This country has signed the U.S. for 72,400 SIG716 assault rifles.

The Government of India, the State Government of Chhattisgarh and the World Bank signed a $25.2 Million Loan Agreement to support the State's Reforms in Expenditure Management. This support will cover Expenditure Planning, Investment Management, Budget Execution, Public Procurement, and Accountability. The Chhattisgarh Public Financial Management and Accountability Program, which is the First Bank-Financed State-Level Project in Chhattisgarh in nearly a decade, will also help the State strengthen its Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) and Tax Administration Systems.

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has successfully test fired Long Range Surface to Air Missile (LR-SAM) from naval warship INS Chennai. The test was conducted off the coast of Odisha. The LR-SAM hit a low flying aerial target during the test.

Veteran actress Saira Banu and actor Jackie Shroff have been named for the prestigious Raj Kapoor Lifetime Achievement and Raj Kapoor Special Contribution annual awards, respectively, by the Maharashtra government

'Bharosa', a 24 hour state-of-the-art centre to support women and children afflicted by violence was inaugurated by Hyberabad Police Commissioner V C Sajjanar. The centre would help these women along with dealing in POCSO cases. It has been set up on the instructions of the DGP, Telangana.

All India Radio and the Publication Division and Children's Film Society of India were awarded with the Swacchta Pakhwada Awards-2019. Director General of All India Radio, F. Sheheryar and Director General (News), Ira Joshi received the Award for All India Radio.

For the second year in a row, Iraq has become India's top crude oil supplier in 2018-19 fiscal year and meet more than a fifth of the country's oil needs. According to official data sourced from the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics, Iraq sold 46.61 million tonnes (mt) of crude oil to India during April 2018 and March 2019, which is 2% more than 45.74 mt it had supplied in 2017-18 fiscal. Saudi Arabia also maintained its position as the 2nd-largest crude supplier to India during the year followed by Iran and United Arab Emirates (UAE) which toppled Venezuela to become India's fourth largest crude supplier. Despite US sanctions on Iran, the country's crude oil supply to India increased 6.24% to 24 MT in 2018-19. India managed to import a sizeable amount of Iranian crude last year primarily due to waivers and winding down period provided by US.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad "for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict". Denis Mukwege is the helper who has devoted his life to defending the victims. Nadia Murad is the witness who tells of the abuses perpetrated against herself and others.

Sursagar Society of Dilli Gharana announced Grammy-winning Hindustani classical music instrumentalist Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt as the recipient of the annual Ustad Chand Khan Lifetime Achievement Award. The award will be given at the two-day Indian classical music festival scheduled to be held on October 21-22, 2018 and organized by Sursagar Society of Dilli Gharana. Mr. Bhatt is known for his Grammy award winning album "A Meeting by the River" with Ry Cooder.

Every year March 20 is observed as World Sparrow Day to raise awareness about the bird. A colourful cyclothon was organised in Berhampur to mark the progress of making Ganjam the first sparrow-friendly district of Odisha. The event aimed at spreading awareness about the rising number of vehicles causing air pollution, which, in turn, affects the avian population. A large number of cyclists donning sparrow masks along with a sparrow mascot took part in this cycle rally organised by youth environmental organisation Anchalika Vikash Parishad (AVP) and the Forest Department.