A contingent of the Indian Air Force reached Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates to participate in Exercise Desert Flag-10, a premier multinational air combat exercise. The IAF is fielding MiG-29 and Jaguar aircraft in the exercise.
Exercise Desert Flag is a multinational exercise being hosted by the UAE Air Force,
with participating contingents from the Air Forces of Australia, Bahrain, France, Germany, Qatar Saudi Arabia, Republic of Korea, Turkey, UAE, United Kingdom, and the United States in addition to the Indian Air Force. The exercise is scheduled to take place between 21 April to 08 May 2025.
The aim of the exercise is to undertake complex and diverse fighter engagements, with exchange of operational knowledge and best practices with some of the most capable Air Forces in the world. Participation in such exercises enhances mutual understanding interoperability, and strengthens military cooperation among the participating nations.
State Bank of India (SBI) plans to engage the services of personnel from its wholly-owned subsidiary, State Bank Operations Support Services (SBOSS), to shepherd its customers towards alternate banking channels.
The role of the “Grahak Mitra” (customers’ friend) from SBOSS will be to encourage customers to utilise the services available through self-service channels and,
also provide them first level assistance at SBI’s branches.
The Grahak Mitras will be deployed at about 4,500 branches or 20 per cent of the Bank’s 22,740 branches across the country, according to a senior Bank executive.
This move is aimed at taking the pressure off SBI’s branches, which are usually a beehive of activity.
It is one of the authorised banks in whose branches central government employees maintain salary accounts and ex-employees receive pension. Besides, many customers receive direct benefit transfer from the Government in their accounts with the Bank.
The self-service channels of India’s largest bank include physical options such as ATMs and ADWMs
(Automated Deposit Cum Withdrawal Machines), self-service kiosks, SWAYAM barcode-based passbook printing kiosks, and cheque deposit kiosk; and digital platforms such as internet banking, mobile banking (YONO) and WhatsApp banking.
Ananya Panday is absorbing all the couture universe spotlight by being named the first ever Indian brand ambassador for luxury French label, Chanel. The Kesari Chapter 2 actress has caught the fancies of the iconic designer label by becoming their Indian muse. This development comes exactly a year after Ananya attended Chanel's show at the Paris Fashion Week.
At a time when India is at the forefront of becoming the stage for a growing market for global luxury brands; Chanel on April 16, 2025 Bollywood actress, Ananya Panday, the 26-year-old actress has become the first ever face of the luxury brand in India.
Seven months after the 23rd Law Commission of India was set up, with examining whether a uniform civil code (UCC) can be introduced in the country as one of its terms of reference, the Centre announced the appointment of retired Supreme Court judge Dinesh Maheshwari as its chairperson.
The Centre had notified the setting up of the 23rd Law Commission on September 3, 2024.
The term of the 22nd Law Commission ended on August 31, 2024, with its key report on the UCC still in the works. The 23rd Law Commission was constituted with effect from September 1.
In 2023, the 22nd Law Commission had initiated fresh consultations on the UCC. After obtaining suggestions from a cross-section of society,
the 22nd Law Commission was in the process of preparing a draft report when its chairperson, Justice (retired) Ritu Raj Awasthi, was appointed to the Lokpal. The draft report, according to sources, held 70 public consultations and comprised a 749-page draft.
Pope Francis, the first Latin American pontiff, who charmed the world with his humble style and concern for the poor, has died, the Vatican announced. He was 88. The pope had suffered various ailments in his 12-year papacy and had survived a serious bout of double pneumonia recently.
Pope Francis will be the first pope in more than 100 years to be laid to rest outside the Vatican. He had wished to be buried not in St Peter's Basilica but in Rome's Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica.
He also rejected the tradition of popes having three coffins, instead choosing to be buried in just one, made of wood and zinc, to reflect his role as a humble pastor.
Born Jorge Mario Bergoglio in Argentina, Francis was the first Jesuit to lead the world's almost 1.4 billion Catholics and the first from the Americas. He was elected on March 13, 2013, at age 76, surprising many Church watchers who had seen the Argentine cleric as an outsider.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has, by an order dated April 4, 2025, imposed a monetary penalty of Rs. 29.60 lakh (Rupees Twenty Nine Lakh Sixty Thousand only) on Punjab National Bank (the bank) for non-compliance with certain directions issued by RBI on ‘Customer Service in Banks’.
Bajaj Finserv Asset Management Company (AMC) has launched two new passive funds, the Bajaj Finserv Nifty 50 Index Fund and Bajaj Finserv Nifty Next 50 Index Fund, to expand its offerings in the index fund space.
Both are open-ended index funds designed to provide long-term capital appreciation by tracking the performance of their respective benchmark indices.
The funds aim to offer investors a low-cost, transparent, and efficient way to participate in India’s large-cap equity market.
The Bajaj Finserv Nifty 50 Index Fund is benchmarked against the Nifty 50 Total Return Index (TRI), while the Bajaj Finserv Nifty Next 50 Index Fund is benchmarked against the Nifty Next 50 TRI.
The schemes replicate the respective indices by investing in the same set of constituent stocks, thereby reducing tracking error.
Insurance behemoth LIC said it has increased its stake in state-owned Bank of Baroda (BoB) by nearly 2 per cent to 7.05 per cent. The life insurance company has acquired additional 10.45 crore shares from open market over a period of one-and-a-half year, LIC said in a regulatory filing.
With the acquisition done between November 20, 2023 and April 16, 2025, LIC's stake in the Mumbai-based bank has increased from 5.03 per cent to 7.05 per cent, it said.
Tata Motors said it has inked a power purchase agreement with Tata Power Renewable Energy to co-develop a 131 MW wind-solar hybrid renewable energy project.
Set to generate around 300 million units of clean electricity annually, the project is expected to offset over 2 lakh tons of CO2 emissions each year, the Mumbai-based auto major said in a statement.
The integrated wind-solar hybrid solution will provide a reliable supply of green, cost-effective energy exclusively to Tata Motors' six manufacturing facilities in Maharashtra and Gujarat, supporting the production of both commercial and passenger vehicles, it added.
Mirae Asset has launched a new fund, Mirae Asset Global Allocation Fund IFSC, to help Indian investors gain exposure to international markets and high-growth sectors like artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors.
The fund, launched through the company’s IFSC branch at GIFT City,
aims to provide long-term capital appreciation by investing in a portfolio of global equity exchange traded funds (ETFs).
These ETFs will be based on broad market indices and high-growth sectors such as artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductors.
The fund will allocate 90–100 per cent of its net asset value (NAV) to global ETFs across developed markets like the US and China.
The new fund is positioned as an outbound scheme under the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) regulations and is available only to accredited investors or those investing more than $151,000.
Language Days at the United Nations seek to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal use of all six official languages throughout the Organization. Under the initiative, UN duty stations around the world celebrate six separate days, each dedicated to one of the Organization's six official languages.
Why April 20?
The date for the Chinese day was selected from Guyu ("Rain of Millet"), which is the 6th of 24 solar terms in the traditional East Asian calendars, to pay tribute to Cangjie. Cangjie is a very important figure in ancient China, claimed to be an official historian of the Yellow Emperor and the inventor of Chinese characters.
Legend has it that he had four eyes and four pupils, and that when he invented the characters, the deities and ghosts cried and the sky rained millet. From then on, Chinese people celebrate the day Guyu in honour of Cangjie. In the Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around April 20.
Chinese was established as an official language of the United Nations in 1946.
The United Nations designated 21 April as World Creativity and Innovation Day to raise awareness of the role of creativity and innovation in all aspects of human development.
Creativity shows who we are and what we value. It helps build a rich mix of cultures and supports social and economic growth.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), following the 2005 Convention helps countries strengthen their creative industries and promote artistic freedom. On World Creativity and Innovation Day, the world is invited to embrace the idea that innovation is essential for harnessing the economic potential of nations.
