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In a bid to ease the cash crunch, the State Bank of India (SBI) has decided to allow depositors to withdraw cash from its Point of Sale (PoS) devices available with merchants. This “Cash@POS” facility will be available for customers of all banks and can be used in about 80% of SBI’s PoS devices across the country. According to guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India, Customer can use SBI & any other bank debit card to withdraw cash up to Rs 1,000 in Tier 3 to 6 & up to Rs 1,000 in Tier 1 & 2 cities per card per day. Presently, the bank will not be charging any fees for these withdrawals.

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The Union Government has constituted a Defence Planning Committee (DPC) to facilitate comprehensive planning for the defence forces besides focusing on military doctrines to deal with emerging security challenges. It will be chaired by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval. Apart from the NSA, the committee will comprise, the foreign secretary, chairman of chiefs of staff committee, the Army, Navy and Air Force chiefs and secretary (expenditure) in the Finance Ministry. The chairman of the DPC can co-opt experts into it depending on requirement. The committee would prepare drafts of national security strategy and doctrines, international defence engagement strategy and roadmap to build defence manufacturing ecosystem. It will also work on strategy to boost defence exports, and prioritised capability development plans for the armed forces. The committee will also focus its energy on development of Indian defence industry and technology advancements. The DPC would submit its draft reports to the Defence Minister according to “given timelines” following which further approvals will be obtained as required.

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On April 19, Lt Governor Anil Baijal has approved the Kejriwal government’s proposal mandating an hourly compensation of Rs 100 to consumers in case of unscheduled power cuts. As per the proposed policy, power discoms will have to pay their consumers for unscheduled power cuts, after first hour, at an hourly rate of Rs 100. With the LG’s approval, Delhi will become the first city in the country to have a policy to compensate consumers for unscheduled outages. There are three private power discoms including the BSES companies BYPL and BRPL, and the Tata Power Delhi Distribution Limited (TPDDL) that supply power to the city, barring areas under the New Delhi Municipal Council and the Delhi Cantonment. The compensation earned by the consumers will be adjusted against their monthly power bill. In case, the compensation is not paid by the discoms, the consumers can lodge a complaint with the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Authority (DERC). The amount of compensation in such cases will be Rs 5,000 or five times of the compensation payable, whichever is higher.

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Bengaluru FC has won the first edition of Indian Super Cup Football tournament on April 20, 2018. In the final at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, they defeated Kolkata football giants East Bengal by a convincing margin of 4-1. The competition is sponsored by Hero MotoCorp and is officially known as the Hero Super Cup.

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The Chinese dragon ‘Son of Dreams’ has been declared the official mascot of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China. This is no ordinary Chinese dragon, but one that is magic, full of wisdom, persistence and strength. Son of Dream, who is holding a basketball, is fit, energetic and wears high tops to pay homage to China’s greatest ever player, Yao Ming. Son of Dream has horns that symbolize the hope that the eyes of the world will be on China when the FIBA Basketball World Cup is staged. The tournament will take place in 8 Chinese cities from August 31 until September 15.

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On 23rd April 2018, Manipur is observing Khongjom Day to pay tributes to the great warriors of Anglo-Manipur battle of 1891 at Khongjom in Thoubal district. The warriors laid down their lives safeguarding the freedom of the state. In the main function at Khebaching, the State Governor Dr. Najma Heptulla and Chief Minister N. Biren Singh led the people to pay floral tribute at the Khongjom War memorial site. Floral tributes were also paid at the statue of Major Paona Brajabasi, who led the Manipuri warriors against the British forces. Religious offering will also be paid at the Khongjom River near the battlefield.

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Two 12-year-old football enthusiasts — Surya Varikuti and Rudresh Gaudnour — have been selected as India’s representatives at the global Football For Friendship (F4F) social programme in Russia. The F4F programme, supported by Gazprom and FIFA aims at developing youth football and a healthy lifestyle, as well as promoting tolerance, open-mindedness and respect for different cultures and nationalities between children from across the globe. This year, the F4F programme has expanded to 211 countries and regions. This is the second time that Surya will join young footballers from around the world in Moscow in June. The children will be part of the 32 International Teams of Friendship and play against each other in the Gazprom F4F International Championship. Rudresh will act as the young journalist and report on all the local and global activities of the F4F programme as part of the International Children’s Press Center. Surya and Rudresh will also participate in the Football for Friendship International Children’s Forum in Russia, where the youngsters will get a chance to meet their peers from other countries and share their experiences.

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Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has created history by becoming the first listed Indian IT company to hit the $100 billion market capitalisation (m-cap) mark. On April 23, 2018, the market value of the company stood at Rs 6.53 lakh crore. TCS breached the Rs 3,500 ($52.87) per share mark for the first time, reaching $100 billion in market capitalisation. By definition, market capitalisation is the value of a company that is traded on the stock market, calculated by multiplying the total number of shares by the present share price.

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The Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has signed Information Utility (IU) pact with National E-Governance Services Limited (NeSL) to share financial and security information under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IU) regulation 2017.. With this agreement, the IOB branches will be able to provide high-quality, authenticated information about debts and defaults; which will have more transparency in maintaining the list of borrowers, debtors, creditors and loan defaulters. The NeSL is the India’s first IU registered by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) for bankruptcy cases under the ‘Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016’ in October 2017. IU stores financial information that helps to establish defaults as well as verify claims expeditiously and thereby facilitates completion of transactions under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 in a time bound manner.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi has launched the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan at Ram Nagar in Mandla district of Madhya Pradesh on the occasion of 2018 National Panchayati Raj Day. The purpose of the scheme is to strengthen the country’s Panchayati Raj system and address critical gaps that hinder its success. The scheme focuses on training, building infrastructure and stepping up initiatives for e-governance under the e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project. Mr Modi also unveiled a plaque to mark the laying of foundation stone of an LPG bottling plant of Indian Oil Corporation at Maneri. He also inaugurated Aadi Mahotsava, a 3-day program on the conservation of ancient Tribal culture and heritage. The Prime Minister also unveiled a roadmap for the development of tribal areas in the state.