• World Book and Copyright Day was observed on 23 April. The World Book Capital for 2018 is Athens, Greece.

• The World Earth Day (WED) is celebrated on 22nd April not only to spread awareness of the need for conservation but also to take action to protect the environment. The theme for World Earth Day 2018 is ‘End Plastic Pollution’.

• The nation celebrated the National Panchayati Raj Diwas on 24th April . Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a restructured Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan scheme, aimed at making rural local bodies self-sustainable, financially stable and more efficient, in Mandla in Madhya Pradesh on the occasion of National Panchayati Raj Day.

• The TIME Magazine released the 100 Most Influential People List of 2018 . The 2018 list features the names of four self-made Indians- Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli, Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal and Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella.

• The Reserve Bank of India has revised “Know Your Customer” or the KYC guidelines. The RBI made linking of national biometric ID Aadhaar to bank accounts mandatory. However, it said this will be subject to the final decision of the Supreme Court on making of Aadhaar mandatory.

• West Bengal has once again topped in the country with Digambarpur Gram Panchayat (GP) bagging the Centre’s award for the best Gram Panchayat in the country. Note: Sunderban tiger reserve and Buxa tiger reserves are situated in West Bengal. Hanumata Dam, built over Ganga River, is in West Bengal.

• The Union Home Ministry completely revoked the controversial Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) from Meghalaya while diluting it in other regions of Arunachal Pradesh.

• Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has created the history as the market capitalisation of the company has hit the 100 billion dollar mark, making it the first Indian IT company to achieve the mark.

• Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah has become the first Egyptian player to be named Professional Footballers’ Association player of the year.

• The world’s oldest person,a 117-year-old Japanese woman named Nabi Tajima had passed away. Another Japanese woman, Chiyo Miyako, is now the world’s oldest person.

• Diu Smart City has become the first city in India that runs on 100% renewable energy during daytime setting a new benchmark for other cities to become clean and green.

• West Bengal government has given its approval to State Forest Department to apply for coveted Ramsar Site recognition under Ramsar Convention to Sunderban Reserve Forest. Once it is conferred Ramsar site status, Sundarbans Reserve Forest will be largest protected wetland in the country.There are currently 26 sites in India recognised as Ramsar wetland sites of international importance.

• India and the World Bank signed a $210 million loan agreement for the Madhya Pradesh Rural Connectivity Project. The Project will cover 10,510 km stretch of rural roads in Madhya Pradesh that fall under the Chief Minister’s Gram Sadak Yojana (CMGSY) program.

• The Madras High Court became the first court in south India and overall eighth in the country to introduce e-court fee payment facility.

• Iran has banned the use of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies by its banks and financial institutions.

• India has retained its position as the top remittances receiving country with its diaspora sending about $69 billion back home in 2017.

• Richest Indian Mukesh Ambani (24th Rank) and human rights lawyer Indira Jaising (20th Rank) have been named by Fortune magazine as the World’s Greatest Leaders of 2018. This year’s list is topped by ‘The Students’ of Marjory Stoneman Douglas and other schools of US that witnessed gun violence.

• Paytm Payments Bank now has over 100 million KYC wallets, against the constant campaigning done by the bank about the benefits of the Know Your Customer (KYC) system. Paytm Payments Bank is owned 51 percent by Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma and 49 percent by One97 Communications Limited.

• The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has agreed in principle to give an aid of 1,700 crore rupees to Uttarakhand for infrastructure development and creation of sewerage treatment facilities in urban areas. Note: President of ADB- Takehiko Nakao, ADB Headquarters- Manila, Philippines.

• India has won 8th South Asian Judo Championship held in Lalitpur, Nepal.  Indian women whitewashed the championship by beating host Nepal in the final of team events. Indian men also won the team championship. Earlier Indian women grabbed all 7 gold medals in the individual category while men bagged 3 gold and 3 bronze medals.  India topped the medal tally winning 10 Gold and 3 Bronze medals in the individual category.

• A loan agreement for IBRD credit of US$ 125 (equivalent) for the “Innovate in India for Inclusiveness Project” was signed with the World Bank in New Delhi.

• Suresh Prabhu,the commerce and industry minister, held the first e-commerce think tank meeting in New Delhi.

• The Home Ministry has decided to relax the six-decade-old Protected Area Permit regime from Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur for five years. Foreign tourists, except those from Pakistan, China and Afghanistan, will now be allowed to visit some of the most pristine locations of the country which, so far, were out of bounds for them without a special permit.

• World Malaria Day was observed on April 25. The theme for this year’s Malaria Day is ‘Ready to beat Malaria’. Note: Malaria is caused by the Plasmodium parasites, which is spread to people through the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito, also known as malaria vectors.

• The Ministry of Human Resource Development, HRD launched the second edition of the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan under which students from 750 higher educational institutions from across the country will adopt villages and visit them to get acquainted with the lifestyle of people there and the problems faced by them.

• As part of ongoing Indo-Malaysian defence cooperation, a joint training exercise Harimau Shakti will be conducted in the dense forests of Sengai Perdik, Hulu Langat, Malaysia.

• Mario Abdo Benitez won the presidential election conducted in Paraguay.

• According to the 2018 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), India has ranked 138th (falling 2 positions down from 136th in 2017). The list has been topped by Norway. North Korea was at the bottom-most position (180th) in the list.

• Technology giant Microsoft India has been declared the most attractive employer brand, followed by e-commerce giant Amazon India. The winners were named by HR service provider Randstad’s Employer Brand Research (REBR) 2018. Sector-wise, Tata Consultancy Services is most favoured in IT, while Larsen & Toubro tops Infrastructure & Construction and Hindustan Unilever emerges the winner in FMCG.

• National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) has announced the launch of its “e- Gsec” platform for facilitating the non-competitive bidding in Government of India Dated Securities (G-Sec) and Treasury Bills (T-Bills). Note: NSE began operations in 1994 and is ranked as the largest stock exchange in India in terms of total and average daily turnover for equity shares every year since 1995, based on annual reports of SEBI.

• Senior lawyer Indu Malhotra was sworn in as the judge of the Supreme Court in the presence of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra. Malhotra has now become the first woman lawyer to be directly appointed as a Supreme Court judge.  In 2007, Mrs Malhotra was only the second woman to be appointed a senior advocate by the apex court, three decades after Leila Seth first made history.

• The Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi  launched the Van Dhan Scheme of Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED, during the celebrations of Ambedkar Jayanti at Bijapur, Chattisgarh. Under Van Dhan, 10 Self Help Groups of 30 Tribal gatherers would be constituted.

• World Intellectual Property Day was celebrated on 26th of April to learn about the role that intellectual property rights (patents, trademarks, industrial designs, copyright) play in encouraging innovation and creativity. The theme for WIPD 2018 is ‘Powering change: Women in innovation and creativity’.

• Online search engine Google is the most trusted Internet brand in India, followed by Facebook, as per the TRA Brand Trust Report 2018. Google was followed by Facebook, Amazon and eBay.

• The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)is awarded the National Intellectual Property (IP) Award 2018 in the category “Top R&D Institution/ Organization for Patents and Commercialization”. The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) is a contemporary R&D organization.

• Manipur’s Shirui Lily Festival 2018 concluded at Ukhrul district.

• Dalmia Bharat Limited has signed an MoU with the Tourism Ministry to take up Red Fort (in Delhi) and Gandikota Fort (Andhra Pradesh) under the ‘Adopt a Heritage’ project. Becoming the first corporate to be part of the initiative, Dalmia Bharat will look after the operations and the maintenance of these heritage sites for the next five years. Puneet Dalmia is the Managing Director of Dalmia Bharat Group.

• Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea and Moon Jae-in, the leader of South Korea agreed to pursue a permanent peace and the complete denuclearization of the divided peninsula.

• The Haryana government has appointed international shooter Gauri Sheoran the brand ambassador for its two health-related programmes. The decision was announced by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar at the launch of the measles-rubella (MR) vaccination campaign.