• Indian gymnast Dipa Karmakar was selected as Barbie role model & was presented with a one-of-a-kind doll by Barbie as the company celebrates its 60th anniversary. She was part of the ‘Shero’ program launched in 2015 by the company. Note:  Dipa Karmakar was the 1st Indian female gymnast in the Olympics.

• Ashu Khullar replaced Pramit Jhaveri as CEO of CITI Bank Note: CITI Bank India HQ- Mumbai, Tagline- CITI Never Sleeps.

• India is the second largest importer of weapons in the world, as per the annual report ‘Trends in International Arms Transfers-2018’ released by the think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Saudi Arabia is now the world’s largest weapons importer.

• After an eight-year-long process, Erode turmeric (of Tamil Nadu)finally got a Geographical Indication (GI) tag from the Geographical Indication Registry.

• Retired IAS officer C Lalsawta was sworn-in as the first Chairman of the newly-constituted Lokayukta in Mizoram.  He was administered the oath of office and secrecy by the newly appointed Mizoram governor Jagdish Mukhi in a swearing-in ceremony held at Raj Bhavan in Aizawl.

• HDFC Bank Ltd crossed the 6 trillion market capitalization mark for the first time, making it only the third Indian firm—after Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) and Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL)—to achieve the milestone.  RIL is the most valued company in India, followed by TCS.

• Indo Oman Joint Exercise Al Nagah III 2019, a joint military exercise between Indian and Royal Army of Oman (RAO), commenced at HQ Jabel Regiment, Nizwa, Oman.

• The 9thround of the India-US Strategic Security Dialogue was held in Washington DC.  The two sides committed to strengthen bilateral security and civil nuclear cooperation, including the establishment of 6 U.S. nuclear reactors in India.

• The Registrar of Geographical Indications, Government of India, accorded a GI tag, ‘Sirsi Supari’,to arecanut grown in Sirsi, Siddpaur and Yellapur taluks of Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka. The Totagars’ Cooperative Sale Society (TSS) Ltd, a Sirsi-based agri cooperative, is the registered proprietor of the GI ‘Sirsi Supari’.

• India, which is the world’s largest consumer of gold, has the 11th largest gold reserve, with the current holding pegged at 607 tonnes, as per the latest report by the World Gold Council (WGC). The top spot is occupied by the US with gold reserves of 8,133.5 tonnes.

• State Bank of India (SBI)has launched doorstep banking service for senior citizens over 70 years of age and differently-abled customers. Eligible customers can avail this service at a nominal fee of 100 rupees per transaction for financial transactions and 60 rupees for non-financial transactions. Note: SBI Chairperson: Rajnish Kumar, Headquarters: Mumbai, Founded: 1 July 1955.

• World Kidney Day (WKD)is observed annually on the second Thursday in March. World Kidney Day 2019 was observed on 14th March. The theme of WKD 2019 is Kidney Health for Everyone Everywhere, which calls for universal health coverage for prevention and early treatment of kidney disease.

• Special Olympics World Games 2019,which was held from March 14 to March 21 in the UAE, has made history by welcoming a record-breaking 200 nations ahead of the Games.

• Exercise Sampriti-VIII,a joint Indo-Bangladesh military exercise concluded at Tangail, Bangladesh.

• India and Pakistan have agreed to work expeditiously on operationalizing the Kartapur corridor. The corridor will facilitate Indian pilgrims to visit the holy shrine of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur in Pakistan.

• Bajaj Finserv’s Chairman and Non-Executive Director Rahul Bajaj has resigned and will take over as the Chairman Emeritus from May 2019.

• The government has appointed MR Kumaras the Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and Vipin Anand and TC Suseel Kumar as the managing directors (MDs). LIC’s executive board comprises  1 chairman and 4 managing directors.

• As per RBI notification, IDBI Bank has been categorized as a private sector lender following the acquisition of majority stake by Life Insurance Corporation. Note: Now total government sector banks are 20 in number. After 1 Apr 2019 merger of 2 more Government Banks Dena and Vijaya Bank in Government-owned bank of Baroda, the number of Government Sector Banks will be reduced to 18.

• A recent study published in PLOS Biology found that human impacts on species occur across 84% of the earth’s surface and India ranks 16th in such impacts, with 35 species impacted on an average. Malaysia ranks 1st among the countries with the highest number of impacted species (125).

• A social entrepreneur from Tamil Nadu, Padmanaban Gopalan,founder of No Food Waste, was named the winner of the Commonwealth Youth Award for the Asian region at a ceremony at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London. His initiative runs a geo-mapping platform, which allows users to drop food at located “hunger spots”and has so far recovered over 650,000 meals across 14 cities and the platform has been used by over 12,000 volunteers.

• World Consumer Rights Day is celebrated every year on 15 March. The theme for World Consumers day 2019 is “Trusted Smart Products”. World Consumer Rights Day was inspired by President John F Kennedy, who sent a special message to the US Congress on 15th March 1962, in which he formally addressed the issue of consumer rights.

• The Supreme Court appointed senior advocate PS Narasimha as a mediator for resolving various disputes related to cricket administration within the cricket body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).  Note: BCCI President:K. Khanna, Headquarters: Mumbai.

• Indian scientists have developed a common framework for the assessment of climate change vulnerability in all the states in the Himalayan region.The assessment shows that the vulnerability index is the highest for Assam (0.72) and Mizoram (0.71). Sikkim is the least vulnerable state with the index being 42.

• Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant will head the National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage, which is being set up to promote clean and sustainable mobility initiatives in the country.

• The human resource consulting firm, Mercer’s annual Quality of Living Survey 2019 has placed Austria’s capital city Vienna at the number 1 spot, making it the 10th year in a row. The Economist Intelligence Unit had also given Vienna the top spot in its ranking of the world’s most liveable cities in 2018. Hyderabad and Pune, at a rank of 143, continue to be the most liveable cities in India for expatriates.

• Kent RO Systems Pvt. Ltd. has received the Best Domestic Water Purifier Award 2018-19 for its RO+UV+UF technology at the Water Digest Water Awards function that was held in New Delhi. The Water Digest Water Awards are given jointly by the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and UNESCO.

• India will host the Under-17 Women’s Football World Cup in  This was announced by the President of International Football Federation (FIFA) Gianni Infantino. This will be the second FIFA tournament India will be hosting, after the U-17 Men’s World Cup in 2017.

• The Ministry of Human Resource Development has signed a memorandum of understanding(MoU) with the Afghanistan government to work on digital education initiatives.

• The first BRICS(Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) Sherpa meeting held in Curitiba, Brazil under the Presidency of Brazil. Note: BRICS Headquarters: Shanghai, China; President: K V Kamath.

• Reliance Industries CMD Mukesh Ambani leads Forbes’ list of richest sports team owners with a net worth of around $50 billion.

• Tata, Reliance, and Airtel emerged as the top three Indian brands of 2019, according to a report published by Interbrand, part of the Omnicom Media Group. Tata continued to hold the top position in the best Indian Brands. Reliance stood at number 2 and  Airtel stood at number 3.

• The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) named State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank as Domestic Systemically Important Banks (D-SIBs), which in other words mean banks that are too big to fail. As per the norms, these banks will have to set aside more capital for their continued operation. Inclusion in D-SIB indicates that failure of any of these banks would have a cascading effect on the Indian financial system.

• The State Bank of India has launched a new service called ‘YONO (You Only Need One) Cash’ for its customers using which customers can withdraw money from ATMs without using debit cards. The ATMs enabled for this service will be called as YONO Cash Point.

• Microsoft has announced that it has partnered with The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA)to promote its Project ‘Sangam’ which is developed to accelerate Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in India. It is one of the world’s largest Cleanliness Programme. Project Sangam is a cloud-hosted, mobile-first community learning platform.

• ICICI Lombard and Mobikwik announced a strategic partnership to provide cyber-insurance cover. The relationship aims to provide protection against unauthorized and fraudulent transactions online, across bank accounts, debit and credit cards, and mobile wallets.

• 18-year-old Diksha Dagar has become the second Indian Golfer to win an event on Ladies European Tour after clinching South African Women’s Open in Cape Town. Aditi Ashok was the first Indian to win on the Ladies European Tour after clinching Hero Women’s Indian Open in Gurugram in 2016.

• Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas won the season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix.

• Former Supreme Court judge Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose was recommended to be the first Lokpal or anti-corruption ombudsman of India. His name was finalised and recommended by the Selection Committee comprising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan and eminent jurist Mukul Rohatgi.

• Pramod Sawant was sworn-in as 11th Chief Minister of Goa,succeeding Manohar Parrikar, who died after a prolonged battle with advanced pancreatic cancer. He was given the oath of office and secrecy at Raj Bhavan by Goa Governor Mridula Sinha.

• The inaugural Africa-India Field Training Exercise-2019 for India and African nations called AFINDEX-19 started at Aundh Military Station, Pune.

• Exercise MITRA SHAKTI is conducted annually as part of military diplomacy and interaction between armies of India & Sri Lanka. The joint exercise for the year 2018-19 will be conducted in Sri Lanka.

• In Asian Youth Athletics Championships in Hong Kong, Indian youth team finished second in the overall medals tally with a total of 26 medals including 8 gold, 9 silver and 9 bronze medals. China topped the overall medals tally with 31 medals that included 12 gold, 11 silver and eight bronze medals.

• Bengaluru FC clinched their maiden Indian Super League title defeating FC Goa, in Mumbai.

• The Election Commission of India has appointed transgender social activist Gauri Sawant, as one of the 12 election ambassadors from Maharashtra. She is the first transgender election ambassadors.

• Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev has announced his resignation after nearly 30 years in power.

• University of Texas professor Karen Uhlenbeck has become the first woman to win the Abel Prize, a mathematics honour first given in 2003. The 76-year-old was awarded for the impact of her work on”analysis, geometry and mathematical physics”.

• An Indian journalist, author and chief of The Wire, ‘Raghu Karnad’ received the prestigious Windham-Campbell prize of USD 165,000 for his debut book, ‘Farthest Field: An Indian story of Second World War’, published in the year 2015 in the non-fiction category.

• International Day of Happiness is celebrated every year on March 20. The theme for IDH 2019 is ‘Happier Together’.