Current Affairs One-liners — 23 March 2026

Mon, 23 Mar 2026

• The NSO's Forward-Looking Survey on Private Corporate Sector CAPEX, released on 23 March 2026, estimates aggregate provisional capex of ₹11,43,879 crore for 2025-26 and investment intentions of ₹9,55,281 crore for 2026-27.
• On 23 March 2026 the Government restored RoDTEP rates and value caps for all eligible export products to the levels of 22 February 2026, withdrawing the 50% cut imposed a month earlier, to help exporters hit by West Asia shipping disruption.
• On 23 March 2026 the Karnataka Assembly passed the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Bill, 2026, replacing EVMs with ballot papers for rural local body elections, amid a BJP walkout.
• The Uttar Pradesh Cabinet chaired by CM Yogi Adityanath on 23 March 2026 approved the fully state-funded ₹2,916-crore Navayug Palika Yojana for urban bodies in 58 district headquarters and set a wheat procurement target of 5 million tonnes from 30 March to 15 June.
• On 23 March 2026 the Telangana Cabinet under CM A. Revanth Reddy approved the Hate Speech and Hate Crime Prevention Bill, a Parents Support Bill deducting up to 15% of salary (or ₹10,000) from employees who neglect parents, and a gig workers' welfare Bill.
• Union Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy launched the 7th tranche of e-auction of critical and strategic mineral blocks on 23 March 2026, offering 19 blocks in 10 States, with Bihar offering the most (4).
• On 23 March 2026, Shaheed Diwas, the PM and Rajya Sabha paid tribute to Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, who were martyred on 23 March 1931; Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia's birth anniversary was also observed the same day.
• On 23 March 2026 the Election Commission issued digital time vouchers to recognised National and State parties for free broadcast and telecast time on Doordarshan and All India Radio for the Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
• The Government told the Rajya Sabha on 23 March 2026 that MoSPI's Model Context Protocol (MCP) server, which lets AI tools access verified official data via the eSankhyiki portal, has been extended from 7 to 21 statistical products.
• On 23 March 2026 part of Adarsh Cold Storage in Phaphamau, Prayagraj (Uttar Pradesh) collapsed after an explosion in its ammonia gas chamber, killing four workers; the PM announced ₹2 lakh ex gratia from PMNRF for each deceased's family.
• On 23 March 2026 Dr. Jitendra Singh said the DBT's GARBH-INi programme has enrolled around 12,000 pregnant women – India's largest pregnancy cohort – to develop indigenous AI-driven tools for predicting preterm births.
• On 23 March 2026 the Himachal Pradesh Assembly passed the HP Value Added Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2026, enabling an 'orphan and widow cess' of up to ₹5 per litre on petrol and high-speed diesel to fund welfare of orphans and widows, amid a BJP walkout.
• Union Mines Minister G. Kishan Reddy inaugurated the two-day National District Mineral Foundation (DMF) Summit 2026 in New Delhi on 23 March, themed on effective use of DMF funds in Aspirational District and Block Programme areas.