HPPSC HPAS Current Affairs One-liners — All time

Fri, 21 Mar 2025

• Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh released the India Bioeconomy Report 2025 at BIRAC's Foundation Day in New Delhi on 21 March 2025; it puts India's bioeconomy at $165.7 billion in 2024, up from $10 billion in 2014.
• Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff and the Department of Science and Technology signed an MoU in New Delhi on 21 March 2025 to collaborate on defence research and development for the armed forces.
• The Executive Board of the Sahitya Akademi, chaired by its President Madhav Kaushik, approved 22 books for the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize 2024 at Rabindra Bhavan, New Delhi, as announced on 21 March 2025.
• The first-ever World Day for Glaciers was observed on 21 March 2025, the same day as the International Day of Forests, whose 2025 theme was 'Forests and Foods'.
• The Bureau of Indian Standards said on 21 March 2025 it would release its Annual Programme for Standardisation 2025-26 after consultations with 40 ministries and 84 industry associations.
• C-DOT signed an agreement with IIT Delhi, announced on 21 March 2025, to develop a generative AI-enhanced chatbot for disaster early warning and emergency communication.

Thu, 20 Mar 2025

• The World Happiness Report 2025, released on 20 March 2025, ranked India 118th of 147 countries, up from 126th, while Finland was the happiest country for the eighth year in a row.
• India's coal production crossed one billion tonnes in 2024-25 on 20 March 2025, 11 days earlier than the previous year's total of 997.83 million tonnes was reached.
• The Defence Acquisition Council chaired by Rajnath Singh accorded Acceptance of Necessity to eight capital acquisition proposals worth over ₹54,000 crore on 20 March 2025.
• Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced on 20 March 2025 that Zoho had won the Indian Web Browser Development Challenge, with Team PING and Team Ajna as first and second runners-up.
• The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation added 17.89 lakh net members in January 2025, according to provisional payroll data released on 20 March 2025.

Wed, 19 Mar 2025

• The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority notified the PFRDA (Operationalisation of the Unified Pension Scheme under NPS) Regulations, 2025 by a gazette notification dated 19 March 2025, effective 1 April 2025.
• NASA's SpaceX Crew-9, including Indian-origin astronaut Sunita Williams, splashed down off Tallahassee, Florida, at 5:57 pm EDT on 18 March 2025, which was 3:27 am IST on 19 March 2025.
• SEBI issued a circular on 19 March 2025 letting investors store demat and mutual fund holding statements in DigiLocker and name 'Data Access Nominees', to reduce unclaimed assets in the securities market.
• The Union Cabinet on 19 March 2025 approved a ₹1,500 crore incentive scheme for 2024-25 that pays banks 0.15% on UPI person-to-merchant transactions of up to ₹2,000 for small merchants.
• The Union Cabinet on 19 March 2025 approved the revised Rashtriya Gokul Mission with an additional ₹1,000 crore, taking the total outlay to ₹3,400 crore for the 15th Finance Commission cycle (2021-22 to 2025-26).
• The Centre for Development of Telematics launched the first cohort of 'Samarth', an incubation programme for startups in telecom and ICT, with STPI as implementation partner, on 19 March 2025.
• The Union Cabinet on 19 March 2025 approved the revised National Programme for Dairy Development, a Central Sector Scheme, adding ₹1,000 crore for a total of ₹2,790 crore for 2021-22 to 2025-26.

Tue, 18 Mar 2025

• The Election Commission of India led by CEC Gyanesh Kumar decided on 18 March 2025 that linking voter ID (EPIC) with Aadhaar will be done only as per Article 326 of the Constitution, Sections 23(4), 23(5) and 23(6) of the RP Act, 1950, and the Supreme Court judgement in WP (Civil) No. 177/2023.
• The Unique Identification Authority of India partnered with Bengaluru-based Generative AI company Sarvam AI, in an agreement effective 18 March 2025, for AI voice interactions and real-time fraud alerts in 10 languages.
• In a phone call on 18 March 2025, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to US President Donald Trump's proposal that Russia and Ukraine refrain from striking each other's energy infrastructure for 30 days, but did not accept a full 30-day ceasefire.
• IndiaAI and the Geological Survey of India launched the IndiaAI Hackathon on Mineral Targeting on 18 March 2025, asking participants to use AI/ML to find new exploration areas for critical minerals in a 39,000 sq km area of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
• The Ministry of Electronics and IT and Drone Federation India launched the National Innovation Challenge for Drone Application and Research (NIDAR) under the SwaYaan initiative on 18 March 2025, with a ₹40 lakh prize pool.

Mon, 17 Mar 2025

• New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon held talks with PM Narendra Modi in New Delhi on 17 March 2025 during his official visit of 16–20 March; the two sides signed a defence cooperation MoU and New Zealand joined the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) and the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).
• Dr Shivkumar Kalyanaraman assumed charge as the Chief Executive Officer of the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) on 17 March 2025, taking over from acting CEO Prof. Abhay Karandikar.
• The Government e Marketplace (GeM) crossed ₹5 lakh crore in gross merchandise value (GMV) for FY 2024-25 more than 18 days before the financial year ended, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry announced on 17 March 2025.
• India's annual inflation based on the all-India Wholesale Price Index (WPI) was 2.38% (provisional) in February 2025, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said on 17 March 2025.
• The Ministry of Commerce and Industry said on 17 March 2025 that India's total exports (merchandise and services) in April–February 2024-25 were an estimated $750.53 billion, up 6.24% from $706.43 billion a year earlier.
• The 10th edition of the Raisina Dialogue opened in New Delhi on 17 March 2025, with New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon as chief guest delivering the inaugural keynote address and PM Narendra Modi in attendance.
• US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard called on PM Narendra Modi in New Delhi on 17 March 2025, the first high-level visit to India from the US in President Trump's second term, and also met Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.