• The National Safe Motherhood Day (NSMD) is celebrated every year on [latex]11^{th}[/latex] April to create awareness on proper healthcare and maternity facilities to pregnant and lactating women.


• It also seeks to create awareness about the institutional delivery, reducing anemia among women and better pre and post natal health care are necessary for mothers. The theme of 2018 NSMD was ‘Respectful Maternity Care’.

Source: Cick Here

• Australia's prime minister called a national election for [latex]18^{th}[/latex] May, firing the starting gun on what promises to be a bareknuckle campaign focused heavily on climate and the economy.


• The vote will decide whether the conservative government gets a rare third term in office and whether embattled incumbant Scott Morrison can beat the odds and hang on to power.

Source: Cick Here

• Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was on track for victory in Israel's election on Thursday after nearly complete results put him in position to form a right-wing coalition and further extend his long tenure in office.


• The results from Tuesday's vote came despite corruption allegations against the 69-year-old premier and kept him on course to become Israel's longest-serving prime minister later this year.

Source: Cick Here

• European leaders offered Britain a six-month delay to its Brexit departure today, apparently saving the continent from a chaotic no-deal departure at the end of the week.


• If May accepts the extension and London remains in the EU after [latex]22^{nd}[/latex] May, British voters will have to take part in European parliamentary elections.


• France's President Emmanuel Macron was the strongest voice opposing a long extension, but most leaders backed it and the French had to settle for a promise that the delay will be reviewed at an EU summit on June 21.

Source: Cick Here

• A group of over 1,800 Zambian citizens can take Vedanta Resources and its Zambian subsidiary, Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), to court in the U.K. over allegations relating to the pollution of a river there, after Britain’s Supreme Court rejected an attempt by the company to challenge the jurisdiction of British courts.


• They will now be able to bring their claims for torts of negligence and breach of duty to the courts in the U.K., first initiated in 2015.

Source: Cick Here

• The voting for the first phase of [latex]17^{th}[/latex] Lok Sabha elections has begun in different parts of the country today.


• Polling is taking place for a total of 91 seats in 20 states and union territories, including Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep. The counting of votes will take place on [latex]23^{rd}[/latex] May.

Source: Cick Here

• YouTube’s CEO Susan Wojcicki confirms in annual flagship event Brandcast that India has become YouTube’s largest and fastest growing market. This annual event of Youtube was held at Mumbai. Also, ComScore data suggests that YouTube has more than 265 million monthly active users in India.


• In the last one year, YouTube’s consumption on mobile has increased to 85%, with 60% of the watch time coming from outside the six largest metros in India. The country has become YouTube’s largest and fastest growing market with 265 million Indians watching the video-sharing website every month.

Source: Cick Here

• The National Green Tribunal formed a committee to look into the alleged erosion of Yamuna floodplain due to movement of heavy vehicles in Haryana’s Sonipat district.


• A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel constituted a committee comprising the principal secretary of the Haryana Irrigation and Water Resources Department, member secretary of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board and the director of the Mines and Geology Department.

Source: Cick Here

• The Department of Revenue was pulled up by the Election Commission (EC) for the “casual and trivial” manner in which the advisory issued by the poll panel to remain absolutely neutral, impartial and non-discriminatory during enforcement action was dealt with by the Revenue Department.


• “EC expresses its deep sense of anguish about the casual and trivial manner in which the advisory to be absolutely neutral, impartial and non-discriminatory has been responded to by Department of Revenue.

Source: Cick Here

• President Ram Nath Kovind launched ‘CRPF Veer Parivar’ app, a mobile application for families of CRPF personnel killed in the line of duty.


• The app was launched after the President paid his tributes to the fallen troops at the National Police Memorial in Delhi on the occasion of the CRPF's 'Valour Day'.

Source: Cick Here

• More than a month after the Indian Air Force conducted an airstrike in Balakot to target Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist training camps, the Pakistan army allowed more than two dozen people including Indian journalists and defence attachés to visit the site.


• They were given access to an Islamic school in Balakot, where militants were reportedly killed in retaliation to an attack in Kashmir's Pulwama where over 40 CRPF jawans were killed .


• According to sources, there were five women defence attachés in the team that visited the site.
The team was also taken to a madrasa and the Pakistani army denied it had been used as a terror camp.

Source: Cick Here

• India’s asset management companies (AMCs) own assets under management (AUM) worth Rs 24.46 trillion, according to data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi).


• HDFC Asset Management Co. Ltd has claimed the top spot with an average AUM of Rs 3.42 trillion, overtaking ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co. Ltd with an average AUM of at Rs 3.20 trillion.

Source: Cick Here

• The Union government has retained the interest rate for General Provident Fund (GPF), Contributory Provident Fund and other related schemes at 8 per cent for the first quarter of current financial year.


• The interest rate on these funds was at 8 per cent in January-March quarter of 2018-19 and government kept it unchanged for April to June for 2019-20.


• The Department of Economic Affairs, in a notification, said the interest rate will be applicable on provident funds of central government employees, railways and defence forces.


• Last month, the government had retained interest rates on small savings, including National Savings Certificate and PPF for the first quarter of current fiscal.

Source: Cick Here

• According to the IMF, India’s growth rate is estimated to rise from 7.3% in 2019 to 7.5% in 2020 provided it receives impetus from the fiscal policy and is backed by the ongoing recovery of investment and consumption within expanded approach of monetary policy.


• According to the latest (WEO) World Economic Outlook, India’s growth rate was 7.1% in 2018 against China’s 6.6%, whereas the IMF estimated a growth rate of 6.3% in 2019 and 6.1% in 2020 for China.


• According to the report, India’s growth is approximated to stabilise at just under 7% over the medium term. This will be possible when structural reforms will continuously be implemented and infrastructure gridlocks would be eased.

Source: Cick Here

• Chennai Super Kings' 26-year-old fast bowler Deepak Chahar set the record for bowling most dot deliveries in a match in Indian Premier League.


• The right-arm fast bowler bowled 20 dot deliveries against Kolkata Knight Riders in his four-over spell, overtaking the previous record of 19 balls jointly held by Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel and Fidel Edwards.

Source: Cick Here

• A National Anti-Doping Agency disciplinary panel has banned Asian champion woman professional Olympic shot putter, Manpreet Kaur for four years.


• She has been handed the suspension for 4 years for failing dope tests on four occasions over a period of 84 days during 2017.


• Manpreet had failed for an anabolic steroid in the Asian Grand Prix and for a stimulant in the Federation Cup, Asian championships and National inter-state championships.

Source: Cick Here

• Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack has named Virat Kohli and Smriti Mandhana as the Leading male and female cricketer of the year 2019.


• Smriti Mandhana bagged the women’s Leading Cricketer of the year for the first time while Indian men’s team captain was named for the third straight year.


• The Afghanistan leg-spinner, Rashid Khan, was named the Leading Twenty20 Cricketer for the second successive time.


• In 2018, Kohli scored 2735 runs across the three formats and Mandhana scored 669 and 662 runs in ODIs and T20Is during the course of 2018.


• Kohli was also chosen as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the year, along with Jos Buttler, Tammy Beaumont, Rory Burns and Sam Curran.

Source: Cick Here

• The Supreme Court Collegium has recommended names of five judges for appointment as Chief Justices in Rajasthan, Kerala, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh High Courts.


• The five names that have been recommended as Chief Justices of High Courts are Delhi High Court Judge Justice S Ravindra Bhat, Kerala High Court Judge Justice PR Ramachandra Menon, Punjab and Haryana High Court Judge Justice AK Mittal, Allahabad High Court Judge Justice Vikram Nath and Bombay High Court Judge Justice AS Oka.

Source: Cick Here

• Centre made important management appointments to several public sector banks. According to the Department of Personnel and Training, Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved the appointment of Karnam Sekar as MD and CEO in Indian Overseas Bank.


• The new designation will be effective from [latex]1^{st}[/latex] July, 2019.


• Karnam Sekar is currently the CEO and MD of Dena bank. He will further work as officer on special duty and whole-time director with IOB till the end of June, 2019.

Source: Cick Here

• Scientists have captured the first direct image of a black hole, using Event Horizon Telescope observations of the center of the galaxy M87, 55 million light-years from the Earth.


• The image shows the event horizon, a bright ring formed as light bends in the intense gravity around the black hole that is 6.5 billion times more massive than the Sun.

Source: Cick Here

• Actor Navtej Hundal, who most recently appeared in Aditya Dhar’s Uri: The Surgical Strike, passed away. Navtej, who played the Home Minister in Uri, passed away, said actor Sushant Singh, general secretary of the Cine And Television Artistes Association (CINTAA).


• He himself had appeared in movies like Khalnayak and Tere Mere Sapne, and used to take acting classes for students.

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