NEWS 08-04-2018. NEWS FOR 9-APR (MONDAY) NEWS COMPILATION (MARCH) 1. Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD) launched ‘Study in India’ programme to attract foreign students to pursue higher education in India. It’s main objective is to encourage more foreign students to choose India as destination for higher education, double India’s market share of global education exports & improve global ranking of Indian educational institutes. 2. According to National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey (NARSS) 2017-18, over 93% households in villages who have access to toilets are using them and about 77% homes in rural areas have got toilets. This is a very big achievement under Swachh Bharat Mission and over 300 million people have stopped defecating in open since the launch of it. 3. As per World Happiness Index 2018, recently released by the UN, India was ranked 133rd among 156 countries. The index ranked 156 countries based on factors such as inequality, life expectancy, GDP per capita, social freedom, generosity, public transport etc. Finland was ranked 1st. 4. The 1st official summit of International Solar Alliance (ISA) was held at New Delhi and it was attended by heads of 40 countries. ISA’s headquarters is in Gurugram, India and it aims to create 1,000 Gigawatts (GW) of solar power capacity by 2030.It takes into account the 121 countries which lie partially or fully between Tropic Of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. 5. Supersonic cruise missile BrahMos was successfully flight-tested for the first time with indigenously developed, ‘seeker’. The seeker technology determines the accuracy of missile & was developed by Research Centre Imarat (RCI) in collaboration with DRDO. It is considered as a significant milestone in indigenous missile technology and would reduce import dependence. It is capable of carrying warhead of 300 kgs and has top supersonic speed of Mach 2.8 to 3. It is being hailed as the world’s fastest anti-ship cruise missile in operation. 6. India and France signed strategic pacts in defense sector. It will help in using each other’s military facilities, including opening naval bases to warships. It was signed during official state visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to India. 7. Ministry of Defense released draft policy on defense production which aims to make India as one of the top five manufacturers of defense platforms and become self-reliant in defense production as well as fulfill demand of friendly countries. Further, it aims to achieve turnover of Rs.1,70,000 crore in military goods and services by 2025 by promoting domestic defense industry. 8. Australia won 27th edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Cup 2018, for the record 10th time, by defeating England by 2-1.The tournament was held in Malaysia. 9. Navjot Kaur won gold medal in the 65kg freestyle wrestling category of Senior Asian Championships held in Kyrgyzstan .She created history by becoming the first Indian woman wrestler to win gold medal in Senior Asian Championships. < < Back