CURRENT AFFAIRS
| 3489ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
- 1967 Suharto rises to power in Indonesia
- 1938 Hitler invades Austria
- 1930 Mahatma Gandhi embarks on his Salt March
NATIONAL
- India shuts doors for outsiders, under self-imposed quarantine till April 15th. India imposed stringent travel curbs to the country as the WHO declared the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic with more than 118,000 confirmed cases and 4,291 deaths in 114 countries.
- Bandhan Bank opens 125 branches in 15 states. The central bank had earlier barred Bandhan Bank from opening new branches in September 2018 for not being able to bring down the promoter holding to 40% in three years from the date of commencement of the ‘universal’ banking business.
- SBI does away with minimum balance requirement in savings accounts. SBI announced it will not ask customers to maintain a minimum balance in savings accounts. The state-owned bank rationalized interest rate on savings bank accounts to a flat 3 percent annum. It also waived off SMS charges.
- Rolls-Royce partners with IIT-Madras for joint research programmes. Rolls Royce will promote the upskilling and professional development of its engineering talent, and facilitate higher education and research. The company will also sponsor select employees keen to pursue Masters and Ph.D. level studies, in partnership with IIT Madras.
INTERNATIONAL
- WHO calls Coronavirus a pandemic, UK and Italy announce war chests. A pandemic is an epidemic on a far greater geographic scale that affects a much large number of people. Britain and Italy announced multi-billion-dollar war chests to fight the disease and the United States said it was considering new steps.
ECONOMY
- Pepsi to buy energy drink maker Rockstar for $3.85 bln. It is the soda giant's biggest push into the energy drinks market, where rival Coca-Cola Co has been rapidly expanding. The deal was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
- Yes Bank users can now make over Rs 2 lakh payments towards loans, credit cards. RTGS services have been enabled to allow customers to make payments towards their credit card dues and loan obligations from other bank accounts. Current accounts can be also debited for more than Rs 50,000 towards salaries in accounts maintained with Yes Bank.
DEFENSE
- ITBP chief to head BSF temporarily, Johri to take over as Madhya Pradesh DGP. ITBP Director General S S Deswal has been appointed the temporary head of the BSF, an order issued by the Union Home Ministry. The Kamal Nath-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh had issued an order appointing Johri, a 1984-batch IPS officer, the new Director General of Police.
SPORTS
- Javelin thrower Shivpal qualifies for Tokyo Olympics, joins Neeraj Chopra. Shivpal Singh crossed the qualifying standard of 85m by hurling the spear to a distance of 85.47m in his fifth attempt to win gold in the Athletics Central North West League meet at Potchefstroom, South Africa. The throw helped the 24year-old to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
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