Current Affairs One-liners — 28 March 2025

Fri, 28 Mar 2025

• A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck near Mandalay, Myanmar, at 12:50 pm local time (11:50 am IST) on 28 March 2025, causing heavy damage in Myanmar and shaking Bangkok; Prime Minister Narendra Modi said India stood ready to help.
• The Ministry of Defence signed two contracts worth ₹62,700 crore with HAL in New Delhi on 28 March 2025 for 156 Light Combat Helicopters Prachand: 66 for the IAF and 90 for the Army.
• The Supreme Court quashed the Jamnagar FIR against Rajya Sabha MP Imran Pratapgarhi on 28 March 2025, holding that reciting a poem was protected free expression under Article 19(1)(a).
• The 14th edition of the India–Russia naval exercise INDRA began at Chennai on 28 March 2025, with a harbour phase until 30 March and a sea phase in the Bay of Bengal from 31 March to 2 April.
• The Lok Sabha passed the Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill, 2024 on 28 March 2025 to replace the colonial-era Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, 1925.
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the 120.10 km four-lane Patna–Arrah–Sasaram corridor (NH-119A) in Bihar on Hybrid Annuity Mode at a cost of ₹3,712.40 crore on 28 March 2025.
• The Union Cabinet approved the Electronics Component Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS) with an outlay of ₹22,919 crore on 28 March 2025 to build India's electronics component supply chain.
• A High-Level Committee chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah approved ₹555.70 crore for Sikkim's recovery from the October 2023 glacial lake outburst flood and ₹1,604.39 crore for fire services in five States on 28 March 2025.
• The 113th meeting of the Executive Committee of EPFO's Central Board of Trustees was held in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, on 28 March 2025, and welcomed a proposal to raise the auto-claim settlement limit to ₹5 lakh.
• The Union Cabinet approved a 2% increase in Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief for Central Government employees and pensioners on 28 March 2025, taking it from 53% to 55% of basic pay or pension from 1 January 2025.
• The CCEA approved inclusion of Bihar's Kosi–Mechi Intra-State Link Project, costing ₹6,282.32 crore, under PMKSY-AIBP on 28 March 2025, with ₹3,652.56 crore central support and completion by March 2029.
• The National Statistics Office released the report of the second all-India Time Use Survey (January–December 2024) on 28 March 2025, showing that 74.5% of men and 24.9% of women aged 15–59 took part in paid activities.
• The Union Cabinet approved Nutrient Based Subsidy rates on phosphatic and potassic fertilisers for Kharif 2025 (1 April to 30 September 2025) on 28 March 2025, with a budget need of about ₹37,216.15 crore.
• The Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances signed a Master Service Agreement with Digital India Bhashini on 28 March 2025 to make CPGRAMS multilingual and voice-enabled in 22 languages.
• The combined Index of Eight Core Industries grew 2.9% (provisional) in February 2025 over February 2024, according to data released on 28 March 2025.