The Centre has revamped its high-level 'anti-hijack panel' to include top officials in the Prime Minister's Office, especially National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval who will be able to coordinate any immediate military response.The new panel is called the Committee of Secretaries on Aircraft Hijack (COSAH).It will have 15 top officials including pre-identified nominated members who can represent regular members during their absence.Members: The Committee will have a main secretary to the prime minister, additional principal secretary, heads of R&AW (Research and Analysis Wing) and the Intelligence Bureau as its members.

The Central government has asked the state transport departments to make it mandatory for all EVs to use the green number plates, irrespective of the year in which they were bought. The new mandate is supposed to help provide preferential treatment to the vehicles with no carbon emissions, like parking, free entry in congested areas as well as a concessional toll on highways.

The official Twitter account of the Indian Army's Additional Directorate General of Public Information tweeted that an Indian Army mountaineering expedition team has sited mysterious footprints of mythical himalayan beast "Yeti" measuring 32x15 inches (81 centimeters by 38 centimeters) close to Makalu Base Camp,located in North-Eastern Himalayas on 09 April 2019. The yeti also known as Abominable Snowman or Asian Bigfoot is a giant ape-like creature often figures in South Asian folklore. Yetis are believed to weigh anywhere between 91 to 181 kilograms with a height of above 6 feet.

Common Service Centre's (CSC) e-Governance Services India Limited, a special purpose vehicle under the Ministry of Electronics & IT, has tied up with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Kanpur to upscale 'Unnat Bharat Abhiyan'. 'Unnat Bharat Abhiyan' is an initiative of the Ministry of HRD. It aims to find solutions to accelerate sustainable growth in rural India. Under the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, IIT-Kanpur has brought together 15 leading higher education institutions from Uttar Pradesh. These institutions have agreed to work with CSC for the development of villages under the scheme.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) inked an agreement with Mumbai-based Prin. L N Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research in order to support startups engaged in the export sector. Under the memorandum of understanding (MoU), FIEO launched a post graduate programme in foreign trade management (PGP-FTM) at Mumbai. The main aim of this industry-academia partnership is to attract new entrepreneurs in exports to bridge the gap of availability of qualified skilled manpower in Exim trade. The programme consist of general management principles, export-import procedures, and international marketing concepts and the duration of the programme will be 11 months. The programme will be offered in 2 batches.

The last known female member of Yangtze giant softshell turtle, 90 years old, died in Suzhou Zoo, China. Now, there are only three left in the world. The Wildlife Conservations Society (WCS) declares the Yangtze giant softshell turtle the world's most critically endangered turtle species. One male Yangtze giant softshell turtle lives in Suzhou Zoo and the other two in Vietnam.

The Intellectual Property Rights cell (IPR cell) of Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) has been selected for the National Intellectual Property Award 2019 for its contributions in best facilitation for registration of Geographical Indications and promotion of registered GI in the country. This award comprising prize money of Rs 1 lakh and will be presented in a function to be held in New Delhi on 26th April, World Intellectual Property Day 2019. The award was constituted by the Indian Intellectual Property Office under the central ministry of industry and commerce to confer the persons and organizations working in the field of patents, trademarks and Geographical Indications (GI).

India's National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has recently announced for Rs. 700 crore project funds for equity investments in agriculture and rural start-ups. NABARD was used to contribute to other funds but it is for the first time when NABARD launched its own funds. This project was launched by Nabventures, an auxiliary unit of NABARD. NABARD proposed amount of Rs 500 crore with an option to retain over-subscriptions of Rs 200 crore. Company names it green-shoe option. With this initiative NABARD will assist those start-ups who are engaged in agriculture and rural areas' development.

The report titled, 'The Belt and Road Initiative Progress, Contributions and Prospects' released by the Leading Group for Promoting the Belt and Road Initiative had previously listed the BCIM as a BRI project. But, owing to the fact that India had skipped the Belt and Road Forum (BRF), the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor ran the possibility to be excluded from the list of projects under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) umbrella. The BRI is a major initiative speared by China to reconstruct the ancient Silk Road connectivity across Eurasia and Africa.This has come to limelight after a document attached with the Joint Communique of the Leaders' Roundtable of the BRF that concluded in Beijing, the website did not list the BCIM as a project under the BRI.

India's Haj Quota has been increased by about 25,000, raising the number to 2 lakh from 1.75 lakh by Saudi Arabia. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman gave the assurance to Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a meeting in February. This will help the huge number of pilgrim of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and Bihar to embark pilgrimage this year. Also, total 2,340 Muslim women from India will go for Haj without 'Mehram' or male companion. This year, the GST on Haj pilgrimage has been reduced from 18 percent to 5 percent which will ensure that about Rs 113 crore will be saved by pilgrims during the 2019 Haj.