India Current Affairs One-liners — All time

Fri, 21 Mar 2025

• 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'.
• A two-week residential programme on election administration for 40 senior and mid-level election officials from Bhutan concluded at IIIDEM, New Delhi, on 21 March 2025.
• 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.
• President Droupadi Murmu addressed the 49th annual convocation of AIIMS New Delhi on 21 March 2025, calling the institute a 'running laboratory of the Gita's Karma Yoga'.

Thu, 20 Mar 2025

• 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.
• The 14th meeting of the ADMM-Plus Experts' Working Group on Counter-Terrorism, the first of the 2024–27 cycle co-chaired by India and Malaysia, concluded in New Delhi 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.
• Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya declared the second Khelo India Para Games open at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall, New Delhi, on 20 March 2025, with over 1,300 para athletes in six disciplines.
• The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation added 17.89 lakh net members in January 2025, according to provisional payroll data released on 20 March 2025.
• NHAI said on 20 March 2025 it had debarred 14 user fee collection agencies for irregular fee collection, after a UP Special Task Force raid at the Atraila Shiv Ghulam toll plaza in Mirzapur.
• CSIR-Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, Jammu, signed an MoU with HAPICO Industries on 20 March 2025 to jointly develop novel biopesticides from medicinal and aromatic plants.
• President Droupadi Murmu visited the Udyam Utsav, an MSME showcase organised by the Ministry of MSME at Rashtrapati Bhavan from 20 to 30 March 2025, on its opening day.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a programme of Bavaliyali Dham, linked to Gujarat's Bharwad community, by video message on 20 March 2025, praising the community's service and commitment to cow protection.
• The National Zoological Park in New Delhi marked World Sparrow Day on 20 March 2025 with a students' zoo walk and sparrow count, and distributed 100 sparrow nests.

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.
• Bharat Coking Coal Limited, a Coal India subsidiary, monetised its 2 MTPA Dugda Coal Washery in Bokaro, Jharkhand, the first monetisation of a coal washery in India, the Ministry of Coal said 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 Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 19 March 2025 approved a 29.219 km six-lane access-controlled greenfield highway from JNPA Port (Pagote) to Chowk in Maharashtra, to be built on BOT (Toll) mode at ₹4,500.62 crore.
• 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 Union Cabinet on 19 March 2025 approved a 12.7 LMT-a-year brownfield ammonia-urea complex (Namrup-IV) within the premises of Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Ltd at Namrup, Assam, at an estimated cost of ₹10,601.40 crore.
• 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.
• Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh addressed the fifth Major Bob Khathing Memorial Event, organised by the Indian Army, Assam Rifles and the United Service Institution of India at Delhi Cantt on 19 March 2025.
• President Droupadi Murmu presented the 19th Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards in New Delhi on 19 March 2025.
• A four-day symposium, 'India 2047: Building a Climate-Resilient Future', organised by two Harvard University institutes with the Environment Ministry, began at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, on 19 March 2025.