed companies and market intermediaries for two years in the Satyam fraud.

Two PW partners were banned for three years. The regulator also imposed a disgorgement of Rs 130.9 million on Price

Waterhouse, and two of its chartered accountants - S Gopalakrishnan and Srinivas Talluri.

Deloitte on its part contends that the Group's defaults began in May 2018. The three principal arms of IL&FS Group -

IL&FS, ITNL and IFIN -- according to sources within Deloitte saw SRBC &CO (E&Y) audit two of the firms in both 2017-18

and 2018-19, namely IL&FS and ITNL.

29 Apr Centre hikes wheat import tariff to 40 per cent

India’s wheat production is estimated at a record 99.12 million tonnes in 2018-19 crop year, which

runs from July to June, about 2 per cent higher than last year’s.

POINTS TO NOTE

The government’s wheat stocks held by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) stood at 16.99 MT as of April 1. It is

expected to buy another 35-40 MT of wheat this year, after which stock with it could touch 57 MT by end of May.

The Central government had, in a bid to improve farm incomes, raised the minimum support price of wheat,

or the rate at which FCI buys from farmers, by 6 per cent to Rs 1,840 per 100 kg for 2019. This acts as a

benchmark for the open market in wheat.








https://www.exambazaar.com/aroundme



45



MOU'S / AGREEMENTS

03 Apr Infosys forms joint venture with Hitachi, Pasona and Panasonic

Infosys owns an 81 per cent stake in the JV — HIPUS Co Ltd — with Hitachi, Panasonic and Pasona Inc.

claiming the rest.

POINTS TO NOTE

Homegrown IT firm Infosys has formed a joint venture (JV) with three Japanese firms focused towards providing digital

procurement platforms for the Japanese market.

Monday’s announcement follows a decision made by Infosys in December to pick up 81 per cent in Hitachi

Procurement Service Co, Hitachi’s fully owned subsidiary, for a consideration of 2,762 million yen (approximately Rs

174.58 crore).

This firm has now morphed into HIPUS, and will offer Japanese firms “business process transformation using digital

procurement platforms”.

03 Apr 4th Session of India-Ukraine working group on Trade and Economic Cooperation held today

The 4th Meeting of India-Ukraine Working Group on Trade and Economic Cooperation (IU-WGTEC),

under the India-Ukraine Inter-Governmental Commission on Trade, Economic, Scientific, Technical,

Industrial and Cultural Cooperation was held today in New Delhi.

POINTS TO NOTE

A protocol was signed at the end of the meeting. The protocol deals with review of trade, cooperation in the field of

small and medium entrepreneurship, cooperation in the field of technical regulation (standardization, metrology,

certification, conformity assessment), public-private partnership (PPP) and investment, agriculture, facilitating the

access of Ukrainian food products to the market of India, energy sector, finance, granting Ukraine market economy

status within the framework of anti-dumping investigations, and banking and cooperation in tourism.

Both Sides agreed that trade was far below the potential and there was a need to step up their cooperation to enlarge

the trade basket and increase the bilateral trade and investment. There is trade deficit on the part of Indian Side and

both Sides agreed to find out the modalities to reduce it further.










46



04 Apr Reliance Jio in ₹700-cr. pact with Haptik

Investment to build India’s largest AI assistant company across chat, voice and vernacular languages

POINTS TO NOTE

The transaction size, including investment for growth and expansion, is estimated at about ₹700 crore, with ₹230 crore

as the consideration for the initial business transfer.

On a fully-diluted basis, Reliance would hold about 87% of the business with the rest being held by Haptik founders

and employees through stock option grants.

The focus of the investment is on enhancement and expansion of the platform, with an addressable market

opportunity of more than one billion users in India.

13 Apr CMFRI, ISRO sign MoU for mapping smaller wetlands

An MoU has been signed between the CMFRI and ISRO's Space Applications Centre to develop a

mobile app and a centralised web portal with a complete database of wetlands.

POINTS TO NOTE

Such smaller wetlands cover an area of more than five lakh hectares across the country, with Kerala having as many as

2592 smaller wetlands.

The two scientific institutes aim to identify and demarcate wetlands, and restore the degraded wetlands through

suitable livelihood options like coastal aquaculture.

The app will be used for real-time monitoring of the wetlands and giving advisories to stakeholders and coastal

people.

24 Apr Seamless passenger transfer as Emirates, SpiceJet enters code sharing deal

Passenger transfers at Dubai airport and service differentiation will not be an issue after the

agreement.

POINTS TO NOTE

At present, Emirates operates from Terminal 3 while Spice Jet works from Terminal 1 in Dubai.

Also, Emirates is a full service airline with first class and business cabins and full fledged loyalty programme

while SpiceJet offers no frills and charges passengers for meals. SpiceJet passengers travelling from Delhi,

Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Amritsar, Jaipur, Pune, Mangalore, Madurai, Kozhikode and 41 other domestic

destinations that the airline operates to, will be able to access Emirates’ expansive network across the globe.










47



24 Apr Haldiram's tie-up with Venture Catalysts to push packaged goods startups

Venture Catalysts plans to invest in 10-15 CPG start-ups in the next 1-2 years after the tie up with

Haldirams.

POINTS TO NOTE

The CPG sector, consisting of goods consumed every day by the average consumer, has shown significant

growth potential in the Indian market, and Haldiram's tie-up aims to utilise this opportunity.

Venture catalysts plans to invest in 10-15 CPG start-ups in the next 1-2 years and build strong start-up stories

such as men’s grooming brand Beardo, female hygiene start-up PeeSafe and India’s first herbal energy shot

drink FYRE have previously invested in roasted snacks brand Keeros, Chai Break and restaurant chain The

Bohri Kitchen.

24 Apr Huawei arm, Infosys enter into agreement for cloud offerings

Huawei Cloud and Infosys have entered into a strategic cooperation to help enterprise customers

transition quickly to the digital cloud.

POINTS TO NOTE

As part of the agreement, Infosys would join the Huawei Cloud Partner Network (HCPN) and the two

companies would develop new cloud solutions leveraging Huawei Cloud and Infosys’s products and services

to help customers securely adopt innovative cloud-based systems for their enterprise workloads

The network has over 6,000 partners and through cooperation with these partners Huawei Cloud has added

2,800 applications which are available in 40 availability zones in 23 geographical regions across the globe

including Asia Pacific, China, Russia, and South Africa.

OTHERS

02 Apr Government collects highest ever GST in March at Rs 1.06 lakh crore

Total number of GSTR 3B Returns filed for the month of February up to 31st March, 2019 is 75.95

lakh.

POINTS TO NOTE

Total gross GST revenue collected in March, 2019 stood at Rs 1,06,577 crore of which central GST was Rs 20,353 crore,

state GST was Rs 27,520 crore, integrated GST was Rs 50,418 crore and cess was Rs 8,286 crore.

The collection in March, 2019, has been highest since introduction of GST and the fourth instance of the mop-up

breaching the Rs one lakh crore mark in 2018-19 fiscal which ended on March 31, 2019.








https://wap.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=cpg

https://wap.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=cpg



48



02 Apr Saudi Aramco world's most profitable company in 2018

International ratings agencies Fitch and Moody's got rare access to Aramco's accounts which show

the firm posting billions in profits.

POINTS TO NOTE

It comes as Aramco prepares to sell bonds on the international market to help finance the purchase of a 70-percent

stake in Saudi petrochemical behemoth SABIC for $69.1 billion, effectively merging the kingdom's two largest

companies.

Moody's Investors Service said Aramco posted a net profit of $111.1 billion in 2018 -- far higher than the combined net

earnings of the five international oil majors -- and generated $359.9 billion in revenues.

03 Apr Reliance Jio shifts control of optical fibre, tower units to RIIHL trusts

Besides, Tower Infrastructure Trust acquired control of RJIPL by purchasing 51% of shares of RJIPL.

POINTS TO NOTE

Mobile tower unit Reliance Jio Infratel Private Ltd (RJIPL) has allocated shares worth Rs 200 crore to RJIL, it said.

On the same day, Digital Fibre Infrastructure Trust acquired control of JDFPL by purchasing 51 per cent of the equity

share capital of JDFPL for Rs 262.65 crore.

Both trusts have been set up by RIIHL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of RIL as a sponsor, and have been granted the

certificate of registration as Infrastructure Investment Trust by market watchdog Sebi.

05 Apr Orchid India invests $2.6 million in WedMeGood online wedding platform

The fund was an early investor in unicorns such as C-trip and Autohome, and has also invested in the

Chinese online wedding platform Hunliji.

POINTS TO NOTE

It offers an effective platform for wedding service providers to showcase their offerings.

Founded by Anand and Mehak Shahani, WedMeGood was launched in 2014 and helps to hire wedding planners,

photographers and offers ideas for the wedding.

It last raised around 2.7 crore in seed funding from India Angel Network in 2015.










49



05 Apr Banks, others may lose over Rs 90,000 crore as Videocon sinks

The two main group companies - Videocon Industries Ltd & Videocon Telecommunication Ltd. - owe

Rs.59,451.87 crore and Rs.26,673.81 crore, respectively.

POINTS TO NOTE

Besides, 731 other Operational Creditors have made separate claims of Rs.31,117, 971,029 (VIL) and Rs.12,669,978,507

(VTL) for a total of over Rs 90,000 crore.

Group promoters - Venugopal Dhoot, Pradipkumar Dhoot and Rajkumar Dhoot - have also filed claims of Rs.57,823.24

crores on the basis of personal guarantees provided by them for various facilities availed/guaranteed by VIL, which are

under evaluation.

The VTL has also claimed Rs.17,86,94,69,659 from VIL on which there is no dispute and has been accepted in toto.

06 Apr PSA Group plans to procure components worth 1 bn euro from India

European auto major PSA group targets to procure components worth 1 billion euro from India for its

global plants. The company met over 500 potential suppliers from India.

POINTS TO NOTE

In 2018, PSA group sourced made-in-India components worth 250 million euro (around Rs 2,000 crore). The

company has set an ambitious plan of reaching 1 billion euro in less than 5 years.

PSA is looking for QCD (Quality, Cost & Delivery) performance, not only the lowest cost per part, but also TCO (Total

Cost of Ownership).

07 Apr Private Equity, Venture Capital investment increases 26 per cent to USD 10 billion in Q1 2019

The latest quarter witnessed 23 PE investments worth $100 million or more with 6 of them $500

million or above compared to 17 such transactions in the same period last year.

POINTS TO NOTE

The investment value increased 26 per cent compared to the $8 billion across 208 transactions recorded in the same

period in 2018 and 39 per cent higher than the immediate previous quarter that had witnessed $7.3 billion being

invested across 178 transactions.

The latest quarter witnessed 23 PE investments worth $100 million or more with 6 of them $500 million or above

compared to 17 such transactions in the same period last year.

Infrastructure related companies, especially in the energy, roads and telecom, accounted for 48 per cent of the

investment value during the period accounting for $4.9 billion across 16 deals, compared to $3.7 billion across 13 deals

in Q1’18.

The largest investment reported during the quarter was canadian asset management firm Brookfield’s $1.8 billion

acquisition of Pipeline Infrastructure India — which owns the 1,400 km natural gas pipeline from Kakinada to Bharuch

— from Reliance Industries.










50



07 Apr SC to jail ex-Ranbaxy promoters if found guilty of not paying Daiichi

In its March 14 hearing, the top court had said that it is now a matter of country’s honour that they

clear their dues.

POINTS TO NOTE

Expressing dissatisfaction over the replies filed by former Ranbaxy promoters Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh in

response to its March 14 direction to submit a concrete plan for paying over Rs 3,500 crore awarded to Japanese drug

firm Daiichi Sankyo by a Singapore tribunal, Supreme Court on Friday said they could be sentenced to jail for

disobeying orders.

Shivinder told the bench that his assets can be sold, and that he is yet to retrieve dues to the tune of Rs 6,300 crore

from Gurinder Singh Dhillon, the head of the Radha Soami Satsang. Dhillon’s relationship with the Singhs is believed

to be a crucial link that led to the downfall of the once-billionaire brothers.

Shivinder said the total value of their assets after liquidation was nearly Rs 900 crore and if the court grants an

opportunity, he could certainly work to grow these assets up to Rs 2,000 crore.

07 Apr RBI rate cut marked unwinding of almost all policies by Urjit Patel

In the four months since Patel quit abruptly in December, his policies from interest rate hikes to rules

on loan defaults have been overturned.

POINTS TO NOTE

New Governor Shaktikanta Das delivered a second consecutive rate cut in the same week that a top court in India

struck down tough bankruptcy rules adopted under Patel.

Under that RBI directive issued on Feb. 12, 2018, the central bank mandated a timeline for recasting bad loans or

moving them to bankruptcy court, a move challenged by power generation companies, shipyards and sugar mills.











51



07 Apr Priority Sector Lending Certificates volume crosses Rs 3-trillion mark

PSLCs relating to the small and marginal farmers segment continued to be in most demand,

according to rating agency CRISIL.

POINTS TO NOTE

PSLCs are used to enable banks to achieve the priority sector lending target and sub-targets by purchasing

these instruments in the event of shortfall.

Those falling short of targets have the choice to place money with Nabard and Sidbi at low interest rates or invest in

PSLCs issued by fellow lenders which carry higher coupon.

Most lenders choose the latter option for the benefit of better resource management, said public sector banks

executives.

09 Apr NIIT Technologies to acquire WHISHWORKS; sell 89% stake in Esri India

This transaction is expected to add to margin and earnings of NIIT Tech. Whishworks Is an IT services

and consulting company specialising in MuleSoft and Big Data technologies.

POINTS TO NOTE

ESRI is a US-based geographic information system-based company, which makes mapping and location-based

software products. NIIT Tech had a distribution deal with the firm, which was expiring on March 31.

ESRI will now directly manage the distribution of its products in India. The transaction is expected to close within this

month.

10 Apr I-T finds Rs 12 lakh crore mismatch in ITRs declared in FY 2016

A big reason for not being able to catch such tax evasion is due to the fact that the government has

not, so far, implemented the invoice-matching feature of GST.

POINTS TO NOTE

The mismatch amount is nearly six times the service tax collected in the fiscal.

It is believed this is also a reason for the shortfall in goods and services tax (GST) collections in FY18 and FY19. While

the government had projected Rs 13.4 lakh crore of GST collections in FY19, it could collect only Rs 11.8 lakh crore.

CBIC collected ITR data from the direct tax department to analyse possible leakages in the service tax regime, which

was subsumed under GST in FY17-18. It has also finished an a similar analysis for FY16-17, and has sent the reports to

respective zones.










52



10 Apr Singapore government sells DLF stake worth Rs 1,298 crore

Singapore government has sold its share to rejig its portfolio and book profit as the company has

significant exposure of about $1.7 billion through its two joint venture.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Singapore government on Monday sold 6.8 crore shares of realty giant DLF for Rs 1,298 crore through an open

market transaction, leading to the realty major’s stock plunging over 8 per cent.

The Singapore government held around 7.32 crore shares in DLF as on December 31, 2018. These shares comprised a

4.11 per cent stake in the company.

The Singapore government through its sovereign wealth fund GIC has two joint ventures with DLF. In December 2017,

GIC invested Rs 9,000 crore to acquire 33.43 per cent stake in DLF’s rental arm. It had also invested around Rs 2,000

crore to pick up a 50 per cent stake in DLF’s two housing projects at Moti Nagar in Delhi.

10 Apr TVS launches 4 new vehicles in Bangladesh

TVS Motor Company, a Chennai-based vehicle manufacturing company, has launched four new

products in Bangladesh.

POINTS TO NOTE

The products include premium motorcycle TVS Apache RTR 160 4V single disc, 125cc motorcycle TVS Max 125, 100cc

motorcycle TVS Metro special edition and utility vehicle TVS XL100 Heavy Duty i-Touch Start.

These products will target the growing customer demand in each of their respective segments. TVS Motor Company

distributes its two-wheelers through TVS Auto Bangladesh, across the country.

11 Apr NCLAT directs ArcelorMittal to deposit Rs 42,000 crore

The National Company Law and Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) directed ArcelorMittal, the winning

bidder for the insolvent Essar Steel, to file an affidavit before it detailing the steps it would take to

implement the approved resolution plan for revival of the insolvent company, before the next hearing

scheduled on April 23.

POINTS TO NOTE

A two-member bench headed by chairman Justice SJ Mukhopadhyay also asked ArcelorMittal to deposit the bid

amount of Rs 42,000 crore in an escrow account either before NCLAT or the Ahmedabad Bench of the National

Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).

While agreeing to bring in the money, ArcelorMittal claimed that there is reluctance on part of the lenders to execute

the debt assignment agreement.

However, as directed by the NCLT, the CoC had agreed to hike the payout to operational creditors to Rs 1,000 crore

from Rs 214 crore, against the outstanding Rs 4,976 crore. Financial creditors, on the other hand, would get about Rs

41,987 crore out of their total dues of Rs 49,395 crore as per the resolution plan










53



12 Apr India, Sweden ink pact to collaborate on solutions for smart cities, clean tech

The programme was co-funded by Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST) and Swedish

agency Vinnova.

POINTS TO NOTE

Vinnova will provide funding to Swedish participants up to 2,500,000 Swedish Krona (around Rs 1.87 crore) as grant.

On the Indian side, conditional grant of up to 50 per cent (with a limit of Rs 1.5 crore) per project will be provided to

the Indian partners.

Negotiations for the much-delayed pact between European union (which Sweden is a part of) and India have been on

for many years now.

12 Apr Cairn India’s CEO and CFO quit

Cairn India CEO Sudhir Mathur and CFO Pankaj Kalra have resigned from the firm, according to

sources in the know of the development.

POINTS TO NOTE

Ajay Dixit, who was CEO of the Aluminum and Power divisions of Vedanta, will take over from Mr. Mathur in the

interim, after his exit.

Rahul Dhir, Cairn India’s first CEO since the time of listing, quit the company in August 2012. His successor P. Elango

resigned in May 2014, while the third CEO Mayank Ashar resigned in May 2016.

Vedanta shares on the BSE declined 3.72% to close at ₹181.30 in an almost flat Mumbai market on Thursday.











54



13 Apr Uber steers toward IPO with $100 billion valuation

The ride-hailing giant is seeking to raise some USD 10 billion in what would be the largest stock

offering of the year.

POINTS TO NOTE

The IPO comes after a lacklustre response to last month's market debut for Lyft, the main US rival of Uber. Lyft shares

rose on the first day of trade and then lost ground.

Uber recently provided documents showing a potential price range of between USD 48 and USD 55 a share, implying a

valuation of between USD 90 billion and USD 100 billion.

Uber is the latest and will be largest of the so-called "unicorns," or venture-backed startups worth at least USD 1

billion, to look to Wall Street listings to expand their capital base.

Pinterest, a virtual bulletin board that connects people with interests including food, fashion, travel and lifestyle,

plans to trade under the symbol PINS on the New York Stock Exchange.

Pinterest unveiled its IPO price range with an estimated valuation of some USD 11 billion, below the USD 12 billion in

its most recent private funding round.

13 Apr TCS sees highest revenue growth in 15 quarters

Q4 profit rises 18% to ₹8,126 crore; digital services contribute 31% of revenue; dividend at ₹18 per

share.

POINTS TO NOTE

Digital services contributed 31% to revenue, growing at 46.4% over the same period in the previous year.

The company closed FY19 with 22% growth in yearly profit to ₹31,472 crore and a 19% jump in annual revenues to

₹1,46,463 crore.

However, TCS’ operating margins for the fourth quarter contracted by 31 basis points to 25.1% as the software major

reported an operating income of ₹9,537 crore.

15 Apr Jio crosses 300 million customers mark, closes in on Airtel

Jio became the fastest company in the world to achieve 100 million telecom subscribers in 170 days

of starting commercial operation.

POINTS TO NOTE

In its earnings report for the quarter ended December 2018, Bharti Airtel had disclosed that it had 284 million

customers. However, as per regulatory filings, Bharti Airtel reported having 340.2 million customers on its

network in December and 340.3 million customers at the end of January.

Bharti Airtel crossed the 300 million customers mark in 19th year of its operations.

Vodafone Idea became the largest telecom player in the country with 400 million customers following the merger of

mobile business of Vodafone India and Idea Cellular on August 31, 2018.










55



16 Apr NPCI mulls blockchain to boost e-payments

A blockchain or distributed ledger is a continuously growing list of encrypted transactions called

blocks.

POINTS TO NOTE

A block may contain any type of data such as unique digital identifiers of physical products.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) is an umbrella organisation for all retail payments in India. It was

set up with the guidance and support of the RBI and the Indian Banks Association (IBA).

The NPCI has floated an Express of Interest (EOI) in order to enable bidders to propose their capability for

developing distributed ledger technology/ blockchain in the payment domain.

As per a recent report of global consultancy firm PwC, India would be one of the world's blockchain leaders by 2023.

16 Apr India's trade deficit reaches a record high of $176 billion in 2018-19

Exports stood at $32.55 billion in March, taking the total tally in 2018-19 to $331 billion.

POINTS TO NOTE

While it is the first time that outbound trade has remained above $300 billion for two consecutive years, exports

couldn't cross the government’s internal target of $350 billion.

In the 2017-18 financial year, exports stood at $303.52 billion.

On the other hand, a continuous shoot up in imports, which grew at double digit levels for 6 of the last 12 months,

took cumulative imports to a soaring high of $507.44 billion. This was nearly $42 billion more than India’s total

bill in the preceding year.

17 Apr BookMyShow invests in Pune-based payments technology company AtomX

The online ticketing portal intends to gain access to best-in-class cashless technologies to enhance

on-ground user experience at live events through the investment.

POINTS TO NOTE

The solution enables users to store cash in the form of digital money in their NFC chip and simply tap and pay, to buy

food, beverages and merchandise instantly, allowing them to enjoy the experience wholly without worrying about

losing their money.

Investing in AtomX will allow BookMyShow to seamlessly enable the tech company’s cashless payments

platform and solutions on Near Field Communication (NFC) cards, wristbands, key chains which consumers

can use for digital payments at events like music festivals, sporting events, food festivals and concerts.










56



17 Apr Ajay Dixit elevated as Cairn CEO as Sudhir Mathur calls it a day

Dixit joined Vedanta in 2015 from Siemens where he was CEO-Energy for South Asia. He had served

as acting CEO of Vedanta's Aluminium and Power business before being elevated to this new role.

POINTS TO NOTE

His leadership will support Cairn’s vision to realize the full potential of Barmer block, grow the offshore business and

appraisal of new blocks under OALP I and discovered small fields (DSF-II).

Cairn today produces approximately 200,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, which is about 25 per cent of India’s

crude production and has a vision to take up its contribution to 50 per cent. The company has planned investments

worth $3.5 billion over the next four years to ramp up its production.

17 Apr Wipro Q4 net up 38 per cent, approves Rs 10,500 crore share buyback

The IT major had undertaken a Rs 2,500 crore programme in 2016 and another Rs 11,000 crore

buyback offer in November-December 2017.

POINTS TO NOTE

Net profit of the company rose to Rs 2,484 crore in the three months to March 31, from Rs 1,803 crore in the same

period a year ago, helped by a robust performance from its banking, financial services and insurance segment.

The BFSI vertical, which is about 31 per cent of its total revenue, stood at around Rs 4,604.3 crore.

Revenue from its mainstay IT services business grew 11.1 per cent, driving the company’s consolidated

revenue to Rs 15,038 crore from Rs 13,824 crore last year.

The board of the Wipro also announced Rs 10,500 crore share buyback at a price of Rs 325.








https://www.exambazaar.com/eqad



57



18 Apr Jet suspends all flights after banks refuse to release funds

The airline said the decision follows the lenders refusing to offer a lifeline to the debt ridden airline.

POINTS TO NOTE

In a filing before the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and a statement to the media, Jet Airways said it was informed by

the State Bank of India (SBI), on behalf of the consortium of Indian lenders, that they were unable to consider its

request for critical interim funding.

It added that this has been a very difficult decision but without interim funding, the airline was simply unable

to conduct flight operations in a manner that delivers to the very reasonable expectations of its guests,

employees, partners and service providers.

On Wednesday, Jet Airways operated just three aircraft, one Boeing 737 NG and two ATR turbo-props.

19 Apr Amazon to shut down operations in China

Move comes amid tough competition between Amazon and Chinese companies such as Alibaba and

JD.com.

POINTS TO NOTE

The move underscores how entrenched, home-grown e-commerce rivals have made it difficult for Amazon’s

marketplace to gain traction in China.

Consumer research firm iResearch Global said Alibaba Group Holding’s Tmall marketplace and JD.com controlled 82%

of the Chinese e-commerce market last year.

21 Apr Job creation trebles to 8.61 lakh in February: EPFO payroll data

The data showed that 80.86 lakh new jobs were created in the 18 months period from September

2017 to February 2019.

POINTS TO NOTE

During February 2019, the highest number of 2.36 lakh jobs were created in the 22-25 years age group, followed by

2.09 lakh in the 18-21 years age bracket.

The sharpest revision was for March 2018 in the latest report which showed contraction or exit of 55,934 members

from the EPFO subscriptions.

Last month, the EPFO payroll data had showed that as many as 29,023 members exited from its schemes in March

2018.










58



21 Apr Hindustan Zinc Ltd becomes world's ninth largest producer of silver

The company plans to produce 1000 tonnes of silver in the next two years and 1500 tonnes in the

next 5-6 years.

POINTS TO NOTE

Silver output in Asia in 2018 increased to 5,809 tonne and the biggest growth was posted in India’s HZL. The

company’s underground operations increased its mining output, while better silver grades boosted silver production

by 16 per cent in relation to 2017, to a record level of 19.6 Moz (610 tonne) in CY18.

The company has increased its production of silver manifold in the past 15 years from 41 mt in FY02 to 679 mt in FY19.

21 Apr HDFC Bank Q4 net profit up 22% to Rs 5,885 crore on interest income growth

Net interest income for the quarter increased 22.8 per cent to Rs 13,089.5 crore from Rs 10,657.7

crore in the same period of the previous financial year.

POINTS TO NOTE

The bank said the increase was driven by an average asset growth rate of 19.8 per cent and a core net interest margin

of 4.4 per cent for the quarter under review. The bank also said its board had approved raising up to Rs 50,000 crore

by issuing debt over the next 12 months.

Gross non-performing assets as a percentage of gross advances stood at 1.36 per cent as of March 2019, compared to

1.38 per cent as of December 2018, and 1.30 per cent as of March 2018.

The bank saw upgrades of Rs 1,000 crore, write-offs of Rs 700 crore and recoveries worth Rs 1,200 crore during the

quarter.

The bank had made contingent provisions in the December quarter on account of an anticipated surge in agricultural

delinquencies and added more provisions in the March quarter.

23 Apr Senior officials of RCEP countries to meet in Bangkok on May 24

The meeting assumes significance as the member countries are aiming to conclude the negotiations

by end of this year.

POINTS TO NOTE

A joint statement issued after a ministerial meeting of RCEP trade ministers in March in Cambodia has said that in

order to ensure progress is made towards meeting the leaders' mandate for conclusion in 2019, the ministers agreed to

intensify engagement for the remainder of the year (including by convening more inter-sessional meetings).

The proposed free trade agreement, which is officially dubbed as RCEP, to cover goods, services, investments,

economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property rights to boost economic ties between the

countries.










59



23 Apr Ansal Properties' Joint MD and CEO Anil Kumar resigns

Kumar resigned with immediate effect due to health reasons and other family circumstances.

POINTS TO NOTE

Ansal API's projects after a preliminary exercise by consultant Currie & Brown found potential diversion of Rs 600 crore

from the Lucknow township project.

The resignation comes a day after Uttar Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority chairman Rajive Kumar in its

interview with ET said that may conduct a deeper audit on developer Kumar said options before the regulator

included a more detailed forensic audit of the Lucknow township as well as audit of other Ansal projects in

the national capital region (NCR) such as in Greater Noida.

24 Apr Kazakhstan sets up coordinating council to attract Indian investments

The Kazakh government on Monday held a session to discuss the issues of attracting investments

under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Askar Mamin.

POINTS TO NOTE

In order to coordinate and efficiently interact with investors, as well as provide solutions to current problems,

it was decided to lay the functions of Investment Ombudsman under the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan.

Also, a Coordinating Council for attracting foreign investment will be created and chaired by the head of

government.

It was also decided that the government owned stake in the national company Kazakh Invest joint stock

company would be passed into confidential management of the AIFC.











60



25 Apr Wipro BFSI prez Farooq resigns after 5 yrs at helm

Guha has been with Wipro for over 25 years and was the vertical head for BFS Americas in his

previous role. He is based in New York and will report to Wipro CEO Abidali Neemuchwala.

POINTS TO NOTE

His direct reportee, Angan Guha, will take over as senior VP and global head of the BFSI unit effective July 1.

Farooq was inducted into Wipro’s highest decision-making body – the Group Executive Council —made up of a core

group of Wipro leaders who drive the long-term vision of the $8 billion IT company.

Wipro’s BFSI vertical contributes 31.5% or nearly $2.5 billion to its annual revenue.

It has over 100 clients globally across retail banking, investment banking, capital markets, wealth management, and

insurance. Farooq is responsible for opening some of the new logos in the BFSI space.

25 Apr Xiaomi to challenge Samsung in offline market with 10,000 stores in India

The Chinese tech major aims for 50 per cent of its sales from the offline market in India.

POINTS TO NOTE

The company now has well over 6,000 outlets across three formats - Mi Homes (experiential stores -75 in number), Mi

Preferred Partners (retail stores) and Mi Stores (in smaller towns).

As per research firm IDC, Xiaomi was ahead of rival Samsung with a 28.9 per cent share of the smartphone

shipment volume in the December 2018 quarter. Samsung had 18.7 per cent share in the same quarter that

saw a total shipment of 36.3 million units.

25 Apr RBI sells entire stake in NHB, Nabard to govt for Rs 1,470 cr

The RBI said divestment of its shareholding in Nabard was done in two phases. The central bank held

72.5 percent equity in Nabard worth Rs 1,450 crore, of which 71.5 percent amounting to Rs 1,430

crore were divested way back in October 2010 and the residual shareholding was divested on

February 26, 2019.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Reserve Bank has exited the NHB and the National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development by selling its

entire stakes to government for Rs 1,450 crore and Rs 20 crore, respectively, making them fully government-

owned now.

The move is part of ending the cross-holding in regulatory institutions and follows the recommendation of

second Narasimhan committee report of October 2001 and the RBI's own discussion paper on the same

entitled 'Harmonizing the role and operations of development financial institutions and banks.'








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https://wap.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=samsung

https://m.economictimes.com/topic/National-Housing-Bank

https://m.economictimes.com/topic/Narasimham-committee-report



61



25 Apr GoAir to launch 28 flights from April 26

GoAir has announced 28 additional flights effective April 26 to 12 destinations — Mumbai (8 flights),

Delhi (7), Nagpur (3), Ahmedabad (2), Goa (1).

POINTS TO NOTE

The others are Chandigarh (1), Ranchi (1), Jaipur (1), Lucknow (1), Patna (1), Pune (1) and Kochi (1).

These additional flights would alleviate the shortage of flights and inconvenience caused to passengers due to Jet

Airway’s flight cancellation.

In Mumbai, flight numbers starting from G8 2000 to G8 2999 would depart and arrive at Terminal 2.

26 Apr Jio races ahead of Airtel to become India's 2nd largest telecom company

Jio, since its launch in Spetember 2016, has seen a meteoric growth on the back of aggressive and

dirt-cheap consumer tariff plans.

POINTS TO NOTE

While Jio presently has 306 million customers, Vodafone idea continues to lead the industry with 387 million

subscribers, according to a report.

Times of India

Airtel has 284 million subscribers. In February, Jio had added 7.79 million subscribers, while Vodafone Idea lost

5.78 million customers, according to data published by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

(Trai). Airtel lost 49,896 customers.

27 Apr Setback for India as US places it on priority watch list for IP rights violations

The US Trade Representatives (USTR) in its report identified 11 countries, including India, in its

Priority Watch List.

POINTS TO NOTE

The US Trade Representatives (USTR) in its report identified 11 countries, including India, in its Priority Watch List.

China, Indonesia, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela are among other nations. It has also placed 25 countries,

including Pakistan and Turkey, on the watch list.

In the report, the US said these countries will be the subject of increased bilateral engagement with the USTR to

address IP concerns. Specifically, over the coming weeks, the USTR will review the developments against the

benchmarks established in the Special 301 action plans for countries that have been on the ‘Priority Watch List’ for

multiple years.








https://wap.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=vodafone+idea

https://wap.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=telecom

https://wap.business-standard.com/search?type=news&q=airtel



62



27 Apr In March, Private Equity, Venture Capital inflow hit all-time high of $7 billion

Some of the largest deals announced in March include Brookfield’s buyout of Mukesh Ambani-owned

Reliance Industries’ East-West pipeline for $1.9 billion.

POINTS TO NOTE

The total investment last month was more than twice the value of $3 billion invested in March, 2018.

Moreover, it was the best month ever for PE and VC investments, 30% higher compared to the previous high of $5.4

billion in August 2017.

The number of deals, too, increased 44% to 89, compared to the same period last year, especially as PE investors see

opportunities from the non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) crisis and some of the top business groups are

selling assets to reduce debt.











63



28 Apr Yes Bank posts Rs 1,506 crore Q4 loss

The bank on Friday also announced the appointment of Shagun Kapur Gogia and Ravindra Kumar

Khanna as additional directors (non-executive, non-independent), subject to the approval of

shareholders at the next annual general meeting. The appointments are based on joint

recommendations from two promoter groups.

POINTS TO NOTE

The bank disclosed that it has Rs 2,528-crore exposure to various companies of the IL&FS group, of which Rs 2,442

crore has been classified as non-performing assets (NPAs).

Overall, it recorded slippages (loans going into default) of Rs 3,481 crore, of which Rs 552 crore was a loan to Jet

Airways.

The fourth quarter loss shrank the annual net profit to Rs 1,720 crore as against Rs 4,224 crore in FY18.

The loss was a result of a near tenfold spike in provisions to Rs 3,661 crore, up from Rs 399 crore in the

corresponding period in the previous year.

The loss was contained following a write-back of provisions of Rs 831 crore last year.

28 Apr BHEL employee Padmanabhan bags bravery award

A Grade II Artisan working in the High Pressure Boiler Plant of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited

(BHEL)- Tiruchi, M. Padmanaban, has been awarded the Jeevan Rakshak Padak 2018 by the Union

government in recognition of his act of saving lives at workplace, risking his own life.

POINTS TO NOTE

Mr. Padmanaban was given the award for his act of bravery and presence of mind in extinguishing a fire which broke

out at his workplace due to a leak of highly inflammable acetylene gas from a cylinder used for welding.

He quickly identified and deployed the correct fire extinguisher to put out the fire, averting a major disaster as the

incident happened close to a LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) line and in proximity to the coal-yard and other

inflammable goods.

The Jeevan Rakshak Padak is a civilian life-saving award instituted by the Centre for recognising brave acts of civilians

in saving lives from accidents. The award carries a medal, a cash reward of ₹1 lakh and a citation.










64



5. Banking Awareness


05 Apr RBI reduces key lending rate by 25 bps

The central bank has maintained 'Neutral' stance on the monetary policy. It cited concerns over

growth as it lowered the GDP forecast to 7.2% for the current financial year from 7.4% projected in

the February policy.

POINTS TO NOTE

The central bank said the output gap remained negative and the domestic economy was facing headwinds, especially

on the global front. (Output gap refers to the difference between the actual output of the economy and its maximum

potential.)

Four members of the committee voted for a rate cut, while RBI Deputy Governor Viral Acharya and Chetan Ghate

voted for status quo.

The committee maintained the neutral policy stance, which means interest rates can move in either direction.

09 Apr Reserve Bank of India issues norms for banks to set up currency chests

The new chests should have a processing capacity of 6.6 lakh pieces of banknotes per day. For those

situated in the hilly/ inaccessible places, capacity of 2.1 lakh pieces of banknotes per day.

POINTS TO NOTE

The minimum area should be, area of the strong room/ vault of at least 1,500 sq ft. For those situated in hilly/

inaccessible places, the strong room/ vault area of at least 600 sq ft.

The central bank further said the currency chests should have CBL of Rs 1,000 crore, subject to ground realities and

reasonable restrictions, at the discretion of the Reserve Bank.

As per the RBI's annual report of 2017-18, the currency management infrastructure consists of a network of 19 issue

offices of the Reserve Bank, 3,975 currency chest and 3,654 small coin depots of commercial, co-operative and regional

rural banks spread across the country.










65



12 Apr Reinsurance brokers permitted to open foreign currency accounts: RBI

Following the Irdai's notification, the extant regulations regarding opening of foreign currency

accounts were reviewed.

POINTS TO NOTE

Foreign currency account refers to a bank account held or maintained in currency other than the currency of India or

Nepal or Bhutan.

Earlier, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Irdai) had issued notification in this regard.

28 Apr RBI to issue new Rs 20 denomination banknotes

The RBI has announced that it will shortly issue Rs 20 denomination banknotes, in the Mahatma

Gandhi (New) series, bearing the signature of the central bank's governor Shaktikanta Das.

POINTS TO NOTE

The base colour of the note is Greenish Yellow. The note has other designs, geometric patterns aligning with the

overall colour scheme, both at the obverse and reverse.

The new (Rs 20) denomination has motif of Ellora Caves on the reverse, depicting the country's cultural heritage.

MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS

06 Apr Lakshmi Vilas Bank board approves merger with Indiabulls Housing Finance

For every share held, the shareholders of the private-sector bank would be entitled to get 0.14 share

in Indiabulls.

POINTS TO NOTE

Lakshmi Vilas Bank shares were locked at 5 per cent upper circuit, at Rs 92.75, for the second straight day, in

intra-day trade on the BSE after reports of a merger with Indiabulls housing finance.

Shares of Indiabulls housing finance were up 2 per cent to Rs 916, gaining 9 per cent in the past three trading days. In

comparison, the benchmark index was up 0.40 per cent at 38,840 points.

OTHERS










66



01 Apr Bank of Baroda becomes third largest lender after SBI, HDFC

BoB said the consolidated bank will have over 9,500 branches, 13,400 ATMs, 85,000 employees to

serve 12 crore customers.

POINTS TO NOTE

State-run Bank of Baroda is catapulting itself for a larger play in the system with the merger of Dena Bank and Vijaya

Bank with itself from Monday.

The government-forced merger, announced last in September, creates the third largest bank in the country after State

Bank of India and HDFC Bank.

This is second merger of state-run banks in the recent years in the banking sector after State Bank had merged five of

its associate banks- State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of

Travancore and State Bank of Hyderabad and also Bhartiya Mahila effective April 2017.

02 Apr Airbnb expands India operations, checks into OYO with $200-mn investment

For Airbnb, the tie-up with OYO means a partial change in the business model, specifically for India.

POINTS TO NOTE

This move, according to industry experts, would give a major boost to Airbnb’s India operations, as it would get

instant access to 10,000 OYO Homes properties.

According to sources, the two firms have been in discussion for a stake sale since September last year, around the

same time when OYO raised its billion-dollar mega round. This $200 million would be added to the ongoing Series E

round. Till now, the hotel booking start-up has managed to raise close to $1.65 billion in total, at a valuation of over

$5 billion.

04 Apr Tax take from 'Panama Papers' probes exceeds $1.2 bn

Britain has recouped some $253 million, France $136 million and Australia $93 million, the

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) posted on its website.

POINTS TO NOTE

Taxmen in 22 countries worldwide have raked in more than $1.2 billion in fines and back taxes thanks to the 2016

"Panama Papers" leak of information about offshore dealings.

German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung -- which received the massive leak of documents from Panamanian law

firm Mossack Fonseca on which the investigation was based -- reported Berlin has reaped $183 million from related

tax probes.

More than 100 media organisations participated in the investigation, which uncovered accounts in tax havens held by

140 politicians, football stars and billionaires and enjoyed a global media echo.










67



05 Apr Nomura to cut $1 billion costs from wholesale business, shut branches

Nomura's retail business also suffered a steep profit fall as individual investors sat on the sidelines

given turmoil in the market.

POINTS TO NOTE

Nomura also plans to axe about 100 jobs in London -- the centre for its European investment banking business -- as

part of the overhaul.

The target of cutting $1 billion in costs will be achieved over the "medium term", with 60 percent completed by the

end of the financial year to March 2020.

The segment swung to a pretax loss of 95.9 billion yen ($861 million) in the third quarter, versus a 14 billion yen profit

a year earlier.

07 Apr Bank of India to divest 25% in Star Union Dai-ichi Life for Rs 1,106 crore

After the stake sale, BoI will hold 3.91% stake in Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance. Other joint venture

partners in the life insurance company are Union Bank of India and Japan-based Dai-ichi Life

Holdings.

POINTS TO NOTE

The proposed stake sale by BoI a part of the bank’s strategy to raise money via monetisation of its stake in strategic

investments and sale of non-core assets.

For the proposed stake sale, Bank of India has appointed RBSA Capital Advisors as the financial advisor.

In the last couple of months, the insurance sector has seen many joint venture partners selling their stake in the

respective life insurance companies. Mostly, the listed companies such as ICICI Prudential, SBI Life and HDFC Life have

had their joint venture partner selling stake.

09 Apr Catholic Syrian Bank plans to change name to 'CSB Bank Ltd' ahead of IPO

The management has said the present name had been a locally known one in Kerala and nearby

states for around a century, though it now has branches in many states.

POINTS TO NOTE

The bank has started the process to list itself, directly or through an Initial Public Offer (IPO) of equity. This was one

condition given by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for approving Canada-based Fairfax’s infusion of Rs 1,200 crore.

Many customers even within India are averse to conducting any business dealings with the bank for this reason.

Foreign customers, having good business connections in India, also avoid dealing with the bank for the only reason

that part of the name either indicates a religious community’s interference or represents a foreign country.










68



11 Apr Karnam Sekar to take over as MD, CEO of Indian Overseas Bank from July 1

His term will end in June next year. He will work as officer on special duty and whole-time director

with IOB till the end of June this year.

POINTS TO NOTE

Sankara Narayanan, former MD and CEO of Vijaya Bank, will move to Canara Bank in the same position. His term will

end in January 2020.

R K Yaduvanshi, executive director at Dena Bank, will move as executive director of Punjab National Bank.

Nageshwara Rao, executive director at Vijaya Bank, will move to Syndicate Bank as officer on special duty and full-

time director.

Murali Ramaswami, another executive director at Vijay Bank, will move to Bank of Baroda. He will be OSD till the end

of September 2019.

12 Apr Google Pay launches gold buying, partners MMTC-PAMP India

Through this partnership with India's only LBMA accredited gold refinery, Google Pay users will be

able to buy 99.99 per cent 24-karat gold.

POINTS TO NOTE

With this, Google Pay users can purchase gold for any value that will be stored in secure vaults on their behalf by

MMTC-PAMP.

The users can buy and sell the gold any time at the latest price, refreshed every few minutes, as displayed on the

Google Pay app.








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69



12 Apr Banks close FY19 with 13.24% credit growth, deposits up 10.03%

Banks closed fiscal 2019 with robust disbursals that rose in double-digits for the second year in row,

after the sub-5 percent in FY17, which was the lowest in five decades.

POINTS TO NOTE

Bank credit rose 13.24 percent to Rs 97.67 lakh crore for the fortnight to March 29, while deposits grew by 10.03

percent to Rs 125.72 lakh crore during the same period.

This is the second consecutive double-digits credit growth after the same had declined to 4.54 percent in FY17 at Rs

78.41 lakh crore, which was the lowest since 1963.

14 Apr RBI preparing to adopt fifth generation technology

The 5G technology, along with blockchain, will be progressively adopted by banks. The use of 5G will

change a range of technologies and applications, including point of sale (PoS) machines in the

banking sector, which are currently using 2G and are in the process of being phased out.

POINTS TO NOTE

The broad objectives of the lab include developing and demonstrate 5G use cases for banking and financial services;

setting up 5G research and development experience platform for banking and financial services; collaborating with

stakeholders such as banks, government, service providers, financial institutions, OEM, academicians, R&D bodies,

standards setting bodies and others for 5G promotion and absorption of best practices; providing state-of-the-art

experimental test bed solutions for mobile, wireless technologies, IoT and security services for the BFSI segment.

While 5G can play in furthering financial inclusion, it will enable integration and leveraging of various new

technologies like cognitive computing, artificial intelligence, big data, etc.

16 Apr Not only Mallya and Nirav, 36 businessmen fled from country in recent past, ED informs court

The Enforcement Directorate told special judge Arvind Kumar that 36 businessmen, including Vijay

Mallya and Nirav Modi, have fled from the country in the recent past.

POINTS TO NOTE

The ED opposed the bail plea of Sushen Mohan Gupta, alleged defence agent arrested in the AgustaWestland VVIP

choppers scam, saying there was a likelihood of him fleeing the country like 36 businessmen who had criminal

cases against them. It is suspected that Gupta has in his possession some payment details in the Rs 3,600

crore purchase deal of AgustaWestland VVIP choppers and the link is to be unravelled.










70



17 Apr IDBI Bank brings paperless account facility for NRIs

IDBI Bank has launched 'NRI-Insta-Online' account opening process for NRIs residing in Financial

Action Task Force (FATF) member countries.

POINTS TO NOTE

The person will not be required to furnish physical documents as well as KYC proofs for opening an account with the

bank.

FATF is an inter-governmental body which devices policy and sets standards to promote effective

implementation of legal, regulatory and operational measures to combat money laundering, terrorist

financing and other related threats to the integrity of the international financial system.

The body has 38 member countries, including the US, UK, India, Japan, China and France, among others.

19 Apr ICICI Bank launches ‘insta auto loan’ for pre-approved customers

It launched facilities to boost its vehicle financing portfolio that would instantly deliver the sanction

letters to current pre-approved customers availing two-wheeler and car loans. The bank plans to

grow its vehicle loan portfolio by 17% in FY20.

POINTS TO NOTE

The private-sector lender’s vehicle loans amount to 16% of its outstanding retail loan book of Rs 53,000 crore.

It plans to initially extend the ‘insta vehicle loan’ facility to salaried customers using their income estimates, current

expenses and credit bureau scores.

The bank is offering its insta auto loan up to `20 lakh to close to two lakh pre-approved customers for a

period of up to seven years and insta two-wheeler loans up to `2 lakh to close to 1.2 crore pre-approved

customers for a period of up to three years on the entire on-road price of the vehicle.

19 Apr India's telecom subscriber base hits 1,205 mn in Feb, thanks to Jio, BSNL

The other telecom operators, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, lost a big chunk of their

respective subscribers.

POINTS TO NOTE

The sector, dominated by wireless connection, recorded an increase in the mobile services subscriber base to 1,183.6

million by end-February, from 1,181.9 million in January. Jio added 7.79 million, to a total subscriber base of 297

million. According to a television commercial of the firm, this has since crossed 300 million.

BSNL said 900,000 mobile customers, taking its total subscriber base to 116.2 million by end-February.








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25 Apr SoftBank eyes $2-3 billion investment in Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio

SoftBank is conducting due diligence for its investment through SoftBank Vision Fund into Reliance

Jio.

POINTS TO NOTE

The retail and telecom arms together contributed around 25 per cent of RIL’s 2018-19 revenue.

Softbank has a mobile telecom business in Japan and also owns Sprint in the US. It also has a 30 per cent stake in

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

Jio had a debt of Rs 76,212 crore at the end of the March 2019 quarter, and RIL may want to reduce that. It had

begun the exercise by transferring its tower and fibre assets to two infrastructure investment trusts, which

resulted in a reduction in liability of Rs 1.07 trillion, and issuing preference shares of Rs 78,100 crore to

RIL (through the revaluation of fibre assets).

25 Apr TTD cash deposits in banks crosses Rs 12,000 crore mark

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams has about 8.7 tonnes of pure gold, besides nearly 550 kg of gold

jewellery set with stones offered by devotees in the Hundi at the hill shrine.

POINTS TO NOTE

The deposits made with several nationalised and private banks by TTD has crossed the Rs 12,000 crore mark with an

annual estimated interest of about Rs 845 crore.

The temple official said the over 2000-year-old Lord Venkateswara temple was growing richer by the year with an

annual income of about Rs 31 billion with the devotee footfall of about 25 million from all over the world.








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25 Apr SBI appoints eight new DMDs and many other CGMs

SBI is also in the process of identifying about 15 executives who would fill vacant positions as chief

general managers.

POINTS TO NOTE

The new DMDS are Soma Shankara Prasad, Keshav Kumar T, Ashwani Bhatia, Hare Krishna Jena, Sandeep Tewari, Alok

Kumar Choudhary, Janakiraman Swaminathan and Sanjiv Chadha.

Unlike in the past, SBI now begins the annual appraisal process in April itself and concludes it by May 15. Earlier, the

exercise would involve manual processing, consuming about six to nine months.

27 Apr Yes Bank reports loss of Rs 1,506 cr in Q4 as provisioning rises

Interest income of the bank increased to Rs 7,856.54 crore as compared to Rs 5,742.98 crore earlier.

POINTS TO NOTE

An almost 10-times spike in provisions to Rs 3,661 crore from Rs 399 crore in the year-ago period led to the massive hit

on the bottomline.

This includes a contingent provision of Rs 2,100 crore.

Leadership changes have often led to massive clean-ups at banks, and the practice, normally at state-run

banks, has been adopted by the new Managing Director and Chief Executive Ravneet Gill.










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6. Science, Technology and Environment


03 Apr WhatsApp unveils tipline to report fake news in India

The tipline will help create a database of rumours to study misinformation during elections for

Checkpoint -- a research project commissioned by WhatsApp.

POINTS TO NOTE

People in India can submit misinformation or rumours to the "Checkpoint Tipline on WhatsApp" at +91-9643-000-888.

Dig Deeper Media and Meedan, who have previously worked on misinformation-related projects around the world,

are helping PROTO to develop the verification and research frameworks for India.

When a WhatsApp user shares a suspicious message with the tipline, PROTO's verification centre will seek to respond

and inform the user if the claim made in the message shared is verified or not.

The response will indicate if information is classified as true, false, misleading, disputed or out of scope and include

any other related information that is available.

10 Apr Data Users’ Conference Deliberates on strategy and questionnaire for Census 2021

For the first time in the 140 year long Census exercise in India, data is proposed to be collected

through a mobile app, officials of Registrar General of India said at the conference of data users

here today to finalize the strategy and questionnaire for the Census 2021.

POINTS TO NOTE

33 lakh enumerators would be mobilized for data collection for which notification has already been issued. The

reference date is 1st October 2020 for Jammu & Kashmir and snow bound areas of Himachal Pradesh & Uttarakhand

while for the rest of country the reference date is 1st March 2021.

The data users conference is the first formal interaction of the census organization with various stakeholders. The two

day conference is expected to have intensive deliberations on the proposed Strategy and the draft Questionnaire for

the 2021 Census. The results of deliberations will form the basis for finalizing the questions and the methodology for

the census.










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16 Apr Cabinet nod to GSLV Phase-4 continuation programme consisting 5 rockets

The continuation programme will meet the demand for the launch of satellites at a frequency up to

two launches per year.

POINTS TO NOTE

The phase four will enable the launch of two-tonne class of satellites for geo-imaging, navigation, data relay

communication and space science.

The total fund requirement for phase four has been pegged at Rs 2729.13 crore and includes the cost of five

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicles (GSLVs), essential facility augmentation, programme management, and

launch campaign, along with the additional funds required for meeting the scope of the ongoing programme.

The GSLV continuation programme will meet the launch requirement of satellites for providing critical satellite

navigation services, data relay communication for supporting the Indian human spaceflight programme and

the next interplanetary mission to Mars.

17 Apr One day National workshop on Loss and Damage in India, organized by Ministry of Environment,

Forest and Climate Change(MoEFCC)

A one-day National Consultation on Loss and Damage, to deliberate and brainstorm on emerging

perspectives on approaches to assess, minimise and address climate-related loss and damage, was

hosted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in New Delhi today.

POINTS TO NOTE

The workshop had two technical sessions on specific topics including ‘Strengthening response to address loss and

damage’ and ‘Approaches to assess, manage and address climate risks and loss and damage’ with eminent speakers

from various State Governments, organisations and institutions including International Institute for Applied Systems

Analysis, IIT Delhi, Madras School of Economics, National Institute of Disaster Management, ActionAid International,

Government of Tamil Nadu, Government of Uttarakhand, Government of Kerala, GIZ, and Indian Institute of Public

Administration.

India, being bigger than 23 European countries and having a higher rate of growth and population, is facing greater

challenges as compared to developed countries. The need to follow low carbon sustainable pathway, poverty

alleviation and addressing climate change impacts are to be prioritized.










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23 Apr MOU signed between Ministry of AYUSH and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the Ministry of AYUSH and Council of

Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi today for cooperation in research and education

in areas of traditional systems of medicine and its integration with modern science.

POINTS TO NOTE

Previously, CSIR jointly with Department of AYUSH (now Ministry) developed the Traditional Knowledge Digital Library

(TKDL), a globally recognized proprietary database on Indian systems of medicine for preventing bio-piracy and

misappropriation of our traditional knowledge.

The constituent laboratories of CSIR and councils of the Ministry of AYUSH have also supported each other in the

development of improved varieties and captive cultivation of the medicinal plants including rare, engendered and

threatened (RET) species, Botanical Reference Standards and Pharmacopoeial standards, and Ayurgenomics, among

many others.

OTHERS

01 Apr PSLV-C45 mission with nano-satellites to be launched today

The EMISAT satellite is aimed at electromagnetic measurement. The four-stage PSLV-C45 will blast

off from the second launch pad at the spaceport of Sriharikota.

POINTS TO NOTE

The mission will mark several firsts to the credit of the space agency as it would manoeuvre satellites in various orbits

and orbital experiments including on maritime satellite applications.

PSLV, also used in India's two key missions - "Chandrayan" in 2008 and Mars Orbiter in 2013, is a reliable and versatile

launch vehicle for ISRO with 39 consecutive successful flights till June, 2017 and five-in-a row from January 2018.










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03 Apr Wars, climate disasters caused acute hunger to 11 crore people worldwide

African states were "disproportionally" affected as close to 72 million people on the continent

suffered acute hunger.

POINTS TO NOTE

Yemen, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and Syria were among the eight nations accounting for two-

thirds of the total number of people worldwide exposed to the risk of famine, the Food and Agriculture Organization

(FAO) said in its 2019 global report on food crises.

Launched three years ago, the annual study takes stock of the countries facing the greatest difficulties.

Conflict and insecurity remained key factors, along with economic turbulence and climate-related shocks like drought

and floods, the report found.

The report highlighted the strain put on countries hosting large numbers of refugees, including neighbouring nations

of war-torn Syria as well as Bangladesh, which has received more than a million Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar.

04 Apr BSNL gets licence for in-flight connectivity

Inmarsat, among the top global mobile satellite communications players, has announced that its

Indian telecom partner BSNL has received an “in-flight and maritime connectivity” (IFMC) license from

the department of telecommunications (DoT).

POINTS TO NOTE

Hughes Communications India Ltd., a subsidiary of a global company, and Tatanet Services have already bagged the

Flight and Maritime Connectivity (FMC) licence. Bharti Airtel has also sought the permit.

The DoT had notified its rules in December allowing airlines flying within and transiting through India to provide

Internet and voice services on mobile phones along with an Indian telecom operator or licencee. So far, SpiceJet has

announced that it will offer Internet access to passengers. Vistara has evinced interest in this service.

04 Apr NuGen Mobility Summit 2019 held today

The objective of the Summit is to share new ideas, learnings, global experiences, innovations and

future technology trends for faster adoption, assimilation and development of advanced automotive

technologies for a smarter and greener future.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Summit is being organized in association with SAENIS, SAE INDIA, SAE International, NATRiP, DIMTS, Department

of Heavy Industry, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, SIAM and ACMA. More than 2500 participants and over

250 exhibitors are expected to take part in the Summit.

Experts working with leading international scientific and research organizations and testing laboratories from various

countries like USA, Europe, Japan and other Asian countries will also participate in the event and share their

experiences and knowledge on development of smart and green technologies and the challenges that the industry

needs to overcome.










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04 Apr South Korea to launch world’s first national 5G network

The superfast communications heralded by fifth-generation wireless technology will ultimately

underpin everything from toasters to telephones; from electric cars to power grids.

POINTS TO NOTE

But while the South has won the race to be first to provide the user experience, that is only one part of a wider battle

that has pitted the United States against China and ensnared giants including Huawei.

Hyper-wired South Korea has long had a reputation for technical prowess, and Seoul has made the 5G rollout a

priority as it seeks to stimulate stuttering economic growth.

The system will bring smartphones near-instantaneous connectivity — 20 times faster than existing 4G — allowing

users to download entire movies in less than a second.

04 Apr Millions of Facebook records found on Amazon cloud servers

Cybersecurity blog KrebsOnSecurity reported in March that the passwords were accessible to as

many as 20,000 Facebook employees.

POINTS TO NOTE

Facebook said last month it resolved a glitch that exposed passwords of millions of users stored in readable format

within its internal systems to its employees.

Millions of Facebook Inc's user records were inadvertently posted on Amazon.com Inc's cloud computing servers in

plain sight.

05 Apr Isro to launch 5 military satellites this year to boost 'strategic assets in space'

Isro is scheduled to launch four new series Risat satellites and an advanced Cartosat-3 satellite.

POINTS TO NOTE

Isro is scheduled to launch four new series Risat satellites and an advanced Cartosat-3 satellite. The images from old

Risat-series satellites were used to plan the surgical strike in 2016 and the air strike on a Jaish camp in Pakistan’s

Balakot this year.

In the past, the space agency had launched one or two military satellites a year but its focus has now shifted towards

boosting defence assets in space amid heightened tension along the Pakistan border and increased Chinese naval

activities in the Indian Ocean.










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05 Apr Microsoft to help Railways connect employees with healthcare services

Tech giant Microsoft said Indian Railways will use its 'Kaizala' solution to connect employees across

the country with quality healthcare facilities.

POINTS TO NOTE

Microsoft had launched Kaizala - a productivity app - designed for the Indian market to enable large group

communications and work management.

Microsoft Kaizala app will enable serving and retired railway employees to avail healthcare services of 125 railway and

133 private recognised hospitals.

The Kaizala group, managed by doctors from South Central Railways will be complemented with focused groups of

doctors, paramedical staff and nurse.

10 Apr Cold plasma shows potential to kill 99.9% of airborne viruses

During the tests researchers also tracked the amount of viral genome that was present in the air.

POINTS TO NOTE

The researchers have measured the virus-killing speed and effectiveness of nonthermal plasmas -- the ionised, or

charged, particles that form around electrical discharges such as sparks.

Achieving these results in a fraction of a second within a stream of air holds promise for many applications where

sterile air supplies are needed.

In this way, researchers were able to determine that more than 99 per cent of the air sterilising effect was due to

inactivating the virus that was present, with the remainder of the effect due to filtering the virus from the air stream.

This parallel approach -- combining filtration and inactivation of airborne pathogens -- could provide a more efficient

way of providing sterile air than technologies used today, such as filtration and ultraviolet light.











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10 Apr IIT Delhi issues show cause notice to Sanfe start-up for false claim

Sanfe Period Pain Relief Roll On, an Ayurveda product to help women with menstrual pain, was

launched by an IIT Delhi start-up Redroomtechnology Private Limited on March 8 claiming to be FDA-

approved.

POINTS TO NOTE

IIT Delhi has initiated and enquiry against Sanfe after the institute incubated startup falsely claimed their ayurvedic

product, a period pain relief roll on, was FDA approved and tested at AIIMS.

One of the confounders said that they misunderstood an approval by Haryana's ministry for AYUSH as FDA approval.

11 Apr Life may be evolving on nearest exoplanets: Study

According to the study, published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,

life already has survived this kind of fierce radiation on the Earth.

POINTS TO NOTE

Proxima-b, only 4.24 light years away, receives 250 times more X-ray radiation than Earth and could experience deadly

levels of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on its surface.

All of life on Earth today evolved from creatures that thrived during an even greater UV radiation assault than

Proxima-b, and other nearby exoplanets, currently endure.

The Earth of four billion years ago was a chaotic, irradiated, hot mess. Yet in spite of this, life somehow gained a

toehold and then expanded.

11 Apr Scientists reveal first image ever made of a black hole

Situated at the center of most galaxies, including ours, they are so dense that nothing, not even light,

can escape their gravitational pull.

POINTS TO NOTE

Assembling data gathered by eight radio telescopes around the world, astronomers created the picture showing the

violent neighborhood around a supermassive black hole, the light-sucking monsters of the universe theorized by

Einstein more than a century ago and confirmed by observations for decades.

It looked like a flaming orange, yellow and black ring. Unlike smaller black holes that come from collapsed stars,

supermassive black holes are mysterious in origin.










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11 Apr WhatsApp now lets users send 30 audio files at once

WhatsApp has been testing and introducing a plethora of new features on its platform, especially

concerning app support on more devices.

POINTS TO NOTE

Previously, users were only allowed to send one audio file at a time on a WhatsApp chat thread. The new feature

comes as part of the 2.19.89 beta update of the instant messaging app.

The app is already working on the much-awaited iPad support that is being tested with features including Touch ID

support, split-screen and landscape mode.

In addition, to minimise the spread of fake news on its platform, WhatsApp is testing the "Forwarding Info" and

"Frequently Forwarded Message" feature that would let its over 1.5 billion users know how many times a message has

been forwarded, which could raise questions on its authenticity.

14 Apr Strong 6.8 quake hits off eastern Indonesia, tsunami warning: USGS

The quake hit off the coast of eastern Sulawesi, on the other side of the island from disaster-hit Palu,

where residents still felt the tremor despite being hundreds of kilometres away.

POINTS TO NOTE

The quake struck at a relatively shallow depth of 17 kilometres off the east coast of Sulawesi island, the USGS said,

where a 7.5-magnitude quake-tsunami around the city of Palu killed more than 4,300 people last year.

Thousands in Palu were living in makeshift shelters six months after the late September disaster with at least 170,000

residents of the city and surrounding districts displaced and entire neighbourhoods still in ruins, despite life returning

to normal in other areas of the tsunami-struck city.

The force of the quake saw entire neighbourhoods levelled by liquefaction -- a process where the ground starts

behaving like a liquid and swallows up the earth like quicksand.

Indonesia has said the damage bill in Palu topped $900 million. The World Bank has offered the country up to

$1 billion in loans to get the city back on its feet.










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14 Apr Three-person baby born in medical 'revolution'

A similar DNA-switching technique was used in Mexico in 2016 to avoid transmission of a mother's

hereditary illness to her child.

POINTS TO NOTE

The team used an egg from the infertile mother, the father's sperm and another woman's egg to conceive the baby

boy, transferring genetic material with chromosomes from the mother to the egg of a donor whose own genetic

material had been removed in a process its creators hailed as a medical "revolution".

But the case in Greece is the first time an IVF (in vitro fertilisation) technique using DNA from three people has been

deployed to allow a mother otherwise unable to conceive to have a child.

The baby, born Thursday and weighing in at 2.96 kilos (6.5 pounds), was delivered by a 32-year-old Greek woman who

had undergone several unsuccessful attempts at in vitro fertilisation.

In the Mexican case, the mother had been suffering from Leigh syndrome, a rare illness which affects the developing

nervous system and can be fatal. In her case, the disorder had previously caused the deaths of two of her children.

14 Apr JNCASR’s molecule improves recovery after spinal cord injury

In mice and rat models with spinal cord injury, the molecule led to recovery of sensory, motor

functions.

POINTS TO NOTE

The small molecule tested both on mice and rat models promoted regeneration and growth of new sensory and

motor axons leading to recovery of sensory and motor functions in the animals with spinal cord injury.

Since the small molecule cannot cross the blood–brain barrier and enter the brain, the researchers used 400

nanometre-size carbon nanospheres made using glucose, which is self-fluorescent, and attached the molecule to its

surface. The non-toxic nature of the small molecule has already been demonstrated in animals.

The JNCASR researchers in collaboration with a French team had in October 2018 used the same molecule to recover

long-term memory in mice with Alzheimer’s disease.










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15 Apr Death of rare turtle leaves 3 remaining in the world

The rare animal was one of four Yangtze giant softshell turtles known to be remaining in the world,

and one of two in China.

POINTS TO NOTE

A zoo in southern China says the only known female member of one of the world's rarest turtle species has died.

The Suzhou zoo, where the female turtle lived, also houses a male Yangtze giant softshell turtle. The other two live in

Vietnam, but their genders are unknown.

The state-run People's Daily reported that the turtle was 90 years old and had undergone a fifth attempt at

artificial insemination shortly before she died.

15 Apr Oil consuming bacteria found at sea bottom

Scientists have discovered a unique oil eating bacteria in the Mariana Trench, the deepest part of the

earth’s oceans.

POINTS TO NOTE

In an expedition, organised by marine explorer and film director James Cameron, researchers collected samples from the

trench. In the samples, they found microorganisms that eat compounds similar to those in oil and then use it for fuel. This

finding that may pave way for sustainable ways to clean up oils spills.

Mariana Trench

The Mariana Trench is located in the western Pacific Ocean approximately 200 kilometres (124 mi) east of the Mariana Islands,

and has the deepest natural trench in the world. It is a crescent-shaped trough in the Earth's crust averaging about 2,550 km

(1,580 mi) long and 69 km (43 mi) wide. The maximum known depth is 10,994 metres.











83



15 Apr World’s largest plane Roc makes first test flight

Stratolaunch is designed to carry and deploy satellites in space. The world's largest aircraft took off

over the Mojave Desert in California on 13 April.

POINTS TO NOTE

This was the first flight for the carbon-composite plane built by Stratolaunch Systems Corp, started by late Microsoft

co-founder Paul Allen, as the company enters the lucrative private space market.

The white airplane called Roc has a wingspan the length of an American football field and is powered by six engines

on a twin fuselage.

The plane is designed to drop rockets and other space vehicles weighing up to 500,000 pounds at an altitude of 35,000

feet and has been billed by the company as making satellite deployment as “easy as booking an airline flight.”

16 Apr Indian scientists make the deepest radio image of the Sun

A team of scientists led by Dr Divya Oberoi at NCRA has made significant advances by making the

deepest ever images of the Sun at radio wavelengths.

POINTS TO NOTE

The radio data was acquired through the telescope “Murchison Widefield Array” (MWA) in Australia, where Dr. Oberoi

was involved since its inception.

Over the last several years, Dr. Oberoi and his Ph. D students Rohit Sharma, Atul Mohan, Surajit Mondal, along

with several international collaborators were building tools and techniques to uncover the mysteries of the

Sun using the MWA data.

They developed an indegenious software package called 'Automated Imaging for Compact Arrays for the Radio Sun'

or AIRCARS.

17 Apr Novel device creates electricity from snowfall

The device designed by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in the US is

inexpensive, small, thin and flexible like a sheet of plastic.

POINTS TO NOTE

The device can work in remote areas because it provides its own power and does not need batteries.

It's a very clever device -- a weather station that can tell you how much snow is falling, the direction the snow is

falling, and the direction and speed of the wind.

The device called snow-based triboelectric nanogenerator, or snow TENG, generates charge through static electricity,

produces energy from the exchange of electrons.

The new device could be integrated into solar panels to provide a continuous power supply when it snows, he said.

The device can be used for monitoring winter sports, such as skiing, to more precisely assess and improve an athlete's

performance when running, walking or jumping.










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17 Apr NASA's planet-hunting probe spots Earth-sized planet

The latest discovery by NASA is of an exoplanet orbiting a star 53 light-years away from Earth.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Transiting Exoplanets Survey Satellite (TESS) also discovered a warm sub-Neptune-sized world in the same system.

One such tool, the Planet Finder Spectrograph on the Magellan II telescope in Chile, was a crucial component

of this effort.

The PFS works using a technique called the radial velocity method, which is currently the only way for

astronomers to measure the masses of individual planets.

This method takes advantage of that fact that not only does a star's gravity influence the planet orbiting it,

but the planet's gravity also affects the star in turn.

HD 21749b has about 23 times Earth's mass and a radius of about 2.7 times Earth's.

17 Apr New way to create fast-charging lithium-ion batteries discovered

A lithium-ion battery charges and discharges as lithium ions move between two electrodes, called an

anode and a cathode.

POINTS TO NOTE

The team improved battery performance by substituting cobalt oxide with vanadium disulfide (VS2).

The team determined that lithium insertion caused an asymmetry in the spacing between vanadium atoms,

known as Peierls distortion, which was responsible for the breakup of the VS2 flakes.

They discovered that covering the flakes with a nanolayered coating of Titanium disulfide (TiS2), a material

that does not Peierls distort, would stabilize the VS2 flakes and improve their performance within the battery.

19 Apr NASA astronaut to set record for longest spaceflight by a woman

NASA and its ISS partners have set a new schedule and new crew assignments that will include the

first flight of NASA astronaut Jessica Meir and an extended stay for NASA astronaut Andrew Morgan.

POINTS TO NOTE

Koch, who arrived at the space station on March 14, and now is scheduled to remain in orbit until February 2020, will

eclipse the record of 288 days set by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson in 2016-17.

Her mission is planned to be just shy of the longest single spaceflight by a NASA astronaut - 340 days, set by

former NASA astronaut Scott Kelly during his one-year mission in 2015-16.

Koch and fellow NASA astronaut Nick Hague, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin will remain aboard

the space station and begin Expedition 60.










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19 Apr Universe's first molecule, formed 14 billion years ago, detected in space

Helium combined first with free electrons to form the first ever neutral atom in the universe.

POINTS TO NOTE

At that time, ionised hydrogen and neutral helium atoms reacted to form HeH+.

Despite its importance in the history of the early Universe, HeH+ has so far escaped detection in astrophysical

nebulae -- cloud of gas and dust in outer space.

Operating the GREAT far-infrared spectrometer onboard the flying observatory SOFIA, an international team

reported unambiguous detection of the molecule towards the planetary nebula NGC 7027.

During the dawn of chemistry when the temperature in the young universe had fallen below 4000 Kelvin, the

ions of the light elements (hydrogen, helium, deuterium and traces of lithium) produced in Big Bang

nucleosynthesis recombined in reverse order of their ionisation potential.











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20 Apr Gagandeep Kang becomes first Indian woman to be elected Royal Society Fellow

Gagandeep Kang, Manjul Bhargava and Akshay Venkatesh are among 51 scientists elected to the

fellowship of The Royal Society of London.

POINTS TO NOTE

Dr. Kang is known for her inter-disciplinary research studying the transmission, development and prevention of

enteric infections and their sequelae in children in India. She has built national rotavirus and typhoid

surveillance networks and conducted phase 1-3 trials of vaccines, which has supported two WHO pre-

qualified vaccines, according to a biography posted on The Royal Society website. She has won many

accolades including the Infosys prize.

Manjul Bhargava is with Princeton University and was awarded the Fields Medal in 2014, and Akshay Venkatesh, who

is now with the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton, won the honour in 2018.

21 Apr IISc team directly delivers protein into cells for the first time

The team achieved nearly sixfold increase in protein uptake by cells, Proteins are big molecules and

so cannot enter the cells on their own.

POINTS TO NOTE

The increased protein uptake was seen even when the molecular weight of the protein was 28,000 dalton, meaning

the protein was much bigger in size than most of the therapeutic small molecules.

The researchers also tried replacing a hydrogen atom with an atom of bromine and chlorine but the uptake was way

lower than when iodine was used.

In the case of bromine, the uptake of proteins increased by only about two times, while the uptake increased only

marginally when chlorine was used.

21 Apr MicroRNAs in the liver help regulate the feed-fast cycle

MicroRNA levels change in an anticipatory mechanism. They find that the oscillation in the levels of

certain microRNAs in the liver drives this transition, and they study this by inhibiting the translation of

the fasting responsive genes that are involved.

POINTS TO NOTE

The feed-fast cycle is an important aspect of our body metabolism. There are four stages to it: fed state, post-

absorptive state, fasting state, starvation state.

Normally, we only experience the third stage and do not enter the fasting stage. Different organs in our body work to

metabolise the food we consume, and they behave differently during each stage.

During a fasting state, liver produces glucose in a process which is critical for maintaining circulating glucose levels. An

abnormality in either of these processes can lead to diabetes, obesity or other liver diseases.

Fed microRNAs could control the expression of fasting-induced genes, thus controlling liver metabolism.










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24 Apr Elon Musk plans to release self driving cars by next year

Self-driving car experts fear Musk is shirking public safety in an effort to boost Tesla's stock and sell

more of the company's electric cars.

POINTS TO NOTE

Musk will have to persuade regulators that Tesla's technology for transforming potentially hundreds of thousands of

electric cars into self-driving vehicles will produce robots that are safer and more reliable than humans.

And to do that, Musk will have to be correct in his bet that Tesla has come up with a better way to produce self-

driving cars than virtually every other of the more than 60 companies in the US working toward the same

goal.

27 Apr Major penguin breeding ground in Antarctica ‘wiped out’

The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) used satellite imagery to study the behaviour of the Halley Bay

colony in the Weddell Sea due south of Cape Hope, which normally sees up to 25,000 penguin pairs

mate each year.

POINTS TO NOTE

They found that in 2016, when abnormally warm and stormy weather broke up the sea-ice on which the penguins

normally raise their young, almost all the chicks died.

This pattern was repeated in 2017 and 2018.

The second largest Emperor penguin colony on Earth has suffered a “catastrophic” breeding failure after nearly all

chicks born over three years died as their icy Antarctic habitat shrinks.

27 Apr Tropical forest the size of England destroyed in 2018: Report

The pace of the loss is staggering -- the equivalent of 30 football fields disappearing every minute

of every day in 2018, or a total of 120,000 square kilometres (46,000 square miles).

POINTS TO NOTE

Almost a third of that area, some 36,000 km2, was pristine primary rainforest, according to the annual assessment

from scientists at Global Forest Watch, based at the University of Maryland.

Rainforests are the planet's richest repository of wildlife and a critical sponge for soaking up planet-heating

CO2.

Despite a slew of counter-measures at both the national and international level, deforestation has continued

largely unabated since the beginning of the century.








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27 Apr India’s 1st lab-meat project takes off

The clean meat, CCMB scientists said, is nutritionally equivalent to conventional animal meat and it

tastes, smells, looks and feels the same.

POINTS TO NOTE

With an initial funding of Rs 4.5 crore by the department of biotechnology, scientists will develop mutton and chicken

from stem cells, without animal rearing.

Experts said using the technology and producing meat in the lab would mean there would be no need to raise and

slaughter animals for meat. It not only gives food security, but will help in animal welfare and carbon footprint

reduction.

29 Apr Cyclone Fani: Depression over Bay of Bengal intensifies into cyclonic storm

Cyclone Fani is very likely to reach near the coasts of north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh

by the evening of April 30.

POINTS TO NOTE

Cyclone Fani currently lays over east Equatorial Indian Ocean (EIO) and adjoining southeast Bay of Bengal. Heavy falls

at isolated places are very likely over Kerala on April 29 and 30.

The sea along the coasts of Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh is likely to be “very rough” from April

28.

It has advised fishermen along the coasts of Sri Lanka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducherry not to

venture into the seas.











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7. Defence

06 Apr Pak to release 360 Indian prisoners this month as 'goodwill gesture'

The process of releasing the Indian fishermen will start on April 8 when 100 prisoners will be

released.

POINTS TO NOTE

In the second phase on April 5, another 100 will be released. In the third phase on April 22, another 100 will be

released and in the fourth and last phase on April 29, the remaining 60 prisoners will be released.

Currently there are 347 Pakistani prisoners in India and 537 Indian prisoners in Pakistan.

09 Apr Indian Army gets first batch of Dhanush artillery guns

The Dhanush, which has a calibre of 155x45mm, is the first ever indigenous artillery gun of this

calibre. In army parlance, it is classified as 'medium artillery'.

POINTS TO NOTE

The army’s artillery arm has 'medium regiments' that consist of guns of this calibre and of 130mm calibre.

The Bofors, which had played a crucial role in targeting Pakistani military positions during the 1999 Kargil war,

and similarly has a 155mm calibre is part of such regiments.

The 155mm x 45 Cal FH Gun ‘DHANUSH’ is a new generation towed artillery gun with major upgraded features over the

existing 155/39 cal. FH 77 B02 gun.

Indigenisation to the extent of approx. 81 per cent, has already been achieved. By the end of 2019, the indigenisation

level will go up to 91 per cent.

09 Apr Vice Admiral Verma moves tribunal for being overlooked as next navy chief

He approached the court seeking why was he overlooked as next navy chief despite being the senior-

most in line of command.

POINTS TO NOTE

The government last month named Vice Admiral Karambir Singh as next chief of the naval staff, succeeding Admiral

Sunil Lamba who retires on May 30.

The government made the selection following a merit-based approach and did not go with the tradition of appointing

the senior-most eligible officer to the post.










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12 Apr Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurates Air force commanders’ conference

During the two day conference, discussions and deliberations will take place in line with the theme of

the conference of ‘Enhancing our operational capability in the short and long term’.

POINTS TO NOTE

The successful strike over Balakot and air action on 27 February will also be discussed along with the latest

technologies in the aviation field to make IAF a more high tech force.

IAF will play a vital role in enhancing the defence manufacturing capabilities of the nation through its acquisitions in

the form of Strategic Partnership Model.

16 Apr China develops world's first armed amphibious drone boat

The drone ship, named Marine Lizard, successfully passed delivery checks and left the factory on

April 8 in Wuhan.

POINTS TO NOTE

In ship form, the 12-meter-long Marine Lizard is a trimaran propelled by a diesel-powered hydrojet and can reach a

maximum speed of 50 knots while maintaining stealth.

When approaching land, the amphibious drone ship can release four continuous track units hidden under its belly,

and travel at 20 kms an hour on land.

16 Apr UK and India strengthen defence ties through renewed defence MoU

In addition to the bilateral talks last week, UK and Indian industry met to discuss how they would forge

deeper and broader partnerships to contribute to these efforts.

POINTS TO NOTE

The two nations agreed to re-double efforts to identify mutual defence and security capability needs and collaborate

on solutions.

The agreement, which marks a step change in India and the United Kingdom’s defence relationship, comes

after a visit by India’s Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Sunil Lanba, to HMS Queen Elizabeth in Portsmouth last

month. It also follows HMS Dragon’s visit to Goa in December last year, where the ship took part in the

longstanding naval exercise, The Konkan Series.

By collaborating and exploiting procurement opportunities together, both nations will be able to benefit from

technological and manufacturing capabilities and support long-term cooperation between their defence and

security industries.










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16 Apr Successful Trial of 'Nirbhay' Sub-Sonic Cruise Missile

Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully test fired indigenously

designed & developed Long Range Sub-Sonic Cruise Missile “Nirbhay” from the Integrated Test

Range (ITR) at Chandipur Odisha.

POINTS TO NOTE

It is the sixth development flight trial with objective to prove the repeatability of boost phase, cruise phase using way

point navigation at very low altitudes. The missile took off vertically turning horizontally into desired direction,

booster separated, wing deployed, engine started, cruised all the intended waypoints. The missile demonstrated its

sea-skimming capability to cruise at very low altitudes.

The entire flight was fully tracked by a chain of Electro Optical Tracking Systems, Radars and Ground Telemetry

Systems deployed all along the sea coast.

18 Apr 150 Indian peacekeepers in S Sudan awarded medal of honour for dedicated service

The medals were given to the 150 Indian peacekeepers serving in UNMISS in Malakal during a

ceremony filled with parades and performances by a piped band.

POINTS TO NOTE

Colonel Amit Gupta, deployed with UNMISS in Malakal, was among the recipients of the medal of honour. Gupta a

battalion of 850 soldiers in the Upper Nile region of South Sudan.

Under his command, his men have conducted highly sought-after veterinary camps and run a veterinary hospital in

Malakal, with a second expected to be completed in Kodok – a major town along the west bank of the Nile – in a few

weeks' time.

Indian peacekeepers serving with the mission have undertaken numerous training sessions of community animal

health workers, providing value addition training for farmers to help them make the most of their produce.










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21 Apr Navy chief launches new guided missile destroyer 'INS Imphal'

With a launch weight of 3,037 tonnes, the vessel made its first contact with water with full fanfare

during the launching ceremony.

POINTS TO NOTE

Project 15B ships feature cutting edge advanced technology and are comparable to the best ships of similar class

anywhere in the world.

These ships have been designed indigenously by the Indian Navy’s Directorate of Naval Design. Each ship spans 163

metres in length and 17.4 metres at beam and displaces 7,300 tonnes.

These ships will be propelled by four gas turbines to achieve speed in excess of 30 knots.

The P15B destroyers incorporate new design concepts for improved survivability, sea keeping, stealth and

manoeuvrability.

Enhanced stealth features have been achieved through shaping of hull and use of radar transparent deck fittings

which make these ships difficult to detect.

P15B ships will be equipped to carry and operate two multiple role helicopters.

22 Apr India to track exact positioning of aircraft in its oceanic airspace from 2020

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has tied up with American company Aireon that with its

partners provides space-based global air traffic surveillance system.

POINTS TO NOTE

On land, planes equipped with automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) systems beam their positions to

ground-based receivers every few seconds.

India has 30 such receivers, which, in turn, send the positional data to connected ATC monitoring systems, giving

exact position of aircraft.

AAI will roughly spend about Rs 50 crore annually on this new facility. India has November made it

mandatory for its airlines track their aircraft throughout their journey by equipping aircraft with ADSB

system.











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26 Apr Army starts process to induct women as jawans in military police

This is being seen as a major breakthrough for women in armed forces as so far, they were being

inducted only as officers and this is the first time they would be taken in as soldiers.

POINTS TO NOTE

Women will be inducted in a graded manner to eventually comprise 20 per cent of total Corps of Military Police and

their role would range from probing crime cases to assisting the Army in field operations wherever required.

Last year, Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat had said the process to allow women in a combat role, currently, an

exclusive domain of men was moving fast and initially, women will be recruited for positions in Military

Police.

Accordingly, the Army chalked out induction of approximately 800 women in military police with a yearly

intake of 52 personnel per year.










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8. Sports

01 Apr India Open 2019: Viktor Axelsen downs Kidambi Srikanth to claim title

World number four Axelsen pulled off his shirt in jubilant celebration as he beat Srikanth 21-7, 22-18

in 36 minutes at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.

POINTS TO NOTE

In the women’s singles, Thailand’s Ratchanok Intanon served past He Bingjiao of China 21-15, 21-14 to claim her third

Indian title of the BWF World Tour Super 500 tournament.

Axelsen, who was top seed by default after the last-minute pullout of defending champion Shi Yuqi of China, started

with a bang after taking the first game.

01 Apr Roger Federer defeats Isner in Miami final for 101st title

Federer has been the form player in South Florida and his performance against big-serving Isner

proved it as the 33-year-old home-nation hero was overwhelmed by the Swiss star’s incredible

consistency.

POINTS TO NOTE

This was Federer’s 154th tour final and his 50th ATP Masters showpiece appearance.

Isner last met the Swiss in 2015 when the American won at the Paris Masters but the former world number one

improved to 6-2 in their rivalry with the victory.

01 Apr Lewis Hamilton wins Bahrain Grand Prix

Five times world champion Lewis Hamilton won the Bahrain Grand Prix for Mercedes on Sunday after

engine trouble dashed Charles Leclerc's hopes of a first Formula one victory in only his second race

for Ferrari.

POINTS TO NOTE

Monaco's Leclerc, who had started on pole position for the first time, lost power with 10 laps to go while leading and

finished third with an extra point for fastest lap.

Valtteri Bottas, winner of the opener in Australia, took second place to stay top of the championship standings by a

point from team mate Hamilton.










95



02 Apr Manu Sawhney takes charge as ICC Chief Executive

Sawhney was with ESPN Star Sports for 17 years and was responsible for scaling the business and

doubling annual revenues.

POINTS TO NOTE

Richardson will remain with the ICC until July as originally planned to oversee the delivery of the World Cup in the

United Kingdom. Sawhney was appointed in January.

His appointment was ratified by the ICC Board following a global search and appointment process led by the apex

body’s chairman Shashank Manohar and the Nominations Committee.

02 Apr Praful Patel set to be first Indian to be elected in FIFA Executive Council

According to AIFF sources, Patel is all but sure to be a part of the five FIFA Council members from the

Asian Football Confederation.

POINTS TO NOTE

The election will be for the term 2019 to 2023 and will be held during the 29th AFC Congress.

The AFC Electoral Committee will be responsible for all tasks relating to the organisation, running and supervision of

the elections.

The FIFA Governance Committee will nominate representatives to monitor the running of the elections for FIFA

Council positions.

02 Apr Asian Airgun Championships: India finish with 16 gold medals

On the last day of the competition, Yash Vardhan and Shreya Agrawal bagged three gold medals

each.

POINTS TO NOTE

With individual silver and bronze medals for Keval Prajapati and Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar, apart from Mehuli

Ghosh’s junior women’s individual bronze, India took its tally to 14 gold, five silver and four bronze medals.

The trio of Shreya, Mehuli and Kavi Rakshna put together a total of 1882.2, which bettered the previous world junior

record of 1880.7 set by Shreya, Elavenil Valarivan and Manini Kaushik in the World Championship last September.










96



02 Apr Saurav Ghosal becomes first Indian male to enter top-10 in PSA rankings

Indian women squash players -- Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal -- had earlier reached top-10 in

the world rankings.

POINTS TO NOTE

Riding on his recent performances, Ghosal has moved up two places to a career-high ranking of 10.

Ghosal made it to the quarter-finals of the 2018-2019 PSA World Championships in Chicago, USA for the first time in

his career.

He was also a quarter-finalist at the prestigious Grasshopper Cup in Zurich, Switzerland.

Egypt's world champion Ali Farag, meanwhile, maintains his position at the top of the ladder.

In the women's rankings, Joshna continued to be the best-ranked Indian, moving up to the 15th position.

05 Apr Sahaj Grover retains Boardwalk Pearson chess title

Rated 2511, Sahaj remained unbeaten. He scored four wins. Sahaj, who ensured the title with a round

to spare, drew the final round with Belarus GM Sergey Kasparov to top the six-player double round-

robin league.

POINTS TO NOTE

There was a two-way tie for the runner-up spot at 5.5 points. French GM Thal Abergei was adjudged second on

superior tie-break score as compared to Kasparov.

Haznedaroglu finished fourth with five points, ahead of the two South Africans Daniel Cawdrey (4.5) and Jan van Zyl-

Rudd (2.5 points), who finished runner-up and third last year.











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08 Apr 73-year-old Isaak Hayik is world’s oldest soccer player

Israel’s Isaak Hayik sets Guinness record. Mr. Hayik, who celebrates his 74th birthday next week,

broke the record after playing as a goalkeeper in an afternoon game with Israel’s Ironi Or Yehuda

soccer club.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Iraqi-born keeper was officially recognised in an award ceremony attended by representatives from the Guinness

World Record organisation.

The previous record was held by Robert Carmona of Uruguay, who in 2015 played a professional match with

Uruguay’s Pan de Azucar at the age of 53.

08 Apr Lin Dan wins Malaysia Open to end title drought

The win comes after the five-time world champion made several early round exits since January,

including at the Indonesia Masters, German Open and the All-England.

POINTS TO NOTE

In a nail-biting 78-minute match, the world number 16 smashed his way back to victory with a final score that tallied

9-21, 21-7, 21-11.

The title is Lin’s first win this year, and also his first major success since taking the Malaysia Open in 2017.

The two-time Olympic gold medallist received a $49,000 cash prize presented by his long-time Malaysian rival Lee

Chong Wei, who sat out the Open over his cancer recovery.

09 Apr Graham Reid named chief coach of India’s men’s hockey team

Will join the team at the national camp in Bengaluru. Unlike previous coaches, he would be moving

base to Bengaluru with his family.

POINTS TO NOTE

While Reid’s name had been doing the rounds for a while now, his appointment was all but confirmed when HI and

the Sports Authority of India (SAI) forwarded it for final clearance to the Sports Ministry late last month.

He also comes with strong coaching experience, having worked with the Australian and the Netherlands national

teams.

Reid took over as Australia coach in 2014 and won a series of titles before a disappointing Olympic outing in 2016

ended the association.

He then moved to the Netherlands as assistant to Max Caldas in 2017 and head coach of Amsterdam HC. He was part

of the Australian side that won silver at the Barcelona Olympics.










98



09 Apr Krishna Nagar wins two golds at the para badminton championship

Asian Para Games bronze medallist Krishna Nagar of India won two gold medals at the second

Fazza-Dubai para badminton international championships.

POINTS TO NOTE

A day after upsetting World No. 1 Jack Shepherd in the men’s singles SS6 semifinals, Nagar pulled off the second upset

in as many days when he defeated England’s World No. 2 Krysten Coombs 20-22, 25-23, 21-12 in the most exciting

final of the day, that went over an hour.

Team India had a good run, at the event finishing with nine medals including four golds on Sunday.

Among others, World No. 1 Pramod Bhagat and Parul Parmer took the gold in SL3 men’s and women’s singles.

However, Asian Para Games winner Tarun went down to French World No. 1 Lucas Mazur in straight games 13-21, 17-

21 in men’s singles SL4 final.

10 Apr Shot putter Manpreet Kaur banned for 4 years for doping

Manpreet is set to lose the gold she won in the 2017 Asian Championships in Bhubaneswar as well as

her national record.

POINTS TO NOTE

The period of suspension would begin from July 20, 2017, the date of her provisional suspension, according to an

order of the anti-doping disciplinary panel (ADDP) of the NADA dated March 29.

Manpreet tested positive four times in 2017. The first was at the Asian Grand Prix at Jinhua, China on April 24,

followed by Federation Cup in Patiala (June 1), Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar (July 6) and the Inter-

State Championships in Guntur (July 16). She won gold in all these meets.

She had set the national record of 18.86m at Jinhua.

11 Apr Virat Kohli named leading cricketer of the year for 3rd time by Wisden

The Indian skipper is only the third cricketer ever to have won the award more than three times after

Don Bradman (10 times) and Jack Hobbs (8 times).

POINTS TO NOTE

Indian women opener Smriti Mandhana bagged the women's Leading Cricketer of the Year.

Kohli had notched up 593 runs in five Tests at an average of 59.3 during India's 1-4 loss to England and ended the year

with five centuries to his name.

Mandhana was rewarded for scoring 669 and 662 runs in ODIs and T20Is last year. She also amassed 421 runs at an

astounding strike rate of 174.68 in the women's Super League.










99



12 Apr Paralympian Deepa Malik named for New Zealand Sir Edmund Hillary Fellowship

As a Sir Edmund Hillary Prime Minister’s Fellow for New Zealand, Deepa will travel to New Zealand

and meet with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, undertake a series of visits to Paralympic sporting

organisations, and engage with Kiwi athletes, students and the media.

POINTS TO NOTE

The first Indian woman to earn a medal at the Paralympic Games, Deepa has won 58 national and 23 international

medals. A recipient of the Padma Shri and Arjuna Award, she has entered the Limca Book of World Records four times.

The Fellowship Program has been running since 2008, which aims to strengthen the relationship between India and

New Zealand by showcasing the different aspects of the warm friendship between the two countries. NITI Aayog CEO

Amitabh Kant was the recipient of this prestigious fellowship in 2017.

12 Apr Magnus Carlsen back to his best after sealing fourth title in Shamkir

Magnus Carlsen has been the most dominant chess player for the last eight years, winning four

World titles, besides being World No 1 for a long time.

POINTS TO NOTE

Carlsen is back to his imperious best, winning the Gashimov Memorial in Shamkir, Azerbaijan, outdistancing his

nearest rivals by two points (7/9). This title triumph was reminiscent of some of his spectacular victories in Nanjing

(2009, 8/10), London (2012, 6.5/8) and Wijk aan Zee (2013, 10/13).

It was his fourth title in Shamkir (2014, 2015, 2018 & 2019) and the 28-year-old achieved a staggering

performance rating of 2988.

Sergei Karjakin and Ding Liren (both 5) shared the second spot with a +1 score.

Retaining his world title in 2018 has given Carlsen a second wind! He started the new season, winning the Tata Steel

Masters in Wijk aan Zee for the seventh time, where his marathon win over Anand spurred him to success. .










100



12 Apr Former Indian pacer Raju Kulkarni resigns as CIC chairman

Kulkarni’s resignation leaves Kiran Mokashi as the lone member in the Mumbai Cricket Association’s

Cricket Improvement Committee.

POINTS TO NOTE

While Kulkarni, the former India pacer who was appointed chairman ahead of the recently-concluded domestic

season, emailed his resignation to the MCA ad-hoc committee on Thursday morning, Mokashi quit later in the day.

Th duo’s resignation follows that of the the other high-profile members during what turned out to be a largely

forgettable season for Mumbai cricket across formats and age-groups.

While Karsan Ghavri quit the CIC in January, former captain Amul Muzumdar and opener Sahil Kukreja resigned in

solidarity with the senior selection panel led by Ajit Agarkar last month.

15 Apr FC Goa wins Hero Super Cup Trophy against Chennaiyin FC

Player-of-the-tournament Ferran Corominas and Brandon Fernandes found the target for the two-

time ISL runner-up Goa while Raphael Augusto pulled one back for Chennaiyin FC.

POINTS TO NOTE

The 2019 Super Cup was the second edition of the Super Cup, the main club knockout football competition in India. The

competition is sponsored by Hero MotoCorp and is officially known as the Hero Super Cup. The competition began with the

qualifiers on 15 March 2019. FC Goa ended the long wait for a trophy as it bettered Chennaiyin FC by the odd goal in three (2-

1) in the final of the Hero Super Cup.











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15 Apr Lewis Hamilton wins Formula One's 1,000th race

The win was the 75th of Hamilton’s career. Hamilton is now just 16 victories short of Michael

Schumacher’s all time record tally of 91.

POINTS TO NOTE

Lewis Hamilton won the Chinese Grand Prix to seize the overall lead from his Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas in

Formula One’s 1,000th world championship race.

Bottas was second for his team’s third one-two finish in as many races this season.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel took third place, his first podium appearance of the campaign.

15 Apr Singapore Open: Momota and Tzu-ying are champions

The 2019 Singapore Open was the tenth tournament of the 2019 BWF World Tour and also part of the

Singapore Open championships, which had been held since 1987.

POINTS TO NOTE

Japan's Kento Momota withstood a barrage of smashes from Indonesia's Anthony Sinisuka Ginting to rally for a

thrilling 10-21, 21-19, 21-13 victory in Singapore Open final.

In the women's final, Tai Tzu-ying claimed her second Singapore Open title with a 21-19, 21-15 victory over Japan's

Nozomi Okuhara. The result improved her head-to-head record against Okuhara to 5-4.

The total prize money for this tournament was US$355,000.

16 Apr Tiger Woods wins Masters for first major title in 11 years

Tiger Woods rallied to win the Masters for the fifth time on Sunday, a comeback that goes well

beyond the two-shot deficit he erased before a delirious audience that watched memories turn into

reality at Augusta National.

POINTS TO NOTE

Woods had gone nearly 11 years since he won his last major, 14 years since that green jacket was slipped over his

Sunday red shirt. He made it worth the wait, closing with a 2-under 70 for a one-shot victory and setting off a scene of

raw emotion.

Woods won his 15th major, three short of the standard set by Jack Nicklaus. It was his 81st victory on the PGA

Tour, one title away from the career record held by Sam Snead.

It was the first time Woods won a major when trailing going into the final round, and he needed some help

from Francesco Molinari, the 54-hole leader who still was up two shots heading into the heart of Amen

Corner.










102



22 Apr Asian Athletics Championships: Indians bag 5 medals including two silvers on opening

Annu Rani and 3000m steeple chaser Avinash Sable led the charge with a silver each as India won

five medals on the opening day of the Asian Athletics Championships.

POINTS TO NOTE

Quartermiler M P Poovamma, 5000m runner Parul Choudhary and 10000m runner Gavit Murali Kumar bagged a

bronze each on a day which saw sprint sensation Hima Das suffer a lower back spasm during her 400m heat. However

there was no such worry for Dutee Chand as she smashed her own national record in 100m dash to qualify for the

semifinals.

The 26-year-old Annu, who had won a bronze in the 2017 edition in Bhubaneswar, hurled the spear to a best distance

of 60.22m to grab the silver. China’s Lyu Huihui won the gold with an effort of 65.83m at the Khalifa Stadium.

22 Apr Asian Athletics Championship: Dutee Chand breaks national record

Hima Das fails to finish the women's 400m semifinal due to back pain and spasms at the Asian

athletic championship.

POINTS TO NOTE

M.R. Poovamma brought another bronze, in the women’s 400 clocking 53.21s. Bahrain’s Salwa Eid Naser, the World

Championships silver medallist and Asiad champion, won the gold in 51.34s while Kazakhstan’s Elina Mikhina took the

silver in 53.19.

Poovamma had clocked 52.46s in the morning’s semifinal.

Tamil Nadu’s Arokia Rajiv and defending champion Muhammed Anas of Kerala entered the men’s 400m final.

Rajiv won his heats in 45.96s while Anas was fifth in his group with 46.10s but still made the cut.

Jinson Johnson also made the final in the men’s 800, after finishing second in his heat behind host Qatar’s

Abdalla Abubaker in 1:50.65s.

22 Apr Asian Weighlifting: Jeremy Lalrinnunga smashes Youth World record, national senior record

The final standings for the men’s 67kg event will be known after group A competition on Monday at

the championship.

POINTS TO NOTE

Jeremy, in fact, broke 15 records in total, combining national and international marks. He smashed six international

records — three youth world and three youth Asian — and nine national records — three youth national, three junior

national and three senior national.

The Mizoram weightlifter pulled off clean lifts in two of his three attempts in snatch (130kg, 134kg) to set a

new youth world record. The earlier youth world record was also in Jeremy’s name when he had lifted 131kg

in the EGAT Cup in Thailand in February.










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22 Apr Monte Carlo tennis: Fognini wins maiden Masters title

Lajovic, who had not lost a set this week before Sunday, did not have the weapons to counter

Fognini's tactical nous.

POINTS TO NOTE

The 31-year-old triumphed despite suffering from an apparent muscle problem to became the lowest seeded player,

at 13, to claim the title since Gustavo Kuerten in 1999.

Fognini won three games in a row and held off Lajovic to seal the opening set with a stunning backhand winner down

the line.











104



23 Apr Mirabai wins bronze at Asian weightlifting championship

Mirabai continues comeback from back injury with Asian medal in clean & jerk, finishes fourth

overall.

POINTS TO NOTE

With her Olympic qualification campaign on track, Mirabai should be reasonably satisfied with the returns from her

second competition after recovering from a back injury, which kept her out of last year’s World Championships and

Asian Games.

She came back with a gold medal at the EGAT Cup in Thailand in February, which was also her first outing in the 49kg

category after switching from 48kg.

The 24-year-old from Manipur lifted 86kg in snatch and a personal best of 113 in clean and jerk for a total of 199kg.

Her earlier best in 49kg was 192kg at the EGAT Cup.

The gold medal went to Hou Zhihui of China (208kg, 92+116). North Korea’s Ri Song-gum clinched silver (200kg,

86+114).

Jhili Dalabehera won silver in the women’s 45kg, which is not a Olympic weight category.

23 Apr Gomathi gives India its first gold at the championships

The 30-year-old comes up with a smart strategy to upstage the favourites; silver for Shivpal in javelin,

bronze for hurdlers Jabir and Saritaben.

POINTS TO NOTE

M.P. Jabir took the men’s 400m hurdles bronze with a personal best of 49.13s while Saritaben Gayakwad bagged the

women’s hurdles bronze after a superb finish saw her move from fourth to third.

Qatar’s Abderrahman Samba, the favourite, won the men’s gold in a world-leading 47.51s while Vietnam’s Thi Lan

Quach took the women’s title in 56.10s.

However, a medal eluded the Indians in the men’s 400m. Muhammed Anas and Arokia Rajiv had won the gold and

silver at the last Asians in Bhubaneswar and the former had finished second in the Asian Games too.

Arokia (45.37s) appeared to be in the medal zone towards the end but was beaten to the bronze by Kazakhstan’s

Mikhail Litvin (45.25) while Kuwait’s Yousef Karam (44.84s) and Bahrain’s Abbas Abubaker (45.14) took the gold and

silver. Anas was last in 46.10.










105



24 Apr Asian Championships: Bajrang reclaims gold at Wrestling with tough win in final

It is Bajrang Punuia’s second gold at this championship, having won one in 2017. Overall, it was the

fifth medal for the Indian in this tournament.

POINTS TO NOTE

World number one Bajrang Punia logged 10 points in a row in the gold medal bout to reclaim his Asian Championship

crown, defeating Kazakhstan’s Sayatbek Okassov 12-7 in a nail-biting 65kg men’s free style final here Tuesday.

The CWG and Asian Games champion was trailing 2-7 with just 60 seconds to go for the final bell but the unperturbed

Indian produced three gut wrench moves and an exposure move to take eight points after he began the attack with a

two-point take down.

24 Apr Capablanca chess: Grover keeps title with four straight wins

This was the Indian’s second crown of the month. Defending champion and top-seeded Grandmaster

Sahaj Grover came up with a strong finish — winning the last four rounds.

POINTS TO NOTE

Grover defeated South Africa’s Calvin John Klassen, seeded four, in the ninth and final round to tally seven points.

Second-seeded International Master Daniel Cawdery was the runner-up with 6.5 points.

After opening his title-defence with an expected win over Namibia’s Dante Beukes, Grover suffered a setback

when he lost the second round to local Vincent Hercules Benjamin.

The third-round victory over Zimbabwean IM Rodwell Makoto brought Grover's campaign back on track. He

drew with Cawdery in the fifth round and won the rest.

This was Grover’s second title of the month, to go with the Boardwalk Pearson in Port Elizabeth.

24 Apr Asian Athletics: Swapna takes heptathlon silver; Dutee disappoints

Uzbekistan’s Ekaterina Vornina upset Asian Games champion Swapna Barman and won the women’s

heptathlon gold with a world-leading 6198 points in the 23rd Asian Athletics Championships at the

Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.

POINTS TO NOTE

Swapna had personal bests in the 200m and the shot put and topped the high jump but she appeared to have lost

some crucial points in the javelin throw, where she could manage only 46.83m which was way behind her personal

best of 50.63m in the event.

Parul Chaudhary finished fifth in the 3000m steeple chase (time 10:03.43s), an event won by Bahrain’s Kenya-

born Yavi Winfred Mutile in 9:46.18s for her second title at these championships.

Dutee Chand, who had finished fifth in the women’s 100m on Monday, brushed away the disappointment by

winning her 200m semifinal heats in 23.33s.










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25 Apr PU Chitra gives 3rd gold for India in Asian Athletics Championships

PU Chintra won India’s third gold of the championships after Gomathi Marimuthu (women’s 800m)

and Tejinder Pal Singh Toor (men’s shot put) won a yellow metal each on the second day.

POINTS TO NOTE

Ajay Kumar Saroj and Dutee Chand won a silver and a bronze in men’s 1500m and women’s 200m respectively on the

fourth and final day of the Asian Athletics Championships.

Chitra overtook Bahraini runner Tigest Gashaw just a few metres before the finishing line to win the race in 4 minute

14.56 seconds at the Khalifa Stadium.

25 Apr Amit Dhankar, Viky settle for silver at the Asian Championships

Dhankar went down to Kazakhstan’s Daniyar Kaisanov 0-5 in the final. Viky (92kg) clinched another

silver medal for India on the second day of the completion.

POINTS TO NOTE

Rahul Aware (61kg), Deepak Punia (86kg), Sumit (125) added to the tally winning their bronze medal bouts. After two

days of competition, India have now one gold, two silver and four bronze medals.

The 74kg assumes significance because of two-time Olympian Sushil Kumar. Before the 2016 Rio Olympics, Sushil and

Narsingh were engaged in a bitter turf war to represent India in 74kg. It was Dhankar’s second medal in the Asian

Championships.











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26 Apr Asian Wrestling Championships: Kakran, Manju hand India twin bronze medals

Asian Games bronze-medallist Kakran defeated Battsetseg Soronzonbold of Mongolia via fall in the

play-offs of the 68kg category to finish on the podium.

POINTS TO NOTE

Manju also secured a bronze medal earlier in the day by beating Vietnam’s Thi Huong Dao 11-2. Seema, who also

made it to the play-offs, however failed to register a hat-trick of bonze medals for India after losing to Valentina

Ivanovna Islamova Brik of Kazakhstan 5-11 in the 50kg category.

Earlier in the day, while Kakran and Manju reached the bronze medal round after losing their respective semi-

final bouts, Seema made it to the third-fourth place tie after winning her repechage bout.

26 Apr Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary win India's second gold at ISSF World Cup

Bhaker and Chaudhary outshot Jiang Ranxin and Pang Wei of China 16-6 in the final, which was held

in the new format wherein top two teams battled for the gold medal.

POINTS TO NOTE

Young shooters Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary took the top spot in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event after

Anjum Moudgil and Divyansh Singh Panwar opened the country’s gold account in the 10m Air Rifle Mixed Team event.

The Indian pair, who had qualified for the final at the fifth spot with 482 points, won the first six series and

dominated the final before the Chinese combination managed to open their account.

It was Bhaker and and Chaudhary’s second World Cup gold in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team event.

The pair had won their first yellow metal together at the ISSF World Cup held in February in New Delhi.

27 Apr Pardeep Singh clinches a bronze in Asian Weightlifting Championships

Pradeep lifted 201kg in clean and jerk to get a bronze but his 150kg effort in snatch was the least

among seven competitors in Group A. He had a total lift of 351kg which put him at sixth position.

POINTS TO NOTE

Former world champion Mirabai Chanu (49kg) had also picked up a bronze in clean and jerk with a personal best

effort of 113kg though she finished fourth in total lift(199kg).

Jhili Dalabehera, a junior World Championship bronze medallist, had clinched a silver medal in the women’s

45kg category, which, however, is not a Olympic weight category.










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27 Apr Asian Boxing Championships: Amit Panghal wins gold in 52 kg category

Panghal defeated Korea’s Kim Inkyu Korea in a unanimous decision at the Asian boxing

championship.

POINTS TO NOTE

She also has an Asian Games bronze medal, which she claimed in 2014. However, national champion Deepak Singh

(49kg), Kavinder Singh Bisht (56kg) and Ashish Kumar (75kg) signed off with silver medals among the men after

contrasating losses. In the women’s draw, national champion Simrajit Kaur (64kg) ended with a silver medal.

The previous best by Indian men at this tournament was in 2009, when the team won a gold, two silver and four

bronze and they equalled that performance this year. Shiva Thapa (60kg), Ashish (69kg) and Satish Kumar (+91kg)

claimed bronze medals among the men this time.

27 Apr ISSF World Cup: With silver, Divyansh secures India’s fourth Olympic quota in shooting

Competing in only his second senior competition, Divyansh shot a total of 249.0 in the 10m air rifle

event to finish a creditable second.

POINTS TO NOTE

He missed out on the gold medal by just 0.4 points, which eventually went to China’s Zicheng Hui, who shot 249.4.

Grigorii Shamakov of Russia settled for bronze with a score of 227.5.

This is India’s fourth 2020 Tokyo Olympic quota after Anjum Moudgil and Apurvi Chandela (10m air rifle

women), and Saurabh Choudhary (10m Air Pistol men) had secured berths in the earlier World Cups and last

year’s World Championship.

28 Apr AIFF to recommend Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Jeje Lalpekhlua for Arjuna Award

In 2017, AIFF had recommended Gurpreet and Jeje alongside former Indian women’s team captain

Bembem Devi, who was conferred with the award, and then again in 2018.

POINTS TO NOTE

The duo are the national team’s longest serving footballers after Sunil Chhetri, who is an Arjuna awardee and Padma

Shri award winner.

Sandhu, who plays for Bengaluru FC in the Indian Super League, is the only second footballer other than

Chhetri to play in the Asia Cup.

He was the first Indian to play a match in a European top division league when he played for the Norwegian

side Stabaek in 2016.

Jeje, who plays Chennaiyin FC in the ISL, has been playing for Indian national team since 2011. He has 23

international goals to his credit.










109



28 Apr BCCI recommends Bumrah, Shami, Jadeja and Poonam Yadav for Arjuna award

The decision was taken during the Supreme Court-appointed CoA meeting in the capital to submit the

names.

POINTS TO NOTE

Bumrah, who is currently playing in the IPL for Mumbai Indians, is a regular across all three formats for India. He will

be spearheading India’s campaign in the upcoming World Cup in the UK.

Pacer Shami has been a crucial cog in the Indian bowling set up while all-rounder Jadeja has also made a

comeback in the limited-overs team and has been named in the 15-member squad for the World Cup in

England and Wales.

Poonam, the 27-year-old leg-spinner, is the fourth name to be nominated. She has picked up 63 wickets from

41 ODI’s and 74 wickets from 54 T20 games.

29 Apr India finish with 16 medals at Asian Wrestling Championships

India’s overall tally of 16 medals included eight -- one gold, three silver and four bronze -- won by

men’s freestyle wrestlers, four bronze by women and three silver and one bronze by Greco-Roman

wrestlers.

POINTS TO NOTE

Harpreet Singh settled for a silver in 82kg while Gyanender won a bronze in 60kg on the final day of competitions.

Harpreet put up an impressive performance to storm into the gold medal round, having thrashed Haitao Qian

of China 10-1 in the semifinals after handing a 5-1 defeat to Burgo Beishaliev of Kyrgyzstan in his last-eight

stage bout.











110



29 Apr Asian Badminton championships: Yamaguchi first Japanese women to lift title

The third seed, a silver medallist two years ago, comfortably defeated fifth-seeded He 21-19, 21-9.

POINTS TO NOTE

The 21-year-old Yamaguchi, a former world number one, raced out of the blocks in both games against her stunned

opponent, who is a year older.

Yamaguchi went 12-2 up in the first game and was ahead 11-1 in the second on the way to the title in just 42

one-sided minutes.

29 Apr India top medal tally at Beijing Shooting World Cup

In the last edition in New Delhi, India had jointly topped the standings with Hungary at the Shooting

World Cup.

POINTS TO NOTE

India drew blank on the final day but still topped the chart for the second consecutive ISSF World Cup, third time in

two years, by bagging three gold and a silver at the Beijing edition of the Rifle/Pistol event here. India topped the

medals tally ahead of hosts China (2 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze), who won five medals in total.

For India, while Anjum Moudgil and young Divyansh Singh Panwar started the medal hunt with a gold in the

10m Air Rifle Mixed Team competition, the teenaged pair of Manu Bhaker and Saurabh Chaudhary backed

them up with another yellow metal in the 10m Air Pistol Mixed Team Pistol event.

Divyansh then won India's first individual medal by clinching a silver in the men's 10m Air Rifle. On Saturday,

Abhishek Verma won India's third gold in men's 10m Air Pistol event.

30 Apr Asian Wrestling Championship: Harpreet Singh bags silver in 82kg

India's overall tally of 16 medals included eight -- one gold, three silver and four bronze -- won by

men's freestyle wrestlers, four bronze by women and three silver and a bronze by Greco-Roman

wrestlers.

POINTS TO NOTE

India wrapped up their campaign at the Asian Wrestling Championships on a resounding note with 16 medals after

Greco-Roman grapplers added a silver and a bronze on the concluding day.

Harpreet Singh settled for a silver in 82kg while Gyanender won a bronze in 60kg on the final day of

competition.

With this performance, India's Greco-Roman wrestlers have bettered their tally of two bronze from the last

edition and is the country's best ever showing in this discipline so far at the Asian Championships.










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9. People

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

01 Apr Zuzana Caputova becomes Slovakia's first female President

During vote counting, Caputova emerged as the frontrunner for the presidential post and the official

results were declared on Sunday.

POINTS TO NOTE

In the first round of polls held on March 16, none of the 13 candidates in the fray received an absolute majority of

votes with Caputova and Sefcovic getting 40.57 per cent and 18.66 per cent respectively.

In the second round of voting held on Saturday, Caputova received 58.40 per cent of votes, while Sefcovic got 41.59

per cent of votes.

Forty-five-year-old Caputova, who is a divorcee, and a mother of two, is set to take office on June 15.

02 Apr SoftBank’s top executive Alok Sama to leave firm

Sama will continue as a senior adviser to SoftBank and will work with the firm on potential future

deals.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Masayoshi Son-led firm was investigating Sama along with its former chief operating officer Nikesh Arora last year,

who were both targets of ‘unsubstantiated attacks.’

Though not part of the $100-billion Vision Fund, Sama has overseen some top deals at SoftBank, including the

Alibaba partial exit, the Supercell-Tencent transaction, the $59-billion merger of Sprint and T-Mobile, which he led, the

$34-billion acquisition of British semiconductor firm ARM Holdings and restructuring SoftBank’s holding in Yahoo!

Japan among many others.










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02 Apr Vinod Dasari replaces Siddharth Lal as CEO of Royal Enfield

Enfield is part of Eicher Motors and Dasari also joins the latter’s board of directors as an executive

director.

POINTS TO NOTE

Dasari comes from Ashok Leyland, the commercial vehicle major, where he was in a leadership role since 2005, the

past eight years as MD.

Leyland’s total sales were 101,990 units in 2011-12, the first year under Dasari. In 2017-18, it was 174,873 units. The

company’s profit in the period nearly tripled, from Rs 565 crore then to Rs 1,760 crore.

He joined Leyland as chief operating officer in 2005. Starting his career in the US with General Electric in 1986, Dasari

has held leadership positions at Cummins India and Timken Company, where he also became president of its global

railroad business.

03 Apr Rajan Anandan logs into Sequoia, Caesar Sengupta to rule Google India

Vikas Agnihotri, country director-sales, at Google, will be replacing Anandan in the interim, after he

steps down by April-end.

POINTS TO NOTE

Anandan, who has been at the helm at Google India since 2011, has always had a keen eye for the future, and has

been instrumental in building India-specific initiatives that have taken internet and Google product adoption to

significantly high levels.

Anandan worked with Microsoft India as MD for two years before joining Google. He began his career in 1992 with

McKinsey & Company, followed by leadership roles in Dell.

An active angel investor (through Indian Angels Network) in over 45 early-stage technology companies, he has

invested in internet, mobile, and software start-ups in India.










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04 Apr KPMG India chairman Arun Kumar elected as member of top US think tank

Currently chairman and CEO of KPMG in India, Kumar, 66, served as a top US commercial diplomat in

the Obama Administration.

POINTS TO NOTE

In his role as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Global Markets and Director General of the US and Foreign

Commercial Service, he led the trade and investment promotion efforts for the US government.

The Council on foreign relations comprises of some of the most respected global leaders and people from across the

fields of government, business, education and journalism.

The Council aims to offer a balanced and nuanced study of foreign policy globally.

Its bi-monthly journal Foreign Affairs and its David Rockefeller Studies Program have contributed to foreign policy

thinking in the US by making recommendations to Administration as well as to the diplomatic and international

relations community.

04 Apr Air Marshal D Choudhury takes over as SASO Hq WAC

Air Marshal D Choudhury AVSM VM VSM is an alumnus of National Defence Academy and was

commissioned on 22 Dec 1983.

POINTS TO NOTE

The Air Officer is a Fighter Combat Leader and an Instrument Rating Instructor and Examiner. He is an alumnus of

Royal College of Defence Studies UK, a Post Graduate in Strategy and International Security from King's College

London and Master of Philosophy on Defence and Strategic Studies.

He has over 5000 sorties of flying on operational fighter ac and is Fully Ops and MG on MiG-21(all variants), MiG-27,

MiG-29 and Su-30 aircraft. He has commanded 15 Sqn, Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE)

and two frontline bases as the AOC. He has served two tenures at TACDE – first as an Instructor and then as

Commandant.










114



05 Apr Papa Kehte Hain actress, Mayoori Kango now heads a division in Google India

She acted in 15 films and numerous television soaps in an acting career spanning over a decade and

a half.

POINTS TO NOTE

Kango was Managing Director at Performics for two years. Performics, owned by French advertising holding company

Publicis Groupe, is a performance marketing agency that provides paid search, natural search, social, display, affiliate

and mobile marketing solutions to a variety of Fortune 500 and smaller clients.

The last time she appeared on the silver screen was the box office dud Kurbaan.

The former actress entered the corporate world in 2009 after completing a postgraduate degree from a New York

business school.

06 Apr Vikram Kirloskar takes charge as new CII president

He takes over from Rakesh Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman, Bharti Enterprises. Mr. Kirloskar is the

Chairman and Managing Director of Kirloskar Systems Ltd, and Vice Chairman of Toyota Kirloskar

Motor.

POINTS TO NOTE

Uday Kotak, the founder and MD & CEO of Kotak Mahindra Bank, is the President-Designate and T.V. Narendran, the

CEO & MD of Tata Steel, is the Vice President for 2019-20.

Kirloskar has been associated with CII for three decades and has been Chairman of Global Innovation and Technology

Alliance Board since its inception in 2012-13.











115



06 Apr UK appoints Amal Clooney as new media freedom champion

She takes over as the UK Foreign Secretary’s Special Envoy on Media Freedom and Co-Chair of a

High Level Panel of Legal Experts

POINTS TO NOTE

She pointed to India as one of the five countries where journalists were most at the risk of “political assassination for

their work” , alongside Brazil, as she also noted that such attacks also happened in Europe as well, with the

assassination of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

She also highlighted the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last year.

UNESCO estimates that at least 99 journalists were killed in 2018.

10 Apr Thyssenkrupp appoints Manish Mehan as CEO with effect from April 1

Earlier, Mehan held the position of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) in thyssenkrupp Elevator (India) for

the last 12 years.

POINTS TO NOTE

It is a German conglomerate with focus on industrial engineering and steel production. The company is based in

Duisburg and Essen and divided into 670 subsidiaries worldwide.

It is one of the world's largest steel producers it was ranked tenth-largest worldwide by revenue in 2015.

The company is the result of the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp, and now has its operational headquarters in

Essen.

12 Apr Vikram Nath, new Chief Justice of A.P. High Court

Justice Vikram Nath, seniormost judge of the Allahabad High Court, has been appointed Chief Justice

of the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

POINTS TO NOTE

Justice Praveen Kumar became the first CJ of the A.P. High Court which came into existence with effect from January 1, 2019

following the Presidential order dated December 26, 2018, to constitute the separate court consequent to the bifurcation of

the State, with Amaravati as it’s principal seat.

The A.P. High Court has since been allotted 14 judges including Justice Praveen Kumar.










116



12 Apr Disney India loses its top executive Abhishek Maheshwari to Byju's

An IIT Delhi alumnus, Maheshwari will spearhead the charter to strategise, build and lead the global

expansion of Byju's.

POINTS TO NOTE

As the country head of entertainment firm Disney India, Maheshwari was responsible for driving all of Disney’s

brands, businesses and corporate functions in the country. Prior to Disney, he worked with private equity company

Kubera and consulting firm McKinsey in their US and India offices.

Byju’s, which is backed by marquee investors such as Naspers and General Atlantic, has a base of 33 million free users

and 2.2 million paid users.

The appointment of Maheshwari comes at a time when Byju’s has raised a total of $826.5 million in funding.

The firm is investing heavily in technology-enabled learning products for expansion into international markets. It has

formulated plans to foray into markets such as the US, the UK, parts of Europe and Australia, targeting the age group

of 3-8.

13 Apr Google diversity chief leaves amid controversies

Danielle Brown would be replaced by Melonie Parker, who's been serving as the company's head of

diversity, equity and inclusion.

POINTS TO NOTE

Following a year full of controversy -- including the Google Walkout, where employees protested the company's

handling of sexual misconduct allegations -- the company is shaking up its diversity and inclusion team.

Brown would be joining on as chief people officer at Gusto, a start-up that provides human resources software to

businesses.

14 Apr H.P. Minister Anil Sharma resigns from Cabinet

The Minister was under attack from the ruling BJP and facing an uneasy equation with Chief Minister

Jai Ram Thakur after he conveyed to the party that he would neither campaign against his son nor

canvass for the BJP candidate, Ram Swarup Shrama, in the Mandi constituency.

POINTS TO NOTE

Mr. Anil Sharma’s father, former Union Minister Sukh Ram, quit the BJP and along with his grandson joined the

Congress.

The Congress then fielded Mr. Ashray Sharma as its candidate from Mandi.

He has resigned from the cabinet, not from the party.










117



16 Apr US appoints Indian to advise it on earth-observation and remote-sensing policies

Delhi-based Sanjay Kumar, CEO of Geospatial Media and Communications and Secretary General of

World Geospatial Industry Council, is the first Indian to be inducted to NGAC.

POINTS TO NOTE

In November last year, Kumar was conferred the Global Geospatial ambassador award by the United Nations Global

Geospatial Information Management.

The NGAC is a federal advisory body that provides advice and recommendations on US’ geospatial policy and

management issues, the development of the National Spatial Data Infrastructure or NSDI, and the implementation of

the Geospatial Data Act of 2018.

The NSDI promotes data-sharing across all levels of the US government, the private and non-profit sectors, and the

academic community. The US Geological Survey provides support services to the NGAC. Its members serve a staggered

three-year term on the committee.

17 Apr Punjab National Bank appoints Rajesh Yaduvanshi as Executive Director

Rajesh Yaduvanshi has also worked with Dena Bank in capacity of the Executive Director prior to

PNB.

POINTS TO NOTE

Yaduvanshi brings with him a diversified experience of over 3 decades in the banking industry, having held senior

positions in the banking sector both in India and abroad.

Yadivanshi, having 34 years of banking career, had joined PNB as a management trainee in 1985.

He holds a doctorate in science from IARI, New Delhi and has over and is also a certified associate member of

lndian lnstitute of Bankers.

With his joining, PNB now has three Executive Directors, the others being L V Prabhakar and A K Azad.










118



19 Apr Deutsche Bank appoints Kaushik Shaparia as CEO to succeed Ravneet Gill

Shaparia's appointment will be effective from May 2019. Gill left the bank to head private lender YES

Bank earlier this year.

POINTS TO NOTE

Shaparia served as Asia Pacific Head of Corporate Banking Coverage within Institutional and Treasury as well as

Global Head of Subsidiary Coverage and has a 30-year experience at the bank.

He took over from Khurshed Dordi, as Chief Operating Officer for India, who was serving as Deutsche Bank’s interim

Chief Country Officer.

20 Apr Ex-Nissan executive and Ghosn ally Jose Munoz appointed Hyundai COO

Munoz is the latest foreign executive to be brought in to a South Korean automaker dominated by

lifelong loyalists.

POINTS TO NOTE

The appointment comes at time when plunging sales in both China and the United States, the world's two-biggest

auto markets, has prompted a major management overhaul. In the U.S., Hyundai is also the subject of a regulatory

investigation into the timeliness of vehicle recalls involving defective engines.

It also comes as Munoz's former boss at sits in a Tokyo jail awaiting trial for financial misconduct. The November arrest

of Ghosn, who denies wrongdoing, prompted an internal investigation into corporate governance at the Japanese

automaker in which Munoz was cited as a "person of interest".









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119



21 Apr Dhinakaran elected AMMK general secretary

E levation of Dhinakaran carried out in consultation with Sasikala and senior leaders of the party.

POINTS TO NOTE

The AMMK, which was floated as a temporary organisation, will now be registered as a political party with the Election

Commission of India.

He replaced his aunt, V.K. Sasikala, who held the post since the party’s inauguration in March 2018. Sasikala is serving

her sentence at a jail in Bengaluru.

23 Apr Zelinskiy wins Ukrainian presidential race by landslide

The national exit poll showed Mr. Zelenskiy had won 73% of the vote with Mr. Poroshenko winning

just 25%.

POINTS TO NOTE

Mr. Zelenskiy, whose victory fits a pattern of anti-establishment figures unseating incumbents in Europe and further

afield, has promised to end the war in the eastern Donbass region and to root out corruption amid widespread

dismay over rising prices and falling living standards.

But he has been coy about exactly how he plans to achieve all that and investors want reassurances that he will

accelerate reforms needed to attract foreign investment and keep the country in an International Monetary Fund

programme.

23 Apr Network18's Manish Maheshwari takes over as Twitter India MD on April 29

He fills in the void left behind by Taranjeet Singh, who stepped down last September and will report to

Vice-president and Asia Pacific MD.

POINTS TO NOTE

Twitter's ex-country director Taranjeet Singh had stepped down in September last year, and Global Head of Revenue

Strategy and Operations Krish Balaji was the interim head until now.

Maheshwari will begin in his new role from April 29, and will be responsible for driving an integrated business strategy

to accelerate Twitter’s audience and revenue growth in the country, overseeing Twitter India’s teams in Delhi, Mumbai

and Bengaluru.










120



25 Apr Shri Rajendra Kumar Nayak Took Over as CGDA

Shri Rajendra Kumar Nayak took over as the 52nd Controller General of Defence Accounts on April

22, 2019. He is from the Indian Defence Accounts Service of 1983 batch.

POINTS TO NOTE

During the career span of more than 35 years, Shri Nayak has held important assignments in the Defence Accounts

Department and on deputation in the Government of India. He has vast and varied experience in handling

Finance, Personnel, Pay & Budget matters of Ministry of Defence.

He was Additional Controller General of Defence Accounts, Defence Accounts Department, Ministry of Defence before

taking over as the CGDA.

26 Apr Former Army chief Dalbir Suhag appointed Indian envoy to Seychelles

General (retired) Suhag was the Army chief from July 31, 2014, to December 31, 2016. He was also

part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka in 1987.

POINTS TO NOTE

His appointment as Indian High Commissioner to Seychelles comes amid deepening military ties between India and

the island nation.

India is developing Assumption Island in Seychelles as a naval base to expand its footprint in the strategically China

key region where has been trying to enhance its military presence.

An agreement to develop the island was inked in 2015 between India and Seychelles.

In June last year, Seychelles President Danny Faure visited India during which both countries agreed to work

together on the Assumption Island project.

26 Apr Sri Lanka's defence secy Hemasiri Fernando resigns over Easter blasts

Fernando handed over his resignation letter Thursday on a request made by President Maithripala

Sirisena.

POINTS TO NOTE

President had asked Defense secretary Fernando and Inspector general of Police Pujith Jayasundara to quit after their

failure to prevent the blasts despite having prior intelligence.

Nine suicide bombers, believed to be members of local Islamist extremist group called National Thowheed Jamath

(NTJ), carried out the devastating blasts that killed 359 people and wounded more than 500 others.








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27 Apr AIFF appoints Doru Isac as technical director Indian football team

Romanian Doru Isac has replaced Savio Medeira as the new technical director of the Indian football

team.

POINTS TO NOTE

Gaioz Darsadze of Georgia and Jorge Castelo of Portugal were the other two candidates interviewed by the technical

committee.

The post of technical director remained vacant since Australian Scott O’Donnell decided to quit in 2017.

Former India player and coach Savio Medeira was looking after the post as interim TD since then.

AWARDS AND RECOGNITIONS

05 Apr PM Narendra Modi awarded UAE's highest civilian honour Zayed Medal

Referring to Modi as his "dear friend", Crown Prince said the award is in appreciation of Modi's role in

consolidating the friendship.

POINTS TO NOTE

The medal, awarded to kings presidents and heads of states, was conferred upon Modi for boosting relations between

the Emirates and India. Previously, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping have also been

conferred with the honour.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited the Gulf nation twice in three years. The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi also

visited India in 2017.











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18 Apr Aretha Franklin posthumously awarded Pulitzer Prize for contribution to music

Aretha Franklin’s honour was announced as one of the 2019 Pulitzer Prizes for Arts, Drama and

Music, with the singer being acknowledged “for her incredible contribution to American music and

culture for more than five decades.”

POINTS TO NOTE

The artist became the first individual woman to earn a special citation prize since it was first awarded in 1930.

Franklin’s life and legacy have also been highlighted in the recent documentary titled ‘Amazing Grace’.

The singer known for hit songs like ‘Respect’, ‘Natural Women’, and ‘I say a little prayer’, was given tributes by a string

of artists including Ariana Grande, Madonna, Taylor Swift, Elton John, Dwayne Johnson, Beyonce, Jay-Z, among many

others last year at various musical performances and events.

20 Apr LSE names a professorship after economist Amartya Sen

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has created a new academic position in

honor of philosopher and economist Amartya Sen who was a professor there from 1971-82.

POINTS TO NOTE

Sen won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998 and National Humanities Medal in 2012, and is the recipient of many

other honors. He works in welfare economics, development economics, social choice theory, economic theory, and

political philosophy.

Sen’s theories of justice, equity and well-being – just like the work of the III and the Atlantic for Social and Economic

Equity – transcend disciplines, build bridges to real-world policy and practice, and inspire generations to improve the

human condition.

20 Apr Indian-American Professor Sree Sreenath inducted into Cleveland International Hall of Fame

The six inductees for the Class of 2019 were selected from among 150 plus nominees through an

anonymous process.

POINTS TO NOTE

Cleveland International Hall of Fame has inducted more than 50 people since its founding ten years ago.

Sreenath has been President of Sewa International since 2009.

Sewa International is a charitable organisation specialising in disaster recovery, education, volunteering and

development.

Sreenath earned his BE in Electrical Engineering from Bangalore University, an ME in Electrical Engineering from the

Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland, College

Park.

His research interests are in the areas of complexity, with applications in Systems Biology (leukemia, prostate cancer

and hydrocephalus), global issues, and, sustainable development.










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25 Apr Former Dena Bank MD Karnam Sekar appointed as IOB's new MD and CEO

He will take over from R Subramaniakumar, who was instrumental in taking measures to turn around

the bank.

POINTS TO NOTE

Prior to joining as officer on Special Duty and Whole Time Director of IOB in April 2019, Sekar was the MD & CEO

of Dena Bank till March 31, 2019. Earlier he was the Deputy Managing Director and Chief Credit Officer in State

Bank of India heading its highest Credit Committee. In SBI, he was also responsible for forumlating loan

policy of the bank.

Before SBI, he was working as Chief General Managing in Lucknow circle of SBI.

25 Apr Indian-origin boy, 15, UK's youngest accountant

Ranveer Singh Sandhu, based in south London, has set himself a goal of becoming a millionaire by

the time he turns 25 after he set up his first business when he was aged just 12 years.

POINTS TO NOTE

The schoolboy says he knew from a very early age that he wanted to become an accountant and financial adviser to

help fellow young entrepreneurs set up their dream businesses.

He charges between 12 pounds to 15 pounds per hour for his services and boasts of 10 paying clients.

The teenager completed an online accounting course to achieve a requisite Level 3 CPD Basic Accounting certificate

when he was 12 and went on to set up his business Digital Accounts in June 2016.

30 Apr Alfred Brownell wins Goldman Environmental Prize for fighting palm oil industry

Mr. Brownell, an environmental lawyer and activist, blamed the devastation on the palm oil company

Golden Veroleum Liberia.

POINTS TO NOTE

The company had been given a green light in 2010 by the government to expand in the country and was poised to

turn more than 2,000 km2 of lush forest into palm oil plantations.

The prize was created in 1989 by philanthropists Richard and Rhoda Goldman. Winners are selected from nominations

made by environmental organisations and others.

The prize carries a $200,000 award. The other winners are Linda Garcia of Vancouver, Washington, who rallied

local communities to successfully prevent the construction of North America’s largest oil terminal.

Ana Colovic Lesoska of North Macedonia, whose seven-year campaign helped stop hydroelectric projects from

being built in the country’s largest national park.

Bayarjargal Agvaantseren of Mongolia, who led the fight to create the Tost Tosonbumba Nature Reserve.










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OBITUARY

08 Apr Dutchman ends 'world's longest electric car trip' in Australia

Wakker said before the car was modified, it would have used 6,785 litres (1,800 US gallons) of petrol

to complete the journey.

POINTS TO NOTE

Wiebe Wakker drove his retrofitted station wagon nicknamed "The Blue Bandit" across 33 countries in what he said

was the world's longest-ever journey by electric car.

The trip from the Netherlands to Australia took just over three years and was funded by public donations

from the world, including electricity to charge the Bandit, food and a place to sleep.

Wakker drove across a variety of countries and environments including Turkey, Iran, India, Myanmar, Malaysia and

Indonesia, with the route determined by the offers he received on his website.

20 Apr Pilot Jerrie Cobb, first woman to pass Nasa's astronaut testing, dies at 88

In 1961, Cobb became the first woman to pass astronaut testing. Altogether, 13 women passed the

arduous physical testing and became known as the Mercury 13.

POINTS TO NOTE

Instead of making her an astronaut, NASA tapped her as a consultant to talk up the space program. She was dismissed

one week after commenting: "I'm the most unconsulted consultant in any government agency."

She wrote in her 1997 autobiography "Jerrie Cobb, Solo Pilot," ''My country, my culture, was not ready to allow a

woman to fly in space."

Cobb served for decades as a humanitarian aid pilot in the Amazon jungle.

OTHERS








https://wap.business-standard.com/topic/nasa



125



06 Apr David Malpass named new World Bank President

He won unanimous approval from the institution's executive board on Friday, continuing the 73-year

tradition of an American running the world's largest development lender.

POINTS TO NOTE

Malpass, a former Bear Stearns and Co chief economist who advised Trump's 2016 election campaign, was the sole

candidate. Previous World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, who left in January to join a private infrastructure fund, faced

two challengers, from Nigeria and Colombia, in 2012 when he was first selected.

Malpass said he would uphold the bank's commitment to reducing poverty in the poorest countries and to fight

climate change, and pursue goals stated in a $13 billion capital increase last year.










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10. Books & Authors

04 Apr Poll panel steps in to allow launch of book on Rafale deal

A few hours after an election flying squad in Chennai served a letter banning the release of a book on

the Rafale fighter aircraft scam, the publishing house managed to launch the book by obtaining the

nod from the Election Commission of India.

POINTS TO NOTE

The book Nattai Ulukkum Rafale Bera Oozhal (The Rafale scam that is rocking the country), by social activist S. Vijayan

was brought out by Tamil publishing house Bharathi Puttakalayam. The price tag of the slender volume is ₹10.

The copies of the book which were in the possession of the police, were also sent back to the publisher.

24 Apr Shakespeare Day 2019 is to be celebrated today

Many fans and enthusiasts across the world celebrate Shakespeare Day on April 23 every year to

honour the literary genius, Shakespeare.

POINTS TO NOTE

Estimations of his vocabulary range from 17,000 to 29,000 words. He has been credited by Oxford dictionary for

introducing 3000 words to the English language.

No records exist of Shakespeare’s life for nearly 7 years. Some assume he worked as a school teacher while others

believe he studied law, travelled across the globe or joined an acting troupe.










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