1. The Indian space agency, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) on April 1, 2019, launched the electronic intelligence satellite EMISAT along with 28 other satellites of global customers. Emisat was launched into an altitude of 749 km orbit, while the 28 satellites were launched at an altitude of 504 km orbit.
2. Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank became a part of the Bank of Baroda on April 1, 2019, leading to the creation of India’s second largest Public Sector Bank after the SBI and India’s third-largest lender overall after the SBI and ICICI Banks with a total business of more than Rs 14.82 lakh crore.
3. Japan on April 1, 2019, declared that ‘Reiwa’ would be a name of the new imperial era to begin on May 1, when Crown Prince Naruhito ascends the Chrysanthemum Throne. He will succeed his father, Emperor Akihito, who is abdicating on April 30, ending the 31-year ‘Heisei’ era.
4. The Government on March 29, 2019, constituted a Multi-Disciplinary Terror Monitoring Group (MDTMG) to ensure concerted action against terror financing and other terror-related activities in the State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
5. Indian film and music production house, T-Series managed to become the world’s No.1 YouTube channel by defeating Swedish YouTuber ‘PewDiePie’ channel. T-Series garnered over 91,774,917 subscribers while PewDiePie subscribers stood at 91,705,546 by the end of March 2019.
6. The UAE Education Ministry has agreed to accept Indian academic and professional certificates after the Indian side issued a clarification on the issue of the external and internal marks mentioned in mark lists. The UAE government had earlier rejected the equivalency of some Indian degrees due to lack of clarity about the fact that some of the Indian universities issues both internal and external mark sheets as part of their degrees.
7. Zuzana Caputova has been elected as the first female President of Slovakia. The 45-year-old lawyer and anti-corruption activist won 58.40 percent of the votes in the polls conducted on March 30, 2019. Caputova’s vote margin was much higher than her high-profile opponent, European Commission Vice President Maros Sefcovic from the governing party, who could only bag 41.59 percent of the votes.
8. India and the United States have signed the first amendment to the Statement of Guiding Principles (SGP) on triangular cooperation for global development. The SGP agreement, which was signed in November 2014, underscores the contribution of India-US partnership to global stability and prosperity. It provides a framework for promoting cooperation between the two countries to meet the developmental aspirations of partner countries, particularly in Asia and Africa.
9. Odisha celebrated its 84th foundation day on April 1, 2019. The day is also known as ‘Utkal Divas.’ Odisha was the first state to be formed on linguistic basis in 1936. Earlier, the state was a part of Bihar.
10. Former champion Kidambi Srikanth lost in straight games to former world champion Viktor Axelsen of Denmark at the Yonex-Sunrise India Open badminton tournament in New Delhi on March 31, 2019. Srikanth blew two game points in the second game to lose 7-21, 20-22 to Axelsen in the men’s singles summit clash. It was Srikanth’s first final in a BWF world tour event in 17 months. He had last won a title at the 2017 French Open.
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