Current Affairs Current Affairs - 4 May 2016

General Affairs

8 Men, 8 Hours: That's What It Took To Douse Fire On 1 Hill Of Uttarakhand

SHITHLAKHET, ALMORA: It is a 3-hour trek to the hill where fresh fire has broken out. The eight member team from National Disaster Response Force and 2 forest officials - who have been working through four days and nights -- set off. Chanting Jai Mata Di, they give each other the courage to keep going.

Once at the spot, the men get to work. With just a sickle and a bunch of leaves, they beat back the massive, waist-high flames.

Gaurav Sharma, who joined the Sashastra Seema Bal 5 years ago, is on deputation to NDRF. He had received training in fire-fighting, but challenges on the ground this time are formidable, he said.

"These pine cones are like grenades... They catch fire and topple down the slopes and then burst, spreading the fire. We keep dousing it, yet after some time, it keeps catching up," he explained.

A worried Govind Ram, another NDRF man, fears for his friend. "This is nothing, up that side the fire is so massive our men fear they would get trapped... The winds making it very difficult to fight the fire," he said. So far, five persons have died in fire related incidents.

Forest official Anil, a local, has fought fires here all his life. But this time, the raging inferno has him worried. "We just have these sticks and leaves. At this height, it is not possible to bring in heavy fire-fighting equipment... So a fire of this magnitude gets difficult to manage," he said.

Still, the number of active fires has slowly dwindled over the last 24 hours, as 11,000 personnel were pressed into fire-fighting - up from 6,000. Three Air Force helicopters are augmenting the ground efforts, carrying water from lakes in Bambi buckets and sprinkling it over fires.

After 8 long hours, this team finally managed to control the blaze on this hill. After a 3-hour break, it will be time to take on the next one.

Common Entrance Test Against Jammu And Kashmir's Special Status: Omar Abdullah

SRINAGAR: Former chief minister Omar Abdullah today alleged the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test is against the spirit of Jammu and Kashmir's special status and called out PDP-BJP government's "lack of seriousness" in taking timely action to prevent its extension to the state.

"NEET is against the interests of our students and clearly goes against the spirit and essence of J-K's special status. The state government has shown a stunning sense of irresponsibility and lack of seriousness in dealing with this issue. This has created apprehension and anxiety in the minds of our students when they should be solely focused on their academic pursuits and upcoming entrance examinations," Mr Abdullah said.

The National Conference working president was addressing a party workers' convention in his constituency of Beerwah in Central Kashmir's Budgam district.

He said such crucial issues deserve prompt, timely and undivided attention of the Chief Minister as even the "minutest callousness" has the potential of having far reaching political implications in a state like Jammu and Kashmir.

"Indolence and irresponsibility have become the two distinct traits of the PDP-BJP government and its top-level leadership," he said.

Mr Abdullah said that despite being aware of how NEET was against "the interests of our students" and "the spirit of the state's autonomous character", the PDP-BJP government did not move a petition in the Supreme Court until questions were raised in the media about the government's lack of action.

"They were forced to move a petition in the Supreme Court," the NC working president said.

He said there was fifty per cent reservation in Jammu and Kashmir's medical colleges for girl students -- one of the hard-fought achievements of NC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah who believed in women empowerment through equal opportunities in education.

"NEET poses the grave threat that this significant percentage of reserved seats in our medical colleges meant for girl students from our state will now have to be shared on a national level. They would possibly have to compete for these reservations against students from the rest of the country.

"Then there are issues of curriculum mismatches, differences in syllabus as well as systemic incongruities," the NC working president said.

He said that after studying for two to three years preparing for state-level entrance examinations, the students from the state are faced with the possibility of having to appear for an examination with a curriculum different from the one they have prepared for - all because of the "callousness" of the state government.

The former chief minister said the PDP-BJP government had shown similar "ineptitude and irresponsibility" while dealing with other vital issues of importance to the state.

"Look at how the state government forced hundreds and thousands of our brothers and sisters out on the streets to press for basic allocation of ration as per the previous, established norms.

"The PDP-BJP government extended the National Food Security Act to the state despite clear and known disadvantages it had for our state. Till today the state government has no solid solution to offer on the NFSA mess that it created," he said.

Rajasthan Given Punjab's Water In Arbitrary Manner: Parkash Singh Badal

LAMBI: With Sutlej Yamuna Link canal turning into a major political issue in Punjab, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said Rajasthan was given a share in Punjab's waters in an "unjustified and arbitrary manner".

"Rajasthan was given Punjab's waters in an unjustified and arbitrary manner and the then Central government never took Punjab into confidence while deciding this crucial issue," Mr Badal said addressing a gathering on the last leg of his three-day Sangat Darshan programme in Lambi.

He said as per the Riparian Rules, Punjab has exclusive rights over its waters and not even a drop will be shared with any other state.

The then prime minister Indira Gandhi had laid the foundation stone of the project and Captain Amarinder Singh had welcomed this step amid great fanfare and gaiety, the chief minister said.

At that time too, the Akali Dal strongly raised its voice against this "apathetic attitude and discriminatory treatment" meted out to Punjab and now same sequence of events are happening once again, he said.

Attacking the Aam Aadmi Party for its stand on the issue, the chief minister said the real face of AAP has been exposed with the affidavit it filed in court.

He said the Delhi government in its affidavit had stated Punjab's stand on the issue was unconstitutional and against the interests of the nation and that it may lead to disintegration of country.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal belonged to the state of Haryana and his affinity for the state was natural, Mr Badal said.

Terming the river water as the "lifeline of the people" of the state, he said the issue of river water is not merely restricted to the farming community but is associated with the overall development and prosperity of the state.

He said if the state was robbed of its water, its fertile land will turn into desert and not only the farming community, the entire economy of the state would be in doldrums.

Describing agriculture as the backbone of state's economy, Mr Badal said farm labourers, commission agents, traders and even industrialists would be adversely affected. He appealed to the people to leave no stone unturned to safeguard the state's legitimate right over its river waters.

The chief minister alleged the Congress-led governments never missed any opportunity to deny the people of Punjab their rightful share in the river waters and the incumbent chief of state party unit Captain Amarinder Singh played a "pivotal role" in it.

Arun Jaitley To Leave For Frankfurt Tomorrow To Attend ADB Meet

NEW DELHI:  Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will tomorrow leave for an official visit to Frankfurt to attend the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

In his speech at the First Business Session of ADB, Mr Jaitley would focus on performance of the Indian economy in global slowdown and also highlight micro and macroeconomic indicators of the economy.

Co-operation with ADB in development will also be on his agenda, the Finance Ministry said in a statement.

Later, Mr Jaitley will have a bilateral meeting with Hans-Joachim Fuchtel, Parliamentary State Secretary to German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Mr Jaitley will also meet Lyonpo Namgay Dorji, Finance Minister of Bhutan, and discuss about economic assistance packages from India to Bhutan, progress of work of hydropower projects funded by India and sub-regional co-operation in the region.

He will also attend roundtable and bi-lateral meetings, including interaction with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation President and CEO Takeshi Kunibe.

In a debate on theme 'Asian Economic Outlook-2016' later, Mr Jaitley will be joined by Indonesia Finance Minister Bambang PS Brodjonegoro, Pakistan Finance Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Regional Head for Greater China and ASEAN, Commerzbank AG, Agnes Vargas and ADB President Takehiko Nakao.

The 49th Annual General Meeting of ADB is being held from May 2-5 at Frankfurt, Germany.

The Asian Development Outlook 2016 predicts softening in the region's growth rates to 5.7 per cent each in 2016 and 2017, from 5.9 per cent projected last year.

India continues to maintain a high growth rate with rising real incomes and domestic demand and is projected to grow at 7.6 per cent in 2015-16 compared with 7.2 per cent in the previous year despite a decline in exports and two consecutive years of unfavourable monsoons.

Ahead Of Defence Minister Statement On Agusta, Sonia Gandhi Holds Strategy Meet

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leaders drove into party president Sonia Gandhi's 10 Janpath residence on Tuesday evening to discuss how to counter the BJP in Parliament in a discussion on the AgustaWestland scam.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar will make a statement in the Rajya Sabha or Upper House at 2 pm on Wednesday in a short duration debate on the chopper scam. He met Prime Minister Narendra Modi today to discuss this.

BJP sources have said that Mr Parrikar is expected to make "new revelations" in his statement, which is expected to mention top Congress leaders. The Gandhis may be targeted directly, the sources said.

For the BJP, its new lawmaker Subramanian Swamy will lead the discussion along with Bhupendra Yadav. Mr Swamy is a known Gandhi baiter, who had raised the AgustaWestland issue soon after he was sworn in as a Rajya Sabha member, causing the Congress to go ballistic when he named Sonia Gandhi in connection with the scam.

The Congress is expected to field seasoned debaters like Abhishek Singhvi and Anand Sharma and former Defence Minister AK Antony.

Congress leaders, including Mrs Gandhi and former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, are mentioned by name in documents that an Italian court used to conclude last month that bribes of up to 30 million euros were paid in India for the 3,600 crore AgustaWestland deal for 12 helicopters.

The court does not indict Mrs Gandhi and the others for corruption, but the BJP alleges that the Italian verdict exposes how the Congress, then in power, colluded with Agusta.

The BJP has also attacked Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi demanding that he explain how Guido Haschke, a middleman in the Agusta deal served as a Director in 2009 for real estate developer Emaar-MGF, promoted by the family of Mr Gandhi's close aide Kanishka Singh.

The Agusta deal was signed in 2010 and was cancelled in 2014, after the allegations of corruption surfaced.

Business Affairs

Sensex ends 207 points lower; Nifty below 7,750; Coal India top loser

The S&P BSE Sensex on Tuesday wiped off all gains to end the day 207 points down, while broader CNX Nifty settled the day below its key 7,750-mark.

The headline indices surrendered earlier gains tracking subdued Asian stock markets as weak China factory data rekindled global growth worries.

The 30-share index ended the day at 25,229, down 207.27 points, while broad-based 50-share index quoted 7,747, down 58.90 points at close.

Market breadth turned negative with 23 of the 30 Sensex components ending the day in red.

Asian stocks erased earlier gains, while European shares opened lower on data showing China's factories shrank for the 14th straight month in April.

Broader risk aversion also seeped into domestic stocks, with investors booking profits in recent outperformers such as Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

However, analysts remained optimistic about the health of the domestic economy after strong auto sales data for April and amid hopes of good monsoon rains.

"Good auto numbers are supporting sentiment and expectations are building up for demand picking up in the future after above-average monsoon forecast," said K.K. Mital, head of portfolio management at Globe Capital Market.

Coal India was the worst performing stock on both the benchmark indices and shed 3.07 per cent after the miner posted a 3.4 per cent drop in April coal output while coal offtake was down 2.5 per cent.

Recent outperformers led the falls with Sun Pharmaceutical down 1.6 per cent after gaining 1.3 per cent in the previous two sessions, while Lupin dropped 2.3 per cent after rising nearly 3 per cent in the last three sessions.

Kotak Mahindra Bank fell 1.39 per cent after gaining 2.4 per cent in the last two sessions.

Among the gainers, Aurobindo Pharma jumped 4.19 per cent after the US Food and Drug Administration approved its epilepsy prevention drug lacosamide.

Future Retail, which operates Big Bazaar and Home Town retail chains, was up 1.74 per cent after the BusinessLine reported that US footwear major Skechers Inc would raise its stake in Future Group.

Govt moves to recover Rs 3,348 cr from service tax collectors

In order to recover Rs 3,348 crore dues, the service tax department has issued 834 show cause notices to service providers who collected the tax from customers but did not deposit it in government accounts in 2015-16.

"There have been cases of service providers who have collected service tax from the recipient of various services but have not deposited it in the government account," Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

The department issued as many as 834 show cause notices to defaulters for not paying service tax dues totalling Rs 3,348 crore in the last fiscal year, he said.

The minister also said that as many as 580 show cause notices were issued to defaulters for not paying service tax dues totalling Rs 1673.73 crore in 2014-15.

A service provider who has collected service tax but fails to pay it to the central government beyond a period of six months, from the date on which such payment is due, and the amount exceeds Rs 50 lakh, is liable to be arrested.

In Finance Bill 2016, it is proposed to enhance the limit from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 2 crore. A person committing such an offence is also liable for up to 7-year imprisonment.

US manufacturing industry seeks removal of trade, tax barriers in India

The US manufacturing industry has appealed to the Obama administration to take up with India the removal of commercial and taxation barriers so that American companies can invest in the country's manufacturing sector in a big way.

The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) the largest manufacturing outfit in the US in a letter to Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker and US Trade Representative Michael Froman -- has sent a list of priorities which it said needs to be pushed with India.

"As detailed in the attached review of priorities, manufacturers in the United States are seeking tangible progress on India's stated goals of improving the ease of doing business in India and advancing manufacturing and innovation in its economy to increase investment and growth," Jay Timmons, NAM CEO and president said in a joint letter to Pritzker and Froman.

Timmons said NAM is writing this letter along with the document as the administration prepares for a major India-US bilateral summit during an expected visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in June.

The letter along with the document NAM said provides a specific set of deliverables that, if achieved, would represent real progress toward addressing longstanding commercial barriers that manufacturers have faced in India and would also move India forward on the promises it made.

Stakeholders in both the US and India can benefit from policies that promote more open markets, eliminate discriminatory barriers and strengthen intellectual property protection, NAM said.

Progress on these issues is needed to foster a stronger, more productive and mutually beneficial commercial relationship between the two countries and pave the way to innovation and new economic opportunities, it said.

NAM said India is a global economic power with rising household incomes and a burgeoning middle class. It is the world's fastest growing large economy ahead of China and is ranked by the World Bank as the world's third largest economy by purchasing power parity (PPP) ahead of Japan.

"India's rapid growth represents an enormous opportunity to expand the US-India economic relationship, which has been characterised over the last decades by relatively low trade and investment levels," it said.

It said when Modi took office in 2014, manufacturers hoped his vision would be translated quickly to action as the government declared India "open for business", committed to boost foreign investment and sought to boost engagement with the US to address a range of economic and commercial challenges facing businesses in both countries.

Since that date, the US and Indian governments have restarted and expanded their commercial dialogue, including two critical forums to discuss economic and commercial issues the US-India Strategic & Commercial Dialogue (S&CD) and the US-India Trade Policy Forum (TPF), it said.

Top 50 defaulters of PSBs had exposure of Rs 1.21 trillion

The top 50 defaulters of public sector banks had an exposure of Rs 1.21 lakh crore as on December 2015.

Giving this information in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said the number of wilful defaulters of PSBs rose from 5,554 to 7,686 in three years to December 2015 while the amount involved more than doubled to Rs 66,190 crore from Rs 27,749 crore.

The total exposure of top 50 defaulters of PSBs as on December 2015 was Rs 1,21,832 crore, he said in a written reply in the Upper House.

In another reply, Sinha said there were 1,365 borrower accounts having funded outstanding loans of Rs 500 crore and above at the end of December 2015.

He further said government has taken specific measures to address issues in sectors such as infrastructure, steel and textiles, where incidence of non-performing assets is high.

To another question, Sinha said Union Bank has informed that its Chitbaragaon branch has sanctioned KCC loan to certain borrowers as per bank's norm and completed required formalities. Branch has obtained No Dues Certificate from the earlier bankers i.e SBI before disbursement of loan and taken No Encumbrance Certificate from the Panel Advocate to avoid multiple financing, Sinha said.

He was asked why the Union Bank branch had extended loans against five accounts before expiration of five years in 2014 to fraudsters against whom multiple cases of banking frauds had been registered in 2013 by SBI and Purvanchal Bank.

The SBI had not mentioned anything about fraud in their NOC. The present status of these accounts is standard, Sinha added.

IMF retains India growth forecast at 7.5% for 2016, 2017

The International Monetary Fund has retained its growth forecast for India this year at 7.5 per cent, largely driven by private consumption even as weak exports and sluggish credit growth weigh on the economy.

India's growth momentum is expected to be underpinned by private consumption, which has benefited from lower energy prices and higher real incomes, IMF said and called on the policymakers to speed up the structural reform implementation.

In its latest Regional Economic Outlook for Asia and the Pacific, IMF said weak exports and sluggish credit growth (stemming from weaknesses in corporate sector and public sector banks' balance sheets) will weigh on the economy.

India has benefited from lower oil prices and remains the fastest-growing large economy in the world, with GDP expected to increase by 7.5 per cent this year and next, IMF said.

India remains on a strong recovery path, with GDP growth reaching 7.3 per cent in 2015, the Fund said adding that India's growth is projected to strengthen to 7.5 per cent in 2016 and 2017.

An incipient recovery of private investment is expected to help broaden the recovery.

Moreover, higher levels of public infrastructure investment and government measures to reignite investment projects should help crowd-in private investment, it said.

The report noted that policymakers should capitalise on the favourable economic momentum to speed up the structural reform implementation.

Additional steps in relaxing long-standing supply bottlenecks, especially in mining and power sectors, as well as further labour market reforms to increase labour market flexibility in the formal sector, are crucial to achieving faster and more inclusive growth, the Fund said.

It further noted that the long-awaited goods and services tax should be implemented, as it would create a single national market, enhance economic efficiency, and boost GDP growth.

According to IMF, growth in Asia and the Pacific is expected to remain strong at 5.3 per cent this year and next.

However, China and Japan, the two largest economies in Asia, continue to face challenges. China's growth is forecast to moderate from 6.9 per cent in 2015 to 6.5 per cent this year and 6.2 per cent in 2017, while Japan's growth is expected to continue at 0.5 per cent in 2016, before dropping to -0.1 per cent in the next year.

While Asian economies have strong buffers and are relatively well positioned to face the challenges ahead, countries will need to adopt economic policies that shore up growth and reduce their exposure to global and regional risks, it added.

General Awareness

Latest Current Affairs - April 2016

Appointments

A Ajith Kumar is appointed as Kerala-based Rubber Board's chairman.

Ashwani Kumar Kapoor appointed as New Member Electrical, Railway Board.

Bhartiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd (BHAVINI) appointed Kallol Roy as its new chairman and managing director (CMD).

Bhupendra Kainthola appointed as Director of Film and Television Institute of India (FTII).

Bounnhang Vorachith is appointed as President of Laos and Thongloun Sisoulith is appointed as Prime Minister of Laos.

Debraj Pradhan is appointed as Ambassador of India to Norway.

Goa Government appointed P.K.Mishra as Lokayukta of Goa.

Govenment appointed S. K. Bhagat as Director General of Railway Protection Force.

Government Appointed P.C.Thakur as Director General, Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards (FS,CD&HG).

Government appointed Deepak Mishra as Addl. Director General in CRPF.

Government appointed Meeran C.Borwankar as Director General in Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D).

Government appointed Susmita Pande as chairperson of National Monument Authority (NMA).

Government reconstituted Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) Trust with Ram Bahadur Rai as its President.

Gujarat government appointed Geeta Johri as Director General of Police (DGP) of Gujarat.

Handset manufacturer Lava announced Cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni as it's new brand ambassador.

Hashim Thaci appointed as President of Kosovo.

IT major Mindtree co-founder Subroto Bagchi has been appointed as head of Odisha Skill Development Authority.

Idriss Deby won fifth term as President of Chad (Northern Central Africa).

Indian academician Radha Kumar appointed as United Nation’'s University Council along with other 11 people by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, former Pakistan captain, has been appointed as the chief selector of Pakistan.

Japanese electronics giant Panasonic appointed Indian Manish Sharma to its global Top executive council.

Ministry for skill development and entrepreneurship (MSDE) named Cricketer Sachin Tendulkar as brand ambassador of 'Skill India' campaign.

Mouamba Clement is appointed as new Prime Minister of central African country Congo.

Parliament of Vietnam approved Nguyen Xuan Phuc as Vietnam's 8th Prime Minister.

Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma will chair newly formed Payments Banks Group at industry body Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI).

Rahul Johri has been appointed as the first Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Rajiv Gauba appointed as Secretary in Ministry of Urban Development.

Retd. Chief Justice of Sikkim HC Permod Kohli appointed as in Chairman of Central Administrative Tribunal.

S Balaji Arunkumar is appointed as deputy chairman of Kolkata Dock System.

Sigurdur Ingi Johannsson appointed as new Prime Minister of Iceland. He has been appointer after Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson resigned due to his name being revealed in Panama papers leak.

Sushila Karki is appointed as First Ever Female Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Nepal.

Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) Academy appointed D. Vasu as Director.

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) appointed CP Gurnani as its Chairman for 2016-17 and Raman Roy as vice chairman.

Tibetan government-in-exile re-elected Lobsang Sangey as Prime Minister for second consecutive term.

Tran Dai Quang elected as 9th President of Vietnam.

US President Barack Obama nominated MasterCards Indian-American CEO Ajay Banga as a member of Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity of USA.

United States (US) President Barack Obama nominated Indian-American Geeta Pasi as the USA's new envoy to central African nation Chad.

Volodymyr Groysman appointed as new prime minister of Ukraine.

Awards

Laureus Sports Awards 2016 -

Sportsman of the Year - Novak Djokovic (Nation - Serbia, Sport - Tennis, Won - 2nd Time)

Sportswoman of the Year - Serena Williams (Nation - USA, Sport - Tennis, Won - 4th time)

Team of the Year: New Zealand Rugby team

Comeback of the Year - Dan Carter (Rugby), New Zealand.

Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability: Daniel Dias (Paralympic swimmer), Brazil.

Action Sportsperson - Jan Frodeno (Triathelete), Germany.

World Sports Lifetime Achievement Award: Niki Lauda (former Formula One racer), Austria.

Spirit of Sport Award - Johan Cruyff (Football), Netherlands

2016 Pulitzer Prize Winners -

Books, Drama and Music

Fiction - The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen.

Drama - Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda.

History - Custers Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America by T.J. Stiles.

Biography: Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life by William Finnegan.

Poetry: Ozone Journal by Peter Balakian.

Music: In for a Penny, In for a Pound by Henry Threadgill.

Journalism

Public Service - Associated Press.

Breaking News Reporting: Los Angeles Times Staff.

Investigative Reporting: Leonora LaPeter Anton and Anthony Cormier of the Tampa Bay Times and Michael Braga of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Explanatory Reporting: Christian Miller of ProPublica and Ken Armstrong of The Marshall Project.

Local Reporting: Michael LaForgia, Cara Fitzpatrick and Lisa Gartner of the Tampa Bay Times.

National Reporting: The Washington Post Staff.

International Reporting: Alissa J. Rubin of The New York Times.

Feature Writing: Kathryn Schulz of The New Yorker.

Commentary: Farah Stockman of The Boston Globe.

Criticism: Emily Nussbaum of The New Yorker

5 times world chess champion Viswanathan Anand will be honoured with Hridaynath Award, which felicitates and recognises successful individuals across country from various walks of life.

Actor Manoj Bajpayee chosen for Dadasaheb Phalke Award in Best Actor (Critics Choice) category for his role in Aligarh Movie.

Actor Ranveer Singh will be Honored as 'Lokmat Maharashtrian of The Year' award. He played role of Maratha warrior Peshwa Bajirao II in Bajirao Mastani.

Actress Aishwarya Rai Bachchan won Global Indian of the Year award at NRI of the Year awards.

Bollywood actress Radhika Apte won best actress in an international narrative feature honour at Tribeca Film Festival 2016 for her performance in anthology film Madly.

Dogri Poetess and novelist Padma Sachdev has been chosen for prestigious Saraswati Samman for 2015 for her autobiography Chitt-Chete, published in 2007.

Former Indian Army Chief JJ Singh conferred with Officer of the Legion of Honour, highest French civilian distinction.

IIT Kharagpur won National Intellectual Property (IP) Award in academic institutes category. Institute will be awarded Top prize for Academic Institute for Patents 2016 on World IP Day (26 April 2016).

In Telangana, Balamallupalli village in Karimanagar district has been awarded as the best Panchayat in India.

India's Nand Kishore Singh has been selected for prestigious Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver, Japan’s highest civilian award for promoting economic, educational and cultural ties between India and Japan.

Indian diplomat in UK, Amitav Banerji has been conferred with one of highest awards of Cyprus (Island country in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea).

Indian-origin researcher Ratnakumar Bugga has been recently selected for NASAs Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) programme for his concept Venus Interior Probe Using In-situ Power and Propulsion . Purpose of programme is to revolutionise future space missions to Mars and beyond.

Investigative journalist Khadija Ismayilova of Azerbaijan has been chosen for 2016 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.

K Ashok Kumar, a research scholar from IIT Kharagpur won prestigious International Plant Nutrition Scholar Award for his work on project aimed at studing soil nutrient dynamics under organic and inorganic nutrient management to improve crop yield and quality of rice-chickpea cropping system in lateritic soil.

MK Gandhi's granddaughter Tara Gandhi Bhattacharjee is conferred with Order of Arts and Letters, one of Frances top honours, for her work for promoting peace, solidarity, culture, education, and development.

Mongolia conferred its highest civilian award "North Star" to 2 noted Indian scholars-Lokesh Chandra and Mansura Haider for their contribution to Mongolian studies.

Mumbai Press Club selected T N Ninan for RedInk Award for Lifetime Achievement in Journalism 2016.

New Zealand's $5 polymer note won IBNS Bank Note of the Year Award 2015. This award is an initiative of International Bank Note Society (IBNS) to recognize an exceptional banknote issued each year.

Noted Actor Jeetendra is honoured with 2016 Lifetime Achievement of Master Dinanath Mangeshkar Award.

Noted Sanskrit scholar Vijayveer Vidyalankar is selected for 25th Yudhvir Foundation Memorial Award for his work on the Rasa Sddhant and Vedas.

PEN America will confer PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award upon imprisoned Egyptian novelist Ahmed Naji. PEN/Allen Foundation Literary Service Award will be given to Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling.

Pakistani women's rights activist from Swat valley Tabassum Adnan has won prestigious 2016 Nelson Mandela Graça Machel Innovation Award.

President Pranab Mukherjee Presented Hindi Sevi Samman Awards for years 2012, 2013 and 2014 t0 42 people in 7 categories. These Awards were instituted by Central Hindi Institute, Agra in 1989.

Dr George Grieson Award -

2012 - Alka Dhanpat

2013 - Ge Fuping

2014 - Shichiro Soma

Ganga Sharan Singh Award -

2012 - B Satyanarayan, Radhakant Mishra, R Surendran

2013 - Shirda Kumar Shakya, T S K Krishnan, Ravindranath Mishra, D N Savitri

2014 - M Venkateswar, V D Hegde, Deven Chand Das (Sudama), Beena Budki

Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi Award -

2012 - Mahesh Darpan, Viswanath Sachdev

2013 - Rajeev Katara, B Ve Lalitamba

2014 - Devendra Kumar, Shatrughan Prasad

Atmaram Award -

2012 - Om Prakash Sharma, Ganesh Shankar Paliwal

2013 - Balendu Sharma Dhadeech, Dinesh Mani

2014 - Suresh Kumar Jindal, Suresh Tiwari

Subramanhyam Bharti Award -

2012 - S Vijya

2013 - I N Chandrashekhar Reddy, Mukta

2014 - Narendra Kohli, Syoraj Singh 'Bechain'

Mahapandit Rahul Sankratiyayan Award -

2012 - S Rahamtullah, G Gopinathan

2013 - Viswanath Prasad Tiwari, Pooran Singh Dabas

2014 - Suresh Gautam, Baldev Vanshi

Moturi Satyanarayan Award -

2012 - Sushma Bedi

2013 - Sneh Thakur

President Pranab Mukherjee presented National Geoscience Awards - 2014 to honour scientists for their outstanding contributions in Geosciences, Mining and Allied areas. For 2014, Ashok Kumar Singhvi was conferred with highest honour National Geoscience Award for Excellence for his contributions in sedimentary technologies. 32 other geoscientists were honored on this Occasion.

Prime Minister Awards for Implementation of Priority Programmes -

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJSY) - Nagaon (Assam) in North East and Hill States, Chandigarh in UTs and North 24 Parganas (West Bengal) in Other States.

Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) - West Sikkim in North East & Hill states and Bikaner (Rajasthan) awarded in Other States category.

Priyadarshini Chatterjee won FBB Femina Miss India World 2016. She will represent India at Miss World 2016 pageant.

Priyanka Chopra will be given Dadasaheb Phalke Film Foundations Best Actress of the Year award.

Sudarsan Pattnaik, renowned sand artist from India has won gold medal at 9th Moscow Sand Sculpture Championship The magical world of sand at Moscow (Russia).

United Kingdoms Founders Award 2016 -

Founders Award - Mother Teresa

Community Service - Rami Ranger

Business Leader - Prakash Lohia

Outstanding achievement in Television - Kunal Nayyar

Outstanding Achievement in Cinema - Asif Kapadia

Outstanding achievement in Sports - Son Heung-Min

Entrepreneur - Anil Agrawal(founder of Vedanta Resources Corporation)

Outstanding achievement in Science and Technology - Shuji Nakamura

Books

The making of India: The untold story of British Enterprises has been authored by Kartar Lalvani.

B.G. Verghese is author of book A State in Denial – Pakistans Misguided and Dangerous Crusad.

Book Alphabet Soup for Lovers is authored by Anita Nair.

Book Blood on my Hands: Confessions of Staged Encounters is written by Kishalay Bhatacharjee.

Book Flying in High Winds: A Memoir is authored by S.K. Mishra.

Book Indias War: The Making of Modern South Asia 1939-1945, has been authored by historisn Srinath Raghavan.

Book No Time to Pause has been authored by Pavithra Ramesh.

Book Param Vir: A War Diary is written by Manju Lodha.

Book The Great Indian World Trip is authored by Tushar Agarwal.

Book The Kiss of Life: How a superhero and my son defeated cancer, written by Bilal Siddiqi and Emraan Hashmi has been Launched.

Mohammad Aamir Khan wrote Book Framed As a Terrorist: My 14-Year Old Struggle to Prove My Innocence. Its about a Delhi based Author who was proved innocent 14 years after being charged in 18 bomb blast cases.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly will write a memoir titled Endurance: My Year in Space and Our Journey to Mars.

Palaniappan Chidambaram has wrote book Standing Guard – A Year in Opposition.

The book The Story of Kashmir through the Ages, written by Arjan Nath Chaku and Inder K Chaku has been released.

Committees

Bhupender Yadav Committee on Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2015 submitted report. As per report -

Any person adjudged as insolvent may also be covered under definition of bankrupt.

Provident fund, pension fund and gratuity which provide social safety net of employees should be secured in the event of liquidation of a Company.

New provisions relating to cross-border insolvency should also be Inserted.

Government constituted 8-member committee under Ashok Dalwai (Additional secretary at Agriculture Ministry ) to prepare a blueprint for doubling farmers' income by 2022.

Information and Broadcasting (I&B) Ministry constituted a Committee under former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) B B Tandon, to check violations of guidelines set for government advertisements by Supreme Court.

Ministry of Home Affairs constituted committee under former Union Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta to suggest ways to tighten security along India-Pakistan border.

Shyam Benegal headed committee submitted its report to I&B minister Arun Jaitley. Committee was tasked to look into measures for revamping functioning of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).

Days

07 April - World Health Day. 2016 theme is Beat Diabetes. World Health Organisation (WHO) released first Global Report on Diabetes on this occasion. Globally, 42.2 crore people were living with diabetes in 2014, compared to 10.8 crore in 1980.

10 April - World Homeopathy Day. Central Council for Research in homoeopathy (CCRH) signed two MOUs with institutions of higher education of Canada and Armenia on World Homoeopathy Day.

12th April - International Day of Human Space Flight. On this day in 1961, Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet Union (USSR) cosmonaut undertook first successful first human space flight.

18 Apr - World Heritage Day / International Day for Monuments and Sites.

2 April - World Autism Awareness Day. Theme is Autism and the 2030 Agenda: Inclusion and Neurodiversity.

21 April - National Civil Services Day. It Marks Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel's addresss to first batch of probationers at All India Administrative Service Training School at Metcalfe House, New Delhi in 1947.

22 April, 2016 - Earth Day (46th). 2016 Theme is Trees for the Earth!.

23 Apr - World Book and Copyright Day. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) first observed in 1995.

23 April - Khongjom Day of Manipur. It pays tribute to war heroes of Anglo-Manipur War 1891 who sacrificed their lives fighting against British to protect freedom of Manipur.

24 April - Panchayati Raj Day. It marks passing of the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 that came into force with effect from 24 April 1993. It helped in decentralization of political power to the grassroots level through institutionalization of Panchayati Raj (PR) through village, Intermediate and District level Panchayats.

25 April - World Malaria Day. 2016 Theme is End Malaria For Good.

Madhya Pradesh Government signed agreement with Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Sun Pharma for research and innovation in preventive health, for Malaria Free India.

26 April - World Intellectual Property Day. 2016 Theme is Digital Creativity: Culture Reimagined.

28 April - World Day for Safety and Health at Work. 2016 Theme is Workplace Stress: a collective challenge.

29 April - Inrternational Dance Day.

29 April: Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare.

5th April : National Maritime Day. 2016 Theme is Ease of doing business in the maritime sector.

6 Aprol - United Nations International Day of Sport for Development and Peace (IDSDP).

April 17 - World Haemophilia Day.

April 4 - International Day of Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.

Defence

As per USA research firm IHS , India is now fourth largest spender on defence, following a 13.1% increase in its 2016-17 defence budget. Indias defence expenditure is now $50.7 billion, Higher than that of Russia and Saudi Arabia. Increase in military pay and one rank, one pension (OROP) are main reasons for higher defence Budget of India. Indian defence budget is expected to be $64.8 billion by 2020.

Eleventh edition of India-Mongolia joint military training Exercise Nomadic Elephant – 2016 held in Mongolia.

Government renamed Panagarh Air Force Base of Indian Air Force in West Bengal as Air Force Station Arjan Singh, in honour of the Marshal of Air Force Arjan Singh. It was renamed on the occasion of 97th birthday of Arjan Singh. It's first time that a military installation has been named after individuals, especially when they are alive.

INS Karmuk along with a Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft participated in 22nd Indo-Thai Coordinated Patrol (CORPAT) in Andaman Sea.

Indian Air Force (IAF) will participate in Red Flag air exercise along with US, NATO and allied forces. It is scheduled in April - May 2016 in Alaska.

Indian Army conducted major Exercise SHATRUJEET by elite STRIKE 1 in Rajasthan, With about 30,000 soldiers in action.

Indian Army's Western Command launched a think tank on Defence and Strategic Affairs - Gyan Chakra, aimed at providing an outlet to veterans for pursuing research on strategic and national security issues.

Indian Navy inaugurated naval detachment at Androth Island of Lakshadweep archipelago, to strengthen maritime security around Arabian Sea and enhance surveillance of crucial shipping lanes.

Nuclear capable submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLMB) code named K-4 successfully test fired in Bay of Bengal.

K-4 is part of K-family of missiles, a series of SLBMs (Submarine-launched ballistic missile). The series is named after former president and scientist A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. It will arm Arihant-class submarines.

It has reduced length compared to Agni series. K-4 missile has range of over 3500 km and is 12 metres long.

Pakistan and China held their joint bilateral air force exercise named Shaheen (Eagle) 5.

Pakistan test fired anti-ship surface to sea Zarb missile. It is the Chinese C-602 Missile which is export version of YJ-62. It has range of 280 kms.

Reliance Defence signed agreement with 3 Ukrainian firms (Ukroboronprom, Spetstechno Exports and Antonov) to collaborate on range of military products.

Surface-to-air supersonic Akash missile System successfully tested. Akash Missile is a mid-range surface-to-air nuclear capable supersonic missile with speeds ranging from Mach 2.8 to 3.5. It can target up to a range of 25 kms.

Economy

Government allowed States to impose stock limits to check price rise in sugar, keeping in view recent upward trend in sugar prices. Step was taken after recent proce rises came under Government's notice, inspite of sufficient availability of sugar stocks with Sugar Mills.

Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) upheld complaints against 51 out of 102 reported advertisements for possible viloations of ASCI Norms.

Airline Vistara signed agreement with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) for a broad range of information technology (IT) services.

As per ASSOCHAM-SREI report - PPP Investment in Indian Infrastructure: Need for growth and development, Uttar Pradesh acquired top position with highest share (15%) in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects across India, followed by Maharashtra (11%), Haryana (8.5%), Gujarat (6%) and Madhya Pradesh (4.5%).

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has forecast growth rate at 7.4% in 2016-17 as against 7.6% during 2015-16.

Based on data by International Trade Centre, India's share in international food trade in 2014 is estimated at 2.5%.

Bharti Airtel announced the acquisition of 20 MHz spectrum in eight circles from Aircel for Rs 3,500 crore.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) cleared conversion of Working Capital Term Loan (WCTL) of Bank of Baroda's (BoB) 29.91 crore rupees loan to Andrew Yule & Co. Ltd. (AYCL) into equity shares.

Cadbury India (part of Mondelez International) inaugurated its $190 million factory in Sri City SEZ, on the border of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. It companys largest plant in Asia Pacific.

Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) launched mobile app Indian Customs- Guide to Travellers, to inform international travelers about Customs Baggage rules, who may be traders/exporters/importers.

Commerce and Industry Ministry launched a new service Twitter Seva to address issues and grievances of startups, exporters and importers, and other stakeholders.

DCB Bank became First bank to launch an Aadhaar-based Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) facility where a customer can transact using his biometric details instead of the PIN.

Department of Disinvestment is renamed as Department of Investment and Public Asset Management or 'Dipam'. It has been mandated to advise government in the matters of financial restructuring of central public sector enterprises.

E-commerce Firm Flipkart acquired Bengaluru-based mobile payments company PhonePe , for an undisclosed sum.

Federal Bank tied up with Chillar Payment Solutions to promote Its 'Campus Wallet', a student Identity Card integrated with banking technology.

Future Group acquired online home furnishings and décor business company FabFurnish.

German Governments Development Bank KfW will provide loan of EUR 500 million (about Rs.3,750 cr) for Nagpur city Metro Rail System.

Global data services company Experian launched its Hunter Fraud Score in India as a new scoring mechanism. It will help measureing probability of fraud in a credit application across banking and insurance industries.

Google India named as Most Attractive Employer in 6th Randstad Awards 2016 for 2nd consecutive year. Mercedes-Benz India was the runner-up. Sectorwise - Dell India (IT), Samsung India (Consumer Electronics) and Amazon India (E-Commerce).

Government approved Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) to invest Rs. 3,000 in Bharat Oman Refineries Limited (BORL).

Government approved public disclosure of scores and ranking of candidates who appear for recruitment examinations conducted by various public recruitment agencies for benefit of employers in public and private sector seeking qualified candidates through a portal.

Government disinvested its 11.36% shares in National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) to raise about Rs. 2,700 crores.

Government extended safeguard duty on import of some steel products till March 2018. Safeguard duty will be reduced to 10% in stages till 2018 from current 20%.

Government has released Rs. 25,834 crore to FCI (Food Corporation of India) as Food Subsidy.

Government has set minimum wage for contract workers to Rs. 10,000 per month.

Government issued a new set of income tax return (ITR) forms that require people with an income of Rs 50 lakh and above per annum to disclose their assets.

Government launched 2 schemes - National Energy Efficient Agriculture Pumps Programme and National Energy Efficient Fan Programme in Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh), to make country more energy efficient. These will be implemented by Energy Efficiency Services Limited.

Government launched DEEP web portal as an e-Bidding & e-Reverse Auction portal for acquisition of short-term power by Distribution Companies (DISCOMs). DEEP stands for Discovery of Efficient Electricity Price and is meant to ensure continuous flow of power from seller to the buyer.

Government will to make it mandatory to set aside 1 % of total cost of any highway project for road safety.

Hero MotoCorp will set up a factory in Andhra Pradesh with investment of 3000 crores and 1.8 million units annual capacity.

India banned import of milk and milk products, certain mobile phones and a few other items from China after finding them sub-standard or not following security codes.

India signed memorandum of understanding with Islamic Development Bank (IDB) for $100 million line of credit to simplify exports to IDBs member countries.

Islamic Development Bank is headquartered in in Jeddah(Saudi Arabia). It was founded in 1973 and has 56 member nations.

Indian Private Sector's Federal Bank signed a strategic partnership with Phillip Capital (India) for managing NRI Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS).

Indian tyre manufactures JK Tyre acquied tyre, tube and flap maker Cavendish Industries for Rs 2200 crores.

Isuzu Motors opened its manufacturing plant in Andhra Pradesh and rolled out its India-made D-Max pick-up.

Ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution announced that food grains under Mid-Day Meal (MDM) scheme will now be supplied to states at further subsidized rates as prescribed under National Food Security Act, instead of prescribed BPL rates. New Rates for food grains will be under MDM Scheme will be applicable for first two quarters of 2016-17.

Now, food grains will be supplied at NFSA rate of Rs 3 per kilo for rice and Rs 2 per kilo for wheat with effect from April 1, 2016. 10.2 crore children across country get hot cooked meals in 11.56 lakh elementary schools across country.

Previously, 23.19 lakh tonnes of rice and 4.56 lakh tonnes of wheat was allocated to States and UTs at BPL rates of Rs 5.65 per kilo for rice and Rs 4.15 per kilo for wheat.

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) sanctioned loan of Rs 1,000 crore to Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (HSWC) for purchase of wheat during ongoing rabi marketing season.

National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) launched Unified Payments Interface (UPI), to revolutionise mobile payment system in country. 29 banks have agreed to join the platform.

UPI provides uniform mobile payment system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application of a participating bank by merging several banking features, Making it single app for accessing different bank accounts. It provides an option for scheduling push and pull transactions for various purposes like sharing bills among peers. UIP is an advanced version of NPCIs Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) that's a 24X7 funds transfer service.

National Stock Exchange (NSE) launched a new index Nifty - MidSmallcap 400. It will represent mid and small market capitalization segments and will comprise of 400 companies of Nifty Midcap 150 and Nifty Smallcap 250 indices.

Nauru became 189th member of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. Its initial subscription quota for IMF will be of SDR (Special Drawing rights) 2 million or about $2.81 million. It will be the second smallest member of IMF after Tuvalu.

Nauru is tiny South Pacific island nation in Pacific Ocean (Northwest of Australia)

PM Narendra Modi launched Stand Up India Scheme to promote entrepreneurship among Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes and Women entrepreneurs. It will facilitate minimum 2 projects per bank branch and expected to benefit at least 2.5 lakh borrowers within 3 years.

Stand up India provides refinance window through Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) with initial amount of 10000 crore rupees.

It will create credit guarantee mechanism through National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC).

PM Narendra Modi launched online national agricultural products market platform to integrate wholesale markets across India, named as National Agricultural Market (e-NAM). National Agricultural Market (NAM) platform mooted by the government to integrate agricultural mandis across the country in order to provide better price discovery and wider market access to farmers. 200 mandis will be Linked within five Months and 585 Mandis by March, 2018

RBL Bank (formerly Ratnakar Bank) became first private sector bank in India to open dedicated branch for startups. The branch was inaugurated at Koramangala, Bengaluru by noted entrepreneur Nandan Nilekani.

Railway Minister announceD 2 passenger friendly services -

Cancellation of PRS counter tickets through IRCTC website and 139 - The passenger has to dial 139 giving details of the confirmed ticket for cancelling it and the sender will get a one-time password (OTP). Passenger has to reach the Passenger Reservation System (PRS) counter and reveal the OTP to claim refund.

Acceptance of International Debit and Credit Cards for payment for e-ticketing.

Reserve Bank of India gave final approved to Bharti Airtel's payments bank venture - Airtel M Commerce Services Ltd (AMCS). With this, AMCS became first entity to receive final approval from the RBI to start a payments bank. Airtel M Commerce is subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, a telecom company. Kotak Mahindra Bank has upto 19.9 % stake in Airtel M Commerce. Payments Banks are not allowed to lend, so tie-up with banks will help them source loans for their customers.

Reserve Bank of Indias first bi-monthly policy review -

Repo rate reduced by 25 basis points to 6.5 %.

Reverse repo rate increased to 6 %.

GDP growth is projected to improve to 7.6 % in 2016-17.

Marginal standing facility (MSF) rate reduced to 7%.

Singapore's largest bank, DBS unveiled mobile only bank in India - digibank. It uses technologies such as bio metrics and artificial intelligence to enable paperless and branch less banking.

Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and Saarc Development Fund (SDF) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for mutual cooperation and collaboration.

Tax collections for FY 2015-16 stood at Rs. 14.60 Lakh Crore, as compared to Estimates of Rs 14.55 Lakh Crores. Growth is 17.6% as compared to last year. Indirect Tax revenue collections are Rs. 7.11 Lakh Crores and Direct Tax revenues stand at 7.48 Lakh crores.

Tslc Limited launched its mobile-only lending platform CASHe, providing users a personalized experience to borrow cash within minutes.

UltraTech Cement bought Jaypee Group's Cement Trade for Rs 15,900 crores.

Uttarakhand's Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) under UDAY Scheme (Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana).

Under UDAY, 10 states have so far signed MoU till date. Combined DISCOM debt of these states is around Rs.1.96 lac crore, approximately 45% of total outstanding DISCOM debt of Rs.4.3 lac crore.

Videocon d2h announced that its over 1.5 crore consumers can now recharge their d2h service using Vodafone m-pesa. It will allows Videocon d2h customers a simple recharge facility using m-pesa platform.

Viwwing huge dip in freight traffic volume resulting in massive financial losses to the Indian Railways, Government decided to withdraw Port Congestion Surcharge in order to attract imported freight traffic including Containers, Coal, Iron ore etc which are being diverted to road. Port congestion surcharge levy is 10 % of basic freight rate.

Vodafone moved to International Court of Justice (ICJ) seeking appointment of a third arbitrator in its Rs 20,000-crore tax dispute with India.

e-Commerce Firm Snapdeal has partnered with 9 non governmental organisations (NGOs) to launch Snapdeal Sunshine, a platform where users can make donations to causes under education, health, sports, women empowerment, disaster relief and old age care.

International

Government approved Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bhutan on technical cooperation in capacity building, benchmarking and bilateral exchange in infrastructure engineering.

A Wave Rider Buoy deployed to Seychelles by India for improved Ocean State Forecasts for the Indian Ocean Islands, As part of 'Integrated Ocean Information System' for Indian Ocean Countries.

According to FDI Intelligence Report by Financial Times Limited -

India replaced China as top Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) destination by attracting $63 billion worth FDI projects in 2015. India overtook US ($59.6 billion greenfield FDI) and China ($ 56.6 billion).

Greenfield FDI inflow in India and China was followed by Indonesia ($38.5 billion), Mexico ($24.3 billion) and Brazil ($17.3 billion).

In India - Gujarat was on top with $12.4 billion FDI, followed by Maharashtra ($8.3 billion).

According to agency Carat, India's 2016 advertising growth rate will be fastest at 12%, which is ahead of global average of 4.5%. India's ad growth rate will also be ahead of most other markets including the USA (4.7 %), the UK (6.2 %), Russia (0.2 %), China (5.8 %), Japan (1.8 %), and Brazil (6.8 %).

Anti-slavery crusader Harriet Tubman will become first African-American on face of US paper currency, as she will replace former President Andrew Jackson on $20 bill.

As per World Health Organization (WHO), Europe become world's first region to eliminate mosquito-borne disease Malaria. Malaria cases in europe fell to zero from 90,712 between 1995 and 2015.

As per World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Global Tiger Forum (GTF), global tiger population has increased by 22 % after a century of constant decline. Number of wild tigers across globe are now 3,890. India at top with 2226 tigers, followed by Russia (433), Indonesia (371), Malaysia (250), Nepal (198), Thailand (189), Bangladesh (106) and Bhutan (103).

As per a report by World Bank, India remained world's largest remittance recipient in 2015 with 69 billion USD remittances in 2015 (down from 70 billion in 2014). India was followed by China (64 billion USD), Philippines (28 billion), Mexico (25 billion) and Nigeria (21 billion USD). Global remittances declined by 1.7% to 581 billion USD compared to 592 billion in 2014.

As per report Future-Ready Economies Model by Dell, Delhi is ranked 44th among worlds 50future-ready economies cities that are embracing technology for growth. The list is topped by San Jose, followed by San Francisco, Singapore and London.

BRICS New Development Bank (NDB) approved its first package of loans worth 811 million USD for four renewable energy projects in Brazil, China, South Africa and India. NDB will provide $300 million to Brazil, $250 million to India (Through Canara Bank), $180 million to South Africa and $81 million to China. These funds will be used for renewable energy projects of 2.37MW and will reduce harmful emissions by 4 million tons annually.

BSE (Bombay Stopck Exchange) signed MoU with Korea Exchange (KRX) of South Korea for listing S&P BSE Sensex-based derivatives contracts on KRX.

Bangladesh approved draft of Supreme Court Judge (Investigation Act) 2016, to empower Parliament to impeach a judge in Supreme Court in case of misconduct or incapacity of the Judge.

China and Pakistan signed agreement for launch of a special satellite to monitor the development of multi-billion dollars China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects. Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite (PRSS-1) System will be developed and a satellite will be launched in June 2018.

China launched a retrievable scientific research satellite SJ-10, to study micro-gravity and space life science. The Chinese satellite carries six titanium cylinders, each with a milliliter of crude oil compressed to more than 400 times. By bringing crude oil into space, international researchers will be able to find more of it underneath the Earth's crust.

China successfully launched Kunpeng-1B sounding rocket equipped with a new altitude control system, aimed at carrying measurements in upper atmosphere and to help in high-speed flight and space tourism research.

Credit Suisse Emerging Consumer Scorecard 2016 -

Indian consumers remain most optimistic, among nine nations surveyed by Credit Suisse. So Average Indian respondent's income has increased compared with a decline for the emerging markets average.

China and Saudi Arabia shared the second position.

European Parliament approved creation of a European passenger name records (PNR) system to combat terrorism. Now EU Nations have two years to turn it into national law. PNR is a joint system for security agencies to access airline passenger data on all flights to and from the EU.

Federal grand jury in US's Wisconsin State has put 940 million USD fine against two companies of Indias Tata group – Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Tata America International Corp, accusing them of ripping off its software and punitive damages.

First edition of original First Folio authored by William Shakespeare found at Mount Stuart House off the western coast of Scotland. It was first published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare death.

Forbes Asia 50 Power Businesswomen 2016 List -

Reliance Industries director Nita Ambani and State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya have been ranked top 2 in List.

6 other Indian business women have been included in list- Mu Sigma CEO Ambiga Dhiraj (14), Dipali Goenka(16 - Welspun), Vinita Gupta (18- Lupin), Chanda Kochhar (22 - ICICI Bank), Vandana Luthra(26- VLCC), Kiran Mazumdar Shaw (28 - Biocon).

Forbes First Global Game Changers List of 30 powerful business leaders worldwide -

Topped by Mark Benioff of Salesforce.com.

Indians - Rahul Bhatia of InterGlobe Enterprises (Rank 3), Cyrus Poonawalla of Serum Institute of India (Rank 23), and Sunny Varkey of GEMS Education (Rank 26).

France's Reporters Without Borders (RWB) 2016 World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) -

India ranked 133rd out of 180 nations with score of 43.17. It is better from 136th position in 2015.

Top 5 - Finland (1st), Netherlands (2nd), Norway (3rd), Denmark (4th), New Zealand (5th) Finland with the score of 8.76 has retained its top spot for the sixth consecutive year.

Indias Neighbours - Bhutan (94), Nepal (105), Afghanistan (120), Sri Lanka (141), Bangladesh (144), Pakistan (147) and China (176).

Government approved MoU between Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) and Insurance Authority of United Arab Emirates for cooperation in field of insurance supervision.s

Government approved MoU with Papua New Guinea on cooperation in Healthcare and Medical Sciences.

Government approved MoU with Sweden on Technical Cooperation in Railway Sector.

Government approved MoU with United Arab Emirates (UAE) on cooperation in preventing and combating of Human Trafficking.

Government approved adopting South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN).SAWEN is regional inter-governmental wildlife law enforcement support body launched in January, 2011 in Paro, Bhutan.

Government approved extension of MoU with Bangladesh on cooperation in Fisheries.

Government approved increasing framework agreement between Exim Bank of India and Central Bank of Iran for financing purchase of goods and services from India to Rs.3000 crore from Rs. 900 crore. It will be done by utilising Export Development Fund (EDF) of EXIM Bank.

Government imposed anti-dumping duty of up to US 149 dollars on imports of N-Butyl Alcohol from European Union (EU), Malaysia, Singapore and USA, as per recommendation of Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied Duties (DGAD).

N-Butyl Alcohol is a by-product of the fermentation of sugar and other carbohydrate and used as artificial flavorant and is present in many foods and beverages.

High-intensity earthquake of magnitude 7.8 on Richter scale struck South American country of Ecuador.

Huawei's 3rd Global Connectivity Index report (announced at Global Analyst Summit 2016 in Shenzhen (China)) -

USA, Singapore and Sweden are at top in connectivity rankings while India is ranked 44.

Indian government's Digital India initiative is driving growth, and improved broadband penetration.

India ratified WTOs (World Trade Organisation) Trade Facilitation Agreement that aims at easing customs procedures to boost commerce. India is 76th WTO member to ratify TFA.

TFA is WTOs first-ever multilateral accord that aims to simplify customs regulations for the cross-border movement of goods.

India and France launched a programme with $1 trillion Potential Solar Programme under International Solar Alliance (ISA). It is a solar finance programme that aims at helping developing countries to fully harness their solar resources for a clean energy future.

India and Mauritius signed MoU for cooperation in traditional medicine and homeopathy.

India and Sri Lanka signed MoU to provide 150 fishing boats and fishing equipment to 300 Tamil fishermen from Mullaithivu in North Sri Lanka as part of Indias assistance programme in Sri Lanka.

India and the United States announced an in-principle logistics exchange agreement to enable their militarizes to use each other’s assets and bases for repair and replenishment of supplies.

India extended Line of Credit (LoC) of 1 billion USD to Mongolia, on occasion ofg Mongolian Foreign Minister Lundeg Purevsuren visiting India.

India signed historic Paris climate agreement along with over 170 nations during a UN General Assembly Ceremony at UN Headquarters in New York City (USA). It is a significant step that for cutting down greenhouse gas emissions to combat global warming. Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar attended on India's Behalf.

India will institute its first Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) chair in the Arab world at Ain Shams University (ASU) in Cairo, Egypt.

India, Afghanistan and Iran finalized draft of Chabahar Trilateral Agreement on Transport and Transit Corridors, during second technical meeting of experts in New Delhi.

Information technology company HR (Hewlett-Packard) launched eight new personal products including world's thinnest laptop - Spectre (10.4 mm thickness).

Insdia approved signing Paris Agreement adopted at 21st Conference of Parties of UNFCCC held in Paris in December 2015. Paris Agreement on climate change is meant to enhance implementation of Convention.

Key features of Paris Agreement are - Rights of Developing Countries, Sustainable Development, Implementation of the Convention and Financial support from Developed countries. Purpose of financial support from developed countries is to achieve goal of mitigating climate change jointly providing US 100 billion dollars by 2020.

Interim Administrative Cell of International Solar Alliance (ISA Cell) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) announced to promote solar energy globally, during side event on International Solar Alliance at UN Headquarters in New York.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) declared that India's growth will reach 7.5% in 2016-17 and India will overtake China's GDP growth rate by over 1%.

Japan successfully tested its first domestically developed single-pilot stealth fighter jet X-2. Japan became fourth country (after United States, Russia and China) to have indigenous full-size stealth combat aircraft.

Kalash indigenous Community residing in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan is reportedly facing existential Threat. They currently have a Population of around 3000.

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. become first Indian company to sign up for EP100, a global energy productivity campaign. Singatories of this campaign have to double their energy productivity by 2030.

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan visited Iran and Offered $20 Billion Indian Investment In Iran.

Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and German International Cooperation (GIZ) signed Implementation agreement for Ganga Rejuvenation under Namami Gange Programme.

Mumbai-born David and Simon Reuben topped The Sunday Times Britain's Rich List 2016 with a fortune of 13.1 billion pounds, followed by Hinduja brothers at 13 billion pounds.

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) entered into collaboration with Germany for a special programme on ‘Soil Protection and Rehabilitation for Food Security‘.

North Korea imposed ban on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and South Korean websites, due to its concern on spreading Information Online.

PM Narendra Modi will address joint meeting of United States Congress during his visit to Washington in June 2016.

Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca & Co. received worldwide attention when an enormous cache of its documents was provided to news media in Panama Papers leak of information on off-shore tax havens.

Royal Mail of British honoured playwright William Shakespeare by issuing a set of special postage stamps to mark the 400th anniversary of his death.

Russia successfully launched first rocket (unmanned Soyuz-21a) from its newly built Vostochny Cosmodrome in Amur Oblast, Far East region bordering China.

Sanmar Chemicals, India's private sector petrochemical firm, will receive Rs.1,996 crore equity investment from Fairfax India Holdings for 30% Minority Stake.

Saudi Arabia and Egypt will build bridge connecting each other over the Red Sea to boost trade and commerce. The bridge would be approx 16 KM in Length.

Saudi Arabia approved Vision 2030 as an economic reform plan with roadmap for diversifying Saudi economy in next 14 years and to ensure that Saudi Arabia can live without oil by 2020. It includes forming public investment fund, boosting affordable housing and giving expats long-term residence.

Shareholders of Turkmenistan- Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Pipeline Company Limited signed an agreement to invest $200 million in studies and engineering for $10 billion project to transport natural gas to participating countries.

South Africa sports ministry imposed sanctions on Cricket South Africa (CSA) along with other three federations, which disallow them to host or bid for any major international tournaments. Decision will be reviewed in 2017.

Sri Lanka's Sri Jayewardenepura University signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Japan and India on collaboration in science and technology.

Sri Lankan Government resumed work on stalled Chinese Colombo Port City project.

Statue of Great Sikh Warrior Maharaja Ranjit Singh will be installed in France's Saint-Tropez town in September 2016.

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released Trends in world military expenditure 2015 report -

USA remained as worlds biggest spender in 2015, India moved up one spot to 6th in global rankings.

TIME's 100 most influential people List -

Indians - Raghuram Rajan (RBI Governor), Priyanka Chopra (Actress), Sania Mirza (Tennis), Sunita Narain (environmentalist), Sachin and Binny Bansal (Flipkart Co-founders), Sundar Pichai (Google CEO)

Tata Steel soild its loss-making 4.5-million tonne (mt) long-product Scunthorpe steel plant in Britain to UK-based investment firm Greybull Capital for Little over a Pound (Approx 85 Rupees).

United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) released report titled Fairness for Children: A league table of inequality in child well-being in rich countries. It incdicates inequalities in child well-being in 41 countries of European Union (EU) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Denmark is at the top of the overall league table with lowest inequality among children. Israel ranked lowest across all domains.

United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) 2015 Yearbook report -

India is ranked 6th among worlds Top-Ten manufacturing countries, compared to 9th position previously.

Top 5 are China, United States, Japan, Germany and South Korea. Indonesia is at 10th.

Global growth rate of manufacturing production slowed to 2.8 %.

In India - Manufacturing grown by 7.6 % in % 2015 as compared 2014.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) annual report for 2014 -

India is ranked 3rd in Anti-Doping Rule Violations Report (ADRVs) in 2014, with 96 of 1,693 doping violations cases.

List is topped by Russia (148), followed by Italy (123), India (96), Belgium (91), France (91).

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) suspended accreditation of National Anti-Doping Laboratory of Beijing and prohibits the Chinese laboratory from carrying out any WADA-related anti-doping activities including all analyses of urine and blood samples.

World Bank Group released 2016 edition of World Development Indicators (WDI) that provides high-quality cross-country statistics about development and people's lives around the globe. WDI includes 1400 indicators for over 200 economies and has moved from MDGs to SDGs in 2016 edition. 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have 169 targets, built on previously used 8 goals and 18 targets of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

WDI 2016 now includes estimates of global and national extreme poverty rates at international poverty line of 1.90 US dollars/day per person. These show that 13 % of the global population lived in extreme poverty in 2012, down from 37 percent in 1990.

World Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank signed first co-financing framework agreement between two institutions.

World Bank unveiled Climate Change Action Plan (CCP) to tackle climate change by 2020. It will help countries to deliver their targets set in national climate plans submitted for climate agreement reached at COP21 in Paris in December 2015.

World Health Organisation (WHO) and United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) released Global report on urban health: equitable, healthier cities for sustainable development, 2016. It documents actions required to realize goals of Sustainable Development Agenda 2030 through universal urban health coverage. Report stated that India’s urban population will increase from 38 Crore (33 %) in 2014 to 60 Crore (40 %) by 2031.

World Immunization Week 2016 organised across between 24 - 30 April 2016 with campaign theme Close the Immunization Gap and it seeks to achieve global vaccination targets by 2020. It will be 2nd year of Close the Immunization Gap campaign.

World Trade Organization (WTO) revised its 2016 global trade updated forecast to 2.8% from 3.9%. The main reasons for cutting the forecast rate is slowdown in China and broad market volatility that continues to threaten growth.

World's first public dengue vaccination programme launched in Philippines with a French drug Dengvaxia (worlds 1st dengue fever vaccine) to combat mosquito-borne disease.

Meetings

14th meeting of Foreign Ministers of the Russia, India and China (RIC) Forum held in Moscow (Russia). External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj attended on India's Behalf. Cooperation in combating terrorism was theme of the meet.

2 days Maritime India Summit 2016 held in Mumbai.

2016 Spring Meetings of World Bank and IMF Held in Washington DC (USA). Attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on India's Behalf.

3rd SAARC Agriculture Ministers' Meet held in Dhaka (Bangladesh). Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister Radha Mohan Singh attended on India's Behalf.

3th Islamic Summit Conference concluded in Istanbul (Turkey) with theme Unity and Solidarity for Justice and Peace.

4th Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) Held in Washington, USA, to discuss issues related to nuclear security. India represented by PM Narendra Modi.

4th retreat of Supreme Court Judges 2016 held at National Judicial Academy in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.

6th Economic and Financial Partnership Dialogue between India and USA held in Wahington DC (USA). India and USA will enhance collaboration on tackling offshore tax evasion and increase co-operation in sharing of cross-border tax information.

8th International Seminar on Wheat and Wheat Products will be held in Panaji (Goa) in July 2016 with theme New Ideas and Innovation for Growth.

BRICS New Development Bank Board of Governors Meeting and BRICS Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors Meeting held in Washington DC (USA). Attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on India's Behalf.

G-20 Session for Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors held in Washington DC (USA). Attended by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on India's Behalf. G20 countries sought a crackdown on tax heavens, shell companies and terror financing in wake of the ‘Panama Papers’ scandal.

Global Exhibition on Services 2016 held at India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh).

Group of 7 (G-7) countries foreign ministers meet held in Hiroshima (Japan). During the summit, Joint Declaration has been called for a world without nuclear weapons. G7 Consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and United States.

Heart of Asia conference held in New Delhi with an aim to bring peace to Afghanistan and speeding up its reconstruction process.

Human Resource and Development Minister Smriti Irani attended International Conference on Zero in Paris (France). She unveiled a bronze bust of Indian mathematician Aryabhatta.

India organized 22nd meeting of BASIC Group (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) in New Delhi. Aim is to further consolidate positions of countries before 196 UNFCCC member countries meet for first time in May 2016 after adoption of Paris Agreement adopted in December 2015.

Minister for Health & Family Welfare, J P Nadda visited Japan for meeting of Health Ministers from WHO South East Asia Region and Western Pacific Region countries. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) of Japan signed Letter of Intent on the occasion.

Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Services Export Promotion Council (SEPC) will organize 2nd Global Exhibition on Services in Greater Noida (Uttar Pradesh).

National Conference on Agriculture for Kharif Campaign held in Delhi.

National Summit on Family Planning held in New Delhi with theme New Choices, New Horizons.

President Pranab Mukherjee visited Papua New Guinea and New Zealand -

New Zealand

Air Services Agreement signed for introduction of direct flights between India and New Zealand.

Papua New Guinea -

$100 Million Credit Line from India to Papua New Guinea for projects in Transport and infrastructure sectors.

MoU in field of Health Care and Medical Science, Agriculture, Information Technology.

Regional Conference of North Eastern States on Child Adoption held at State Convention Centre in Shillong, Meghalaya.

Special meeting held by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris (France) to firm up cooperation between countries in wake of 'Panama Papers' leak. During the meet, International Monetary Fund, Wolrd Bank, United Nations And OECD decided to Form a New Group To Stop Tax Erosion.

Third Asia Ministerial Conference on Tigers Conservation started at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi.

National

Haryana Assembly passed 2 bills to make minimum educational qualification criteria mandatory for the urban local bodies election (ULBs) - Haryana Municipal (Amendment) Bill 2016 and Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2016. Key features Include -

Minimum qualification for contesting ULBs election will be - General - Class X, Female from General and Male from SC - 8th pass, SC women - 5th pass.

2016 Water Film Festival (a part of India Water Week 2016 celebrations) started at Water Expo-2016 in New Delhi. It is organized by Water and Power Consultancy Services (WAPCOS).

Golden Tobacco became first company in India to implement Health Ministrys Cigarettes Packaging Amendment Rules 2014 that require both sides of cigarette packs to display specific health warnings in 85 % of area (presently 40 %).

Operation Sulaimani is an initiative to eradicate poverty by feeding needy in Kozhikode (Kerala) hotels, aimed at avoiding food wastage in district.

Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh laid foundation stone of Haryana State University of Horticultural Sciences at Karnal.

Andhra Pradesh Eastern Power Distribution Company Limited (APEPDCL) become first e-office electricity distribution company with purpose of clearing files without any delay and ensuring transparency and accountability.

Andhra Pradesh Government inaugurated state's interim government complex named AP Government Transitional Headquarters at Velagapudi village in capital region Amaravati.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) commissioned a seasonwise tiltable canal top solar PV plant at Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh. It is first canal top project in Andhra Pradesh.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation got approval for its 694-crore rupees project at Haldia Dock Complex in West Bengal for developing LPG import terminal, storage and distribution facilities. It will boost supply and help achieve government's target of making LPG available to each household by 2018. Domestic production of LPG is around 12.38 million metric tonne per annum (mmtpa, lower than estimated demand of 18.65 mmtpa in 2016.

CCTV Camera System has been integrated in Train Shan-e-Punjab Express. It includes 4 to 6 cameras per coach strategically located so that the entire area can be covered.

Cab aggregator Uber signed agreement with Gujarat Tourism and FICCI to facilitate training for Uber driver-partners. Uber also signed pact with Election Commission in Tamil Nadu to spread awareness on voting among the electorate.

Ceasefire between Government and NSCN-IM (National Socialist Council of Nagaland- Isak Muivah) extended by April 2017, to bring long lasting peace in Nagaland.

Central Government has recommended 1,304 crore rupees for drought relief to Uttar Pradesh under National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF).

Chandigarh Becomes First Kerosene-Free City with sale of subsidised cooking and lighting fuel being stopped in Chandigarh completely.

Chithirai festival celebrated at Meenakshi Temple in Madurai (Tamil Nadu), for symbolizing unity of saivitism and vaishnavism.

Delhi Government launched second phase of odd-even car rationing scheme to check pollution. It will be effective between 15 - 30 April 2016. Delhi Government launched PoochhO Carpool app to help people explore carpooling options.

Delhi High Court ruled that keeping a criminal case pending for indefinite period amounts to violation of constitutional rights of accused recognized under Article 21 (right to life) of Constitution of India.

Delhi High Court ruled that keeping a criminal case pending for indefinite period is violation of constitutional rights of accused recognized under Article 21 (right to life) of Constitution of India.

Delhi government banned all forms of chewable tobacco for 1 year in interest of public health.

East Coast Railway (ECoR) Zone headquartered in Bhubaneswar (Odisha) emerged as largest Freight Loading Railway Zone in 2015-16. ECoR loaded 173.49 million tonnes of freight in 2015 - 16 with earning of 15978.28 crores.

Election Commission of India launched innovative mobile application e-voter with comprehensive details about forthcoming 2016 Assembly polls in Kerala.

FICCI Ladies Organization (FLO) will set up 2 Mahila Huts in Gujarat for upliftment of women belonging to all sections of society through education and training.

First National Tribal Carnival will be held in Delhi from April 29 - May 02, 2016 to promote various facets of tribal life relating to culture, tradition, customs and their skills.

Gatiman Express, India's fastest train Completed its First Run From Delhi to agra in 100 Minutes. Its Top speed is 160 KMPH.

Government approved Recommendations on Fiscal Deficit Targets and Additional Fiscal Deficit to States during Fourteenth Finance Commission (FFC) award period 2015-20. Recommendations Include -

Commission adopted fiscal deficit threshold limit of 3 % of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) for States, with additional headroom of 0.5 % above normal limit of 3 % given to States.

States won't get any benefit of additional borrowings for 2015-16 as the year is already completed. Implications for remaining period of FFC award (2016-20) would depend on respective States eligibility based on criteria noted by FFC.

Government approved country's first Metrino Pod project i.e. personal rapid transit (PRT) network for Gurgaon (Haryana). It will be completely private project. The pilot project will span a 13 km stretch from Gurgaon-Delhi border to Badshapur Mod on Sohna Road.

Government approved operationalisation of new Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) at Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.

Government approved utilization of 400 hectares of un-cultivable farm land at Central State Farm (CSF), Jetsar in Sri Ganganagar District, Rajasthan for setting up of a solar Power Plant of capacity 200 MW. Land is presently in possession of National Seeds Corporation (NSC).

Government banned import of dogs for commercial breeding. The imports are allowed only for research or defence purposes.

Government extended Beti Bachao Beti Padho Scheme to additional 61 districts across 11 States and Union Territories with low Child Sex Ratio.

Government made mandatory for mobile manufacturers to add in-built panic button from January 1, 2017 and global positioning system (GPS) in all phones from Jan 1, 2018.

Government released Indian Intellectual Property (IP) Panorama to increase awareness about SME sector. The toolkit will cater start-ups and SMEs especially Indias ICTE sector based on agreement between DeitY and WIPO. IP Panorama is customized version of IP Panorama Multimedia toolkit by World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). 5 modules of Indian IP Panorama - Importance of IP for SMEs, Trademark, Industrial design, Invention and Patent Information.

Government revised stuition fee in IITs (Indian Institute of Technology) to 2 lakh per annum from 2016-17 with complete waiver for SC/ST/PH students. All students shall have access to interest free loan under Vidyalaxmi scheme for total payable tuition fee.

Government will issue universal identity cards to physically challenged with objective of providing them easy access to various benefits being extended by the government. It is being done is wake of issues arising due to some states not accepting cards of other states.

Government's LED programme - Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All (UJALA) launched in Madhya Pradesh with objective of distributing three crore LED bulbs over six months.

Gujarat Government will provide 10 % reservation for economically backward classes (EBCs) in general category in government jobs and admission to educational institutions from next academic year.

Gujarat launched Maa Annapurna Yojna to provide cereals at concessional rates to poor and middle class families under National Food Security Act (NFSA).

HRD Minister Smriti Zubin Irani Released India Rankings 2016 as Indias First Ever Rankings of Indian Institutions, under first National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) -

RANK

University

Engineering

Management

Pharmacy

1

Indian Institute Of Science Banglore, Karnataka.

Indian Institute Of Technology, Madras, TamilNadu.

Indian Institute Of Management, Bangaluru, Karnataka.

Manipal College Of Pharmaceutical Sciences-Manipal, Karnataka.

2

Institute Of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra

Indian Institute Of Technology, Bombay, Maharashtra.

Indian Institute Of Management, Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

University Institute Of Pharmaceutical Sciences-Chandigarh

3

Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi

Indian Institute Of Technology, Kharagpur, UttarPradesh

Indian Institute Of Management, Calcutta, West Bengal.

Jamia Hamdard, Delhi.

4

University Of Hyderabad-Hyderabad, Telangana.

Indian Institute Of Technology, Delhi

Indian Institute Of Management, Lucknow, UttarPradesh.

Poona College Of Pharmacy, Erandwane, Pune-Pune, Maharashtra

5

Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam.

Indian Institute Of Technology, Kanpur, UttarPradesh.

Indian Institute Of Management, Udaipur, Rajasthan.

Institute Of Pharmacy, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

6

University Of Delhi, Delhi.

Indian Institute Of Technology, Roorkee, Uttarakhand.

Indian Institute Of Management, Kozhikode, Kerala.

Bombay College Of Pharmacy-Mumbai, Maharshtra

7

Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh

Indian Institute Of Technology, Hyderabad, Telangana.

International Management Institute-New Delhi, Delhi.

Birla Institute Of Technology, Ranchi, Jharkhand.

8

Indian Institute Of Space Science And Technology, Kerala.

Indian Institute Of Technology, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

Indian Institute Of Forest Management, Indore, MadhyaPradesh.

Amrita School Of Pharmacy, Kochi Kerala.

9

Birla Institute Of Technology & Science –Pilani, Rajasthan

Indian Institute Of Technology, Ropar-Rupnagar, Punjab.

Indian Institute Of Technology, Kanpur, UttarPradesh.

Jss College Of Pharmacy, Ootacamund, TamilNadu.

10

Aligarh Muslim University, Uttar Pradesh

Indian Institute Of Technology, Patna, Bihar.

Indian Institute Of Management, Indore-Indore, MadhyaPradesh.

Jss College Of Pharmacy, Mysore

Haryana Government notified Affordable Plotted Housing Policy 2016 for low and medium potential towns also known as Deen Dayal Jan Awas Yojna, to enable creation of additional affordable housing stock in low and medium potential towns of state. Projects under this policy will have min and max net planned area between 5 - 15 acres.

Haryana Government renamed Gurgaon as Gurugram and Mewat as Nuh.

Himachal Pradesh High Court issued notice to Union and State governments on issue of declaring monkeys as vermin for six months in Shimla. It means anyone can kill monkeys anywhere in Shimla without official permission.

In view of Public Health, Delhi Government banned chewable tobacco for 1 year.

India Pride Project (IPP) initiative launched by 2 NRIs Vijay Kumar and Anurag Saxena with an aim to bring back lost artefacts to India and restore Nation’s pride through restoring its culture. IPP is managed by several volunteers around the world, which identifies stolen art, traces its route and attempts to restore it back to its rightful place through use of Twitter to spread the message.

India launched Transnational Skill Standards to support international mobility of Indian workforce and also prepare them to work in international companies having their operations in India. These standards in skill development are benchmarked to the skill standards in United Kingdom across 82 identified job roles.

India's Cochin (Kochi) airport became first airport in world to completely run on solar power. It now produces 50,000 - 60,000 units of electricity per day, enough for all its operational functions.

India's first arbitration centre for dealing the financial disputes will be opened soon in Mumbai. Till now, financial disputes of India were dealt in Singapore Arbitration centre.

India's first online interactive heritage portal Sahapedia has been launched by Union Government. It will be a collaborative knowledge resource on arts, culture and heritage of India.

India's first special purpose vehicle (SPV) on smart city - Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited has been launched. It has been set up as per Smart City Mission Guidelines to enable faster execution of projects.

Indian IT services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is recognized as one of United Kingdom's leading employers for women in a list published by The Times.

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) successfully launched India’s 7th navigation satellite IRNSS 1G to complete Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS). Satellite was launched into a Sub-Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit by Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C-33 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh, with a lift-off mass of 1425 kg.

IRNSS 1G satellite is last space segment satellites of the IRNSS system. With this, India joined group of nations with their own GPS (Global Positioning System) or navigation system. Other nations are US’s GPS , Russia’s Glonass, Japan’s Quasi Zenith, Europe’s Galileo and China’s Beidou.

It equipped with 2 types of payloads - navigation payload and ranging devices. Navigation payload will be used to transmit navigation service signals to the users and ranging payload consists of a C-band transponder that will facilitate determination of range of satellite.

IRNSS System -

It consists of seven satellites of which three are geostationary and four are non-geostationary.

4 Geosynchronous satellites will be orbiting in pairs in two inclined geosynchronous orbits. When observed from the ground, these 2 pairs of satellites will appear to travel in figures of ‘8’.

3 Geostationary satellites will be placed in geostationary orbit over the equator.

Services - IRNSS will provide real-time accurate position information of objects to users in an area of 1,500 km with 2 types of services - Restricted Service (encrypted service provided to authorised users maily military) and Standard Positioning Services to all users.

Infosys launched new app named Itihaasa that chronicles Indian IT journey since 1950s.

Jamia Millia Islamia recognized in-service training of Indian Navy Sailors personnel for award of Graduation Degree.

Jammu and Kashmir Government approved Mufti Mohammad Sayeed Food Entitlement Scheme (MMSFES) to supplement National Food Security Act (NFSA). Under this, all those persons who are covered under States public distribution system will get additional 5 kgs of ration per person in addition to 5 kgs of ration they are entitled to get under NFSA (National Food Security Act).

Jharkhand Government Ragbubar Das announced reserve 2 % employment in various departments for meritorious sportspersons of the state.

Jharkhand Government launched Bhimrao Ambedkar Awas Yojana for widows to create equality and harmony in society.

Kerala state branch of Indian Medical Association (IMA) has partnered with UNICEF to promote safe and healthy practices for improving maternal and child health in the state.

Lok Sabha passed Regional Centre for Biotechnology Bill 2016 to provide statutory status to existing Regional Centre for Biotechnology in Faridabad (Haryana). It will provide legislative backing to Regional Centre and also confers upon it the status of an institution of national importance.

Maharashtra Government banned digging of borewells beyond 200 feet in order to check steep decline in ground water level across state.

Maharashtra Government made it mandatory to have a hologram on every alcohol bottle manufactured and sold in the state in order to check sale of spurious liquor.

Maharashtra tied up with Tata Trusts to link all government colleges and medical colleges to the national cancer grid for uniform cancer profiling and quality treatment, for improvement of infrastructure for cancer cure.

Major Fire broke out at Puttingal temple (Kerala), claiming several hundred lives.

Mandd Sobhan, a Konkani cultural organisation, will set up a Konkani museum in Mangaluru (Karnataka).

Minister for Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananta Kumar announced to provide a plastic park to Andhra Pradesh. Foundation stone for Central Institute of Plastic Engineering and Technology (CIPET) near Vijayawada has been laid out.

Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Harsh Vardhan launched Twinning Network Programme on Chemical Ecology of North Eastern Region at Nagaland Science & Technology Council (NASTEC).

Minister of Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan inaugurated India's first Cellulosic Alcohol Technology Demonstration Plant (Second Generation Ethanol Plant) at Kashipur, Uttarakhand.

Minister of State (IC) for Power, Coal and New and Renewable Energy Piyush Goyal released Report of Technical Committee on Large Scale Integration of Renewable Energy. Committee suggested 15 point Action Plan for facilitating large scale integration of renewables in India.

Minister of State (IC) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship Rajeev Pratap Rudy launched Transnational Skill Standards. 2 MoUs signed between National Skill Development Council (NSDC) and UK Organizations on this Occasion.

Minister of Textiles Santosh Kumar Gangwar inaugurated 3 mega textile projects in Nagaland - Apparel and Garment Making Centre in Dimapur, Muga P3 Basic Seed Station Kobulong in Mokokchung district and newly Integrated Eri Silk Development Project under North East Textile Promotion Scheme (NERTPS).

Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation approved investment of 9005 crore for construction of 73,205 more houses for Economically Weaker Sections under Prime Minister’s Awas Yojana in Maharashtra, Punjab and Jammu & Kashmir.

Minster of Human Resource Development Smriti Zubin Irani launched portal for registration and allotment of International Standard Book Number (ISBN).

MoU signed between Mahindra Intertrade and MSTC Limited for setting up Joint Venture Company for establishing first Auto Shredding Plant in India in New Delhi.

Nagaland’s capital Kohima has been declared as a smoke-free city.

National Mission for Clean Ganga in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IITK) announced launch of Centre for Ganga River Basin Management and Studies (CGRBMS) in New Delhi. It Includes 10 year Agreement with IITK for support in implementation of Ganga River Basin Management Plan.

National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) partenered with Rainbow Agrilife India Private Limited for commercialization of the NEMHARI-A, a plant based Formulation for Management of Mulberry Root Knot Disease.

North East-ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Business Summit held in Imphal (Manipur) with focus on road connectivity, trade and tourism.

Odisha Government launched 100 piped water supply projects for rural areas and promised to make piped water provision in all gram panchayats by 2017, on occasion of 'Utkal Gaurab Madhusudan Das’ anniversary.

Odisha Government launched Adarsh Vidyalaya (AV) project to provide modern schools facilities in underdeveloped rural areas of the state.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) took over infrastructure of abandoned Tapti gas field in western offshore from its joint venture partners Reliance Industries and BG. It will save ONGC an investment worth up to 4000 crore rupees to bring neighbouring Daman block into production before schedule.

Panasonic and AES India will construct a 10 MW energy storage array at Panasonic's Technopark manufacturing facility in Jhajjar, Haryana. It is first large-scale battery-based energy storage project in India.

Parliament passed Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Bill 2016 to amend list of list of Scheduled Castes (SC) from 4 states

Chhattisgarh - Inclusion of Sais, Sahis, Sarathi, Soot-Sarathi, Thanwar communities in list.

Haryana - Inclusion of Aheria, Aheri, Hari, Heri, Thori, Turi and Rai Sikh communities in list.

Kerala - Inclusion of Peruvannan community and Modification in area of specification of Malayan community.

West Bengal 0 Removal of area restriction of Chain community.

Odisha - Exclusion of Bariki and Kummari communities in list.

Parliament passed Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2016 to remove exception given to Sahjdhari Sikhs in 1944 to vote in elections to members of Board and Committees constituted under parent Act.

President Pranab Mukherjee nominated 6 eminent members to Rajya Sabha - Mary Kom (Boxer and Olympic bronze medallist), Narendra Jadhav (economist and former member of National Advisory Council), Suresh Gopi(Noted Malayalam actor), Swapan Dasgupta (Noted Journalist), Subramanian Swamy (Senior BJP leader), Navjot Singh Sidhu (Noted cricketer-turned-politician).

As per Article 80 (Part V) of the Constitution, President can nominate 12 members in the Council of States (Rajya Sabha).

President Pranab Mukherjee promulgated Uttarakhand Appropriation (Vote on Account) Ordinance 2016 to authorize expenditures Rs 13642 Crores in the state that has come under a political crisis.

Rahuri Municipal Council of Ahmednagar district in Maharashtra became first Municipal Council to attain status of integrated with digital locker for issuance of all essential Documents, as part of Digital India Programme.

Railway Ministry decided to create 1 lakh crore rupees safety fund named Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh to strengthen safety measures on rail network to prevent accidents.

Rajasthan assembly passed Urban Land (Certification of Titles) Bills 2016 for providing statutory backing to land records. With this, Rajasthan became first state to pass land title bill for effectively guaranteeing land and property ownership.

Shri Trimbakeshwar Devasthan Trust (STDT) in Nashik (Maharashtra) banned all persons (men and women) from entering the Temple. Only hereditary priests will be allowed to enter the sanctum of Trimbakeshwar temple.

Supreme Court approved a single common entrance test National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to MBBS and BDS courses for 2016-17. All India Pre-Medical Test (AIPMT) fixed for May 1, 2016 will now be treated as NEET-1.

Tata Trusts signed pact with Odisha government to achieve elimination of Malaria from state by 2030.

The Border Security Force will hoist tallest national flag by January 2017 at Attari-Wagah Joint Check Post (the Wagah border). The national flag will be 350-feet high and will be visible from Pakistan's largest city Lahore.

The World's largest wooden Charkha (spinning wheel, weighing 4 tonnes) will be installed at Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. It is made by KVIC (Khadi and Village Industries Commission ).

Third phase of Health Ministrys universal vaccination programme Mission Indradhanush began. Under it, 39 lakh children have been vaccinated against seven preventable diseases in last 2 phases.

To promote the Swachh Bharat Mission, Urban development Minister Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated 20 Namma Toilets in Delhi.

Tourism Ministry launched NOC Online Application and Processing System (NOAPS) Web Portal of National Monuments Authority. It is developed through technology of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), who mapping 3686 ASI monuments and sites in country.

Traditional festival of Sajibu Cheiraoba celebrated in Manipur to mark beginning of a new year with cultural gusto and religious fervor.

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) generated 100th Crore Aadhaar Cards so far, touching this landmark in 5.5 years. Aadhaar coverage now is at 93 percent among people above age of 18.

Uttar Pradesh police launched Operation Milan in Lucknow to rescue abducted youths and minors and reunite them with their families.

Uttarakhand High Court ruled that legitimacy of Presidents decision to suspend state assembly under Presidents rule is subject to judicial review.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) revoked accreditation of Moscow Antidoping Center of Russia. It was suspended in November 2015.

Worlds first White Tiger Safari inaugurated in Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, adjacent to Mukundpur Zoological Park. It is spread over 25 hectares.

Persons

31-year-old Kathak dancer Soni Chaurasiya of Varanasi broke previous record of marathon dancing of 123 hours and 20 minutes. Soni broke record previously held by Keralas Hemlatha.

American music legend Merle Haggard passed away.

Co-founder of Hero Cycles group, Satyanand Munjal passed away.

Dharmendra Pradhan, MoS(I/C) Petroleum and Natural Gas visited Saudi Arabia.

Finance Minister Arun jaitley visited Australia and attended Make in India conference in Sydney.

For the first time, United Nations (UN) will observe birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar on April 13, 2016 (a day before his date of birth).

Government released Commemorative Coin of Rs. 200 and Circulation Coin of Rs. 10 on Tatya Tope on occasion of his Martyrdom Day (18-04-2016).

Human Resource Development Minister Smriti Irani Participated in International Conference on the Zero at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris (France).

India and United States signed Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) to ramp up bilateral defence ties, during US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter's visit to India.

Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid passed away. She was first woman and Muslim recipient of Pritzker Prize, known as the Nobel for architecture.

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) founder Amanullah Khan passed away.

Maldives President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom visited India. Six Agreements were signed - Agreement for Avoidance of Double Taxation of income derived from International Air Transport, Exchange of Information with respect to Taxes, Orbit Frequency Coordination of South Asia Satellite (SAS) proposed at 48oE, Cooperation in conservation and restoration of ancient mosques in Maldives, Cooperation in Tourism, Action Plan for Defence Cooperation.

Myneni Hari Prasad Rao, chief architect of Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) passed away.

National Security Adviser Ajit Doval visited China for 19th round of boundary talks between India and China.

Noted Journalist Yogendra Bali passed away.

Noted Hollywood actress Doris Roberts passed away.

Noted Italian Footballer Cesare Maldini passed away.

Noted Kerala cartoonist V T Thomas passed away.

Noted Malian photographer Malick Sidibe passed away.

Noted USA Actor Patty Duke passed away.

Noted USA actor Larry Drake passed away.

Noted journalist and writer Babu Bharadwaj passed away.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Completed His Tri-nation Visit to Belgium, UAE and USA

Belgium -

Attended 13th India-EU summit in Brussels

Activated Asia's largest 'general purpose' optical telescope installed in 'Devsthal', 60 km from Nainital, throug 'Remote Activation.

Joint Declaration on India-EU Water Partnership adopted to enhance cooperation on environment issues.

UAE -

India and Saudi Arabia signed five agreements and MoUs. Agreements are in Labour Co-operation, Technical Cooperation Program,. Cooperation in Handicrafts, Exchange of Intelligence related to Money Laundering, Terrorism Financing and Related Crimes, Framework for Investment Promotion Cooperation.

Modi gifted Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud a gold-plated replica of Cheraman Juma Masjid of Kerala. The mosque in Thrissur is first mosque built in India by Arab traders around 629 AD.

PM Modi was conferred Saudi Arabia’s highest civilian honour the King Abdulaziz Sash.

USA -

Attended 4th Nuclear Security Summit in Washington.

India signed MoU with USA for setting up Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) in India.

India announced 1 million USD to Nuclear Security Fund of International Atomic Energy Agency.

South Korean Oceans and Fisheries Minister Minister Kim Young Suk visited India and signed MoU for cooperation in development of ports.

USA's Pop music star Prince Rogers Nelson (Prince) passed away.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk resigned.

Science

Central Institute of Medicinal & Aromatic Plants (CIMAP) Lucknow reported that novel use of cow urine distillate (Kamdhenu Ark) can enhance killing activities of different antibiotics on bacteria Cow urine distillate possess property of bio-enhancement of an anti-cancer natural agent Taxol(paclitaxel). A US patent on the research finding has also been obtained.

Chinese researchers (Ocean University of China and Yunnan Normal University) developed Graphene based all-weather solar cell that can generate electricity even during rains.

Chinese researchers developed world's first graphene electronic paper which is is more pliable and has more intensity as compared to traditional e-papers. It has high-light transmittance means optical displays will be much brighter.

Government launched low cost micro solar device - Surya Jyoti. The solar dome would help rural and urban population to have a reliable access to electricity.

India will Launch GSAT-11 spacecraft by first quarter of 2017. GSAT-11 is a first generation high throughput communication satellite with mass of about 5600 kg, operating in Ka/Ku bands. It is a multi-beam satellite with 32 user beams and 8 hub beams over India. At present, India does not possess capability to launch this weight class of satellite is not available, so the laich services will be procurred.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Scientists developed worlds lightest synthetic material called silica aerogel or blue air.

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) signed MoU with Airports Authority of India (AAI) to provide scientific parameters for construction of airports. ISRO also signed MoU with postal department to provide space technology helpful in tracking parcel movements.

NASA's Kepler spacecraft has gone into emergency mode (lowest operational mode) some 75 million miles from Earth. EM of spacecraft was discovered during undertaking a microlensing observing campaign.

Kepler spacecraft hunts for Earth-like planets orbiting other stars. It was launched in March 2009. Since its launch, it has found over 1,000 alien planets.

Researchers at University of Georgia and Ben-Gurion University of the Nege have developed worlds smallest nanoscale diode or molecular rectifier that could impact development of molecular electronic devices.

Scientists at Institute of Advance Study in Science & Technology (Guwahati (Assam)) have developed an eco-friendly biopolymer using nanotechnology for water purification applications. This eco-friendly biopolymer is created using a naturally occurring substance, called chitosan.

Scientists discovered a rare triple-star system named KELT-4Ab with a gas giant planet similar in size to Jupiter. It was discovered at Harvard-Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics (USA).

Scientists from Nanyang Technological University (NTU) discovered a way to forecast earthquakes based on tremors or earthquakes below a Richter scale of 2. The study has been led by Indian-origin researcher Deepa Mele Veedu.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched first inflatable habitat room that will attach to International Space Station (ISS) for a 2 year test. The reusable main stage booster of Falcon 9 rocket landed off coast of Florida. The inflatable room has been named as Bigelow Expandable Actitvity Module (BEAM) and is the first such habitat to hold humans in orbit. It expands in space and takes minimal space, where astronauts can live and work.

Supercomputer Param Kanchenjunga unveiled at National Institute of Technology (NIT) Sikkim. It has been named after Kangchenjunga mountain (8,586 m), third highest mountain in the world. It is fastest supercomputer among all the 31 NITs, developed by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing ‘C-DAC Pune and NIT Sikkim at 3 crore rupees cost.

Sports

2016 Commonwealth Judo Championships held in South Africa. India will host Commonwealth Judo Championships in Jaipur (Rajasthan) in 2018.

Australia won 25th Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament 2016 by defeating India in Ipoh (Australia). It was Ninth Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament Title for Australia.

Australian Fast Bolwer Clint McKay announced retirement from international cricket.

BCCI will host its first-ever day and night cricket Test with pink ball during New Zealand tour to India in 2016.

Badminton Player Nandu Natekar became first non-Cricketer to be inducted into Legends Club founded by late Cricket Club of India (CCI) president Raj Singh Dungarpur.

Barcelona open Tennis 2016 -

Men's Singles - Rafael Nadal defeated Kei Nishikori of Japan.

Men's Doubles - Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan of USA.

Beijing Olympics gold medalist and ace shooter Abhinav Bindra Joined Salman Khan as India's Goodwill Ambassador for Rio Olympics 2016.

British boxer Anthony Joshua won 2016 International Boxing Federation (IBF) heavyweight title.

Cricketer Virat Kohli is named as Brand Anbassador of Premier Futsal, a newer and shorter five-a-side variant of soccer (football). World's first multinational Futsal league will be held in 8 Indian cities from July 15 to 24, 2016.

Cyprian Kotut from Kenya won 40th Paris marathon in Men's Category. Women's title was won by Visiline Jepkesho (Kenya).

Danny Willett from England won 2016 US Masters Golf tournament.

England Cricketer James Taylor announced his retirement at age of 26 due to ill health.

Football club Mohun Bagan's striker Jeje Lalpekhlua named as Football Players Association of India (FPAI) Player of The Year.

Government merged Rajiv Gandhi Khel Abhiyan (RGKA) with Khelo India Programme for development of sports. RGKA was a centrally sponsored scheme launched by UPA government in 2014. Urban Sports Infrastructure Scheme (USIS) and National Sports Talent Search Scheme (NSTSS) were also merged under Khelo India.

ICC World T20 Cricket 2016

Men's - West Indies won by defeating England. Its second T20 title for WI after they won it first in 2012.

Women's - West indies won By defeating Australia.

ICC suspended Hong Kong all rounder Irfan Ahmed for 2.5 years as he admitted to breach the ICC's Anti-Corruption Code.

India will host Commonwealth Judo Championships in Jaipur (Rajasthan) in 2018.

India won 2016 Asian Nations Cup Chess by defeating Vietnam in Abu Dhabi.

India's Durga Thakur has been promoted to international outdoor umpire by International Hockey Federation (FIH).

India's men's and women's teams have won both categorys championship titles at third Asian Kho-Kho championship in Indore, Beating Bangladesh in both cases.

Indian boxer Mary Kom named among eight ambassadors for the upcoming World Championship of AIBA scheduled in May 2016 in Astana (Kazakhstan).

Indian boxer Shiva Thapa won silver at Asian/Oceania Qualifying Tournament in China.

Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar created history by becoming first Indian woman gymnast to qualify for Olympics. She achieved this after strong performance at final qualifying which helped her to book 2016 Rio Olympics Games to be held in August 2016.

Indian rower Dattu Baban Bhokanal qualified for 2016 Rio Olympics to be held in August 2016 in Brazil. He qualified Rio Olympics after winning a silver medal in single sculls event in South Korea.

Indian women's team (Deepika Kumari, Bombayla Devi Laishram and Laxmirani Majhi) won silver in recurve team final of Archery World Cup in Shanghai (China). They lost to Chinese team in Final.

Indias Mairaj Ahmed Khan won silver in men's skeet event at ISSF World Cup held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

India’s Deepika Kumari equalled world record set by South Korea’s Ki Boe Bae in Women’s Recurve event at qualifying stage of Archery World Cup held in Shanghai (China) by scoring 686 out of 720 to finish 1st in qualifiers.

International Cricket Council (ICC) Team Rankings for Test, ODI and T20I cricket. -

Test Cricket - Australia at Top, India at 2nd

ODI - Australia at Top with India at 3rd

T20I - India at Top with West Indies at 2nd

International Cricket Council (ICC) renewed its deal with Emirates Airline for further seven years.

International Cricket Council suspended Cricket Association of Nepal (CAN) due to lack of leadership and misgovernance.

International Hockey Federation announced a new annual global home and away league, involving world's leading hockey nations, to be launched in 2019. It will replace Hockey World League (HWL) Semi-Finals and Finals and the Champions Trophy.

Jonathan Bairstow (England), Ben Stokes (England), Brendon McCullum (New Zealand), Kane Williamson (New Zealand) and Steven Smith (Australia) have been named as the Wisden Almanacks Five Cricketers of the Year 2015 for their outstanding performance in a year.

Kane Williamson appointed 29th test cricket captain of New Zealand cricket Team.

Malaysian Open Badminton 2016 -

Men's Singles - Lee Chong Wei (Malaysia) won by defeating Chen Long (China)

Womens singles - Ratchanok Intanon (Thailand).

Mens doubles - South Korean pair, Kim Gi-jung and Kim Sa-rang.

Womens doubles - Chinese pair, Tang Yuanting and Yu Yang

Mixed doubles - Indonesian pair, Tontowi Ahmad and Liliyana Natsir.

Miami Open Tennis 2016 -

Men's Singles - Novak Djokovic (Serbia) by defeating Kei Nishikori (Japan).

Womens Singles - Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) by defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia).

Mens Doubles - French pair of Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.

Womens Doubles - Bethanie Mattek-Sands (US) and Lucie afářová (Czech Republic).

Mother Dairy partnered with Indian Premium League (IPL) cricket team Delhi Daredevils as its principal sponsor. Kansai Nerolac Ties Up With Gujarat Lions as associate sponsor.

New emblem of Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympic Games has been unveiled. Logo features a circular Japanese traditional checkered pattern.

Nico Rosberg (Germany) won 2016 Formula One Baharain Grand Prix.

2016 Formula One season -

Total 19 Grand Prix Races to be organized across the world in 2016. Calendar is -

Grand Prix Date Winner

Australia 20 March Nico
Rosberg
(Germany)

Baharain 3 April Nico
Rosberg
(Germany)

China 17 April

Russia 1 May

Spain 15 May

Monaco 29 May

Canada 12 June

Europe 19 June

Austria 3 July

Britain 10 July

Hungary 24 July

Germany 31 July

Belgium 28 August

Italy 4 September

Singapore 18 September

Malaysia 2 October

Japan 9 October

USA 23 October

Mexico 30 October

Brazil 13 November

Abu Dhabi 27 November

Nico Rosberg (Germany) won 2016 Formula One Chinese Grand Prix.

2016 Formula One season -

Total 19 Grand Prix Races to be organized across the world in 2016. Calendar is -

Grand Prix Date Winner

Australia 20 March Nico
Rosberg
(Germany)

Baharain 3 April Nico
Rosberg
(Germany)

China 17 April Nico
Rosberg
(Germany)

Russia 1 May

Spain 15 May

Monaco 29 May

Canada 12 June

Europe 19 June

Austria 3 July

Britain 10 July

Hungary 24 July

Germany 31 July

Belgium 28 August

Italy 4 September

Singapore 18 September

Malaysia 2 October

Japan 9 October

USA 23 October

Mexico 30 October

Brazil 13 November

Abu Dhabi 27 November

Noted Actor Salman Khan named as goodwill ambassador of Indian contingent for upcoming Olympics to be held in August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Noted Sri Lankan spinner Rangana Herath retired from T20 and One Day International Cricket (ODI).

Riyad Mahrez (Algeria) became first African footballer to win Professional Footballers Association’s (PFA) Player of the Year award for 2015 - 16.He second non-European, after Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez, to grab the award. Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Dele Alli was named Young Player of the Year.

South Korea announced that its Olympic athletes will wear uniforms that have been infused with insect repellent to keep mosquitoes carrying Zika virus.

Spain's Rafael Nadal won 2016 Monte Carlo Rolex Masters title of Tennis, by defeating Gael Monfils of France.

Sports Ministry will provide lakh rupees monthly allowance to sports persons under Target Olympic Podium (TOP) scheme for their preparation for Olympics and Paralympics Games at Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). 77 Indian athletes in eight disciplines have qualified for the Olympics till date and more are likely to qualify in the next two months.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) announced appointment of Sanath Jayasuriya as chief selector of Sri Lankan Cricket team.

Stuttgart Grand Prix Women's Tennis 2016 -

Doubles - Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic (France)

Singles - Angelique Kerber (Germany).

Tobago batsman Iraq Thomas created a record by scoring 21-ball century in Tobago Cricket Association’s T20 tournament at Louis D'or. He broke previous record made by Chris Gayle when he made century in 30 balls in IPL Match against Pune Warriors.

WTA Tennis Rankings -

American Serena Williams maintained top spot. Top 10 are - 1 - Serena Williams, 2. Agnieszka Radwanska, 3. Angelique Kerber, 4. Garbine Muguruza, 5. Victoria Azarenka, 6. Simona Halep, 7. Petra Kvitova, 8. Roberta Vinci, 9. Maria Sharapova, 10. Belinda Bencic

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RANK	University	Engineering	Management	Pharmacy
1	Indian Institute Of Science Banglore, Karnataka.	Indian Institute Of Technology, Madras, TamilNadu.	Indian Institute Of Management, Bangaluru, Karnataka.	Manipal College Of Pharmaceutical Sciences-Manipal, Karnataka.
2	Institute Of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, Maharashtra	Indian Institute Of Technology, Bombay, Maharashtra.	Indian Institute Of Management, Ahmedabad, Gujarat.	University Institute Of Pharmaceutical Sciences-Chandigarh
3	Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi	Indian Institute Of Technology, Kharagpur, UttarPradesh	Indian Institute Of Management, Calcutta, West Bengal.	Jamia Hamdard, Delhi.
4	University Of Hyderabad-Hyderabad, Telangana.	Indian Institute Of Technology, Delhi	Indian Institute Of Management, Lucknow, UttarPradesh.	Poona College Of Pharmacy, Erandwane, Pune-Pune, Maharashtra
5	Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam.	Indian Institute Of Technology, Kanpur, UttarPradesh.	Indian Institute Of Management, Udaipur, Rajasthan.	Institute Of Pharmacy, Nirma University, Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
6	University Of Delhi, Delhi.	Indian Institute Of Technology, Roorkee, Uttarakhand.	Indian Institute Of Management, Kozhikode, Kerala.	Bombay College Of Pharmacy-Mumbai, Maharshtra
7	Banaras Hindu University, Uttar Pradesh	Indian Institute Of Technology, Hyderabad, Telangana.	International Management Institute-New Delhi, Delhi.	Birla Institute Of Technology, Ranchi, Jharkhand.
8	Indian Institute Of Space Science And Technology, Kerala.	Indian Institute Of Technology, Gandhinagar, Gujarat.	Indian Institute Of Forest Management, Indore, MadhyaPradesh.	Amrita School Of Pharmacy, Kochi Kerala.
9	Birla Institute Of Technology & Science –Pilani, Rajasthan	Indian Institute Of Technology, Ropar-Rupnagar, Punjab.	Indian Institute Of Technology, Kanpur, UttarPradesh.	Jss College Of Pharmacy, Ootacamund, TamilNadu.
10	Aligarh Muslim University, Uttar Pradesh	Indian Institute Of Technology, Patna, Bihar.	Indian Institute Of Management, Indore-Indore, MadhyaPradesh.	Jss College Of Pharmacy, Mysore

Grand Prix	Date	Winner
Australia	20 March	Nico Rosberg (Germany)
Baharain	3 April	Nico Rosberg (Germany)
China	17 April
Russia	1 May
Spain	15 May
Monaco	29 May
Canada	12 June
Europe	19 June
Austria	3 July
Britain	10 July
Hungary	24 July
Germany	31 July
Belgium	28 August
Italy	4 September
Singapore	18 September
Malaysia	2 October
Japan	9 October
USA	23 October
Mexico	30 October
Brazil	13 November
Abu Dhabi	27 November