Read the Weekly Current Affairs and GK Updates Ques & Ans here. Get Free Access to Competitive Exams General Knowledge Quiz in GK Eduwrap.

We have catered the Important GK Updates from the major Current Affairs Categories below. Please have a look –

Are you ready to test your knowledge? Take this GK Quiz to check your preparation level!

Choose the Section You’d like to Read – Use these links!
National Current Affairs	International Current Affairs
Memorandum of Understanding	Science & Technology Events
Sports Current Affairs	Awards & Honours List
Appointments GK Updates	Important Days & Dates
Recent Deaths Updates
Bills [Amendments & New]	Important Abbreviations

To get the Weekly Current Affairs & GK Eduwrap in PDF Format, please click the button below -

National Current Affairs | Access the Latest Happenings across India

1. Gail arm to invest INR 3,000 cr in Dabhol terminal to double capacity to 10 mt:

The newly-created arm of state-run gas major Gail India in Dabhol (Maharashtra), Konkan LNG, will pump in around INR 3,000 cr to double the capacity at its LNG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) to 10 million tonnes over the next three years.

 Konkan LNG, a 100% subsidiary of Gail, had received the first 1.2 lakh tonne shipment on 30th March 2018.

 The 5.8-mt LNG contracted from the first-ever long-term agreement with the US which was signed way back in 2011 and 2013.

2. Now, Tibetans to host ‘Thank You India’ campaign in Delhi:

Sheila Dixit (Former Delhi Chief Minister) will preside over the opening ceremony of the Cultural Festival of Tibet event.

 Over a long period of time, it is organized by the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), in New Delhi.

 Lobsang Sangay (CTA President) will also attend the inaugural ceremony that will continue till 4^th April 2018.

 Apart from the exhibitions, film screening and performances by the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts, there will be a discussion on “India and Tibet: Ancient Ties, Current Bonds”.

3. MHRD launched the Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan:

Rashtriya Avishkar Abhiyan (RAA) has been launched by the Ministry of Human Resource Development.

 This Abhiyan is launched to encourage Science & Mathematics learning in children and for developing their interest through various activities related to Science and Mathematics.

 One of the interventions under RAA is strengthening of school’s laboratories of Science and Mathematics through RMSA (Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan).

 The total amount of INR 179.73 cr has been approved in 2017-18 for the training of science and mathematics teachers, provision of science and maths kits, remedial teaching, science exhibitions, etc.

4. President Ram Nath Kovind embarks on 3 National Africa tour:

Three National Africa states (Equatorial Guinea, Swaziland and Zambia) visit from 7th to 12th April 2018 will be embarked by President Ram Nath Kovind.

 This visit will be the first one by any head the of state of India to Equatorial Guinea and Swaziland.

 This visit will be helpful to develop the relations among these three African countries.

 In March 2018, the President had also undertaken two nation visits to Madagascar and Mauritius.

5. Government is going to launch Gobardhan Yojana nationally from Haryana:

By end of April 2018, the Union Government will launch GOBAR-Dhan Yojna nationally from Karnal district of Haryana.

 The aim is to provide organic manure and cow urine with an aimi to benefit farmers.

 Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has announced this scheme in his 2018 budget speech.

 Under GOBAR-Dhan scheme, the government will aim to cover nearly 700 districts of India in 2018-19.

 

6. Government shaped committee to regulate news portals:

A committee has been formed by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to regulate online portals, including entertainment sites, news websites and media aggregators.

 In this committee, 10 members are included from secretaries of the departments of home, legal affairs, electronics and information & technology and from industrial policy and promotion.

 The committee will be able to look at three things. First one is to bring online information dissemination under regulation. Second is to propose a policy for foreign direct investment in media and the third one is to look at international best practices on such existing regulatory mechanism.

7. Union HRD Minister Shri Prakash Javadekar Releases ‘NIRF India Ranking 2018’ for Higher Education Institutions:

Shri Prakash Javadekar (Union Minister of Human Resource Development) released the NIRF India Rankings 2018 in various categories which are based on the performance of Higher Educational Institutions.

 The programme has organized in New Delhi.

 Top 69 institutions in 9 categories were awarded in this event.

 List of winner institutes in 9 categories is given below

 Overall category – Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

 Management Category – Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.

 University category – Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

 Colleges category – Miranda House, Delhi.

 Pharmacy category – National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research Mohali.

 Medical category – All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.

 Architecture category – Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur.

 Law category – National Law School of India University, Bengaluru.

 Engineering category – Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

You may also visit – Top Engineering Colleges in India

8. India will be the partner country for Ambiente 2019:

India will be the partner country for international Frankfurt Trade Fair, Ambiente 2019 which is going to be held in between February 8-12, 2019.

 It was announced on the penultimate day of Ambiente 2018 by Messe Frankfurt at a festive ceremony.

International Current Affairs | Know What’s happening around the World

1. The US and South Korea began a Joint Military Exercise named “Foal Eagle”.

 The United State and South Korea began the joint military exercise for more than 11,500 U.S. troops and nearly 300,000 South Korean forces.

 The exercises will run for four weeks. This one is the largest annual joint military exercise.

 Earlier, the drill was to be organized in February 2018, but it delayed to avoid a clash with Winter Olympic Games in South Korea.

2. Turkey has launched construction of first ever nuclear plant:

The President of Turkey launched the construction of Turkey’s first-ever nuclear power plant in Mersin region. The launch of this project was done by the two Presidents with the help of video conferencing.

 The estimated cost of the power plant would be 20 billion dollars.

 First stage of this nuclear plant will be completed by 2023.

3. Shushma Swaraj on 3 Day Visit to Azerbaijan:

Three days visit to Azerbaijan is begun by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj for participating in Mid-Term Ministerial Meeting of Non-Aligned Movement in Baku.

 During this visit, EAM will hold bilateral consultations with her Azerbaijani counterpart Elmar Mammadyarov.

 Discussion will be based on bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest.

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) | Get the Best Information Out of Top Agreements

1. MoU signed between HDFC Bank and Indian Army on Defence Salary Package:

Indian Army and HDFC Bank signed a Memorandum of Undertaking on the Defence Salary Package on 3rd April 2018.

 This MoU is tailor made to suit the requirements of serving soldiers, pensioners and families.

 Indian Army has MoUs with 11 public and private sector banks on Defence Salary Packages.

2. MoU signed by India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on technical cooperation in rail sector:

The Union Cabinet has been apprised of the Memorandum of Understanding signed with Federal Transport Authority Land and Maritime of the UAE on technical cooperation in rails sector.

 This MoU will enable the technical cooperation in regulation, safety and technical investigation of accidents, locomotives, station redevelopment etc.

 Latest developments and knowledge will be provided to Indian Railway through this MoU.

3. MoU signed by India and Canada on foster cross-border partnerships:

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has been apprised of the MoU signed between India and Canada.

  Aim of this MoU is fostering cross-border partnerships attentive on research excellence and industry-academic collaboration between these two countries that brings strong innovation.

Bills [Amendments & New] – See How Many New Bills have been passed in 2018

1. E-Way Bill for Inter-State Movement of goods comes into force:

 

In the financial year 2018-19, the E-way Bill System for Inter-State movement of goods comes into force. This E-way Bill will be required for moving goods worth over INR 50,000 from one state to other.

  Last month, the GST Council had decided on a staggered rollout of the e-way bill starting with inter-state from 1^st April and intra-state from 15^th

 

 

2. Cabinet approves Protection of Human Rights Bill, 2018:

For better protection and promotion of human rights in the country. The Union Cabinet has introduced Protection of Human Rights (Amendments) Bill, 2018 in Parliament

This bill will amend the Protection of Human Rights, 1993. In 2006, the bill was last amended.

  The amendment includes National Commission for Protection of Child Rights as deemed member of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

  This amendment will improve Human Rights Institution of India.

 

Banking Awareness & Economics Current Affairs | Understand the Top Trends in India

 

1. Atal Pension Yojana subscriber base touched over 97 lakhs:

 

As per the PFRDA (Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority), Atal Pension Yojana subscriber base touched 97.05 lakh that is lower than the set target of 1 crore.

  In 2016-17, the total number of subscribers under Atal Pension Yojana was reached at 48.83 lakh with an absolute incremental addition of 23.98 lakh accounts. There is an addition of over 48.21 lakh subscribers in 2017-18.

2. SIDBI celebrated its foundation day on 2 April 2018:

 

On 2 April 2018, SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India) celebrated its foundation day.

 SIDBI is the financial institution for promotion, financing and development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector in India.

 Chairman of SIDBI also launched ‘Samridhhi- the virtual assistant’ on banks revamped universal loan portal www.udyamimitra.in.

 

3. 16 APAs inked by Government in March 2018:

The Central Board of Direct Taxes has entered into 2 Bilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (BAPA) and 14 Unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (UAPA) in March 2018.

 Total 219 APAs with the signing of these Agreements, CBDT has entered.

  This agreement includes 199 Unilateral APAs and 20 Bilateral APAs. Of this, 67 APAs (58 Unilateral and 9 Bilateral) were signed in FY 2017-18.

4. RBI defers adoption of Ind-AS by 1 year for banks:

Adoption has deferred by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) of Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) by commercial banks till April 2019. Reason behind this is unpreparedness of banks to migrate to the new accounting system.

 In the assessment, RBI has found that some of the banks are still not prepared to move into new accounting rules.

 Reserve Bank of India has requested Government to amend Banking Regulation Act,1949 as a format of financial statements.

 

5. RBI’S first bimonthly policy FY 2018-19 remains unchanged:

 

The RBI has decided to maintain status quo in policy rates by keeping the repo rate unchanged at 6.0% in its first bimonthly policy review for the financial year 2018-19.

 The decision was taken by RBI’s six-member Monetary Policy Committee led by RBI Governor Urjit Patel.

  It is fourth time in a row RBI has unchanged repo rate, the rate at which RBI lends funds to banks.

6. ICICI becomes First Indian Bank to go Live on SWIFT’s GPI Service:

 

ICICI Bank to go live on Society for World Interbank Financial Telecommunication System (SWIFT) Global Payment Innovation (GPI). ICICI bank becomes the first Indian bank which is going to live on SWIFT’S GPI Service.

 With the help of SWIFT GPI, banks track their global transaction at any time. They keep full watch on all the payment activities.

 SWIFT enables financial institutions worldwide to send and receive information about financial transactions in reliable and secure environment.

7. 11 Public Sector Banks now on RBI Watchlist:

 

RBI has placed 11 PSBs (public sector banks) out of 21 State-owned banks under its Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) framework to deteriorating performance.

 It is expected that there will be 3-4 more PSBs to brought under PCA framework.

 Banks which are under PCA framework are –

IDBI Bank

 Bank of India

 UCO Bank

 Indian Overseas Bank

 Central Bank of India

 Oriental Bank of Commerce

 Dena Bank

 United Bank of India

 Bank of Maharashtra

 Corporation Bank

 Allahabad Bank

Science & Technology Current Events | Stay Advanced with Latest Inventions

1. ISRO Losses Contact with Satellite GSAT-6A

 

Contact has been lost by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with one of the most powerful communication GSAT-6A Satellite.

The cause behind this is believed to have by the power system failure or any kind of short circuit on the satellite.

After its successful textbook launch on 29 March 2018 onboard of GSLV-F08 the satellite was to be placed in orbit in three phases.

2. Scientists Discovered New Organ in Human Body:

 

A new organ named ‘interstitium’ has been discovered by scientists in human body. This will be known as 80^th organ in a human body.

 The organ is discovered while searching for signs of cancer by investigating patient’s bile duct.

 Interstitium organ will help to find how cancer spreads in the human body and pave way for new ways to detect and treat the disease.

3. India emerged as 3rd Most Valuable Country to Cyber Threats:

 

As per the recent internet security threat report, India has moved up by one place over previous year as third most vulnerable country in terms of risk of cyber threats.

 The report is published by Symantec which is a security solution provider.

 Most vulnerable country to such cyber attacks is United States with 26.61% global threats. In India, detected global threats were 5.09%.

4. Sounding Rocket RH300 launched for Atmospheric Studies:

The RH-300 sounding rocket which is developed by ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) was launched in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala from Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station.

 The RH-300 rocket launched under SOUREX programme for atmospheric studies.

 Through this experiment, measures will be taken of neutral wind in dynamo region of the equatorial ionosphere by using indigenously developed ENWI (Electron Density and Neutral Wind Probe).

5. UTTAM App launched by Piyush Goyal for Coal Quality Monitoring:

Shri Piyush Goyal (Union Minister for Railways and Coal) has launched the UTTAM (Unlocking Transparency by Third Party Assessment of Mind Coal) App for coal quality monitoring.

 This app is developed by Coal India Limited (CIL) and the Ministry of Coal to monitor the process of third party sampling of coal across CIL subsidiaries.

 UTTAM App ensures effectiveness, efficiency, accountability and transparency in ecosystem. It will provide a platform for monitoring of sampling and coal dispatches.

Sports Current Affairs | Read all the Major Achievements in Popular Tournaments

 

S.No.	Tournaments/Sports Names	Winners	Pictures
1.	Telangana Sports Journalists Association Annual Awards	Mithali Raj
2.	Gold Medal in Weightlifter Commonwealth Games 2018	Sathish Sivalingam
3.	Gold in Commonwealth Games 2018	Indian Badminton Squad
4.	First Gold Medal Weightlifter Commonwealth Games 2018	Mirabai Chanu
5.	Second Gold Medal Weightlifter Commonwealth Games 2018	Sanjita Chanu
6.	Gold Coast Commonwealth Games	Indian Women Hockey Team
7.	Gold in 25m Pistol Jr World Cup	Muskan Bhanwala
8.	Lifted Sixth Santosh Trophy Football	Kerala
9.	South East Asian Women Handball Championship	India
10.	Won Silver (Weightlifter) Commonwealth Games 2018	P.Gururaja

Awards and Honours | Fetch the List of Top Awardees in Distinct Fields

S.No.	Awards Names	Awardees Names	Pictures
1.	World’s Second Largest Mobile Producer	India
2.	Ranks 37th in Global Startup Ecosystem in 2017	India
3.	Becomes Second Largest Manufacturer of Crude Steel	India
4.	Padma Bhushan Award	MS Dhoni
5.	Padma Award	Ramli Ibrahim
6.	Padma Shri Award	Damodar Ganesh Bapat
7.	India’s first city to roll-out Euro VI Fuel	Delhi

Appointments Latest GK Updates | Upgrade Your Knowledge Cart with the List of Top Influencers

S.No.	Position & Organization	Name	Pictures
1.	Appointed the Chairman of the Central Panel of the 65th National Film Awards	Shekhar Kapur
2.	New President of Nasscom	Debjani Ghosh
3.	1st Female UN Political Chief	Rosemary DiCarlo
4.	Appointed as Deputy Collector in Andhra Pradesh	Shuttler Kidambi Srikanth
5.	Next Ambassador of India to Serbia	Subrata Bhattacharjee
6.	New MD & CEI of SBI Life	Sanjeev Nautiyal
7.	BAI President	Himanta Biswa Sharma
8.	New President of Sierra Leone	Julius Maada Biio

Get the Weekly & Monthly dose of Current Affairs & General Knowledge! Download GK Eduwrap for Free!

Important Days & Dates | Mark them to Boost up your General Knowledge

 

S.No.	Important Days	Dates
1.	Prevention of Blindness Week	1st April
2.	World Autism Awareness Day	2nd April
3.	World Rat Day	4th April
4.	Indian National Maritime Day	5th April
5.	World Health Day	7th April

Recent Deaths of Famous Personalities | Know who died today?

S.No.	Names	Pictures
1.	Veteran Tamil Film Director C.V. Rajendran
2.	Former Guatemala Dictator Rios Montt.
3.	Malayalam Actor Kollam Ajith
4.	Veteran Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam S. Madhavan

To fetch the complete list of Important Abbreviations that are asked in Competitive Exam, please visit the blog – Popular Abbreviations for Competitive Exams: SSC, IBPS, RRB, Govt Jobs.

Above in the Weekly Current Affairs & GK Eduwrap, we have covered up all the major happenings of the country and the world to help you in boosting up your General Knowledge and Awareness.

Hope the article will be helpful to you. Please share your generous reviews & queries with us in the comments section below.

Are you ready to test your knowledge? Take this GK Quiz to check your preparation level!

To get the daily assistance in preparing for the Government Jobs Exams like – IBPS, SSC & Railways Exams, please stay connected with us on Facebook & YouTube.

You may also like reading –

 Current Affairs & General Knowledge 25 to 31 March 2018 – GK Eduwrap

 General Knowledge Quiz & Current Affairs Ques 25 to 31 March 2018

 Current Affairs & GK Eduwrap of March 2018

Thank you