The ISIS has announced the establishment of a new province in which among the following Indian states?

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has directed six States to submit by April 30 action plans for bringing air quality standards within the prescribed norms, failing which they would be liable to pay environment compensation of Rs.1 crore each. A Bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel ordered the Chief Secretaries of Assam, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Nagaland governments to submit their plan within the stipulated time.

Ajay V Nayak, The Election Commission has appointed Ajay V Nayak, ex-Bihar chief electoral officer, as the Special Observer for West Bengal.The first phase polls held in April 11 in Cooch Behar and Alipurpur constituencies. Polls in the remaining 40 constituencies will be held in six phases.

Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) in Trivandrum, Kerala has awarded Intellectual Property Award 2019 on the occasion of World Intellectual Property Day. The award was given under the category of "Top Indian R&D Institution and Organisation for Patents & Commercialisation". The award carries a citation, a memento and a cash award of Rs 1 lakh. The SCTIMST has transferred 54 technologies to different companies for the purpose of commercialisation. It has 97 Indian patent and another 127 patent applications are waiting for approval. It is also the applicant or co-applicant in 21 foreign patent applications. The institute also has 25 design registrations and one trademark as the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). The institute promotes research and technology development of medical technologies and also provides high quality care to patients in cardiac and neuroscience.

The government of Tripura announced 'Notun Disha' (New Direction) for assessing the academic level of students in classes III-VIII and then improving their current level. It was launched by state Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath. Training will be provided by NGOs and educational institutions to 800 teachers. The duration of the project is 1 month. Rs. 28 crores have been allocated to the project.

The Meghalaya Cabinet approved the proposal for the creation of a new Directorate of Dairy Development to boost the milk production. The state government had launched the Meghalaya Milk Mission and sanctioned Rs 215 crore through the National Cooperative Development Corporation. For creating the post of director, the government would spend additionally Rs 12 lakh a year. The Cabinet has also approved a proposal for enhancing the grant-in-aid to 15 secondary schools in the state.

Former Union Minister V. Dhananjaya Kumar died in Mangalore, Karnataka. He was 68 and the reason of his death has been ascertained due to ailments. He is natively from Venur, Belthangady taluk in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka. He had been a representative from Mangalore constituency for 4 continuous terms and served as the Union Minister in the 13-day rule of A.B. Vajpayee government. He was Cabinet Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism in 1996, Union Minister of State for Finance from 1999-2000, and Union Minister of State for Textiles from 2000-2003.

Ajoy Mehta (1984-batch I.A.S- Indian Administrative Officer), the municipal commissioner of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) also known as Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai has been appointed as the new Chief Secretary (CS) of Maharashtra. He holds the distinction of being the longest-serving BMC commissioner.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has laid the foundation stone for the Dehradun-Mussoorie ropeway project which is considered to be a tourist novelty. The Rs 300-crore ropeway project is expected to be completed in three years. Poma, a French company which manufactures cable-driven projects, will provide the technical support to the ropeway which will be built on the PPP mode.

National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed a penalty of Rs 100 crore on the Andhra Pradesh government for illegal sand mining in the state. Penalty has been imposed on the lines of plea filed by Andhra Pradesh resident Anumolu Gandhi, alleging illegal sand mining was causing damage to Krishna, Godavari rivers and their tributaries in the state. The tribunal headed by Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel who is the chairperson of NGT directed the state government to deposit Rs 100 crore 'environment compensation' with the Central Pollution Control Board (CPSB) within a month.Also, a committee has been formed consisting of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), National Institute of Mines, Dhanbad, IIT Roorkee and Madras School of Economics for the evaluation of environment damage within three months and to provide a report to this Tribunal.

The 6-day Brahmakalashothsava festival is celebrated in the ancient Chandkuru Sri Durga Parameshwari Temple annually in Polali, Dakshina Kannada district in Karnataka. The presiding deity of the temple, which has a history of nearly 1,700 years, is Shri Rajarajeshwari. The highlight of this temple is its mud idols and this is probably the only idol of this size (about 9ft height) in Karnataka. Other than the presiding deity Rajarajeshwari - two other idols Bhadrakali on the left (may be bigger than the presiding deity in height) and Lord Subrahmanya and Ganesha are on the right hand side. It is in news recently because several Dalits and OBCs from Chandkuru and surrounding villages in Belthangady taluk boycotted festival in a centuries-old temple due to separate seating arrangement had been made for people of the upper caste.