India's exports are expected to reach 32.4 billion dollars in March, the highest in any month so far, on account of healthy growth in sectors such as pharmaceuticals.

In an interview to news agency PTI, Commerce and Industry minister Suresh Prabhu today said, that exports would cross 331 billion-dollar-mark in the 2018-19 fiscal year.

The minister said that for the first time, India has crossed 19 billion-dollar-figure in pharma exports this fiscal. The Commerce Ministry will release the trade data on 15th April.

UAE has conferred the prestigious Zayed Medal on Prime Minister Modi, the highest decoration awarded to kings, presidents and heads of states. 

The award comes in appreciation of Prime Minister Modi’s role in consolidating the long-standing friendship and joint strategic cooperation between the two countries. A report from our correspondent. 

"Never have the relationship and bond between the two countries been so strong. In yet another sign of growing relationship between India and UAE , the leadership here has conferred the prestigious Zayed Medal to Prime Minister Modi, the highest decoration awarded to kings, presidents and heads of states.

Referring to Prime Minister Modi as a dear friend , the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan in a tweet today said that the PM had played a pivotal role in enhancing bilateral ties between the two countries to the level of comprehensive strategic relations.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has directed operators to submit before it all tariff plans that they offer to select segments of customers at the end of every month. 

Telecom regulator in its order on Wednesday issued the new direction to telecom operators directing them to submit before it details of rates, terms and conditions of scheme, quantum of service that customers will get, name of the plan, validity period of subion and benefits available to the subscriber under the plan in which segment offer has been given. 

TRAI also directed service providers to share with it the number of subscribers at the end of each month who have availed the segmented offer. 

The Reserve Bank of India will today announce its first bi-monthly monetary policy of current financial year. 

The six-member Monetary Policy Committee headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das will meet in Mumbai for the third consecutive day today ahead of the policy announcement. RBI is expected to go in for 25 basis points rate cut to provide thrust to the economic growth.

The consumer price inflation being well within the RBI’s target will also provide an elbow room to the central bank to lower the interest rates

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu has said that online education is the best mode of learning as it has the potential to reach every nook and corner of the country through the Internet. 

Addressing 32nd convocation of Indira Gandhi National Open University, IGNOU in New Delhi today, Mr Naidu said, online education also helps in increasing literacy rates. He said, IGNOU has made knowledge acquisition accessible to many learners, who otherwise were unable to attend regular institutes of higher learning.

The Vice President expressed happiness that IGNOU has set up eleven regional centres separately for the security forces like Indian Army, Navy and Assam Rifles. He expressed confidence that with this distance education facility, the officers and soldiers of the security forces can continue their studies. 

On the occasion, Mr Naidu awarded degrees to over 2 lakh students of the University across the country.

The US has approved the sale of 24 multi-role MH-60 ‘Romeo’ Seahawk helicopters to India at an estimated cost of USD2.4 billion, the State Department has said.

India has been in need of these formidable anti-submarine hunter helicopters for more than a decade now. Designed for hunting submarines as well as knocking out ships and conducting search-and-rescue operations at sea, the Lockheed Martin-built helicopters, would replenish India’s aging fleet of British-made Sea King helicopters.

The Trump Administration on Tuesday notified the Congress that it has approved sale of 24 MH-60R multi-mission helicopters, which will provide the Indian defence forces the capability to perform anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare missions. In its notification, the State Department told the Congress that this proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the US by helping to strengthen the US-Indian strategic relationship.

A day after NASA claimed that debris from India’s anti-satellite (ASAT) missile test has increased the collision risk to the International Space Station (ISS) by 44 per cent, Tapan Misra, senior advisor to ISRO chairman said on Tuesday that Indian scientists will not do anything to shame India and that the debris from “Mission Shakti” will burn out in the next six months.

“It has happened at about 300 kilometres in space where the wind pressure is low, but it is enough to burn them (the debris) down in another six months,” Misra said, in response to a question about the risk to the ISS raised by a student at the Gujarat National Law University (GNLU), where the scientist was present for an open house session on the topic “Indian Human Space Programme and its legal implication”.

Misra was former director of Ahmedabad-based Space Applications Centre (SAC), a crucial arm of ISRO that is working on India’s plans for human space flight Gaganyaan.

China and India together were responsible for half of the total global attributable deaths from air pollution in 2017, a new global study released Wednesday has revealed. Long-term exposure to outdoor and indoor air pollution is estimated to have contributed to nearly 5 million deaths in 2017, of which China and India reported 1.2 million deaths each. China’s “major regulatory reforms appear to be driving substantial reductions in PM2.5 exposure,” it notes.

The State Of Global Air report 2019, produced by the Boston-based Health Effects Institute (HEI), noted that air pollution collectively reduced life expectancy by 1 year and 8 months on average worldwide, rivalling that of smoking. “This means a child born today will die 20 months sooner, on average, than would be expected in the absence of air pollution,” the SOGA2019 noted.

Theatre in Odisha would never be the same again. Its lone crusader is no more. 
The man who brought in new genres and concepts to the theatre scene and put Cuttack on the global theatre map, eminent dramatist and organiser Kartik Chandra Rath passed away on Monday following a heart attack. He was 70 and is survived by wife, a son and two daughters. 

Rath single-handedly organised one of the biggest theatre festivals in the world - India Theatre Olympiad - in Cuttack for the last two decades. The Olympiad came to become a prestigious feature in the world amateur theatre calendar. Every autumn, Cuttack transformed into a throbbing theatre stage with scores of international theatre groups from all over the world and over a hundred groups from the country converging in the city to perform at the festival.

Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika is resigning after weeks of mass protests, state media report.

Mr Bouteflika, who has been in power for 20 years, had already dropped plans to seek a fifth term as opposition to his rule grew.

The powerful Algerian army had called for the 82-year-old to be declared incapable of carrying out his duties.

The ailing leader suffered a stroke six years ago and has rarely appeared in public since.