• National

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Inaugurated the National War Memorial Near India Gate, New Delhi.

• The memorial is a commemoration of the sacrifices made by Indian soldiers since Independence with the names of 25,942 martyrs (scope to add more names) etched in stone forever.
• The main structure has been built in the form of four chakras with the eternal flame and obelisk located in the inner-most chakra (Amar Chakra).
• The layout of the Memorial comprises four concentric circles, Amar Chakra Circle of Immortality, the Veerta Chakra Circle of Bravery, the Tyag Chakra Circle of Sacrifice, and the Rakshak Chakra or Circle of Protection.
• The obelisk stands at a height of 15.5 metres and is visible even from a distance as one enters the complex.
• The final chakra ‘Rakshak Chakra’ surrounds the other three and consists of over 600 trees that will act as a wall and represent the soldiers who protect the country.

• National

PM Modi Delivered The Keynote Address At 'Rising India Summit 2019' in New Delhi

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered the keynote address at the 2^nd edition ‘Rising India Summit 2019’ in New Delhi.
• The theme for this year’s event is “Beyond Politics: Defining National Priorities”.
• People of eminence and exceptional achievements from various walks of life come together in New Delhi to celebrate India’s successes and deliberate the future.

• Economy and Business

Afghanistan Begins Export to India Via Chabahar Port

• Afghanistan has begun exports to India through Iran’sChabahar port, as the landlocked country turns to overseas markets to improve its economy.
• Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani has inaugurated the new export route ‘Chabahar route’ in Zaranj city, western Nimroz province.
• According to Indian ambassador, ‘Vinay Kumar’ Afghanistan’s exports to India have increased by 40% after the launch of air corridor between Kabul and New Delhi.
• Now, Afghanistan’s exports will increase to two billion dollars from the current one billion dollars in the next year.

• International

Zimbabwe Starts Trading New Currency RTGS dollar

• Zimbabwe started to trade its new currency, the RTGS dollar, two days after the central bank announced measures to try and resolve a chronic monetary crisis. The bank unveiled a foreign exchange trading system that effectively devalued its quasi-currency, the bond note, which was officially pegged at parity with the US dollar.
• The new currency replaces electronic bank savings called digital dollars and the bond notes and was named after the real-time gross settlement system that banks use to transfer money between each other.

• Economy and Business

NITI Aayog hosts Conference on The Future of Indian Banking

• NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr Rajiv Kumar inaugurated a conference on “The Future of Indian Banking” in New Delhi.
• The conference was organised with the Foundation for Economic Growth and Welfare (EGROW Foundation).
• The objective of the conference was to increase and elevate the discourse on the banking sector in India and help develop insights to inform the continued evolution of the Indian banking sector for optimally supporting the growing credit needs of the Indian economy.

• Sports

Manpreet Singh honoured with AHF's Player of the Year

• The Asian Hockey Federation (AHF) has honoured Indian skipper Manpreet Singh with the 2018 Player of the Year award.
• Women team’s striker Lalremsiami (18-year-old) has bagged the Rising Player of The Year prize.
• Manpreet led the Indian team to an unbeaten streak at the Asian Champions Trophy in Muscat, joint winners with Pakistan.
• He also contributed to the team’s silver medal win at the FIH Champions Trophy in Breda.

• Miscellaneous

Olivia Colman wins best actress Oscar award for "The Favourite"

• Olivia Colman won the best actress award for “The Favourite”, at the 91st Academy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.
• The British actress got the award for her performance as Queen Anne in the period comedy-drama.
• Rami Malek won the best actor for a biographical film “Bohemian Rhapsody”.
• An American biographical comedy-drama film,” GreenBook” won the Best Picture.
• Filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron has won the Best Director Oscar for ‘Roma’ which is an American and Mexican drama.
• Pop diva LadyGaga got the Best Original Song Academy Award for “Shallow” from her feature debut “A Star is Born”.

• Miscellaneous

India Hosts ‘4th Global Digital Health Partnership Summit’

• J P Nadda, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare inaugurated the ‘4th Global Digital Health Partnership Summit’ in New Delhi, in the presence of Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad Union Minister of Law & Justice and Electronics & Information Technology and Health Ministers from several countries.
• The global intergovernmental meeting on digital health is being hosted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP).

• Miscellaneous

EVM is ‘information’ under Right to Information Act, rule CIC

• According to Central Information Commission (CIC) ruled that an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) is “information” under the Right to Information Act and can be demanded by an applicant from the Election Commission of India on a payment of Rs 10.
• This implies the Election Commission has to respond to an RTI application seeking the EVM either by providing it or refusing it under exemption clauses in the Act.

• International

Women’s Livelihood Bond Launched By World Bank, UN And SIDBI

• World Bank, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) launched new social impact bonds exclusively for women, called Women’s Livelihood Bonds (WLBs), with an initial corpus of Rs 300 crore.
• It will enable individual women entrepreneurs in sectors like food processing, agriculture, services, and small units to borrow around Rs 50,000 to Rs 3 lakh at an annual interest rate of around 13% to 14% or less and have a tenure of 5 years. They will be unsecured, unlisted bonds and offer a fixed coupon rate of 3% per annum to bond investors.