• Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Chamling became the longest-serving Chief Minister in India, surpassing the record of Jyoti Basu, who served as West Bengal CM. Note: Shriniwas Dadasaheb Patil is the present Governor of Sikkim. Khangchendzonga National Park is situated in Sikkim.

• The Maharashtra government has signed an MoU with the British Council to strengthen educational and cultural cooperation.

• The board of directors of Kotak Mahindra Bank has redesignated Uday Kotak as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.

• Jammu and Kashmir Assembly speaker Kavinder Gupta has been appointed as the Deputy CM of the state. Note: Jammu and Kashmir CM- Mehbooba Mufti Sayeed, Governor- N. Vohra.

• One97 Communications Limited, the owner of digital payment major, Paytm,announced the launch of its offline payments solution – the Paytm Tap Card, in order to provide seamless payments solutions for non-internet customers. This card uses Near Field Communication (NFC)  Note: Vijay Shekhar Sharma is the Paytm founder.

• HDFC Bank launched IRA (Interactive Robotic Assistant) 2.0, its interactive humanoid at the Koramangala Branch in  It became the first bank in India to introduce a humanoid IRA 1.0 for customer service at the Kamala Mills Branch in Mumbai. Note: Reserve Bank of India has labelled HDFC Bank as ‘domestic systematically important bank’ – in other words, ‘too big to fail’.

• Bollywood actors Bhumi Pednekar, Sonam Kapoor and Akshay Kumar bagged the best actress and best actor awards respectively at the Dadasaheb Phalke awards, given by Dadasaheb Phalke Film Foundation, held in Mumbai. Manisha Koirala won the ‘Most Versatile Actress’ award. Veteran actor-director Rakesh Roshan was given the lifetime achievement award.

• Gujarati poet, playwright and academic Sitanshu Yashaschandra was selected for 2017 Saraswati Samman for his collection of verses (poetry) titled “Vakhar” published in 2009.

• Union Minister for Drinking Water and Sanitation, Uma Bharti,launched the GOBAR (Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources)-DHAN scheme at the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) Auditorium, Karnal, Haryana. The scheme aims to positively impact village cleanliness and generate wealth and energy from cattle and organic waste.

• India is ranked joint-sixth in the list of doping violations with 69 cases, same as that of Russia, according to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report for samples collected in 2016. Italy topped the rankings of drug cases in 2016.

• Indian shooter Shahzar Rizvi became the world number one shooter in the 10-metre air pistol category after having won a silver medal at the recently concluded shooting World Cup in South Korea. Russia’s Artem Chernousov is on top spot.

• International Labour Day, also known as International Worker’s Day, and May Day, was celebrated across the world on 1st May to promote and encourage the international labour associations. The theme of International Labour Day 2018 is “Uniting Workers for Social and Economic Advancement”.

• The 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas will be held in the holy city of Varanasi in January 2019 with the Indian diaspora having an option to participate in Kumbha Snan and attend the Republic Day parade in New Delhi. The theme of this Pravasi Bharatiya Divas is “Role of Indian Diaspora in building a New India”.

• Telecom Commission approved a proposal for allowing people to make phone calls and use internet services in domestic and international flights in India, with certain riders. Note: Suresh Prabhu is the Cabinet Minister of Civil Aviation.

• As per the data released by the World Health Organisation (WHO), 14 Indian cities figure in a list of world’s 20 most polluted cities in terms of particulate matter PM2.5 levels in 2016. Kanpur was ranked the most polluted city among 4300 world cities which were monitored for their air pollution levels in the year 2016. Note: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is the present Director General of WHO.

• Legendary singer Asha Bhosle was honoured with 26th PC Chandra Puraskaar for her contribution in the field of Indian music.

• Maharashtra became the first state to provide digitally-signed land record receipts (also known as 7/12 receipts). The 7/12 receipt is the most important document which establishes the ownership of the land and is primarily used by farmers while applying for loans.  Note: The Jayakwadi Dam built over Godavari River is located in Maharashtra.

• 3^rd May was celebrated as the World Press Freedom Day. This year’s global theme for WPFD is ‘Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and The Rule of Law’.

• The controversial UK marketing analytics firm Cambridge Analytica, which has been at the heart of the Facebook data scandal, has announced to cease all its operations immediately and filing for insolvency in Britain and the United States.

• Subhash Chandra Khuntia has been appointed as Chairman of Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI). Note: The head office of IRDAI is in Hyderabad. In 1999, IRDA was constituted as an autonomous body to regulate and develop the insurance industry.

• The ‘Vibrant North East 2018′,an event in which people would be made aware of central government’s schemes and programmes, was held in Guwahati, Assam.

• Global consultant AT Kearney released the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Confidence Index 2018, an annual survey which tracks the impact of political, economic and regulatory changes on the FDI preferences of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) of the country. The United States (US) topped the index. The index ranked India at the 11th spot.

• Indian pugilist (boxer) Neeraj Goyat has been conferred with the ‘WBC Asia Boxer of the Year Award’. Neeraj is the current WBC Asia champion in welterweight category.

• Human Resource Development Ministry has launched a major and unique initiative of online professional development of 1.5 million higher education faculty using the Massive Open Online Courses platform SWAYAM. Note: Prakash Javadekar is the present Human Resource Development Minister of India.

• Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh launched ‘Go to Village’ mission. The mission is aimed at identifying the eligible and deserving beneficiaries in every corner of the state and delivering government services at their doorstep. Note: Manipur CM- Nongthombam Biren Singh, Governor- Dr Najma A. Heptulla.

• NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog and IBM have signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) to develop a crop yield prediction model using Artificial Intelligence to provide real-time advisory to farmers in Aspirational Districts. The first phase of the project will focus on developing the model for 10 Aspirational Districts across the States of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. Note: NITI Aayog Chairman- Narendra Modi, Vice-Chairman- Rajiv Kumar, CEO- Amitabh Kant.

• The 12th informal meeting of SAARC Finance Ministers was held in Manila, Philippines. Note: SAARC stands for South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation. Its member states include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. President of ADB- Takehiko Nakao,ADB Headquarters- Manila, Philippines, Opened on- 19th December 1966.

• The Swedish Academy has decided to postpone the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature, with the intention of awarding it in 2019. The decision has been taken in the wake of a sexual and financial scandal that has engulfed the Swedish Academy, the cultural institution responsible for awarding the prestigious prize. Note: Kazuo Ishiguro was the winner of Nobel Prize 2017.

• Vladimir Putin was sworn-in as the President of Russia for the fourth time, renewing another six-year term in office.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)announced that it would buy 10,000 crore ($1.50 billion) of government bonds via open market operation (OMO), after failing to sell all the debt it had offered to bidders. Note: Urjit Patel- 24th Governor of RBI, Headquarters Mumbai, Established on- 1st April 1935, in Kolkata.

• India finished on topin the 7-nation 3rd South Asian Junior Athletics Championships in Colombo, Sri Lanka. India ended with 20 gold, 22 silver and 8 bronze medals (Total 50 Medals).