• National

India’s 17th Lok Sabha elections to be held in 7 phases

• The Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora has announced, India’s 17th Lok Sabha elections (largest festival of democracy) will begin from 11th of April this year.
• Legislative Assembly elections in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha and Sikkim will be held simultaneously with the general elections.
• The Model Code of Conduct has come into force in the entire country with the announcement of the polls.
• Ninety crore electorates of 29 states and 7 Union territories will elect 543 Lok Sabha members in seven phases from 11th April to 19th May 2019.
• The counting will be held on the 23rd of May 2019.

• International

Palestinian president appoints Mohammad Shtayyeh as new PM

• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has chosen Dr. Mohammad Shtayyeh (60-years) as the new prime minister of Palestinian.
• Earlier in January, Mr Abbas accepted the resignation of outgoing Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah.
• Earlier, Mr Shtayyeh served as minister of housing and construction in addition to serving as head of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development and Reconstruction (PECDAR).
• Shtayyeh is an economist with a PhD from the University of Sussex in England.

• International

India Bags 1st Prize at International ‘Golden City Gate Tourism Awards 2019’ In Berlin

• The Ministry of Tourism, Government of India has won the First Prize in the category of TV Cinema Spot at the prestigious international Golden City Gate Tourism Awards 2019.
• The awards were received by Yogendra Tripathi, Secretary, Tourism at ITB, Berlin.
• Following promotional films / television commercials produced by the Ministry as part of its Incredible India 2.0 Campaign received the awards.

• Sports

Iniyan becomes India’s 61st Grandmaster

• Iniyan (16-year) has become the 61st Grandmaster of India (the highest title a chess player)after crossing 2,500 points during the Noisiel Open 2019, held in Paris.
• Iniyan also won the silver medal in this tournament by increasing 18 points and has a rating of 2,513.

• Sports

Kavinder fetched gold in GeeBee

• Kavinder Singh Bisht (56kg) struck gold at the 38th GeeBee Boxing Tournament in Helsinki, Finland on 10 March 2019.
• Shiva Thapa (60kg), Govind Sahani (49kg), Mohammed Hussamuddin (56kg) and Dinesh Dagar (69kg) claimed silver medals in the event.
• Sumit Sangwan (91kg), Sachin Siwach (52kg) and Naveen Kumar (+91kg) claimed bronze medals.

• Awards

Acko wins Golden Peacock Award

• ACKO General Insurance was awarded the coveted Golden Peacock Innovative Product Award – 2019, for their contextual microinsurance product -Ola Ride Insurance.
• The award was presented to Biresh Giri, Appointed Actuary & CRO, Acko in the presence of global business leaders in Dubai.
• Acko introduced the revolutionary Ola Ride Insurance, a first of its kind in the Indian market in March 2018.

• Appointments

Anup Kumar Dubey and Sushil Kumar appointed as special directors of ED

• Senior bureaucrats Anup Kumar Dubey and Sushil Kumar were appointed special directors in the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 10 March 2019.
• The J&K Governor’s administration approved the appointment of ‘Metro Man’ E. Sreedharan as the principal adviser to two mass rapid transit systems to be built in the State.

• Defence

PINAKA Guided Weapons System Successfully Test Fired

• Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) successfully test fired the PINAKA guided WEAPON rocket system from Pokhran range in Rajasthan.
• The weapon system is equipped with state-of-the-art guidance kit comprising of an advanced navigation and control system.
• The weapon systems impacted the intended targets with high precision and achieved desired accuracies.

• States

WB CM announces a new scheme ‘Yuvashree Arpan’ for employment of youth

• West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced a grant of 1 lakh to graduates of the state’s 214 polytechnics and Industrial Training Institutes (ITI), to set up small businesses.
• The CM also introduced the scheme, Yuvashree Arpan, in Howrah district.

• States

Madhya Pradesh Government Increases Reservation Quota of OBCs to 27%

• The Madhya Pradesh government issued an ordinance increasing reservation quota for the Other Backward Classes (OBC) to 27% from the current 14%.
• The announcement was made by the state’s Law and Legal Affairs Minister PC Sharma.
• The ordinance was issued and notified after it received the assent from the state’s Governor Anandiben Patel.

• Miscellaneous

116-Year-Old Japanese Woman Honoured as World’s Oldest Person Alive by Guinness World Records

• A 116-year-old Japanese woman who loves playing the board game Othello is being honored as the world’s oldest living person by Guinness World Records.
• Tanaka was born January 2, 1903, the seventh among eight children.
• The previous oldest living person was another Japanese woman, Chiyo Miyako, who died in July at age 117.