The President of the United States imposes stricter sanctions on this country's metal industry.

The name Fani was suggested by Bangladesh. The name of cyclone 'Fani' was picked up from a pool containing 64 names suggested by eight countries in the North Indian Ocean basin.(Eight Countries are India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Myanmar, Oman, Pakistan and Thailand).

Tony Daniel, the technical committee chairman of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and the executive vice-president of Kerala State Athletics Association (KSAA), passed away in Kochi, Kerala. Tony Daniel was 66 years old. He was born in Ernakulam, Kerala. He represented Kerala State and University at the national championships in junior and senior categories between 1968 and 1972. He was the State Sprint Champion in 1970. He was the Secretary of Kerala Athletics Association for eight years. He was the Deputy Competition Manager during the Commonwealth Games, Delhi 2010 and Competition Director (Athletics) in South Asian Games, Guwahati 2016.

The Supreme Court ordered a court-monitored mediation in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid land dispute case to arrive at a "permanent solution" to the politically and religiously sensitive issue. The five-judge constitution bench headed by CJI Ranjan Gogoi appointed a panel of 3 mediators in the title suit with Retired Justice Kalifullah chairing the court-appointed and monitored mediation process. The other two members are spiritual leader Sri Sri Ravi Shankar and senior advocate Sriram Panchu.

The Asian Boxing Championship 2019 was held in Huamark Indoor Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand. This was the first time women and men boxing championship held together. This event was organized by International Boxing Association or AIBA.

To boost tea trade,cultural and technical exchanges as well as global promotion of tea,the Asian Tea Alliance (ATA), a union of five tea-growing and consuming countries,was opened in Guizhou,China. The alliance was constituted with Indian Tea Association,Indonesian tea Marketing Association,China tea marketing Association,Sri Lanka Tea Board and tea Association. This Alliance was formed based on the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Indian tea Association and China tea Marketing Association in December 2018 to promote tea consumption in India, China, U.S., Russia, Europe and West Asia.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is to issue ?20 denomination banknotes in the Mahatma Gandhi (New) Series. The new banknote bears the signature of Shri Shaktikanta Das, Governor, Reserve Bank of India. All the banknotes in the denomination of ?20 issued by the RBI in the earlier series will continue to be legal tender. The ?20 note will be greenish-yellow in colour. The new banknote has a motif of Ellora Caves on the reverse, depicting the country's cultural heritage. The note has other designs, geometric patterns aligning with the overall colour scheme, both at the obverse and reverse. The dimension of the new ?20 note will be 63 mm x 129 mm.

Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, CCEA, has increased the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for all Rabi crops for the current financial year which will be marketed in 2019-20 season. The MSP of wheat has been raised by 105 rupees per quintal, Masur by 225 per quintal, and Gram by 220 per quintal. According to Union Minister Ravishankar Prasad, the decision is a step towards doubling the farmers' income. The decision will give additional return to the farmers of 62,635 crore rupees by way of increasing the MSP of notified crops to at least 50 per cent return over cost of production.

National Digital Communications Policy (NDCP) 2018 aims to attract USD 100 billion investment and create 4 million jobs in the sector by 2022. According to the draft of the policy, NDCP is focused on increasing high-speed broadband penetration, with use of modern technologies like 5G and optical fibres across the country at affordable rates.

Africa-India Joint Field Training Exercise (AFINDEX-19) between the Indian Army and 16 African nations will be conducted in Pune from March 18 to 27. The joint exercise would be held at Pune's Foreign Training Node at Aundh Military Station and College of Military Engineering in Kirkee. Features of AFINDEX-19: 10 personnel, each from the participating nations from the African continent and personnel of Maratha Light Infantry of the Indian Army will participate in the joint exercise.

Norway is ranked first in the World Press Freedom Index 2019 for the third year running while Finland (up two places) has taken second place from the Netherlands (down one at 4th). India dropped two places to be ranked 140th out of 180 countries in the global press freedom index analysis. Violence against journalists - including police violence, attacks by Maoist fighters and reprisals by criminal groups or corrupt politicians - is one of the most striking characteristics of the current state of press freedom in India.