NATIONAL UPDATES:
1. Indian student wins memory championship by recalling 80 digits in 13.50 seconds: A 20-year-old Indian student, Vishvaa Rajakumar has made headlines by winning the Memory League World Championship, an intense online competition where participants compete in rapid memorisation challenges.Vishvaa Rajakumar, a student at Manakula Vinayagar Institute of Technology in Puducherry, stunned competitors by memorising 80 random digits in just 13.50 seconds. This is an incredible speed of nearly six digits per second.
2. Tata Power partners with Amazon Web Services for smart energy transition: Tata Power has entered into a partnership with Amazon Web Services to initiate a data-driven transformation to speed up India’s energy transition.Tata Power has already established a sturdy digital foundation as it has migrated 23 mission-critical applications to AWS using Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS).This transition improves security, scalability, and real-time operational efficiency across major areas such as power generation, grid management, renewables, sales, and finance.
Additionally, the company has transitioned towards server-less architecture with AWS Step Functions, optimizing energy transactions and grid operations to cater to fluctuating demand patterns
3. Shaktikanta Das appointed Principal Secretary II to Prime Minister: Former Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Shaktikanta Das has been appointed Principal Secretary II to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Das served as the Governor of the RBI from 2018-2023, a crucial period for the Indian economy along with the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.His appointment is being seen as the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) bolstering its financial management expertise in the uncertain geo-economic situation prevailing currently.A Tamil Nadu cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the 1980 batch, Mr. Das will work alongside current Principal Secretary I, P.K. Mishra, who will continue in his post.Changes in the PMO at this level have been rare under Modi, with former Principal Secretary I, Nripendra Misra, retiring from that post only after he had served a whole term from 2014-2019.
INTERNATIONAL UPDATES:
1. PM Modi to be guest of honour at Mauritius National Day celebrations: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the guest of honour at Mauritius’ National Day celebrations, his Mauritian counterpart Navin Ramgoolam has announced, calling it a testimony of the close bilateral ties.Mauritius commemorates its National Day on March 12th every year. The day marks the anniversary of Mauritius’s independence from British rule in 1968.Addressing the National Assembly, Mauritian Prime Minister Ramgoolam said it is indeed a singular privilege for our country to host such a distinguished personality despite his very tight schedule.President Droupadi Murmu attended Mauritius’ National Day celebrations last year 2024 as the chief guest.
2. Microsoft unveils quantum chip ‘Majorana 1’- powered by new state of matter: Microsoft has introduced its first quantum chip. The chip, called Majorana 1, is powered by a new Topological Core architecture.Microsoft developed topological superconducting nanowires using indium arsenide (semiconductor) and aluminum (superconductor), forming MZMs, which are essential building blocks for quantum bits (qubits).Microsoft aims to scale up to one million qubits on a single chip while claiming that its design is less prone to errors than competing quantum chips.Majorana 1 represents Microsoft’s second quantum milestone, with the company envisioning a future where quantum computing enables breakthroughs in self-healing materials, sustainable agriculture, and chemical discovery.
3. Brazil Joins OPEC+ Forum to Balance Oil Production and Energy Transition Goals: Brazil has joined the OPEC+ Forum as an observer, signaling a calculated move to balance its role as a major oil producer with its energy transition ambitions.The decision by the National Council for Energy Policy, allows Brazil to participate in discussions without committing to policies like production cuts or price controls.As the world’s seventh-largest oil producer, Brazil pumps 4.3 million barrels of crude daily, contributing 4% of global output. In 2024, crude oil became the country’s top export, accounting for 13.3% of total sales and surpassing soybeans.OPEC+, which includes 23 countries producing nearly 40% of the world’s crude oil, coordinates production policies to stabilize markets.OPEC members comprise Algeria, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
OTHER UPDATES:
DEFENCE
1. India, Bangladesh agree to launch new ‘hotline’ between border forces: India and Bangladesh have decided to establish a new communication link between the deputy commanders of their respective border-guarding forces and identified about 99 fresh patches for erecting a fence along their shared border.The decisions were finalised during the biannual director general-level talks between the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) that concluded here.This was the first time that a high-level meeting between the two forces took place after the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government in Bangladesh on August 5 last year.
SPORTS
1. Shami joins elite list of bowlers with 200 ODI wickets: India’s ace pacer, Md Shami, added a historic milestone to his name as he took three wickets in India’s first match against Bangladesh in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in Dubai on, completing 200 wickets in ODI cricket.Shami is the eighth Indian player to reach this milestone. Ravindra Jadeja, with 224 wickets under his belt, is the only active Indian cricketer ahead of him on the list.While Shami has completed his 200 ODI wickets at a good pace, he is still 43rd on the list of players with the most ODI wickets overall.
Sri Lankan legend M Muralidaran leads the list with 534 wickets, while Anil Kumble, with 334 wickets, is the highest-ranked Indian player.
BANKING AND FINANCE
1. RBI imposes penalty on Citibank, Asirvad Micro Finance, JM Fin Home Loans: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has imposed monetary penalties on Citibank, Asirvad Micro Finance, and JM Financial Home Loans for violating regulatory norms.The central bank fined Citibank Rs 39 lakh for reporting breaches in ‘Large Exposures’ limits with delay and not uploading rectified data in certain segments within seven days of receiving rejection reports from Credit Information Companies (CICs).Meanwhile, Asirvad Micro Finance failed to report the household income of certain borrowers to CICs. It also failed to provide factsheets to certain gold loan customers and did not establish a system of auto-escalation for all complaints that were partly or wholly rejected by its internal grievance redress mechanism to the internal ombudsman for a final decision. These deficiencies led to the RBI imposing a penalty of Rs 6.20 lakh on the company.The action was based on supervisory findings following a statutory inspection of the companies for their financial position as of March 31, 2023.
2. NSDL, CDSL launch Unified Investor App: National Securities Depository (NSDL) and Central Depository Services (CDSL), in collaboration with capital market regulator Sebi, have launched the Unified Investor App (UIP), integrating MyEasi by CDSL and SPEED-e by NSDL.This platform provides investors with a consolidated view of their financial statements, shareholdings, and investments, and financial statements.A key benefit of this initiative is the ability to access a consolidated view of demat securities across both NSDL and CDSL accounts. Investors no longer need to juggle between different platforms to monitor their holdings. This not only simplifies portfolio management but also ensures greater transparency by providing a unified dashboard for all securities.The platform also tackles major challenges by eliminating fraudulent intermediaries through direct data sourcing from exchanges, depositories, and clearing corporations.
3. MobiKwik to acquire 3.39% in B2B infra platform Blostem for Rs 1.49 crore: Fintech firm MobiKwik will acquire a 39 per cent stake in business-to-business (B2B) banking infrastructure platform Blostem for ₹1.49 crore.The aggregate shareholding of the Gurugram-based listed firm in the platform is expected to grow to 6.79 per cent after the deal.MobiKwik had entered into a share subscription and shareholders’ agreement with Blostem in March. It agreed to invest ₹3 crore in two tranches as part of its investment to acquire equity in the B2B platform.The first tranche of ₹5 crore was paid in March for 3.4 per cent of the fully diluted paid-up capital of Blostem.Founded in 2021, Blostem specialises in fixed deposit (FD) aggregation as its core offering. The company has built partnerships with multiple banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). For the year-ended March 2024, the company posted a revenue of Rs. 30.76 lakh.
AWARDS AND HONOURS
1. Sunil Bharti Mittal receives Honorary Knighthood by British High Commission: Sunil Bharti Mittal, Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, has received the insignia of the Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE).This honor follows the announcement in 2024 that His Majesty The King had graciously conferred the Honorary Knighthoodupon Mittal for his significant contributions to UK-India business relations, as stated by the British High Commission in New Delhi.The KBE is one of the highest honors awarded to foreign nationals in recognition of exceptional contributions to various fields, and Mittal’s leadership has undoubtedly had a profound impact on India-UK relations.
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