• National Panchayati Raj Day is celebrated every year on [latex]24^{th}[/latex] April in India. On this day Constitution came into force with effect from 24 April, 1993.


• In 2010 the first National Panchayati Raj Day was celebrated. A new part in the Constitution Part IX was added by passing 73rd Amendment Act from Article 243 to 243 (O) titled "The Panchayats" and a new Eleventh Schedule consisting of 29 subjects with in the functions of Panchayats were also added.

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• New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that her government was not aware of any intelligence suggesting that a devastating attack on Easter Sunday in Sri Lanka was in retaliation for deadly shootings on a mosques in Christchurch.


• Sri Lanka's junior minister for defence, Ruwan Wijewardene, told his country's parliament that an initial investigation had revealed the coordinated bombings on churches and hotels, which killed 321 people, had been carried out in revenge for deadly shootings in two New Zealand mosques on March 15.

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• North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet on [latex]25^{th}[/latex] April in the Russian Pacific port of Vladivostok to discuss the international standoff over Pyongyang`s nuclear programme.


• The visit is part of Kim`s effort to build foreign support after the breakdown of a second US-North Korea summit in Vietnam in February meant no relief on sanctions for North Korea.


• The summit will be the first between Putin and the North Korean leader. The nuclear row, and how to resolve it, would be the main item on the agenda.

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• Police say the death toll in the Easter attacks in Sri Lanka has risen to 359 and more suspects have been arrested.


• Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara also said that 18 suspects were arrested overnight, raising the total detained to 58. The Prime Minister warned that several suspects armed with explosives were still at large.


• Another top government official said the suicide bombings at the churches, hotels and other sites were carried out by Islamic fundamentalists in apparent retaliation for the New Zealand mosque massacre last month.

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• In just over two decades, China has built a force of conventional missiles that rival or outperform those in the US armory.


• China's shipyards have spawned the world's biggest navy, which now rules the waves in East Asia.


• Beijing can now launch nuclear-armed missiles from an operational fleet of ballistic missile submarines.

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• The SC issued notice to Congress president Rahul Gandhi in the contempt petition brought against him by BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi but exempted him from personal appearance in the court on April 30.


• Appearing for Rahul, senior advocate A M Singhvi expressed gratitude to the SC for only seeking an explanation from the Congress president on the criminal contempt plea and not issuing notice in its April 15 order.


• However, a bench of CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna said it would correct the technical error by issuing notice to the respondent.

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• As the third and the largest phase of Lok Sabha elections ended on [latex]23^{rd}[/latex] April, an overall voter turnout was recorded at 64.99% till 7:30 PM.


• A total of 117 seats in 13 states and two Union Territories went to polls in this phase. Individually, Assam recorded the highest voter turnout at 80.74% and J&K recorded the lowest turnout at 12.86%.

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• The Supreme Court ordered Gujarat government to pay Rs 50 lakh, a job and an accommodation to Bilkis Yakub Rasool as compensation for the ordeal she suffered as a 21-year-old in 2002 when a mob gang-raped her during a nightmarish 2002 communal riots and brutally killed her three-and-half-year-old daughter.


• Advocate Shobha, representing Bilkis pro bono since 2003 in the SC and succeeded in getting the trial transferred to Mumbai from Gujarat, poignantly narrated her 17-long years of suffering.


• SC asked the state govt to immediately implement the punishment awarded after departmental proceedings to the erring police officials.

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• Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu asserted that Indian democracy could not be left to the mercy of EVM programmers, adding Opposition parties had filed a review petition in the Supreme Court pressing for the counting of at least 50% VVPAT slips.


• Our battle is to strengthen the democratic process,” Mr. Naidu told reporters in Mumbai. “We have filed a review petition in the Supreme Court with a plea that 50% VVPAT slips must be counted and in case of discrepancy in the count of EVM and VVPAT slips, the result for slips should be upheld,” he said at a press conference, which was addressed by leaders of the Congress, NCP, TMC, AAP, CPI(M), CPI and DMK.

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• Prime Minister Narendra Modi revealed that he shares a warm relationship with many opposition leaders, including West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee.


• In an interview to ANI with Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, the Prime Minister said that the Trinamool Congress chief still sends him kurtas and Bengali sweets “once or twice” in a year.


• The interaction took place at 7 Lok Kalyan Marg in the national capital. PM Modi said that he has several friends with whom he meets and celebrates several times throughout the year.


• PM Modi said that he is good friends with senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. He also added that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sends him 'kurta' and sweets throughout the year, despite being in the Opposition. PM Modi also added that Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina also sends sweets throughout the year.

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• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has given its nod to HDFC Ltd for acquiring up to 9.9% stake in Bandhan Bank following the Gruh Finance deal.


• Gruh Finance, the affordable housing finance arm of HDFC Ltd, was taken over by Bandhan Bank in a share-swap deal in January.


• After the announcement of the deal, an application was made by HDFC to the RBI for holding shares in Bandhan Bank, HDFC Ltd said in a regulatory filing.

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• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) conducted its second successful dollar swap auction of $5 billion, receiving bids worth $18.65 billion, or more than three times what was on offer. Unlike the last time, RBI accepted bids from a small number of bidders.


• The central bank accepted bids at a premium of ₹8.38 which works out to an annualized rate of 4.01% from authorized dealers and paid them rupees in return. Effectively, RBI has infused ₹34,874 crore worth of liquidity into the banking system in exchange for dollars.

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• State-owned Allahabad Bank said the government has increased its authorised capital by ₹5,000 crore to ₹8,000 crore.


• The central government after consultation with the Reserve Bank of India has increased the authorised capital of the bank from ₹3,000 to ₹8,000 through Gazette Notification, Allahabad Bank said in a regulatory filing.


• The increase in authorised capital will help enable the bank to raise further fund up to a maximum ceiling of ₹8,000 crore.

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• Swapna Barman secured India's 11th medal of the Championships by winning the silver medal in the Heptathlon.


• Dutee Chand stormed into the women's 200m semifinal with a season's best timing of 23:33s.


• Indian 4x400m mixed relay team bags the silver medal.


• Sanjivani Jadhav wins bronze in the women's 10,000m final.


• As a result of the 3 medals, India’s medal tally now stands at 13.

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• Stephen Fleming’s mantra as coach of Chennai Super Kings has been ‘consistency in selection’. And it was hard to argue with that after game when an out-of-form Shane Watson repaid the faith with a match-winning knock of 96 (53b, 9x4, 6x6) as the home side defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by six wickets to maintain its unbeaten run at the MAC Stadium this season.


• Chasing 176 for victory, Watson and Suresh Raina, who too has been struggling this season, struck form to help Super Kings post their eighth victory. This should help them secure a playoff berth.

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• World Cup gold medallist Apurvi Chandela topped qualification with a score of 630.4 in a field of 107 shooters in women’s air rifle in the shooting World Cup, but missed a medal by 0.1 point.


• Apurvi who had won the Olympic quota place in the event along with silver medallist Anjum Moudgil in the World Championship last year, placed fourth as she was overtaken to the medal by Keum Jihyeon of Korea.

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• Three organizations All India Radio, Publication Division and Children’s Film Society of India conferred Swacchta Pakhwada Award 2019. The award was given by Amit Khare, Secretary Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.


• The award was received by Director General of All India Radio F. Sheheryar and Director General (News) Ms. Ira Joshi on behalf of All India Radio.

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• Puranik Yogendra has become the first Indian-origin person to win an election in Japan, having gotten elected to Tokyo's Edogawa Ward assembly.


• The 41-year-old, who's originally from Pune, went to Japan in the 1990s to pursue further studies and also worked there before joining politics. Edogawa Ward boasts the highest number of Indian residents among Tokyo's 23 wards.

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• A 10-year-old US girl named Sara Hinesley, who was born without hands, recently won a National handwriting competition.


• The Nicholas Maxim award is given annually to two students with special needs. "She is a little rock star. She tackles absolutely everything you can throw at her, and she gives it her best".

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• Ahead of the biggest & first ever Global Sports Fan Awards, Sugumar D, an ardent fan of Indian skipper Virat Kohli, has been announced as the second recipient of the Global Sports Fan Awards, joining the bandwagon with Sachin Tendulkar worshipper Sudhir Kumar, who is the first recipient of the award.


• The function is scheduled for June 14 in Manchester on the sidelines of Cricket World Cup 2019.

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• Former deputy election commissioner Vinod Zutshi was appointed as special observer for Tripura where the Lok Sabha polls to one of the seats was postponed in view of the law and order situation.


• The Election Commission had postponed polling in the Tripura (East) Lok Sabha seat to the third phase on April 23 (Tuesday) from April 18, saying the prevailing law and order situation there is not conducive for holding free and fair polls.

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• Vikas Khanna, Michelin-star chef has been named brand ambassador of Indo-American Arts Council (IAAC), a leading cultural organisation which will organise the annual New York Indian Film Festival (NYIFF) that would showcase the chef’s film ‘The Last Color‘ and Nawazuddin Siddiqui-starrer ‘Photograph’.


• The New York Indian Film Festival is North America’s longest-running and most prestigious Indian film festival that would be organised from [latex]7^{th}[/latex] May to [latex]12^{th}[/latex] May, 2019. This would be its 19th year of being organised.


• The festival will showcase 30 feature-length films, including 3 documentaries, 30 shorts and 19 regional films. Vikas Khanna’s film ‘The Last Color’ is the closing night film of the festival.

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• Uday Kumar Varma, a former bureaucrat retired from the post of Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, resigned from the post of The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) Secretary-General.


• Currently, Assocham’s Deputy Secretary General Saurabh Sanyal is discharging the duties of secretary general.


• Last year U K Varma took over Assocham’s General Secretary. He had succeeded D S Rawat.

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• Scientists revealed that they might have detected the first known seismic tremor on Mars. The audio was recorded by a dome-shaped seismometer on April 6 that landed with NASA's InSight spacecraft last November.


• The team said they were working to confirm the cause of the "marsquake" and ensure it came from the planet's interior rather than wind distortion.

A. Pune B. Mumbai C. Chennai D. New Delhi Answer: D

A. AbhimanyuDutt B. AjitDoval C. PK Sinha D. Narendra Modi Answer: C

A. 2024 B. 2021 C. 2022 D. 2020 Answer: D

A. Syndicate Bank B. Bank of India C. Bank of Baroda D. IDBI bank Answer: A

A. 25.68 crore B. 35.89 crore C. 30.76 crore D. 35.39 crore Answer: D

A. Bank of India B. Allahabad Bank C. SBI D. Indian overseas bank Answer: B

A. Rs 5 lakh crore B. Rs 1 lakh crore C. Rs 2 lakh crore D. Rs 3 lakh crore Answer: D

A. 22 percent B. 31 percent C. 30 percent D. 25 percent Answer: B

A. ASSOCHAM B. NITI AAYOG C. IRDA D. NABARD Answer: A

A. Chennai B. Pune C. Mumbai D. Delhi Answer: D

A. April 19th B. April 22nd C. April 21st D. April 23rd Answer: D

A. Lucknow B. Chennai C. Mumbai D. Bengaluru Answer: D

A. Pune B. Chennai C. Mumbai D. Kolkata Answer: D

A. India B. Russia C. Israel D. Italy Answer: A

A. Israel B. China C. Syria D. Qatar Answer: B

A. New India Assurance B. Oriental Insurance C. SBI General Insurance D. United India Insurance Company Limited Answer: C

A. 11th January 2019 B. 18th February 2019 C. 22nd March 2019 D. 24th April 2019 Answer: D

A. 17th B. 22nd C. 37th D. 46th Answer: A

A. Justice SA Bobde B. Justice NV Ramana C. Justice Indira Banerjee D. CJI Ranjan Gogoi Answer: A

A. Pakistan B. China C. Nepal D. Bangladesh Answer: B

A. Destiny B. Clarity C. Justice D. Hope Answer: D

A. Jaish-e-Mohammad B. Al-Qa'ida C. Islamic State D. Lashkar-e-Tayyiba Answer: D

A. India B. China C. North Korea D. Pakistan Answer: B

A. Manoj Sharma B. Neeraj Gupta C. Manish Roy D. Manish Maheshwari Answer: D

A. Anurag Gupta B. Manoranjan Bharti C. Rakesh Singh D. Sunil Kumar Gautam Answer: D

A. Eight B. Five C. Three D. Seven Answer: B

A. David GrossmanHan Kang B. Philip Roth C. Olga Tokarczuk D. Raghu Karnad Answer: D

A. Bank of Baroda General Insurance B. Bajaj Allianz General Insurance C. Reliance General Insurance D. SBI General Insurance Answer: D

A. Pune B. Bhopal C. New Delhi D. Dehradun Answer: C

A. Nepal B. Pakistan C. India D. China Answer: C