Current Affairs Weekly PDF

Current Affairs Weekly PDF-April First Week (1-7)

INDIAN AFFAIRS

• On 1st April 2018, Delhi is the first city in India which started supplying Ultra-clean Euro-VI or
Bharat Stage (BS)-VI grade petrol and diesel from Euro-IV grade petrol and diesel without any
additional cost in order to curb air pollution.
• 114th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) took place in New Delhi on 29th and
30th March, 2018 it focused on technical deliberations on various issues related to Indus Waters
Treaty (IWT) between India and Pakistan.
• On 28th March 2018, a Multi Modal Logistics Park was inaugurated by CMD Konkan Railway
Sanjay Gupta and P K Agarwal, Director, Container Corporation at Balli Station on Konkan Railway
route, near Madgaon in Goa at a cost of Rs 43 crore.
• On April 1, 2018, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated World-Class tourist
amenities at Konark Sun Temple in Odisha developed by Indian Oil Foundation (IOF), a trust
formed by Indian Oil Corporation.
• West Bengal State Government has rolled out Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s dream project
"Rupashree" scheme aimed at providing an amount of Rs 25000 marriage assistance to girls coming
from economically weaker families whose family income is uoto Rs 1.5 lakh
• As per data released by Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), subscriber
base of Atal Pension Yojana (APY) stood at 97.05 lakh at the end of the financial year 2017-18.The
Yojana is launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 9, 2015.
• On April 3, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 10 lakh
each to the next of the kin of 39 Indians who were killed in Iraq.
• On April 2, 2018, Indian Government imposed a 10 per cent duty on import of
key smartphone components such as printed circuit board assembly, loaded or stuffed printed circuit
boards (for telephones as well as mobile phones), camera module and connectors of cellular mobile
phones.
• As per data released by Union Commerce and Industry Ministry, Core Sector such as Coal, crude oil,
natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement and electricity recorded 5.3% growth in
February 2018 on account of a steep rise in output of cement and fertilisers.
• The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru has been named the overall best institution in
India by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). It was followed by Jawaharlal Nehru
University (JNU) in the second position and Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in the third spot.
• Ministry of Tourism along with Ministry of Culture and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has
launched “Adopt a Heritage Project”Main focus of the project will be to provide basic facilities like
cleanliness, public convenience, drinking water, ease of access for tourists, signage etc. and
advanced facilities like Souvenir shop, Cafeteria etc.
• On April 3, 2018, Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Suresh Prabhu launched digital initiatives
by Export Inspection Council (EIC) for ease of export at New Delhi.Three online portals have been
developed to make it easier to export farm products from India and reduce transaction costs.
• On March 4, 2018, Himachal Pradesh Health Minister Vipin Parmar launched Mother's Absolute
Affection (MAA) programme with an aim to promote breastfeeding.Beastfeeding helps in reducing
the incidence of infant mortality and early childhood mortality and provides complete nutrition to a
child.

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• The UIDAI has unveiled the beta version of 'Virtual ID', which will soon be accepted by service
providers in lieu of Aadhaar number to address privacy concerns related to quoting Aadhaar.All
authorised agency/service providers will have to compulsory accept VID for undertaking
authentication from June 1, 2018.
• India - Japan - United States 9th Trilateral Meeting at Joint Secretary/Director General/Assistant
Secretary level was held in New Delhi on April 4, 2018.It is to be noted that the India-Japan-US
trilateral was launched in December 2011 during Hillary Clinton’s tenure as US Secretary of State.
• On April 4, 2018, Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved following
initiatives:
➢ Cabinet approves closure of loss making Burn Standard Company Limited - a Central Public
Sector Enterprise (CPSE)
➢ Cabinet approves rightsizing the Competition Commission of India
➢ Chairperson and Six Members (totalling seven) to One Chairperson and Three Members
(totalling four).
➢ Cabinet approves the Protection of Human Rights (Amendments) Bill, 2018
➢ Cabinet approves revised cost estimates of the scheme of updation of National Register of
Citizens, 1951 in Assam
• On April 4, 2018, Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved following
bilateral agreements:
➢ Cabinet apprised of MoU between India and United Arab Emirates on Technical Cooperation
in Rail Sector
➢ Cabinet apprised of MoU between India and Canada to foster cross-border partnerships
focused on research excellence and industry-academic collaboration
➢ Cabinet approves a Cooperation Arrangement between India and Afghanistan for cooperation
in the field of food safety and related areas
➢ Cabinet approves MoU between India and Iran on the establishment of an expert group on
trade remedy measures.
• On 5 and 6th April 2018, Global Logistics Summit was held in New Delhi.The Summit
th

was organised by the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, along with
FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry) and the World Bank Group.
• On April 5, 2018, Union Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu inaugurated first flight
from Delhi to Pathankot (in Punjab), at a ceremony held at the Indira Gandhi International
Airport in Delhi. It aims at making flying a reality for common people residing in Tier-II and Tier-III
towns by providing air connectivity to currently underserved and unserved airports.
• On April 5, 2018, digital payments company PayPal and the Federation of Indian Export
Organisations (FIEO) signed a MoU from which PayPal will work with FIEO to educate SMEs on
how to leverage global opportunities, help them receive money in a safe and timely manner with
PayPal products and inform them of global best practices.
• On 5th April 2018, President Ram Nath Kovind addressed the 34th annual session of FICCI Ladies
Organisation (FLO) in New Delhi.Ms Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank win for Banking &
Finance Sector
• On 4th April 2018, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat launched a transformation
campaign to improve the standard of education in the government schools of Uttarakhand.He said
that one model school will be opened in Kumaon and another in Garhwal
• IndiaFilings.com has launched online income tax filing services for salaried individuals.
income tax return using their platform.All income tax returns like ITR-1, ITR-2, ITR-3, ITR-4, ITR-
5, ITR-6 and ITR-7 can be filed online using their platform directly.
• On 5th April 2018, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep
Singh Puri launched the modernisation of the Government Press.Amount sanctioned for the total
project is Rs 338.56 crore. Out of this Rs 100 crore has been allotted for plant and machineries.
• On April 5, 2018, Union Minister for Railways and Coal, Piyush Goyal launched UTTAM
(‘Unlocking Transparency by Third Party Assessment of Mined Coal’)App for Coal Quality
Monitoring.It is developed by Union Ministry of Coal and Coal India Limited (CIL).
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• On April 4, 2018, Union External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj embarked on a three-day official
visit to Azerbaijan's capital city Baku to participate in Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Ministerial
Conference. Theme of this conference was "Promoting international peace and security for
sustainable development".
• Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has constituted a five-member working group to examine the
taxation aspects related to High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) who are migrating abroad to other
jurisdictions.This Working Group will be headed by Pragya Sahay Saksena, a joint secretary with
Foreign Tax & Tax Research Division of CBDT.
• On April 4, 2018, Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting constituted a 10-member
committee to regulate online portals, including news websites, entertainment sites and media
aggregators.
In India, print and electronic media, both are regulated but online media does not come under the
ambit of any regulatory mechanism.
• On April 5, 2018, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) put forth a concept of open
architecture-based public Wi-Fi grid to bring down the cost of the internet by 90%. TRAI Chairman
R S Sharma believes that Broadband proliferation across the country is an important pillar of Digital
India and Wi-Fi is the cheapest option owing to low cost of equipment and free spectrum.
• Jammu's first tulip garden has been set up at Sanasar in Ramban district of Jammu region.This is the
first tulip garden in Jammu region.The tulip garden was developed by the Floriculture
Department. There are no time restrictions for visiting the garden. Also, no fee is charged from
visitors.
• On April 6, 2018, Minister of State for Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (Independent Charge),
Giriraj Singh launched a mobile phone application for locating Khadi stores in the country.The app
was launched during 9th meeting of National Board of Khadi and Village Industries Commission
(KVIC) in New Delhi.
• Union Ministry of Tribal affairs has approved establishment of the first multipurpose “Van Dhan
Vikas Kendra” in Bijapur District of Chhattisgarh for value addition of Forest Produce.This scheme
is for socio economic development of tribals living in forests, for whom, collecting Minor Forest
Produce (MFP) is a major source of livelihood.
• On 5th April 2018, the Tamil Nadu government launched Amma Free Wi-Fi zones in 5 cities of
Tamil Nadu. Labour Statue at Marina, Chennai,Central Bus stand at Salem,Central Bus stand at
Tiruchirappalli,Gandhipuram Bus Stand in Coimbatore,Mattu Thavani Bus Stand in Madurai
• From 10th to 23rd April, 2018, Indian Air Force (IAF) will conduct exercise ‘Gagan Shakti, 2018’,
its biggest ever combat exercise along Pakistan and China borders.Indigenous Light Combat Aircraft
(LCA) Tejas will be taking part in the exercise for the first time.
• Tamil Nadu (TN) Chief Minister K Palaniswami recently launched ‘Uzhavan’ (meaning - farmer), a
mobile application for farmers. This app allows farmers to have access to nine types of services,
including details about their crop insurance, information on farm subsidies, book farm equipment
and related infrastructure and receiving weather forecast for the next four days.
• Indian Railway has inducted three ‘09-3X Dynamic Tamping Express machines’, the state of the art
integrated track maintenance machines. Each new 09-3X- Dynamic Tamping Express machine costs
about Rs. 27 Crore. 42 more such machines will be inducted in Indian Railway maintenance fleet
over next three years.
• On April 6, 2018, Indian Government banned imports of the hormone oxytocin to stop its misuse in
the livestock industry.Oxytocin is referred to as "love hormone". It is released naturally during
human bonding activities such as sex, childbirth and breastfeeding.
• Central Government’s ‘Gobardhan Yojna’, a scheme for managing and converting cattle dung and
solid waste into manure and biogas, will be launched nationally from Karnal, Haryana on April 30,

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2018 Under this scheme, bio-gas plants will be set up at individual or community level and also at
the level of Self Help Groups and NGOs like Gaushalas.
• NITI Aayog is planning to build National Data & Analytics Platform (NDAP) to host and analyse
huge amount of data which shall be helpful for citizens to understand spend patterns of the
government, consumption trends and the success of various government policies.By using artificial
intelligence (AI) for in-depth analysis.
• As per a report by OpenSignal, Patna has ranked No.1 among 20 largest cities in India in terms of
4G availability.
4G Availability – Top 10:
City Availability Time (in % terms) for 90
days
Patna 92.61%
Kanpur 91.33%
Allahabad 91.04%
Kolkata 91.02%
Bhopal 90.99%
Jaipur 90.31%
Ahmedabad 89.93%
Lucknow 89.35%
Chandigarh 88.46%
Bengaluru 88.29%

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

• On April 1, 2018, United States and South Korea kicked off the annual military exercise ‘Foal Eagle
drill’ which will be a low-key event, featuring fewer strategic weapons, as North Korea has proposed
to hold summits with the South Korea and US
• According to a report released by StartupBlink, the Indian startup ecosystem, during 2017, ranked at
number 37 out of 125 countries. In global ranking of cities, Bengaluru, New Delhi, and Mumbai are
the top three Indian cities that have featured in the list. United States (US) has topped the global
ranking index of countries, followed by United Kingdom (UK) and Canada.
• Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking 2017 – Top 5:
1 United States
2 United
Kingdom
3 Canada
4 Israel
5 Germany

• India’s neighbouring country, Nepal has launched its first accessible trekking trail (for the
differently-abled and the elderly) in Pokhara city.The trail was inaugurated as a part of International
Conference on Accessible Tourism.
• In 2018, China will unveil the world's longest cross-sea bridge, connecting Hong Kong, Macau and
mainland China which is 55km-long and six lanes wide, comprising of four tunnels and four artificial
islands & will reduce the commute time to half.
• Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharama is on an official visit to Russia.Main purpose of this visit
is to attend the seventh Moscow Conference on International Security.This visit will reinforce India-
Russia bilateral relation with particular reference to military technical cooperation.
• On April 3, 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip
Erdogan launched construction of Turkey’s first ever nuclear plant on the Mediterranean coast at
Akkuyu.It is being built by Russia's nuclear energy agency, Rosatom.
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• India has been ranked the third most vulnerable country in terms of risk of cyber threats in 2017, as
per the ‘Internet Security Threat Report’ .U.S. has been ranked as the top most vulnerable country. It
is followed by China in the second position with 10.95% attacks.
• On 4th April 2018, the presidents of Iran, Turkey and Russia met for their tripartite summit, aimed at
speeding up the peace process for Syria and establishing their influence in Syria.The tripartite
summit was hosted by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at his presidential palace in Ankara,
Turkey.
• Qatar has introduced national service for women for the first time as per a law issued by Qatar’s
Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani. According to the law, women above the age of 18 can volunteer
for national service. Men between the ages of 18 and 35 are required to perform compulsory military
service, and now the service period has been increased from three months to one year.
• Indo-Korean joint anti-piracy, search and rescue exercise 'SAHYOG-HYEOBLYEOG 2018' was
held on April 5, 2018 off the Chennai coast.As a part of this exercise, ships of the Indian Coast
Guard and Korean Coast Guard ship 'BADARO' jointly undertook tactical manoeuvres and drills to
counter piracy and carry out maritime law enforcement tasks.
• India has become the ninth most affected country in the world and second most affected country in
Asia-Pacific Japan region in cryptojacking activities, as per the ‘Internet Security Threat Report’
presented by Symantec, a security solutions provider.India is one among the top five countries as a
source for IoT (Internet of Things) attacks.

BANKING & FINANCE

• On 31st March 2018, Allahabad Bank announced that, it has reduced the base rate and benchmark
prime lending rate (BPLR) by 45 basis points that is it reduced base rate to 9.15 per cent from 9.60
per cent. BPLR has been reduced to 13.40 per cent from 13.85%.
• On 28th March 2018, a record amount of Rs 71, 633.45 crore was digitally transacted through the
Public Financial Management System (PFMS) portal.PFMS is implemented by the Controller
General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance.
• On April 3, 2018, Indian Army and HDFC Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on
the Defence Salary Package.HDFC Bank provides free personal accident death cover and free
permanent disability cover of Rs 30 lakhs, free educational cover of upto Rs 1 Lakh per year for four
years.
• Jio Payments Bank Limited has commenced operations as a payments bank with effect from April 3,
2018.Jio Payments Bank is a 70:30 joint venture between Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries
and the State Bank of India (SBI). H. Srikrishnan,is MD and CEO of Jio Payments Bank.
• On April 4, 2018, IndusInd Bank announced that it has launched a pilot WhatsApp enterprise
solution to communicate with its customers.The customers of IndusInd Bank will now be able
to check balance, obtain mini statement, check reward points as well as update of Aadhaar through
WhatsApp.
• On April 5, 2018, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced First Bi-Monthly Monetary Policy
Statement for financial year 2018-19. This time too, the Policy Repo Rate has been kept unchanged.
Policy Repo Rate 6.00% Unchanged – since 2nd August 2017
Reverse Repo Rate 5.75% Unchanged – since 2nd August 2017
Marginal Standing Facility 6.25% Unchanged – since 2nd August 2017
Rate
Bank Rate 6.25% Unchanged – since 2nd August 2017
Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) 4.00% Unchanged – since 9th February
2013
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Statutory Liquidity Ratio 19.50% With Effect from 14th October 2017
(SLR)
• On April 6, 2018, global financial messaging cooperative, SWIFT announced that ICICI Bank has
become its first Indian client to go live with an improved cross-border payments service.The
improved cross-border payments service which is being referred to is the gpi (Global Payment
Innovation) Tracker, which has been extended to cover all payment instructions sent across the
SWIFT network.
• Indian Bank has introduced Public Financial Management System (PFMS) and has launched ‘Bharat
QR’ facility. 'Bharat QR' is a mobile payment collection scheme to accept digital payments. Using
this scheme, a merchant will receive Bharat QR sticker.
• As part of its 'Customer First' initiative, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has launched three ‘Internet of
Things’ (IoT)-based customer service initiatives on a pilot basis at one of its branch in Chennai,
Tamil Nadu.
• On 6th April 2018, Government of India, Government of Maharashtra and the World Bank signed a
US$ 420 million project to benefit Small and Marginal farmers in the Marathwada and Vidarbha
regions of Maharashtra.It is provided by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(IBRD).

BUSINESS

• Indian Cellular Association (ICA) with Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha and IT Minister Ravi
Shankar Prasad, India replaced Vietnam & now became the second largest mobile phone producer in
the world after China.
• Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) entered into 16 more Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs),
taking the total number of APAs to 219 so far.14 are unilateral APAs and 2 are bilateral APAs
Unilateral APAs Bilateral APAs Total
(Till Date)199 20 219
(In 2017-18) 58 9 67
• IndusInd Bank has received Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI's) approval to buy IL&FS Securities
Services Ltd. (ISSL), the securities services arm of IL&FS.IL&FS is the promoter shareholder of
IL&FS Securities Services Ltd (ISSL).
• SoftBank Group Corp of Japan has planned to launch a $930 million Indian joint solar energy
venture with GCL System Integration Technology Co, a Chinese firm, as part of its India solar
investment roadmap.Technology support will be provided by GCL and SoftBank will help in
obtaining land and regulatory approvals.
• Ola has introduced an in-trip insurance programme for all its customers in India starting at just Re
1.This in-trip insurance will cover for loss of belongings, missed flights, and medical expenses up to
Rs 500,000 in case of an accident. Ola has partnered with Acko General Insurance and ICICI
Lombard General Insurance for this in-trip insurance programme.
• India has surpassed Japan and has become the world’s second largest producer of crude steel in
February 2018, according to Steel Users Federation of India (SUFI). China is the current largest
producer of crude steel in the world.
• On 5th April 2018, MakeMyTrip Limited, and Flipkart announced that they have entered into a
partnership regarding online bookings in the travel segment.Various brands of MakeMyTrip like
MakeMyTrip, Goibibo, and redBus, will utilize the customer base of Flipkart to increase online
travel bookings

AWARDS & RECOGNITIONS

• On 31st March 2018, Indian women's cricket team captain Mithali Raj was honoured with the
'Sportsperson of the Year' award at the Telangana Sports Journalists Association annual awards for

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2017, in Hyderabad, Telangana.

Other awardees:
1.Hockey player N Mukesh Kumar - Lifetime Achievement award
2.Hyderabad Cricket team - 'team of the year' award
3.Gymnast B Aruna Reddy - outstanding achievement award
4. Shuttler Kidambi Srikanth- best senior male athlete
5. Shuttler P V Sindhu- best senior female athlete
6. Pullela Gopichand- best coach of the year.
• Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries, owning a fortune of $38 billion, is Asia’s third-
richest man and has secured 19th rank in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index .Jeff Bezos has secured
the top position globally.He is followed by Bill Gates at the second spot & the third position is
occupied by Warren Buffett.
• Mangalore International Airport has been named the cleanest airport in India.Mangalore Airport
director V V Rao received the award at the 23rd annual day function of the Airports Authority of
India (AAI) in New Delhi on 1st April 2018.
• On 2nd April 2018, Mahendra Singh Dhoni was honoured with the Padma Bhushan Award by
President Ram Nath Kovind at an event in Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi.Billiards player Pankaj
Advani also received the Padma Bhushan award for his extra ordinary achievements.
• Study Khazana, an e-portal, was awarded "For best emerging online Education Portal in North India"
at the 'World Education Summit and Award 2018’ at New Delhi.It Provides education-deprived
aspirants get access to quality education irrespective of geographical boundaries and it encourages
open knowledge movement.
• On 6th April 2018, Chhattisgarh won the 'State of the Year' Award under the 'business leader'
category at the India Business Leader Awards (IBLA) in New Delhi.It was organised by CNBC-
TV18 channel. Union Information Technology and Electronics Minister Ravi Shankar
Prasad presented the award to Chhattisgarh Minister Prem Prakash Pandey.

APPOINTMENTS & RESIGNS

• On March 31, 2018, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed
former Rajasthan DGP, Ajit Singh as the Head of its Anti-Corruption Unit.He will replace
former Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar
• On March 30, 2018, Central Government appointed former chairman of the Central Board of
Secondary Education (CBSE), Vineet Joshi as the Director General (DG) of the National Testing
Agency (NTA), which will conduct various entrance examinations across India.
• Indian Badminton players, PV Sindhu & Kidambi Srikanth have been named 'Sportspersons of the
Year' at the inaugural ESPN Multi-Sport Awards.Coach Pullela Gopichand has been adjudged 'best
coach'.Indian National Women's Hockey Team got the 'Team of the Year'.
• On 31st March 2018, it was announced that, M L Srivastava has been appointed as the protem
chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi.The previous administrator of Lalit Kala Akademi is CS
Krishna Setty.
• On April 3, 2018, Rubique, an online marketplace for loan, credit card and insurance announced the
appointment of Ajay Desai as its Chief Operating Officer (COO).He worked as Senior President and
Chief Financial Inclusion Officer in Yes Bank.
• On April 3, 2018, SBI Life Insurance Company Limited appointed Sanjeev Nautiyal as its new MD
and CEO.He replaces Arijit Basu as MD & CEO of SBI Life Insurance.
• On 2nd April 2018, actor Rituparna Sengupta was appointed the chairperson of Shilpi Sansad who
replaces Supriya Devi.It provides financial assistance to artistes in times of emergency and for
medical treatments.
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• On 2nd April 2018, Debjani Ghosh took charge as the President of NASSCOM (National Association
of Software and Services Companies).She replaces R Chandrashekhar.She is the former MD of Intel
South Asia. She was the first woman to lead Intel India and MAIT.
• On 3rd April 2018, Subrata Bhattacharjee was appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the
Republic of Serbia.He is an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of 1989 batch. He is Joint Secretary
in the Ministry of External Affairs at present.
• On 3rd April 2018, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that Aashish Kapoor has
replaced Venkatesh Prasad in the three-member All-India Junior Selection Committee. Other two
members of the Committee are Gyanendra Pandey and Rakesh Parikh.
• On 3rd April 2018, Himanta Biswa Sarma was elected as the President of the Badminton Association
of India (BAI) for the next 4 years.He is a Cabinet Minister in Assam.He was elected as president of
the BAI in Goa on 3rd April 2018.
• Fashion retailer Myntra has appointed Mithun Sundar as its chief revenue officer.
He will take charge as chief revenue officer of Myntra in June 2018. He will report directly to Chief
Executive Officer Ananth Narayanan.
• On 5th April 2018, Julius Maada Bio was elected the new President of Sierra Leone.
He succeeds Ernest Bai Koroma.He ruled Sierra Leone as the military head in 1996, along with
former foreign affairs minister Kamara.
• Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar will also hold the additional portfolio of Information,
Public Relations and Languages, now. Earlier this portfolio was held by Haryana Women and Child
Development Minister Kavita Jain.
• Rakesh Kumar Vats has been given the additional charge of chairman of NPPA (National
Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority) with immediate effect.He replaces Bhupendra Singh as Chairman
of NPPA. Bhupendra Singh has been appointed as chairperson of National Authority for Chemical
Weapons Convention under the Cabinet Secretariat.

AQUISITIONS & MERGERS

• On 3rd April 2018, ride-hailing service provider Ola announced that, it has acquired Ridlr, a public
transport ticketing and commuting app.Ridlr will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of ANI
Technologies. ANI Technologies owns Ola brand.
• HCL Technologies has acquired C3i Solutions for USD 60 million, in a move to enhance HCL’s
growth in life sciences and consumer services.C3i Solutions is a wholly owned, independently
operated subsidiary of Merck & Co, which is known as MSD outside the US and Canada.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• On April 1, 2018, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) stated that it has lost contact
with GSAT-6A, the latest communication satellite which was to provide mobile communication to
India through, multi-beam coverage facility which was launched on board Geosynchronous rocket
GSLV-F08 on March 29, 2018.
• China's Tiangong-1 (English translation - "Heavenly Palace") space station is set to re-enter the
Earth's atmosphere between 1st and 2nd April 2018.
• On 2nd April 2018, SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched its Dragon spacecraft – SpaceX’s
14th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
• National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s Hubble Space Telescope has discovered
'Icarus', the farthest individual star ever seen. Official name of Icarus is MACS J1149+2223 Lensed
Star 1.They found Icarus through a phenomenon called gravitational lensing.
• On 6th April 2018, the RH300 sounding rocket was launched from Thumba Equatorial Rocket
Launching Station (TERLS), in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.The rocket was developed by Vikram
Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC). This is the 21st launch of RH300 sounding rocket.

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ENVIRONMENT

• Rare dinosaur footprints that are 170 million years old have been discovered in the north-east coast
of Isle of Skye in Scotland. Majority of the footprints were made by sauropods and theropods. The
sauropods & theropods were long-necked and two metres tall.

• Researchers from the University College, Kerala, have reported the discovery of “Fimbristylis
agasthyamalaensis”, a new plant species from the Western Ghats.The discovery has been published
in Phytotaxa.

SPORTS

• On 1st April 2018, Kerala defeated West Bengal and won its sixth title in the 72nd Santosh Trophy
(Football) at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, West Bengal.West Bengal had won Santosh Trophy
title 32 times.
• 34th edition of the Miami Open also known as 2018 Miami Masters, a professional men and
women's tennis tournament, took place in Miami, Florida, United States.
2018 Miami Open – Winners:
Category Winner Runners-up
Men’s Singles John Isner (United States) Alexander Zverev (Germany)
Women’s Singles Sloane Stephens (United States) Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia)
Men’s Doubles Bob Bryan (United States) and Karen Khachanov (Russia) and
Mike Bryan (United States) Andrey Rublev (Russia)
Women’s Ashleigh Barty (Australia) Barbora Krejcikova (Czech
Doubles and CoCo Vandeweghe (United Republic) and Katerina
States) Siniakova (Czech Republic)

• Indian Table Tennis player Sathiyan Gnansekaran has reached his career-best ranking of 46 in the
latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings.Among Indian Woman Table Tennis
Players, Manika Batra continues to rank highest at 58.
• On 4th April 2018, the 21st edition of the Commonwealth Games started at Carrara Stadium in Gold
Coast, Australia.PV Sindhu is the flag-bearer for India at the opening ceremony.The
Commonwealth Games is hosted by Australia for the fifth time.This will be the most expensive
Commonwealth Games ever with estimated cost around AUS$2billion.
• Virat Kohli has retained the second position in the latest ICC Test Player Rankings that was released
on 4th April 2018.Australian former captain Steve Smith has secured the top spot. New Zealand has
surpassed Australia and secured third place in the ICC Test Team Rankings.
• On April 3, 2018, South African fast bowler Morne Morkel announced his retirement from
international cricket at the conclusion of South Africa-Australia test series.. Morne Morkel made his
international Test debut against India back in 2006..He also played for Rajasthan Royals, Delhi
Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

OBITUARY

• On 1st April 2018, film director CV Rajendran died after a long term illness at a private hospital in
Chennai, Tamil Nadu.His popular movies are: Sumathi En Sundari, Vani Rani, Garjanai, Ullasa
Paravaigal and Vaazhkai
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• On 1st April 2018, former Guatemalan military dictator Efrain Rios Montt died due to heart attack at
his residence in Guatemala.
• On 4th April 2018, Ray Wilkins, ex-England midfielder, passed away after suffering from a cardiac
arrest, at St George's Hospital in Tooting, south-west London. His nickname was “Butch.” He played
for teams like Manchester United, Chelsea and AC Milan.
• On 7th April 2018, Niranjan Thomas Alva, the husband of former Rajasthan governor Margaret Alva,
passed away following a chest infection at Ramaiah Hospital in Bengaluru.He was a Supreme Court
lawyer. He was the son of the first parliamentarian couple, Joachim Alva and Violet Alva.
• On 7th April 2018, Assamese film-maker Munin Barua died after fighting cancer, at his home, in
Guwahati, Assam.He was popularly known as Bhaimon da. He had received National Film Award
for Best Feature Film in Assamese in 2005. He had also received the state award for best director for
the year 2001-02 and the Lifetime Achievement Award 2017 from Prag Cine Awards.

IMPORTANT DAYS

• On 1st April 2018, the Odisha Formation Day also known as Utkal Dibasa or Utkal Divas was
celebrated to mark the formation of Odisha as a separate province on 1st April 1936. Odisha
separated from the combined Bengal-Bihar-Orissa province on that day.
• On 2nd April 2018, World Autism Awareness Day 2018 was observed all over the world.
The theme is: "Empowering Women and Girls with Autism".
• On 2nd April 2018, SIDBI celebrated its foundation day as day of Sampark (connect), Sanwad
(interaction), Suraksha (security) and Sampreshan (disseminate),& they launched the ‘MSME
contact programme’,Samridhhi,‘Bankability Kit’.
• On 4th April 2018, International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action was
observed all over the world. The theme for International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in
Mine Action 2018 is: Advancing Protection, Peace and Development.
• On 3rd April 2018, the 254th raising day of the Army Medical Corps was celebrated by all the Army
medical units of India. In 1943 it was renamed as The “Indian Army Medical Corps”. Again on 26
January 1950 it was renamed as “Army Medical Corps” (AMC).
• On 5th April 2018, the 55th edition of National maritime Day was celebrated all over India.The
theme for National maritime Day 2018 is: 'Indian Shipping - An Ocean of opportunity'.‘Varuna’
award is conferred to outstanding contributors of Indian maritime sector on this day.
• On 6th April 2018, International Day of Sport for Development and Peace was celebrated all over the
world.For the International Day of Sport for Development and Peace 2018, Division for Social
Policy and Development (DSPD) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
(UN DESA) has launched the online campaign #PlayforGlobalGoals.
• On 7th April 2018, World Health Day 2018 was celebrated all over the world.The theme for World
Health Day 2018 is: Universal health coverage: everyone, everywhere. The slogan is “Health for
All”.

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