India
- All above age of 18 years to get COVID-19 vaccine from May 1
- States allowed to use 50% of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) in 2021-22 to curb pandemic surge
- INAS 323 commissioned at Goa as first unit of indigenously built ALH MK III enters Naval Service
- Indian Navy’s INS Suvarna seizes over 300 kgs of narcotic substances in the Arabian Sea
- National Film Award-winning Marathi Director Sumitra Bhave passes away at 78
- J&K: Red flags on Indian Army vehicles replaced with white-and-blue ones
- Indian Army’s mobile training team (IA-MTT) trains Nigerian Army in guerrilla warfare in Nigeria
- Railways to map festivals along the tracks to prevent fatalities
- Nagaland govt. sets up panel on the issue of preparing RIIN (Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland)
SpO2
- DRDD’s DEBEL (Defence Bio-Engineering and Electro Medical Laboratory), Bengaluru develops SpO2 (Blood Oxygen Saturation) Supplemental Oxygen Delivery System
- SpO2 is an automatic system that delivers supplemental oxygen based on the SpO2 levels and prevents the patient from sinking into a state of Hypoxia, which is fatal in most cases, if sets in
SISFS
- Union Minister for Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal launches Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS)
- SISFS aims to provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry and commercialization
- Seed funding will be provided to eligible startups (incubatees) through eligible incubators across India
Economy & corporate
- US retains India in currency manipulator watch list due to huge dollar purchases by RBI
- Sivasubramanian Ramann takes charge as CMD of SIDBI (Small Industries Development Bank of India)
- Advertising professional and former FCB Ulka Chairman Anil ‘Billy’ Kapoor dies at 74
World
- NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter makes history with successful flight on planet Mars
- Saudi activist Loujain al-Hathloul awarded Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize by PACE (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe)
- World Heritage Day (International Day for Monuments and Sites) celebrated on April 18, theme: “Complex Pasts: Diverse Futures”
- World liver day observed on April 19, theme: ‘Keep your liver healthy and disease-free.’
Sports
- Indian men at Asian Wrestling Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan: Gold won by Ravi Kumar Dahiya (57kg), silvers won by Deepak Punia (86kg) & Bajrang Punia (65kg), bronze medals won by Karan Mor (70kg), Narsingh Yadav (79kg) and Satyawart Kadian (97kg)
- India’s women’s tennis team lose 1-3 to Latvia in the Billie Jean King Cup World Group playoff
- IAS officer Siddharth Singh Longjam appointed new Director-General of National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA)
- Football Olympian Ahmed Hussain Lala dies in Bengaluru at 89, played in 1956 Melbourne Olympics
- Hockey player-turned-umpire Anupama Puchimanda dies in Bengaluru at 40
- Barcelona win Copa del Rey football tournament at Seville in Spain
- Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge wins Enschede marathon in Netherlands
- Stefanos Tsitsipas wins men’s singles title at Monte Carlo Masters tennis in Monaco
- Red Bull’s Max Verstappen wins Formula One Emilia Romagna