National NEWS

Bharat Ratna Awards

• President Droupadi Murmu conferred the Bharat Ratna on former Prime Ministers P.V. Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh; former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur; and agronomist Dr. M.S. Swaminathan. 
• All four awards were presented posthumously at a brief ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

Bharat Ratna

Deactivate USSD-based call forwarding service 

• The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked telecom operators to deactivate USSD (unstructured supplementary service data)-based call forwarding service from April 15 in a bid to curb fraud and misuse.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

International Year of Millets 2023

• The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) organized closing ceremony of the International Year of Millets (IYM) 2023 at the FAO headquarters, Rome, Italy.

FAO

China Celebrates Tibet takeover

• China holds 65th-anniversary celebrations of its Tibet takeover in new villages along India and Bhutan borders.
• Chinese troops took over Tibet in 1951.

China

Financial Action Task Force (FATF)

• FATF has found many countries are yet to fully implement its requirements aimed at preventing misuse of virtual assets and virtual asset service providers (VASPs).
• Virtual assets (crypto assets) refer to “any digital representation of value that can be digitally traded, transferred or used for payment”

FATF

Boao Forum for Asia

• The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) Annual Conference 2024 concluded in Boao, a coastal town in China's island province of Hainan.

ECONOMY & BANKING

MoU Between NPTI and PTC India Ltd

• National Power Training Institute (NPTI) and PTC India Ltd. have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to establish a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Research & Development in the Energy Domain, with a focus on promoting sustainable development goals.

 Force Motors

• India's Force Motors announced closing of its agricultural tractors business and related activities from March 31, 2024.

ENVIRONMENT & SCIENCE & TECH

Statin-induced diabetes

• A group of researchers in China has found that administering ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) can stave off the tendency of statins to induce glucose intolerance and diabetes.
• Statins are prescribed to people with a high risk of cardiovascular disease and many studies have found statins could increase the risk of developing diabetes.

OpenAI unveils Voice Engine

• After launching its video generator Sora, ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has developed a voice cloning tool called 'Voice Engine'.
• Voice Engine uses text input and a single 15-second audio sample to generate natural-sounding speech that closely resembles the original speaker.

OpenAI

DEFENCE NEWS 

Indian Navy rescued Iranian fishing vessel

• The Indian Navy, after successfully rescuing an Iranian fishing vessel and its 23-member Pakistani crew from pirates, announced that the nine surrendered pirates would be brought to India for further legal action. 
• The pirates will be prosecuted under the Maritime Anti-Piracy Act, 2022.

Indian Navy

SPORTS NEWS

WJT Asia-Oceania

• Japan defeated India 2-0 in the final of the WJT Asia-Oceania under-14 boys tennis tournament at Kuching (Malaysia)