Current Affairs Pocket PDF

Current Affairs Pocket PDF
Current Affairs Pocket PDF – March 2019

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INDIAN AFFAIRS
Cabinet Approvals
Cabinet Approvals On February 28th, 2019
• On 28th February 2019, The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has
given its approval for following new projects and schemes:
 Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN Yojana approved by Cabinet
 Cabinet approvedRs.1450 crore for share capital of RBI in NHB
 CCEA approved construction of 4 lane bridge over River Brahmaputra
 Proposal for setting up of Centre for Disability Sports at Gwalior was approved by
Cabinet
 “National Policy on Software Products 2019” was approved by Cabinet
 Cabinet approved National Mineral Policy, 2019
 Homeopathy Central Council (Amendment) ordinance 2019 was approved by cabinet
 Agra, Kanpur metro rail projects approved by the Centre
 Cabinet approved joining of IEA Bioenergy TCP by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural
Gas
 Foreign Investment uptoRs.25,000 crore byVodafone Idea approve
 Jammu and Kashmir Reservation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 approved by the
Cabinet
 Promulgationof Aadhaar and other Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 was approved
by Cabinet
 Cabinet approved Creation of 2 posts of commissioner for persons with disabilities in
the Central Government
 Cabinet approved Selling up of SPV for Disinvestment of AI, Subsidiaries / JV
 Special Scheme for FAME India Phase II approved by Cabinet
 Cabinet approved inclusion of CSC as Enrolment Agency for PM-SYM
 Cabinet approved laying down procedure and mechanism for asset monetization
 Setting up of new AIIMS at Manethi, Haryana received Cabinet Approval
 Cabinet approves Rs.1236cr investment for Arun-3 Hydro project '.Click here to read
full detailed cabinet approvals
Cabinet approvals on March 7, 2019

• On 7th March 2019, The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its
approval for following new projects and schemes:
 Cabinet approves scheme to rebate embedded taxes
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 Cabinet approves surrendering of AAI encroached land to MP government

 Creation of post of Technical Members in SAT, Mumbai approved by the Cabinet
 Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage Mission approved by Cabinet
 Proposal for reservation in Teachers Cadre Ordinance 2019 approved by Cabinet
 Cabinet nods ECHS facilities to veterans, pre-mature retirees
 Cabinet approved ‘FMBAP’ for Flood Management Works in entire country
 Cabinet approves continuation of National AIDS Control Programme IV<
 Cabinet approves the 3rd railway line between Narayangarh and Bhadrak on SER
 Implementation of 1320MW Khurja Super Thermal Power Project in UP got cabinets
approval
 Investment approval for 1320MW Buxar Thermal Power Project in Bihar got Cabinet
approval
 Teesta Stage-VI HE Project in Sikkim received Cabinet nod
 Kiru Hydroelectric Project in Jammu and Kashmir got Cabinet approval
 Cabinet approves GoM recommendations on Stressed Power Plants
 Cabinet approves Rs.2790cr financial assistance to sugar mills
 Rs.4500 crore to revive ‘un-served, under-served’ airports approved by Cabinet
 Click here to read the detailed cabinet approvals.
Cabinet Approvals on March 13, 2019

• On 13th March 2019, The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has given its
approval for following new projects and schemes:
 Notification for “General Elections to the Lok Sabha 2019) issued by the cabinet
 Promulgation of the Daman & Diu Civil courts (Amendment) Regulation, 2019 and
Dadra & Nagar Haveli Amendment Regulation. 2019 has been approved by Cabinet
 Cabinet approved the proposal for accession of India to Nice, Vienna and Locarno
agreements
STATE WISE NATIONAL NEWS

Andaman & Nicobar Islands
India-Indonesia Coordinated Patrol (Ind-Indo Corpat) began at Port Blair
• The 33rd edition of the India-Indonesia Coordinated Patrol (Ind-Indo Corpat) was started on
March 19, 2019 and will continue till 4th April 2019 at Port Blair, Andaman & Nicobar Islands
in order to enhance interoperability and strengthen existing bonds of friendship between India
and Indonesia. The closing ceremony will be held in Belawan, Indonesia.
Andhra Pradesh
Southern Coast Railway: Piyush Goyal Announces New Railway Zone For Andhra Pradesh
• Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced a new railway zone for Andhra Pradesh, that
is the Southern Coast Railway and it will be headquartered in Visakhapatnam. It will be the
18th zone in the country with an outlay of Rs. 205 crore.
An MoU on Additive Manufacturing Center of Excellence signed by HP and Andhra Pradesh
government
• A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between HP Inc. India (Hewlett-Packard)
and Andhra Pradesh Innovation Society (APIS) and Andhra Pradesh Economic Development
Board (APEDB) for constructing a Center of Excellence (CoE) for additive manufacturing
powered by HP’s 3D printing technology.
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Assam
Home Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurates BOLD-QIT project in Assam
• BOLD-QIT which is Border Electronically Dominated QRT Interception Technique was
inaugurated by Home Minister Rajnath Singh on India-Bangladesh border in Dhubri, Assam.
The project was brought to life by Information and Technology Wing of BSF- Border Security
Force under Comprehensive Integrated Border Management system.
Govt of Assam presented awards in the field of culture
• Assam government announced various awards in the field of culture as recognition for the
talent and efforts on promotion of dance and music. Srimanata Sankardev Award 2017
conferred to noted Satriya exponent Basistha Dev Sharma of BarpetaSatra for his works on
promotion of Satriya dance and music as well as folk culture of the state.
Exclusion from NRC list will not affect the Voting Rights in the upcoming polls: Election
Commission
• On 12th March 2019, The Election Commission of India (ECI) informed the three-judge bench
headed by Ranjan Gogoi, the Chief Justice of India that exclusion of names from draft NRC
(National Register of Citizens) in Assam will not affect the voting rights of persons in the
upcoming elections provided that their name features in the electoral rolls.
Chief Electoral Officer of Assam Mukesh Sahu launched a new initiative called "Enajori" in
Guwahati
• Chief Electoral Officer of Assam Mukesh Sahu launched a new initiative called "Enajori" at
Janata Bhawan, Dispur in Guwahati for persons with disabilities with an aim that ‘No Voter to
be Left behind’. The initiative to make Lok Sabha Elections accessible to Persons with
Disability (PwD) voters is a joint initiative of Assam CEO and Social Welfare Department.
Assam’s Bongaigaon district administration developed mobile app for first-time voters
• A Mobile App named ‘Sankalp’ has been developed by the Assam’s Bongaigaon district
administration team with the help of NIC (National Informatics Centre) to encourage the first
time voters.
Gujarat
Rajkot to get its new Greenfield Airport
• Union Cabinet approved the establishment of a New Greenfield Airport at Hirasar in Rajkot,
Gujarat at an estimated cost of Rs. 1405 crore. Rajkot is the fourth largest city of Gujarat and
existing airport of Rajkot is severely land constrained having only 236 acres of land.
Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated festival of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Gandhinagar
• The President of India Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated the Festival of Innovation and
Entrepreneurship (FINE) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. It was organised by the National Innovation
Foundation in association with the Department of Science and Technology.
Goa
Sudin Dhavalikar, Vijay Sardesai named as Goa Deputy CMs
• After the appointment of Goa’s new CM Pramod Sawant, Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party
(MGP)’s Sudin Dhavalikar and Goa Forward Party (GFP)’s chief Vijay Sardesai appointed as Goa
Deputy Chief Minister. Sudin Dhavalikar & Vijay Sardesai will succeed Late Francis Dsouza.
Goa’s Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar designated as the Deputy Chief Minister of Goa
• Goa’s Tourism Minister Manohar Ajgaonkar has been appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister of
Goa. He will succeed Sudin Dhavalikar. At present he is the second deputy chief minister along
with Goa Forward Party (GFP) leader and state minister Vijai Sardesai.
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Haryana
Haryana govt. announces Mukhyamantri Parivar Samman Nidhi Yojana 2019
• “Mukhyamantri Parivar Samman Nidhi” scheme was launched by Haryana Chief Minister
Manohar Lal Khattar inChandigarh. It is primarily meant for farmers of the state who cultivate
on land with areas upto five acres and the families with an income of less than Rs. 15,000 per
month.
Jammu and Kashmir

‘Special Stamp Cover on Ice Stupas’ released by Department of Post
• PD. Tshering,Chief Postmaster General, Jammu & Kashmir Circle, released a ‘Special Stamp
Cover on Ice Stupa’ by the Department of Post, Government of India during a function
organised at the Ice Stupasite at Gangles in Leh. Ice Stupa team of Himalayan Institute of
Alternatives, Ladakh (HIAL) with support from Leh-Phodo society and Army, has built an Ice
Stupa at Gangles with an aim to reduce shortage of water in Leh.
Under UAPA Centre bans Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front
• The Central Government banned Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) under the provisions
of Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), 1967 as an unlawful association. Yasin Malik lead
JKLF is creating a separatist ideology in the Kashmir Valley. It has been doing its separatist
activities and violence since 1988.
A multi disciplinary terror action group has been set up by Government for Jammu and
Kashmir
• A multi-disciplinary terror monitoring group (MDTMG) has been set up by the Government to
ensure synergized and collective action against terror financing and terror-related activities in
Jammu and Kashmir. The Additional director general of police (ADGP) CID of JK Police will
head the group which will meet on a weekly basis.
Jammu and Kashmir government to give monthly stipend and jobs for those who Shun
militancy
• The Jammu and Kashmir administration headed by Governor Sathya Pal Malik, in its new
“Reintegration Policy” draft, has proposed a monthly stipend of Rs 6,000, jobs and
rehabilitation measures, for militants, who wish to give up arms.
Former IAS, Shah Faesal launched ‘Jammu and Kashmir People’s Movement’
• Shah Faesal, 2010 batch civil servant who had resigned from his post this year, launched his
political party ‘Jammu and Kashmir Peoples’ Movement’(JKPM) in Jammu and Kashmir. Party
slogan – “Ab Hawah Badlegi’ (Now winds will change directions)”
Karnataka
‘Jal Amrutha’ scheme launched by Karnataka Government
• A water conservation scheme ‘Jal Amrutha’ was launched by Karnataka chief minister H D
Kumaraswamy, in Bengaluru. The scheme is an initiative of state’s Rural Development and
Panchayat Raj department. It plans to make people aware about the importance of conserving
water.
HGS and NASSCOM to launch centre of excellence for PwDs in Bangalore
• Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) partnered with NASSCOM Foundation, to launch a centre of
excellence in Bengaluru for training differently-abled persons (PwDs) which will train a
minimum of 100 PwDs making them industry-ready over the next 12 months with a goal to
place at least 50% of them in companies already sensitised for hiring them.
Paralympics high jumper Girish Gowda named as Ambassador of Karnataka LS Elections
• Silver Medalist in Paralympic high jump, Girish Gowda has been appointed as the ambassador
of Karnataka Lok Sabha Elections 2019. He had represented India in men’s high jump F-42
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category during 2012 Summer Paralympics games held in London, where he clinched silver
medal.
Centre has set up Yarn bank in Karnataka for weavers of Mysore Powerloom Silk
Manufacturers Cooperative Society
• In order to avoid fluctuation in yarn prices, Ministry of Textiles has started Yarn bank, a first of
its kind in Karnataka, to help thousand of weavers at the Mysore Powerloom Silk
Manufacturers Cooperative Society by ensuring steady supply of silk yarn and zari.
Mahesh Singh is appointed the Flag Officer Commanding Karnataka Naval Area
• An alumnus of National Defence Academy, Rear Admiral Mahesh Singh takes charge as the Flag
Officer Commanding Karnataka Naval Area. He will succeed Admiral KJ Kumar.
Madhya Pradesh
79th Indian History Congress held in Bhopal
• The 79th Indian History Congress (IHC) was held at Barkatullah University in Bhopal, Madhya
Pradesh which saw the presence of over 1,000 delegates including prominent historians. After
2011, this was the second time Madhya Pradesh hosted the event.
Shakuntala D. Gamlin laid foundation stone for NIMHR in Sehore, MP
• The foundation stone for the ‘National Institute of Mental Health Rehabilitation’ (NIMHR), the
first-of-its-kind institute in India, was laid down by Shakuntala D. Gamlin, Secretary,
Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), Ministry of Social Justice
and Empowerment at Sherpur Village along Bhopal-Sehore highway, District Sehore, Madhya
Pradesh. The Central Government approved an outlay of Rs 180 crore for the project for an
initial period of three years.
Gondi Language to be included in primary education in MP’s tribal districts
• Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath declared that Gondi language will be included in
the primary education curriculum of the state’s tribal-dominated districts, due to the rising
concern of a rapid decline in the number of people who speak that tongue.
MP governor Anandiben Patel approved ordinance to hike OBC quota
• Madhya Pradesh governor, Anandiben Patel approved an Ordinance to increase reservation for
Other Backward Classes (OBCs). As per the ordinance the reservation of OBC will be increased
to 27% from 14%. It made Madhya Pradesh the only state in India to have 27% quota for OBCs.
Namdev Tyagi appointed as Chairman of river trust by the Madhya Pradesh government
• The Madhya Pradesh government has appointed Namdev Tyagi, a self-styled godman who is
also famous as Computer Baba, as chairman of ‘Ma Narmada, Ma Kshipra and Ma Mandakini
Rivers Trust’ in the Madhya Pradesh.
Maharastra
Maharashtra government launches ‘Atal Aahar Yojna’ for construction workers
• Maharashtra government launched a special scheme ‘Atal Aahar Yojna’ for construction
workers in the state which will provide good quality food at a highly subsidised rate. The target
is set to cover 20000 workers and provide them with good quality food at a nominal cost of
Rs.5 in the first phase of the scheme.
India and Saudi Arabia plan to revive the USD 44 bn West Coast refinery project in
Maharashtra
• In a meeting between Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and his Saudi counterpart and
the chairman of Saudi Aramco,Khalid A Al-Falih, in New Delhi, it was decided that India and
Saudi Arabia will revive and expedite the implementation of USD 44 billion West Coast refinery
project in Maharashtra, in which Saudi Aramco will be holding a considerable stake.
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India’s first LGBTQ Clinic and HIV treatment centre inaugurated by Humsafar Trust in Mumbai
• The first HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) treatment centre and holistic clinic for lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) launched by Humsafar trust in Mumbai,
Maharashtra.
Indian Navy’s Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Training Facility ABHEDYA initiated at INS Shivaji,
Lonavla
• The state of the art Nuclear, Biological, Chemical Training Facility (NBCTF) named ABHEDYA of
Indian Navy has been commissioned at INS Shivaji, Lonavla in Mumbai by Admiral Sunil Lanba,
PVSM AVSM ADC, Chief of the Naval Staff. It was constructed by Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL).
At the Naval base in Mumbai, the Second joint logistics node become operational
• The second joint logistics node of tri-services has become operational at naval base in Mumbai,
Maharashtra to enhancing interoperability, improve maintenance of military assets and
provide logistical support to all the defence services. In 2018, the first joint logistics node (JLN)
consisting of the three services was set up at Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Nagpur hosted Heat Wave 2019 Workshop
• Maharashtra govt with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has conducted a two-
day national workshop on Preparedness, Mitigation and Management of Heat Wave in Nagpur.
This was the third annual workshop conducted by NDMA to build a momentum ahead of the
start of the Heat Wave season.
Maharashtra’s interim budget for 2019-20 with Rs 19,784 cr estimated revenue deficit
presented by FM Sudhir Mungantiwar
• Maharashtra Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar presented the interim budget for the fiscal
2019-20 with an estimated deficit of Rs 19,784 crore and a provision of special fund for farm
loan waiver at the State Assembly in Mumbai. The Government has made maximum allocation
of Rs 8733 crore for irrigation, with a focus on Vidarbha and Marathwada.
Welfare Schemes for Dhangars was announced by Maharashtra’s Chief Minister
• The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Shri Devendra Fadnavis announced various welfare
schemes for the Dhangar community including 10,000 houses, AshramShalas, Scholarships,
admission seats and Hostels for students belonging to this community.
New 5 year industrial policy unveiled by Maharashtra CM
• Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis unveiled the State’s new 5 year industrial
policy which will be effective from 1st April, 2019. In Maharashtra the rate of conversion of
Memorandum of Understanding into actual investments after a period of one year from the
agreement is more than 45% in comparison to the national average of 30-35 per cent.
Param Bir Singh appointed as DG of Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau
• 1988 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Param Bir Singh appointed Director General (DG)
of the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau. He will replace Sanjay Barve.
Meghalaya
Meghalaya CM tabled Rs 1223 cr tax free, deficit budget for 2019-20
• Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, who also holds the Finance portfolio, put forth a
Rs 1,223 crore tax-free, deficit budget in the State Assembly for 2019-2020. The government
has given highest priority to improve revenue collection and a committee has been set up to
methodically look into all issues of collections.
Supreme Court stayed Meghalaya HC contempt order against Shillong Times editor
• The Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogai has stayed Meghalaya
High Court’s judgment against the Shillong Times editor, Patricia Mukhim and Publisher,
Shobha Chaudhuri who were found guilty of contempt of court.The bench consists of Justices
Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna.
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Mizoram
Liquor Prohibition Bill approved by Mizoram Cabinet
• The Mizoram Liquor Prohibition Bill, 2019 was approved by the Mizoram Cabinet on 9th
March 2019. The approval meeting was headed by the Chief Minister of Mizoram Zoramthanga.
Earlier, liquor was completely prohibited in Mizoram from 1997 to January 2015 under the
Mizoram Liquor Total Prohibition Act.
C Lalsawta named as the first Lokayukta of Mizoram
• C Lalsawta, an IAS officer from 1981 batch of Bihar cadre, has been sworn-in as the first
Chairman of the newly-constituted Lokayukta in Mizoram at the Raj Bhawan, Aizawl.
Mizoram Assembly passed Mizoram Maintenance of Household Registers Bill, 2019 to detect
illegal foreigners
• Mizoram Assembly passed a new bill named Mizoram Maintenance of Household Registers Bill,
2019 with an objective to detect foreigners illegally residing in Mizoram,who takes away the
benefits of the citizen of Mizoram. The individual is recognized as the citizen of India under the
Citizenship Act, 1955.
Nagaland
Centre approved the name change of a Nagaland village Old Mangkhi to Mungankhun
• The Union Home Ministry has approved the changing of name of the Old Mangkhi village in
Tuensang of Nagaland to Mungankhun village. The central government has given its ‘no-
objection’ to renaming of 22 villages, towns and railway stations across the country since
December 2017.
New Delhi
MSP for Minor Forest Produces issued by Ministry of Tribal Affairs
• Van Dhan, a scheme for Minimum Support Price (MSP) for Minor Forest Produce (MFP) and
Development of Value Chain of MFPs was launched by TRIFED Tribal Cooperative Marketing
Development Federation of Indiaunder Ministry of Tribal Affairs at a National Workshop in
New Delhi.
Thaawarchand Gehlot launched 2nd edition of Indian Sign Language Dictionary
• The 2nd Edition of Indian Sign Language (ISL) Dictionary was launched by Minister of Social
Justice and Empowerment, Thaawarchand Gehlot in New Delhi. The Dictionary was developed
by Indian Sign Language Research and Training Centre (ISLRTC).
‘International Digital Health Symposium’ inaugurated by Anupriya Patel in New Delhi
• Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Smt. Anupriya Patel, inaugurated the
International Digital Health Symposium and an exhibition on Digital Health as a part of the
Symposium, at New Delhi, where participant countries along with various Government
Ministries, states and other stakeholders showcased key innovations, implementation
experiences and innovative Digital Health Interventions.
Scheme for Development of Knitting and Knitwear Sector launched by Smriti Irani
• Union Minister of Textiles, Smriti Irani, launched a comprehensive scheme for Development of
Knitting and Knitwear Sector under PowerTex India in New Delhi where she also interacted
with industry associations related to knit wear sector in three clusters of Kolkata, Tirupur and
Ludhiana through video link.
Dr. Mahesh Sharma Inaugurates ‘Azaadi Ke Diwane’ Museum at Red Fort Complex in Delhi
• ‘Azaadi Ke Diwane’ museum was inaugurated by the Minister of State for Culture (Independent
charge) and Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Mahesh Sharma at the Red Fort Complex
in New Delhi. The museum has been dedicated to the freedom fighters of our country. It has
been constructed by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
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Textiles Minister Smriti Irani inaugurated Refurbished Handloom Haat in New Delhi
• The refurbished Handloom Haat was inaugurated by Textiles Minister Smriti Irani at Janpath,
New Delhi. The Haat aims to provide infrastructural support to handloom agencies so that they
can enhance their sales of handloom products and provide a platform to display a wide variety
of handloom products that are produced all over the country.
Inaugural Space Dialogue of India and Japan held in New Delhi
The first ever Space Dialogue of India and Japan was held in New Delhi. It aimed at providing a
platform for both the countries to explore ways to enhance cooperation between the space
agencies of both the nations.
Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue – 2019 organised in New Delhi
• The 2nd edition of Indo-Pacific Regional Dialogue (IPRD) – 2019 was organised in Manekshaw
Centre, New Delhi. It focused on involving the global strategic community in reviewing India’s
opportunities and challenges in the Indo-Pacific region. 13 countries have participated in the
dialogue.
Hardeep Puri launched the Indian Urban Observatory and Video wall at New Delhi
• Minister of State (I/C) for Housing and Urban Affairs, Hardeep S Puri, inaugurated the state-of-
the-art India Urban Observatory and Video Wall at New Delhi. The India Urban Observatory
will plug into the myriad sources of data from cities, both from real-time and archival sources.
The 34th edition of Aahar – the International Food and Hospitality Fair begins in New Delhi
• The Five day long, 34th edition of Aahar- the International Food and Hospitality Fair which is
organized by India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO) begins in New Delhi on 12th March
2019.
Indian researchers collaborate with University of Birmingham to resolve issues of air pollution
in Delhi
• Experts from the University of Birmingham and policy makers and researchers from India
announced a collaboration to jointly develop strategies to resolve health, social and economic
issues linked to air pollution in Delhi.
IEMF’s First Workshop organized by NITI Aayog and USAID in New Delhi
• The NITI Aayog and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
organized the first workshop on development of the India Energy Modelling Forum (IEMF),
envisaged as a pan-stakeholder platform for debating ideas, scenario-planning & discussing the
India’s energy future in New Delhi.
3rd edition of Namaste Thailand festival held in New Delhi
• The 3rd edition of Namaste Thailand festival, organised by the Royal Thai Embassy with an aim
to strengthen bilateral ties and increase cultural exchange between India and Thailand, began
at Select Citywalk in New Delhi.
International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI)2019 held in New Delhi
• International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI), a two-day workshop
organised by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with United
Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR), and in partnership with the Global
Commission on Adaptation, United Nations Development Programme and the World Bank was
held at New Delhi.
Indo-Japan workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction held in New Delhi on 18th March
• Government of India and Government of Japan organized the 3rd Indo-Japan Workshop on
Disaster Risk Reduction(DRR) in New Delhi. Additional Principal Secretary to Prime Minister,
Dr. P. K. Mishra inaugurated the workshop.
14th CII-EXIM Bank Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnerships held in New Delhi
• The three day 14th CII-EXIM Bank Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnerships concluded in
New Delhi. The Conclave will enhance the partnership between India and Africa in economic as
well as business terms. The event was organized by Ministry of Commerce and Industry in
association with Exim Bank of India and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).
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FinTech Conclave commenced in New Delhi

• NITI Aayog has organized a FinTech Conclave at Dr. Ambedkar International Center, New Delhi.
The Conclave was inaugurated by RBI Governor, Shaktikanta Das. Discussions were held on the
themes such as Digital Onboarding of Customers/Merchants for Financial Inclusion, Building
Financial Products for Millennial India, Emerging Areas of FinTech, Fast Tracking Investments
in FinTech Industry and Financial Inclusion of MSMEs.
Interaction of India with ambassadors and High Commissioners of European and Oceania
Countries in New Delhi
• An Interactive session was held between India and ambassadors & High Commissioners of
European and Oceania Countries in New Delhi. The aim of the interactive session was to take
economic ties with European and Oceania countries to a next level. Various trade negotiations
were also discussed in the session.
Delhi government launches app ‘One Delhi’ to track bus, metro services
• A commute-planning app “ONE Delhi” was launched by Kailash Gahlot, Transport Minister of
Delhi to allow users to plan their travel efficiently across government transport facilities. It was
developed by Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS).
Delhi sets up a high-level committee for introducing reforms in higher education
• A 17-member high-level committee has been constituted by the Delhi government’s Dialogue
and Development Commission (DDC) to “reform higher education” in the city. The committee
will be headed by Jasmine Shah, the vice-chairperson of Dialogue and Development
Commission (DDC).
Odisha
Odisha govt initiated "Mukhya Mantri Karigar Sahayata" for craftsmen
• Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik launched the scheme ‘Mukhya Mantri Karigar Sahayata’
for financial assistance to craftsmen. The nodal department of the scheme is the Directorate of
handicrafts. Craftsmen with 10 years of experience and having annual income below Rs.1 lakh
are eligible to get an assistance of Rs.800 per month.
Ex chief Justice of Gauhati HC Ajit Singh named as first Lokayukta of Odisha
• Former Chief Justice of Gauhati High Court Ajit Singh has been appointed as the first Lokayukta
of Odisha. He was chosen by a selection committee which was led by Chief Minister Naveen
Patnaik and his name was then approved by Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal.
Tamil Nadu
Piyush Goyal dedicated NTPL’s 1,000-MW thermal power project to the country
• Coal Minister Piyush Goyal dedicated to the nation a 1,000-megawatt (MW) thermal power
project of Neyveli Tamil Nadu Power Ltd (NTPL) at Thoothukudi and a 150-MW solar power
projects of NLC India Ltd (NLCIL) at Ramanathapuram and Virudhunagar districts in Tamil
Nadu.
Tripura
“Notun Disha”initiated by Tripura govt to assess academic level of school students
• The government of Tripura announced ‘Notun Disha’ (New Direction) for assessing the
academic level of students in classes III-VIII and then improving their current level. It was
launched by state Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath.
Tribal musician of Tripura, Thanga Darlong, conferred with first AB Vajpayee Life Time
Achievement Award
• Thanga Darlong, a musician from Tripura was awarded with the first Atal Behari Vajpayee Life
Time Award at the 37th Agartala Book Fair in Agartala, Tripura. He is the last tribal musician
who plays Rosem which is a flute-like musical instrument made of bamboo.
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In child marriage incidents, Tripura ranks second highest in India

• Tripura has been ranked at second place in India, in terms of child marriages among girls
between the age of 15 and 19 years, according to a report released by the National Family
Health Survey (NFHS), Young Lives – an international study on childhood poverty. The survey
has been coordinated by team of University of Oxford.
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand CM launches free milk scheme for anganwadi children
• Mukhyamantri Anchal Amrit Yojana was launched in Dehradun by Uttarakhand Chief Minister
Trivendra Singh Rawat. The scheme aims to provide 100 ml milk twice a week, free of cost, to
2.5 lakh children at 20,000 Anganwadi kendras of Uttarakhand.
WestBengal
Mamata Banerjee launched Yuvashree Arpan scheme for financially assisting young
entrepreneurs
• West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee launched a new scheme called Yuvashree Plan II
or Yuvashree Arpan under which 50,000 youths will receive financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh
for setting up an their own business initiatives.
Japan announces an investment worth Rs. 22 lakh for Rabindra Bharati Museum, Kolkata
• The Japanese government decided to provide Rs. 22 lakhs ($31,800) for the Rabindra Bharati
Museum in Kolkata, West Bengal in order to establish deeper and stronger historical and
cultural ties with India.
Other Important National Affairs

NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission partners with Adobe to enhance creativity in ATL Schools
• NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and Adobe signed a Statement of Intent (SOI) to
collectively drive the charter of developing creative skills and spreading digital literacy across
all Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) in India. 100 schools will be adopted by Adobe under the ATL
initiative and will implement its Digital Disha Program in ATLs.
Dharmendra Pradhan has hand over the 100th Letter of Intent to CBG Entrepreneur
• Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has handed over the 100th Letter of Intent (LoI)
under SATAT- Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation scheme to
Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) entrepreneur, which is an waste to wealth venture.
Ban on SIMI extended by the Government
• Government decided to extend the ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI)
which involved in various terror acts in the country for a period of 5 years. Union Home
Ministry has issued the notification for the extension of ban under the Unlawful Activities
(Prevention) Act, 1967.
Ban on Jamaat-e-Islami J&K for 5 years by the Government
• The Centre banned Jamaat-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir under the Unlawful Activities
(Preventions) Act, 1967 for 5 years. It was made on the grounds that they were ‘in close touch’
with militant outfits and is expected to ‘escalate secessionist movement’ in the State.
Govt. working on a new scheme for unorganised food processing sector: Gram Samridhi Yojana
• Gram Samridhi Yojana, a Rs 3,000 crore scheme funded by the World Bank and the
Government of India, is being worked upon by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries in
order to strengthen the unorganised food processing sector concentrated in rural areas. World
Bank will be giving Rs 1,500 crore and Rs 1,000 crore will be borne by the Centre while state
governments will put in Rs 500 crore.
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CCEA has approved financial support to Tertiary HealthCare Programmes

• Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) which was chaired by Narendra Modi has
given its approval to continue the enactment of Tertiary Healthcare programmes for non-
communicable diseases and E-Health up to the year 2020.
Anthem on ‘plastic-free India’ launched in seven languages by Environment Minister
• An anthem ”Plastic Waste-Free India’‘ which has been composed and produced by Pandit
Deendayal Upadhyaya Smriti Manch (PDUSM)a non-profit organisation which works in the
field of social and environmental issues was launched by Union Minister for Science &
Technology, Earth Sciences and Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Harsh Vardhan.
President gave assent to Ordinance for voluntary use of Aadhaar as ID proof for bank account
and SIM
• President Ram Nath Kovind has given his approval for an Ordinance which allows voluntary
use of Aadhaar as ID proof for opening bank accounts and obtaining mobile SIM.The ordinance
gives effect to the changes in the Aadhaar Act such as giving a child an option to exit from the
biometric ID programme on attaining 18 years of age.
22 GPS stations set by GSI across India
• In order to identify seismically hazardous zones and encourage mapping activities, the
Geological Survey of India (GSI) launched 22 permanent Global Positioning System (GPS)
stations across India, which is a part of its objective to establish and maintain a network of
continuously operating 35 permanent GPS stations in a phased manner.
As Per NARSS 2018-19, 96.5% of Indian rural households have access to toilets
• An Independent Verification Agency under the World Bank support project to the Swachh
Bharat Mission Grameen (SBM-G) conducted the National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey
(NARSS) between November 2018 and February 2019, covering 92040 households in 6136
villages across the country and found that 96.5% of the rural Indian households have access to
toilets and they use it.
HRD Ministry launched Rs 250 crore STARS scheme to fund science projects
• Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister, Prakash Javadekar, on the occasion of
National Science Day, that is 28th February 2019, launched the Scheme for Translational and
Advanced Research in Science (STARS) aimed at funding science projects.
Govt launched Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) scheme to boost agri exports
• Government of India with a view to boost to export of farm commodities to certain countries in
Europe and North America introduced a Transport and Marketing Assistance (TMA) for
providing financial assistance for transport and marketing of agriculture products.
Model guidelines for development and regulation of retirement homes issued by the
Government
• Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs prepared Model Guidelines for Development and
Regulation of Retirement Homes that address the special needs and protect the rights of senior
citizens and retirees living in Retirement Homes who aspire to spend their retired life
independently in a safe, secure and dignified environment.
A series of visually impaired friendly Re 1, Rs 2, Rs 5, Rs 10, Rs 20 coins unveiled by PM Modi
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the new series of visually impaired friendly coins of in
the denominations of Re 1, Rs 2, Rs 5, Rs 10 and Rs 20 at an event held in New Delhi where
visually impaired children were specially invited. All the new series coins will be issued for
circulation only through the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in terms of the RBI Act. The exact date
of issuance of new series coins is yet to be announced.India’s first 20 rupee coin
features:polygon shape of 12 edges,‘Lion Capital of Ashoka Pillar’ is minted on the face of new
20 rupee coin with ‘Satyamev Jayate’ inscribed below it,‘Bharat’ in Hindi and ‘India’ in English
is minted on the left and right periphery on the face of new Rs 20 coin.
Ordinance on reservation in Teacher’s Cadre gets President’s approval
• President Ram Nath Kovind approved Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in
Teacher’s Cadre) Ordinance 2019 which will restore 200-point roster system for faculty
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recruitment ensuring that the Constitutional provisions of Articles 14, 16 and 21 are complied
with and reservation criteria for the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and Socially and
Economically backward classes are met with.
High Gender Pay Gap observed in India as Women earn 19% less than Men: MSI Survey
• As per Monster Salary Index (MSI) Survey, a high gender pay gap (GPG) is observed in India, as
women earn 19% less than men, where men earn Rs 242.49 and women earn Rs 196.3, that is
Rs 46.19 lesser than men. The gap in 2018 was 20% and has narrowed by only 1% in 2019.
New NCLT benches to be set up in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh
• The Government approved the establishment of two new benches of National Company Law
Tribunal (NCLT) at Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh and Indore in Madhya Pradesh in view of the
increasing caseload, especially under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code 2016. The creation of
new benches will enable faster disposal of cases.
UIDAI to charge Rs 20 from Business Organisations for using Aadhar Services
• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in the official gazette notification, the
Aadhaar (Pricing of Aadhaar Authentication Services) Regulations 2019 put forth that business
organisations using Aadhaar services will now have to pay Rs 20 for each customer verification
and 50 paise for authentication of each transaction carried out by the entities.
Unlocking NATional Energy Efficiency potential (UNNATEE) launched
• Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) has released a document called UNNATEE (Unlocking
NATional Energy Efficiency potential) which aims at improving the energy efficiency in India.
BEE had collaborated with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for development of this document.
NCSM & Google Arts and Culture collaborated for “Once Upon a Try”, an online exhibition
• The National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) collaborates with Google Arts and Culture
for largest interactive online exhibition on inventions and discoveries. The largest online
exhibition ‘Once Upon a Try’: Epic journeys of invention and discovery is an attempt to explore
humanities greatest inventions and discoveries in an interactive online exhibition.
Government succeeds in achieving the target of 87 per cent of 8 crore free LPG connections
• Government allotted its 7-croreth free cooking gas (LPG) connection, as a part of the Pradhan
Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY). 7 crore free LPG connections have been issued in the past 34
months which approximates to almost 69,000 connections per day.
Government Approved a National Mission on E-Mobility to Boost EV Manufacturing
• The Centre formed National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage to finalise
the framework for a Phased Manufacturing Program (PMP). The main aim of the framework is
localising the production of electric vehicles (EV) and its components within the country and
boost the adoption of clean energy vehicles.
ICAP for providing thermal comfort to citizens released by Dr Harsh Vardhan
• Union Environment Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan released the India Cooling Action Plan (ICAP)
aimed at reducing emissions and providing thermal comfort to citizens in New Delhi. It aims at
reducing cooling demand across sectors by 20% to 25%, refrigerant demand by 25% to 30%
and reduces cooling energy requirements by 25% to 40% by 2037-38.
Centre to State: Enemy properties can be put to public use
• Central Government allowed State Governments to put to public use some enemy properties
that were left behind by people who left India for Pakistan and China after 1965 and 1971
wars. The estimated value of all enemy properties is approximately one lakh crore rupees.
SC clarified IPS having minimum of 6 months tenure left should be considered for DGP post
• The Supreme Court clarified its last year order on police reforms and said officers who have a
minimum of six months tenure left in service can be considered for the post of Director General
of Police (DGP). The bench was headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi.
Ban on e-cigarettes in 12 states health ministry urges all to follow
• Following the advice of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, atleast 12 states in India
have banned Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS). ENDS emits nicotine, the addictive
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component of tobacco products which made the Doctors claim e-cigarettes pose significant
health risks to users that are frighteningly similar to those of conventional cigarette.
IIT Kharagpur to adopt the Amzon Web Services (AWS) Educate Programme
• The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur will adopt Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Educate programme to help students gain cloud computing skills including hands-on
experience in artificial intelligence (AI). As part of AWS Educate, the students will gain access
to 12 Cloud Career Pathways covering topics that are in demand by employers.
Coordinated operation carried out by India and Myanmar against insurgents posing threat to
Kaladan project
• A coordinated operation was conducted by the armies of India and Myanmar against
insurgents in Myanmarese territory to avert a possible threat to the Kaladan multi-modal
transit transport project. The objective of the operation was to crack down on the members of
the Arakan Army, an insurgent group in Myanmar, the members of which had also moved close
to the international border along Mizoram.
PM Modi launches ‘Main Bhi Chowkidar’ campaign
• On the lines of upcoming Lok Sabha elections, PM Modi, along with BJP leaders has started
“Main Bhi Chowkidar (I am a watchman too)” campaign by prefixing the word “chowkidar” to
their names in their Twitter profiles. It’s a video campaign titled “Take The Pledge”, showing
people who has fought corruption, social evils and working hard for the progress of India, as
watchmen.
Creation of additional posts of 3 Judicial Members and 3 Technical Members in the NCLAT
approved by the Cabinet
• Union Cabinet approved the creation of additional posts of three Judicial Members and three
Technical Members in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) to ensure the
time frame for disposal of cases. The tribunal hears appeals against rulings of the National
Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
ISRO launches Young Scientist Programme for schoolkids
• On the lines of Centre Govt mission “Jai Vigyan, Jai Anusandhan”, Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) has initiated Young Scientist Programme named “YUva VIgyani
KAryakram” – (Yuvika) for school children with a purpose to enhance their interest in the
emerging areas of Space activities by imparting basic knowledge on Space Technology, Space
Science and Space Applications. This two week long programme is regarded as “Catch them
young”.
Centre has come up with new rules for drugs, clinical trials
• The Ministry of Health has notified New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019 for the approval
of new drugs and conduct of clinical trials in the country. Rules include - Time required for the
approval of application has reduced, Waiving off local clinical trial and No Communication
Drugs Controller General of India will led to deemed approval.
Cabinet approved 5 year extension of Biomedical Research Career Programme
• The Union Cabinet chaired by Narendra Modi approved the extension of the Biomedical
Research Career Programme and Wellcome Trust (WT)/DBT India Alliance beyond its initial
10-year term to a new five year phase (2019-20 to 2023-24).
Google has launched global advisory council for AI and Tech Ethics
• Google has constituted an eight-member Advanced Technology External Advisory Council that
will examine the ethical challenges related to artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging
technologies.
Special Central Police Observers for States of Mizoram, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Tripura
have been appointed by Election Commission of India
• Election Commission of India has appointed Sh K K Sharma as Special Central Police Observer
for the States of West Bengal and Jharkhand and Sh Mrinal Kanti Das as Special Central Police
Observer for States of Tripura and Mizoram.
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Special Expenditure Observers for States of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat,
Karnataka, Nagaland and Telangana, have been appointed by Election Commission of India
• Election Commission of India has appointed Sh. Gopal Mukherjee as Special Expenditure
Observers for the state of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and Sh. D.D. Goel as Special
Expenditure Observers for the state of Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland for the upcoming Lok
Sabha Elections. Shailendra Handa would thus be Special Expenditure Observer for
Maharashtra and Gujarat while Ms. Madhu Mahajan will be deployed in Tamil Nadu and
Karnataka.
ECI appoints Special Central Police Observer for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana
• Election Commission of India has appointed Shree K K Sharma (IPS 1982 Retd DG Border
Security Force) as the Central Police Observer for the States of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
He would oversee the deployment and other security related issues in both the states.
INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS
Malaysia joined the International Criminal Court

• Malaysia became a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the world’s only
permanent war crimes court which aims to prosecute the worst abuses when national courts
are unable or unwilling. Malaysia is the 124th member of the court since its establishment in
2002.
ABLF gave momentum to India-UAE ties
• The Asian Business Leadership Forum (ABLF), a global leadership platform in partnership with
the United Arab Emirates (UAE)‘s Federal Government has decided to give further momentum
to India-UAE ties. 2019 has been declared as UAE’s Year of Tolerance by the UAE Government
to underline the commitment to make compassion, inclusion and acceptance a part of everyday
life.
PM Modi and Sheik Hasina unveiled e-plaques for development projects in Bangladesh
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and along with the Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina,
unveiled e-plaques for development projects in Bangladesh, through video conferencing. The e-
plaques are for the following projects:
 Supply of buses and trucks
 Inauguration of 36 community clinics
 11 water treatment plants
 Extension of National Knowledge Network to Bangladesh.
Pakistan became OIC body’s deputy chairman
• Pakistan elected as deputy chairman of the general body of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC
member States (PUIC) in Rabat, Morocco. PUIC conference also adopted two resolutions
presented by Pakistan related to Kashmir.
WHO released the Global Influenza Strategy 2019-2030
• World Health Organization (WHO) released a Global Influenza Strategy for 2019-2030 aimed at
protecting people in all countries from the threat of influenza, one of the world’s greatest
public health challenges. The aim of the strategy is to prevent seasonal influenza, control the
spread of influenza from animals to humans, and prepare for the next influenza pandemic.
India bans Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes after the Ethiopian Airlines crash
• The entry or transit of Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft has been banned by the Directorate General
of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in the Indian airspace following the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed
157 people. The airlines affected by this are SpiceJet which has 13 jets of the model 8 variant
and Jet Airways which has 5 jets of this variant.
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Life and times of Mahatma Gandhi is on display in London Book Fair

• India Pavilion was inaugurated by Vikram Sahay, Joint Secretary in Ministry of Information &
Broadcasting and Sadhana Rout, Director General in the Publications Division in the London
Book Fair. London Book Fair is being organized from 12th March to 14th March 2019.
India captained resolutions on single-use plastics and sustainable nitrogen management at UN
Environment Assembly
• The 4th session of United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) held in Nairobi, Kenya
where the India piloted resolutions on single-use plastics and sustainable nitrogen
management. The theme of the 4th session of UNEA was Innovative solutions for
environmental challenges and sustainable production and consumption.
U.K. government to remove any limit on the number of PhD-level work visas
• U.K. Chancellor Philip Hammond announced in a Budget update, referred to as the annual
Spring Statement, that from Autumn 2019, PhD-level occupations will be exempt from the Tier
2 (General) cap, and at the same time the government will update the immigration rules on
180-day absences so that researchers conducting fieldwork overseas are not penalised if they
apply to settle in the U.K.
4th Round of FTA talks between India and Peru held in Lima
• 4th Round of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks between India and Peru concluded in Lima,
Peru. The FTA agreement is aimed to enhance the two-way commerce between India and Peru.
Kazakhstan renames its capital Astana as Nursultan after ex-president
• Kazakhstan has renamed its capital as Nursultan from its previous name Astana in order to
recognize its outgoing leader Nursultan Nazarbayev(78), who has served nearly 30 years as
president of Kazakhstan.
Pakistan approved Sharada Peeth Corridor proposal for Hindu Pilgrims from India
• After Kartarpur Corridor, now Government of Pakistan has given its consent to the proposal of
opening Sharada Peeth Corridor for Hindu pilgrims to visit Sharada Peeth located in Pakistan-
occupied Kashmir (POK). The 5000 years old Sharada Peeth is an ancient Hindu temple and
cultural site in PoK.
LIMA 2019 Aero Expo held in Langkawi, Malaysia
• The 5 days long, Langkawi International Maritime Aero Expo (LIMA-2019) is being
commenced at Langkawi, Malaysia. Indian Air force is participating for the first time to
enhance the relationship between the two services. Indian side is representing by its
indigenous supersonic fighters jet Tejas and anti submarine warfare corvette INS Kadmatt.
World’s largest e-waste recycling hub opened at the Dubai Industrial Park, Dubai
• The world’s largest e-waste recycling plant has opened in Dubai Industrial Park, Dubai by
‘Enviroserve’ company with a total cost of $5 million. The project is supported by the Swiss
Government Export Finance Agency.
Pentagon diversion of US $1 Billion for US-Mexico border Wall
• The Pentagon has notified that it has authorized to shift US $1 billion from a military personnel
account to establish a new wall of 57 mile and 18 foot high fence at the southern U.S. Mexico
border. This wall would prevent illegal migration and drug trafficking from Mexico.
The largest energy storage system in Asia was built by Tesla
• Tesla has developed its ‘largest power storage system in Asia’ at Osaka train station in Japan to
reduce energy demand and provide emergency backup power to trains in Japan. It was
Launched in partnership with Kintetsu, a railway operator in Japan’s Osaka.
The single-use plastics are banned by the European Parliament
• The European Parliament has banned the single-use plastic cutlery, cotton buds, straws and
stirrers that despoils beaches and pollutes oceans. The law sets a target to gather 90 percent of
plastic bottles for recycling by 2029 and plastic bottles should be produced with 25 percent
recycled material by 2025 and 30 percent by 2030.
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UN Security Council adopts Resolution to combat Terror Financing

• The Security Council of UN has passed the new Resolution 2462 which is intended to crack
down on the financing of terrorist groups and ordering members to enforce laws against terror
financing.
VISITS
Indian Visits
PM Narendra Modi Visited Amethi in UP
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Amethi in Uttar Pradesh to address a public meeting and
lay the foundation stone of an Ordnance factory unit in Amethi. He also inaugurated an Indo-
Russian joint venture (JV) Indo-Russian Rifles Pvt Ltd,that will manufacture the new
Kalashnikov AK-203 rifle in Korwa, near Amethi (UP).
Overview of Prime Minister Modi’s visit to Gujarat
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on a 2 day visit to Gujarat.
 PM Modi launched ‘One Nation, One Card’ for transport mobility in Ahmedabad. It is first
of this kind scheme in India.
 He launched PM Shram Yogi Maan-dhan Yojana (PM-SYM) in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. It is a
pension scheme specially for empowering the workers in unorganized sector.
 He inaugurated the 1st phase of Ahmedabad Metro train service. The train will connect
Vastral to Apparel park area which is 6.5km stretch.
 He launched SWAGAT – the Automatic Fare Collection Gating System by Bharat Electronics
Limited (BEL) as part of the inaugural of Phase I of the Ahmedabad Metro.Click here to
read the entire article.
Overview of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Visit to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kalaburagi in Karnataka and Kancheepuram in Tamil
Nadu where he launched various development projects. He dedicated the Employees State
Insurance Corporation (ESIC) Hospital and Medical College, Bengaluru to the nation, through
the unveiling of the plaque. Click here to read the entire article.
Overview of PM Narendra Modi’s Visit to Uttar Pradesh
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on a visit to Kanpur, Ghaziabad and Varanasi in Uttar
Pradesh.
 Modi unveiled several development projects in Greater Noida.
 PM Laid Foundation stone for two thermal power plants.
 Prime Minister visited Kanpur and inaugurated several development projects.
 Development projects inaugurated in Ghaziabad
 Foundation stone of Kashi Vishwanath Temple Corridor laid by PM
 PM inaugurated and laid foundation stone for projects worth Rs.32500 cr
 PM reiterates his government’s commitment to provide house to all homeless persons
by 2022.
Foreign Visits
Overview of Vice President’s 2 Nation visit to Paraguay and Costa Rica
Vice President on a 2 day visit to Paraguay:
 This was the first high level visit from India to Paraguay since the establishment of diplomatic
relations in 1961.
 He attended India-Paraguay Business Forum which will form basis for economic growth by
boosting business opportunities between the two countries.
 Vice President unveiled a special commemorative postage stamp on Mahatma Gandhi.
Vice President Venkaiah Naidu’s visit to Costa Rica:
 This was the first ever high level visit from India.
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 Vice President also conferred and honorary doctorate by the University of Peace founded by
the United Nations for his contributions “to the Rule of Law, democracy and sustainable
development in India”.
 Vice President addressed India-Costa Rica Business Forum.Click here to read the detailed
article.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj 2-day visit to Maldives
 India and Maldives held bilateral ties.
 Maldives has also reaffirmed its “India-First Policy” to work efficiently with India.
 India to establish Cricket stadium in Maldives.
 India and Maldives signed an agreement and 2 Memorandums of Understanding to collaborate
in the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy.
 Plaque of renovated Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital in Maldives
 An Agreement was signed between Export Import Bank of India (EXIM) and Maldives Finance
Ministry for line of credit (LOC) of $800 million to finance the infrastructure projects of the
new government in Maldives.Click here to read the detailed article.
An Overview Of President Ram Nath Kovind Visit To Croatia
• President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind visited Croatia as the part of his 3-nation visit along
with a high level delegations from 25-28 March 2018. He became the first President to visit
Croatia and Bolivia. He visited Bolivia from 28-30 March and his last destination of 3-nation
visit is Chile.
 India and Croatia signed 4 pacts in Culture, Tourism and Sports sectors
 Ram Nath Kovind addressed the Croatian-Indian Economic Forum in Zagreb
 President Ram Nath Kovind, during his official visit to Croatia, was conferred with
Croatia’s highest civilian order, the Grand Order of the King of Tomislav.
 President Ram Nath Kovind on his visit to Croatia has announced to gift a sculpture of
Mahatma Gandhi to mark the 150 birth anniversary of the Father of the Nation.Click here
to read the detailed article.
BANKING & FINANCE

RBI in News
RBI notifies 2% interest subsidy through “Interest subvention scheme” for short-term crop
loans
• The Reserve Bank of India notified a 2% interest subvention or Subsidy for short-term crop
loans upto Rs.3 lakhs for farmers at an interest rate of 7% during 2018-19 and 2019-20. For
those farmers who are repaying loans promptly will get an additional 2% interest subvention
under the scheme.
RBI relax rules for White – label ATM providers
• The Reserve Bank of India has eased business guidelines for white label ATMs by allowing
companies that manage these machines to source cash directly from the central bank. RBI
allowed White Label ATM Operators (WLAO) to offer bill payment and deposit services
depending on the technical feasibility of the device as determined by NPCI.
Norms for trade credit relaxed by RBI
• RBI announced the modified revised framework for Trade Credit Policy. The norms for imports
of capital and non-capital goods were relaxed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), by raising the
trade credit limit to $150 million under the automatic route.
Fresh Liquidity Infusion Through Forex Swaps announced by RBI
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to use a new tool for the first time to enhance
liquidity in the system using which it will buy $5 billion from the banks in a swap deal that is
capable of injecting around Rs. 35,000 crores into the system.
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IDBI Bank categorized as Private Sector Lender by RBI

• The Reserve Bank of India categorized IDBI Bank as a Private Sector Bank following Life
Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has acquired acquiring 51 per cent of the total paid-up
equity share capital of the bank.
RBI: No dilution on February 12 circular over stressed assets
• Reserve Bank of India maintained that there is no dilution in its stand regarding February 12
circular on stressed assets recognition and resolution. The circular directed lenders to refer
any loan account more than Rs 2,000 crore under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) if
the loan amount is not resolved within 180 days of default. Also it underscored IBC’s status as
the cornerstone of the bad loan resolution framework, scrapping all previous mechanisms.
RBI issues guidelines to prevent market abuse
• The Reserve Bank of India has declared some guidelines to stop misuse of price-sensitive
information by the participants in markets for financial instruments. market participants
indulging in any such activity are liable to be denied access to markets in one or more
instruments for a period that may not exceed one month at a time.
SBI, ICICI and HDFC named as Systemically Important Banks by RBI
• Reserve Bank of India named State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank as Domestic
Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs). The banks which are too big to fail are named by the
RBI. These banks are required to set aside more capital for their continued operation as per the
norms by April 1.
A new Ways and Means limits for the state governments has been fixed by Reserve Bank of
India
• Reserve Bank of India proposed to replace the previous expenditure-based system with a rule-
based approach in fixing new Ways and Means limits for the state governments and set up a
panel to recommend the parameters of the new system.
RBI limits HDFC to hold more than 9.9% stake in Bandhan Bank
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has prohibited India’s largest mortgage lender HDFC from
owning more than the regulatory limit in Bandhan Bank. HDFC can hold 9.9% in the bank
which is the maximum a non-banking finance company can own in a private bank.
Implementation of Indian Accounting Standards deferred by RBI
• Reserve Bank of India postponed the implementation of the Indian Accounting Standards (Ind
AS) by banks until further notice for the reason of requisite legislative amendments, which are
still under consideration of the government. Ind-AS are the norms which are required to be
implemented for Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs), excluding Regional Rural Banks (RRBs).
RBI slaps Rs 2 crore penalty on PNB for violation of SWIFT norms
• The Reserve Bank of India slapped Rs.2 crore as penalty for non-compliance of regulatory
directions regarding SWIFT operations in Punjab National Bank. The misuse of SWIFT
messaging software has lead to the massive Rs.14000 Cr fraud in the PNB which attracted the
penalty.
RBI got a huge response for its rupee-dollar swap auction to ease liquidity
• Reserve Bank of India received a huge response for introducing a $5-billion swap facility for
the banks to facilitate permanent liquidity support. Banks offered $16.31 billion at the auction
against the notified amount of $5 billion for the rupee-dollar swaps and out of this $16.31
billion received via 240 offers by market participants, the RBI accepted $5.02 billion via 89
offers.
Loans issued by banks/others

Loan issued by Received by Amount Points to be noted
Asian Infrastructure Government of USD 455 For financing the Andhra Pradesh Rural
Investment Bank India million Roads Project, which will connect 3,300
(AIIB) habitations with a population of more than
250, and benefit around 2 million people in
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New Delhi.
Asian Development Government of USD 926 To operationalize two lines for the Mumbai
Bank (ADB) India Million Metro Rail System and is the Single Largest
Infrastructure Project Loan in ADB history.
Government of USD 26 The loan provided is additional financing
India Million under the ongoing loan of USD 51 million
under Assam Urban Infrastructure
Investment Program (AUIIP).
Avaada Energy USD50 The investment will be done through ADB’s
Private Limited million Ordinary Capital Resources and Leading
(AEPL) Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP), a
funding arm of Japan International
Cooperation Agency (JICA) administered by
ADB.
World Bank Chhattisgarh $25.2 To provide support to reforms for
state government Million expenditure management.
Government of $96 Million To provide financial support to Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand for adopting post-disaster recovery plans.
13 states in India $250 To provide a boost to rural income and
(Assam, Bihar, million support to the National Rural Economic
Chhattisgarh, Transformation Project (NRETP)
Jharkhand,
Gujarat,
Maharashtra,
Madhya Pradesh,
Orissa, Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh,
West Bengal,
Karnataka and
Tamil Nadu)
Andhra Pradesh Rs. 2200 For implementation of the AP Health
crores Systems Strengthening Project (APHSSP).
($328-
million)
Government of $137 For the Additional Financing of the Dam
India million Rehabilitation and Improvement Project
(DRIP). The project involves more than 220
selected large dams in Karnataka, Kerala,
Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and
Uttarakhand.
Export-Import Bank Democratic USD 83.11 For financing three solar power projects in
of India (Exim Bank) Republic of the million the central African country. It aims to
Congo (approx provide support for financing three solar
Rs.5,72,08,7 photovoltaic power projects with a total
6,850) capacity of 35 megawatts in the three
provinces — Karawa, Mbandaka, and
Lusambo.
Government of India Nepal 35.5 million For the construction of an educational
Nepalese campus to boost the learning environment
rupees of the students. It was made under the
19 | P a g e
Development Partnership Programme

which is administered by the Development
Administration Partnership division of the
Ministry of External Affairs.
Agreements/MoU’s Signed
Bank Signed with Points to be noted
IDBI Bank Life Insurance Corporation of As part of the agreement, IDBI
India (LIC) Bank will become the preferred
bank for LIC premium payments.
ICICI Lombard AnyTimeLoan.in (ATL) To provide insurance cover for
its lenders and borrowers.
Life Insurance Corporation India Mortgage Guarantee To offer home buyers enhanced
Housing Finance Ltd (LICHFL) Corporation (IMGC) loan eligibility and easy loans
CRIF Highmark CreditVidya– data analytics firm The collaborated-entity aims
combine the past data of the
customer with additional data
from the other digital sources to
prepare a credit report on the
basis of which lenders can
decide whom to lend.
United Bank of India HDFC Life To provide the facilities of life
insurance products to its
customers through HDFC Life.
AU Small Finance Bank Ltd. Acko General Insurance Ltd. To provide customized
insurance products to its
customers.
Insolvency and Bankruptcy International Finance IFC is a member of the World
Board of India (IBBI) Corporation (IFC) Bank Group. The cooperation
agreement provides a technical
assistance by IFC to IBBI until
30th June; 2021.
ICICI Lombard MobiKwik To provide cyber insurance
cover of Rs. 50000. It aims to
provide protection against
unauthorised and fraudulent
transactions online across
debit/credit cards, bank
accounts and mobile wallets.
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Securities and Exchange Board of For effective implementation of
Board of India (IBBI) India (SEBI) the Insolvency and Bankruptcy
Code, 2016 (Code) and its allied
rules and regulations, which
have redefined the debt-equity
relationship and aims to
promote entrepreneurship and
debt market,at Mumbai.
State Bank of India (SBI) Bank of China (BoC) To boost business opportunities.
20 | P a g e
Other Important Banking & Finance News
PNB ranks highest in implementation of ‘Reforms agenda’

• According to BCG-IBA Report on EASE (Enhanced Access and Service Excellence) Reforms
index released by Union Minister of Finance & Corporate Affairs, Punjab National Bank (PNB)
which is fraud hit bank, secured the top spot among all public sector banks in the
implementation of ‘Reforms agenda’.
Commemorative notes to be released to mark Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary
• A UAE based company will release 12 bank notes of zero value which is the first ever limited
edition commemorative series to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. Dubai
based Indian artist Akbar Saheb has designed these special notes.
DCB Bank launches Open Banking Platform for next generation banking solutions
• As part of efforts towards creating a collaborative ecosystem with enterprises, fintechs and app
developers, and enhancing customer-service delivery, DCB (Development Credit Bank)
announced the launch of its Open Banking Platform.
India’s first policy to protect bank locker launched by IFFCO Tokio General Insurance
• IFFCO Tokio General Insurance launched ‘bank locker protector policy’, the first stand-alone
bank locker cover offered by any insurance company with a plan to protect the contents of a
bank locker such as jewelry, title documents, and other valuables.
PSBloansin59minutes.com becomes largest fintech lending platform
• PSBloansin59minutes.com has become the largest fintech online lending platform, as quoted
by a report from Credit Suisse. The portal was launched in November 2018 by Prime Minister
Narendra Modi. It provides loans amounting up to Rs 1 crore to micro, small and medium
enterprises (MSMEs) in just 59 minutes.
IDBI Bank gets a nod by government to handle import and export transactions with Iran
• The government has given a nod to the IDBI Bank to handle import and export transactions
with Iran. This has been done to boost the trade between India and Iran amidst US sanctions on
Iran. Iran is the third largest supplier of oil to India, after Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
National Housing Bank proposes stricter regulations for Housing Finance Companies
• National Housing Bank (NHB), a mortgage sector regulator and a fully owned subsidiary of the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has decided to impose stricter regulations on the Housing Finance
Companies (HFCs) to prevent them from falling prey to liquidity and credit risks. One of the
regulations is increasing the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of these companies from 12%to
15%, in a phased manner by 31st March 2022.
SBI and Hitachi Payment Services launched SBIPSPL to establish digital payments platform in
India
• State Bank of India (SBI) and Hitachi Payment Services Pvt Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Hitachi Ltd, launched their merchant-acquiring joint venture, SBI Payment Services Pvt Ltd
(SBIPSPL), for establishing a digital payments platform for India and other countries in the
region, in Mumbai.
Korea Exim Bank extends loan worth Rs. 4,100 crores for Vizag Metro
• The Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) proposed to provide a soft loan worth Rs.4,100
crore for the Visakhapatnam (Vizag) metro rail project. The State government had sent a
proposal to Central government for asking KEXIM Bank to provide loan at 8-10% rate of
interest. No firm decision has been taken on this yet.
SBI links savings account, short-term loan interest rates to RBI repo rate
• State Bank of India (SBI) became the first bank to link its interest rate on savings account with
balance above Rs. 1 lakh and short-term loans to the repo rate of the Reserve Bank of India.
This shall be effective from 1st May 2019.This means that savings account interest rates and
interest rate on a few loans will change as and when the regulator changes its repo rate.
21 | P a g e
Loans worth Rs. 689 crores sanctioned by Punjab National Bank to 1,600 MSMEs via
psbloansin59minutes.com
• The Punjab National Bank (PNB) has sanctioned loans amounting to Rs. 689 crore, to over
1,600 Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) via the psbloansin59minutes.com portal.
Under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, the bank has sanctioned loan to over 17.16 lakh
accounts with total amount of Rs. 21,019 crores from the starting of the scheme till December
31, 2018.
Marshall Islands’ digital currency “SOV” to be released in 2019
• The Marshall Islands is planning to release a digital currency called “SOV” (Sovereign) in 2019,
however, the launch date of the currency has not been decided. Neema, an Israel-based
company, is partnering with the Marshall Islands government to develop the digital currency.
Rise in Banks’ reliance on bulk deposits predicted by India Ratings and Research
• India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) predicted that the dependence of Scheduled commercial
banks on bulk deposits shall witness an increase if credit growth is higher than deposit growth.
The system level credit growth of 12.9% year-on-year continues to be greater than 9.3%
deposit growth and thus banks are keen on harnessing more deposits.
Bank of Baroda becomes one of the first PSBs to launch creche/day-care facility for employees’
children
• Bank of Baroda has become one of the first public sector banks to launch a crèche/child day-
care facility for children of its employees. The day-care facility has been launched at its Mumbai
corporate office in Bandra Kurla Complex.
114th Foundation Day celebrated by Corporation Bank
• Corporation Bank celebrated its 114th Foundation Day at various centres of the bank across
the nation and undertook 114 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities to mark the day.
Corp Ease, which is a mobile banking app in 10regional languages, was launched by CEO P.V
Bharathi.
HDFC becomes the third Indian company to achieve a market value of more than Rs.6 trillion
• HDFC Bank became the third Indian company after Reliance Industries (Rs. 8.52 trillion) and
TCS (Rs. 7.49 trillion) to achieve a market value of Rs. 6 trillion, owing to a sudden upsurge in
its share prices.
A new 50p ‘black hole’ coin in honour of Stephen Hawking’s work unveiled by Royal Mint
• The Royal Mint has honoured Stephen Hawking’s legacy by issuing a new 50 pence piece. The
coin has drawn its inspiration from Hawking’s work on black holes discussed in his bestselling
book- A Brief History of Time.
Russia releases coin commemorating annexation of Crimea
• A new coin that features the Crimea or Kerch Strait Bridge has been released by Russia’s
central bank, to mark Crimea’s reunification with Russia. Two million new five ruble (about
$0.08, €0.07) coins were pressed which depict an outline of the peninsula which was annexed
by Russia in 2014.
India provides financial support of USD 250 million to Nepal for reconstruction of
infrastructures after earthquake
• India has provided a financial support worth USD 250 million to Nepal, to reconstruct
infrastructure in fields of housing, education, health and cultural heritage, which had been
ruined by the earthquake that took place on April 2015. The decision of providing grant was a
part of an agreement signed between Indian Embassy in Kathmandu and the Central Building
Research Institute (CBRI), Rourkee.
Bank of India raises Rs. 660 crores via sale of shares to employees
• Bank of India (BoI) declared that it has raised an amount of Rs 660.80 crore by issuing shares
to employees under Employee Share Purchase Scheme (ESPS). 6,25,52,188 shares worth Rs 10
each were issued by the bank to its eligible employees.
22 | P a g e
Small finance banks may clip at 30%, needs Rs. 6,000 crore capital by FY23: ICRA
• A report by ICRA (formerly known as Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency of
India Limited) has stated that Small finance banks (SFBS) are expected to witness a growth
rate of 25-30% over the medium-term if they arrange an additional external capital in the
range of Rs 4,000-6,000 crore till FY23.
Doorstep Banking for Senior Citizens, Differently-Abled And Infirm Persons introduced by SBI
• The State Bank of India has initiated a new ‘doorstep banking’ service for senior citizens,
differently-abled and infirm account holders as well as visually impaired customers. Cost for
availing these services would be Rs 100 for each financial transaction and Rs 60 for each non-
financial transaction.
ICRA states that fresh NPAs will moderate in FY 2020
• According to ICRA, fresh NPAs in the banking sector are expected to come down 1.9-2.4 % in
FY’20 from 3.7% in FY 19, owing to a dedicated NPA recovery mechanism and write offs by
banks. Public sector banks (PSBs) will earn profit after 4 continuous years of losses.
Karur Vysya Bank raises Rs 487 crore through private placement of Tier II bonds
• Karur Vysya Bank announced that it has raised Rs 487 crore through Basel-III compliant bonds
for funding its growth plans. The decision was taken in the Capital Raising Committee of the
board.
Aviva Life Insurance launches special mentorship programme ‘Wings’
• Aviva Life Insurance announced the launch of ‘Wings’, a specially designed mentorship
program to empower the female workforce. Wings program is an initiative of the SHE division
of Aviva Life Insurance for mentoring all the women employees in Aviva.
ICICI Prudential Bharat Consumption Scheme was launched by ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund
• ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund launched ICICI Prudential Bharat Consumption Scheme to get
advantage from the Indian consumption market, which is considered as one of the fastest
growing consumption markets globally. Nifty India Consumption Index is the benchmark for
the Scheme. It will be managed by Rajat Chandak, Dharmesh Kakkad.
Bank of Baroda inked MoU with 6 firms to develop “Baroda Kisan”
• Bank of Baroda has signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with six firms namely
Skymet Weather Services, Weather Risk Management Services, BigHaat, Agrostar India, EM3
Agri Services and Poorti Agri Services to develop “Baroda Kisan”. It will provide solutions for
all major agricultural requirements through its holistic approach.
Govt decides to infuse Rs 5042 Cr into Bank Of Baroda ahead of the merger
• The government has decided to infuse a capital of 5,042 crore rupees into state-owned Bank of
Baroda ahead of its merger with two other public sector lenders Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank,
which would be effective from 1st April 2019. According to the Scheme of Amalgamation,
shareholders of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank will get 402 equity shares and 110 equity shares of
BoB respectively for every 1,000 shares held.
India’s CAD widens to 2.5% of GDP in 3rd Quarter
• Current account deficit (CAD) of India has widened to 2.5% of GDP in the 3rd quarter of the
current fiscal year primarily on account of a higher trade deficit though the foreign exchange
reserves which continued to soar.
Manappuram Finance withdrew a release which had issued earlier regarding securing debt
funding from NABARD
• Manappuram Finance, a Non-banking finance company withdrew a release which had issued
earlier regarding securing Rs 695 crore debt funding from NABARD. The release titled
'Manappuram Finance secures Rs 695 crore debt funding from NABARD' is being "retracted
with immediate effect due to factual inaccuracies in statement as well as transaction.
The interest rate on small-saving schemes are kept unchanged by the Government
• The interest rates on small-saving schemes including Public Provident Fund (PPF) and
National Savings Certificate (NSC) have been kept unchanged by the Government for the April-
June quarter of the financial year 2019-20. The interest rate PPF and NSC will continue at 8
23 | P a g e
percent, while the interest rate of Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP) will be at 7.7 percent as against
7.3% earlier and mature in 112 months.
Average base rate to be charged by NBFC and MFI is set at 9.21% by RBI
• Reserve Bank of India set the average base rate to be charged from borrowers by Non- Banking
Financial Companies (NBFC) and Micro Finance institutions (MFI) at9.21% for the first quarter
(April to June).
BUSINESS & ECONOMY NEWS

GROWTH RATE:
Organization Year Rate
Moody In 2019 and 2020 7.3 per cent
Central Statistics Office (CSO) 2018-19 Revised to 7% from 7.2%
Fitch rating in its Global FY19-20 6.8%. FY21 -7.1%

Economic Outlook
India’s Unemployment Rate shot up to 7.2% in Feb’19: CMIE
• The unemployment rate in India rose to 7.2% in February 2019, the highest since September
2016, and up from 5.9% in February 2018, according to data compiled by the Centre for
Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE).
OECD cuts global growth forecast over trade
• The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation & Development (OECD) has cut the growth
forecasts for the global economy to 3.3% in 2019 and 3.4% in 2020, owing to trade disputes
and uncertainty over Brexit that would largely affect the world commerce and businesses.
Import of Solid Plastic Waste banned by India
• The government has put a complete ban on import of solid plastic waste/scrap into the country
after amending the Hazardous Waste (Management & Trans-boundary Movement) Rules on
March 1. Import of plastic was earlier partly banned as it was prohibited in special economic
zones (SEZ) but allowed by Export-Oriented units (EOUs) who would obtain it from other
countries in the form of post-recycling resources.
Govt increased the income tax exemption for gratuity from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh
• Union Labour Ministry decided to double the income tax exemption to Rs.20 lakh from the
existing Rs.10 lakh for gratuity. The enhancement of gratuity under section 10 (10) (iii) of the
Income Tax Act, 1961 to Rs.20 lakh will benefit employees who are not covered under the
Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972 and the employees of Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs).
CII released ‘Suggested Election Manifesto’ for political parties
• Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) released a ‘Suggested Election Manifesto for political
parties to achieve an average growth rate of 8% per annum in the next 5 years. The industry
grouping has called for compressing Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate slabs to 2% or 3% and
lowering corporate income tax to 18% with no exemptions to make Indian tax rates globally
competitive.
India’s Data Usage forecasted to rise at 73% CAGR by 2022
• According to the Assocham – PwC Study,India’s data consumption is expected to grow at a
Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of about 72.6% by 2022. In 2013 the average
monthly spend on voice services was Rs.214 compared to Rs.173 spend on data which became
Rs.124 on voice and Rs.225 on data in 2016.
Total liabilities of govt mounted to Rs 83.40 lakh crore in Q3
• According to Finance Ministry Report during the period October to December 2018, the total
liabilities of the government increased to Rs.83.40 lakh crore from 82.03 lakh crore in the
previous quarter of the current fiscal.
24 | P a g e
Saudi Arabia became the world’s largest importer of weapons, the position held by India for a
decade: SIPRI
• India lost its position as the world’s largest importer of weapons, which it held for over a
decade, with Saudi Arabia topping the global share of arms imports between 2014 and 2018, as
per the data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), the
leading Stockholm-based think tank that measures weapons imports over five-year periods.
India sets ‘aspirational’ target for engineering exports by 2025
• According to an EEPC India-Deloitte strategy paper, India can achieve a three-fold
“aspirational” increase in its engineering export to reach USD 200 billion by 2025, if concerted
efforts are made by the government and Industry to develop a conducive ecosystem, and
ensuring inputs at competitive prices.
First TIR shipment from Afghanistan arrived in India via Chabahar Port
• The first shipment under the United Nations ‘Transports Internationaux Routiers’ (TIR)
convention arrived in India from Afghanistan through Iran’s Chabahar Port. India had joined
the TIR Convention (the United Nations Customs Convention on International Transport of
Goods under cover of TIR Carnets) on June 15, 2017.
Microsoft launched Project ‘Sangam’ to boost India’s Swachh Bharat Mission
• Microsoft has announced that it has partnered with The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs
(MoHUA) to promote its Project ‘Sangam’ which is developed to accelerate Swachh Bharat
Mission (SBM) in India. It is one of the world’s largest Cleanliness Programme. Project Sangam
is a cloud-hosted, mobile-first community learning platform.
India posts highest growth in patent applications in WIPO during 2018
• India registered the highest growth of 27% among countries in patent applications in 2018
with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). India filed 2013 international
patent applications during the year. The list has been topped by United States.
SpiceJet get IATA membership becoming first Indian low-cost carrier to receive
• SpiceJet received the International Air Transport Association (IATA) membership, becoming
the first among the Indian low-cost carriers. The membership will be helpful for SpiceJet for its
expansion plans by to have code shares and agreements with other carriers.
Integral Coach Factory of Chennai became the world’s largest rail coach manufacturer
• Indian Railways Integral Coach Factory (ICF) has surpassed the top Chinese manufacturers
after creating a 40% record increase in its production. With this, Indian Railway’s oldest and
premier coach manufacturing unit becomes the single largest rail coach manufacturer in the
world.
Government clears proposal to buy 10 lakh hand grenades for Indian Army
• Union Defence Minister cleared the proposal to purchase 10 lakh hand grenades for Indian
Army under ‘Make in India’ programme. It costs around Rs. 500 crores which will replace the
existing HE-36 grenades manufactured by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB).
Government outreached divestment target of Rs 80,000 crore for 2018-19
• Government outreached its disinvestment target of Rs 80,000 crore for the current financial
year (2018-19) by Rs 5,000 crore. The disinvestment target has been fixed at Rs 90,000 crore
for the next financial year (i.e. FY 2020).
Adani Port becomes the first Indian port operator to achieve a new record of handling 200
million tonnes (MT) cargo movement
• Adani Port and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ), a part of Gautam Adani-led Adani Group
becomes the first Indian port operator to achieve a new record of handle 200 million tonnes
(MT) cargo movement in 2018-19. It has set an aim to double growth up to 400 MT by 2025.
Commerce Ministry unveils Blockchain-based app for Coffee farmers
• The commerce ministry has unveiled a blockchain-based coffee e-marketplace which will
facilitate farmers to integrate with markets to get aware of fair prices for the commodity.
25 | P a g e
GRSE becomes 1st Indian Shipyard to deliver 100 Warships

• Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited has delivered its 100th Warship which is a
Landing Craft Utility, L-56, to the Indian Navy. This has made GRSE the first Indian Shipyard to
make and deliver 100 warships to the Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard and Mauritius Coast
Guard.
Laurus Labs signed pact with Global Fund to supply ARV drugs
• Pharma Laurus Labs of Hyderabad has signed an agreement with Global Fund, an organization
working towards ending AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as epidemics, for a period of three-
and-a-half years.
MOUs/AGREEMENTS COUNTRIES & STATES

MoUs between Countries
No. MoU between Field
1 India and Sweden To increase cooperation on Anti-microbial resistance (AMR)
2 India and Brunei Tax info exchange agreement
3 India and Tajikistan Cooperation in the field of Renewable Energy
4 India and the UK Cooperation in Weather and Climate Sciences
5 India and Norway For undertaking non-intrusive Geological Surveys and
Investigations
6 India and Argentina Cooperation in the field of Medical Products Regulation
7 Antarctic Cooperation
8 India and USA To access tip line reports on Missing and Exploited Children
Inter-Governmental Agreement for exchange of Country-by-
Country (CbC) reports to check the tax evasions of Multinational
Companies in income allocation and taxes paid.
Signed an agreement to the Statement of Guiding Principles (SGP)
on triangular cooperation for global development to facilitate with
a framework to promote bilateral cooperation
9 India and UK Cooperation in the field of Cancer Research Initiative
10 India and Germany Cooperation in the field of Occupational Safety and Health
11 India and Austria Cooperation in the Road Infrastructure Sector
12 India and Belarus MLAT in Civil and Commercial Matters
13 India and Bhutan Amendment to Article 3 of the Agreement
14 India and Mongolia UPSC and CSCM to strengthen relations approved by Union Cabinet
15 India and Russia For leasing of a nuclear – powered attack submarine for Indian
Navy worth USD 3 billion for a period of 10 years. Under the pact,
Russia will deliver Chakra III, a Akula class submarine to the Indian
Navy by 2025. It will be the 3rd Russian submarine to be leased to
Indian Navy.
16 India and Maldives For implementing the visa facilitation agreement. The new
agreement provides a very liberal visa regime for Maldivian
nationals to visit India for tourism, business, education and medical
purposes and vice versa.
In the field of energy efficiency and renewable energy
17 India and Morocco For cooperation on youth affairs
26 | P a g e
To promote exchange of information and technical cooperation

18 India and Saudi Arabia For Cooperation in the field of Housing
19 India and Republic of For startup cooperation
Korea
20 India and Indonesia Combating illicit trafficking in narcotic drugs, psychotropic
substances and its precursors
21 India and the African To establish an India-Africa health sciences collaborative platform
Union which is focused on improved diagnostics for diseases which are
regional priorities in India and Africa By training and
strengthening capacity of health professionals, researchers,
regulators and industry staff.
22 United States Navy and To use the southern Omani ports which will allow American ships
Oman and warplanes to take advantage of omani ports and airports.
MoU’s Between State

No. State MoU with Field
1 Government Ola To support the government’s initiative to implement
of Telangana smart solutions to enhance mobility experience further
strengthening traffic infrastructure in Hyderabad.
Other MoUs
No Organization MoU with Field/Purpose
1 Indian Council of Council of Scientific and Collaboration in the field of food and
Agricultural Research Industrial Research agriculture.
(ICAR) (CSIR)
2 National Health Uber To provide free healthcare services to
Authority (NHA)- Uber drivers.
3 Directorate General of Safety in Mines, Testing It aimed at exploring new
Mines Safety (DGMS) and Research Station opportunities in the area of
(SIMTARS), Australia occupational safety, health and welfare
of persons engaged in mining
operations.
4 Indian Space Research French space agency To implement the short-term plan for
Organisation (ISRO) CNES (Centre national the French-Indian programme to
d’études spatiales) develop a space-based maritime
surveillance system.
5 Indian Institute of Indian Space Research To set up an ISRO-IITR Space
Technology (IIT) Organization (ISRO) Technology Cell (STC) at IIT Roorkee,
Roorkee Uttarakhand, with an aim to
strengthen institutional interactions
and thereby enhance the scope of the
activities pursued under STC
commensurate with the programmatic
goals of ISRO.
6 IIT Madras, Ministry of Ministry of Higher To collaborate on Digital Education
Human Resource Education, Afghanistan Initiatives, which include many
Development prominent programs developed by
(MHRD),India Indian Institutes of Technology
(IIT).Click here to read the detailed
article.
27 | P a g e
7 WhatsApp NASSCOM Foundation To tackle the challenge of

misinformation. The aim of the
partnership is to train 100,000 Indians
to spot false information and provide
tips and tricks to stay safe on
WhatsApp.
8 IIT Kharagpur Centre for Development Under the National Supercomputing
of Advanced Computing Mission (NSM), India’s 1st state-of-the-
(C-DAC) art 1.3 PetaFlop High-Performance
Computing facility and data center
ecosystem will set up at IIT Kharagpur.
9 Tech Giant Apple Goldman Sachs and New credit card called Apple Card
Mastercard
10 GAIL India Ltd Bharat Heavy Electricals To cooperate in the development of
Ltd (BHEL) solar power projects. GAIL will act as
the project developer and BHEL will
act as an engineering, procurement,
construction and project management
contractor for this project.
APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS

National
Name Appointed As Entity/Place Points To Be Noted
Air Marshal R D Air Officer Eastern Air Command He was awarded the Vishisht
Mathur Commanding-in-Chief Seva Medal in 2003 and Ati
Vishisht Seva Medal in 2014.
Air Marshal Air Officer Western Air
Raghunath Nambiar Commanding-in-Chief Command
Pranay Kumar Ambassador of India Republic of Vietnam Pranay Kumar Verma is an
Verma 1994 cadre Indian Foreign
Services Officer and presently
working as the Joint secretary
at Ministry of External Affairs
(MEA).
Dr. Ausaf Sayeed Ambassador of India Saudi Arabia
Manpreet Vohra Ambassador of India Mexico He will succeed Muktesh K.
Pardeshi.
B. S. Mubarak Ambassador of India Republic of Guatemala
Kishan Dan Dewal Ambassador of India Republic of Mauritius He will succeed Yogeshwar
Sangwan.
Santosh Jha Ambassador of India Republic of He will be succeeding Mr.
Uzbekistan Vinod Kumar.
Shambhu S Ambassador of India Kingdom of Morocco He will succeed Dr. Kheya
Kumaran Bhattacharya.
Abhay Thakur Ambassador of India Republic of Benin High Commissioner of India
to Nigeria, Ashok R.
Mirchandani, concurrently
accredited as Ambassador to
Benin as India does not have
a Resident Diplomatic
Mission in Benin.
28 | P a g e
Rima Das Ambassador Toronto International TIFF launched the five years
Film Festival (TIFF)’s ‘Share Her Journey’ campaign
‘Share Her Journey’ in 2017 with an aim to
campaign increase participation, skills,
and opportunities for women
behind and in front of the
camera.
Aamir Khan Brand Ambassador PhonePe
Benedict Brand Ambassador Morris Garages (MG MG Motor will launch its first
Cumberbatch Motors)India car named ‘Hector’ which is a
Operations sports utility vehicle (SUV) in
India by the end of 2019.
Virender Sehwag Brand Ambassador PolicyX.com He will be the face of its
biggest marketing campaign
of insurance products
covering term insurance,
health insurance, life
insurance, car insurance and
others.
Mayank Agarwal Brand Ambassador Aeronutrix’s Fast&Up For the growth of the fast-
moving healthcare goods
business in India. This sports
nutrition brand is backed by
innovative Swiss technology.
Arvind Laddha CEO Mercer,India He is currently Deputy CEO in
JLT Independent, an
insurance broking firm.
Bhagwan Lal Sahni Chairman National Commission Other members of the
for Backward Classes commission are:
(NCBC) Kaushalendra Singh Patel,
Sudha Yadav and Achary
Talloju.
Aditya Kumar Misra Chairman Agricultural Scientific
Recruitment Board
(ASRB)
M.R.Kumar Chairman Life Insurance He will be succeeding V. K
Corporation (LIC) Sharma who had retired on
31st December 2018 after
which Managing Director
Hemant Bhargava was acting
as the interim chairman.
Mr. K M Mammen Chairman Automotive Tyre He will succeed Raghupati
Manufacturers’ Singhania, CMD of JK Tyres &
Association (ATMA) Industries Ltd.
P K Mishra Chief Justice(Acting) Chhattisgarh Chief Justice of Chhattisgarh
High Court A K Tripathi
resigned from the post after
he got appointed as the
Member of the Lokpal.
Karambir Singh Chief of Naval Staff Indian Navy He will succeed present Chief
of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil
Lanba who retires on May
29 | P a g e
2019.He will be the first

helicopter pilot of the Navy to
become CNS.
Pramod Sawant Chief Minister(13th) Goa He succeeds Manohar
Parrikar, who died due to
Cancer.
Veselin Matic Coach Indian Men’s He will succeed Zoran Visic,
basketball team who is currently on the
charge of coach of Indian
women's basketball team.
Ajit Kumar Mohanty Director Bhabha Atomic By the Ministry of Personnel
Research Centre for 3 years
(BARC)
Vivek Gupta Director(Raw Steel Authority of He joined SAIL in 1980 and
Material& Logistics) India Limited (SAIL) has been working for more
than 38 years in SAIL.
KVS Manian and Director(Whole time) Kotak Mahindra Bank For a three-year term
Gaurang Shah effective from the date of
approval from the Reserve
Bank of India.
Venkata Ramesh Director General National Archives of The National Archives of
Babu India India comes under the
Ministry of Culture
MA Hampiholi Director General Naval Navy He will succeed Satish
Operations (DGNO) Namdeo Ghormade.
Gauri Sawant Election Election Commission The highest enrolment of

ambassador(First of India transgenders (324) is in
Transgender) Mumbai North Lok Sabha
constituency.
Subhash Chandra Finance Secretary India He has succeeded Ajay
Garg Narayan Jha.
Krishna Flag Officer Sea Kochi He will succeed Rear Admiral
Swaminathan Training (FOST) Sanjay J Singh.
Rajesh Pendharkar Flag Officer Maharashtra Naval He is a recipient of the
Commanding Area Vishisht Seva Medal for
distinguished service. He will
succeed Rear Admiral Puneet
Kumar Bahl, VSM.
Suraj Berry Flag Officer Indian Navy He will succeed Rear Admiral
Commanding Eastern Dinesh K Tripathi, AVSM, NM
Fleet
Ashu Khullar Head Citibank(India) He currently holds the
position of head of Asia-
Pacific capital markets. He
succeeds Pramit Jhaveri.
Ms. Padmaja High Commissioner of Republic of Fiji She will succeed Vishvas
India Sapkal.She is presently
working as Deputy Director
General of Indian Council for
Cultural Relations (ICCR).
30 | P a g e
Anurag Bhushan High Commissioner of Malawi He will succeed Mr.

India Vanlalhuma.He is presently
Joint Secretary in the
Ministry of External Affairs
Pinaki Chandra Lokpal or the anti- India Former Chief Justices Dilip B.
Ghose corruption Bhosale, Pradip Kumar
ombudsman(First) Mohanty, and Abhilasha
Kumari and current Chief
Justice of Chhattisgarh High
Court Ajay Kumar Tripathi
have been appointed as
judicial members under the
Lokpal.
Rustom Irani Managing Director Hitachi Payment He will succeed Loney Antony
Services
Vijay Chandok MD and CEO ICICI Securities He will succeed Shilpa Naval
Kumar
Ajay Narayan Jha Member 15th Finance He replaced Shri Shaktikanta
Commission Das.
• Four judicial Member Anti-corruption Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose
members are ombudsman Lokpal administered the oath.
former Chief
Justices – Dilip B
Bhosale, Pradip
Kumar Mohanty,
Abhilasha Kumari
and the Chief
Justice of
Chhattisgarh High
Court Ajay Kumar
Tripathi.
• Non-judicial
members are
former first
women chief of
Sashastra Seema
Bal, Archana
Ramasundaram,
ex-Maharashtra
Chief Secretary,
Dinesh Kumar Jain,
former IPS officer,
Mahendra Singh
and ex-IAS officer,
Indrajeet Prasad
Gautam.
P. S. Narasimha Mediator Cricket It has restrained all other
administration,India courts in India from
entertaining for proceeding
with any matter pertaining to
BCCI and state cricket
associations.
31 | P a g e
Hasmukh Adhia Non-executive Bank of Baroda He has been assigned the post
chairman of part-time non-official
director and non-executive
chairman by the
Appointments Committee of
the Cabinet. He would serve
for a duration of 3 years.
N S Srinath Non-executive Karur Vysya Bank He will be appointed for a
chairman period of 3 years
S.S. Srinivas Officer on Special Duty South Coast Railway He is an Indian Railways
(OSD) Personnel Service (IRPS)
officer who previously held
the post of Chief Personnel
Officer (Administration),
South Central Railway.
DK Jain Ombudsman BCCI (Board of
Control for Cricket in
India)
Sanjeev Ranjan Secretary Ministry of Road He will succeed Yudhvir
Transport and Singh Malik.
Highways (MoRTH)
Rakesh Kumar Vats Secretary-General Medical Council of He is currently Additional
India Secretary and Financial
Adviser, Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare.
Shailendra Handa Special expenditure India They are retired Indian
and Madhu Mahajan observers Revenue Service(IRS) officers
of the Income Tax
Department
Navkaranjit Singh Strategic Forces Indian Navy He will succeed Jasbir Walia
Dhillon Command Chief
Sanjay Jasjit Singh Western Fleet Indian Navy He will succeed Rear Admiral
Commander MA Hampiholi, AVSM, NM
who has been appointed as
Director General Naval
Operations in the rank of Vice
Admiral.
International
Name Appointed as Entity/place Points to be noted
Anil Kumble Chairman ICC (International Cricket He is appointed for a final 3 year
Council) Cricket term in a board meeting of cricket
Committee council in Dubai.
Randhir Singh Chairman Coordination Committee of It will be hosted in Hangzhou,
2022 Asian Games China. Randhir Singh is currently
an Honorary Life Vice President Of
the OCA and he is a five time
Olympian Shooter.
Ondrej Vlcek Chief Executive Avast Vince Steckler has decided to
Officer (CEO) retire in the year 2019 after 10
years in the job
32 | P a g e
Soumya Chief Scientist World Health Organisation She is currently a Deputy Director-
Swaminathan (WHO) General of the World Health
Organisation (WHO).The Chief
Scientist is a newly created
position and division.
Zinedine Coach Spanish football club Real Zinedine was reappointed.He
Zidane Madrid succeeds Santiago Solari from
France, who was removed from
the post less than five months in
charge.
Padma Goodwill United Nations She will have the responsibility to
Lakshmi ambassador Development Programme support the agency’s fight against
(UNDP) inequality and discrimination
which can affect people in rich and
poor countries alike.
Deepak Kabra Member Asian Gymnastics Union Similarly 4 other members are
– Men’s appointed:
Artistic • Akshata Shete – Rhythmic
Gymnastics Gymnastics
• Sumith MR – Acrobatic
Gymnastics
• Makarand Joshi – Aerobic
Gymnastics
• Narayan Shashi – Gymnastics for
All
Sardar Singh Member Standing Committees of This is decided in 38th General
the Olympic Council of Asia Assembly which held in Bangkok.
(OCA) He has been appointed in the
athletes standing committee.
Macky Sall President Senegal He is reappointed for the second
term.
Sheikh President Olympic Council of Asia He is appointed for five-year term
Ahmad Al- until 2024
Fahad Al-
Sabah
Sanjiv Mehta President Unilever, South Asia He will also be a part of the
Unilever Leadership Executive
(ULE).
K. Govindaraj President Basketball Federation of
India (BFI)
Azali President Comoros He was re-elected as the President
Assoumani of Comoros after defeating his
closest rival, Mohamoudou
Ahamada.
Zuzana President Slovakia She will succeed Andrej Kiska. She
Caputova(45) has deafeated high-profile
diplomat Maros Sefcovic by
winning 58% votes.
Kaja Kallas Prime Minister Estonia She is the first female Prime
Minister of Estonia, after the
liberal Reform Party declared
victory in the elections against
33 | P a g e
centre-left Prime Minister Juri

Ratas’s party.
Juha Sipila Prime Minister Finland He resigned along with his cabinet,
after failing to push through
parliament plans to overhaul
health services and social care in
the face of an aging population
Mahmoud Prime Minister Palestine He succeeds Rami al-Hamdallah
Abbas who resigned from this post 6
weeks ago.
Krishna Senator(First Pakistan She is also the first Thari Hindu
Kumari Kohli Female) woman to be elected to the
Pakistan senate. She has earlier
worked as a crusader for the rights
of bonded labourers in Pakistan.
Resignations
Name Resigned as Entity/Place
Rahul Bajaj Chairman and non-executive He will be succeeded by the
director company’s Vice-Chairman
Nanoo Pamnani.
Naresh Goyal Founder of Jet Airways (India) The lenders will immediately
Ltd. pump in about 1,500 crore into
Jet Airways by way of issue of
appropriate debt instruments
against security of assets.
Kummanam Rajasekharan Governor of Mizoram Governor of Assam, Jagdish
Mukhi has been appointed in his
place temporarily.
Tan Kim Her India’s doubles badminton Badminton Association of India
coach (BAI)
Gafur Rahimov President of Amateur Rahimov will be replaced by an
International Boxing Federation interim president.
(AIBA)
Nursultan Nazarbayev President Kazakhstan.He served as the
first and only President of
Kazakhstan. He be succeeded by
Kassym-Jomart Tokayev (65).
Arjan Kumar Sikri Supreme Court Judge In this regard, President Ram
Nath Kovind has nominated
Justice S A Bobde of the
Supreme Court as executive
chairman of the National Legal
Services Authority (NALSA) in
place of Justice Sikri.
34 | P a g e
AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

Name of Awards Award Winner Field Points to be noted
Awards in the Field of Literature & Academics
Windham-Autgor Raghu Karnad Author For his debut book, ‘Farthest Field: An
RaghuCampbell Indian story of Second World War’,
published in the year 2015 in non-
fiction category.
Vyas Samman 2018 Leeladhar Jagudi Writer For his collection of poems “Jitne Log
Utne Prem” published in 2013. He also
authored several poetry anthologies.
The award carries an amount of Rs. 4
lakhs and it was started by K K Birla
foundation in 1991.
Abel Prize(Nobel prize Karen Uhlenbeck Mathematician She was recognized for her work in the
of mathematics) field of gauge theory and geometric
analysis.
Global Teacher Prize Peter Tabichi Kenyan math At a ceremony in Dubai hosted by
for 2019 and physics Hollywood actor, Hugh Jackman.
teacher
Awards in the Field of Politics,Social Service,Science and Bravery
2019 Missile Systems Satheesh Reddy The other co-winner is Rondell J.
Award Wilson who is a former Principal
Engineering Fellow of Raytheon
Missile Systems.
Yashwantrao Chavan Raghuram Rajan For his
National Award 2018 contribution
towards
economic
development
Harry Hatry Award Prajapati Trivedi For He was the Commonwealth’s Director
Performance of Economic, Youth and Sustainable
Management Development, by the American Society
for Public Administration (ASPA) and
the Center for Accountability and
Performance (CAP).
Social Enterprise Sona Yukti For helping It is the only Indian organisation to be
Network (SEN) youth to selected as part of the SEN awards for
sustainability award develop skills 2018.
Commonwealth Youth Padmanaban For his work He was the founder of No Food Waste,
Award Gopalan towards Zero was named the winner of the
Hunger Commonwealth Youth Award for the
Asian region worth 3,000 Pounds.
Nari Shakti Puraskar Seema Mehta Women
empowerment
DD Mahila Kisan Swati Shingade The Kisan Channel has provided a

Award 2018-19 platform to the women farmers and
the main purpose of the channel is to
make aware the people about the
various schemes of the government.
35 | P a g e
BusinessLine Arun Jaitley For The 2nd edition of BusinessLine

Changemaker Of The successfully Changemaker Awards ceremony held
Year award introducing at the Leela Palace, New Delhi.
the Goods and
Services Tax
(GST)
Uttam Yudh Seva Anil Kumar Bhatt For successfully organizing the
Medal counter-terrorist operations in Jammu
& Kashmir. The Gallantry Awards and
Distinguished Service Decorations
were conferred by President Ram Nath
Kovind at the Defence Investiture
Ceremony,which was held at
Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.
Martha Farrell award Manu Gulati Teacher For promoting gender quality and
for Excellence in women’s empowerment.
Women’s
Empowerment 2019
Awards in the Field of Sports
l–League Champion by Chennai City FC Football The I-League aka Hero I-League is the
All India Football men’s top most professional football
Federation (AIFF) league in India. The owner of Chennai
City FC is Rohit Ramesh. Chennai City
FC player Pedro Manzi and Churchill
Brothers FC player Willis Plaza won
the I-League special awards as the top
goal scorer.
Telangana Sports Saina Nehwal as Badminton Association of Telangana
Journalist Association sportsperson of the received Association of the Year
(TSJA) year, Pullella award, at the Annual Telangana Sports
Gopichand as Journalist Association Awards held in
Coach of the Year Hyderabad.
and PV Sindhu as
Outstanding
Performer in
women’s section.
Awards in the Field of Art and Culture,Films
Pritzker Architecture Arata Isozaki He is the 8th Japanese and 46th
Prize 2019 Pritzker laureate to be honoured with
this award. He integrated the East and
West in his creative designs.
Kusumagraj Rashtriya Ved Rahi The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 1
Sahitya Puruskar Lakh, A memento and a citation.
22nd Gollapudi C Prem Kumar Director The award is presented to debutant
Srinivas National filmmaker by Gollapudi Srinivas
Award Memorial Foundation in the memory
of Gollapudi Srinivas who passed away
while making his first project.
2019 Peabody Career Rita Moreno Actress The award recognized her
Achievement honour commitment to electronic media that
has left an indelible mark on the field.
36 | P a g e
Awards for State,Country,Banks and Organization

National Water Department of Best campus in Nithin Gadkari presented 82 National
Awards geology at Kakatiya India in terms Water Awards in 14 categories for the
University, of water usage. year 2018 at a ceremony held in New
Warangal Delhi.
Telangana
Sarvashreshtha Parijat Industries The award is given by by National
Suraksha Safety Council of India (NSCI) for the
Puraskar(Bronze year 2018.
trophy)
25th Prime Minister’s Tata Steel Limited, Steel Industry The Steel Minister’s Trophy was
Trophy Jamshedpur Works conferred upon JSW Steel Limited –
for the year 2016- Vijayanagar Works.
17.
Non-Life Insurer of Bharti AXA General
the Year Award 2019 Insurance
by ASSOCHAM
2018 SKOCH Award Odisha State For its remarkable achievements in the
Disaster field of disaster management
Management
Authority (OSDMA)
Best Bank Award from Indian Bank For successfully meeting the needs of
Tamil Nadu State women’s self-help groups (SHGs).
Government
Green Era Award for TVS Motor The company also won the ‘Quality and
Sustainability Business Excellence Award’ for its
unmatched product quality.
Swachh Survekhshan Indore Cleanest City Indore bagged award for cleanest city
2019 Awards for third straight year in Swachh
Survekshan.
Golden Peacock ACKO General For their “Ola Ola Ride Insurance is a first of its kind
Innovative Product Insurance Ride insurance in the Indian market where
Award – 2019 Insurance“ Acko partnered with the leading ride-
sharing company, Ola.
Best Domestic Water Kent RO Systems For its The Water Digest Water Awards are
Purifier Award 2018- Pvt. Ltd. RO+UV+UF given jointly by the Ministry of Water
19 technology Resources, River Development and
Ganga Rejuvenation and UNESCO.
Gold Rating by Indian Vijayawada railway Cleanliness This Railway Station was ranked
Green Building station fourth in the Indian Railways for
Council cleanliness among A-1 category
stations and also it has 100 percent
LED lighting, five star rated fans,
pumps, and motors and solar water
heating systems.
Other important Awards
2019 National STEM Kavya Kopparapu She has been awarded for her
Education Award significant invention in enhancing
treatments of glioblastoma– which is
the deadliest form of brain cancer. The
prize money for STEM amounts to
37 | P a g e
$10,000.
Kalam Innovation in He also started 75 new Kalam Digital

Governance Award Libraries spread across the country,
2019 in the third which will be serving as centers for no-
edition of Dr. A.P.J. cost digital based learning in schools.
Abdul Kalam Summit
on Innovation and
Governance
Airport Service Biju Patnaik Best airport in Indira Gandhi International (IGI)
Quality (ASQ) award International size and region airport declared as the best airport in
Airport (BPIA) (2-5 million the category of over “40 million
passengers in passengers per annum (MPPA)”.
Asia-Pacific) It has been chosen for the award by
for the year the Airports Council International.
2018
TV Cinema Spot Ministry of The awards were received by Shri
award in the Tourism, Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary, Tourism.
International Golden Government of
City Gate Tourism India
Awards 2019
Chameli Devi Jain Priyanka Dubey Outstanding She was chosen for her multi-faceted,
Award 2018 women interrogative and investigative reports.
journalist She helped to uncover the reality
underlying in the social and political
issues.
The World’s Best’ Lydian Pianist He won the prize of $1 million (6.9
Nadhaswaram crore) for his performance on the
American reality show ‘The World’s
Best’.
Hans-Kilian Award Ashis Nandy Political
2019 psychoanalyst
2019 Templeton Prize Marcelo Gleiser Brazilian For combining science and spirituality
physicist and in his work. He is the first Latin
astronomer American to win the award, which is
given for exceptional contribution for
directing life’s spiritual dimension.
Turing Award Yoshua Bengio, They recognized their work for
2018(Nobel Prize of Geoffrey Hinton, developing the AI (Artificial
computing) and Yann LeCun intelligence) subfield of deep learning.
The troika has developed a base for the
recent growth of AI technologies,
through their work in the 1990s and
2000.
University of Oxford’s Amartya Sen Economist For his contribution in literature,
world-famous culture, science, and communication.
Bodleian Libraries
Pravasi Bharatiya Rajendra Kumar Founder and He was mainly credited with
Samman Award Joshi chairman of developing path-breaking medicine
the RUJ Group Tecfidera (BG12) for multiple
sclerosis.
38 | P a g e
Prayagraj Kumbha Mela 2019 makes it to the Guinness World Records

• Prayagraj Kumbh Mela 2019 organised from 15th January 2019- 4th March 2019 in Prayagraj
(formerly Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh has made it to the Guinness World Records in three sectors.
These sectors are:
 The largest traffic and crowd management plan.
 The biggest painting exercise of public sites under “Paint My City” scheme.
 The biggest sanitation and waste disposal mechanism.
Maneka Gandhi felicitated the 30 winners of the ‘Web Wonder Women’ contest
• The Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi, felicitated the 30
winners of the ‘Web Wonder Women’ contest organized by the Ministry of Women and Child
Development in New Delhi. Maneka Gandhi, along with a panel of 10 judges, finalized the
names of 30 women who have impacted and influenced society through social media.
3 Kirti Chakras and 15 Shaurya Chakras awarded by the President to Army Personnel
• President Ram Nath Kovind conferred 3 Kirti Chakras and 15 Shaurya Chakras to Armed
Forces Personnel at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi. 15 Param Vishisht Seva Medals, 1 Uttam
Yudh Seva Medal and 25 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals were also conferred.
An Overview of 64th Film fare Awards 2019
• The 64th Filmfare Awards 2019 was held at Jio Garden, BKC, Mumbai. Best Actor in a Leading
Role (Male) presented to Ranbir Kapoor (Sanju) while Best Actor in a Leading Role (Female)
conferred upon Alia Bhatt (Raazi).Click here to read the whole winners
Lalit Kala Academy announces 60th National Academy Awards winners
• Lalit Kala Akademi (LKA) announced 15 winners of the 60th Annual Academy Awards. All the
awardees will be honoured with a plaque, a shawl and prize money of Rs 1 lakh at the 60th
National Exhibition of Art, at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) and Sir JJ School of
Art, Mumbai.Click here to read the entire winner list.
Recognitions
Recognitions Name of Persons
First Indian-origin woman to be honoured with a Noor Inayat Khan- British Indian World War II
Blue Plaque spy
First Indian to join top 10 richest list of Hurun Mukesh Ambani
Research
2019 World’s Most Ethical Companies Tata Steel
Knighthood for his services to cricket from Queen Alastair Cook
Historic Guinness World Record in yoga- over Hong Kong
1,000 people performed the Virabathrasan or the
Warrior II Pose for 3 minutes
Youngest ever self-made billionaire Kylie Jenner
Forbes World’s Billionaires list Amazon’s Jeff Bezos-1st
Mukesh Ambani-13th
Third-richest person of the world, on the Bernard Arnault
Bloomberg Billionaires Index
Geographical Indication (GI) tag • Marayoor jaggery from Idukki, Kerala
• ‘Sirsi Supari’ from Uttar Kannada, Karnataka.
• Coorg Arabica Coffee, Wayanad Robusta Coffee,
Chikmagalur Arabica Coffee, Araku Valley
Arabica Coffee and Bababudangiris Arabica
Coffee.
• Erode turmeric
World’s oldest living person by Guinness World Kane Tanaka
Records
39 | P a g e
Guinness Book of World Records Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar

List of Young Global Leaders, World Economic Nara Lokesh, BJP MP Poonam Mahajan,Manu
Forum (WEF) Kumar Jain, Phanindra Sama, Piyush Tewari and
Sucharita Mukherjee
Barbie doll modelled after her Ace gymnast Dipa Karmakar
2019’s ESPN World Fame 100 list Virat Kohli and former captain Mahendra Singh
Dhoni are among the 8 Indian cricketers.
Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo is at the
top spot, followed by basketball player LeBron
James and FC Barcelona captain Lionel Messi.
Forbes World’s Richest Sports Team Owners 2019 Mukesh Ambani topped the list. He bought the IPL
team Mumbai Indians for over $100 million in
2008 through RIL’s 100 percent subsidiary
IndiaWin Sports.
100 Most Influential People in Climate Policy Seven Indian names including Union Ministers
Piyush Goyal and Dr Harsh Vardhan
Forest certification scheme ‘Certification Standard Global recognition by a Geneva based non-profit
for Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) firm, Programme for Endorsement of Forest
Certification (PEFC)
World’s highest polling station Tashigang
CONFERENCES/SUMMITS IN NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL NEWS

No Name of Summit/Conference Place Facts about the summit
/conference
1 North Korea – United States Hanoi Hanoi, Vietnam The meeting was held between
Summit North Korean Leader Kim Jong-
un and US President Donald
Trump.
2 National conference on “Deendayal New Delhi Department of Empowerment of
Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme” Persons with Disabilities
(DDRS) (DEPwD), Ministry of Social
Justice and Empowerment has
organized the conference.
3 Expo-cum Conference on New Delhi Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Construction Technology India 2019 inaugurated the conference. He
(CTI-2019) declared ‘April 2019–March
2020’ as Construction-
Technology year.
COMMITTEES/MEETINGS IN NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Meetings Held
No. Name of Meeting Place Facts about the Committee/Meeting
1 46th session of the Council of Abu Dhabi It was a two-day gathering dedicated to discuss
Foreign Ministers of the ways to combat hate speech, extremism and
Organisation of Islamic Co- conflict in the region. This is the first time that
operation (OIC) meeting India participated in the meeting. Sushma
Swaraj attended the meet.
2 7th Regional Comprehensive Cambodia It was headed by Chutima Bunyapraphasara,
Economic Partnership (RCEP) Acting Minister of Commerce of Thailand and
Intersessional Ministerial saw participation of ministers from the 16
40 | P a g e
Meeting RCEP Participating Countries (RPCs).Union

Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil
Aviation- Suresh Prabhu attended the meeting.
3 First BRICS (Brazil, Russia, Curitiba, Brazil Indian delegation was led by Secretary in the
India, China and South Africa) Ministry of External Affairs T S Tirumurti.
Sherpa meeting BRICS is a group of five emerging countries:
Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
4 First ever High-Level Dialogue Jakarta,Indonesia The theme of the HLD was “Towards a
on Indo-Pacific Cooperation Peaceful, Prosperous, and Inclusive Region”. It
(HLD-IPC) was inaugurated by Indonesia’s Vice President
Jusuf Kalla.
5 Meeting of the National New Delhi Narendra Modi chaired the meeting.The
Security Council National Security advisor, Ajit Doval has
advised the prime minister on matters of
national security owing to the latest security
scenario after Pulwana attack.
6 34th meeting of the Goods and New Delhi The tax rate for under construction flats
Services Tax Council slashed to 5% and affordable homes to 1%
without input tax credit (ITC) by the GST
Council. Currently 12% GST is levied with input
tax credit on payments made for under
construction properties.
7 16th meeting of the Canada- Ottawa,Canada To provide detailed briefings on their
India Joint Working Group on respective nation’s counter-terrorism
Counter-Terrorism and its priorities, strategies and legislative
Expert Sub-group frameworks.
8 34th Meeting of the Shanghai Tashkent, A joint exercise ‘Sary – Arka – Antiterror 2019’
Cooperation Organisations Uzbekistan will be held as decided by the RATS in the
(SCOs) Regional Anti- session. The meeting was chaired by Russia.
Terrorist Structure (RATS)
9 9th round of the U.S.-India Washington DC, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale led the Indian
Strategic Security Dialogue United States delegation and Under Secretary of State for
Arms Control and International Security
Andrea Thompson led the US delegation.
10 7th India – US Defence Washington DC, The aim of the meeting is to transform the
Technology and Trade United States bilateral defence relationship into an
Initiative (DTII) independent strategic decision maker.
11 16th meeting of the U.S.-India Washington DC,
Counter terrorism Joint United States
Working Group and the
Second session of the U.S.-
India Designations Dialogue
Committee’s Formed
No. Name of Head Facts about the Committee
Committee/Organization
which formed the
committee
1 Constituted by Reserve Bank Usha Thorat To examine issues related to offshore rupee
of India markets and recommend policy measures.
41 | P a g e
2 Insurance Regulatory and Dinesh Arora, In order to suggest ways for more effective
Development Authority of Deputy CEO of implementation of the Centre’s Ayushman
India (IRDAI) and National NHA Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-
Health Authority (NHA) have PMJAY).
formed a joint working group
(JWG)
3 Union Minister for Law & Dr.Alok To examine issues related to framing of a
Justice, Ravi Shankar Prasad Srivastava proper and structured scheme for providing of
constituted a committee insurance cover to the advocates.
4 Chief Justice of India (CJI) Justice F. M. For the amicable settlement of Ayodhya’s Ram
Ranjan Gogoi, constituted a Kalifullah Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case
three-member mediation
panel
5 Constituted by Government of A. R. Sihag The panel will look into monitoring,
India formed Inter-ministerial sanctioning and implementation of projects
panel. under the Rs 10,000-crore Faster Adoption and
Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India
(FAME-II) programme
6 Sub-committee of the Shaktikanta Das Discuss the key issues facing the economy.The
Financial Stability and meeting was discussed by the Markets
Development Council (FSDC) regulator Securities and Exchange Board of
India (SEBI), insurance regulator Insurance
Regulatory and Development Authority
(IRDAI), and pension fund regulator Pension
Fund Regulatory and Development Authority
(PFRDA), along with senior officials of the
finance ministry.
7 Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Nandan Nilekani To strengthen digital payments as well as to
has appointed 5-member boost financial inclusion through Financial
committee Technology.
INDEX
RANKING
Report Titles Name of the Organizations Key Notes
Aspirational districts NITI Aayog Top 3 Districts:
for the period of 1. Chatra,Jharkhand
December 2018- 2. Sahibganj, Jharkhand
January 2019 3. Hazaribagh, Jharkhand
Global Consumer Nielsen Holdings  India - 1st position from 3rd quarter and in
Confidence Survey the 4th quarter of 2018 India’s Consumer
Confidence Index (CCI) score is 133.
 South Korea has the most pessimistic
consumer
Prime International Knight Frank Top 3 Cities:
Residential Index 1.Manila(Philippines)
(PIRI 100) 2. Edinburgh (Scotland)
3. Berlin(Germany)
Mumbai-16th , Delhi-55th & Bengaluru-56th
42 | P a g e
Highest number of PLOS Biology, an Malaysia topped the lise

impacted species in international journal India ranked 16th in the list.
hotspots
World’s most Economist Intelligence Unit 1.Singapore, Paris and Hong Kong topped the
expensive cities (EIU) survey Index for the first time in history.
4.Zurich in Switzerland
5.Geneva in Switzerland
6. Osaka in Japan
Global energy World Economic Forum Top 3 Countries:
transition index (WEF) 1.Sweden
2.Switzerland
3.Norway
World’s best aviation Skytrax World Airport Top 3 Airports:
hub Awards 1.Singapore’s Changi Airport topped the
Index for the seventh time.
2.Tokyo International Airport, Japan
3. Incheon International Airport, South Korea
Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport,
New Delhi-59th Rank.
India’s poverty rate 2018 global Poverty rate has shown a drastic decrease in
Multidimensional Poverty 10 years, from 55% to 28%.
Index (MPI) The index has shown that, in the years
between 2005-06 and 2015-16, 271 million
people are moved out of poverty in India.
REPORT
2018 World Air IQ Air AirVisual  Gurugram-Most polluted region in the
Quality Report &Greenpeace world in 2018.
 Delhi -Most polluted capital in the world.
Cheapest mobile data Price comparison site  India has the cheapest mobile data in the
in the world cable.co.uk. world.
 The global average was USD 8.53 for 1GB.
Exports to Jobs : World Bank and Increasing exports can lead to better Jobs and
Boosting the Gains International Labour higher wages in India.
from Trade in South Organization (ILO)
Asia
Delta ranking report NITI Aayog Assam’s Hailakandi secured top position.
India and ASEAN: Co- Federation of Indian India and 10 member ASEAN are among the
creating the Future Chambers of Commerce and fastest growing economies in the world.
and consulting major Industry (FICCI)
KPMG
World Gold Council Top 2 Countries:
(WGC) 1. U.S.
2. Germany
India ranked 11th.
Second Global United Nations Chemical production across the world will
Chemicals Outlook double by 2030.
(GCO II)
World Happiness United Nations Top 5 Countries:
Report 1. Finland
2. Denmark
3. Norway
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4. Islands
5. The Netherlands
India ranked 140th out of 156 nations. India
shows a 7 spot decline along with five other
countries.
European Union European Union The total goods amounted to 3.3% of global
Intellectual Property trade. It amounts to $522 billion in global
Office (EUIPO) sales. China, Hong Kong, United Arab
report’s counterfeit Emirates, Turkey, Singapore, Thailand, India
and pirated goods and Malaysia are the countries which mainly
export pirated and counterfeits goods.
Indian brands of Brand consultancy Top 3 Brands:
2019 Interbrand, a division of 1.Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)
Omnicom Group 2.Reliance
3.Airtel
HDFC Bank, LIC, State Bank of India, Infosys,
Mahindra, ICICI Bank and Godrej followed it
World airport traffic Airports Council Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International
rankings for 2018 International (ACI) Airport (US) topped the list.
Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) of
New Delhi-12th Rank(earlier it was 16th Rank)
Global Energy & CO2 International Energy Agency India’s energy demand has surpassed the
status report (IEA) global demand growth in 2018. India’s
primary demand increased 4% in 2018 in
comparison to energy consumption
worldwide grew by 2.3%. This accounts for
11 per cent of global demand growth.
OpenSignal’s hottest Top 3 hottest city for 4G Availability
city for 4G 1.Dhanbad(95.3%)
Availability 2. Ranchi95%)
3. Srinagar(94.9%)
Mind the Gap – the Oxfam India Gender wage gap in India is highest among
state of employment Asian nations, women are paid 34 percent
in India less compared to men for performing the
same job.
State of the Global World Meteorological The report warned that the physical and
Climate in 2018 Organization (WMO) socio-economic impacts of climate change are
accelerating day by day. It is the 25th annual
record of the Global climate.
ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

Acquisitioner/Merger Netvalue(amount) Points to be Noted
DBS Bank Ltd with its wholly DBS Bank’s unit will merge with
owned local subsidiary DBS Bank India with effect from
1st March 2019.
ICICI Bank acquired 9.9% stake Rs 17.82 crore The deal will involve the
in Kisan Finance for cash acquisition of roughly 1.49 crore
consideration equity shares with a face value of
Rs 10 per share at a premium of
Rs 2 per share.
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Lanco Teesta Hydro Power Ltd Rs 907 Crore

(LTHPL) to be acquired by
National Hydroelectric Power
Corporation (NHPC)
ArcelorMittal acquired of Essar Rs 42,000 Crore It was approved by the

Steel India Ltd (ESIL) Ahmedabad bench of the
National Company Law Tribunal
(NCLT)
Bandhan Bank acquired of Gruh Gruh Finance Limited is a
Finance Ahmedabad headquartered
Subsidiary of HDFC Limited, is a
Housing Finance Company (HFC)
recognized by the National
Housing Bank (NHB) and it was
taken over in January by Kolkata-
based Bandhan Bank in a share-
swap deal.
National Stock Exchange of India, Undisclosed sum It will help Aujas to improve its
NSEIT decided to acquire a global services and capabilities with a
cyber security company Aujas strong focus on helping
Networks customers with security
challenges.
Power Finance Corporation Rs 14,500 crore Has become the India’s second
(PFC) acquired REC Ltd largest Govt-owned Financial
Firm after State Bank of India
(SBI), based on market
capitalization.
DEFENCE
EXERCISE’s:
Exercise Name Participating Countries Location
Mainamati Maitree Exercise India’s BSF and Bangladesh’s Agartala, Tripura

2019 Border Guards Bangladesh(BGB)
“Key Resolve” was replaced by United States and South Korea While Foal Eagle drills will be
“Dongmaeng” replaced by a smaller battalion-
sized exercise.
Sampriti-2019 India and Bangladesh(Army) Tangail, Bangladesh
Red Flag 2019 Air forces from United States, the United States
United Arab Emirates, Belgium,
the Netherlands, Singapore and
Saudi Arabia
Exercise Al Nagah III India and Oman Jabel Al Akhdar Mountains in
Oman
Africa-India Joint Field Training Indian Army and 16 African Pune, Maharashtra
Exercise (AFINDEX-19) nations
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Theatre Level Operational Inter-service military exercise Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Readiness Exercise (TROPEX 19)
MITRASHAKTI – VI Indian and Sri Lanka Army Diyatalawa in Sri Lanka
Testings:
Missile Name Location Features
Guided Pinaka weapons system Pokhran ranges in Rajasthan The weapon system is equipped
with state-of-the-art guidance kit
comprising of an advanced
navigation and control system.
Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Pokhran ranges of Rajasthan MPATGM is incorporated with
Missile (MPATGM) desert advanced features including
state-of-the-art Imaging Infrared
Radar (IIR) Seeker with
integrated avionics.
Anti-Satellite (ASAT) missile test Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Island It took just 3 minute. Mission
“Mission Shakti” (earlier, Wheeler island) in Shakti is a joint programme of
Odisha DRDO and the Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO).
ASAT capability has been
demonstrated by only 4
countries: United States, Russia,
China and India.
Other News Related to Defence:

‘Smart Weapon’ from JF-17 fighter jet successful test fired by Pakistan
• Pakistan Air Force (PAF) successfully test-fired an indigenously developed “smart weapon”
from a JF-17 Thunder fighter jet amid tensions between India and Pakistan. JF-17 was
previously referred as FC-1 Xiaolong which is a single-engine multi-role light fighter was being
jointly produced by Pakistan with China for several years with engines supplied by Russia.
Joint exercises to be conducted by US army and NSG in Hyderabad
• The US military forces and the Indian National Security Guard (NSG) is conducting joint
exercises in Hyderabad. This would be a part of the US-India security partnership. The aim of
these exercises is to enhance preparedness and tackle any crisis that affects the public health
and safety.
Indian Coast Guard ship ‘Vijit’ goes on its maiden voyage to Indonesia
• Indian Coast Guard Ship ‘Vijit’ became the first-ever Coast Guard ship to visit Sabang,
Indonesia, highlighting the close maritime proximity between India and Indonesia and
strengthening cooperation in the area of maritime security and safety between New Delhi and
Jakarta.
Indian Army inducted Four Indigenous ‘Dhanush’ Howitzers guns
• Indian Army inducted the first batch of its domestically developed and manufactured Dhanush
artillery howitzer at a ceremony held the Ordnance factory in Jabalpur to give a major fire-
power boost to the Indian Armed Forces. It is the first long-range artillery gun having a range
of 38 km produced in India.
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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Apps/Portals Launched:
Mobile apps/portal Launched by Purpose
Scheme for Higher Education Shri Prakash Javadekar To provide industry
Youth in Apprenticeship and apprenticeship opportunities
Skills (SHREYAS) Portal to the general graduates
exiting in April 2019 through
the National Apprenticeship
Promotional Scheme (NAPS)
in New Delhi.
Banglar West Bengal Education Minister, To provide real-time data on
Shiksha“(banglarshiksha.gov.in), Partha Chatterjee state-run and aided schools.
This portal is first of its kind
in the country.
Bolo App Google India Which focuses on improving

the reading and
comprehension skills of
students, especially the ones
in rural areas
e-Dharti App Hardeep S Puri, Minister of To make all the three
Housing and Urban Affairs modules – Conversion,
Substitution and Mutation
online. The app allow the
lessee of the property to see
the basic details of property
along with its location on
map.
Observer App Election Commission Electoral Observers can
submit the relevant document
and material to Election
Commission directly.
Conquer Exam, Be a Warrior Indian Institute of Public Health For students to reduce the
Gandhinagar, Gujarat, (IIPHG) in exam pressure.
collaboration with National Mental
Health Program, Department of
Health and Family Welfare,
Government of Gujarat
Mi Pay Xiaomi UPI (Unified Payments
Interface) Based mobile
payment service in India to
send money from one bank
account to another or
between UPI (Unified
Payments Interface) accounts.
Shiksha Vani Central Board of Secondary To publicize crucial
Education (CBSE) information to students and
parents in a timely manner".
As a part of it, the app has
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already uploaded the circular

regarding the evaluation
procedure for the 2019 Board
Examinations.
Superstats Indian Institute of Technology Superstats is developed by a
Madras has partnered with team headed by the IIT
ESPNcricinfo Madras research scholars
Raghunathan, Rengaswamy,
Mahesh Panchagnula along
with the ESPN team.
PWD Election Commission To make voting easier and to
implement poll body’s slogan
of Accessible Elections.
“Candidate Connect” and “Share Facebook Specifically for Indian users
You Voted” to encourage civic
engagement on its platform
during the general elections
2019. The moves will help to
prevent fake news and to
make sure that it doesn’t
impact the general election in
India. These new tools are
available in 12 local
languages across India.
State GlobalLinker (ts- Telangana government This networking portal will
msme.globallinker.com) digitise over 2.3 million
MSMEs of the State which
would connect them to the
global economy.
Bhonga Linkus Infratech,Mumbai To connect users to their
neighborhood people in the
city even without an Internet
connection. “Bhonga” is a
Marathi word which means
megaphone or loudspeaker.
Satellites:
Satellite Name Country Points to be noted
ChinaSat 6C China The‘ChinaSat 6C’ was launched
from Xichang Satellite Launch
Center in Sichuan province.
PRISMA (Precursore Italy It is launched by Guiana Space
Iperspettrale della Missione Centre by 98 foot (30 meters) tall
Applicativa) Vega rocket which was developed
by the joint venture of Italian
Space Agency and the European
Space Agency.
48 | P a g e
Other Science and Technology News of National & International

India’s first indigenous 4G/5G semiconductor chips unveiled by SIGNALCHIP
• Bengaluru based semiconductor company “SIGNALCHIP” unveiled India’s first Indigenous
Semiconductor Chips for 4G/LTE and 5G NR MODEMs at an event in New Delhi which was
addressed by the Secretary, Telecom, Mrs Aruna Sundararajan. It was launched as part of its
SCBM34XX and SCRF34XX/45XX series, code-named ‘Agumbe’.
Methane Hydrate Discovered in K-G Basin off Andhra Pradesh Coast
• Researchers have discovered “methane hydrates“, a potential fuel of the future just two meters
below the sea-floor in the Krishna-Godavari (K-G) basin off the coast of Andhra Pradesh in the
Bay of Bengal. This is the first report on the discovery of an active methane seepage site.
IRCTC iPay: IRCTC’s own payment aggregator launched
• The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) launched its own payment
aggregator system, IRCTC iPay, a step which will help promote government’s Digital India
initiative. The back-end support will be provided by Delhi based MMAD communications,
IRCTC’s technology partner.
Rice Knowledge Bank- Assam’ launched under World Bank funded project APART
Rice Knowledge Bank-Assam, which is an agriculture web portal is dedicated to magnify
knowledge on rice production technologies and techniques, best production practices and state
agriculture facts, was launched under World Bank funded project – Agri-business and Rural
Transformation (APART).
DotBook: India’s first Braille laptop created by IIT-Delhi Scientists
Pulkit Sapra, 26, from Delhi and Suman Muralikrishnan, 27, from Chennai, former students and
researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi have created a laptop for visually-
impaired called “DotBook”. Claimed to be the first in India, the laptop has an interface in form
of dots or Braille instead of a visual one.
SpaceX launched 1st unmanned Crew Dragon test capsule to space station
With the aim of assuring NASA about astronauts’ safety in future flights, Crew Dragon capsule
was launched by SpaceX for the first time. The name of the mission is ‘Demo-1’ and it was
launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from NASA Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, USA. The capsule
did not consist of any humans on board, only a dummy called ‘Ripley’.
T.N. declared to be the first state to introduce TAVI in government hospital
• Vijaya Bhaskar, State Health Minister of Tamil Nadu stated that Tamil Nadu has become the
first state in the country to introduce Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) in the
government hospitals. TAVI was launched in November 2018 at the Tamil Nadu Government
Multi Super Speciality Hospital (TNGMSSH), Omandurar Estate and two people underwent the
surgery free of cost.
First exoplanet Kepler-1658b confirmed by NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope
• Ten years after its launch, NASA’s Kepler Mission has discovered and received confirmation for
its first exoplanet Kepler-1658 b. It is recognized as hot jupiter due to very high temperature.
PM-STIAC (Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council) announces
nine missions of national importance
• 9 missions of national importance have been unveiled by the Prime Minister’s Science,
Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PMSTIAC). These missions cover important
fields such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, electric vehicles and deep ocean
exploration. The Nine Missions are : Natural Language Translation Quantum Frontier Artificial
Intelligence National Biodiversity Mission Electric Vehicles BioScience for Human Health
Waste to Wealth Deep Ocean Exploration AGNIi.
A study reveals that India’s measles vaccine campaigns have helped save thousands of children
• A study, published in eLife states that the measles vaccine campaigns have helped in saving
41,000-56,000 children in India which amounts to 39-57 per cent of the expected number of
deaths nationally in the period between 2010 to 2013.The death rate in children of age group
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of 1-59 months fell by 27% in the states where the campaign has been implemented as
compared to just 11% fall in non-campaign states.
An app to detect fake currency notes created by IIT-Kharagpur
• An app to detect fake currency has been developed by group of six students from the
Department of Computer Science and Engineering at IIT Kharagpur.The app has been
demonstrated at Nationwide competition Smart India Hackathon 2019.
NPPA reduced the prices of 390 Anti-Cancer Non-Scheduled medicines up to 87%
• National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) which is an independent regulator under
the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, has reduced the prices of 390 non-scheduled cancer
medicines which will result in annual saving of around Rs 800 crore for patients.
Tutorial Video on IPR and GI Website launched by Suresh Prabhu in New Delhi
• Suresh Prabhu, The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry launched GI (Geographical
Indication) website and tutorial video on IPR (Intellectual property Rights) in New Delhi. The
video has been created by the CIPAM, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal
Trade (DPIIT) in collaboration with Qualcomm featuring “IP Nani” is India’s first Intellectual
Property (IP) Mascot.
Discovery of new way of powering radio sources in universe by Indian scientists
• For the first time ever, a team of Indian astronomers has discovered some sources in the
universe that emit radio waves in a totally new mechanism, by using the Giant Metrewave
Radio Telescope (GMRT) which is located at Khodad in Junnar, 80 kms away from Pune.
New population of Ultraviolet Stars discovered in the Globular Cluster NGC 2808 by AstroSat
• A new population of ultraviolet stars has been discovered in the Globular Cluster NGC 2808 by
Indian astronomers from Thiruvananthapuram and Mumbai, using the Indian multi-
wavelength space observatory AstroSat. NGC 2808 is a very huge globular cluster and is
located 47,000 light years away from the Earth.
INMAS developed a range of “Combat Casualty Drug” to reduce soldier’s casualties
• With 90% of gravely wounded security personnel succumbing to injuries within a few hours,
Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), a laboratory of the Defence
Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), has come up with a range of cost effective
‘combat casualty drugs‘ that can extend the time till the soldier is shifted to a hospital.
‘Facebook Hubs’ to foster innovation and support start-ups launched by Facebook
• Facebook Hubs, an initiative to foster innovation and offer support to entry-level
entrepreneurs was launched by Facebook. It will provide support to start-ups by conducting
mentor hours, trainings, workshops and discussions across 20 locations.
Scientists at UT developed solar-powered device that creates water from thin air
• Researchers led by Guihua Yu from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin, USA have developed
a novel solar-powered harvesting system that absorbs moisture from the air and converts it
into clean, usable water. The technology is described in the journal Advanced Materials and
could be used in disaster situations, water crises or poverty-stricken areas and developing
countries.
Astronomers discovers 83 supermassive black holes from early universe
Astronomers have discovered 83 quasars powered by supermassive black holes 13 billion
light-years away from the Earth, from a time when the universe was less than 10% of its
present age. The finding, published in the Astrophysical Journal.
3 astronauts successfully reached ISS on Russian Soyuz spacecraft
• 3 astronauts, Nick Hague and Christina Koch from US and Alexey Ovchinin from Russia arrived
at the International Space Station (ISS) on Russian Soyuz spacecraft which was launched from
Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome on 14th March 2019.
Mercury is closer to Earth than Venus on the basis of average distance
• The US based researchers from NASA, Los Alamos National Laboratory and US army disclosed
a new ideology that mercury is closer to earth than Venus. As per the research on the basis of
50 | P a g e
average distance, every other planet when compared to mercury is farther from earth
including Venus based on average distance.
Japanese unmanned spacecraft, Hayabusa2 probes Asteroid Ryugu
• Japanese unmanned spacecraft, Hayabusa2 reached Asteriod Ryugu on June,2018. Since
then,the spacecraft landed multiple robotic probes on its rocky terrain of the Asteroid Ryugu.
The spacecraft had surveyed 69,000 locations covering almost 90 percent of Asteroid Ryugu by
using a near-infrared spectrometer capable of detecting hydrated minerals.
NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope spotted “cannonball” pulsar speeding through space
• NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope and the National Science Foundation’s Karl G.
Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) discovered pulsar hurtling through space. This pulsar is named
as PSR J0002+6216 (J0002 for short). It is located 6,500 light years away in the constellation
Cassiopeia.It speeds nearly 2.5 million miles per hour.
Blockchain product ‘eMulya’ to launched by Intain Fintech
• An Artificial Intelligence (AI) and block chain based software products firm Intain Fintech will
launch eMulya by the end of 2019. eMulya is an intelligence blockchain which facilitates secure,
efficient and trustworthy asset securitization transactions for Non-Banking Financial
Companies (NBFCs) in India.
California Institute of Technology (Caltech) found a new way to levitate objects with light
• By creating nanoscale patterns on the surfaces of objects, Scientists of California Institute of
Technology (Caltech) have designed a way to levitate and propel objects using only light. It has
been named as "photonic levitation and propulsion" system.
NASA spacecraft found Evidence of water, particle plumes on asteroid Bennu
• NASA’s spacecraft has discovered an evidence of water and plumes erupting from the surface
of asteroid Bennu and will return with a sample in 2023. On December 2018, NASA’s Origins,
Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx)
mission, started orbiting the Bennu, a near-Earth asteroid.
A new sea level oscillation discovered by INCOIS-French scientists
• A study named “New rhythms in tropical Indian Ocean revealed from the bottom pressure” has
been published in the latest issue of “Nature Communications” stating the discovery of
synchronous oscillation of sea level covering entire Tropical Indian Ocean. The discovery has
been done by researchers from Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services
(INCOIS) in partnership with French scientists.
Microsoft able to translate digital information into DNA
• Microsoft developed a storage device in partnership with the University of Washington that
can translate digital information into DNA. The software used in the system converts the 1’s
and 0’s of digital data into DNA sequence (A’s, T’s, C’s and G’s) and stored it as a liquid.
Oslo to become first city in the world to introduce Wireless Electric Car Charging Stations
• Oslo, the capital city of Norway will become the world’s first city to install wireless, induction-
based charging stations for its fleet of electric taxis with an aim to have a zero-emission cab
system by the year 2023. In this regard, Finland’s utility company ‘Fortum’ will collaborate
with U.S. company Momentum Dynamics and the government of Oslo.
eBay joined hands with google to allow its users to pay via Google Pay
• US-based e-commerce platform eBay has partnered with Google to offer Google Pay as a form
of payment option in its new “managed payments” plan. The collaboration will enhance
customer experience tailored to their personal preferences.
IAF formally inducted four heavy-lift Chinook helicopters
• On the lines of Indo-US deal inked in September 2015 for the purchase of 15 Chinooks by India,
the first four heavy lift CH-47F (I) Chinook helicopters were inducted in the Indian Air Force, at
Air Force Station, Chandigarh, in Squadron No 126 Helicopter Flight. These multi-role
helicopters will act as life-saver during HADR (humanitarian assistance and disaster relief)
missions.
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Network of Under-Ice Lakes Discovered in Antarctic by the researchers from the Australian
Antarctic Program
• An international team of researchers from the Australian Antarctic Program has discovered a
network of lakes beneath Totten Glacier, the largest glacier in East Antarctica during their 160-
day expedition.
NASA’s Hubble Captured birth of giant storm on Neptune
• The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) stated that its Hubble Space
Telescope has captured the birth of a giant storm on Neptune. Till now Scientists have
discovered six dark spots on Neptune. It's Great Dark Spots are storms that form from areas of
high atmospheric pressure.
For the first time in the world, Ooty’s muon detection facility measures potential of
thundercloud
• For the first time in the world, researchers at the GRAPES-3 muon telescope facility in Ooty
have measured a thundercloud’s electrical potential, size, and height which was passed
overhead on 1st December 2014. This measure will help to navigate aircraft and to prevent
short circuits in aeroplanes.
Anti-intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) system, was successfully launched by the US
Missile Defence Agency
• The US Missile Defence Agency had successfully tested an anti-intercontinental ballistic missile
(ICBM) system, which was launched with a target from the Marshall Islands shot down by two
interceptors based in California. The US Missile Defence Agency has developed the Ground-
based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system to protect against the threat from ICBMs.
Scientists discovers two planets using Artificial Intelligence
• Astronomers from the University of Texas at Austin, in partnership with Google have
discovered two hidden planets in the data collected by the Kepler space telescope. About newly
discovered Planets:
 K2-293b – It orbits a star 1,300 light-years away in the constellation Aquarius.
 K2-294b – It orbits a star 1,230 light-years away, also located in Aquarius.
Shangai becomes 1st district with 5G coverage
• China’s Shanghai claimed to have the world’s first district with 5G coverage and a broadband
gigabit network. It has conducted trial runs of the 5G network in Shanghai’s Hongkou district.
Shangai's 5G network is backed by state-run telecom carrier China Mobile.
ENVIRONMENT
India collaborates with four nations to protect Asian rhinos

• India decided to collaborate with Bhutan, Nepal, Indonesia and Malaysia with an objective to
increase the population of three Asian rhino species – Greater one-horned rhinoceros, Javan
rhino and Sumatran rhino, by signing the New Delhi Declaration on Asian Rhinos 2019 at the
recently held Second Asian Rhino Range Countries, at Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, New Delhi.
Air pollution from stubble burning costs India USD 30 billion annually
• According to a study of US-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Air
pollution due to crop residue burning in northern India causes an estimated economic loss of
USD 30 billion (Rs 2 lakh crore) annually, and is a leading risk factor of acute respiratory
infections, especially among children.
Indian Sundarbans became ‘Wetland of International Importance’
• The Indian Sundarban was accorded with the status of ‘Wetland of International Importance’ in
the Ramsar Convention. Indian Sundarban which is also a UNESCO (The United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) world heritage site, is home to the Royal
Bengal Tiger.
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A new species of frog named ‘Starry Dwarf Frog’ found in Western Ghats
• A new species of frog known as ‘Starry Dwarf Frog’ has been discovered in Western Ghats
mountain range. It has been named ‘Astrobatrachus kurichiyana’ and is found in
Kurichiyarmala, Kerala.
Cyclone Idai hit the port city of Beira
• Cyclone Idai hit the Mozambique city of Beira and caused heavy rain and landfall at the port
city. More than 100 people have been killed by the heavy rains and storm of up to 177 km/h
(106 mph) in the Mozambique and Malawi. The Cyclone is now heading towards Zimbabwe.
IITs, IISc and SDc collaborated for climate change vulnerability assessment for Indian
Himalayan region
• Indian Institute of Technology- Guwahati, Mandi, and Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru,
Department of Science (DST) have joined hands with the Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation (SDC) to develop a climate change vulnerability assessment for the Indian
Himalayan region comprising 12 states using a common framework called as the National
Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem (NMSHE).
In Meghalaya India’s deepest shaft cave discovered
• During the 28th edition of the annual ‘Caving in the Abode of the Clouds Expedition ’,a five-
member team of cavers of Meghalaya Adventurers’ Association (MAA) has discovered India’s
deepest shaft at Krem Um Ladaw. It has 105 m deep shaft entrance passage.
Israelis cave explorers unveiled ‘world’s longest salt cave’
• The Israeli cave explorers discovered the world’s longest cave named Malham near the Dead
sea, beating the record-holder in Iran. The cave is spread in an area of 10 kilometers (6.25
miles) and it runs through the Israel’s largest mountain, Mount Sodom and spills out to the
southwest corner of the adjacent Dead Sea.
Notification of Island protection zone (IPZ) 2019 for Andaman and Nicobar
• Island Protection Zone (IPZ) 2019 notification for Andaman and Nicobar has been notified by
the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. The purpose of these changes
in the Island Protection Zone (IPZ) is aligned with the Niti Aayog’s proposal for holistic
development in the Islands.
SPORTS
Sports/Tournament/Title Winner Points to be Noted

Noisiel Open in France Iniyan Panneerselvam He became the 61st Grandmaster
for India crossing 2500 points in
ELO ratings.
Asian Open Laser Sailing Upamanyu Dutta won India’s first ever medal in the
Championship in Singapore Bronze medal single-handed Laser Standard
race for men
Chinese Race Walk Grand Prix in Liu Hong She broke the world record in the
Huangshan 50 km race walk, finishing in 3
hours, 59 minutes and 15 seconds
(3:59:15).She become the first
woman to break the 4-hour
barrier in the event.
Ladies European Tour Diksha Dagar(2nd Indian The first Indian woman was Aditi
woman) Ashok.
Australian F1 Grand Prix 2019 Mercedes Formula One He was followed by Lewis
(F1) driver Valtteri Hamilton of Mercedes and Red
Bottas Bull’s Max Verstappen.
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Asian Youth Athletes Championship China topped the India secured second position in
held in Hong Kong championship with 31 the overall medals tally with 26
medals including 12 medals including 8 gold, 9 silver
gold, 11 silver and 8 and 9 bronze medals.
bronze.
15th Special Olympics World India wins 368 medals Motto “Meet the Determined”. The
Summer Games 2019 held in Abu at the Special Olympics next Special Olympic Games are
Dhabi, United Arab Emirates World Summer Games set to take place in Sweden in
including 85 gold, 154 2021.
silver and 129 bronze.
Badminton
2019 All England Open Badminton • Men's Single title It was a BWF (Badminton World
Championships in Arena bagged by Kento Federation) World Tour 1000
Birmingham, England Momota. event with total prize money of
• Women’s Single US$ 1000000.
clinched by Chen Yufei.
• Men’s Doubles
Mohammad Ahsan and
Hendra Setiawan
(Indonesia)
• Women’s Double Chen
Qingchen and Jia
Yifan(China)
• Mixed Double Zheng
Siwei and Huang
Yaqiong(China)
2019 Swiss Open badminton • Shi Yuqi (China) The total prize money amounts to
championship held at St. Jakobshalle clinched Men’s Singles USD 150000.
in Basel, Switzerland title by defeating Sai
Praneeth (India)
• Women’s Singles-
Chen Yufei (China)
won by defeating
Saena Kawakami
(Japan).
• Men’s Doubles- Fajar
Alfian and
Muhammad Rian
Ardianto (Indonesia)
won by defeating Lee
Yang and Wang Chi-
lin (Taiwan)
• Women’s Doubles-
Chang Ye-na and Jung
Kyung-eun (South
Korea) won by
defeating Nami
Matsuyama and
Chiharu Shida (Japan)
• Mixed Doubles- Bay-
Smidt and Rikke Soby
54 | P a g e
Hansen (Denmark)
won by defeating
Rinov Rivaldy and
Pitha Haningtyas
Mentari (Indonesia)
2019 Lingshui Masters Badminton • Men’s Singles-Weng This was the first Super 100
Tournament held in Agile Stadium in Hongyang (China)won Tournament of the 2019 BWF
China by defeating Liu World Tour.The tournament was
Haichao (China) organized by the Chinese
• Women Singles Kim Badminton Association and
Ga-eun (South Korea) sanctionedby the Badminton
won by defeating World Federation (BWF).
Zhang Yiman (China)
• Men’s Doubles Lee
Jhe-huei and Yang Po-
hsuan (Chinese
Taipei) won by
defeating Ou Xuanyi
and Ren Xiangyu
(China)
• Women’s Doubles
Baek Ha-na and Kim
Hye-rin (South Korea)
won by defeating Liu
Xuanxuan and
Xiayuting (China)
• Mixed Doubles Tang
Chun Man and Ng Tsz
Yau (Hong Kong) won
by defeating Guo
Xinwaa and Liu
Xuanxuan (China)
2nd edition of Badminton Asia Mixed China won by defeating
The championship was organized
Team Championships aka Tong Yun Japan by Badminton Asia and Hong
Kai Cup 2019 was held in Queen Kong Badminton Association
Elizabeth Stadium, Hong Kong
35 years old Badminton player Joachim Persson of Denmark was banned for 18 months by the
Badminton World Federation.
Boxing
Makran Cup boxing tournament in 8 medals, including one Gold-Deepak Singh(Haryana) in
Chabahar, Iran gold, five silver and two
the (46-49kg) light fly category.
bronze Silver -P Lalitha Prasad (52kg),
Manish Kaushik (60kg),
Duryodhan Singh Negi (69kg),
Sanjeet (91kg) and Satish Kumar
(+91kg).
38th GeeBee Boxing Tournament in England after claiming 6 India claimed one Gold, 4 silver
Helsinki, Finland gold medals and 3 bronze in the tournament.
James DeGale retired from boxing at the age of 33.He is Britain’s first boxer to win an Olympic gold
medal and become a world champion.
AIBA (International Boxing Association) proposed certain changes featherweight (57 kg/125 lbs)
and welterweight (69 kg/152 lbs) added for female boxers while in male boxing, light flyweight,
55 | P a g e
bantamweight and light welterweight have been dropped for 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Cricket
WODI series of England Women India women’s cricket Smriti Mandhana was named the
tour of India 2019 team won the series Player of the Series.
WT20I series of England Women England defeated India England’s Danielle Wyatt won the
tour of India 2019 Player of the Series.
ODI series of Australia Men tour of Australia won 1st Usman Khawaja won the player of
India 2019 bilateral ODI series the series
against India since
January 2017
Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the Karnataka cricket team They defeated Maharashtra
Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore cricket team.
West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle became the first player in the world to hit 500 sixes the 14th
batsman and second from the Caribbean after Brian Lara, to reach the milestone of 10,000 ODI runs
Australia Cricket Team’s tour to India-T20I Series-Australia won the Series.
Chris Gayle, West Indies opener has signed off his last One Day International in the West Indies with
a record half century against England at the Darren Sammy National Cricket Stadium in Saint Lucia
Vivo Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019’s official partner, TATA Motors, will promote its newly-
launched SUV, Harrier, as its lead brand at the event and showcase the SUV by means of the IPL
platform.
39-year-old Pakistan-born South African cricket team’s leg-spinner, Imran Tahir retired from One
Day International (ODI) cricket after the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019. He will continue to play
in the T20 internationals and participate in the 2020 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia.
International Cricket Council (ICC) has banned former Zimbabwe Cricket director Enock Ikope for a
period of 10 years for breaching 3 ICC’s anti-corruption codes.
Dream11 as the official partner for VIVO Indian Premier League (IPL)
South African all-rounder Jean Paul Duminy (34) has announced his retirement from ODIs, after the
2019 World Cup
T10 cricket League is set to be played in Zayed Cricket Stadium of Abu Dhabi for the next five years,
starting from 2019 season. T10 is the shortest form of cricket which was first played in UAE in 2017.
Sri Lanka’s Lasith Malinga announced his retirement from international cricket after T20 World Cup
2020.
Suresh Raina, a batsman of Chennai Super Kings became the first batsman to make a record by
surpassing 5,000 runs in the Indian Premier League in Chennai. He scored 5000 runs from 177
matches at a strike-rate of 138.15 consisting 35 fifties and one hundred.
Football
Indian Super League (ISL) title Bengaluru Football Club It defeated FC Goa by 1-0.
(FC)
South Asian Football Federation
(SAFF) Women’s Championship 2019
Mehtab Hossain announced his retirement from professional football. He currently plays for Mohun
Bagan in the Hero I-League.
World football governing body FIFA has imposed a lifetime ban on 72 years old, former Ecuadorian
Football Federation (FEF) President, Luis Chiriboga.
Chelsea and Argentina striker, Gonzalo Higuain retired from international football.
Australia's top goalscorer, 39-year-old, Tim Cahill has announced his retirement from football to
focus on a career in media and coaching.
FIFA (The Federation Internationale de Football Association) World Cup 2022 security agreement
aimed at building a strategic partnership for the preparation of the world cup and management of
the security of event, signed between Qatar and France.
56 | P a g e
Tennis
Dubai Tennis Championship 2019 Roger Federer won Men’s Belinda Bencic won women’s
commonly known as Dubai Duty Free Singles title over Stefanos Singles in Dubai
Tennis Championship Tsitsipas Championship
Mexican open 2019 held in Princess Australia’s Nick Kyrgios Women’s Singles: Wang
Mundo Imperial in Mexico defeated Germany’s Yafan(China)
Alexander Zverev in the Men’s Doubles: Alexander
Men’s Singles Zverev(Germany) and Mischa
Zverev(Germany)
Women’s Doubles: Victoria
Azarenka(Belarus) and Zheng
Saisai(China)
Indian Wells Masters 2019 also Dominic Thiem lifts Men’s Bianca Andreescu defeated
known as BNP Paribas Open held in Singles title defeating Roger Angelique Kerber to win
California, United States. Federer Women’s Singles title
Nikola Mektic and Horacio
Zeballos won Men’s Doubles
title in Indian Wells
Elise Mertens and Aryna
Sabalenka won Women’s
Doubles title for the first time
Seamaster 2019 ITTF Challenge Plus Indian player G Sathyan won Archana Kamath bags U-21
commonly called Oman Open table bronze in men’s Singles silver.
tennis held in Muscat, Oman
India has lost the hosting rights of two international tennis tournaments viz. Junior Davis Cup and
Fed Cup which were scheduled to be held in RK Khanna stadium, New Delhi in April. Now both
events will be held in Bangkok, Thailand.
IT company Infosys joined hands with Roland-Garros with a three-year partnership agreement to
provide digital solution for French Open tennis tournament, also called Roland-Garros, to be held in
Paris, France.
The unique mixed teams Hopman Cup (Tennis tournament) in Perth has been replaced by the ATP
(Association of Tennis Professionals) World Team Cup after 31 years. Now three cities Sydney,
Brisbane, and Perth will host the new men-only tournament (ATP World Team Cup) final.
Other Sports News
International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) held in New Delhi.India ranked 1st along with
Hungary
Shashank Shekhar won the 10 kilometer race of Nepal’s Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Open Marathon.
57th International Wrestling Tournament ‘Dan Kolov – Nikola Petrov’ in Ruse, Bulgaria. Pooja
Dhanda won gold in 59 kg women’s freestyle category.
Olympic Council of Asia decided to invite Oceania Nations to compete in 2022 Asian Games for the
first time after a meeting held in Bangkok. Oceania Nations which includes Australia, New Zealand
and a swathe of Pacific islands are expected to Volleyball, beach volleyball, basketball, football,
swimming and track cycling events.
Kudo International Federation India (KIFI) has been provisionally recognised as National Sport
Federation by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports. The recognition shall be granted if it complies
with the provisions of National Sports Development Code of India, 2011 and displays information on
the website according to the ministerial guidelines.
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has granted provisional recognition to All India Carrom
Federation (AICF) as National Sport Federation with immediate in order to facilitate the
participation of Indian Athletes in the forthcoming National/International competitions.
The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had banned Russia over doping until
57 | P a g e
further notice
WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) Hall of Famer, Kurt Angle(49) announced his retirement
after the match at WretleMania 35 in April 2019.
Argentina and Colombia are poised to co-host the 2020 Copa America. It is for the first time in the
modern Copa America era that the tournament will be split between two countries.
29-year-old Indian athlete from Kerala, K.T. Irfan has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics as he finished
fourth in the men’s 20 kilometer category at the Asian Race Walking Championships in Nomi, Japan.
The United World Wrestling (UWW) has taken away the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship from
India,it is to be held in Thailand
30 years old, Irish Mixed Martial Art (MMA) fighter Conor McGregor has announced his retirement
from the sport.
Paralympic torch was unveiled by the Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic
Games (Tokyo 2020) for Paralympic Torch Relay, which will take place between 13th and 25th
August 2020. The torch will be lit on the concept of "“Share Your Light". The torch is made from the
same recycled aluminum and is modeled after the Japanese cherry blossom or “sakura”. The color of
the torch is “Sakura Pink”.
35 years old, American professional wrestler, Stephanie Nicole Garcia-Colace aka Nikki Bella has
announced her retirement from WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment).
International Olympics Committee (IOC) gave provisional green light for the inclusion of
Breakdancing in the Paris Olympics 2024. Surfing, Skateboarding and sport climbing also got
approval for provisional inclusion in Summer Olympics 2024 from IOC.
South Korea won Azlan Shah Hockey Cup by defeating India.Rank of India is 5 and Rank of South
Korea is 17.
BOOKS & AUTHORS
Book Names Authors Other Information

Mann Ki Baat – A Social Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley
Revolution on Radio released a book .The book contains 50
episodes of PM Modi’s sincere talk with the
citizens of India which is broadcasted by All
India Radio.
The Fate of Butterflies Nayantara Sahgal The novel is published by published by
Speaking Tiger.
Designing Destiny: The Kamlesh Patel famously The book deals with issues pertaining to
Heartfulness Way known as Daaji destiny and the way it shapes someone’s
life.
Sabka Saath Sabka Union Minister of Finance and Corporate
Vikas Affairs Arun Jaitley released a book.It is a
compilation of selected speeches of Prime
Minister Narendra Modi.
Dictionary of Martyrs of It was released by Prime Minister Narendra

India’s Freedom Modi, at Lok Kalyan Marg, New Delhi. The
Struggle (1857-1947) project for compilation of “Dictionary of
Martyrs” of India’s Freedom Struggle was
commissioned by the Ministry of Culture, to
the Indian Council of Historical Research
(ICHR) to commemorate the 150th
anniversary of uprising of 1857.
The Great Salman Anees Soz The book has been published by Penguin
58 | P a g e
Disappointment: How Random House India.

Narendra Modi
Squandered A Unique
Opportunity to
Transform the Indian
Economy
Every Vote Counts Chief Election It was launched by former Vice President of
Commissioner of India, India, Hamid Ansari in New Delhi. This
Navin Chawla book is about, how the electoral machinery
works in India.
Indian Fiscal Dr. Y.V. Reddy and G.R. The launch event of the book was
Federalism Reddy addressed by the Chairman of the 15th
Finance Commission NK Singh, in New
Delhi.
Indian English word ‘chuddies’ recognized as official English word by the Oxford English Dictionary
(OED). The word is one of the new 650 entries.It means underpants or short trousers or shorts.
OBITUARY
NATIONAL
Name of the person Field/State Points to be noted
who passed away
HS D’Lima Activist, Mumbai He fought against illegal constructions and
slumification of Mumbai’s gaothans.He was from
Andheri Gaothan, Maharashtra.
L V Sharada Rao Actress,Bengaluru,Karnataka She was well known for her performance in the
movie ‘Vamsha Vriksha’, which was based on S L
Bhyrappa’s novel.
Haku Shah Artist, Ahmedabad, Gujarat His memoir Manush received several awards
including the Padma Shri in 1989.
Chinmoy Roy Bengali actor,Kolkata He was known for his portrayal of comic
characters.He was born in Kumilla district of
present day Bangladesh in 1940 and he started
his career in Bengali films in 1960s.
Mohan Narayan Rao Captain in Indian Navy, Juhu He was 1971 India-Pakistan war hero and a
Samant native of Pune (Maharashtra).
Muni Hitruchivijayji Jain monk, Ahmedabad He is the last disciples of Acharya

Gujarat Ramchandrasurishwarji.
Darryl D’Monte Journalist and He hailed from Mumbai.

environmental
activist,Mumbai
Prafulla Rajguru Journalist, academician, In 1997, he had retired as the head of the English
social worker and columnist, department from DCB Girls College in Jorhat, and
Jorhat, Assam then he joined Assamese daily ‘Amar Asom’,
where he served till year 2000.
Binapani Devi Kolkata, West Bengal She was born in 1919 in Barishal, now in
Bangladesh.
Maate Mahadevi Lingayat pontiff,Bengaluru, Basava Dharma Peetha President
59 | P a g e
Karnataka
Vinod Kashyap Newsreader ,NewDelhi She worked at the All India Radio for around 30
years.
Channabasappa Politician(CM),Karnataka He was born in Yaraguppi village of Karnataka.
Sathyappa Shivalli aka
“Badavara Bandhu”
Virendra Kataria Politician,Abohar, Punjab He was Lt Governor of Puducherry and former
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC)
chief.
V. Dhananjaya Kumar Politician,Mangalore, He is natively from Venur, Belthangady taluk in
Karnataka Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka.
Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy Politician,Andhra Pradesh He was YSR Congress party leader and former
Andhra Pradesh Minister
Manohar Parrikar Politician(CM),Goa He is the India’s 18th and Goa’s second chief
minister to die in office.
Satya Brata Singh Supreme Court judge,New His native was Dhanbad,Jharkhand.
Delhi
Ghulam Nabi Rathar Social activist, Manigam
Kangan, Jammu and Kashmir
Ashita Writer and poet, She won Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award
Thrissur,Kerala
INTERNATIONAL
Name of the person Field/Country Points to be noted
who passed away
Lord Kumar Academic and He is founder of Warwick manufacturing Group
Bhattacharyya Manufacturing (WMG). He was born in Bangalore, Karnataka.
expert,Businessman,London,
UK
John Richardson Art historian Manhattan, He devoted more than a quarter century in writing
New York four-volume biography of Pablo Picasso.
Daniel Rudisha Coach,Nakuru, Northwest of He was a former teacher who became a Kenyan
Nairobi athletics coach. He was born in Kilgoris, Kenya.
Andre Previn Composer and Pianist He was a 10-time Grammy Award winner and had
,Manhattan, New York, USA won 4 Oscars.
Valery Bykovsky Cosmonaut,Russia He was born on 2nd August 1934 in Pavlovsky
Posad, Soviet Union.
Bill Playle Cricketer,New South Wales, He was natively from Manawatu, New Zealand.
Australia
Alan B. Krueger Economist, Princeton, New He advised two presidents and helped lead
Jersey, United States economics toward a more scientific approach to
research and policymaking. He was born on 17th
September 1960 in Livingston, New Jersey, United
States.
Jerry Merryman Electrical engineer,Dallas, He was credited with inventing the world’s first
Texas handheld electronic calculator in 1960s
Charlie Whiting FIA’s director Melbourne, He was the FIA’s director of Formula One. He was
Australia born in Kent, United Kingdom.
Vinjamuri Anasuya Devi Folk artist, radio She was an eminent folk artist, radio commentator,
commentator, Houston, USA harmonium player, music composer and author.
Hailed from Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh, she was
60 | P a g e
also awarded ‘Queen of Folk’ award in Paris and

Kala Prapoorna award.
Rafi Eitan Mossad agent and He was born on 23rd November 1926 at Ein
Spymaster, Tel Aviv, Israel Harod, Mandatory Palestine in Israel.
Zhores Alferov Physicist,St. Petersburg, He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000. He
Russia researched in the field of information technology
and his research was the backbone of computers,
CD players, mobile phones etc.
Bharat Mohan Adhikari Politician ,Kathmandu, He is natively from Mahottari district of Nepal.
Nepal
Dick Dale Rock Guitarist, Loma Linda, He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 4,
California, U.S. 1937.
Shahnaz Rahmatullah Singer, Dhaka, Bangladesh She was born on January 2, 1952, in Dhaka,
Bangladesh.
Bruce Yardley Spinner, Coach and He played 33 Tests and 7 ODIs for Australia as an
commentator ,Kununurra, off-spinner.
Western Australia
Scott Walker aka Noel Songwriter and producer, He was born in Hamilton, Ohio in 1943.
Scott Engel London, England
Kelly Catlin Stanford He had thrice been the world champion and had
University,California been a member of the U.S. women’s pursuit team
that won silver in 2016 Rio Olympics
King Kong Bundy real Wrestler,Atlantic City, New WWE legend
name was Christopher Jersey, U.S.A.
Pallies
IMPORTANT DAYS
Observed Day Other information
date/week
28th February National Science Day To mark the discovery of the ‘Raman Effect‘ by the
physicist Sir Chandrashekhara Venkata Raman.
28th February Rare Disease Day Theme - “Bridging health and social care”
1st March Zero Discrimination Day Theme - "Act to change laws that Discriminate"
1st March Civil Accounts Day It showcased the progress of the flagship project of
the Indian Civil Accounts Organization namely the
Public Financial Management System (PFMS).
1st March World Civil Defence Day Theme - “Children’s safety, our responsibility”
3rd March World Hearing Day Theme - “Check your Hearing”
3rd March World Wildlife Day Theme - ‘Life below water: for people and planet’
4th March National Safety Day Theme - “Cultivate and Sustain a safety culture for
(NSC) building nation”.
4th March National Security Day To praise the work of security forces such as army
also known as Rashtriya officers, para-military, policemen and commandos.
Suraksha Diwas
4th March World Day of Fight It aims to spread awareness about the prevalent
against Sexual sexual exploitation, largely among women and
Exploitation children.
7th March Janaushadhi Divas To create awareness and provide further impetus to
the Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana
(PMBJP) scheme. The government plans to have at
least one PMBJP Kendra in each block by 2020.
61 | P a g e
8th March International Women’s Theme –“Think equal, build smart, innovate for
Day change.”
10th March National Immunisation Pulse Polio programme was launched by the
Day President of India
10th March 50th Raising Day of History Book of CISF “CISF: Force of the Future” and
Central Industrial Annual Publication “Special Issue of Sentinel” were
Security Force (CISF) released by PM Narendra Modi.
11th March 34th inception day of Rajiv Gauba was the chief guest
National Crime Records
Bureau (NCRB)
12th March to 16th India Smart Utility Week It is organized by India Smart Grid Forum (ISGF) as
March 2019 (ISUW) 2019 an International Conference and Exhibition on Smart
Energy, Gas and Water for Smarter Cities.
12th March 89th anniversary of the The 400 km Dandi March was started from
Dandi Satyagraha or Salt Sabarmati Ashram on from March 12, 1930.
Satyagraha
14th March World Kidney Day Theme for World Kidney Day 2019 is Kidney Health
for Everyone Everywhere.
15th March World Consumer Rights Theme for World Consumer Rights Day “Trusted
Day Smart Products”.
15th March World Sleep Day Theme for World Sleep Day was ‘Healthy Sleep,
Healthy Aging’.
16th March National Vaccination On this day in 1995, the first dose of oral vaccine
Day against polio was given in India.
18th March Ordnance Factories Day Indian Ordnance Factories are regarded as the
backbone of India’s Defence. On 18th March 1802,
the production of the oldest Ordnance Factory of
India was commenced at Cossipore, Kolkata.
18th March Global Recycling Day The theme for Global Recycling Day 2019 was
“Recycling into the Future”.
20th March World Sparrow Theme for World Sparrow Day 2019 was “I love
Day(WSD) sparrows”.
20th March International Happiness Theme of International Day of Happiness 2019 is
Day ‘Happier Together’.
21st March International Day for the Theme “Mitigating and countering rising nationalist
Elimination of Racial populism and extreme supremacist ideologies”.
Discrimination
21st March World Down Syndrome This year the focus of the day was on “Leave no one
Day behind” by creating opportunities for people with
Down syndrome to live fulfilling lives.
21st March World Poetry Day To encourage the reading, writing, and teaching of
poetry throughout the world.
21st March International Day of Theme for International Day of Forests: “Forests and
Forests (IDF) Education – Learn to Love Forests”.
22nd March World Water Day Theme for World Water Day 2019 is “Leaving no one
(WWD) behind”.
22nd March 107th foundation day To commemorate Bihar’s separation from Bengal
called Bihar Diwas 2019 Presidency in 1912. It is a public holiday in Bihar.
or Bihar Day
23rd March World Meteorological The theme 2019 was “The Sun, the Earth and the
Day Weather”.
62 | P a g e
23rd March Martyr’s Day (88th) or To commemorate the death anniversary of three of
Shaheed Diwas India’s freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Hari
Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar.
24th March International Day for the To Honor the memory of victims of gross and
Right to the Truth systematic human rights violations and to promote
Concerning Gross the importance of justice.
Human Rights Violations
and for the Dignity of
Victims
24th March International Day for To honor the achievers who have shown
Achievers (IDA) determination and confidence on their journey.
24th March World Tuberculosis Day Theme for World Tuberculosis Day 2019 was "Its
time"
25th March International Day of To mark the anniversary of the abduction of Alec
Solidarity with detained Collett, a former journalist who was kidnapped by
and missing staff armed gunman in 1985. The day aims to prepare
members action, demand justice and to protect UN staff and
peacekeepers, the workers in non-governmental
community and the press.
25th March International Day of Theme 2019 was “Remember Slavery: The Power of
Remembrance of the the Arts for Justice”.
Victims of Slavery and
the Transatlantic Slave
Trade
26th March Epilepsy Awareness Day In order to encourage the people to wear the colour
also known as World to increase the awareness of Epilepsy. Epilepsy is
Purple Day eurological disorder in which brain activity becomes
abnormal causing seizures.
27th March World Theatre Day For 2019, famous theatre director, playwright,
academic and faculty member, Carlos CELDRAN
from Cuba was selected as the speaker of World
Theatre Day message 2019.
29th March World Piano Day
30th March World Idli Day
30th March Rajasthan Day or Rajasthan Day is celebrated on 30th March every
Rajasthan Diwas year to commemorate the day on which the state
Rajasthan came into existence as it was previously
known as Rajputana.
63 | P a g e
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SBI PO 2019: Take 30 Tests, 1 Free

LIC AAO 2019: Take 20 Tests, 1 Free

Railways RRB JE 2019: Take 15 Tests, 1 Free

SSC CGL: 50 Tests (30 Tier I + 20 Tier II)

CWC 2019: Take 15 Tests, 1 Free

Cabinet approvals on March 7, 2019

 Cabinet approves surrendering of AAI encroached land to MP government

Cabinet Approvals on March 13, 2019

STATE WISE NATIONAL NEWS

Jammu and Kashmir

FinTech Conclave commenced in New Delhi

In child marriage incidents, Tripura ranks second highest in India

Other Important National Affairs

CCEA has approved financial support to Tertiary HealthCare Programmes

Malaysia joined the International Criminal Court

Life and times of Mahatma Gandhi is on display in London Book Fair

UN Security Council adopts Resolution to combat Terror Financing

BANKING & FINANCE

IDBI Bank categorized as Private Sector Lender by RBI

Loans issued by banks/others

Development Partnership Programme

Other Important Banking & Finance News

PNB ranks highest in implementation of ‘Reforms agenda’

BUSINESS & ECONOMY NEWS

Central Statistics Office (CSO) 2018-19 Revised to 7% from 7.2%

Fitch rating in its Global FY19-20 6.8%. FY21 -7.1%

GRSE becomes 1st Indian Shipyard to deliver 100 Warships

MOUs/AGREEMENTS COUNTRIES & STATES

To promote exchange of information and technical cooperation

MoU’s Between State

7 WhatsApp NASSCOM Foundation To tackle the challenge of

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS

2019.He will be the first

Gauri Sawant Election Election Commission The highest enrolment of

Anurag Bhushan High Commissioner of Malawi He will succeed Mr.

centre-left Prime Minister Juri

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

DD Mahila Kisan Swati Shingade The Kisan Channel has provided a

BusinessLine Arun Jaitley For The 2nd edition of BusinessLine

Awards for State,Country,Banks and Organization

Kalam Innovation in He also started 75 new Kalam Digital

Prayagraj Kumbha Mela 2019 makes it to the Guinness World Records

Guinness Book of World Records Lakshyaraj Singh Mewar

CONFERENCES/SUMMITS IN NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL NEWS

COMMITTEES/MEETINGS IN NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Meeting RCEP Participating Countries (RPCs).Union

Highest number of PLOS Biology, an Malaysia topped the lise

ACQUISITIONS & MERGERS

Lanco Teesta Hydro Power Ltd Rs 907 Crore

ArcelorMittal acquired of Essar Rs 42,000 Crore It was approved by the

Mainamati Maitree Exercise India’s BSF and Bangladesh’s Agartala, Tripura

MITRASHAKTI – VI Indian and Sri Lanka Army Diyatalawa in Sri Lanka

Missile Name Location Features

Other News Related to Defence:

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Bolo App Google India Which focuses on improving

already uploaded the circular

Other Science and Technology News of National & International

India collaborates with four nations to protect Asian rhinos

Sports/Tournament/Title Winner Points to be Noted

BOOKS & AUTHORS

Book Names Authors Other Information