1. Twitter launches Meerkat-killer app Periscope
(i) The Periscope app, like Meerkat, allows anyone to stream live video to a wide audience with their smartphone.
(ii) The new app "lets you share and experience live video from your mobile phone" and is "a perfect complement to Twitter, which is why we acquired the company in January," Twitter's Kevin Weil said in a blog post.
(iii) The Periscope team outlined a range of possibilities for the service, including how it can turn any smartphone user into a global reporter.
(iv) "What if you could see through the eyes of a protester in Ukraine? Or watch the sunrise from a hot air balloon in Cappadocia?" the Periscope team blog said.
(v) "It may sound crazy, but we wanted to build the closest thing to teleportation.
(vi) While there are many ways to discover events and places, we realized there is no better way to experience a place right now than through live video."
(vii) The team said it sees tremendous potential for the app, which is available to iPhone users with one for Android devices in the works.
2. Supreme Court stayed AFT's decision to quash Army's 2009 Promotion Policy
(i) The Supreme Court of India on 26 March 2015 stayed the decision of the Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT) to quash the Army's promotion policy for the rank of Colonel from January 2009.
(ii) The 2009 promotion policy of Army is based on Command Exit Model (CEM).
(iii) The decision of AFT was stayed by a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising of Justice TS Thakur (head of the bench), Justice R Banumathi and Justice Amitava Roy.
(iv) The decision of AFT was quashed by the SC after the Defence Ministry appealed before the SC and justified the CEM policy.
(v) It justified the promotion policy on the grounds that the Army, being the employer, has a right to have its promotion policies and that the AFT should not have interfered in the policy decision.
3. Vikas Swarup appointed as MEA spokesman
(i) Diplomat Vikas Swarup was appointed as an official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on 25 March 2015.
(ii) Swarup a 1986 batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer is also author of bestseller debut novel Q&A, on which the Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire was based.
(iii) Swarup succeeds incumbent spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin and will take the charge of the office on 18 April 2015.
(iv) Syed Akbaruddin, who became the spokesman of MEA in December 2011, has been appointed as Chief Coordinator of the Indo-Africa Forum Summit.
(v) The India-Africa Summit is scheduled to be hosted by New Delhi on 29 October 2015.
4. India ranks 37 out of 102 countries in Open Government Index
(i) India has been ranked 37 out of 102 countries in the Open Government Index, that measures the government openness based on the general public's experiences and perceptions.
(ii) In the World Justice Project's (WJP) Open Government Index 2015 report, India was ranked at the 37th place, with an overall score of 0.57, followed by
(iii) Among the other leading emerging market countries, Russia was ranked at the 67th position and China was placed further down at 87th place.
(iv) Moreover, India (37th rank globally) also topped the regional ranking among South Asian countries, followed by Nepal (40th rank), Sri Lanka (52), Bangladesh (73), Pakistan (83) and Afghanistan (89).
5. IndiGo heads towards $400 mn IPO as air travel booms
(i) India's biggest airline by market share, IndiGo, is preparing to file a draft prospectus by May for a stock listing to raise $300 million to $400 million, two people with knowledge of the plans said, aiming to cash in on a boom in budget air travel.
(ii) IndiGo, owned by hospitality and travel company InterGlobe Enterprises, has built a profitable base helped by its low-cost model using a single type of narrow-body planes.
(iii) By contrast, rivals like SpiceJet and Air India are losing money - even as millions more Indians travel each year - due to high operating costs and tough competition that has kept fares among the lowest in the world.
6. Infosys to Give 6.5-9% Hike This Year
(i) Infosys, the country's second largest software services firm, will give out pay hikes in the range of 6.5 per cent to 9 per cent to employees in India for the financial year 2015-16.
(ii) Effective April 1, the Bangalore-based firm is offering average hike of about 6.5 per cent, sources said.
(iii) On the other hand, top performers at the firm will be given a hike of about 9 per cent, while salaries of onsite employees will be raised by about 2 per cent, they added.
(iv) Infosys' company spokesperson confirmed the news.
(v) Last year, Infosys had given salary hikes of about 6-8 per cent to employees in India, and about 1-2 per cent for onsite employees.
7. TB drug reminder services launched
(i) Apollo Hospitals, Hyderabad and The Union (International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease) have introduced a Tuberculosis (TB) intervention programme that will send reminders to patients about administration of drugs and also notify cases to authorities.
(ii) Patients will get reminders through SMS, voice calls and even counselling if they skip taking the prescribed TB drugs, doctors said.
(iii) A special software has been developed that will automatically upload patient information to TB notification website Nikshay of Government of India.
(iv) The software at the same time will support treatment adherence for patients.
(v) While launching the intervention programme, hospital officials said that out of 2.2 million (22 lakh) fresh cases, 50 per cent prefer private sector for TB treatment.
8. Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Receives Bharat Ratna, India's Highest
(i) Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, one of the country's most-respected politicians, has been conferred the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, today.
(ii) The leader, who has been ailing for the last few years, received the award at his Delhi home from President Pranab Mukherjee.
(iii) Mr Vajpayee, 90, was the country's first non-Congress Prime Minister who served a full five-year term - from 1998 to 2004.
(iv) Among his boldest initiatives was the historic bus journey to Lahore in 1999 when he signed the landmark Lahore Declaration with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, with both sides pledging to push for peace and security.
(v) India's second nuclear test at Pokhran, in May 1998, also took place during his tenure.
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