On 3rd April 2018, ride-hailing service provider Ola announced that, it has acquired Ridlr, a public transport ticketing and commuting app. Ola has acquired Ridlr in an all-stock deal. The valuation of the deal was not revealed. Ridlr was established in 2012. It is based in Mumbai. It enables users to search and book public transport options through its mobile app. Ridlr will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of ANI Technologies. ANI Technologies owns Ola brand. Brijraj Vaghani, founder of Ridlr, will continue to lead the operations. Ridlr’s team of 64 employees will become a part of Ola.

On 2nd April 2018, SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched its Dragon spacecraft – SpaceX’s 14th commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station (ISS). The spacecraft carries 2,630 kg of research, crew supplies and hardware. It took off from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on 2nd April 2018. Ten minutes after the take-off, the second stage engine burned out completely and Dragon separated from its Falcon 9 second-stage rocket. Later, the solar arrays were deployed. It is expected to reach the International Space Station on 4th April 2018. It will return to Earth in May 2018 with results of a few completed experiments. Flight Engineers Norishege Kanai of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and NASA astronaut Scoot Tingle will overlook the operation of the Canadarm2 robotic arm for Dragon’s capture. After capture, mission control in Houston will send ground commands for the station’s arm to rotate and install it on the bottom of the station’s Harmony module. This mission will focus on scientific investigations such as a study on severe thunderstorms on Earth, effects of microgravity on production of high-performance products from metal powders, and food growth in space. The spacecraft also carried cargo for testing effects of harsh space environment on materials, coatings and components; identifying potential pathogens on the station and investigating an antibiotic-releasing wound patch.

Rare dinosaur footprints that are 170 million years old have been discovered in the north-east coast of Isle of Skye in Scotland. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh were involved in this discovery. The study has been published in the Scottish Journal of Geology. Majority of the footprints were made by sauropods and theropods. The sauropods were long-necked and two metres tall. The theropods were also of the same size. Around 50 footprints were measured, photographed and analysed by the researchers in a tidal area. This discovery is considered important as it is a rare evidence of the Middle Jurassic period.

2018 Miami Open, also known as 2018 Miami Masters, a professional men and women’s tennis tournament, took place in Miami, Florida, United States, from March 19, 2018 to April 1, 2018. It was the 34th edition of the Miami Open and was played on outdoor hard courts. 2018 Miami Open was presented by Itaú (a Brazilian Bank).

American Tennis player John Isner won the Men’s Singles title at 2018 Miami Open by defeating Germany’s Alexander Zverev in the finals. This was John Isner’s first ever Masters 1000 title and the biggest win of his career so far. On account of this victory, John Isner will move into the top 10 (from current number 17) in the Men’s tennis worldwide rankings.

American Tennis player Sloane Stephens won the Women’s Singles title at 2018 Miami Open by defeating Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in the finals. This was Sloane Stephens’ first ever Miami Open title. On account of this victory, Sloane Stephens will move into the top 10 (from current number 12) in the Women’s tennis worldwide rankings.

American Tennis players Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan won the Men’s doubles title at 2018 Miami Open by defeating Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev of Russia. This was Bryan brothers’ first Miami Open win since 2015. In Men’s doubles category Bryan brothers have an unparalleled record of 114 ATP doubles titles, including 16 Grand Slams, 36 Masters 1000’s, and 4 Year-End Championships.

American Tennis player Coco Vandeweghe and Australia’s Ashleigh Barty won the Women’s doubles title at 2018 Miami Open by defeating Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova. With Coco Vandeweghe being a part of the winning pair, 2018 Miami Open remained dominated by United States, as finals of the other three categories have also been won by American Players.

Indian Table Tennis player Sathiyan Gnansekaran has reached his career-best ranking of 46 in the latest International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) rankings. Gnansekaran performance has been on an upward trajectory since past six months as he won gold in the ITTF Challenge – Spanish Open in November 2017 and reached the pre-quarterfinals of the Qatar Open in March 2018. Veteran Table Tennis player Achanta Sharath Kamal has registered a phenomenal jump of 22 places to be at 48 in the latest ITTF Ranking. Soumyajit Ghosh (70), Harmeet Desai (74), Anthony Amalraj (83) and Sanil Shetty (84) are the other Indian Table Tennis players in top 100. Among Indian Woman Table Tennis Players, Manika Batra continues to rank highest at 58, followed by Mouma Das at 88.

On 28th March 2018, a Multi Modal Logistics Park was inaugurated at Balli Station on Konkan Railway route, near Madgaon in Goa. The Multi Modal Logistic Park was inaugurated by CMD Konkan Railway Sanjay Gupta and P K Agarwal, Director, Container Corporation. This park has been constructed at a cost of Rs 43 crore. It has been constructed as per the MoU between Konkan Railway & Container Corporation of India Ltd.(CONCOR). It has been set up on an area of 81,300 square meters. It has the capacity to handle both Domestic and Exim Container Traffic. It can also handle commodities transported by both open and covered wagons. Custom Bonded Warehousing space is also being set up on an area of 5000 square meters. It will also provide value added services like stuffing, repackaging etc. After Container Depot set up is completed at Balli, containers from Goa can reach JNPT (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust) within 16 to 18 hours against the 30-40 hours through road currently. This facility is expected to bring additional income to Konkan Railway. Through the economic transport solutions and advanced facilities that CONCOR and Konkan Railway offer at this facility, the trade and industry in Goa will be highly benefited.

On April 1, 2018, Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan inaugurated World-Class tourist amenities at Konark Sun Temple in Odisha. Inauguration of World-Class tourist amenities at Konark Sun Temple coincided with Utkal Diwas the foundation day of Odisha State. Most prominent amenity at the temple is the world class interpretation centre which will not only educate tourists about the temple’s rich history but will also showcase natural and cultural heritage of Odisha. Visitor-friendly infrastructure and facilities at Konark Sun Temple have been developed by Indian Oil Foundation (IOF), a trust formed by Indian Oil Corporation.

West Bengal State Government has rolled out Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s dream project “Rupashree” scheme aimed at providing marriage assistance to girls coming from economically weaker families. This scheme was announced by West Bengal Finance Minister Amit Mitra while presenting the state budget for 2018-19. To avail financial assistance under this scheme, a woman has to fill the application form before her marriage and submit it to the Block Development Officer (BDO) or Municipality Office. Post submission of the form, amount of Rs 25000 will be credited to her bank account before her marriage. Only those women, whose annual family income is up to Rs 1.5 lakh are eligible for this scheme. Besides, women must be a permanent resident of West Bengal and must have attained 18 years age at the time of their marriages. There is no minimum educational qualification to apply for this scheme. Budgetary allocation for this scheme is Rs 1500 crore and is expected to benefit around six lakh women every year.

According to a report released by StartupBlink, the Indian startup ecosystem, during 2017, ranked at number 37 out of 125 countries. StartupBlink is a global map and directory of startups, coworking spaces, accelerators, investors and reporters. Startupblink report includes a global ranking index which has been compiled by measuring startup ecosystem strength and activity in 125 countries and 900 cities. The rankings have been compiled in association with ANSYS Startup Program and are based on thousands of data points gathered since 2014, including data collected by StartupBlink’s representatives in more than 70 chapters around the world. Entrepreneurs can refer the rankings to determine if a particular city has suitable business environment and resources needed to support their goals. India’s 37th rank outlines that there is still much to be done in terms of ease of doing business, startup policies and easing tax compliance. Besides, Indian startup ecosystem is also yet to see major exits, which is considered as an important indicator of maturity of a startup ecosystem. In global ranking of cities, Bengaluru, New Delhi, and Mumbai are the top three Indian cities that have featured in the list. United States (US) has topped the global ranking index of countries, followed by United Kingdom (UK) and Canada. Among Asian Countries, Singapore (at 10th spot) has attained the highest ranking. Four African nations that have featured in the list are South Africa (38th), followed by Kenya (53rd), Egypt (54th) and Nigeria (57th).
Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking 2017 – Top 5:
1 United States
2 United Kingdom
3 Canada
4 Israel
5 Germany

India’s neighbouring country, Nepal has launched its first accessible trekking trail (for the differently-abled and the elderly) in Pokhara city. The trail was inaugurated as a part of International Conference on Accessible Tourism (held for the first time in Nepal) from 29th to 31st March, 2018 in Pokhara, Nepal. This accessible trekking trail is a 1.3-km patch on the 14-km long hiking path in the ridge connecting Sarangkot to Naudanda areas. This patch has proper signage and washrooms and offers a magnificent view of Mt. Annapurna, Fisthtail and Manaslu.

In 2018, China will unveil the world’s longest cross-sea bridge, connecting Hong Kong, Macau and mainland China. This cross-sea bridge will be 55km-long and six lanes wide, comprising of four tunnels and four artificial islands. It is a multi-billion dollar project, which took seven years to complete. It is reported that quantity of steel used in building this bridge is more than 60 Eiffel Towers in Paris, France and experts from 14 countries have been involved in its construction. The brigde will reduce the commute time between mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong to half. It is estimated that nearly 40000 vehicles will be passing over this bridge on daily basis, including shuttle buses running at 10-minute intervals.

On 28th March 2018, a record amount of Rs 71, 633.45 crore was digitally transacted through the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) portal. The total number of transactions through the PFMS portal was 98,19,026 on 28th March 2018. This has created a record in number of digital transactions processed in a single day. PFMS is implemented by the Controller General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance. It acts as a platform for management of funds through tracking of funds and real time reporting of expenditure and receipts through treasury and bank interface. It is used by line ministries and departments to monitor the utilisation of funds offered to various implementing agencies and state governments. It is also used for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) payments under MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) and other notified schemes of the government.

Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries, owning a fortune of $38 billion, is Asia’s third-richest man and has secured 19th rank in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index as of 2nd April 2018. In total, 24 Indians have found a place in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index top 500 list. Jeff Bezos has secured the top position globally with a net worth of $121 billion. He is followed by Bill Gates at the second spot with a net worth of $90.4 billion. The third position is occupied by Warren Buffett with $85.5 billion net worth. Jack Ma, Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group, is Asia’s richest person with $47.2 billion net worth. He is followed by Pony Ma, Tencent co-founder and CEO, with $41.1 billion net worth.
Indians who feature in Bloomberg Billionaires top 100 index:
• Mukesh Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Industries – 19th spot with $38 billion net worth
• Lakshmi Mittal, chairman of ArcelorMittal – 54th spot with $18.5 billion net worth
• Pallonji Mistry – 65th position, with $16.8 billion net worth
• Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro – 71st position with $16.2 billion net worth
• Shiv Nadar, founder of HCL Technologies – 86th spot with $14.5 billion net worth

On March 30, 2018, Central Government appointed former chairman of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Vineet Joshi as the Director General (D-G) of the National Testing Agency (NTA), which will conduct various entrance examinations across India. Currently, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) conducts Joint Engineering Entrance (JEE) Exam, National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET), Central Teacher Eligibility Test (twice a year) UGC’s National Eligibility Test (twice a year) and the entrance test for Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas. These exams/tests are in addition to CBSE’s own board exams. With the creation of National Testing Agency (NTA), CBSE and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) will be relieved from conducting the above stated exams/tests. Setting up of NTA was announced by Finance Ministry Arun Jaitley while presenting Union Budget 2017-18. Subsequently, on November 10, 2017, Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, cleared a proposal for creation of NTA. Structrue of NTA: An eminent educationist appointed by Union Human Resources Development Ministry will be the Chairperson of NTA. The CEO of NTA will be the Director General, and will be appointed by the government. Director General will be assisted by nine verticals headed by academicians and experts. NTA will also have a Board of Governors comprising members from user institutions. Vineet Joshi is a 1992-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Manipur cadre, and has been appointed to the post of D-G, NTA for five years.

Indian Badminton players, PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth have been named ‘Sportspersons of the Year’ at the inaugural ESPN Multi-Sport Awards. ESPN Multi-Sport Awards recognised achievements across 11 categories. The winners were selected by an independent 14-member jury comprising eminent sports personalities – Somdev Devvarman, Abhinav Bindra and Bhaichung Bhutia. Kidambu Srikanth has been adjudged ‘Sportsperson of the Year – Male’ for winning four Super Series titles. He is the only Indian shuttler and the fourth player ever to accomplish this feat in one calendar year. PV Sindhu has been adjudged ‘Sportsperson of the Year – Female’ for her outstanding performance in past one year, wherein she won the Indian and Korean Open Super Series titles. PV Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth’s coach Pullela Gopichand has been adjudged ‘best coach’. Among other winners, Indian National Women’s Hockey Team got the ‘Team of the Year’ title for their first Asia Cup victory in 13 years. ’Moment of the Year’ award, which was decided through a public poll went to Jeakson Singh for scoring a memorable goal against Columbia in the U-17 FIFA World Cup. Jeakson is the only Indian to score in a FIFA event.

On 31st March 2018, it was announced that, M L Srivastava has been appointed as the protem chairman of the Lalit Kala Akademi. M L Srivastava is Joint Secretary (Akademies) at the Ministry of Culture. He has been appointed the Protem Chairman of Lalit Kala Akademi with immediate effect by the President based on the recommendation of the Minister of Culture. He will hold this post until a regular chairman is appointed. The previous administrator of Lalit Kala Akademi is CS Krishna Setty.

On 1st April 2018, Kerala defeated West Bengal and won its sixth title in the 72nd Santosh Trophy (Football) at the Salt Lake Stadium in Kolkata, West Bengal. Kerala beat West Bengal 4-2 in the finals of the 72nd Santosh Trophy. Kerala had last won Santosh Trophy in 2005. West Bengal had won Santosh Trophy title 32 times. Both the teams were locked 2-2 after extra time. Two saves by Kerala goalkeeper Midhun V. in the penalty shootout made Kerala beat West Bengal 4-2.

On 1st April 2018, former Guatemalan military dictator Efrain Rios Montt died due to heart attack at his residence in Guatemala. Efrain Rios Montt was 91 years old. He was born on 16 June 1926 in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. Efrain Rios Montt became a military general in 1972. In 1982, he seized power in Guatemala through a military attack and brought down President Angel Guevara from power. In 1983, he was taken out of power in another military attack which was led by his own defence minister. He is accused for being responsible for the murder of 1,771 people during his short rule. He was considered a person of high political influence even after his short term rule ended.

On 2nd April 2018, World Autism Awareness Day 2018 was observed all over the world. Why: 2nd April was declared as World Autism Awareness Day by the United Nations General Assembly to highlight the necessity to improve the quality of life of people with autism. The first World Autism Awareness Day was observed on 2nd April 2008. On this day, various autism organizations come together and discuss on research, diagnoses, treatment of autism, etc. The theme for World Autism Awareness Day 2018 is: “Empowering Women and Girls with Autism”.

On 2nd April 2018, SIDBI celebrated its foundation day as day of Sampark (connect), Sanwad (interaction), Suraksha (security) and Sampreshan (disseminate). On the SIDBI Foundation Day, Chairman & Managing Director of SIDBI Mohammad Mustafa launched various initiatives from SIBDI headquarters at Lucknow. He launched the ‘MSME contact programme’. A MoU was signed with The New India Assurance Co. Ltd. on the occasion. He launched a revamped SIDBI website (www.sidbi.in). It was said that, a “Contactless Loan Platform” will be introduced on the website soon. He also launched Samridhhi, a virtual assistant on its universal loan portal http://www.udyamimitra.in. Samridhhi will reply to standard queries of users 24*7. A ‘Bankability Kit’ was also launched. It has been introduced in partnership with Bank of Baroda and IDBI Bank.

On 1st April 2018, Delhi started supplying Ultra-clean Euro-VI or Bharat Stage (BS)-VI grade petrol and diesel without any additional cost in order to curb air pollution. Delhi has become the first city in India to switch from Euro-IV grade petrol and diesel to Euro-VI grade petrol and diesel. Cities in the national capital region like Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurugram and Faridabad and 13 major cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Pune will switch to Euro-VI grade fuel from 1st January 2018. Rest of India will switch to Euro-VI grade fuel from April 2020. Euro-VI grade fuel is estimated to cost nearly 50 paisa a litre more. But customers are not charged any additional cost. Mathura refinery in Uttar Pradesh, Panipat refinery in Haryana, Bina refinery in Madhya Pradesh and Bhatinda refinery in Punjab are currently supplying Euro-VI grade fuel to Delhi. In 2015, India had decided to switch to Euro-VI grade fuel from the current Euro-IV grade fuel from April 2020. Now, the government has planned to switch to Euro-VI grade fuel directly. The Euro-VI or BS-VI grade fuel contains 10 parts per million (ppm) of sulphur whereas Euro-IV or BS-IV grade fuel contains 50 ppm of sulphur.

114th meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) took place in New Delhi on 29th and 30th March, 2018. The meeting focused on technical deliberations on various issues related to Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) between India and Pakistan. Indian side that took part in this meeting comprised Indus water commissioner P.K. Saxena, technical experts and a representative of the Union Ministry of External Affairs, while Pakistani delegation was led by Syed Muhammad Mehar Ali Shah. Last PIC meeting was held in Islamabad, Pakistan in March 2017.

On April 1, 2018, United States and South Korea kicked off the annual military exercise ‘Foal Eagle drill’. Nearly 11500 American and 290000 South Korean troops will be participating in a month-long a series of field training exercises to be held under ‘Foal Eagle drill’. Earlier, the drill was to be held in February 2018. However, it was delayed in order to avoid a clash with Winter Olympic Games 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea. This edition of ‘Foal Eagle drill’ will be a low-key event, featuring fewer strategic weapons, as North Korea has proposed to hold summits with the South Korea and US, which has in turn eased the tension and diplomatic rhetoric on Korean peninsula.

On 31st March 2018, Allahabad Bank announced that, it has reduced the base rate and benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) by 45 basis points each. The Asset Liability Management Committee (ALCO) of Allahabad bank decided to decrease base rate and BPLR (benchmark prime lending rate) by 45 basis points. Allahabad Bank has reduced base rate to 9.15 per cent from 9.60 per cent. BPLR has been reduced to 13.40 per cent from 13.85 per cent. These revised rates will be effective from 2nd April 2018. This move will reduce EMIs for its borrowers.

As per information shared by Indian Cellular Association (ICA) with Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, India is now the second largest mobile phone producer in the world after China. ICA’s claim was based on data available from market research firm IHS, China’s National Bureau of Statistics and Vietnam General Statistics Office. With 11 million units produced in 2017, India replaced Vietnam as the second largest producer of mobile phones in 2017. It is to be noted that annual production of mobile phones in India in 2014 was just 3 million units. On account of rise in domestic production, imports of the devices in India also reduced to less than half in 2017-18. Fast Track Task Force (FTTF), a body under Union Ministry of Electronics and IT, has set target to achieve around 500 million mobile phone production in India by 2019.

On 31st March 2018, Indian women’s cricket team captain Mithali Raj was honoured with the ‘Sportsperson of the Year’ award at the Telangana Sports Journalists Association annual awards for 2017, in Hyderabad, Telangana. Mithali Raj’s parents received the Sportsperson of the Year award on her behalf from BV Papa Rao, Advisor to the Telangana government. The ‘best senior male athlete’ award was presented to shuttler Kidambi Srikanth by former BCCI president N Shivlal Yadav. The ‘best senior female athlete’ award was handed to shuttler P V Sindhu by tennis player Sania Mirza. The ‘best coach of the year’ award was given to Pullela Gopichand for the second consecutive time, by former Indian cricketer VVS Laxman.
Other awardees:
1.Hockey player N Mukesh Kumar – Lifetime Achievement award
2.Hyderabad Cricket team – ‘team of the year’ award
3.Gymnast B Aruna Reddy – outstanding achievement award

On March 31, 2018, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has appointed former Rajasthan DGP, Ajit Singh as the Head of its Anti-Corruption Unit. Ajit Singh will replace former Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar, who has been assigned advisory role in the ACU tillMay 31, 2018. Mr. Singh has served in Indian Police Service (IPS) for 36 years. He is experienced in anti-corruption operations, investigative work and field policing. He has also been the head of Rajasthan’s anti-corruption bureau. Mr. Singh’s appointment has been made just ahead of Indian Premier League (IPL), scheduled to commence from April 7, 2018.

On April 1, 2018, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) stated that it has lost contact with GSAT-6A, the latest communication satellite, which was launched on board Geosynchronous rocket GSLV-F08 on March 29, 2018. Contact with GSAT-GA was lost while preparing it for the third and final orbit-raising firing. ISRO is now trying to establish link with the satellite again. GSAT-6A has been built by ISRO and is similar to the GSAT-6 put into orbit in 2015. GSAT-6A was to provide mobile communication to India through, multi-beam coverage facility. It weighs 2140 kg and has mission life of 10 years.

China’s Tiangong-1 (English translation – “Heavenly Palace”) space station is set to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere between 1st and 2nd April 2018. Launched in September 2011, Tiangong-1, represented China’s goal to establish a permanent space station. However, in 2017, China informed United Nations that Tiangong-1 had ceased functioning in March 2016. Thus China launched Tiangong-2 space lab in September 2016, which was successfully put into orbit post launch. Currently, Tiangong-1 is orbiting the Earth at a height of 196.4 kilometres. Scientists are not sure as to where Tiangong-1 would come down on Earth, but it is likely to burn up in the atmosphere during its re-entry and would thus not pose any risk.

On 1st April 2018, film director CV Rajendran died after a long term illness at a private hospital in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. C.V. Rajendran was 81 years old. He has directed several movies in Tamil. He has also directed movies in Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu. His popular movies are: Sumathi En Sundari, Vani Rani, Garjanai, Ullasa Paravaigal and Vaazhkai.

On 1st April 2018, the Odisha Formation Day also known as Utkal Dibasa or Utkal Divas was celebrated all over Odisha. Utkala Dibasa is celebrated on 1st April every year to mark the formation of Odisha as a separate province on 1st April 1936. Odisha separated from the combined Bengal-Bihar-Orissa province on that day. Various government and non-government organisations conducted programmes to mark the occasion. This day is a restricted holiday in Odisha. Utkala Gaurav Madhusudan Das, Utkalamani Gopabandhu Das, Maharaja Shri Ramachandra Bhanjadeo, Maharaja Shri Krushna Chandra Gajapati, Raja Baikunthanath Dey, Fakir Mohan Senapati, Gangadhar Meher, and Gourishankar Ray were instrumental in the formation of Odisha. On 9th November 2010, the Indian Parliament renamed Orissa as Odisha and Oriya language as Odia.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu inaugurated the International Yachting Festival in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The International Yachting Festival is held till 1st April 2018. It is conducted by the Andhra Pradesh government. Visakhapatnam Port Trust (VPT) is providing required support for the festival. Krishnababu, Chairman of VPT, said that, this festival is conducted with an aim to boost sea tourism in Vishakapatnam. Dignitaries present at the event wore black badges on their shirts as a sign of protest to oppose the Centre’s injustice against Andhra Pradesh.

Tripura State Government has decided to set up a well-equipped Crime Wing under the state police to prevent unlawful activities such as drug and narcotics peddling. Tripura’s Law Minister Ratan Lal Nath has stated that the new Crime Wing under Tripura’s State Police will be modelled on lines of Delhi Police’s crime branch. This decision was take at Tripura State Cabinet’s meeting, held on March 29, 2018. It is to be noted that curbing crime in the state and restoring the rule of land was one of the promise made in Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) election manifesto. BJP’s Tripura President, Biplab Kumar Deb took oath as the 10th Chief Minister of Tripura on March 9, 2018.

On 30th March 2018, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) of India said that, India and Pakistan have agreed to resolve all issues regarding treatment of their diplomats placed in the other country through talks. MEA released a statement saying: India and Pakistan have mutually agreed to resolve matters related to the treatment of diplomats and diplomatic premises, in line with the 1992 “Code of Conduct for the treatment of diplomatic/consular personnel in India and Pakistan”. The conflict started when Pakistani security agencies restricted work on a residential complex being built by India for its officials in Islamabad in February 2018. India submitted over 15 notes verbale (semi-formal communications) to Pakistan’s Foreign Office on the issue of harassment of officials and their families. Following this, Pakistan has reported 52 incidents of harassment and intimidation of their diplomats between 7th March and 22nd March 2018.

“Huddle Kerala”, Asia’s largest startup ecosystem congregation, will be held at Kovalam, Kerala, on 6th and 7th April 2018.
Huddle Kerala:
Purpose: Huddle Kerala is aimed to create a platform for start-ups to display their products and interact with technology and industry leaders from various parts of the world.
Participation: The event will see participation of 2,000 members including startups, investors, academicians, industry leaders and 40 speakers in 30 sessions.
Organised by: It is organised by the Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) along with Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and IAMAI Startup Foundation. The conclave will be inaugurated by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Main focus: Main focus of the event will be on blockchain, cryptocurrency, internet of things (IoT), gaming and e-sports, cyber security, digital entertainment, augmented reality, virtual reality, e-governance, mobile governance, etc.

Kotak Mahindra Bank has launched voicebot ‘Keya’, the first artificial intelligence-powered voicebot in Indian banking sector. ’Keya’ has been developed on basis of a library of millions of phone-banking conversations over the past three years. Kotak Mahindra Bank has integrated ‘Keya’ with its phone-banking helpline. Keya uses automatic speech recognition, text-to-speech technology and natural language understanding and can understand Hindi as well as English. By using above stated technology, ‘Keya’ navigates the customers directly to the destination where he/she can get his/her issue resolved. ’Keya’ is powered by Nuance (the technology behind Apple’s Siri).

For the first time, Nepal Rastra Bank (Nepal’s Central Bank) has permitted domestic commercial banks to borrow funds from foreign banks and financial institutions. The permission has been granted in order to resolve liquidity crunch prevailing in Nepal’s banking system since past few months. Following this permission, commercial banks of Nepal could now borrow loans up to 25 per cent of their core capital for the period from one year to five years. However, loans borrowed from abroad are to be utilised for financing only productive sectors such as agriculture, tourism, hydropower and outer infrastructure projects. It cannot be used to lend to the real estate sector in Nepal.

On March 30, 2018, Minister of State (IC) for Power and New & Renewable Energy, R K Singh and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat laid the foundation stone of the 60 MW Naitwar Mori Hydro Electric Project (NMHEP) in Uttarkashi. This run-of-the river project, Naitwar Mori Hydro Electric Project (NMHEP), is located on the river Tons – a tributary of the Yamuna in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand. Government of Uttarakhand has allocated this project to SJVN Ltd, a Mini Ratna PSU under administrative control of Union Ministry of Power. Environment clearance for this project was obtained in 2016. The entire project is scheduled to be completed by December, 2021. NMHEP comprises two underground generating units of 30 MW each, which will add 265.5 Million Units of renewable energy and would result in CO2 emissions reductions to the tune of 0.21 Million tons per year.

On 30th March 2018, Chandra Bhushan Kumar was appointed as Deputy Election Commissioner as part of a major bureaucratic reshuffle by the government. Chandra Bhushan Kumar is an IAS officer of 1995 batch of union territories cadre. He has been appointed as Deputy Election Commissioner for a term of 5 years. On the whole, 13 officers were appointed as joint secretaries in various central government departments.

On March 30, 2018, Russia successfully tested its latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Sarmat. ICBM Sarmat was launch from Plesetsk in northwestern Russia. It will replace the Soviet-era Voyevoda, which is known as “Satan” in the West. ’Satan’ is the world’s heaviest ICBM. ICBM Sarmat weighs 200 metric tons and has a greater range than ‘Satan’. On account greater range, it can even fly over the North or the South Poles and can strike targets anywhere in the world. ICBM Sarmat not only carries an array of warheads capable of dodging missile defences, but also carries a bigger number of nuclear warheads, thus making it more powerful than ‘Satan’.

On March 29, 2018, Pakistan successfully test fired indigenously developed Submarine Launched Cruise Missile (SLCM) BABUR. SLCM BABUR has a strike range of 450 KMs and is capable of delivering various types of payloads. It incorporates state of the art technologies including advanced guidance and navigation features and underwater controlled propulsion. SLCM BABUR was fired from an underwater dynamic platform and engaged its target with precise accuracy.

Scientists have identified a new organ in human beings which has been dubbed the ‘interstitium’. Interstitium is a network of interconnected, fluid-filled compartments that can be found beneath the surface of the skin and is also present in tissue layers lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels, and muscles. It is made up of both strong (collagen) and flexible (elastin) connective tissue proteins. Interstitial fluid moves throughout this organ. Based on the initial observation, researchers believe that Interstitium may even be one of the largest organ in the human body. Scientists are hopeful that this discovery would prove to be helpful in understanding how cancer spreads within the human body.

On 30th March 2018, Zimbabwe Cricket sacked its entire coaching staff and removed Graeme Cremer as captain after their failure to qualify for the 2019 World Cup. It is said that, Brendan Taylor would be made the captain of Zimbabwe team. Zimbabwe Cricket had given time for the head coach and his technical staff to resign or else it said that, they would be considered dismissed at the end of the stipulated time. Head coach Heath Streak, batting coach Lance Klusener, bowling coach Douglas Hondo, fielding coach Walter Chawaguta, fitness coach Sean Bell and team analyst Stanley Chioza , all other coaching staff, Zimbabwe A coach Wayne James and Under-19 coach Stephen Mangongo, all have been fired.

On 30th March 2018, Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association (JKCA) appointed Irfan Pathan as the coach-cum-mentor of its senior stateside for the 2018-19 season. JKCA CEO Aashiq Bukhari said that, Irfan Pathan will be the coach-cum-mentor of their team for one year. Irfan Pathan is 33 years old. He has played 29 Tests, 120 ODIs and 24 T20 Internationals for India in the 2003 to 2012 period. He captained Baroda team for the last two domestic seasons.

On 30th March 2018, former Manipur Chief Minister R K Dorendra Singh died at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital in Imphal, Manipur. R K Dorendra Singh was 83 years old. He was the chief minister of Manipur four times between 1974 and 1993. Earlier, he was the Speaker of Manipur Assembly.

Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal launched ‘181-Sakhi’, a toll-free helpline number for women. This helpline has been launched in wake of increasing crimes against women in Assam. Initially, the toll free helpline will work from 9 am to 5.30 pm, but will soon be a 24×7 service. It is a part of Union Ministry of Women and Child Development’s scheme to provide 24 hours response to women affected by violence