April 15 Defence Minister and Railway Minister quit the Government.

• The Census of India, 2001, one of the biggest administrative exercise in the world, concluded.

• The Reserve Bank of India announces a further reduction in the bank rate by half a percentage point from 7.5 to 7 per cent.

• Australia beat India in first test match by ten wickets at Mumbai.

• At least 40 people were killed when a bus plunged into a tributary of Ravi River in Chamba district of Himachal Pradesh.

• India wins its case at the World Trade Organisation against imposition of anti-dumping duty by the European Union on imports of cotton type bed linen.

• The indigenously built multi-target surface-to-air missile 'Akash' successfully test-fired from the Interim Test Range at Chandipur in Orissa.

• Thirteen people, including 11 CRPF jawans were killed in an ambush by suspected All Tripura Tiger Force at Bampur in South Tripura district.
• The Vice-President, Mr. Krishan Kant, conferred the Noble Laureate, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu with Jamnalal Bajaj award for 2000.

• The Bar Council of India has ordered the closure of over 150 Law Collage across the country for their failure to maintain minimum teaching standards stipulated by the Council.

• Noted Hindi litterateur and Sahitya Academy awardee Giriraj Kishore was conferred with the prestigious Vyas Samman for his epic novel "Pahla Girmitiya".

• Mobile Phone jammers have been installed in Parliament to jam the mobile phones of members who carry cell phones despite them being barred.

• India has been awarded the 2003 Commonwealth Shooting Championship with Delhi identified as the Host City by the National Rifle Association of India.

• The Government has decided to induct the Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile Agni-II after it achieved operationalisation stage with its successful second launch in January.

• The Securities and Exchange Board of India has barred 16 companies and 33 directors from entering capital market for five years including raising funds.

• The Bombay Stock Exchange President, Mr. Anand Rathi resigned in the wake of allegations of his involvement in a bear cartel.

• The Maharashtra Chief Minister reshuffled his cabinet by dropping five ministers belonging to the upper house and inducting six new from the Lower House.

• At least 41 people were burnt alive when a private bus carrying them caught fire after colliding with a car at Malappuram in Kerala.

• Right arm off spinner Harbhajan Singh became the first Indian to claim a hat-trick in test cricket, achieving the historical feat on the opening day of the second test match against Australia at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

• P. Gopichand capped his spectacular run at the All England Badminton Championship with a straight game victory over Chinese Chen Hong in the final to become only the second Indian to win the men's singles title after 21 years.

• Bihar Finance Minister Shankar Prasad Tekriwal resigned from the Rabri Devi Cabinet minutes after delivering his Budget Speech in the State Assembly.

• Ms. Chokila Iyer assumed charge as India's first-ever woman Foreign Secretary.

• The BJP President Bangaru Laxman resigned after the charges of taking bribe in Defence deal after the exposition by a dot com news service named Tehelka.com.

• The senior Vice-President of BJP, Mr. K. Jana Krishnamurthy has been appointed as the acting President of the party.

• Cricketer V.V.S. Laxman scripted history by becoming India's highest individual scorer in a test innings, when he reached 237, in the second innings on the fourth day of the second cricket Test against Australia at Kolkata.

• Defence Minister, George Farnades resigned from the Government in the wake of the Tehelka.com "expose" of corruption in defence deals.

• Mamata Banarjee, Railway Minister, with Ajit Panja, his deputy quit the post and also withdraws support from the NDA Government.

• India levelled the cricket test series by winning the second test match against Australia at Kolkata.

• A strong earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter Scale and lasting about 45 second rocked Seattle leaving one dead and about a dozen hurt.

• Afghanistan's ruling Taliban Militia has started destroying all statues in the country, including the world's tallest standing Buddha in the Central Province of Bamiyan.

• An unidentified computer hacker has seized top secret US computer codes used for guiding missiles, satellites and spacecraft.

• A US military plane ferrying soldiers from Florida back to a naval base in Virginia crashed in bad weather in Central Georgia, killing all 21 people on board.

• The 10 cricket bats worth $40,000 and signed by Australian cricket legend Sir Donald Bradman, who died a week ago, had been stolen from a collector's home in New South Wales, Sydney.

• Thirty five Haj pilgrims, including 23 women were crushed to death and an unspecified number of others were injured in a stampede during the symbolic stoning of the devil at Jamarat in Meena Valley near Makka in Saudi Arabia.

• A Portuguese road bridge collapsed into a river and a bus packed with day-trippers plunged into the fast-flowing water, killing about 70 people.

• The Japanese Prime Minister, Mr.Yoshiro Mori, survived his second no-confidence vote in Parliament.

• Fiji's interim Prime Minister, Mr.Laisenia Qarase submitted the resignation of his Government to the President, Mr.Josefa Iloilo.

• Pakistan banned the import of sugar from India claiming it has adequate availability of stocks.

• United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has poured cold water over Pakistan's ambitions on Kashmir. He has categorically ruled out UN intervention for enforcing the 1948 Security Council resolution favouring plebiscite in Kashmir.

• Suspense Novelist Robert Ludlum, author of the Jason Bourne series of spy thrillers and "The Matarese Circle", has died at the age of 73.