National NEWS

 Tamilisai Soundararajan

• Tamilisai Soundararajan, Governor of Telangana and Lieutenant-Governor of Puducherry, resigned from her posts to contest the Lok Sabha election as a BJP candidate from Tamil Nadu.

Governor in States

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Vladimir Putin

• Russian President Vladimir Putin has clinched a historic fifth term, securing a landslide victory in the presidential polls.
• This victory has solidified Mr. Putin’s position as Russia’s longest-serving leader, surpassing Josef Stalin.

Russia

Pakistani Airstrikes In Afghanistan

• Afghanistan has alleged that Pakistani strikes on its territory have killed at least eight people.
• The strikes come after seven Pakistani troops were killed in an attack in North Waziristan region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Afghanistan

 ECONOMY & BANKING

 Bank of Japan

• Japan's central bank scrapped its negative interest rate policy and hiked borrowing costs for the first time in 17 years.
• The Bank will encourage the uncollateralised overnight call rate to remain at around 0 to 0.1 percent.

 Japan

  ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE & TECH

SAKHI

• The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) facility at Thumba in Thiruvananthapuram, has developed a multi-purpose app that will help astronauts on the Gaganyaan space flight mission carry out a range of tasks such as looking up vital technical information or communicating with one another.

ISRO

 World Air Quality Report 2023

• According to the World Air Quality Report 2023 by Swiss organisation IQAir, India had the third worst air quality out of 134 countries in 2023.
• Begusarai emerged as the most polluted metropolitan area globally and Delhi has been ranked the most polluted capital city in the world for four consecutive years starting from 2018.

Emissions from India's buildings

• According to a report, Emissions from India's buildings sector between 2020 and 2070 are projected to reach 90.85 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in the business-as-usual scenario, exceeding the carbon budget allocated for the entire country.

Captive Elephant (Transfer or Transport) Rules, 2024

• The Centre notified a set of rules called the Captive Elephant (Transfer or Transport) Rules, 2024 that liberalise the conditions under which elephants may be transferred within or between States.
• Until August 2022, the Wildlife Protection Act explicitly prohibited the trade in wildlife including both wild and captive elephants.

Indian Elephant (Elephas maximus) Conservation status

  DEFENCE NEWS 

IAF’s emergency landing exercise

• The Indian Air Force successfully carried out a trial of emergency landing of aircraft on the National Highway-16 near Pichikalagudipadu village in Andhra Pradesh.

 Tiger Triumph-24

• A bilateral tri-service humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) exercise named Tiger Triumph-24 between India and the United States commenced on the Eastern Seaboard on March 18 and will continue until March 31.

Exercises with USA

 STEAG

• The Indian Army has initiated a significant development in its technological capabilities by establishing the Signals Technology Evaluation and Adaptation Group (STEAG). 
• This elite unit is dedicated to researching and evaluating futuristic communication technologies like 6G, artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and quantum computing for military applications.

AFMC, Pune

• Armed Forces Medical College AFMC, Pune was awarded with the unit citation by Chief of Defence Staff, General Anil Chauhan.

 SPORTS NEWS

North East Games 2024

• In Nagaland, the 3rd edition of North East Games 2024 kick-started with a glittering opening ceremony at Regional Centre for Sporting Excellence, Sovima.

Deepika Kumaria

• The Indian archer Deepika Kumari, a three-time Olympian, toppled the selection trials for women's recurve archery, for Archery World Cups and zeroing down on 2024 Paris Olympics provisional squad.