The Air force of this country will observe its retaliatory action against India as Operation Swift Retort.

The World's first Sanskrit 3D film'Anurakthi' is among the main attraction in 3D category at the ongoing International Film Festival of India in Panaji in Goa. A team of 10 Sanskrit scholars worked with the filmmaker to help deliver the correct dialogues. The motto of making the film is to make the Sanskrit language relevant even for today. The main challenge for the artists in the movie was to present it in a contemporary setting and ensure the language can be followed by the viewers.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has divested its entire stake in National Housing Bank (NHB) and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) for Rs 1,450 crore and Rs 20 crore, respectively. The move is part of ending the cross-holding in regulatory institutions and follows the recommendation of second Narasimham committee report of October 2001 and the RBI's own discussion paper on the same entitled 'Harmonizing the role and operations of development financial institutions and banks. The current change in the capital structure of both these financial institutions was brought in by the government through amendments to the Nabard Act of 1981 and the NHB Act of 1987 which were notified on January 19, 2018 and March 29, 2018, respectively. With this, the Government of India (GoI) now holds 100% stake in both these financial institutions.

Newton has won the Jury Prize for Best Film at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. The film won the Art Cinema award for the Forum section. The film also went to 16th Annual Tribeca Film Festival.

A new book on Maharana Pratap named "Maharana Pratap: The Invincible Warrior" authored by historian Rima Hooja has been released. The book narrates the life of Maharana Pratap, the great Rajput warrior and also talks about the famous battle of Haldighati.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BofAML), the excess reserves that RBI holds could be up to Rs.3 lakh crore ($43 billion) or 1.5% of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product). This also includes the excess capital in contingency reserves and revaluation reserves. The Bimal Jalan committee on the appropriate capital reserves for RBI was likely to identify this excess buffer. The committee was set up in December-end with a 6-member panel headed by former RBI governor Jalan. Indranil Sen Gupta, chief India economist at BofAML notified that RBI maintains higher contingency reserves as a percentage of its total book compared to its peers in Brazil, Russia and South Africa, thus a lower cap will bring in more funds. The BofAML report stated that capping overall reserves at 20% from 25.5% will release Rs. 1.96 lakh crore and there is no specific hindrance which would deter RBI from transferring the money to government.

The Reserve Bank set the average base rate to be charged from borrowers by non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) and micro-finance institutions (MFIs) at 9.21% for the first quarter of the next fiscal (April-June). The regulator in February 2014 had issued directions to NBFC-MFIs regarding pricing of credit.

United States Cricket Team won their first one-day international status with a third straight victory at the World Cricket League Division Two event in Namibia. The Americans defeated Hong Kong by 84 runs. Xavier Marshall, former West Indies batsman scored a century as the Americans made 280-8 while Hong Kong scored 196-7 respectively. Oman has also secured their ODI status.

Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has passed away at the age of 80. Annan, who was the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, served at the UN from 1997 to 2006. He was the first to emerge from the ranks of United Nations staff. Annan, of Ghanaian nationality, died in hospital in Bern, Switzerland. Annan was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with the UN in 2001 "for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world".

The Amitabh Bachchan and Taapsee Pannu starrer 'Pink' was named the Best Film at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne 2017. The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne (IFFM) is the biggest Indian film festival outside of the Indian soil, and is an official film festival supposed by the Victoria Government in Australia.

The 65th National Film Awards for 2017 were announced at PIB Conference Room, Shastri Bhawan in New Delhi on April 13, 2018. In it, Assamese Film 'Village Rockstar' bagged the best film award, while 'Newton' has been selected as the Best Hindi Film. The National award for Best Actress is given to Sri Devi posthumously for her role in the film 'Mom' and the Best Actor (Male) award goes to Riddhi Sen for his role in Bengali film 'Nagarkirtan'. 'Water Baby' directed by Pia Shah, won the Best Debut Film of a Director in the Non Feature Film category. The award ceremony for the 65th National Film Awards will be held on May 3, 2018. The National Film Awards will be presented by President Ram Nath Kovind.