NATIONAL NEWS
Bihar a dry State from today
1. The Nitish Kumar government had banned sale and consumption of country and spiced liquor in rural areas from April 1 this year, but had allowed sale of foreign liquor in towns and cities.The Nitish Kumar government on Tuesday decided to impose a total ban on alcohol in towns and cities.
2.The decision to ban sale and consumption of India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) in municipal and town council areas with immediate effect
3. however, said the Army cantonment areas would be out of it as they regulated the sale and consumption of alcohol in their own way.
Gatimaan Express ,Railways first semi bullet train with 160kmph
1.Gatimaan Express, the fastest train in the country, kept its date with history on Tuesday as it covered its maiden journey between Delhi and Agra in exactly 100 minutes, clocking 160 kmph during most of its run.
2. The Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station of Delhi was completely decked up as Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu flagged off the train .
3. The rather plush LHB coaches have been built by the Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala and have been fitted with bio-toilets that turn waste into smaller amounts of disposable water.
4. For the passengers, the high point was the always smiling Train hosts and hostesses.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
Khaleda Zia gets bail
Bangladesh’s beleaguered former prime minister Khaleda Zia on Tuesday surrendered before a court here, which granted her bail for allegedly instigating a deadly petrol bomb attack on a bus during an anti-government protest last year.Ms. Zia of Bangladesh Nationalist Party’s (BNP) was spearheading a violent nationwide campaign to topple Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s ruling Awami League government.
US judge approves $20 billion settlement for BP oil spill
1.A federal judge in New Orleans granted final approval on Monday to an estimated $20 billion settlement over the 2010 BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, resolving years of litigation over the worst offshore spill in the nation’s history
2. The U.S. Justice Department has estimated that the settlement will cost the oil giant as much as $20.8 billion, the largest environmental settlement in U.S. history as well as the largest-ever civil settlement with a single entity.
3. BP had been “grossly negligent” in the offshore rig explosion that killed 11 workers and caused a 134-million-gallon spill In 2012.
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
RBI cuts repo rate by 25 basis points
1.The Reserve Bank on Tuesday cut the key interest rate by 0.25 per cent and introduced a host of measures to smoothen liquidity supply so that banks can lend to the productive sectors and indicated accommodative stance going ahead..
2. the repo rate, at which RBI lends to the financial system, has come down to 6.5 per cent.
3. Mr. Rajan also took a host of measures on the liquidity front, starting with the narrowing of the policy rate corridor to 0.50 per cent from the earlier 1 percentage point, which resulted in the reverse repo rate — at which banks can park excess funds with the RBI — being reset at 6 per cent.
4. RBI also retained its GDP growth forecast at 7.6 per cent.
5. The policy said the average overnight borrowings by banks have increased to Rs. 1,935 billion in march from Rs. 1,345 billion in January.
Key points:
>Repo Rate cut by : 0.25 % to 6.50 %
>Reverse repo hiked by : 0.25% to 6%
>Cash reserve ratio or CRR unchanged : 4%
>Minimum daily cash maintenance by banks with RBI cut by : 5%
>MSF rate cut by 0.75% to 7 % lower banks' borrowing cost
>Pegs 2016-17 growth forecast at 7.6%
>Expects inflation at around 5%
>SLR : 21.25 %
SPORTS
Sarfraz Ahmed named Pakistan’s T20 captain
1.Wicket-keeper batsman Sarfraz Ahmed was on Tuesday named captain of Pakistan’s Twenty20 team, replacing Shahid Afridi who resigned from the position after the side’s dismal World Twenty20 campaign.
2. The disappointing show led to Afridi’s resignation from captaincy. Coach Waqar Younis also put in his papers on Monday.
3. The 28-year-old Ahmed has played 21 Tests in which he has scored 1296 runs at an average of 46.28. His 58 ODI appearances have fetched him 1077 runs at an average of 29.91.In 21 T20Is, Ahmed has notched up 291 runs at 29.10.
Injury layoff set to end Kashyap’s Rio dream
1 Currently ranked world No.17, Kashyap needs to be in top-16 to make the Olympic draw but the injury layoff is set to cost him valuable ranking points..
2. Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning shuttler P. Kashyap’s chances of qualifying for the Olympics have all but ended as he has been forced to withdraw from this month’s Malaysia Super Series Premier and Singapore Open.
EDUCATION
Ranking of educational institutions released by the government
The National Institutions Ranking Framework(NIRF), unveiled by the Ministry of Human Resource Development on Monday, declared the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Madras the best institute for engineering and the Indian Institute of Management (IIM)-Bangalore the best for management. The IIM-Ahmedabad is placed second.
The NIRF covers 3,500 institutions in four categories: university, engineering, pharmacy and management.
Top 10 engineering institutes:
1. Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
2. Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
3. Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
4. Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi
5. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
6. Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
7. Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad
8. Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar
9. Indian Institute of Technology, Ropar-Rupnagar
10. Indian Institute of Technology, Patna
Top 10 management institutes:
1. Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore
2. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad
3. Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta
4. Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow
5. Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur
6. Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode
7. International Management Institute, New Delhi
8. Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal
9. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
10. Indian Institute of Management, Indore
Top 10 universities:
1. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
2. Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai
3. Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
4. University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad
5. Tezpur University, Tezpur, Assam
6. University of Delhi, Delhi
7. Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi
8. Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Thiruvanathapuram
9. Birla Institute of Technology and Science –Pilani
10. Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh
Top 10 pharmaceutical institutes:
1. Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Manipal
2. University institute of pharmaceutical sciences –Chandigarh
3. Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi
4. Poona College of Pharmacy, Erandwane, Pune
5. Institute of Pharmacy, Nirma University, Ahmedabad
6. Bombay College of Pharmacy, Mumbai
7. Birla Institute of technology, Ranchi
8. Amrita School of Pharmacy, Kochi
9. JSS college of Pharmacy, Ootacamund
10. JSS college of Pharmacy, Mysuru