CGPSC CURRENT (ENGLISH) APRIL 2019pathiasacademy.com/content/CurrentAffairs/191226105909... ·...

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AWARDS & HONORSTelugu poet K. Shiva Reddy • On April 11, 2019, Telugu poet K. Shiva Reddy was honored with the(Saraswati Award 2018) prestigious Saraswati Award, a cash prize of Rs 15 lakh along with the

award for his collection of poem named “Pakkaki Ottigilite”. He wasborn in 1943 in Karmurivari Palam near Tenali, Andhra Pradesh. He haswon many awards including Sahitya Akademi Award for his book‘Mohna O Mohna’.

• Saraswati Samman Award is given annually for excellent literary workwritten in any of the 22 Indian languages listed in Schedule VIII of theConstitution of India. It is one of the highest literary awards estab-lished by KK Birla Foundation in 1991.

Dr. Jnanaditya Shakya (Maharishi • On April 4, 2019, a scholar of Pali, Dr. Jnanaditya Sakya has been awardedBadrayan Vyas Samman 2019) the prize money of Rs.1,00,000 / - and a certificate with the Presidential

Award of Maharishi Badrayan Vyas Samman of 2019. He received theaward by Vice-President of India M. Venkaiah Naidu. Dr. Shakya wasawarded for his outstanding contributions in the field of Pali languageand literature.

• He was selected for his five books by the Higher Education Depart-ment, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of In-dia, whose names are - Brahmavihara Bhavan, Anagataavasa,Chakesawatuasa Pancha + Gati Dipani and Gandhavas in BuddhismPhilosophy.

• Regarding the Presidential Award of Maharishi Badrayan Vyas Samman:Established: 2002, Region: Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, Pali, Prakrit, Clas-sical Oriya, Classical Kannada, Classical Telugu and Classical Malayalam

Sunil Kumar Gautam (Awarded to Pandit • Police Officer Sunil Kumar Gautam, Special Police CommissionerGovind Ballabh Pant Award) (Operations), for his book ‘Sanvidhan Kavya’, was awarded with ‘Pandit

Govind Ballabh Pant Award’ for the year 2018-19 by the Bureau ofPolice Research and Development (BPR & D) under the Home Ministry.

• The book was originally written in Hindi language. There are a total of238 couplets, which describes the world’s largest constitution, the In-dian Constitution, in a very simple and poetic form. The author took 6months to write this book and it also mentions all the articles of theConstitution.

• On October 5, 2016, ‘Sanvidhan Kavya’ was released by Dr. Kiran Bedi,Lieutenant Governor in Puducherry.

Rana Dasgupta(Awarded Rabindranath • British Indian novelist Rana Dasgupta has been honored with theTagore Literary Award 2019) second edition of the Rabindranath Tagore Literature Award 2019 for

her 2010 novel ‘Solo’, which is the story of the last failure of the mindsetand physical existence. This award includes Tagore’s statue, a certifi-cate for contribution to literature and a cash prize of $ 10,000.

Other Important Points -• The World Health Organization Goodwill Ambassador Yohei Sasakawa

has been awarded the Rabindranath Tagore Literary Award 2019 forsocial achievement for his incredible efforts for leprosy and great con-tribution in world peace.

• Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen was awarded the RabindranathTagore Literary Award for social achievement as a ‘symbol of democ-racy’.

• Rana was awarded the Ryszard Kapuseinski Award in 2016 for the novel“Capital: The Eruption of Delhi”. Apart from this, he also received theCommonwealth Writers’ Award for ‘Solo’ in 2010.

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• About Rabindranath Literary Award : Rabindranath Tagore LiteraryAward is given in honor of Indian writer Rabindranath Tagore. It hasbeen established in 2018. Rabindranath Tagore is the first non-Euro-pean winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Vikram Patel • On April 3, 2019, a psychiatrist and professor of global health at theHarvard Medical School, Vikram Patel was honored with the presti-gious John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award, which the TheGatherer Foundation provided with a prize money of $ 100,000.

• The award was given for his world-leading research in mental health,which provides knowledge on the burden of mental health problemsand the determinants in the low-middle-income countries and for thetreatment of mental health.

• Former recipient Alan Lopez, Christopher J.L. Murray, Cesar Victor andAnthony Fowki.

• About the award: John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Awardrecognizes the world’s top scientists who have received outstandingachievements in Global Health Research.

Sudhansu Kumar • On April 10, 2019, Sudhanshu Kumar, founder of Digital Sukun, hasbeen awarded the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Nobel Prize by the Interna-tional Human Rights Council in Hotel Sea Princes Juhu Mumbai. Thisagency has been named the Best Digital Agency of the year 2019.

• Digital Sukun is a Mumbai-based digital solution agency, which pro-vides a comprehensive 360 degree comprehensive solution for itscampaign, so that new campaigns and technology tools can be usedproperly. This agency has been able to generate interest around filmswith the help of advanced modern techniques such as ArtificialIntelligence (AI) algorithm analytics, and also helps the films get topposition in IMDb’s most anticipated films list.

Dr. AK Singh(Lifetime Achievement Award • On April 11, 2019, Dr. A. K. Singh, Director of DRDO in Life Sciences,for contribution to Life Science, Aerospace was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award 2019 during the fourthand Aeronautics 2019) APJ Abdul Kalam Innovation Conclave at Chandigarh University,

Mohali. He has made significant contributions to the InternalDecommerce of Financial Produced Radioniclides and Infection Imag-ing. The Conclave was organized by the University to mark WorldCreativity and Innovation Day.

• He has contributed on more than 57 research publications and haspatented more than 18 projects.In order to detect infectious wounds,he discovered the ‘Diagnobact’ kit and pharmacosintigraphy, i.e. alsoused the use of nuclear medical imaging in drug research. He was onthe post of faculty of examination and admission and director, aca-demic programs in AMU. The Governor of Manipur, Najma Heptullah isChancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMI).

Deepa Malik • On April 11, 2019, 48-year-old silver medalist of Rio Paralympics, DeepaMalik, has been awarded by the New Zealand Prime Minister Sir EdmundHillary Fellowship for the year 2019 in recognition of “inspired achieve-ments”. This fellowship was given by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern tostrengthen relations between India and New Zealand.

• She won the Silver Medal in the Shot Put F53 event at Rio Paralympic in2016. She became the first Indian woman to win a medal in the ParalympicGames and became the first Indian woman to win medal in three AsianGames in 2010, 2014 and 2018.

• She was awarded with Arjuna Award and Padma Shri for her excellenceand shed made place in Limca Book of World Records 4 times.

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Yusuf Hami(UK Royal Society honors) • On April 18, 2019, Padma Bhushan award winner Yusuf Hamid (82), whois the chairman of the Cipla Pharmaceutical Company, was honored inthe 2019 list of new member of the Royal Society of the UK. He hasbeen awarded for the treatment of diabetes, cancer and other diseases.Is known for producing low-cost drugs.

• Key Points:1. It is an independent scientific academy of the UK and Common-

wealth to promote excellence in science.2. The UK Royal Society chose 51 reputed scientists as a member of

the Royal Society.3. Gurdayal Besra, Manjul Bhargava, Anant Parekh, Akshay

Venkatesh, Gagandeep Kang were other Indian scientists whowere elected as members, Gagandeep Kang became the first In-dian woman to be selected as a member of the Royal Society ofBritain.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi (Honored • On April 3, 2019, the UAE honored Prime Minister Narendra Modi withwith the highest civilian honor of the UAE, the highest civilian award, Zayed Medal for enhancing relations beZayed Medal) tween the two countries.

• United Arab Emirates (UAE) is an important part of the InternationalSolar Coalition (ISA) headquartered in Gururgram, India. UAE is thefifth largest transporter of crude oil in India, which is 8% of India’s oilimports.

• Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi visited India as Chief Guest of RepublicDay celebrations in New Delhi on 24-26 January, 2017 and Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi visited UAE on 10-11 February, 2018.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi(Awarded • On April 11, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi was awarded the OrRussia’s highest state honor) der of St Andrew the Apostal by Russia for extraordinary services in

promoting bilateral relations. Narendra Modi is awarded a privilegedstrategic partnership between Russia and India. This was awarded forhis extraordinary services.

• This award is the highest civilian honor of the Russian Federation,which was founded in 17th century by Russian scientist Czar Peter I.

Tata Steel (Global Slag Company of • On April 5, 2019, Tata Steel received the ‘Global Slag Company of thethe Year ‘award) Year’ award in the 14th Global Slag Conference and Exhibition 2019 for

its innovative practices in the development of new applications of SteelBy-products (Slags).

• The conference was recently held in Aachen, Germany, and it is one ofthe largest global annual slag events, including major steel producers,steel mill service providers and associated companies.

• About Tata Steel Ltd: (CEO: V Narendran, Founder: Jamshedji Tata,established: August 25, 1907, Jamshedpur, Headquarters: Mumbai)

‘Dost Education’ (India’s Education • On 9th April, 2019, ‘Dost Education’, which is India’s Education TechTechnology Startup won the Global nology Startup, won the technical award of $ 25,000 (Rs 17 lakh) for theTech award) ability to empower parents in taking responsibility for the child’s pri-

mary education.• The award is given by ‘The Next Billion Edtech Prize 2019’ by the UK’s

Work Foundation. This Foundation recognizes the most innovativetechnology that creates a revolutionary impact on low income and edu-cation in the emerging world countries. The winners were Precilabsfrom Ubongo and Egypt from Tanzania.

• Out of the three winners, Ubongo wore crown as the overall winner andtook home the Next Billion Prize Trophy. The third winner of this awardprovides virtual laboratories for schools and teaching organizations.

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The 2019 Pulitzer Prize was announced:• Pulitzer Prize is a prize for achievements in newspapers, magazines and online journalism, literature and music composition

in the United States. It was founded in 1917 by the provisions in the will of the American (born Hungarian) Joseph Pulitzer,who had raised his property as a newspaper publisher, and this award was administered by Columbia University in NewYork City.

The full list of 2019 Pulitzer Prize winners are as follows:

Journalism

Category Winner

Public Service Staff of South Florida Sun Sentinel

Criticism Carlos Lozada of the Washington Post

Editorial New York Times Brent Staples

Books, Dramas, and Music

Category Winner

Novel “The Overstory” by Richard Powers

Drama “Fair View” by Jackie Shiblai’s Drurry

History “Frederick Douglas” by David W. Blight

Biography or Autobiography “The New Negro” by Jeffrey C. Stewart

Poem “Be with” by Forrest Gender

Non-Fiction “Amity and Prosperity” by Elijah Griswold

Music “Prism” by Allen Reid

Special citation Aretha Franklin

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IN REFERENCE TO INDIA

India’s Foreign Ministry constitutes “Indo-Pacific Wing”-• Taking a strategic step recently, India has established an Indo-Pacific Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

This division is the result of the suggestions given by current Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale. The purpose of this newdivision is to give a consistent shape to that policy, which PM Modi had expressed in the Shangri-La dialogue in 2018.Presently, this division will be led by Joint Secretary Vikram Dorai swami, it is in Bangladesh and Myanmar Apart from thisthere will be an additional charge.

• Regional divisions of the Ministry of External Affairs are important for policy making, so the construction of the Indo-Pacific Division is an important step of the government. The logic behind this division is the Indian Ocean Rim Association(IORA), ASEAN region and QUAD in the Indo-Pacific initiative have to integrate. So far, it is not clear whether separatetrilateral groups will be part of the responsibility of this division in the Indo-Pacific region of India-Japan-US, India-Australia-Indonesia and India-Australia-Japan.

• This move of India came last year after the American changed its name to Pacific Command after having Indo-PacificCommand because it wants to emphasize its Indo-Pacific policy. India is also planning to give greater energy to IORA asthe center of Indo-Pacific policy is the Indian Ocean. It will also help integrate the blue economy part of the Indian policywith the security part, which is a trilateral security tool between India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives.

• Regarding the Shangri-La Dialogue: Shangri-La Dialogue is an inter-governmental security forum, which is organizedannually by an International Think Tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore.

• Shangri-La Dialogue has evolved into a major strategic gathering in the Asia-Pacific region.

• It includes Defense Ministers, permanent heads of ministries and military chiefs of Asia-Pacific countries.

About the Indian Ocean Rim Association:

• The Indian Ocean Rim Association or the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is an inter-governmental organizationthat was established on March 7, 1997.

• IORA is a dynamic organization of 22 member states and 9 dialogue partners.

India’s longest suspension bridge ‘Maitri’ was built over Leh-Ladakh in just 40 days on the Indus river:• Indian Army has achieved a record achievement in only 40 days by constructing the 260 feet longest suspension bridge

‘Maitri’ on the Indus river in the Leh-Ladakh region. Combat engineers related to the ‘Sahas and Yogyata’ Regiment of‘Fire and Fury Corps’ of the Indian Army created ‘Maitri’ bridge. 500 tons of bridge equipment and construction materialwere used for the construction of this bridge.

• The inauguration of the bridge ‘maitri’ was held on April 1, 2019 by veterans of the 89-year-old Nike Funtoke Engdes(Retd), veterans of the war of 1947-1948, 1962, 1971 and 1999, along with Lieutenant General Yogesh Kumar Joshi andGeneral Officer Commanding In the presence of ‘Fire and Fury Corps’ .

• Since the word ‘Maitri’ is a symbol of friendship, hence the name of the bridge has been named ‘Maitri Bridge’ so that themilitary personnel and Leh-Ladakh region can be a symbol of excellent civil-military relations between the locals. Thisbridge is far ahead of Ladakh will provide connectivity to the areas and help the residents of the biggest villages of Ladakhsuch as Choglamsar, Stok and Chhotot.

• This project is a part of the Rs 25,000 crore allocated projects for the state of Jammu and Kashmir. Other projects include‘Zozila tunnel’ and the work of All-Weather Road constructed through Zanskar in Kargil from Manali to Ladakh in 2018.Based on its geographical location, Leh-Ladakh is already an important area. That’s why, in June 2018, the Border RoadsOrganization (BRO) had built a 35-meter-long “Chamsahan” bridge, which reached the highest bridge in the world, underthe Siachen Glacier (‘Project Himank’), which further Ended the movement of vehicles in this area.

The first safe link between the US Navy was launched under the “COMCASA” treaty.• India and the United States have developed the first reliable communication link between the Indian Navy and the US

Central as well as the Common Naval Command under the COMCASA Treaty in New Delhi, India. Indo-US Military-Information Sharing Agreement, COMCASA was signed on September 6, 2018 at the 2 + 2 bilateral summit.

• By implementing the COMCASA agreement, the US has introduced Selective Unpublished Anti-Spoofing Module GPSSystem in some of the C-130 and C-17 transport aircraft. The United States has given assurances to not share India’s datawith any other country and without its prior permission the US cannot use it.

• The result of COMCASA (Communication, Compatibility and Security Agreement):

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• India will gain access to U.S. Navy’s intelligence information in addition to regulating joint operations in the future.This will further help the army in the favorable and ‘interconnected’ environment, without which first India had to rely onless secure systems. The treaty will help to create an ‘interoperable’ environment for the two countries’ armies.

The BCIM corridor connecting India and Myanmar under the BRI coverage framework is no longerincluded:• The report titled ‘The Belt and Road Initiative Progress, Contributions and Prospects’; released by the leading group to

promote the Belt and Road Initiative, first listed BCIM as a BRI (Belt and Road Initiative) project. But due to the fact thatIndia did not take part in the Belt and Road Forum (BRF), the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic rollingout of the list of projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) scheme is likely to be halted.

• India did not participate in BRF for the second time as the CPEC passes through Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (POK). TheBCIM corridor spread to 2800 km will provide connectivity between Kunming and Kolkata in Yunnan province of China,although before reaching Kolkata, it will pass through areas like Mandalay (in central Myanmar) and Dhaka.

• BRI China is a major initiative to rebuild ancient Silk Road connectivity in Eurasia and Africa. Following a document relatedto the Joint Community of the Bridge Leaders roundtable, which was completed in Beijing, it has come to the headlines; thewebsite has not listed BCIM as a project under BRIM. South Asia is affiliated with three main undertakings, namely:

• China-Myanmar Economic Corridor (CMEC)

• Nepal-China Trans-Himalayan Multi-Dimensional Connectivity Network, which includes the Nepal-China Cross-Border Railway

• China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPC)

• BRI got high growth on the basis of partnership with China in Myanmar for setting up of CMEC in September 2018. Beforethe CMEC ended its path to the Kyauppeu Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the Bay of Bengal, it would pass from Yunnanprovince of China to Yangon from Yangon (it was the capital of Myanmar earlier). CMEC will probably reduce Beijing’sbusiness and energy dependence on the Malacca Strait (the Indian Ocean connects with the Pacific Ocean), thus reducingone of China’s major economic life lines. In August 2018, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) opened anew center in Yangon and helped fund some of the CMEC-run projects.

Successful testing of ‘Nirbhay’, India’s first long range Sub-Sonic Cruise missile:• The ‘Nirbhay’, long-range sub-sonic cruise missile has been indigenously designed and developed by the Defense

Research and Development Organization, a laboratory based in Bangalore, the Aeronautical Development Establishment(ADE). The test of this missile was examined by the launch complex of the Integrated Range in Chandipur, Odisha. Thismissile can be launched from multiple platforms. It is India’s first indigenously designed and developed long range cruisemissile.

• Important Points regarding the Missile: This missile is nuclear capable, which can be equipped with 300 kg warhead. It canattack land target even at a distance of upto 1000 km and at 100 meters so that the missile can destroy the enemy. It has theability to reach the speed of 0.6-0.7 MAC and it can be fired from multiple platforms. The missile weighs 1,500 kg, width of0.52 meters and wings of 2.7 meters. There is an engine powered by rocket boosters and turbofan. This missile has inertialnavigation system which guides it and is the radio ultimeter which is to determine its height.

• Missile ring is equipped with laser gyroscope (RLG) based guidance, control and navigation system. It is also equippedwith an MEMS-based inertial navigation system (INS) and GPS system. There is also the ability to pierce many targets atone time in the Nirbhay missile.

According to a report released by the World Health Organization, Kanpur is in the first place as themost polluted city:• In the list of 15 Most Polluted Cities of the World WHO (World Health Organization) in the quality of air, the ‘Political

Leaders’ Position and Action on Air Quality in India 2014-2019' report released by climate trends in Kanpur (in UttarPradesh) is the world’s largest Polluted city and in the first place in the list and Varanasi was placed at number three.

• 14 of the 15 most polluted cities in the world (mentioned by the World Health Organization (WHO)) are in India. Of these4 are in Uttar Pradesh. According to the WHO report, there is an increase in the number of people suffering from allergicand respiratory problems due to heavy production in Varanasi city of Uttar Pradesh. In Haryana, Faridabad is second onlyto Kanpur, while Delhi is sixth in the list. Apart from these, among the most polluted cities in the list of the most pollutedcities are in Gaya and Patna, Lucknow, Agra, Muzaffarpur, Srinagar, Gururgram, Jaipur, Patiala and Jodhpur.

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• (AQI) Air quality index ratings in India: According to Pollution Control Officers, the AQI is following:

• 0 to 50 are considered ‘good’

• 51 to 100 ‘Satisfactory’

• 101 to 200 ‘Medium’

• 201 to 300 ‘Bad’

• 301 to 400 ‘very bad’

• 401 to 500 ‘serious’

India’s first foreign interactive bird park established in Mumbai:• On April 11, 2019, India’s first overseas bird park ‘Esselworld Bird Park’ was launched in Mumbai by Esselworld Leisure Pvt

Ltd, a family entertainment arm of $ 6 billion Essel Group.

• Park is spread over 1.4 acres of land and is surrounded by flora and fauna.It is home to more than 500 foreign birds bymixing more than 60 species of flying, terrestrial and aquatic birds, and here the special plants and trees for birds There are200 species. Star charm in Bird Park is the African Gray Parrot, Blue Gold Macau, Cocktail, Rainbow Loricket, Toucan, BlackLorry, Violet Turco and many other birds.

• Esselworld is the largest amusement park in the country and the Water Kingdom Park in Mumbai is one of Asia’s biggesttheme water parks.

Cabinet approves funds for implementation of 10% Economic Weaker Section (EWS) quota:• Recently, the budget of Rs 4315.15 crores has been approved by the Union Cabinet under the chairmanship of Prime

Minister Narendra Modi to create more than 2 lakh additional seats in 158 educational institutions. Additional seats will becreated in the next two years to implement 10 percent economically weak (EWS) reservation.

• Important Points :

(i) According to senior officials of the Human Resource Development Ministry (MHRD), a total of 2,14,766 additionalseats will be created out of which 1,19,983 seats will be made in 2019-20 and the remaining 95,783 seats will be createdin 2020-21.

(ii) This step has been taken in the backdrop of the 103th Constitutional Amendment Act, which provides 10 percentreservation to the economically weaker sections (EWS) in government jobs and educational institutions.

(iii) In order to implement this 10 percent EWS quota, the government has asked all educational institutions to increaseenrollment of up to 25 percent so that seats available for SC, ST, OBC and general category are not reduced.

Kerala Agricultural University (KAU)’s Intellectual Property Rights Cell (IPR cell) was selected for theNational Intellectual Property Awards 2019:• On April 19, 2019, the National Intellectual Property Awards for the contribution of the Kerala Agricultural University

(KAU) to its intellectual property rights cell (IPR cell) for its contribution in registering the geographical indications in thecountry and promoting the registered GI in the country.

• This prize includes prize money of Rs. 1 lakh and it will be presented on April 26 at a function organized in New Delhi onWorld Intellectual Property Day. This award will be presented by the Indian Intellectual Property Office under the Ministryof Industry and Commerce. Was formed to provide individuals and organizations working in the field of trademarks andgeographical indications (GIs).

• KAU IPR cell, which is headed by Dr. C.R.LC, won the special patent for GI-related activities in 2018 by the Controller ofGeneral Patents, Trademarks and GI and also awarded the Plant Genome Sevier Award in 2016.

Indian Standards Bureau (BIS) signed Memorandum of Understanding with IIT-Delhi for Standardizationand Conformity Assessment:• Indian Standards Bureau (BIS) has signed an MoU with IIT-Delhi to cooperate in the field of standardization and conformity

assessment. MOU was signed by IIT Delhi Professor V. Ramgopal Rao and BIS Director General Surina Rajan. Accordingto the Memorandum of Understanding, IIT will provide financial assistance to Delhi for BIS projects and provide basicinfrastructure support for IIT standardization for research and development projects of relevance.

• BIS and IIT Delhi also agreed to set up excellence centers in the field of standardization, testing and conformity assessment.

• Memorandum of Understanding will be applicable for a period of five years and it can be extended further.

• Regarding BIS: (Establishment: 1986, Headquarters: Manak Bhawan - New Delhi, Director General: Surina Rajan)

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India cooperates with Japan and UAE to establish two projects in Africa:• On April 15, 2019, India joined hands with Japan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to implement two projects in Africa,

as it is the counterpart of China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on the continent to expand footprint. India willbuild a Cancer Hospital in Kenya, together with Japan, and establish an Information and Communication Technology(ICT) Center in Ethiopia in partnership with UAE. Through this partnership, India has ambitious on tele-education andtele-medicine. Pan African e-Network Project has started many projects like Integrated between academic and medicalinstitutions in Africa and India. Quote ‘satellite, providing fiber optics and wireless networks.

• Japan: Capital: Tokyo, Currency: Japanese Yen, Prime Minister: Shinzo Abe

• United Arab Emirates (UAE): Capital: Abu Dhabi, Currency: United Arab Emirates Dirham, President: Khalifa Bin Zayed AlNahyan, Prime Minister: Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

Military Exercise ‘Bold Kurukshetra-2019• On April 8, 2019, a three-day joint military exercise called ‘Bold Kurukshetra -2019’ between India and Singapore, in Babina

Cantonment of Jhansi, strengthening cooperation against terrorism in Uttar Pradesh, developing defense technology andpromoting maritime security. Colonel SP Singh led the Indian counterpart and Lieutenant Colonel Tong Chong Katy led theSingapore equivalent. Brigade Ranjan Keran reviewed the march of the two parties.

• BACKGROUND: An official agreement was signed between India and Singapore to strengthen defense relations betweenits respective armed forces in November 2017 and for this agreement, Singapore Armed Forces personnel were trained withthe Indian Armed Forces.

• About Singapore: Currency: Singapore Dollar, President: Halimah Yakub, Prime Minister: Lee Hsien Loong

RailWire Wi-Fi at 1600 railway stations in India:• India’s Neutral Telecommunication Infrastructure Provider ‘RailTel’ converted 1600 railway stations of India into RailWire

WiFi area. Mumbai’s Santacruz railway station is the 1600th station to become a RailWire Wi-Fi zone.

• RailTel Mini Ratna (Category-I) PSU owns a pan-India optic fiber network on special Write Off Way (ROW) with railwaytrack. RailWire is a retail broadband initiative of Railtel.

NIRF, ARIA 2019 ranking released by President Ramnath Kovind:• On April 8, 2019, President Ramnath Kovind published the Atal Ranking of Institutes (ARIIA) 2019 and National Institutional

Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2019 for the ranking innovation achievements for higher educational institutions in the VigyanBhawan of New Delhi. First NIRF Rank was released in 2016. This is the fourth edition of the NIRF ranking.

• Rankings are based on some standards - teaching, learning and resources, undergraduate results, research and businesspractice, accessibility and exclusivity, and retention. Ranking categories are medical, management, engineering, university,college, pharmacy, architecture, and law.

• Ranking are as follows-

Category Winner

Overall Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

University Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

Engineering Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

College Miranda House, Delhi

Management Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore

Pharmacy Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi

Law National Law School of India University, Bangalore

Architecture Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur

Medical All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi

• ARIIA-2019 :Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements. IIT Madras was the best institution in the top 10government institutions.

• Based on standard infrastructure and awareness, budget and funding support, entrepreneurship, idea generation andpromotion, intellectual property production, learning methods and administration.

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IN REFERENCE TO WORLD

Namami Gange got approval with global recognition in “Global Water Summit”:• National Mission for Clean Ganga or Namami Ganga, which is India’s flagship program, was awarded the ‘Public Water

Agency of the Year’ award at the Global Water Summit held in London on April 9, 2019. The National Mission for CleanGanga was honored for its initiative in the water sector, which brings significant improvements in the lives of the people.

• The 8th April to the beginning of the 2019 edition of the Global Water Summit was a 3-day program which was organizedat the Sofitel London Heathrow Hotel, Hounslow.

• About Namami Gange Program: This program is an integrated mission for Ganga Rejuvenation. It has a wide multi-sectoral intervention with multi-stakeholder participation and adopts a basin based approach, which includes the Gangaand its tributaries. It has been approved by the Central Government as a ‘Flagship Program’ in June 2014, in which to meetthe double objective of the effective elimination of the national river’s pollution, conservation and rejuvenation, with abudget outlay of Rs.20, 000 crores.

150 Indian peacekeepers were awarded the UN Medal for service in UN Mission in South Sudan(UNMISS):• On April 15, 2019, in the Malad region of South Sudan, UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) awarded 150 Indian

peacekeepers with a medal to work with extreme dedication and sacrifice for the mission. Colonel Amit Gupta, who headsa battalion of 850 soldiers in Upper Nile region, was one of the recipients of the South Sudan Medal of Honor.

• Under the command of Col Amit Gupta, Indian Peacekeepers organized veterinary camps and conducted a veterinaryhospital in Malakal, South Sudan.

Regarding UN peacekeeping troops:

• The main purpose of the UN peacekeeping troops is to reduce the violence against the citizens by offering a safeenvironment for the people of South Sudan who have fled from violence and have taken shelter in civil protection sites.

• UNMISS also helps to increase the safe distribution of humanitarian aid for refugees, i.e., food, water, shelter and healthcare, and with the main focus on women and children who are more victims of gender-based violence, human rightsInvestigates and reports the cases of violence. Under this mission, the Indian Horizontal Mobility Engineering Companyhas a 145 km road route and its reconstruction was completed. This route connects Benteu and Lear in South Sudan andthus offers an easy way to meet humanitarian assistance and other needs.

India’s contribution towards UN peacekeeping operations:

• At present, India is the second largest contributor of peacekeepers in the UNMISS with more than 2,400 military and policepersonnel. Since independence of India, more than 2 lakh Indian military and police personnel have served under theUnited Nations flag and 168 soldiers sacrificed their lives in the service of the United Nations.India also contributes to theUN Peacekeeping Fund.

According to the State of Global Air 2019 report, due to air pollution, more than 1.2 million people diedin India.• According to the State of Global Air 2019 report, on April 3, 2019, in 2017 more than 1.2 million people died in India due to

air pollution.

• In the year 2017, about 5 million people died from stroke, diabetes, heart attack, lung cancer and permanent lung diseasein the world due to prolonged indoor and outdoor air pollution. Out of these 5 million deaths , 3 million deaths are crediteddirectly to PM 2.5, half of which are from India and half from China.

• Air pollution is the third major cause of death in all health risks in India, and the life of the South Asian child born todaywill reduce the life of air pollution at the current high level, two years and six months will decrease, while global Lifeexpectancy loss is 20 months. US-based organization Health Effects Institute released this report

• New National Clean Air Program has been launched by the Government of India to reduce some air pollution, such as PrimeMinister Ujjwala Scheme, domestic LPG program, quick Bharat Stage 6 / VI Clean Vehicle Standards.

Denmark’s first Global Conference on Cooperation between the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreementwas held in Copenhagen:• The first global multi-stakeholder conference on cooperation, between the UN Framework Convention on UN Economic

and Social Affairs (UN DESA) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UN FCCC) between the

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2030 agenda for sustainable development and the Parisian settlement on climate change To cooperate was organized inCopenhagen, Denmark. It has been hosted by the Danish Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Energy, Utility and Climate.

• The United Nations High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) provides detailed analysis and reviewof SDG (Sustainable Development Goals) on Climate Change in 2019, the Conference will be held in the meeting of theExpert Group on Climate Action. Climate and SDG Cooperation Conference aims at encouraging action around sustainabledevelopment goals and providing strategies for enhancing the relationship between SDG and climate action. It alsofocuses on maximizing co-profits by encouraging action from global, regional and country-level stakeholders.

• On April 2, 2019, the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN) hosted a program called ‘HealthyPeople and Sustainable Diet for a Healthy Planet’. It provided a platform to share experience and challenges in upgradinga healthy and sustainable diet.

• The first global alliance was launched for clean cooling for the first time: First global conference on clean and efficientcooling was launched at the first global conference. The purpose of this Coalition is to identify solutions and to accelerateprogress towards clean and efficient cooling.

• Global Cool Alliance has been supported by the United Nations, Climate and Clean Air Coalition, Kigali Cooling EfficiencyProgram and continuous energy for all.

G20 Summit:• The G20 Summit 2018 was organized in Buenos Aires Argentina. The 2019 G20 Summit will be held in Osaka Japan on June

28-29.

• Saudi Arab will host the G20 summit in Riyadh in November 2020. This will be the 15th meeting of the first G20 meeting inthe Arab world and the G20 (Group of Twenty).

• For the first time in the G20 Summit 2008, Washington D.C. , Whose main objective was to revive the world economy in theworst financial crisis in more than 70 years. The G20 Summit is formally known as ‘Financial Markets and Summit on theWorld Economy’.

• Participants of the Summit will be the leaders of 19 countries and the European Union (EU). 19 countries are Argentina,Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Republic of Korea, Republic ofSouth Africa, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Kingdom, USA. The group of these 20 countries accounted for 85% ofthe world’s GDP and two-thirds of the world’s population.

• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the agenda for Osaka Summit 2019. The agenda is as follows:

Promote Free Business

• Innovation of science and technology to focus on social issues and focus on women, youth and disabled, to build ahuman-centric society.

• Development of infrastructure for development.

• To promote global health, to promote high economic growth.

• Encourage environmental and economic development together to curb the harmful effects of climate change. OsakaEnvironmental Priority will take action against marine plastic pollution and will support marine biological diversity.

• Keep in mind the emerging issue of population.

• Social development goals and promotion of international development.

World Press Freedom Index 2019:• Recently, Reporters Without Borders released the World Press Freedom Index 2019, in which Norway stayed at the top for

the third consecutive year and India fell to two places below 2019 (138 places in 2018) at 140th place out of 180 countries.The reason for lack of India’s rank has been to hit at least six Indian journalists in the last one year.

• Two African countries Ethiopia and Gambia have significantly improved their ranking from the 150th to the 110th and the122nd to 92nd, respectively, compared to 2018. Countries in the South Asia region have been placed worse than last year.Pakistan dropped three places to 142 and Bangladesh dropped four places to 150.

• World Press Freedom Index Top 5 Countries in 2019: (1 to 5) - Norway, Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark

• World Press Freedom Index, down to 5 countries in 2019: (176 to 180) - Vietnam, China, Eritrea, North Korea, Turkmenistan

Regarding Reporters without Borders:

• Reporters without Borders (RWB) or its original name, Reporter Sense Frontiers (RSF) is an international non-profitorganization, a non-governmental organization, which works on issues relating to freedom of the press and freedom ofinformation. Headquarters: Paris, France / DG: Kristob De Vulder.

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Amartya Sen Back (Research on Inequality) In London School of Economics and Political Science(LSE) :• On April 19, 2019, the London School of Economics (LSE) has formed a bench for research on disparity by the name of

Indian Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, who was a professor of economics at LSE from 1971-82.

He will also be working as director of the LSE International Inequality Institute, which focuses on the study and challengeof some of the most pressed issues. The institute is a vibrant incarnation of the school’s enduring commitment to work forreform of society through research, education and public participation. The backing with the Atlantic Fellow for Social andEconomic Equity (AFSEE) will benefit from an important investment for global equity to pursue the power of research andthe initiatives of social change by Atlantic Philosophero.

• Amartya Sen won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1998 and was honored with Bharat Ratna in 1999. Amartya Senwas born on 3 November 1933 in Manikganj, Bangladesh.

Indonesia issued postal stamp based on “Ramayana”:• On April 23, 2019, Indonesia issued a special postage stamp on Ramayana in the presence of India’s Ambassador Pradeep

Kumar Rawat and Vice Foreign Minister Abdurrahman Mohammad Fakir on the 70th anniversary of establishing diplo-matic relations between India and Indonesia. .

• Indonesian sculptor Padmashree Bapok Noman Nurat designated a postal stamp and has a view of Hindu epic Ramayana,in which Jatayu bravely fought to save Sita.

• A specially signed version of the postage stamp will be displayed in the Stamp Museum, Jakarta.

• About Indonesia: Language: Indonesian, Malay trending, Capital: Jakarta, Currency: Indonesian rupiah

India will be “Guest of Honor” at the 29th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair:• On April 24, 2019, the 29th edition of the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (ADIBF) commenced and it will be concluded

on April 30 at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center. India has been named as the “Guest of Honor” country, which reflectsstrong leadership between the people of UAE and India.

• More than 1000 participants from more than 50 countries will participate in the fair and is attended by30 publication housesfrom India. The purpose of the fair is to highlight the rich heritage of the UAE, to demonstrate its authenticity andculturality.

• Indian Ambassador of United Arab Emirates (UAE) Navdeep Suri released his book, “Inked in Blood and Spirit of Free-dom”, which is an English translation of the poem “Killer Baisakhi” on Jallianwala Bagh massacre.

• Apart from this, books based on Mahatma Gandhi’s life and struggle are displayed as a special attention as part of the150th birth anniversary celebrations.

UAE-based Etihad Airways became the first major airline to operate a plastic-free flight:• Recently, Etihad Airways, the UAE based flag carrier, has become the first major airline in the Gulf region to operate without

any single-use plastic on the go. The objective is to spread awareness about pollution on Earth Day. This flight, named EY484, landed on Brisbane in Australia on April 22, without the use of plastic. Etihad Airways has promised to reduce the useof single-use plastic usage up to 80 percent by the end of 2022 and it is part of this pledge.

IIM Bangalore becomes the only Indian institution to join QS EMBA ranking in 2019:• On April 23, 2019, Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore (IIM-B) Post-Graduate Program in Enterprise Management

(PGPEM) has achieved 12th rank in APAC (Asia Pacific) listing and 61st Rank in QS Executive MBA ranking in 2019. Withit, it became the only Indian B-school to secure a place among the top 100 B-schools worldwide.

• This ranking uses criteria such as leadership, executive profile, diversity, career results, etc. to mark the best universitiesin the world. IIM-B also secured first position in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) Ranking 2019 in theManagement category.

Japan unveiled the name of “Reiwa” Imperial era with its new Samrat• Moving forward to the 1,400-year-old tradition in Japan, the Japanese government has unveiled a new Imperial era called

‘Reiwa’ or ‘Charming of harmony’ for Emperor Nruhito. The new era beginning on 1 May will replace Emperor Akihito’s‘Hayesi’ era (1989-2019). In the new age , there are two letters ‘reiwa’ and ‘wa’. Reiwa means ‘order’ or ‘order’ and 'wa'means ‘auspicious’ or ‘good’. The name change occurs when a new emperor accepts the throne.

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• There are four eras in the modern history of Japan. Meiji era (1868-1912), Taisho era (1912-1926), Heisey era (1989-2019) andnow Reiwa era are the heads of Imperial family of Japan and head of state of Japan. Currently, the emperor of Japan is theonly head of the world with the English title of ‘Emperor’.

‘White Paper’ of the British Government, defined ‘Online Harms’ for Online users (especially children’ssafety)• The British Government has published an ‘Online Harms Paper’ which is open for public consultation (till July), focusing

on making users responsible for the online social media platform especially for the safety of children. This is a jointproposal from Digital, Culture, Media and Sports (DCMS) and Home Office Department. Because all social media platformsuse strong algorithms leading to echo-chambers, where a user uses multi-directional content (i.e. many Kind of soundsand opinions), rather than replenishing content (according to the user’s web-browsing), which influences the brain of thechildren; The white paper offers compulsory ‘duty of care’ on various social media platforms to take appropriate measuresto protect users (especially children) from harm.

Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, fifth term as prime minister• On April 10, 2019, Benjamin Netanyahu is more likely to be elected as the Prime Minister of Israel for the fifth time, because

the full-informal election results are giving a solid majority in parliament to their rightiest Leader and other nationalists andreligious parties. The result has reduced the hopes of a solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. With counting of 97.4%votes, Liquid and its traditional. The political allies were ahead in the parliament with the 65-55 majority.

• About Israel: Capital: Jerusalem, Currency: Israeli New Shekel, Prime Minister: Benjamin Netanyahu

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RECOGNITIONS

Odisha Kandhamal turmeric got GI (Geographical Indicator) tag:• “Kandhamal Haldi” Locally grown turmeric in Kandhamal district of Odisha got the Geographical Indication (GI) tag from

India’s intellectual property. It is organized collectively by the tribals. In 2018, Kandhamal Apex Spice Association forMarketing (KSAM) in Phulbani had applied for registration of Kandhamal turmeric. It was accepted under sub-section (1)of section 13 of the Materials (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 of the Geographical Indication.

• Intellectual property India is an organization working under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Dr Benny Antony was awarded National (IP) Intellectual Property Award, 2019 in the Top Personalcategory for “Patent and Commercialization”:• Dr. Benny Antony, Joint Managing Director and Co-Founder of Arjun Natural Limited, Kochi, has been awarded the

National Intellectual Property Award in the category of top personal category for patent and commercialization, 2019. Dr.Antony is inventor of BCM-95, who is The world’s leading patent turmeric extract formula. Dr. Antony has more than 80international patents. With the National IP Award, Intellectual Property Office India and World Intellectual PropertyOrganization (WIPO) jointly awarded Antony ‘Wipo Medals for Investors’.

National Intellectual Property (IP) Awards:

• On April 26 every year on the occasion of World Intellectual Property Day, the Indian Intellectual Property Office providesNational Intellectual Property (IP) awards to outstanding investigators, organizations and companies in the field ofpatents, designs, trademarks and geographical signals.

‘Uttarkarsh Bangla’ and ‘Sabuj Saathi’ got global recognition on the World Summit (WSIS) on InformationSociety:• Under the Government of West Bengal, projects, ‘Uttakarsh Bangla’ (Skill training of youth) and ‘Sabuj Sathi’ (Cycle)

projects for students have won the World Summit (WSIS) Awards on UN Information Society. Bangla ‘got the highestaward and became a winner in the capacity building category, while’ Sabuj Sathi ‘was given ICT applications: Under the e-Government category, 18 categories. A total of 1062 nominees were selected for the first position as a champion project.

• About Utkarsh Bangla Scheme: The objective of this scheme is to provide 400 to 1200 hours of training without anycharge, providing vocational training to the people dropping school, thus providing encouragement to increase employmentopportunities for the younger generation. Training of tourists, tailoring, television and other electronic equipment, beauticiancourses etc. to the beneficiaries of the scheme and a letter to relevant certificates on course completion courses coursesunder the scheme would be opened up is built on the same level of National Vocational Education Qualification Framework.

• Regarding the Sabuj Saathi Plan: The scheme launched in September 2015 was aimed at distributing eco-friendly bicyclesto the students of Ninth to XII students in government schools and government-aided schools and madarsas. The budgetof this scheme was estimated at 40 lakhs. The aim of the scheme is to empower students, especially girl students andreduce drop out in higher education.

• Regarding the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS): WSIS is a global multi-stakeholder platform that helps inthe implementation of WSIS action lines to improve sustainable development. The summit was organized and co-organizedby ITU (International Telecommunication Union), UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization), UNDP (United Nations Development Program) and UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade andDevelopment). It provides opportunities for creating and sharing knowledge, helps to promote information exchange andrelationships with emerging global trends.

Guwahati Railway Station, became the first railway station which has obtained ISO certification inIndia:• Guwahati Railway Station has become the first railway station of the Indian Railway to receive ISO (International

Standardization Organization) certification from the Indian Green Tribunal (NGT ).This certificate has been given toprovide passenger amenities in a clean and green environment.

• ISO certification received by Guwahati Railway Station is ISO-14001, which is for environmental management systemaccording to international norms, which was upgraded in 2015.

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NASA Rover Challenge won 3 awards in 2019:• NASA has awarded its 25th Annual Human Exploration Rover Challenge in 2019 in three teams of Indian students at

Huntsville, Alabama, US Space and Rocket Center. This program has invited students of college students and high schoolstudents to develop and test vehicles for Mars, Moon and beyond for future missions.AIA Neil Armstrong Best DesignAward was won by ‘Ghaziabad Uttar Pradesh team KIET Group of Institutions.

• The team of Lovely Professional University in Phagwara, Punjab received the ‘STEM Engagement Award’. Mukesh Patel,School of Technology, Management and Engineering, Mumbai, Maharashtra got the “Frank Joe Saxton Memorial Pit CrewAward” and won the NASA Martial Space Flight Center Won the System Safety Challenge Award in the competition.

Swachhata Bharat Pakhwada Award 2019 Honor:• Three organizations All India Radio, Publications Division and Children’s Film Society of India were awarded the Sanitation

Pakkhada Award 2019 This award was given by Amit Khare, Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Thisaward was accepted by All India Radio Director General F Shehariar and All India Radio by DG (News) Ms. IRA Joshi.

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ENVIRONMENT

National Green Tribunal (NGT) fined Rs 100 crores on Andhra Pradesh government:• On April 8, 2019, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed a fine of 100 crores on Andhra Pradesh Government for

illegal sand mining in the state. Penalty has been imposed on the basis of petition filed by Anmolu Gandhi, a resident ofAndhra Pradesh, alleging that the Krishna, Godavari Rivers and their tributaries in the state are harmed by illegal sandmining. Tribunals chaired by the Chief Justice, Adarsh Kumar Goel, who is the President of the NGT, the State Governmentwill get Rs.100 crore within one month with Central Pollution Control Board (CPSB) Sector ‘directed to environmentalcompensation’ deposits.

• In addition, to provide a report to the tribunal within three months for evaluation of environmental pollution, the CentralPollution Control Board (CPCB), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF and CC), National Instituteof Mines, Dhanbad, IIT. A committee has been formed in collaboration with Roorkee and Madras School of Economics.

• About Andhra Pradesh: Governor: S.L. Narasimhan, Chief Minister: Chandrababu Naidu,

• National Park: Sri Venkateswara National Park, Papikonda National Park.

The United Nations considered “Bhopal Gas Tragedy” in the 20th century as the world’s leading industrialaccident:• The United Nations Labor Agency, International Labor Organization (ILO) has said that the Bhopal gas tragedy in the

latest report “The Safety and the Health at the Heart of the Future of Work - Building on 100 Years of Experience” , In whichthe Union Carbide Pesticide Plant in Bhopal in 1984 had at least 30 tonnes of highly toxic Methyl Isocyanate (MIC) gas Theleakage killed more than 15,000 people, ILO said that more than 600,000 workers due to toxic gas leak from the UnionCarbide plant were affected.

• After 1919, another major industrial accident, in whose report the ILO spoke, the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster inUkraine, the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan and the fall of the building of Bangladesh’s Rana Plaza in 2013. Thereport of the ILO. According to estimates, 2.78 million workers die every year due to occupational accidents and workrelated activities, out of which 2.4 million diseases.

• About ILO: Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland,

Director General: Guy Ryder

India’s freshwater fish “Mahseer” was included in IUCN Red List:• In the Red List of species of danger of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), hump-backed mahseer has

been included in the list of critically endangered species, which is known as ‘Tor Rama Devi’ or ‘Tiger of Water’ Is alsoknown in this. It is the freshwater fish of the Western Ghats of South India and is found only in the Ghats of the Kaveririver, in which the Pembar, Kabini and Bhar Wani River is included. The maximum length of this fish can be up to 150 cm andmaximum weight can be up to 90 kg. Fishery is considered to be one of 229 species from the recent red list, which wasupdated in November 2018 and it has 12 other Indian species Also reveals the danger situation, including the GreatHornbill.

• The headquarters of the IUCN Red List or Red List is in the United Kingdom.

• IUCN is headquartered in Gland, Switzerland.

A new species of East Asian birds was observed in Andaman and Nicobar:• ‘Horsefield Bronze Kuku’ (Chalacides Basilis) is seen as a new species of East Asian birds in Andaman and Nicobar. This

species is native to Australia and New Guinea. According to the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), the presence of thesebirds has increased since 2004’s Indonesian tsunami.

• About ‘Horsefield Bronze Kuku’: These are differentiated by green and black wings on their back..the length of small birdis about 15 cm and weighing 22 grams.

• In addition to the above, the researchers also recorded the presence of other East Asian birds, such as the ZapageFalicator (Cyanoptella comatelis), Mugimaki Fleicater (Fyudula Mugimaki), Blue-Winged Pitta (Pitta Molukensis), ChineseAgrit (Agreta Ulyofotses) and Chinese Paradise Flaclector (Terpsyphon insci) A Thai bird, commonly found in Thailandand Cambodia, was also seen as a Javan pond heron (Ardola spiceosa).

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Birds of two new species were found in Kerala’s “Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary”:• On March 27, 2019, the dry land species of both the Woolly-Necked Storks and White-belted Drongo have been observed

in the Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary in North Kerala during the 19th bird survey. In addition to the new species, a total of 152species was seen in this survey.

• This survey was done jointly by Forest and Wildlife Department and Malabar Natural History Society.

“Phayeng” village of Manipur got status as India’s first carbon-positive settlement:• On April 1, 2019, the scheduled caste village of Chakpa community in Imphal West district of Manipur, Feng has been rated

as India’s first carbon-positive settlement. This village is surrounded by three dense forests, among which there are fruittrees and a stream flowing through it.

• In addition to this, it has been revived through its fundamental determination and climate change through funding underthe National Optimization Fund (NAFCC), a drought-free village, which can adapt to the impact of climate change invarious states. There is a central scheme introduced in 2015-16.

The fossil of prehistoric whales found in Peru:• Fossils, feet and hooves of four-legged “whales” have been excavated by paleontologists, on the sea sediment from the

Pacific coast of Peru, in Playa Media Luna. The whale is related to a biological group of ancient marine mammals, which iscalled archeocytes. The 13-feet long mammal has been named ‘Pereogocetus Pacificus’.

• It is considered to be the first ancestor of whales and dolphins, which reached the Pacific Ocean after crossing the Atlantic.The findings have been published in scientific journal Current Biology. With the passage of time, the whale has lost theconnection between his spinal cord and his legs, from which he has completely lost his last legs through evolutionarychange.

• Peru: Country: Peru, officially the Republic of Peru (in western South America), capital: Lima

Destructive cyclone - “Idai”:• Last month, numbers of people were killed in cyclone Idai in South Africa has gone up by 1000, while more than 4000 cases

of cholera and seven deaths have been reported from the diseases. The cyclone had damaged Mozambique, Zimbabweand Malawi on March 14. On April 10, 2019, the number of deaths in Zimbabwe was 344, 602 in Mozambique, 59 in Malawiand 257 are missing.

• The United Nations has defined the cyclone Idai as ‘one of the deadliest storms’ on record in the southern hemisphere’.

• This is the second most dangerous tropical cyclone recorded in the Basin of the Southwest Indian Ocean.

Scientists discovered a former unknown species of humans “Homo lujonensis” in the Philippines:• Archaeologists explore the remains of at least 2 adults and 1 teenage (a species of Homo lujonensis) within the archaeological

deposits in the Philippines. Researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) announced to prove the findings insuch a way that the region of Southeast Asia has played a major role in hominids evolutionary history. This study waspublished in an International Journal of Nature. In adult, adult fingers, leg bones and teeth (much smaller than modernhumans) were retained. A baby’s femur bone was also recovered. The bones of the hands and feet are similar to that ofAustralopithicin. Australopithicin had lived in Africa about 2 million years ago and is considered to be the ancestor of theHomo sapiens, which includes modern humans.

• The small size of the bones indicates that these ancient humans were less than 4 feet long. The new species, Homolujonensis, is named after the name of Luzon Island (the largest island in the country). This is the place where fossils ofmore than 50,000 years were discovered in the banawao cave.

• Hominines surviving 50,000 years ago included our species, Homo sapiens and Neanderthals, both from Europe andWestern Asia, Dennysovans and Small Homo Fluorescensis in Siberia, whose nickname was ‘Hobbit’ discovered inIndonesia in 2004.

• Stone tools used before 200,000 years have also been discovered on Sulawesi Island. This proves the fact that ancientHominin was potentially inhabited in many large islands of Southeast Asia.

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SPORTS

ISSF Rifle / Pistol World Cup 2019:• 2019 ISSF Rifle / Pistol World Cup was held from 21 to 29 April in Beijing, China. This event was an annual version of the

ISSF World Cup in the Olympic Shooting Competitions and was governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation(ISSF). It was also a qualification tournament for the World Cup Series 2020 Tokyo Olympics. India won 4 medals including3 gold and 1 silver, and remained in first place in the tournament.

• Second consecutive shooting World Cup and for the third time in 2 years, India has achieved top position in the overallmedals. Earlier in the ISSF World Cup held in Delhi in 2019, India had jointly topped the overall medals with Hungary.

• Anjum Mogadil and Divyansh Singh Panwar won India’s first gold medal in the 10 meter air rifle mixed event at ISSF WorldCup in Beijing. He defeated Chinese duo of Liu Ruxuan and Yang Hernand with points of 17-15.

• Manu Bhakar and Saurabh Chaudhary won India’s second gold in the 10 meter air pistol mixed competition. He beat hisChinese opponent with points 16-6

• Asian Games bronze medalist Abhishek Verma won India’s third gold medal with a total score of 242.7 in the 10m air pistol.In the shooting, Abhishek Verma won India’s 5th Olympics quota in the 10 meter air pistol.

• 17 year old Divyansh Singh Panwar won the silver medal in the 10 meter air rifle event. He scored 0.4 points less than 249.0points from China’s Zicheng Hui. He also won Olympic quota for India in the 10 meter air rifle category.

List of Indian shooters who got Olympic quota:

• Anjum Mogadil (10 meter air rifle female)

• Apoorvi Chandela (10 meter air rifle female)

• Saurabh Chaudhary (10 meter air pistol male)

• Divyansh Singh Panwar (10 meter air rifle men)

• Abhishek Verma (10m air pistol male)

Medals won by Indian shooters:

Sr. No. Event Name Medal

1. 10 m Air Rifle Mixed Anjum Mogdil, Divyansh Singh Panwar Gold

2. 10 m Air Rifle Mixed Manu Bhakar, saurabh Chaudhary Gold

3. 10 m Air Pistol Abhishek Verma Gold

4. 10 m Air Rifle Divyansh Singh Panwar Silver

Meena Kumari Maisnam won gold medal in • Meena Kumari Maisnam scored gold medal in under 54 kg while con

Cologne Boxing World Cup 2019 tinuing its enthusiastic form to reach the top of the podium by defeat-ing the difference of points in the Cologne Boxing World Cup in Thai-land in Colon, Germany on April 13, 2019.

Sakshi and Pavaiya Basumatri won the silver medal:

• 18-year-old Sakshi Chaudhary had to be satisfied with silver medalafter losing the women’s Commonwealth Games silver medalist MichaelaWalsh under 57kg category. Michaela Walsh won the match with a 5-0performance.

• Pwilao Basumatari, India’s gold medal winner, had to be satisfied with thesilver medal in the 64kg category, because she had less points againstChina’s Chengay Yang, who won the winner on the basis of the points.

Pinki Rani and Pravin won the bronze medal:

• Rani had to be satisfied with a bronze medal in the 51kg category afterlosing to Ireland’s 2018 Commonwealth Games silver medalist CarlyMcNaul.

• Prince got bronze medal in 60 kg category after being defeated by En-glish boxer Paige Murn.

• With the above win, the Indian boxer finished the World Cup by win-ning a total of 5 medals.

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ISSF Beijing World Cup 2019:(Saurabh • On April 25, 2019, the pair of Indian shooters, 16-year-old Saurabh

Chaudhary, Manu Bhakar won India’s Chaudhary and 17-year-old Manu Bhakar competed in China’s Xiang

second gold) Ranxin and Peng Wei in the final of the International Shooting SportFederation (ISSF) World Cup 2019 in Beijing Shooting from 16-6 De-feated gold medal in 10 meter Air Pistol Mixed.

• Before this, Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhakar had already wongold medals in this category in the February 2010 edition of the NewDelhi edition of World Cup.

• The team’s teammates scored 482 points at the fifth position. AnjumMogad Gil and Divyansh Singh Panwar won gold in the 10 meter air riflemixed team event by defeating China in the same tournament.

• About ISSF World Cup: Started: 1986, each event has four competi-tions per year. The venues of 2019 are :

(a) Location 1 : New Delhi, India

(b) Location 2 : Beijing, China

(c) Location 3 : Munich, Germany

(d) Location 4 : Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Indian squash player Saurav Ghosal is the • On April 1, 2019, Sourav Ghosal recorded two positions to become the

first Indian to enter the top 10 squash first Indian male squash player to reach the top 10 in the latest PSA

world rankings (Professional Squash Association) World Rankings. He has been placedat number 10, which is the best ranking of his career.

• Saurav Ghosal performed brilliantly at the 2018-2019 PSA World Cham-pionship, which was held in Chicago, USA and reached the quarterfinals.

• Two Indian female squash players named Joshna Chinappa and DeepikaPallikal first entered the PSA World Ranking in the top 10.

• At present, Joshna Chinappa is India’s best female squash player (ranked15th) and Sourav Ghosal is India’s best male squash player (ranked10th).

• Professional Squash Association (PSA): Headquarters: Leeds, England,Chairman: Ziyad al-Turki,

• President: Ali Farag (Male) and Jenny Dunkafa (Female)

Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI): Headquarters: Chennai,President: Devendranath Sarangi, Coach: Cyrus Poncha

India won the ICC Test Championship Mace • After being on top of the ICC Test Team Rankings on the cut-off date of

for the third consecutive year April 1, India has retained the ICC Test Championship record for thethird consecutive year. India has won the prize of USD 1 million. Run-ner Up, New Zealand has won the prize money of $ 500,000 with 108points. South Africa remained third with 105 points to receive prizemoney of $ 200,000.

• In order to reach the ICC World Test Championship final in 2021, 9countries will compete in 27 series and 71 Test matches.

Virat Kohli and Smriti Mandhana named • On April 10, 2019, Wisden Cricketers’ Almanac 2019 has named Virat

as the leading man and woman cricketer Kohli and Smriti Mandhana as the leading male and female cricketer of

of the year 2019 of Wisden the year 2019. Smriti Mandhana won the women’s Cricketer of the Yearfor the first time while the Indian male team Captain’s name was kept forthe third straight year. The leg-spinner of Afghanistan, Rashid Khan, isthe leading Twenty20 cricketer for the second consecutive time. Kohlihas scored 2735 runs in three formats and Mandhana scored 669 and662 runs respectively in the ODI and T20 during 2018.

• Kohli was selected as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the year with

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Jos Buttler, Tammy Beaumont, Rory Burns and Sam Curran.

• What is Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack? : ‘Wisden Cricketers’Almanack (‘The Bible of Cricket’) is a cricket reference book releasedannually in the United Kingdom. In 1998, an Australian version ofWisden Cricketers Almanack and in 2012, the Indian version waslaunched. The English cricketer John Wisden founded the book in 1864.

FIFA ranking: - Belgium remained in • On April 4, 2019, in the latest release of FIFA (The Federation

top place Internationale de Football Association) World Football Ranking, Bel-gium has surpassed World Cup champion France to get first rank.

• The Indian football team has increased from two places to the 101stposition in the rankings. With 1219 total ranking points, the Indianteam is 18th in Asian countries, while Iran is in the first place.

• After Belgium, France, Brazil, England and Croatia are ranked 2nd, 3, 4and 5th respectively.

Australian Olympian, Graham Reed was • On April 8, 2019, former Australian coach, Graham Reed was appointed

appointed as the Chief Coach of the Indian as the chief coach of the Indian men’s hockey team. Reed’s appoint

Men’s Hockey Team ment as the coach of the Indian men’s hockey team will be an Olympiccycle, which is by the end of 2020. He, 54, and is replacing Indianhockey player Harendra Singh.

• Reid’s tenure can be extended to 2022 FIH World Cup on the basis ofhis achievements. Reed’s first assignment will be to India’s tour ofAustralia in May and then in June FIB Men’s Final in Bhubaneswar.

• About Graham Reid : Reid made a perfect game career as defender andmidfielder for the Australian national team and was part of the team atthe 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Similarly, Reid was part of the Australianunit winning the back-to-back championship trophy in 1984, 1985 and1989, 1990. He was officiated as Australia’s assistant coach in 2009. Heoversee the Australian team for the fifth consecutive Champions Tro-phy title in 2012. He was included in the 2015 Queensland Hockey Hallof Fame.

AITA compromises with Serbian Tennis • On April 10, 2019, All India Tennis Association (AITA) has tied up with

Federation to train junior players the STF (Serbian Tennis Federation) to train Indian junior players un-der the world famous Serbian Coaches at the RK Khanna Stadium. Thisagreement will aim to cooperate in the field of competency to worktowards the development of junior tennis players in India.

• Serbia’s trainer and coach will come to India for a camp for 12, 14, 16 and18 categories. Then in the second half of the year, preparatory camp for8-10 players in the age group of 15-18 and 3-4 trainers will also be heldin Serbia.

• Serbia: Capital: Belgrade, Currency: Serbian Dollar, Prime Minister: AnaBrnabic

Mitali Raj was named as the Good will • Mithali Raj, captain of the Indian women’s cricket team, has been nomi

Ambassador of the Street Child nated as the Goodwill Ambassador of the Indian Team for the 2019

Cricket World Cup 2019 Street Child Cricket World Cup. Mithali, IPL team supports the teamwith Rajasthan Royals and former captain Sourav Ganguly. This is thefirst Cricket World Cup for children associated with the streets and thefinal will be played at Lord’s on May 7.

• The tournament is being organized by the UK-based Institute of St.Child United (SCU). In the tournament, 10 gender are the same nationalteams i.e., boys and girls will play together.

Manpreet Kaur was banned for 4 years • National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) disciplinary panel has banned

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failing in dope Test Asian champion female professional Olympic Shot Puter, ManpreetKaur for four years, during 2017 due to failed dope tests on four occa-sions during the period of 84 days. In Manpreet Asian Grand Prix,Anabolic Steroids and Federation Cup, Asian Championship and Na-tional Inter-State Championship were unsuccessful in clearing the tests.

FC Goa defeated Chennai FC to win its • On April 13, 2019, FC Goa, nicknamed “The Gaur”, emerged as thefirst 2019 Super Cup champion of the second edition of Hero Super Cup 2019, defeating

Chennaii FC 2-1 in the Kalinka Stadium of Bhubaneswar. Goa won itsfirst trophy. Goa’s goal keeper Mohammad Nawaz of Goa, 19, was se-lected as the hero of the match. In six years of existence, FC Goa wontwo Indian Super League semi-finals and two finals and then in theirfirst Super Cup final, they won their first trophy.Regarding Hero Super Cup: Established: 2018, Organizing Committee:All India Football Federation,

• Number of teams : 20International Hockey Federation fined • The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has imposed a fine of 170,0001,70,000 euros for disrespecting Pro euros on the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) for not honoring theLeague commitments on the Pakistan pro-league commitments and has given the PHF the deadline by JuneHockey Federation (PHF) 20, if failed to pay double the penalty will be issued.

• The penalty was imposed on the PHF because he had not sent nationalteam for Pro League matches in Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.PPF general secretary Shahbaz Ahmad informed that since the PHFlacks funds, therefore, to reduce the penalty by FIH and Payment hasbeen requested to be allowed in installments.

Services won the sixth Santosh Trophy • With a second-half goal by Bikash Thapa in Lucknow’s Guru NanakFootball Tournament against Punjab in Stadium, Services won 1-0 with a win over Punjab; the services wonGuru Nanak Stadium. their sixth Santosh Trophy Football Tournament title. Services football

team represents Indian defense services in Santosh Trophy.Bajrang Punia became the first Indian • On April 27, 2019, 25 year old Indian wrestler Bajrang Punia became thewrestler to fight in New York’s prestigious first Indian wrestler to fight in the prestigious Madison Square GardenMadison Square Garden of New York. He has recently won gold medals in 65 kg men’s freestyle

wrestling in the Asian Championships.• He is the first Indian wrestler to be invited by the American Governing

Body and will participate in ‘Gropple at the Garden - Beat the Streets’Fight Night, which will take place on May 6, 2019.

• He won eight gold medals in last nine international tournaments, in-cluding Commonwealth Games last year and currently holds the WorldNo. 1 title in the 65 kg weight category.

Australia’s “Claire Polosac” becomes the • Australia’s 31-year-old Claire Polosac, became the first woman umpirefirst woman umpire to stand in men’s ODI to stand in a men’s one-day match at the ICC World Cricket League 2

final match on 27 April. Earlier, she was standing in 15 women’s ODImatches, the first match was played between Australia and South Af-rica in November 2016.

• She was also standing in some important international matches, includ-ing the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2018 semi-finals played betweenEngland and India.

• She was also the first woman to stand in the domestic parapet of men inAustralia in her first List A match in Australia in 2017.

• In December 2018, Claire Polosac and her counterpart Alloys Sheridanbecame the first on-field female umpire during a professional matchbetween Adelaide Stryker’s and Melbourne Stars in the World Big BashLeague in Australia.

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2019 India Open (Badminton) was held in New Delhi from March 26 to March 31, 2019:• The 2019 India Open, officially known as the Yonex Sunrise India Open 2019, was called by the Badminton Association of

India. It was held in Jadhav Indoor Hall in New Delhi from March 26 to March 31, 2019. It was the eighth tournament of the2019 BWF (Badminton World Federation) World Tour. The total prize money of the tournament was $ 350,000.

• K.D. Jadhav Indoor Hall is an interior area located in the north of Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium (or India Gandhi Arena) inDelhi. The Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium is the largest indoor sporting field in India and the third largest in Asia. Denmark’splayer, Victor Axelsen, won his second India Open title by defeating India’s top shuttler, Kidambi Srikanth 21-7 and 22-20in the final.

List of Winners:

Class Winners Runners-up

Men’s Single Victor Axelsen (Denmark) Kidambi Srikanth (India)

Women’s Single Ratchanok Intaran (Thailand) He Bingijiao (China)

Men’s Double Li Yang (Taiwan) and Wang Chi-Lin (Taiwan) Ricky Kanda Suvardi (Indonesia)and Anga Pratama (Indonesia)

Women’s Double Greysia Polii (Indonesia) and Apriyani Rahayu (Indonesia) Chou Mei Kuan (Malaysia) andLi Yang Men (Malaysia)

Mixed Double Wang Yilu (China) and Huang Dongping (China) Praveen Jordan (Indonesia) andMelati Dava Oktavinti (Indonesia)

Asian Athletics Championship 2019:• The 23rd edition of the Asian Athletics Championship was held from 21st to 24th April, 2019 at the Khalifa International

Stadium in Doha, Qatar. India won 17 medals including 3 gold, 7 silver and 7 bronze, and remained fourth in the tournament.

• In Asian Athletics Championships 2019 total 43 countries are competing and 43 programs have been organized. This AsianAthletics Championship Tournament has been organized by the Asian Athletics Association (AAA). The last AsianAthletics Championship was held at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India from July 6 to 9, 2017.

Top 5 Countries :

Rank Country Gold Silver Bronze Total

1 Behrain(BHR) 11 7 4 22

2 China(CHN) 9 13 7 29

3 Japan(JPN) 5 4 9 18

4 India(IND) 3 7 7 17

5 Uzbekistan(UZB) 3 0 2 5

Medals won by Indian athlete in Asian Athletics Championship 2019:

Gold

Serial Event Name of the Athlete

1. Men’s Shotput Tejinder Pal Singh Toor

2. 800m Women’s Race Gomati Marimuthu – PB(2: 02.70 Second)

3. 1500m Women’s Race P.U. Chitra

Silver

4. 1500m Men’s Race Ajay Kumar Saroj

5. Men’s Staple Chase 3000m Avinash Sebal

6. Women’s Heptathlon Swapna Burman

7. Women’s Javelin Throw Annu rani

8. Men’s Javelin Throw Shivpal Singh- PB (86.23m)

9. Women’s 4×400m Relay Prachi, M.R. Povamma, Saritaben Lakshmanbhai Gayakwad and V.K.Vismaya

10. 4×400 m Mixed Relay Md. Anas, M.R. Puvamma, V.K. Vismaya and Arokiya Rajeev

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Bronze

11. Men’s 1000m race Gavit Murali – PB (28: 38.34 Second)

12. Men’s 400m Hurdle race Jabir Madari Palliyalil- PB (49.13 Second)

13. Women’s 200m Race Duti Chand

14. Women’s 400m Race M.R. Puvamma

15. Women’s 5,000m Race Parul Chaudhary –PB(15:36.03 Second)

16. Women’s 10,000m Race Sanjeevani Jadhav –PB (32: 44.96 Second)

17. Women’s 400m Hurdle Race Saritaben Lakshmanbhai Gayakwad

Asian Boxing Championship 2019:• The Asian Boxing Championship, 2019 was held at the Hamark Indoor Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. This was the first

time that the women and men’s boxing championships were organized simultaneously. This event was organized by theInternational Boxing Association or AIBA. A total of 304 athletes, including 112 women and 192 men, attended the event.34 countries participated in the tournament. India finished the championship with 13 medals including two gold medals, 4silver medals and 7 bronze medals.

Medals won by the Indian athlete in Asian boxing championship 2019:

Sl. No. Class Name Medal

1. 52-KG Amit Panghal Gold

2. 81-KG Puja Rani Gold

3. 64-KG Simranjit Kaur Silver

4. 56-KG Kavinder Singh Bisht Silver

5. 49-KG Deepak Singh Silver

6. 75-KG Aashish Chaudhary Silver

7. 51-KG Nihkat Zareen Bronze

8. 54-KG Manisha Moyun Bronze

9. 57-KG Sonia Chahal Bronze

10. 60-KG Sarita Devi Bronze

11. 60-Kg Shiv Thapa Bronze

12. 69-KG Aashish Bronze

13. +91-KG Satish Kumar Bronze

Asian Wrestling Championship 2019:• The Asian Wrestling Championship was organized in Xi’an, China from April 23, to April 28, 2019, 2019. India won 16

medals, in which 1 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze by men’s freestyle wrestlers, 3 silver and 1 bronze by men’s Greco-Romanwrestlers and 4 bronze won by women freestyle wrestlers. India remained 8th in the tournament and the first threecountries in the tournament were Iran and then China and Japan.

Top 5 countries in Medal Tally:


1 Iran 11 0 6 17

2 China 5 5 6 16

3 Japan 4 7 6 17

4 Uzbekistan 2 3 5 10

5 Kazakhstan 2 2 12 16

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Medals won by Indian wrestlers in Asian Wrestling Championship 2019:

Serial Event Class Name Medal

1. Men’s Freestyle 65-KG Bajrang Punia Gold

2. Men’s Freestyle 74- KG Amit Kumar Dhankhad Silver

3. Men’s Freestyle 79- KG Parveen Rana Silver

4. Men’s Freestyle 92- KG Vicky Chahar Silver

5. Men’s Greeko-Roman 77- KG Gurpreet Singh Silver

6. Men’s Greeko-Roman 82- KG Harpreet Singh Silver

7. Men’s Greeko-Roman 87- KG Sunil Kumar Silver

8. Men’s Freestyle 61- KG Rahul Aware Bronze

9. Men’s Freestyle 86- KG Dipak Punia Bronze

10. Men’s Freestyle 97- KG Satyavrat Kadiyan Bronze

11. Men’s Freestyle 125- KG Sumit Malik Bronze

12. Men’s Greeko-Roman 60- KG Gyanendra Dahia Bronze

13. Women’s Freestyle 53- KG Vinesh Phogat Bronze

14. Women’s Freestyle 59- KG Manju Kumari Bronze

15. Women’s Freestyle 62- KG Sakshi Malik Bronze

16. Women’s Freestyle 68- KG Divya Kakran Bronze

Asian Weightlifting Championship 2019 :I. Asian Weightlifting Championships 2019, from April 20 to April 28, 2019, was organized in Ningbo of China. This was the

48th edition of the men’s championship and the 29th edition of women’s championship. 214 athletes from 27 countriesparticipated in the tournament. India won 5 medals including 3 silver and 2 bronze medals, and remained tenth in thetournament.

Top 5 Countries in Medal List:


1 China 31 19 4 54

2 North Korea 7 10 13 30

3 Iran 7 7 3 17

4 South Korea 5 2 7 14

5 Vietnam 3 2 4 9

II. Youth Olympic gold medalist Jeremy Lleinunga achieved three world scores in Group B in the 67 kg weight categorycompetition and broke the young world and Asian record in snatch, clean and jerk. They weighed a total of 297 kg. Theybroke six international records and nine national records.

III. Bronze medalist of the junior world championship, Zili Dalalhera won the silver medal in snatch, clean and jerk and overall(snatch + clean and jerk) 45kg category. He weighed 71 kg in snatch and total weight of 162 kg, including 91 kg in clean andjerk. Wong Thi Hyen, who won this category, was with 168 kg.

IV. Mirabai Chanu won a bronze medal in clean and jerk in 49kg category. He took his best 113 kg weight in clean and jerk.

V. Pardeep Singh won a bronze medal in clean and jerk in 102 kg category as he lifted 201 kg weight in clean and jerk and raised150 kilograms in snatch.

Medals won by Indian Athletes:

Serial Class Event Name Medal

1. Women’s 49 KG Snatch Jhili Dalabehera Silver

2. Women’s 49 KG Clean and Jerk Jhili Dalabehera Silver

3. Women’s 49 KG Total (Snatch + Clean and Jerk ) Jhili Dalabehera Silver

4. Men’s 49 KG Clean and Jerk Pardeep Singh Bronze

5. Women’s 49 KG Clean and Jerk Mirabai Chanu Bronze

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About the Asian Weightlifting Championship:

The Asian Weight Lifting Championship was organized by the Asian Weightlifting Federation. The first edition of Men’s AsianWeight Lifting Championship was held in 1969 and the first edition of the women’s Asian Weightlifting Championship washeld in 1988.

About the Asian Weightlifting Federation:

• Headquarters: Doha, Qatar

• Chair: Mohammad Yusuf al-Mann

Indians win 1 silver, 2 bronze medals in Asia Road Para-Cycling Championship in 2019:I. Asian Road Para-Cycling Championship 2019 was organized from April 23 to April 28, 2019 in Tashkent of Uzbekistan

and a total of twenty-eight countries participated in it. Indian para-cyclists won silver and two bronze medals.

II. Divij Shah has won the third silver medal in the C5 category.

III. Asian Para Games bronze medalist Gurlal Singh became the only Indian cyclist (competent or otherwise) to win amedal at the Asian Games level, who won a bronze medal in the C4 section.

IV. Hand Bicyclist Sudhakar Marathe of Maharashtra claimed bronze medal for India in the H5 category.

V. Aditya Mehta Foundation Academy (AMA) in Hyderabad, under the guidance of Asha Shaikh, Coach K. Dattatrayand physiotherapist, the whole team was given tough training.

G. Sathiyan becomes the first Indian to reach top-25 of ITTF ranking:I. On April 29, 2019, 26-year-old Indian table tennis player Sathiyan Gnanasekaran became the first Indian to reach the

world’s top 25 in the latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) Rankings.

II. Earlier he was in 28th place and now has come up from four places to occupy 24th position.

III. He was the only Indian to reach 32 rounds in the World Championships in Hungary.

IV. Sharat Kamal Achanta is the only other Indian with him in the top 50, who is now ranked 46th in the list.

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IMPORTANT DAY Prevention of Blindness week was • The Indian government organizes ‘Prevention of Bindness Week’

observed from 1 to 7 April 2019 every year from 1 to 7 April to increase awareness about the preventionof blindness. The goal of the day is to diagnose treat and heal eyediseases. In this connection, the campaign has been organizedthroughout the country to give information about those risk factorsthat lead to eye injuries which can cause visual impairment.

• Started in the 1960s, the Blindness PreventionWeek was launched byJawaharlal Nehru and Raj Kumari Amrit Kaur under the Societies Regis-tration Act of 1860.

• The Indian government has also started another campaign ‘Vision 2020:The Right to Site’ in collaboration with WHO to stop blindness.

Fire Prevention Week was observed from • Fire Prevention Week was observed throughout the country from April14th to 20th of April 14 to April 20. Since 1968, every year on April 14, it is celebrated as the

National Fire Service Day, which was destroyed by the devastating firein the Freestyle SS Fort Stikin in Victoria Dock of Bombay Port on April14, 1944, and the memories of many lives destroyed in the blast. Iscelebrated in this year, the National Fire Service Week was celebratedwith a theme which is ‘ fire prevention is better than firefight’. In thatincident, 66 firefighters had lost their lives.

• This day is celebrated under the wing of Fire Advisor, Home Ministry,and Government of India.

• Tata Steel celebrates National Fire Service Week at all places in India.This opportunity will be used to create fire safety awareness amongemployees, contractors and the community to prevent and manageemergency and fire related emergency and fire related situations.

International Mine awareness Day was • The UN International Mine awareness Day is celebrated on April 4celebrated on 4th April every year to raise awareness about the action taken in the direction of

landmines and their eradication. The theme ‘United Nations SDG (Sus-tainable Development Goals) - International Safeguarding Safe Homes- for safeguarding a safe house’ for International Mine awareness Day2019. Regarding the dangers arising from mines in United Nations head-quarters in New York by the United Nations Mine Service (UNMS). Amultimedia exhibition was organized to increase awareness

• On December 8, 2005, the United Nations General Assembly announcedthat International Mine awareness Day will be celebrated on April 4every year.

India celebrates National Ocean Day • On April 5, 2019, India celebrated the 56th edition of National Marineon 5th April Day to support the global economy, which is the most well organized,

safe and environment-friendly liable for transportation of goods fromone corner of the world to the other. The approach is. National OceanDay 2019, was celebrated with theme‘Indian Ocean- Ocean ofOccasions’. For the first time this day was celebrated on April 5, 1964.

• In 2018, the Central National Maritime Committee has started the ‘VarunAward’ as the highest award in the sea sector.

On April 6, the International Day of Sports • To recognize the power of sports in promoting peace and cultural barwas celebrated for development and peace riers across the world, the International Day of Sports for UN Develop-

ment and Peace (IDSDP) is celebrated annually on April 6. This date is1896. In Athens, It reminds us of the inauguration of the first OlympicGames of the modern era in Greece. Daily social change, run communitydevelopment and increase peace and understanding. There is an an-nual celebration of games and Sports.

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• On 6th April the United Nations was declared as IDSDP in 2013 and it iscelebrated every year since 2014.

World Health Day was celebrated • World Health Day (World Health Organization) is celebrated on 7th

on 7th April April every year under the sponsorship of World Health Organization(WHO), so that awareness of the health facilities and importance ofhealth and welfare around the world can be spread, and the mythssurrounding health. World Health Day 2019 theme under ‘Health for all’slogan- ‘universal health coverage: everyone, everybody’

• With the World Health Organization (WHO), the Ministry of Healthand Family Welfare constituted a Unity Human Series as part of theWorld Health Day celebrations, which will reduce the gap betweenuniversal health coverage (UHC) and collaboratively confirms theircommitment to work.

54th martyrdom day celebrated • On 9th April, 2019, a tribute was paid to the martyrs of the Police on the

on 9th April 54th martyrdom day of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on theNational Police Memorial in New Delhi. On this day; President RamNath Kovind has assisted the families of the CRPF martyrs, and launchedVeer Family App.

• History: On April 9, 1965, a small contingent of the second battalion ofthe CRPF successfully fought against the Pakistani brigade in SardarPost in Rann of Kutch of Gujarat.

World Homeopathy Day was celebrated • To celebrate the birth anniversary of the founder of homeopathy, Dr.

on April 10 Christian Friedrich Samuel Honeyman, World Homoeopathic Day 2019is celebrated around the world on April 10, 2019. The world celebrates itas Homeopathic Awareness Week on April 10 - April 16, afterHoneymahn’s date of birth (10 April 1955-2 July 1843).

‘Safe Motherhood Day’ was celebrated on • Every year 11th April is celebrated as a safe motherhood day. On April

11th April in Delhi with ‘Midwives for 11, 2019, the Indian government organized a national stakeholder

Mother’ theme meeting in Delhi with the White Ribbon Alliance (WRAI) (an activemember of UNICEF WRAI), in which issues related to the health ofwomen were discussed. In 2003, The Government of India had an-nounced on 11th April as National Safe Maternity Day (NSMD), whichis the day of Kasturba Gandhi’s birth anniversary. She was the wife ofthe Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi.

World Aviation and Astronaut Day • The world aviation and astronaut day, a date for honoring the first

celebrated on April 12, 2019 flight of human beings in space, on April 12, 1961, Soviet astronaut YuriGagarin launched the space shuttle Vostok 1 with the famous flyingBaconur cosmodrome. In November 1968, the 61st General Conferenceof Federation Aeronautical Internationale (FAI), known as the WorldAir Sports Federation, decided to celebrate World Aviation and Astro-naut Day on April 12.

• Many countries organize a program called ‘Yuri Knight’ on April 12. In2001, the first Yuri Knight was celebrated on the 40th anniversary of thefirst manned flight in space.

Celebration of Jallianwala Bagh • On April 13, 2019, celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Jallianwala

Massacre on 13th April, 2019 Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre. On 3rd April1919, celebrating Baisakhi crop festival and protesting against theRowlatt Act, Amritsar’s Jallianwala Bagh A large number of people weregathered in that incident. On that incident, soldiers of the British IndianArmy in the command of general Dyer ordered to shoot the people.

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• British High Commissioner in India Dominic Esquit wreaths on theJallianwala Bagh Memorial to mark the centenary of the massacre. Also,British Prime Minister Theresa described the Jallianwala Bagh massa-cre as a ‘shameful wound’ on British Indian history.

World Haemophilia Day was celebrated • On April 17, 2019, the 30th World has been marked as Haemophilia Day.

on April 17 World Haemophilia Day was started in 1989 by the World Federation ofHemophilia (WWF), who had chosen to bring the community togetheron April 17, in honor of WFH founder Frank Shenbell’s birthday.

• The theme of this year’s World Hemophilia Day is ‘moving forward andrecognizing’ or ‘outreach and identification’.

• On this day, the slogan was celebrated with ‘Reaching Out: The FirstStep to Care’.

World Heritage Day was celebrated • World Heritage Day, which is also known as International Day for monu

on 18th April ments and destinations, is celebrated every year on 18th April with theaim of emphasizing the importance of the security of various placesaround the world, which have attained world heritage status and is anannual event.

• This year, the subject of World Heritage Day was “rural landscape” or“rural landscapes”.

• This day was proposed by the International Monument and Site Coun-cil (ICOMS) on 18 April 1982 and was approved by UNESCO GeneralAssembly in 1983.

World Creativity and Innovation Day was • On 21st April, 2019, World Creativity and Innovation Day was cel

celebrated on April 21: ebrated so that people can be encouraged to use creativity in problem-solving for all issues related to achieving 2015 sustainable develop-ment goals.

• On April 27, 2017, the United Nations (UN) recognized April 21 as anofficial world creativity and innovation day, and for the first time in2018, the United Nations celebrated World Creativity and InnovationDay.

• This day was first celebrated on April 21, 2002 in more than 50 countriesaround the world. In 2006, this day started on the 15th of April, thebirthday of Leonardo da Vinci, an icon of hybrid-disciplinary creativityin art and science.Creative expert Marci Sehgal has published the‘Canada in Creativity Crisis’ newspaper After seeing a title in it andafter reading it, in April 2002 it came to this idea of creating worldcreativity and innovation day.

On 22nd April, the theme ‘Protecting our • American Senator Gaylord Nelson started on April 22, 1970 in support

species’ was celebrated with Global of environmental protection, Earth Day is celebrated annually. The theme

Earth Day 2019 for ‘Protecting Our Species’ was for 2019, which is on the verge ofextinction.

• The aim of Earth Day is to share the responsibilities among the peopleof this world and to set an agenda for a peaceful coexistence withnature.

• As part of the celebration in India, the Lalbagh branch of Rotary Clubin Bangalore launched a 45-day long festival called ‘Avni’ to mark thebeginning of World Earth Day by June 5, on June 5, the world environ-ment Day is celebrated.

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Celebrated on April 22 as International • On April 22, 2009, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passedMother’s Day a resolution to declare ‘International Mother’s Day’ on 22 April. This

proposal was introduced by The Plurinational State of Bolivia and itwas supported by more than 50 member states. This year celebrates10th anniversary of International Mother’s Day. Therefore, the 9th in-teractive dialogue of the General Assembly was held at the UnitedNations Headquarters at the Trusteeship Council Chamber, New York,on the harmony with nature to celebrate the anniversary.

• Proposal assumes that the earth and its ecosystem are our home andshould be our main concern in promoting harmony between nature andthe earth.

• International Earth Day also recognizes the collective responsibility ofthose who were talked about in the Rio Declaration in 1992.

23rd April celebrated as World Book and • The World Book and Copyright Day is also known as World Book Day,Copyright Day which is celebrated on April 23 every year. This annual program is

organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization (UNESCO) and its purpose is to promote reading, pub-lishing and copyrights.

• On April 23, 1616, all of the prominent writers Sarvantij, Shakespeareand Inca Garcelo de la Vega died. Then in 1995, the UNESCO GeneralConference was held in Paris, where on 23 April, books and writerswere regarded as World Books and Copyright Day for a worldwidetribute.

• Each year UNESCO and other international organizations select theWorld Book Capital for a period of one year. This year, Sharjah, UAEhas been selected as World Book Capital for 2019.

• The World Book of the Year and the Copyright Day program focuseson six broad topics: inclusive, reading, inheritance, moving forward,publishing and child and its slogan “Read - you are in Sharjah”.

World Malaria Day was celebrated • On April 25, 2019, World Malaria Day was celebrated all over the worldon April 25 to create more awareness for the treatment and prevention of the dis-

ease. This year, it was celebrated with a theme ‘Zero Malaria BeginsWith Me’.

• Malaria protozoan parasite is caused by plasmodium, which is spreadby female anopheles mosquito bites. Recently, the world’s first malariavaccine RTS, also known as Mocquirix, has been launched in Malawi,which can significantly reduce malaria in children up to two years ofage.

• According to World Health Organization (WHO) World Malaria Re-port, the estimated number of deaths due to malaria in 2017 was ap-proximately 435,000 and death of one child every two minutes from thistreatmentable disease.

• World Malaria Day was first celebrated in 2008, which originated fromAfrica Malaria Day, which was organized on April 25, 2001.

On 26th April, World Intellectual Property • On 26th April, 2019, with the theme of ‘Reach for Gold: IP and Sports’,Day was celebrated Worldwide World Intellectual Property Day was celebrated. The pur-

pose of this day is to raise awareness of the role of intellectual rights inpromoting creativity and innovation. In 2000, the General Assembly ofthe World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) declared April 26as World Intellectual Property Day.

• World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), a special agency ofthe United Nations, has worked closely with various NGOs and inter-national agencies to promote this day.

• Regarding WIPO: Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland, Director Gen-eral: Francis Gury

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BANKING AND ECONOMY

“Income Tax Department” on MNC and digital firms proposed new tax laws in India:• The Income Tax Department has changed the method of taxation on permanent establishments (MNCS) and digital firms

in India, in which various factors like home sales, employees (manpower and wages), strength, assets and user base arenoticed. ‘Attribute Attention to Permanent Establishment (PE) in India’, in the report, CBDT (Central Board of DirectTaxes) The committee said that the benefits of 2% of Indian revenue will be deemed to have been earned by multinationals,who are suffering from global loss or global profit margins of less than 2% and business in India, and according to themthe tax will be imposed.

• The committee has changed the system to protect India’s revenue interests. The CBDT has sought comments fromstakeholders on the report within 30 days.In India, if a multinational company has a fixed position in the business, it hasa permanent establishment in India Or Permanent Establishment (PE) is considered and tax is levied according to domesticlaws.

• The report of the CBDT, in the case of tax assessee (any person who is liable to pay tax to the government against any kindof income or for any particular loss incurred by him for a particular assessment year) Income from business which isresponsible for the work done in India and is considered to be arising in India when a person or business is not a residentof India, whether it is a business relationship in India and receives sales revenue from India, the income from suchbusiness will be determined by distributing the benefits received from India by the 3 equally important factors of sales,employees and assets; To make sure the amendment in rule 10 of the Income Tax rules is suggested.

• The report provides different importance to label digital companies as ‘high’ and ‘low or medium’ user base with majoreconomic presence in India.

• In case of ‘high user intensity’:

• The importance of the users should be 20%

• The share of the property and the employees should be 25% and the sale should be 30%

• For ‘low and medium user depth’:

• Users must be assigned 10% importance,

• And the importance of 3 factors will be 30% for each.

• The system of taxation in India

• There are 2 types of taxation system in India:

1. Direct tax

2. Indirect tax

Direct Taxes : It is levied on the income that professional organizations make in the financial year. The Income TaxDepartment has various types of taxpayers and they pay taxes at different rates. Thus, direct tax is further divided:

Income Tax : It is paid in India by other taxpayers other than those registered under company law, which is on the incomeearned by them. Taxpayers are taxed on slab basis at different rates.

Corporate Tax : This tax is paid on the total profit by companies registered under company law in India, which companiesearn by businesses.

Corporate tax in India:

• Under the Income Tax Act, both domestic and foreign companies are liable to pay corporate tax. Here, tax is levied on adomestic company for its universal income, whereas on a foreign company tax is levied on income earned only in India i.e.on the income earned or received in India.

Expansion of companies:

• Domestic Company: It is registered under the Companies Act of India and it also includes a company registered in foreigncountries with complete control and management located in India. A domestic company includes both private and publiccompanies.

• Foreign Company: This is that which is not registered under the Companies Act of India and its control and managementis located outside of India.

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Kotak Mahindra Bank becomes the first lender to charge the UPA transaction:• From May 1, 2019, India’s private sector bank Kotak Mahindra Bank will become the first lender to charge peer-to-peer user

transactions, which is available on all platforms, such as PayTM, GooglePay, PhonePe, TrueCaller Pay etc. For KotakMahindra Bank’s account holders, the first 30 peer-to-peer user funds transfer will be free. Once a person gets more than30 percent of the transaction, then from Rs 1000 a rupee for charging, charges of 2.50 rupees or less will be charged. Fortransactions above Rs 1000, the bank will charge 18% GST along with 5 rupees. No additional charges have been levied onthe transaction of money through the UPI for trading transaction or bill payment. Since more than 90% of Kotak MahindraBank customers make an average of 5-10 transactions per month, and this fee will be charged only when a customerexceeds 30 transactions, this step has been taken to prevent misuse of the UPI system is. NPCI (National PaymentsCorporation of India) has set the same rate of 10 paise for all transactions (plus a charge of 0.04 for one price), 25 paise fortransactions up to Rs 1000 and 50 paise for more than 1000 rupees. The issuing bank and the acquiring bank will be splitbetween the bank).

What is the UPA?

• The Unified Payment Interface is a quick dynamic payment system that has been developed to facilitate the inter-banktransaction process. It has been developed by NPCI (National Payments Corporation of India). Since the monetization, theUPA (Unified Payments Interface) was the main contributor in digital payments.

• The UPA is primarily a peer-to-peer payment mechanism, which includes merchants less than 15%.

What is NPCI?

• NPCI is an organization established in 2008 and it is owned by a group of major banks. It has been promoted by the centralbank of India, Reserve Bank of India. NPCI, Rupay, BHIM, UPI, Bharat BillPay etc provide many services.

Bank of Baroda became the third largest bank after the merger of Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank• On April 1, 2019, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank merged with the Bank of Baroda. With this amalgamation, Bank of Baroda has

become India’s second largest public bank and third largest commercial bank after State Bank of India (SBI) and HDFCBank. The center’s stake in the merged entity is 65.7%.

• India’s first three-way merger has started operating more than Rs.15 lakh crore in the form of balance sheet, respectively,in which Rs 8.75 lakh crore and Rs 6.25 lakh crore are deposited and advance respectively. The Government has givenpreferential allotment of equity shares. Through the medium of the Bank of Baroda, Rs 5,042 crore has been invested.

• Now the number of public sector banks (PSBs) has decreased from 21 to 19.

• Mergers reduced the number of banks kept under the Prompt Critical Action (PCA) framework by the RBI, because DenaBank was one of the five PSU banks kept under PCA.

IndusInd Bank gets NCLT approval for merger with India Financial Inclusion:• Recently, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved merger with private sector lender IndusInd Bank, a

microfinance company, India Financial Inclusion (BFIL). Now, BFIL has become the subsidiary of IndusInd Bank. Lastyear IndusInd Bank got ‘No Objection’ approval from the Reserve Bank of India, National Stock Exchange and the BombayStock Exchange.

• About IndusInd Bank: Headquarters: Mumbai, CEO: Romesh Sobti, Tagline: We Make You Feel Richer.

• About the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT): There is a quasi judicial body established under the NCLT CompanyAct, 2013. This body was founded by the recommendations of the Eradi Committee. NCLT looks at issues related to Indiancompanies. Headquarters: New Delhi

RBI has set the government’s WMA limit of Rs 75,000 crore for the first half of the financial year 2019-20:• The Reserve Bank of India has fixed the limits of Wage and Means Advances (WMA) for the first half of fiscal year 2019-

20 to Rs 75,000 crore.

• When the Indian government will use 75% of the WMA borders, the central bank will activate the new enforcement ofbank loans. Interest rates on Wage and Means Advances (WMA) will be repo rates, while overdraft will exceed the reporate of 2% fixed. WVMA needs to be evacuated after 90 days.

• Based on an objective framework, RBI maintains flexibility to change WMA’s future, after consulting the Indian government.

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• What is Wage and Means Advances (WMA)? - Wage and Means Advances, temporary loan facilities or overdraftsdirected under Section 17 (5) of the RBI Act, 1934, which are governmental by the Central Bank of India (both center andstate) are extended

• WMA helps the government deal with temporary inconsistencies in the cash flow of expenditure and receipts. WMAscheme was started in 1997. There are 2 types of WMA. For each state, the RBI has the limitations of WMA. This limit isin the multiplier of that minimum balance that the RBI needs to maintain with that state. There are 2 types of WMA, asfollows:

• Normal WMA: Normal WMA Clean Advance.

• Special WMA: Special WMAs are secure which are provided against the collateral of the central government’s securitiesnear the state government.

Released the first bi-monthly monetary policy for 2019-20• On April 6, 2019, the Six-member Monetary Policy Committee of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), headed by RBI governor

Das, released its first bi-monthly monetary policy for 2019-20. RBI has reduced policy rates by 0.25 basis points under theliquidity adjustment facility (LAF) with immediate effect. The changes in policy rates are as follows:

Policy Rate First bi-monthly Monetary Policy Sixth bimonthly monetary

2019-2020 (April-2019) policy (February 2019)

Repo Rate 6.00 % 6.25%

Reverse Repo Rate 5.75 % 6.00%

Marginal Standing Facility Rate 6.25 % 6.50%

Bank Rate 6.25 % 6.50%

Reserve Ratio First bi-monthly Monetary Policy Sixth bimonthly monetary

2019-2020 (April 2019) policy (February 2019)

Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) 4% 4%

Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR) 19.25% 19.25%

• RBI has projected the GDP growth estimate of India for the current fiscal at 7.2 percent instead of the earlier estimate of 7.4percent. RBI has estimated retail inflation for the first half of fiscal year 2019-20 to 3.2% and 3.4%

• The objective of the revision is to achieve the medium-term goal for inflation of CPI (Consumer Price Index) 4% (‘within theband of ‘2,’ or ‘-2’ i.e. 2% and 6%). For the first half of FY 20, the expectation of CPI inflation is between 2.9% and 3%, whilefor the second half, it is estimated to be 3.5% to 3.8%. CPI inflation for the last quarter of the financial year (January toMarch) was revised to 2.4%.

• The Monetary Policy Committee gives serious facts that the domestic economy is facing a downturn and production gapis negative. To improve this, domestic development should be strengthened by encouraging private investment. The pathof inflation in 2019-20 is composed of many factors. They are:

• During the January-February, the near-inflationary inflation will have an impact on the near-food inflation.

• The fall in fuel inflation of the fuel group will be affected during February.

• CPI inflation, including food and fuel, was estimated to be lower in February, which again affects the near-inflationaryapproach.

• Since the last policy, the price of international crude oil has increased by about 10%.

For the first time, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) approved the ‘Airport SpecificFund’ of Rs 10,000 crore:• SEBI (Indian Securities and Exchange Board) has approved an ‘Airport Specific Fund’ for the first time under the category

II Alternative Investment Fund (AIF). The name of the fund is ‘Taking Off to the Future Airport Fund’. It can raise thecapital of $ 1.5 billion (Rs 10,000 crore). The fund’s ‘sponsor and investment manager’ is located in Chennai and it is knownas ‘Taking Off the Future Investment Management LLP’.

• Gigi George leads the management and operation of ‘Sponsor and Investment Manager’.

• The target of minimum capital contribution by the fund is Rs. 3500 crores and a maximum of Rs. 7000 crores.

• India is currently the world’s third largest aviation market.

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• Regarding SEBI: (Securities market regulator in India is the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)) (established in1988) On May 12, 1992, it became an autonomous body by the Government of India, through the SEBI Act, 1992 , SEBI wasgranted statutory rights on January 30, 1992. On January 10, 2017, Ajay Tyagi was replaced as the chairman of SEBI,replacing U.K. Sinha.)

RBI gave full stake in NHB and NABARD to the Central Government:• Recently, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given its entire stake in the National Housing Bank (NHB) and National Bank

for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), respectively, to the Central Government for Rs 1,450 crore and Rs 20crore. Now the central government holds 100 percent stake in these two financial institutions. This move has been takenon the basis of the second Narasimham Committee report and the discussion paper prepared by the RBI, titled ‘DevelopmentFinancial Institutions and Role of Banks and Coordination in Operation’.

• Earlier, the RBI had a 100 percent stake in the NHB, which was recently given to the central government on March 19, at Rs1,450 crore. The RBI has given its stake in NABARD to the Central Government in two phases. Basically the RBI had a 72.5per cent stake in NABARD with only Rs 1,450 crore and the remaining 27.5 per cent was with the Central Government. InOctober 2010, the RBI gave 71.5 per cent stake to the Central Government for Rs 1,430 crore and the remaining one percentstake was given to the Central Government in the Rs 20 crore rupees on February 26 this year.

• Regarding RBI: Headquarters: Mumbai, Governor: Shantikant Das

• Regarding NABARD: Headquarters: Mumbai, President: Dr. Harsh Kumar Bhanvala

• About NHB: Headquarters: New Delhi, MD & CEO: Dakshina Das

Lakshmi Vilas Bank merged with Indiabulls Housing Finance:• On April 5, 2019, Lakshmi Vilas Bank, a private sector lender approved a merger with the mortgage financier Indiabulls

Housing Finance Limited in the all-stock deal. The merged entity was called ‘Indiabulls Lakshmi Vilas Bank’.

• This bank will be included in the top 8 private banks of India in terms of size and profitability.

• According to share swap ratio, shareholders of Lakshmi Vilas Bank will get 14 shares of Indiabulls Housing Finance forevery 100 shares.

• About Lakshmi Vilas Bank: (Headquarters: Chennai CEO: Parthasarthi Mukherjee)

HDFC Bank ranked No.1 in India in Forbes Survey:• On April 12, 2019, according to Forbes World’s First Best Bank Survey, HDFC Bank has been recognized as the number one

bank by customers in India. This research was done with the help of research firm ‘Statista’. Forbes has partnered with thisfirm to measure the best banks in 23 countries.

• The survey was based on customer satisfaction as well as 5 key features or ‘sub-dimensions’ trust, terms and conditions,customer service, digital service and financial advice. ICICI Bank secured second position and DBS Bank got thirdposition, followed by Kotak Mahindra Bank and IDFC Bank at fourth and fifth positions. Also, public sector banks suchas Syndicate Bank, PNB, Allahabad Bank, Vijaya Bank and Axis Bank were in the top 10. ]

• Regarding HDFC Bank: CEO: Aditya Puri, Headquarters: Mumbai,

• Established: August 1994, India

Canara Bank, which fulfills the RBI’s EMV mandate, becomes the first public sector bank of India:• Global provider of real-time electronic payments and banking solutions, ACI Worldwide, informed that the Bank of Canara

Bank, India’s public sector, has successfully completed its ATM (Automated Teller Machine) network and baseauthentication in EVM (Europeophone, MasterCard and Visa) The card has started to support new functionality, thus itcan be used in the country’s huge ATM network. UP ACI habits based transactions to EMV chip and shift the pin and themarket has become the first bank in the public sector to take advantage of retail payment solutions.

• The process developed by ACI and Canara Bank also accelerates the process of adding the Aadhaar number, whichfacilitates compliance with the KYC (Know your customer) in the branches of the bank. I The main objective of the EMVshift is to get lost and stolen card To reduce fraud and make card fraud more difficult.

• For Canara Bank, this is a remarkable achievement as it provides better authentication for card-based transactions inATMs to its customers, thus ensuring greater security and lower risk. Nearly 6,300 branches of Canara Bank and 10,000ATMs are present.

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A semi-crypto currency, called ‘Learning Coin’, was released by the World Bank and the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF):• On April 13, 2019, two international financial institutions, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) have

launched a private blockchain and semi-crypto currency ‘Learning Coin’ for better understanding of blockchain technologyand the work of crypto assets.This news was published through the report of a Financial Times.

• The property will be available only for use within the IMF and the World Bank. It has no monetary value, this means thatit is not a real cryptocurrency. After the trial period, IMF and World Bank can use blockchain technology to build smartcontracts, fight money laundering and improve transparency.

First Indian platform for bulk cryptocurrency trading was introduced by BuyUcoin:• India’s second oldest cryptocycurrency exchange BuyUCoin, has introduced a new and unique platform for wholesale

cryptocurrency trading. This platform works on ‘Free Trading Model’, which means it charges zero on any business. Thisbulk platform, also known as OTC (over-the-counter) desk, allows users to trade in scale with low price fluctuations.

• This new platform will help improve the liquidity problem of cryptocurrencies in the Indian market. This will also help inquick transactions, better value and market stability.

Exim Bank of India provided a loan of $ 267 million for projects in Rwanda:• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) informed that Exim Bank has given soft loans of 266.6 $ million to Rwanda for various projects.

Funds for projects have been given in 3 different parts. The names of the projects are as follows:

1. To support agricultural projects

2. For the development of Special Economic Zone (SEZ)

3. For funding road projects in Rwanda.

• The amount for different installments is as follows:

1. Exim Bank will provide $ 100 million for the development of 2 SEZs according to the agreement, as well as forexpansion of Kigali SEZ in Rwanda.

2. 3 billion project to finance the project, Warfu Multipurpose Project, Mugesara Irrigation Project and NyamukanaIrrigation Project to provide $ 100 million

3. $ 66.60 million for the Base-Butaro-Kidaho Road project

• RBI informed that 3 funding project agreements between Exim Bank and Rwanda Government have been effected fromApril 2, 2019.

• Regarding Rwanda: - East Africa is a country, capital: Kigali, currency: Rwandan franc.

SBI General launches Cyber Security Insurance:• On April 22, 2019, SBI General Insurance has launched its new product - Cyber Defense Insurance - to protect business

from financial and reputable losses due to cyber attacks. First of all, it focuses on SMEs and mid-market businesses , Butlater it can meet the needs of big businesses.

• It provides protection against increased risk of cyber violations such as hacking attacks, identity theft, disclosure ofsensitive information and interruption in business. In addition, it provides forensic investigation, legal advice, reputableand PR management.

• SBI General Insurance (SBIG) Cyber Defense comes with CYRUSS (Cyber Risk Undertaking and Solution Suite), a cloud-based tool for commercial cyber policies, which includes risk assessment, ongoing risk management and claims management.

Suresh Mathur Committee-• IRDA established the Suresh Mathur Committee which includes 13 members, who will review the regulatory framework on

micro insurance. Indian Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) recommends product designs toreview the regulatory framework on micro insurance and customer friendly underwriting, for example, easy premiumpayment methods and simple claims settlement procedures such products in India To set up a 13-member committee tosuggest steps to be taken to increase demand

• This committee has been headed by Suresh Mathur, executive director of IRDAI. This includes officers of public andprivate sectors, as well as NGOs, IRDAI, life, general and health insurance companies. The Committee was formed in India,due to their excessive profit despite short selling of micro insurance products.

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• It will also give recommendations about changes in the distribution structure, that will create effective awareness pro-grams and prepare web based technology driven solutions. Their suggestions are to be presented in a three month timeframe, within 90 days there is time.

About IRDAI:

• The Indian Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDAI) is an autonomous, statutory body that regulatesthe work of regulating, promoting and reducing insurance premiums in India (to ensure the financial security of theinsurance sector) and reinsurance industries. .

• It was created by the IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) Act, 1999, with its headquarters inHyderabad, Telangana.

About Micro Insurance:

• Micro-insurance has been defined and enforced by IRDA’s Micro Insurance Regulation, 2005. IRDA has made micro-insurance policies, which includes a general or life insurance policy, with an estimated amount of Rs. 50,000 or less. Thepromotion of insurance coverage is among the low-income groups of society. The general micro insurance product is ahealth insurance contract, If on the basis of the same and contains the house, cattle, equipment such as personalbelongings or contract any personal accident. This business is done by most (NGOs) and Self Help Groups (SHGs).

RBI is going to issue new notes of Rs 20 denomination with green and yellow color:• Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will issue notes of Rs 20 denominated new color yellow with size of 63x129 mm. The notes of

the first 20 rupees were issued in the Mahatma Gandhi series in August 2001. The new note will have a motif of Ellora caveson the dorsal side. In notes, there will be a geometric pattern on the front and rear, matching the overall color scheme. .

• There will be a transparent register in front, in which points will be written 20, a latent image with the number andDevanagari version of ‘20’. The center of the new note will be a picture of Mahatma Gandhi and on the right side of thepicture will be the RBI , India, India and 20, Guarantee Clause, Signature of the governor Shikkantant Das, Promise Clause,RBI Symbol, Ashoka Pillar, and Electrotype (20) Watermark Shear Agriculture will be on the left and below.

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TRADE AND COMMERCE

US approve $ 2.6 billion of sale of 24 MH-60 ‘Romeo’ seahawk helicopters to India:• At an estimated cost of 2.6 billion dollars, the United States has approved the sale of 24 Multi-mission Lockheed Martin-

built MH-60 ‘Romeo’ seahawk helicopters to India. Targeting ships, hunting submarines and seas These helicoptersdesigned to run a search and rescue campaign filled the old fleet of British-built Sea hawk helicopters used by India will beflown.

• This special sale proposal will help strengthen the US-India strategic relationship by supporting foreign policy and USnational security. Approval of sale by USA not only results in anti-submarine and anti-submarine war campaigns todefense forces of India Will provide the ability to deliver, but will also provide the ability to do secondary missions.Secondary mission involves vertical replenishment.

• Choppers are currently deployed with the US Navy and are known as the most capable sea helicopter built by the aircraftcarrier, cruiser, distroyer and frigate. The basic military balance in the sales territory of the helicopters The obstacle will notbe created. Instead, India will use this opportunity to protect its motherland and to avoid regional threats.

• The cost of $ 2.6 billion cost includes other accessories and ammunition, i.e. 10 helmphire missile, 30 mk 54 torpedoes and38 advanced precision kill Weapon system rockets. The main contractor of Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin’s RotaryEnd Mission Systems’.

• Defense trade between India and the United States has grown extraordinary in the past 10 years and it is estimated to reach$ 18 billion in 2019.

BSE, India INX - becomes the first Indian exchange to sign MOU with MoEx on April 3, 2019:• To sign a MoU with MoEx (Moscow Exchange) to allow the BSE (which was earlier called the Bombay Stock Exchange) and

the INX (India International Exchange) capital formation platform and to link investor community and companies in Indiaand Russia The first is the Indian exchange. BSE, INX and MOEX have entered into an agreement for temporary specialappointments other than the senior workforce to strengthen the understanding of the activities of each other and toincrease the development of communication channels. They will manage joint research in areas of fixed income productcollaboration, derivative products, double-listing and cross-listing of exchange traded funds (ETFs).

• On Wednesday, April 3, 2019, CEO of MOEX signed with Mr. Alexander Afanasiiva, Managing Director and CEO of BSEAshish Kumar Chauhan . Exchange companies increase the customer network and increase professional intermediariesthrough home market and cross-border. India-Russia initiative will be used.

• Key points of MOU:

(i) MOU is a formal agreement between 2 or more than 2 parties. It is used by companies and organizations to create anofficial partnership.

(ii) In multinational international relations, the Memorandum of Understanding is important because it takes less time toconfirm and can be kept confidential.

World Bank estimates that India’s GDP will increase to 7.5% in FY 2019-20:• The World Bank has notified that India’s constant grip in investment sector, mainly due to private-export reforms and

flexible consumption has increased its GDP growth for the financial year 2019-20 to 7.5 percent. In the financial year 18/19,the actual GDP growth rate is estimated at 7.2 percent. According to the latest report on World Bank’s South Asia, statisticsof the first three quarters show that development has been broad based.

• Industrial growth has reached 7.9 percent, which means that the growth of services will fall. Agriculture developmentremained at 4%. Primary growth is in the form of domestic consumption while gross fixed capital formation and exportshave contributed to the development.

• With strong growth rate, food prices have been said to improve, while inflation is expected to fall below 4%. The consolidatedfiscal deficit is expected to decline (6.2 and 6.0 percent of GDP in the financial year 19/20 and FY 20/21 respectively).

India’s growth rate will increase from 7.3% in 2019 to 7.5% in 2020:• According to a report by World Economic Outlook released by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), India’s growth

rate is expected to increase from 7.3% in 2019 to 7.5% in 2020, provided it accelerates with fiscal policy and monetaryAccording to the report, India’s growth rate was 7.1% compared to 6.6% in China in 2018, according to the expandedoutlook of the policy. India will be the fastest growing major economy in the world.

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• According to the report, India’s growth in the medium term is estimated to be stable at only 7%. This will be possible whenstructural reforms will be implemented continuously and infrastructure will be reduced to harmful.

India remains at the top position with the largest circulation of the world in the year 2018, with theamount of 79 billion dollars -• According to the World Bank’s migration and development brief; India’s Overseas Indians have retained the position of

the world’s top recipient of remittances in 2018, with the return of $ 79 billion back in their country.The following countriescome after the dispatch of India:

• China: $ 67 billion - Mexico: 36 $ billion - Philippines: $ 34 billion - Egypt: $ 29 billion

• The transmission flow increased from $ 62.7 billion in 2016 to $ 65.3 billion in 2017. The World Bank has informed that thedispatch facilitated the Kerala-Flood Migrants, which increased the dispatch in India by 14%.

• Pakistan’s largest transmission source is Saudi Arabia. Due to a significant decline in transmission flows from SaudiArabia, Pakistan’s remittance growth declined to a modest 7%. In Bangladesh, the dispatch has increased 15% in 2018.

• In 2018, remittances for lower and middle income countries have increased to a record high of $ 529 billion. It shows anincrease of 9.6% over $ 483 billion in 2017. Global despatch (i.e. inflow in high income countries) increased to $ 689 billionin 2018, which was $ 633 billion in 2017.

• According to World Bank, compared to an increase of 6% in 2017, the dispatch for South Asia increased to 12% ($ 131billion) in 2018. The reason for this increase is an increase in the economic conditions and oil prices in the United States,which influence external transmission from GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries. Under the Sustainable DevelopmentGoal (SDG) 10.7, the global goal is to reduce the transmission costs by 3% to 3% (except for the dispatch costs in Africancorridors and except for some Pacific Islands where it is above 10%).

• In addition to China, the remittances of lower and middle income countries were significantly higher than that of FDI in2018 ($ 344 billion).

About GCC:

• GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) is a regional, inter-governmental, political and economic union that includes Bahrain,Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE. Founded: May 25, 1981, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates f& Headquarters:Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

PFS participated in a joint venture with solar projects of UCISF in India:• India Financial Services (PFS), an Infrastructure Finance Company, has partnered with US-India Clean Energy Finance

(UCISF) to take advantage of the funds for solar projects in India. P.P.D. Managing Director and CEO Pawan Singh saidThat this innovative enterprise could contribute to achieving India’s distributed energy target 40 GW (gigawatt) by 2022.

• PFS has approved 3 Distributed Solar Power Projects with a loan of Rs. 242 crores.The Climate Policy Initiative (CPI)manages the UCISF, which is set up by Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, OPIC (Overseas Private InvestmentCorporation) IREDA (Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited) and with leading US installations tookplace in 2017.

A bank in Dubai, Emirates Islami became the first Islamic Bank in the world to start banking through Whatsapp:

• On April 7, 2019, Emirates Islamic Bank launched Chat Banking facility for its customer through Whatsapp and it becamethe first bank in the Islamic banking sector to provide such facility. It was supported by the InfoBip TelecommunicationCompany. This Chat Banking Solution allows customers to temporarily block or unblock an existing card and checkaccount balance.

• ABOUT Emirates Islamic Bank: CEO: Salah Amin, President: Hesham Abdullah al Qasim

• Establishment: 2004, Main Office: Dubai

Government of India approved the purchase of 464 Russian tanks under the T-90 project:• The security cabinet has approved the purchase of 464 Russian tanks under the T-90 project in a deal worth over Rs 13,500

crore.The tanks will be given to the armored arms of the force, for the deployment of the Indo-Pak border by them The newdeal will increase the number of T-90 in the army and the balance will be 2,000 with T-72 and T-55. For the integration ofAvadi (near Chennai) in the heavy vehicle factory, Make-in-India aspect is also included. The T-90 tank will be built withthe thermal imaging night sight, which will be beneficial for the tank commander during the night battle. T-72 and T-55 tanksin the T-90 force Will replace the old variant.

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• Indian Army Arjuna Mark also operates two regiments of 1 tanks. These tanks are used in the desert areas because of theirweight. Under the Futuristic Main Battle Tank Project, the Indian Army will develop new tanks.

Signpost Memorandum of Understanding for ISRO’s Partnership with CMFRI and Protection of SmallWetlands to deal with the effects of climate change:• For the first time, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has shared partnership with Central Marine Fisheries

Research Institute (CMFRI) for mapping, verifying and protecting small wetlands in the coastal area and protecting themthrough coastal livelihood programs. It has been done to create a strong foundation against the effects of climate change.The cooperative step of the institutions was part of a national framework for fisheries and wetland, which was recently apart of National Innovations (NICRA) in the climate of CMFRI was developed by the project.

• A release of Central Maritime Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has stated that these major institutions will develop amobile app and a centralized web portal (which would include a complete database of Indian Wetlands smaller than 2.25hectares). Smaller wetland in India Covering total area of more than lakh hectare, in which alone 2,592 small wetlands arein Kerala.

• A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Space Applications Center and the CMFRI of theIndian Space Research Organization (ISRO). According to the memorandum, the main purpose of CMFRI and ISRO is toidentify and separate the different wetlands and isolate them. Work of protection of degraded wetlands through livelihoodoptions, such as coastal aquaculture of shrimp and crab farming The application will be used to monitor the real-timedynamic monitoring of wetland. It will also advise stakeholders and coastal people. The purpose of the NICRA project isto find ways and means to reduce the impact of climate change in coastal areas and sea fisheries.

“Google Pay” shared with MMTC-PAMP to present the purchase and sale of gold:• On Google Pay, to make Google Pay more useful for Indian customers, partnership with Bullion Refiner MMTC-PAMP

India is to buy and sell gold through the app. MMTC-PAMP is India’s only London Bullion Market Association (LBMA),which is recognized as a gold refinery. Through this treaty, users on Google will purchase 99.99 percent 24-carat gold forany price, -PAMP will store the gold in a safe vault. Users at Google can now buy and sell gold at the latest price at anytime.

Telecom Department approves merger of TTSL and Bharti Airtel:• The Department of Telecommunications has approved the merger of TTSL (Tata Teleservices Ltd) with Bharti Airtel for the

merger of the consumer business, under the condition that the firm of Sunil Mittal will provide a bank guarantee ofapproximately Rs 7,200 crore.The contract is mostly one-time spectrum Fees (OTCs) and some deferred airwaves areassociated with the fee.

• Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha has approved the merger and the letter mentioning the guarantee has been sent to TataTeleservices Limited and its listed entity Tata Teleservices Maharashtra (TTML).

Asian Tea Alliance started in China:• On April 19, 2019, to promote tea trade, cultural and technological exchanges, as well as for the global promotion of tea, the

Asian Tea Alliance (ATA), a federation of five tea-growing and consuming countries , Was started in Guizhou, China. TheAlliance was formed with the Indian Tea Association, the Indonesian Tea Marketing Association, China Tea MarketingAssociation, Sri Lanka Tea Board and the Tea-Association. This coalition was based on the MoU signed between IndianTea Association and China Tea Marketing Association in December 2018 to promote the consumption of tea in India,China, the US, Russia, Europe and West Asia.

India Post collaborated with TCS to make 1.5 lakh post offices digitally and implement the largest SAPimplementation to create the world’s largest ePostal network:• India Post has collaborated with India’s leading tech giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to digitize 1.5 lakh post offices

in India, thus making it the world’s largest ePostal network and the world’s largest SAP implementation The two companieshad done deals worth over Rs 1100 crore in 2013 for the end-to-end IT modernization program.The main objective is toprovide efficient services to the consumers, we had to digitize Indian post offices with modern technologies and systems,thus inclusion of financial inclusion is to be extended by providing access to citizens in the remote areas. Design anddeployed core system integration program (CSI) more than 5 million employees and 40,000 users. In addition, it processes3 million postal transactions per day.

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• TCS has also created a web-based consignment tracking system, set-up multilingual call center and implemented point ofsale (POS) solution with more than 80,000 terminals in 24,000 post offices. To fulfill this objective, 1.3 lakhs mirror 1 forremote villages near TCS. Mirror 1 is a handheld device, which can be used by rural post office to provide postal serviceinsurance and cash management services in remote villages without any internet or network connectivity.

State Bank of India (SBI) launches India’s first ‘Green Car Loan’ (Electric Vehicle) to encouragecustomers to buy electric vehicles:• State Bank of India (SBI) has launched India’s first ‘Green Car Loan’ to encourage customers to purchase electric vehicles,

on April 22, 2019, World Earth Day. The new scheme ‘Green Car Loan’ will provide loans on existing car loan schemes withinterest rate of 20 basis points. This scheme comes with the longest repayment period up to 8 years. Thus, it is a strategicincorporation for SBI’s auto loan segment, which is being offered with zero processing fee for the first 6 months of launch.

• SBI has already reported 100% migration of EV (Electric Vehicle) by 2030 to reduce the carbon footprints, thus, it is in linewith the Government’s commitment to ensure 30% EV on the road by 2030. SBI Together with Wipro, the Climate Group’sEV 100 has joined the initiative to increase the launch of electric vehicles worldwide.

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SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

IIT Madras ties up with GE to establish India’s first ‘cold spray’ Smart Lab:• In collaboration with IIT Madras, American Group General Electric established India’s first ‘Cold Spray’ SMART (Surface

Modification and Additive Research Technologies) Laboratory, in which IIT-Madras is equipped with High Pressure ColdSpray (HPCS) facility in India. The only educational institute was created. High pressure cold spray machinery has beenbrought from Plasma guinea, Japan.

• Bhaskar Ramamurthy, CEO of GE India Technology Center, Alok Nanda and Director of IIT Madras inaugurated thelaboratory on 5th April, 2019.

• This project is sponsored by the Government of India’s “Higher Inventions Scheme (UAE)” to promote cooperationbetween the academic and the private sector.

• About GE: Established: April 15,1892, Headquarters: Boston, Massachusetts, United States

• Area of work: Aviation, Healthcare, Power, Renewable Energy, Digital Industry, Additive Manufacturing, Venture Capitaland Finance, Lighting, Oil and Gas.

Scientists develop a new Naval sensor to detect hazardous chemicals:• In the US the University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have created a small spectrometer that can be used in

smartphone-sized devices, to identify hazardous chemicals based on a unique ‘fingerprint’ of the emitted and absorbedlight. The study journal has been published in Nature Communications. This single-shot spectrometer has an advancedcapacity called Hyperspectral Imaging, that is, the device can collect information about each pixel to identify the material.All elements of spectral fingerprint has a unique wavelength of light, and has the ability to feel the device’s light which hasResearchers have been able to reveal the required data.

• Small spectrometer measures 200 micrometer on each side (approximately 20th area of a ballpoint pen tip) and is fragileenough to come directly from a specific digital camera to sensor.The device is developed by a specially designed materialhas been done that forces the incoming light to push back and forth several times before reaching the sensor and as aresult the size of the device.

First Earth-sized Planet: HD 21749 B discovered by NASA’s TESS Exoplanet Mission• Transition Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered an Earth-sized planet, HD 21749b and a “sub-Neptune”,

which is moving around Stars, HD 21749 This star is 53 light years away from Earth. Research is published in ‘TheAstrophysical Journal Letters’ on April 15, 2019. TES was launched in April 2018 on the SpaceX Falcon 9 Rocket . In Chilli,An instrument named ‘Planet Finder Spectrograph’ (PFS) on Magellan II telescope to confirm the planetary nature of theTES signal and measure the mass of HD 21749 b have helped.

• HD 21749b is about 23 times heavier than Earth and 2.7 times wide. It’s gaseous, there is a sufficient environment but it isnot like Uranus and Neptune. HD 21749B has an orbital period of 36 Earth days. The surface temperature of HD 21749 B isapproximately 300 degrees Fahrenheit (150 ° C). HD 21749C, It also appears to be similar to Earth.

Indian Coast Guard Offshore patrol vessel ‘Veera’ was included by General Bipin Rawat:• Indian Coast Guard Ship Veera was honored by General Bipin Rawat, Chief of the Army Staff, Director General of Indian

Coast Guard Rajendra Singh, Vice Chief of Eastern Naval Command, Vice Admiral Karambir Singh at the function of EasternNaval Command in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh and the Center and other state government Senior dignitaries havebeen included in the presence of Mr. Vira, in the series of new generation offshore patrol vessel (OPV) . Third, the CoastGuard is under the administrative and operational command of the regional headquarters. Commandant of Indian CoastGuard (ICGS) is near Girish Dutt Rathodari and it is managed by 12 officers and 94 people.

• This indigenously built Larsen & Toubro Limited has been built at the convenience of its shipbuilding in Katupupali,Chennai.

• There is a draft of 3.6 meters and 5,000 nautical miles in the 98 meter long, 15 meter wide patrol vessel. There is a 30 mm navygun in the vessel and 12.7 mm guns will also be fitted with FCS. The port is equipped with advanced technology,navigation and communication equipment, sensors and machinery. It is also equipped with an Integrated Bridge System(IBS), Integrated Platform Management System (IPMS), Automated Power Management System (APMS) and High PowerExternal Fire Fighting System (HPFS).

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• The ship displaces approximately 2200 tonnes (GRT) and is operated by two 9100 kilowatt diesel engines to achieve themaximum speed of 26 knots. To carry a twin-engine helicopter and four high-speed boats designed to include two boats forboarding operations, search and rescue, law enforcement and maritime patrolling. The ship is also capable of carrying alimited pollution response device for the oil spill. By the involvement of ICGS Veera, the operating capacity of the IndianCoast Guard will be increased so that various marine operations can be discharged. This will boost the sea conservationof our vast coastline of the Eastern Seaboard.

CCMB scientists discovered a new enzyme ‘Murein EndopeptidiaseK’ to break the bacterial cell wall:

• Scientists of the Center for Cell and Molecular Biology (CCMB) have discovered a new enzyme called ‘MureinEndopeptidiaseK’ while studying the growth of cells in bacteria. This new discovery has paved the way for thetreatment of a new drug, which prevents anti-bacterial resistance by existing antibiotics.

• It will work on the cell wall proteins in the escherichia coli (E. coli), which is the bacteria found in the lower intestines of hotblood cells. Research student Pawan Kumar Chodisitti and his mentor Dr. Manjula Reddy were the backbone of thisdiscovery. This search has been published in the latest issue of Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, USA.

Center for Cell and Molecular Biology:

• Director: Rakesh K. Mishra

• Location: Hyderabad, Telangana

• CCMB has been selected as the Center for Excellence by the UNESCO Global Network for Molecular and CellBiology.

Messaging App Whatsapp Unveils ‘Checkpoint Tipline’ to check the authenticity of the news:• To investigate the authenticity of information during the Lok Sabha elections, Messaging App Whatsapp unveiled a

platform called ‘Checkpoint Tipline’, which can review content in the form of pictures, video links or text. This tipline isunveiled by India-based media scaling start-up, Proto. Use of the platform: In India, the subscribers can provide informationabout the wrong information or rumors, which they receive at checkpoint tipline (+ 91-9643-000-888) on WhatsApp.

• After the information is shared, the app will check with the checkpoint and will inform the user whether the informationpresented is fake or not, which will be told from the correct, false, misleading, disputed or out-of-the-box and any otherrelated It will also show information. The platform can also review text in English as well as four regional languages ieHindi, Telugu, Bengali and Malayalam.

• This newly launched platform will prepare a database of rumors to study misinformation during the elections for theResearch Project checkpoint, technically assisted by Whatsapp.

Scientists have discovered a method called ‘Death Switch’ in the plant’s immune system which canproduce strong crops:• On April 5, 2019, scientists from Tsinghua University and Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Genetics and

Development Biology have discovered a method called ‘Death Switch’ mechanism in the plant’s immune system which cankeep the plant healthy. This research has been published in the journal Science.

• This new mechanism provokes infected cells for self-destruction and thus limits the spread of the disease. Apart from this,this finding indicates control over cell death, resistance to plants and may lead to the birth of new generation of disease-resistant crops which are less useful for pesticides and are environment-friendly.

Google launches new cloud platform, ‘Anthos’:• Google has launched a new open platform named ‘Anthos’ to run and manage applications from anywhere. It lets users run

applications on public cloud or on existing on-premises hardware investments. This helps users to manage the workloadrunning on third-party cloud such as Microsoft AZURE and Amazon AWS.

• Google also announced ‘Anthos Migrate’ in beta, which auto-migrates virtual machines from on-premises, or puts othercloud directly into the Kunterness engine with minimal impact. For VMware, Dell EMC, HPE, Intel and Lenovo havecommitted.

• About Google: Established: 1998, California, Founder: Larry Page, Sergey Brin,

• Headquarters: California, CEO: Sundar Pichai

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A new ‘condition’ of the substance was detected which can be solid and liquid at the same time:• On April 10, 2019, a new ‘condition’ of substance was discovered by the University of Edwardburgh scientists, which

could be solid and liquid at the same time.The study was led by Dr. Andreas Herman of the University of Physics andAstronomy University. And it was published in a magazine called ‘Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences’.This specific state of the object was called ‘chain-malted state’ is known in the form.

• In this study, scientists found that more than half a dozen other elements, including sodium and bismuth, were able toreach ‘chain-melted state’ if they were kept in the right environment. Apart from this, potassium is one of the simplestmetals that can create very complex structures under extremely high pressure and temperature. The study was done incooperation with the scientists of Xi’an Giantong University in China, and it is a European research council and engineeringand physics was supported by the Research Council.

A new technology ‘Dual-PWS’ was developed by researchers to study the movement of cells:• On April 12, 2019, a new technology ‘Dual-PWS’ has been developed by researchers to study the movement of cells

without the use of labels or pigments. It also disclosed an unseen phenomenon, which is the beginning of cell death. It canplay an important role in the phases. The study was published in a journal called Nature Communications and the paperhas been called ‘Multimodal Interference-Based Imaging of NanoScale Structure and Macromolecular Motion UV inducedcellular paroxism’. New technique is a label-free and without using pigment May measure the image and speed of themacromolecular.

Astronomers photographed the first black hole:• On April 10, 2019, astronomers, with the help of The Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), found out the outline of a massive

black hole in the center of the galaxy M87, captured the first image of a black hole, which is a halo of dust and gas. Theblack hole was first predicted by Einstein’s theory of relativity and these are extreme cosmic objects, in which theincredible amount of mass. Galaxy is 53 million light-years away from Earth.

• This telescope is made up of eight independent observatories and acts as a giant detector. It collected data for the firstblack hole image in April 2017 but scientists took two years to collect images. The black hole was observed in detail in thejournal Astrophysical Journal.

NASA selected Person of Indian Origin (PIO) Keshav Raghavan to lead Team Cubism:• On April 15, 2019, NASA selected a team led by Keshav Raghavan, an Indian American student, who would have a

cubesat, a mini-research satellite that would be sent to space to detect cosmic rays. 21-year-old Keshav Raghavan led theresearchers of the Yale Undergraduate Aerospace Association (YEWA), which is one of the 16 teams from across thecountry, whose CUBESAT will be launched in space under the plan to launch 2020, 2021 and 2022. .

• The team’s Cubism Blast (Bochet Low-Earth Alpha / Beta Space Telescope) is named after physicist Edward A Bouchet,who was the first African American to receive a Ph.D. in America. It is a scientist to collect scientific information. Theinvestigation mission, which will measure the distribution of galactic cosmic radiation in the night sky, and identify withalpha particles and beta particles in rays. Gath will also calculate them and measure radiation energy around the earth.

• Generally Cubesat projects cost approximately US $ 30,000, but the cost of this Cubusat Blast will be around US $ 13,000to US $ 20,000.The cube is smaller than one bread and is made from a modular structure of 10x10x10 cm cubes.

• Regarding National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA): Formation: July 29, 1958, Headquarters: Washington,United States, Founder: Dwight D Eisenhower, Administrator: Jim Bridenstein

Nepal launches its first satellite “Nepali Sat-1” in space:• Nepal launched its first satellite ‘Napalisat-1’ in space from the mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in the NASA’s Wallops

Flight facility on the east coast of Virginia. This Saignes cargo was connected to the interarce rocket carrying the spacecraft.The satellite’s outlay is 20 million Nepalese rupees. The project was launched under ‘Birds-III Satellite Launch to InternationalSpace Station Project’. The Nephilisat-1 satellite was developed by Japan’s Kyushu Institute of Technology by two Nepaliengineers, Bhabha Muskoy and Hariram Sen.

• The satellite is equipped with a five-megapixel camera to monitor the topography of Nepal and it also has a magnetometerthat will collect data related to the Earth’s magnetic field.

Sri Lanka’s first satellite ‘Raavan-1’ launched in space:• On April 18, 2019, Sri Lanka launched its first satellite ‘Ravan-1’ with a 1.05 kilogram weight from Mid-Atlantic Regional

Spaceport in NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on the east coast of Virginia. Ravan 1 was connected to the Angres rocketcarrying the Signon cargo spacecraft. The satellite is expected to enter the orbit of 400 km away from Earth and its lifetimewill be approximately 1.5 years. Ravana 1 is part of the third phase of Project ‘Birds’, which is led by the Kyushu Instituteof Technology in Japan. The objective of the project is to help nations build their first satellite with the help of UnitedNations.

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• Satellite is of diamension 11.3 centimeter (cm) x 10cm x 10cm measurement, designed and manufactured by two Sri Lankanresearch engineers, Tharindu Dyarthana and Dulani Shakika Vithanage in Japan’s Kyushu Institute of Technology. Picturesfrom neighboring countries have to be taken. Laura’s performance mission of Ravan 1 will validate the modules used fordownloading data for the next satellites. The etiodyd’s ettituteration and control mission of the cavity will try to reduce theangular velocity of the satellite using magnetic terraces.

Researchers at IIT Roorkee identified a new method for detecting breast, ovarian cancer:• On April 17, 2019, research team led by Kiran Ambitududi from the Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of

Technology, Roorkee, has identified a new method for detecting breast and ovarian cancer. The research journal has beenpublished in ‘FASEB Bio Advances’.

Key Points:

• He identified some proteins present in saliva which can act as a salivary biomarker in the diagnosis of breast andovarian cancer.

• A total of 646 proteins were identified, of which 409 proteins were identified in all four groups. In addition to 409identified proteins, 352 proteins were common in all blood groups, while 57 were either present / absent in one groupor common in any two / three blood groups.

The first molecule of the Universe - the Helium Hydride ion (HEH +), which was produced 14 billionyears ago, was detected in space:• Scientists have discovered the most ancient type of molecules, helium hydride ion (HEH) in our universe in space, which

supports the recognized theories for creating the universe after the Big Bang theory. This molecule came into being whena helium atom shared its electron with a hydrogen nucleus or a proton. This positive ion is considered the first moleculein the universe, which is created after 380,000 years of the Big Bang (Resurrection Era) and is considered to be the firstmolecular bond. The latest news was published by the journal ‘Nature’.

• This invention was done by examining the NGC 7027 Planetary Nebula. Dr. Roolf Guston of the Max Planck Institute forRadio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany is the first author of the research. The information was collected using a device calledSophia, a joint venture between NASA and German Aerospace Center, which has been specifically designed for 2.7 metersBoeing 747 SP is modified with the telescope and other equipment.

ECI launches Voter Turnout App:• The Election Commission of India launched the voter voting app to enable the people of India to see the actual voter

turnout. After collecting all the information from the authorities, it will be compiled and displayed in the app. Data at theassembly level and the data of various parliamentary constituencies will be available in the app.The app is available inGoogle Play Store and will run only on Android 4.4 KitKat or above.

Naval Chief Admiral Sunil Lamba launched a guided missile destroyer ‘INS Imphal’:• The indigenously designed and built third ship under Project 15B, ‘INS Imphal’ is a guided missile destroyer, launched by

Navy Chief in Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) in Mumbai. This vessel is designed by the Indian Naval DesignDirectorate, New Delhi. Each ship weighs 3,037 tons, 163 meters in length, 17.4 meters on the beam and it can displace 7,300tons. Ships will be operated by four gas turbines, which can achieve the speed of more than 30 knots.

• Guided missile destroyers have incorporated many modern concepts of the new design, which help in better survival, seamaintenance, hiding and mobility. Ship radars use transparent deck fittings, due to which the enemy can not easily detectthis ship.

• P15 B ships can take two multi-roll helicopters. These ships are equipped with state-of-the-art weapons and sensors,which include multi-functional surveillance radar and vertical launch missile systems, which can help in long distancecoasts, sea-based and air targets.

• There is a third ship under ‘INS Imphal’ P15B project. The first two ships are Visakhapatnam and Mormugao. The threeships are expected to join the Indian Navy until 2021.

“HIV” used by American scientists to create gene therapy, which cured eight infants of ‘Bubble Boy’disease:• US researchers have used HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) to develop gene therapy, which treats 8 infants suffering

from rare joint immunodeficiency disease, called ‘Bubble Boy’ disorder, their treatment St.Jud and UCSF Benioff’s Children’sHospital, San Francisco. Results of research St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee were developedin hospital and were published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

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• This disorder is called ‘bubble boy’ because the David waiter born in 1971 had to live in sterile plastic bubbles because ofthe disease, he was taken into the grip of infectious diseases when he was out of the bubble. He died at the age of 12 afterbone marrow transplantation.

• Earlier, the children suffering from this disorder had to remain fully under sterile conditions and died as infants.

What is ‘Bubble Boy’ Syndrome?

• ‘Bubble Boy’ or SCID (Saver-Combined Immunodeficiency) is also known as Allyphocytosis, Glanzmann-Rinicer syndrome,Severe compound immunodeficiency syndrome and thymic allyphoplasia.

How does this happen?

• SCID is the cause of mutation in the Interlineuin-2 receptor subunit gamma gene (IL 2 RG), which produces a protein thatis important for normal immune system development. This disease affects 1 in 200,000 newborns, Most men and withouttreatment, often kill the child in the first 2 years of life.

Treatment:

• Gene-Therapy treatment first collects the bone marrow of the child, then mutates the mutated gene ‘IL 2 RG’ with a correctcopy and inserting the ‘right’ genes into a converted version of the HIV virus.

• Thus, with this treatment, babies born with ‘SCID-X’ with very little immunity protection now have a fully functionalimmune system, including T (thymus cell) and B (bone marrow- or bursa-derived). Cells are fully functional immune systemafter gene therapy treatment including cells and natural killer (NK) cells.

World’s First Malaria Vaccine Launched In Malawi:• The world’s first malaria vaccine RTS, also called Mosquirics, has been launched in Malawi, which is one of the three

African countries in a landmark primary program coordinated by the World Health Organization (WHO), the other twoAfrican countries of Ghana and Kenya. The vaccine was created in 1987 by the British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline(GSK) and after that the vaccine has undergone 30 years of testing, which was supported by many organizations,including a non-profit organization path. The aim of this primary project is to reach 360,000 children per year in threecountries.

• The malaria vaccine will be provided to children up to 2 years and it will be given in 4 doses, the first three doses will begiven between five to nine months of age and the fourth dose will be given around the second birthday. During the 30-yearclinical examination, Scientists have found that the vaccine prevents about 4 out of 10 malaria cases, of which 10 casesinvolves 3 cases in the case of severe malaria. It is the home of Ghana, Kenya and Malawi. WHO has a collaborative effortwith the Ministries and other international partners such as Path, Vaccine Developer and manufacturer GSK. This primaryproject has been funded by three major global health funding bodies: The Gavi, Vaccine Alliance, The Global Fund to FightAIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and Unitaid and other organizations such as The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation arealso a fundamental vaccine fundraiser.

Russia successfully tested the world’s first floating nuclear power plant, named ‘Academic Lomonosov’:• The 70 MW ‘Academic Lomonosov’ is the world’s first floating nuclear power plant, successfully tested by Russia’s

nuclear power state-owned Rosatom operator subsidiary Rosernogrootam. The name of the ship was named after thefamous educationist Mikhail Lomonosov. This will replace the four-unit Bilibino plant, which has a total capacity of 48MW.

• The nuclear power plant is operated by its twin KLT-40S reactor system. This nuclear reactor was developed by ONKMAfrikantov and was assembled by the Nizhny Novgorod Research and Development Institute, Atomenergoproject. TheNATO nuclear power plant is 30 meters wide, 144 meters long and its displacement capacity is 21,000 tons.

Japan creates world’s first artificial crater on asteroids:• On April 25, 2019, Japanese scientists successfully made the first artificial crater on an asteroid which gave some clues on

how the solar system evolved. Yuichi Tsuda, the project manager of Hayabusa 2, confirmed the pit from images capturedby the probe located at 1,700 meters (5,500 feet) from the surface of the asteroid.

• Under the mission to investigate the origin of life and the development of the solar system, Hayabusa 2 space probelaunched a projectile in the Rayugu asteroid, about 340 million kilometers from the earth. The mission was started inDecember 2014 and is going to return to Earth with a total cost of about 30 billion yen ($ 270 million) with its samples in2020.

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The team of IIT Madras developed easy OCR system for reading documents in Bharti script of nineIndian languages:• The research team of IIT Madras has used a multilingual optical character recognition (OCR) scheme to develop a method

for reading documents in Bharati script. Researchers have also developed a finger-spelling method in collaboration withTCS Mumbai, which can be used to generate sign language by hearing impaired.

• Bharti script is a group of 9 languages in Devanagari, Bengali, Gurumukhi, Gujarati, Odiya, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalamand Tamil. In the last 10 years, the research team of Prof. Srinivas Chakraborty of IIT Madras has worked on developingthis script. The OCR scheme divides the first document into two parts, text and non-text. After this, the text is divided intoparagraphs, sentence words and letters, where each letter is accredited as a character in ASCII (American Standard Codefor Information Interchange) or Unicode. The letter again has many components, namely, original consonants, dishesmodifiers, vowels.

• The objective of this initiative was to introduce easy readability of Indian languages. The scripts of the above mentionedIndian languages put an obstacle to character recognition and this difficulty is removed in the Bharati script, which caneasily be read.

• The future possibilities of cooperation with Sunil Koparappu’s Innovation Labs, TCS, Mumbai of IIT Madras, visuallyimpaired and audiences, are to develop a new Braille system with Bharati script.

Scientists developed the Ultrasensitive Quantum Thermometer:• On April 27, 2019, researchers from Jamia Millia Islamia of New Delhi have developed an ultrasensitive quantum thermometer

using graphene quantum dots. It can measure a wide range of temperature from 27 degrees Celsius to -196 degrees Celsiusproperly.

• It has high sensitivity in its various temperatures and it can measure every small (microscopic) Kelvin change in temperatureand it has a very quick reaction time of about 300 milliseconds. The team has developed thermometer under the leadershipof Sheikh S. Islam, director of the Center for Nanocides and Nanotechnology.

• The results of the study were published in the nanoscale advance magazine. Thermometers would be useful in thepharmaceutical industry, healthcare and automobile industries.

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IMPORTANT BOOKS

Kundan: Sahgal ka Jeevan aur Sangeet, which was written by documentary film producer and formerDDG Sharad Dutt of Doordarshan, was released:• Kundan: Sahgal ka Jeevan aur Sangeet, a book written by documentary film producer and former DDG Sharad Dutt of

Doordarshan, was released on April 5, on the 115th birth anniversary of Sehgal. The book has been broadcast in Englishby Jyothi Sabharwal of Stellar Publishers.

• Sharad Dutt won the National Award in 2005 for the original book in Hindi (for the best book ‘Golden Kamal’ on Cinema).

• Kundanlal Sehgal was an Indian singer and actor, who is considered to be the first superstar of the Hindi film industry.

Book ‘Indian Constitution’ was released in Konkani:• On April 21, 2019, Mangaluru bishop Peter Paul Saldanah has released Konkani translation of Indian Constitution in

Rosario Cathedral. Prof. Stephen Quadrose Permum, who has written several books in Konkani, has translated the book.

• It has been released by the Mangaluru Dixon Commission, which is led by its convener, FJ B Krista.

• Jairam Ramesh wrote the biography of KK Krishna Menon, titled ‘Checked Brilliance: The Mani Lives of VK KrishnaMenon’ by diplomat-politician VK Krishna:

• Former Union Minister and writer Jairam Ramesh has written the biography of Indian nationalist, diplomat and politicianVK Krishna Menon, titled ‘Checked Brilliance: The Mani Lives of VK Krishna Menon’. This book will be released in thefirst quarter of 2020. This book will be published by Penguin Random House India. The book will describe Menon’s earlylife, which will be able to live through the career of his 25 year movement in the UK.

• This book also includes his political and diplomatic innings from 1947 to 1974, including his resignation as DefenseMinister of the country in November 1962.

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APPOINTMENTSDavid Malpass was elected as President • On April 5, 2019, Davis Malpass, senior Treasury officer and the staunch

of World Bank supporter of President Donald Trump, was unanimously elected as thenext president of the World Bank. He will replace Jim Yong-Kim. Hecurrently serves as Under Secretary of Treasury for International Af-fairs and before that he played a senior role in the U.S. State Depart-ment for Latin American Affairs.

• About the World Bank: Headquarters: Washington-United States,

• Founded: 1944, Founder: John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White

AIFF President, Praful Patel, was elected • All India Football Federation (AIFF) President Praful Patel has been

as a FIFA executive council member nominated a member of the FIFA Executive Council. He became the firstIndian to enter the elite panel of the global governing body of thegame.

• A total of five candidates, including Patel, were elected in addition tothe AIFF president, and a female member. Patel was one of the eightcandidates to be elected to the election, which was held during the 29thAFC (Asian Football Confederation) Congress. Regarding FIFA: (Head-quarters: Zurich, Switzerland, President: Giani Infinito)

Sheikh Salman was appointed president of • On April 6, 2019, President of FIFA (Federation Internationale de Foot

Asian Football Confederation ball Association) Giani Infanteño approves the re-election of AsianFootball Chief Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa to help the regionmove ahead in stability. Sheikh Salman will continue his tenure as presi-dent until at least 2023.

• Asian Football Confederation: Headquarters: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,President: Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa

Usha Padhe, Pawan Hans Ltd’s first • On April 7, 2019, the additional charge of Odisha cadre IAS officer,

woman CMD Pawan Hans Limited, the company providing helicopter service, hasbeen given additional charge as Chairman and Managing Director. Cur-rently, he is serving as the joint secretary of civil aviation department.Along with this appointment, she became the first woman CMD of MiniRatna-I Division PSU (Public Sector Undertakings). He also worked asDirector of Pawan Hans Limited and Additional Director in Delhi Inter-national Airport Limited.

• This post was vacant since leaving the post of then Chief BP Sharma.

Vikramjit Singh Sahni, Chairman of Sun • On April 8, 2019, Chairman of Sun Group, Vikramjit Singh Sahni was

Group, was elected President of ICC India elected as the Chairman of International Chamber of Commerce-India.He will replace Jawahar Vadivalu. In May, ICC India is going to operatea mega-project in Paris.

• About ICC: Nickname: World Business Organization, Headquarters:Paris, Formation: 1919,

• Motto: We make business a success every day, everywhere, for every-one.

Professor Najma Akhtar was nominated • On April 11, 2019, Professor Najma Akhtar of National Educational Plan

as the first woman Vice Chancellor of ning and Administration Institute has been appointed by the President

Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMI): of India as the first woman Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia Uni-versity (JMI) for a period of five years. She will replace Talat Ahmad.Jamia Millia Islamia was formed in Aligarh in 1920 and the appointmentwas done under the Jamia Millia Islamia Act, 1988.

• She has been gold medalist from Aligarh Muslim University (AMU)and was the founding Director of the State Educational Managementand Training Institute (SIEMAT), Uttar Pradesh.

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Supreme Court Collegium recommends • On April 10, 2019, Allahabad High Court Judge, Justice Vikram Nath

Justice Vikram Nath as First Chief was appointed by the Supreme Court Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and

Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court Justice S. A. Bobde and Justice NV Ramana as Colleges for the firstChief Justice of the new Andhra Pradesh High Court. Gaya. The newHigh Court for Andhra Pradesh was established on January 1, 2019,after its construction, the High Court’s office was taken over by theActing Chief Justice Chagari Praveen Kumar.

Gagandeep Kang became the first Indian • On April 16, 2019, Gagandeep Kang, Executive Director of the

woman to join the Royal Society Transitional Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad, 56,

in 359 years was the first Indian to be elected as the Fellow of the Royal Society(FRS) in the 359-year history of the prestigious scientific academy inthe UK. Women have become scientist.

• Dr. Kang, who is called India’s criticism ‘God Mother’, developed avaccine against the Rota virus, which was first identified by AIIMS,New Delhi in 1985. Total 51 scientists were selected as FRS Was there.Dr. Yusuf Hamid was selected as an honary Fellow.

Dr B.K. Nayak of Odisha became the first Indian Head of FIH Health and Safety Committee:• The first Indian to be appointed the Chairman of the International Hockey Federation (FIH) Health and Safety Committee

by Hockey India (HI), Colonel (Dr) Vibhu Kalyan Nayak, the original resident of Bhubaneswar, World Governing Body. Hewill serve for a two-year term that lasted till 2020. Dr. Nayak is the first Indian to be nominated by the FIH Medical Officerfor the World Cup.

• National Institutes of Sport Medicine in Cuba, Havana, and at the National Sports Center in Madrid, Spain, he has been ateacher in Sports Traumatology and Sports and Exercise Physiology.He has been the chief team doctor of Indian team and2018 men’s World Cup in Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. He had worked as a medical officer. In 1995, he was appointed in theArmy Medical Core and he worked at Army Sports Institute, Pune.

• In 2009, he joined the Indian Hockey team and competed in the men’s hockey World Cup (for all matches in 2010) SultanAzlan Shah Cup (2009, 2010) Asian Games, CWG (Commonwealth Games) and Asian Champions Trophy (2012).

• Presently Dr Nayak is with Specialist (Sports Medicine) Safdarjung Hospital on deputation to the Sports Injury Center.

• About International Hockey Federation (FIH): President: Narinder Batra, Headquarters: Lausanne, Switzerland

• CEO: Kelly Fairweather, Established: 7 January 1924, Affiliation: International Olympic Committee

America first appointed Indian, Sanjay Kumar, Geospatial Media and Communications CEO and WGICSecretary General as a member of its Geopolitical Advisory Committee.:• For the first time, the US Department of the Interior has given Sanjay Kumar, resident of Delhi, as the first Indian, to the

Secretary-General of Geospatial Media and Communication and World Geospatial Industry Council (WGIC) in his prestigiousNational Geopolitical Advisory Committee (NGAC).

• In November 2018, Sanjay Kumar was conferred the Global Geospatial Industry Ambassador Award by United NationsGlobal Geospatial Information Management (UN-GGIM). He first joined the committee as a representative of WGIC. ToWGIC On August 1, 2018, the United Nations Headquarters, New York was launched in the 8th session of UN-GGIM.

• In 2017-18, India’s Geospatial Industry estimated at $ 1.1 billion, which is expected to grow by 13.8% in the near term. TheGovernment of India is currently running 163 geo-related projects in more than 50 departments.

Regarding the NGAC (National Geospatial Advisory Committee):

(i) NGAC is a federal advisory committee which is sponsored by the internal department.

(ii) NGAC gives advice and recommendations on the implementation of National Geospatial Policy and ManagementIssues, the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) and the implementation of the Geospatial Data Act of 2018.

(iii) NGAC comprises approximately 30 members who work for the 3-year term in the committee.

(iv) NGAC organizes meetings 3 to 4 times per year, where all the committee meetings are invited to give suggestions tothe public.

(v) American Geological Survey, a Bureau of Interior Department, provides support services for NGAC.

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DEATHDr. Vihari Das Gopal Das Patel • Dr. Vihari Das Gopaldas Patel, a renowned economist honored with

Padmashri and father of entrepreneurship movement in India, died atAhmedabad at the age of 79 in Gujarat. He was the founder and directorof the Indian Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDII). He wasawarded Padma Shri in 2017 for his contributions to the development ofentrepreneurship in India.Books written:1. Trade crisis and how todefeat them2. Entrepreneurship development program in India andits relevance to developing countries.3. Management of India’sSmall Industrial Economy: The Catalyst Role of Industrial Consultantsand Policymakers.

Silamboli Su. Chellappan • On April 6, 2019, noted Tamil scholar and speaker Silamboli Su.Kellappan passed away at Tiruvanamiyur in Tamil Nadu at the age of91. He was nominated as the Director of Tamil Development. He was thefounder-director of the World Tamil Research Center. He was given thetitle as Silamboli by Tamil scholar R. P. Sethipillai.

• Some of his famous books are: Silamboli, Silapathikara Sinthinagal, SangaIlikiya Thane

K. M. Mani • On April 9, 2019, Kerala’s politician and former state finance minister K.M. Mani died at the age of 86 in the Lakshwar hospital in Kochi, Kerala.He was a veteran leader of the Congress. He was born on January 30,1933 in the village of Marangattupalli near Pala. He had been sufferingfrom COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) for several yearsand was often admitted to the hospital for chest infection. He was theonly politician who was elected from the same constituency for 13consecutive elections and remained the longest member of the KeralaLegislative Assembly.

Elriesa Theunissen-Fourie • On April 5, 2019, South Africa Women’s World Cup cricketer EleryaasThunisan-Fury died in a car accident at the age of 25. She was born on2 May 1993, in Kirkschorp.

• He represented South Africa in four international matches - three one-dayers and 2013 ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup team in a T20 match.Their last match for South Africa was one-day match against BangladeshWomen in September 2013 and they played against Sri Lanka in theirfirst ODI debut at Cuttack during the 2013 World Cup.

Paripoornananda Painuli • Famous Congress MP and independence fighter, Fuller Panuli died onApril 13, 2019 at his residence in Vasant Vihar, Delhi, at the age of 94.Panuoli was known to participate in the Quit India Movement at the ageof 17 and led a nonviolent movement against the state of Tehri-Garhwalin 1949. They were born on November 19, 1924, and in 1971 they wereelected to the 5th Lok Sabha.

S.K. Shivkumar • Former Director of Indian Space Research Organization Satellite Center(ISAC), SK Shivakumar died at Bangalore, Karnataka, at the age of 66years. He was a resident of Mysore, Karnataka.

• He was a part of the team that developed telemetry system forChandrayaan-I, India’s first moon mission. He worked as Project Direc-tor for India’s first indigenous Deep Space Network Antenna in Bayalu.He led a team of 2,500 engineers who contributed to ISRO’s MangalyaanMission. He also contributed in several campaigns like Bhaskar, INSAT,IRS-1B and IRS-1C. He was awarded the Padma Shri award and wasalso honored with the Karnataka State Awards (2008).

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CHHATTISGARH

Awards

Eklavya award to dancer Shalu Jindal• The famous Kuchipudi dancer and co-chairman of the JSPL Foundation, Shalu Jindal has been awarded the Eklavya Award

for the year 2019 for contributing to the field of Indian classical dance. This is the 11th year of the award. In the ceremonyheld in Singapore, Padmabhishan Shilpa Guru Raghunath Mahapatra presented this prestigious award in the presence ofOdisha Dance Guru Dr. Iliana Sitarishti and Lashikala Dance Vision Founder of Parvati Joshi.

REFERRED FROM STATE

In the urban areas of the state, “Police Jan Mitra Yojna” will be started and rural areas will constitute“Village Defense Committees”:• In order to establish mutual regular interaction between the public and the police in urban and rural areas under community

policing in all the districts of the state, and to increase the credibility of the police in the public, under public policing, inthe urban and semi-urban areas, Plan ‘’ and plans to revive ‘Village Defense Committee’ in rural areas Has been written.Under which the officers in charge of the concerned police station should communicate directly to the public by reachingall the urban and rural areas of their jurisdiction.

• According to the instructions issued by the Director General of Police, Shri D.M. Awasthi to all the Superintendents ofPolice, this arrangement has been made under the “Police Janmitra Yojana”, that according to the area of the police stationand the population of the state in the urban and semi urban areas, every police station By distributing the area in 30 to 40sectors, the station in-charge is presenting himself and taking a meeting of residents there in one sector every week.Information about the problems of the citizenry and the problems of the citizens in the area of the police and the moderncrime such as cyber crime, cheating on-line, cheating companies, crime associated with social media, methods of crimeagainst women and to avoid them We will explain the measures. The gazetted officers of the police will be sure to presentthemselves in the police Jan Mitra meeting of any one of their places every week.

• Similarly, the district superintendent of police will be present in the meeting of Police Jan Mitra twice in a month. During themeeting of “Police Janmitra Yojana”, 8-10 citizens of some active and undisputed good image of the said sector will beselected as “Police Jan Mitra” with the consent of the present citizens and their name will be mobile number meetingProceedings will be recorded with details. The concerned Police Station Officer-in-Charge and the City Police Superinten-dent, Police will remain in constant contact with the public, and will solve the problem of the area as told by them so thatthe image and credibility of the general public increases.

• For the “Police Jan Mitra Yojana” to be run in the urban and semi-urban areas of the district, the Superintendent of Policewill appoint an Additional Superintendent of Police level officer to be the nodal officer. The Nodal Officer will maintain aregister, which will be entered every week in which police station in which district police public meeting is held. The mainpurpose of the said scheme is to increase mutual co-ordination and trust between the common citizens and the police.

• The active support of rural people for effective implementation of crime and crime control in rural areas is extremelyimportant. For this, the station in-charge and senior officers of the rural areas and the establishment of Village DefenseCommittee is an effective medium through which the active people of the rural areas, the enthusiastic youth, whose imageis unbiased and unquestionable, effective enforcement of effective police system. Will be taken in Village Defense Commit-tee will not be constituted keeping in view the safety of citizens in Naxal-sensitive villages. In the rural areas, in charge ofthe police station and the second officer of the police station, present themselves in the village and taking the meeting ofthe villagers, will consolidate the Village Defense Committee in one of the weeks. Minimum 10 and maximum 15 memberswill be included in each VDC. Members of the committee will be the people who are influenced by the village of undisputed,clean character, enthusiastic youth and active women.

• The Gazetted officers stationed in rural areas will also be present in the meeting of any one gram of their jurisdiction everyweek and the superintendent will be involved in the meeting of the “Village Defense Committee” twice a month regularly.

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In the meeting organized for the formation of Village Defense Committee, in-charge of the police station, the villagers havebeen extensively present in the present crime like A.T.M. Fraud, chitfand fraud, human trafficking, social media fraud, blindfaith etc. will give details of the problems of villagers and the villagers will take it from the villagers and mention it in theaction details. During the meeting, the problem of village problems being reported by the villagers will take effective actionagainst those problems and social evils in the village, illegal liquor, speculation, gambling, illegal sale of ganja etc so thatthe credibility of the police is ensured among the villagers. The Superintendent of Police, Superintendent of Police, willappoint the Nodal Officer of the district for this purpose and the said Nodal Officer will maintain the 01 register in his office,in which case of which area of the station, the meeting took place during the week, its record will be determined. Uponcompletion of the formation of Village Defense Committee in all the villages of the Thana area, the SP will conduct 01 daytraining of the members of the Village Defense Committee at the police station level, in which the instructions to be givento the members of their duties and field of safety to the citizens Etc.

• In the training program, the Superintendent of Police and the Additional Superintendent of Police will be present in personand also invite some of the Police Inspectors of their range in some conferences. The identity card prepared in theprescribed format will be made available to the members working on active, unenviable and fair working at the district levelconference. The objective of establishing the said village tourism and Village Defense Committee is to increase policeactivism in rural areas and to maintain harmony, dialogue and mutual trust in rural and police.

Chhattisgarh International NRI Summit in Chicago-• The people of Chhattisgarh living in the US have created an organization called North America Chhattisgarh Association

(NACHA). The International NRI Summit is being organized in Chicago, USA on August 10 and 11. Chhattisgarh Chamberhas also been invited to join the program. Nacha’s president Ganesh Kar met Chamber President Jitendra Barlota and toldthat about 1,500 people live in Chhattisgarh in the US and Canada. They are also associated with a number of businesseswith the service sector. There are plenty of possibilities in the US, Chicago, IT, hotels, jewelery, construction and oilbusinesses in Chicago, so the government also helps in such a business. Start-up business also has great value there.Apart from this, there are many possibilities for catering to Indian citizens too. Department stores are being run by Indiansas well as Indian restaurants in Chicago. Officials of the Chhattisgarh Chamber of the People’s Movement are present inthis conference, so that people of Chhattisgarh can get information about the possibilities of business-industry. Duringthis meeting, the Chief Minister Lalchand Gulwani, Executive Chairman Arvind Jain, Vice President Satish Jain, MinisterAlok Singh, Sudesh Mandhyan etc. were present.

• North America Chhattisgarh Association (NACHA) is hosting the first international Chhattisgarh NRI Convention inChicago, United States. The Association began on February 1, 2017, and now there are over 1800 people in the NorthAmerican area.

• The session will provide a platform for all Chhattisgarh NRIs to promote the culture of Chhattisgarh and to create a socialand business relationship. This time, the NACHA will host the Chicago chapter conference.

• Ganesh Kar, Executive President of the Association, mentions that NACHA is a registered non-profit association and hasbeen formed to help the Chhattisgarh NRI community in North America, and to promote the culture of Chhattisgarh, andits original state is backing Chhattisgarh. This is the only State-based NRI Association for Chhattisgarh and it is hostingthe first International Chhattisgarh NRI Conference.

Lok Sabha elections completed with three phases in Chhattisgarh:-• Polling for 11 Lok Sabha constituencies in Chhattisgarh was held in three phases on April 11, 18 and April 23. There were

three phases in the state on April 11, 18 and April 23. The counting of Lok Sabha elections will be held on May 23.Chhattisgarh total polling was 71.48 percent.

• Chhattisgarh elections constituencies -

1st phase - April 11 (1st seat) - Bastar

Second phase- April 18 (3rd seat) - Kanker, Rajnandgaon and Mahasamund

Third phase- April 23 (7 seats) - Raipur, Bilaspur, Raigarh, Korba, Janjgir-Champa, Durg and Sarguja

• There are 11 seats of Lok Sabha in Chhattisgarh, out of which 4 are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and 1 for ScheduledCastes category.

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Recognition of 11 colleges of Indira Gandhi Agricultural University and 12th ranking of Indira GandhiAgricultural University from Indian Council of Agricultural Research• 11 Colleges operating under New Delhi Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur have been recognized by the Indian

Council of Agricultural Research. The Agricultural Council of Agriculture, Raipur under Agricultural Bachelor of Curriculum,along with 17 subjects of Agricultural Postgraduate and Ph.D. 14 subjects, Swami Vivekananda Agricultural Engineeringand Technology College, Raipur Bachelor, 3 subjects in Postgraduate and Ph.D. 2 subjects have got recognition.

• All government colleges which run under the university were applied for recognition, after the primary examination of theapplication, the high level committee of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research examined the merit position of thecollege and university, in which the renowned agricultural educationist of the country Were included. During the inspection,the Speaker and all the committee members praised Bhuri-Bhurey for establishing a record in various fields during the lastfive years. It is notable that Indira Gandhi Agricultural University has got 12th rank in all the Agricultural Universities ofthe country.

Award of Best Center for Agricultural University’s Mega seed project• Meeting of the 34th Joint Annual Group of Indian Institute of Seed Science, Mau, Varanasi, Chaudhari Charan Singh

Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar was organized from 7th to 9th of April, in which Mega operated under Indira GandhiAgricultural University Mega Seed Project is awarded the best center of 63 centers in the country, Director General, IndianCouncil of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. T. Mahapatra provided it. This award is given by Director Field and NodalOfficer Dr. Ss Sanger and prominent scientist Dr. N.K. Rastogi received. On this occasion, Ashwini Kumar, Joint Secretary,Ministry of Agriculture and Kisan Welfare, New Delhi, Government of India, Assistant Director General (Seed), IndianCouncil of Agricultural Research, New Delhi. D.K. Yadav was particularly present. This achievement is in charge ofNational Seed Project, Dr. P.K. Chandrakar and Dr. N.K. Rastogi and all field managers have earned active contributions.

• Significantly, the Mega seed project at Indira Gandhi Agricultural University, Raipur was organized by the Indian Councilof Agricultural Research, New Delhi for seed production in the year 2006-07. According to the demand of farmers by thisproject, breeders of approximately 52 varieties of Chhattisgarh major crops such as paddy, wheat, kodo, ragi, soyabean,linseed, saffron, mustard, gram, pea, moong, urad, tiwda and kuthi, base and certified Seed is prepared and made availablein various states of the country other than the state. In the year 2015-16, the National Seed Project of Indira GandhiAgricultural University has been awarded with National Award for Raipur unit.

Rosa biological turmeric of Bastar will now be anti-cancer drug in Oman -• Anti-cancer drug will now be made in Oman by Roma organic turmeric by farmers in Bastar. To start this work in Oman, the

scientists have planted 20 tonnes of turmeric in the first consignment from the horticulture college. Suddenly, the Departmentof Horticulture has started work to fulfill such a huge demand.

• The curcumin element found in Bastar’s Turmeric is much more than any other country. Karakumin is 7.1 percent. In otherstates it is 1.5 to 4 percent. Farmers are being contacted for the purchase of turmeric. The order from Oman was found inthe horticulture college in September 2018. According to the genetic scientist GP Nag, this turmeric will be sent to Oman ata rate of 300-400 rupees. After buying turmeric, it will be processed and sent to Oman. Dr. D Thakur, a horticulture collegegraduate, said that this turmeric demand from Oman has happened to make anti-cancer and other drugs. It was demandedfour months ago.

• Haram cultivation of Roma variety in 500 acres - Organic methods of turmeric cultivation At this time, turmeric cultivationof Roma variety in Modhauta, large chakra of Konnar, Sevva and Bastar of Turgangur, Pirameta, Lalaguda and Darbhar ofBastar. Its being done . After buying from the farmers it is being done in the processing college. From here, about 40 kg ofturmeric is being sold at 500 rupees per kg. This work has been done for the last seven months. In this way till now, turmericworth Rs 2.5 lakh has been sold.

• The seed from Odisha’s “Potangi” was brought from Seed-Bastar to the cultivation of turmeric of Roma Variety, for this theseed was brought from Patnai of Odisha in 2016-17. This turmeric purchased at a rate of Rs 5,900 per quintal was given tothe farmers by the Horticulture College for free on the basis of seven quintals per acre in the demonstration scheme.

50% of cases of autism disease, mental illness suffering from diseases in Bastar -What is it? Autism:• A child suffering from autism remains absorbed in his work. The child is lost in itself does not listen to anyone properly and

neither can he answer it. Keeping them socially separate, these children do not mix with anyone and are hesitant to talk toothers. This disease stops the child’s mental development. The disease damages the child’s central nervous system,which causes problems in the child. Occasionally, due to lack of proper treatment during pregnancy, child may be at risk ofautism.

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• The number of children suffering from autism is increasing rapidly. There have been no research and survey on suchpatients till now in Chhattisgarh. The number of children suffering from autism in Chhattisgarh, including Bastar, isincreasing at an enormous rate. According to doctors, it is difficult to identify the children suffering from autism, but withthe simple symptoms, the advice of the psychiatrist can be taken.

• Autism is a serious disease in children, causing the greatest risk to the physical growth of children and their mentaldevelopment. On 2 April, special camps were held from 10 am to 4 pm at Jagdalpur Maharani Hospital on World AutismAwareness Day.

Symptoms of Autism:

• A child suffering from autism sometimes does not respond to anything or hears the matter unheard of. The child does notrespond even when raising the voice.

• They prefer staying alone, in such a way, they do not even like to play with the children in the group.

• Do not use your hands while talking or do not give any indication of your finger

• The eyes of someone else’s eyes are terrified by talking.

• These children do not like change, they like to do the same thing every day.

• To be very restless, to be very passive or to be very active is also a sign of autism.

• Development of these children is very slow, not like normal children.

• At the age of 1 to 3, early signs are seen; many causes of genetic and environmental factors are responsible: autism is aproblem, in which the sufferers may have behavior problems ranging from various types of problems. The improvement ofthe condition of such people can be brought only by social acceptability. In the early stages, its symptoms are found inchildren between 1 to 3 years of age. The sooner the treatment begins, the better results are found. Many reasons forgenetic and environmental factors are responsible for this.

“Swami Vivekanand Airport” ranks First in Customer Satisfaction Survey -• In the recently released survey report of Airport Authority of India Limited, the customers said the best in terms of facilities

and the owner of the capital, Vivekanand Airport, received a customer satisfaction index award on the first position in thecountry in case of customer settings.

• Be aware that Swami Vivekananda’s 18 feet high statue will be installed at the airport of Raipur. The statue will be built bythe famous sculptor Ramasutar. Sculptor Ramasutar has built the world’s tallest statue of Sardar Patel in Gujarat, which isthe tallest statue in the world. Swami Vivekanand Airport will cost an estimated one crore rupees. It will be beared NationalMineral Development Corporation (NMDC). For this, he has given consent to the Airports Authority of India.

• ATC Rakesh Sai has confirmed confirming the installation of the statue at the airport. He told that sculptor Ramasutar hasbeen ordered to make the statue. The statue of Swami Vivekananda will be built in six months. The 18 feet high statue willbe of 6 to 8 mm thick metal sheet. This will cause the idol to weigh between 6.5 to 7 tons.

• The platform has been constructed at the airport for this idol. The statue will be established by September-October. Afterthis, the program of launch is proposed in November.

National Seminar on Nuclear Energy:-• The two-day National Seminar concluded on Saturday in collaboration with the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB)

at Sri Rawatpura Government Institute of Pharmacy, Kumhari. Speakers in the program said that nuclear energy is neededto fulfill future energy and needs and for the future of the nation. The chief guest at the two-day National Seminar wasProfessor Swarnalata Saraf. He said that in detail the details of what is the right technique for meeting future energy needsand better utilization of nuclear energy. Participants from different colleges, universities and institutes of different statesgave their lectures through the power point presentation in the conference. Speakers said that nuclear power is veryimportant for the future of any country. But its misuse can prove to be devastating for the whole world.

Raipur-Delhi flight of “Vistara Airlines” starts in Chhattisgarh -• Vistara airlines have started Raipur-Delhi flight from March 31. After the start of this flight, the arbitrariness of the airlines

will provide a great deal of relief. Jet Airways flights are currently closed from Raipur. Due to this, aviation companies aregetting arbitrarily air fare in the days ahead. For a long time the flight of the extension was being waited.

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ECONOMICS

US $ 25.2 million loan agreement was signed between World Bank for India and Chhattisgarh -• Debt Agreement of $ 25.2 million between the Central Government, Chhattisgarh State Government and World Bank was

signed on Public Financial Management and Accountability Program. This agreement was signed by Ms. Kamal PreetDhillon, (Secretary, Finance), on behalf of the Government of India in New Delhi by Shri Sameer Kumar Khare (AdditionalSecretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance), Chhattisgarh Government; And signed by Hisham Abdo(Acting Country Director, World Bank) from World Bank. It aims to provide support for reforms such as spendingexpenditure, investment management, budget, execution, public procurement and accountability,

Key Points:-

• Chhattisgarh Public Financial Management and Accountability Program (First Bank-funded State)

• Chhattisgarh has started to help in increasing the direct profit of the level project in nearly a decade.

• The project will strengthen the human resources of the state and will help those institutions who handle public finances

• The project will focus primarily on IT solutions and about 11,000 village panchayats and 168 urban municipalities willsupport.

• The rebalancing and development of this loan is valued at $ 25.2 million from the international bank.

• (IBRD), 5 years grace period and the last maturity of 10.5 years.

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SPORTSAASP Career Development Award for • Ayushi Chauhan has been selected by the American National Colle

tennis player Ayushi Chauhan giate Athletic Association (NCAA) AASP Selection Committee-2012for the AASP Career Development Award. Ayushi is honored withShahid Rajeev Pandey Award in the past and is currently studyingSports Management under the Tennis Scholarship in the US.

• Ayushy was earlier ranked first in the NFL (National Football League)career development conference. He has also received three presidentialawards from his university. Along with this award, he has been invitedto the AAASP Annual Conference held in the NCAA Career in SportsForum organized by the Indiana Police from June 6 to 9, and in NewOrleans from 31 July to 1 August.

Roshani & Sonali Selection for Asian • In the Asian Women’s Softball Championship to be held from May 1-7

Women’s Softball Indian Team in Jakarta, both players have been selected in the Indian Women’sTeam of Chhattisgarh’s Softball player Roshni Nishad and Sonali Sav.Simultaneously, Sanjana Dharmaraj, secretary of the Chhattisgarh StateSoftball Sports Association, has been made Assistant Manager. Se-lected players will leave on Tuesday night. In the team, two playersfrom Chhattisgarh have been selected, two each from Madhya Pradesh,Haryana, Rajasthan, four from Maharashtra and one each fromTelangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh and Kerala have been selected.The selected players have been trained from 25 to 28 April. India’s teamis in Pool-A. Apart from this, the team of Japan, China, Korea andThailand is included. Roshan and Sonali have won silver and bronzemedals at the National School and Federation Cup.

Girija Sahu International Wheelchair • International Basketball Wheelchair Under-25 Training Camp is being

Basketball Tournament Selection organized in Thailand, where Chhattisgarh’s philanthropist Girija Sahuwill also be trained. This camp is being organized by the Indian Wheel-chair Basketball Federation from March 24 to 30. For this camp, 10Divya Balika players of India have been selected, in whichChhattisgarh’s only player Girja Sahu is named.

• Training will be provided to Indian players in training camp organizedin Thailand. Girija is the resident of Rajnandgaon for the camp has beenselected on the basis of the performance made by her in the NationalWheelchair Competition held in Chennai. In the national competition,the team of Chhattisgarh had reached the quarter-finals. She is currentlyreceiving vocational training in the unstable rehabilitation centerlocated in the capital’s Maan.

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APPOINTMENTSPR Ramchandra Menon becomes new • PR Ramchandra Menon has been made new Chief justice of Bilaspur

Chief Justice of Bilaspur High Court High Court. The order has been issued by the Supreme Court on April8 for his appointment. Justice Menon is a senior judge of the KeralaHigh Court. So far, Justice Prashant Mishra was the Chief Justice incharge of the High Court.

• Ajay Kumar Tripathi, then Chief Justice of Bilaspur High Court, wasmade a member of Lok Commission. This led to his resignation. Afterwhich Justice Prashant Mishra was appointed as Chief Justice in-charge.Since then, they have the charge.

DEATHBhima Mandavi-

• MLA Bhima Mandavi passed away on 9th April, 2019 in a Naxal attack.

• In Dantewada of Chhattisgarh, the Maoists attacked Bharatiya Janata Party’s MLA Bhima Mandavi’s electioncampaign convoy. 5 dead, including Bhima Mandavi in the attack Naxalites have carried out the attack by attackingthe landmine in Kuakunda near Shyamgiri in Dantewada district.

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