• Volodymyr Zelenskiy has won Ukraine’s presidential election.

• To boost tea trade, cultural and technical exchanges as well as the global promotion of tea, the Asian Tea Alliance (ATA), a union of five tea-growing and consuming countries (including India), was launched in Guizhou, China.

• Twitter has appointed Manish Maheshwari as the Managing Director of its India operations.

• India’s largest IT services company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS),has partnered with the Department of Posts in a bid to transform it into a multi-service digital hub.

• Reliance retail has become the first Indian retail company to clock more than 1 lakh crore in annual revenues.

• The Intellectual Property Rights Cell (IPR Cell)of Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) has been selected for the National Intellectual Property Award 2019. Note: World IP Day is observed on April 26.

• India was ranked 17^th position among 100 countries in Startup Ecosystem Ranking for 2019 released by Startup Blink. Bangalore, New Delhi, and Mumbai were the top cities in the Indian startup ecosystem. United States topped the list.

• The World Creativity and Innovation Day (WCID) was celebrated on 21^st April.

• Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22 The theme for Earth Day 2019 is to ‘Protect Our Species.’

• The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) has announced the creation of the Amartya Sen Chair in Inequality Studies, named in honour of the India-born economist Note: Amartya Sen won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1998, Bharat Ratna in 1999 and National Humanities Medal in 2012.

• SBI General Insurance has launched a product – ‘cyber defence insurance’ to protect businesses from financial and reputational losses due to cyber attacks.

• India was ranked 19^th out of 28 countries in the Index of Cancer Preparedness (ICP) released by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).Australia topped the list.

• World Book Day was celebrated on 23^rd It is also known as World Book and Copyright Day, or International Day of the Book.

• Russia has successfully tested the world’s first floating nuclear power plant (NPP).

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced that he would name a new community in the Golan Heights after US President Donald Trump, who officially recognised the disputed area as Israeli territory.

• State-owned Allahabad Bank stated that the government has increased its authorised capital by Rs.5,000 crore to 8,000 crore. Note: Allahabad Bank MD and CEO: S. S. Mallikarjuna Rao, Headquarters: Kolkata.

• World number one Bajrang Punia won gold at Asian Wrestling Championship in China’s Xian, in a nail-biting 65kg men’s freestyle final.

• National Panchayati Raj Day is celebrated every year on 24th April by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj. This day marks the passing of Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992 that came into force with effect from 24 April 1993.

• The world’s first-ever malaria vaccine was launched in a pilot project in Africa’s Malawi. The country is the first of three in Africa in which the vaccine, known as RTS,S, will be made available to children up to 2 years of age.

• Former Dena Bank MD & CEO Karnam Sekar is set to take over as the new Managing Director and CEO of Indian Overseas Bank from July 1, 2019. He will take over from R Subramaniakumar.

• The Reserve Bank of India has become the first central bank in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region to begin an explicit interest rate easing cycle.

• Kotak Mahindra Bank (Kotak)has launched the first debit card-based authentication solution on NPCI’s (National Payments Corporation of India) e-Mandate (electronic mandate) API (Application Program Interface) platform. With this, it has become the first ever Destination Bank to go live with both Net Banking and Debit Card-based e-mandate authentication. Note: Kotak Mahindra Bank MD & CEO: Uday Kotak, headquarters: Mumbai.

• National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved the merger of private sector lender IndusInd Bank with Bharat Financial Inclusion (BFIL), a microfinance company. Bharat Financial will become a subsidiary of the private lender.

• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI)has divested its entire stake held in National Housing Bank (NHB), and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to the government, which now holds 100% in these entities. Note: NHB is the regulator for housing finance companies while NABARD is responsible for regulating and supervising the functions of Co-operative banks and RRBs.

• Every year on 25 April,people around the globe observe World Malaria Day (WMD). This year, the theme for the day is “Zero malaria starts with me”.

• The Indian Army has started the process of inducting women as jawans by starting their online registration for recruitment in the corps of military police. They were being inducted only as officers and this is the first time they would be taken in as soldiers. 

• Benny Antony has been honoured with the National Intellectual Property Award, 2019 in the category of Top Individual for Patents and Commercialization. Dr. Antony has over 80 international patents to his credit. Along with the National IP Award, the Intellectual Property Office India and the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) have jointly honoured Antony with the ‘WIPO Medal for Inventors’.

• The prestigious Master Deenanath Mangeshkar Award 2019 was awarded to National Award-winning filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, popular script writer Salim Khan and dancing diva Helen.

• Dawn editor and Columnist Cyril Almeida from Pakistan has won the IPI’s (International Press Institute) World Press Freedom Hero award in 2019. He won this award for his “critical” and “tenacious coverage” of the civil-military relations in Pakistan. 

• State Bank of India (SBI)has launched India’s first ‘Green Car Loan’ (Electric Vehicle) to encourage customers to buy electric vehicles. The new scheme ‘Green Car Loan’ will offer the loan at 20 basis points lower than the interest rate on the existing car loan schemes. Note: SBI Chairperson: Rajnish Kumar, Headquarters: Mumbai.

• World Intellectual Property Day (WIPD)is celebrated every year on 26 April around the world to promote the importance of intellectual property rights (patents, trademarks, industrial designs, copyright). WIPD-2019 Theme is “Reach Gold-Intellectual Property (IP) And Sports“.

• The last week of April every year is observed as World Immunisation Week (WIW). The WIW 2019 was observed from 24-30th April, carrying the theme “Protected Together: Vaccines Work”.  

• Etihad Airways, UAE based flag carrier, has become the first major airline in the Gulf region to operate a flight without any single-use plastics on board.

• The second edition of Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize was awarded to author Rana Dasgupta for his 2010 novel “Solo”, a tale of estrangement and the ultimate failure of material existence. The Rabindranath Tagore Literary Prize for social achievement was awarded to Yohei Sasakawa, for “his incredible efforts to uproot leprosy and great contribution to world peace”.

• Microsoft has reached a valuation of one trillion dollars for the first time. It makes the software giant only the third publicly-traded company in history to reach the threshold after Apple and Amazon passed it in 2018. Note: Microsoft CEO: Satya Nadella.

• India won 13 medals, including 2 gold, 4 silver, and 7 bronze at the Asian Boxing Championships in Bangkok. Boxers Pooja Rani and Amit Panghal gave India 2 gold medals.

• Pankaj Advani,the 21-time India’s cueist, clinched the Asian Snooker Tour title.  

• Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority of India (IRDAI)has set up a 13 member committee under IRDAI Executive Director Suresh Mathur to review the regulatory framework on microinsurance & recommend measures to increase the demand for such products. Note: IRDAI Chairman- Subhash Chandra Khuntia, Headquarters- Hyderabad.

• Ex-South Africa all-rounder Jacques Kallis has been honoured with the Order of Ikhamanga in the Silver Division.

• International Dance Day was observed globally on 29^th of April.  

• Dominic Thiem (Austria) won the Barcelona Open 2019 after defeating Daniil Medvedev (Russia).

• India finished top at the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Cup with a total of four medals, three golds and a silver. China was on the second position. The event was held in Beijing, China.

• Australia’s Claire Polosak will become the first female umpire to officiate in a men’s one-day international at the ICC World Cricket League Division Two match. The 31-year-old became the first woman to umpire an Australian men’s domestic fixture in October 2017.

• 23^rd Asian Athletics Championships concluded in Doha, Qatar. Bahrain topped the medal tally. India clinched the 4^th spot with 17 total medals including 3 Gold.

• India was the world’s fourth biggest military spender in 2018 behind the United States, China, and Saudi Arabia, according to new data think tank Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

• Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk and Arsenal Women Football Club’s Vivianne Miedema were named Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) Players’ Player of the Year for the 2018-19 season.

• Indian golfer Gaganjeet Bhullar won the outstanding achievement as a player award at the fourth edition of the annual India Golf Industry Association (GIA) awards. 

• Wipro Consumer Care announced that it is acquiring personal care company ‘Splash’, which is based in the Philippines. 

• Bajrang Punia is set to become the first wrestler from India to fight at the iconic Madison Square Garden in New York. He is the first Indian wrestler to be invited by the American governing body. Punia will take part in the “Grapple at the Garden – Beat the Streets” fight night.

• India wrapped up their campaign at the Asian Wrestling Championships with 16 medals (1 Gold, 3 Silver & 4 Bronze). Only Bajrang Punia won the gold medal in 65kg men’s freestyle. Asian Wrestling Championship 2019 was held at Xi’an, China.