Renowned agricultural economist and former PM's Economic Advisory Committee member Professor Vijay Shankar Vyas passes away recently. He was the director of;

Boyz n the Hood director John Singleton, who was the first African American and the youngest-ever film-maker to be nominated for the best director Oscar, passed away at the age of 51 after suffering from hypertension. He was born on 6th January 1968 in Los Angeles, California, U.S.In 1991, he released the Boyz n the Hood film which reflected his own background growing up in South Central Los Angeles.

Ghatam maestro Vikku Vinayakram has recently won the special lifetime achievement award from the Music Academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Vinayakram is one of the best-known faces of percussion from South India. He plays Carnatic music with the ghatam (an earthen pot), and is credited with popularising the ghatam. This award does not fall under the institution's annual recognitions and honours. It is conferred once in a while to artistes of outstanding calibre who the Music Academy feels deserve an independent recognition.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its economic growth forecasts for India by 20 basis points (bps) each from its January predictions to 7.3% for FY20 and 7.5% for the next fiscal. Citing persistent risks from the trade war, it lowered 2019 global growth forecast by 20 basis points to 3.3%, the weakest since 2009 when the subprime crisis had flared up.

International Shooting Sports Federation (ISSF) World Cup was held in New Delhi, India from 20 February to 28 February 2019. It is the annual edition of the ISSF World Cup which is governed by International Shooting Sport Federation. It is a qualifier for 2020 Olympic Games. India ranked 1st in the World Cup along with Hungary. Saurabh Chaudhary and Manu Bhaker claimed gold medal in 10m Air Pistol Mixed team event on ISSF World Cup in New Delhi.

The International Film Festival of India (IFFI) nominated nine movies for this year's International Council for Film, Television and Audiovisual Communication (ICFT) UNESCO Gandhi Medal. Out of nine films, five are from India. They are Kshitij - A Horizon, Manusangada, Poorna, Railway Children and Take-Off from India. The foreign films in the fray are Amok from Poland, Khibula - a co-production of Germany, France and Georgia, The Last Painting from Taiwan and Women of The Weeping River - a joint production of the US and UK.

Quikr has acquired Bengaluru-based secondhand goods marketplace Zefo, for INR 200 Crore to strengthen the sales of its pre-owned goods business. With this pre-owned product's market in India will reach USD 12-15 billion in the year 2020. Normally a pre-owned product's price can be as low as 30-60 percent of a new one. Zefo is an online marketplace for selling refurbished TVs, mobile phones and furniture.

According to Election Commission, West Bengal has the maximum number of first-time voters, around 20.1 lakh, in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. WB is followed by Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, with around 16.7 lakh and 13.6 lakh first-time voters, respectively. The number of people eligible to vote has reportedly increased by 8.4 crore as compared to 2014 General Elections. Over 1.5 crore voters are in the age group of 18-19 years. These "young voters" constitute 1.66 per cent of the total electors.

Fitch Rating affirms India's sovereign rating at the lowest investment grade of BBB-with a stable outlook. The growth rate of India forecasted by Fitch is 6.8% in financial year 2019-20 and 7.1% in FY 2020-21.According to Fitch, Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) regulations has been eased and there is reduction in red tape but still there are some difficulties in doing business in India due to which India's rating is not upgraded. Since 2006, this is the 13th year in a row that India is getting "BBB" ranking from Fitch. On August 1, 2006, Fitch had upgraded the India's rating from "BB+" to "BBB".

Tesla has developed its 'largest power storage system in Asia' at Osaka train station in Japan to reduce energy demand and provide emergency backup power to trains in Japan. It was Launched in partnership with Kintetsu, a railway operator in Japan's Osaka. Tesla has installed 42 Powerpacks units at Osaka train station in Japan which will provide enough amount of energy to safely move a train and its passengers for up to 30 minutes to the nearest station if any power failure happens. This 7 megawatt-hours (MWh) system is not only the largest energy storage project in Asia, but also the fourth largest in the greater Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.