Current Affairs UPSC NDA CDS RRB IBPS TNPSC UPPSC BPSC

1. CURRENT AFFAIRS
16 March 2024
Dr.A.PRABAHARAN
Professor & Research Director
Public action
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2. Lok Sabha Polls To Be Held In 7 Phases From April 19
 The Lok Sabha polls will be conducted in seven phases beginning the
19th of next month. The counting will take place on 4th June.
 The Election Commission today announced the poll schedule for the
General Election 2024 as well as for the assembly polls in four states.
In the first phase, the polling will be conducted in 102 Lok Sabha
seats on 19th April while in the second phase, 89 seats will go to poll
on 26th April.
 The poll for the third phase will be held on 7th May for 94 seats while
96 seats will go to the poll in the fourth phase on 13th May. In the
fifth phase, 49 Parliamentary constituencies will have polling on 20th
May and in the sixth phase, 57 seats will have voting on 25th May.
 The last and seventh phase of polling will be held on 1st June for 57
Lok Sabha seats.
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3.  The government will conduct the Foundational Literacy and
Numeracy Assessment Test (FLNAT) as part of Nav Bharat
Saaksharta Karyakram on Sunday across 23 states.
 Union Education Ministry said, approximately 37 lakh learners
will appear for this important nationwide assessment. The FLNAT
will be held in all districts of each participating State and UT.
 The assessment comprises three subjects – Reading, Writing, and
Numeracy – each carrying 50 marks, totalling 150 marks.
 The Ministry said the test will be conducted in the regional
language of the learners, in line with National Education Policy
2020’s focus on promoting multilingualism.
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Govt To Conduct Foundational Literacy & Numeracy Assessment
Test (FLNAT) As Part Of Nav Bharat Saaksharta Karyakram On
Sunday

4. Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda Calls Indepth
Study & Research On Tribal Icons Who Participated
In Nation’s Freedom Movement
 Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda has called for an
indepth study and research on tribal icons who
participated in the nation’s freedom movement.
 Addressing the gathering at the inaugural function of
renovated building of Bharatiya Adim Jati Sewak Sangh
(BAJASS) at Jhandewalan in New Delhi today,
 Mr Munda said that tribal leaders have a long history of
participation in India’s freedom struggle, from the
Mughal era to the British Raj.
 He said that tribal culture, traditions and history need to
be preserved and propagated.
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5. AIIMS New Delhi In Collaboration With Organ Retrieval Banking
Organisation Performs First Dual Kidney Transplant
 All India Institute of Medical Sciences, AIIMS New Delhi in
collaboration with the Organ Retrieval Banking Organisation has
performed the first dual kidney transplant at AIIMS.
 The donor was a 78-year-old lady who was admitted to AIIMS
Trauma Centre with a severe head injury.
 She was declared brain dead and her family consented to organ
donation.
 According to AIIMS, she was the second oldest organ donor at
AIIMS in New Delhi.
 The recipient of the Kidney was a 51-year-old lady on dialysis. It
said the surgery was carried out by the Department of Surgical
Disciplines and the Department of Nephrology.
 The recipient had an uneventful recovery with both the kidneys
performing well following the surgery.
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6. Former IAS Officer Navneet Kumar Sehgal Takes Charge As New
Prasar Bharati Chairman
 Former IAS officer Navneet Kumar Sehgal today took
charge as new Prasar Bharati Chairman. Mr. Sehgal is a
1988-batch retired bureaucrat of UP cadre.
 He is the successor of A Surya Prakash who completed
his term as Chairman in 2020.
 Earlier President Droupadi Murmu appointed him after
the Selection Committee for Chairman of Prasar
Bharati headed by Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar
cleared his name.
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7. India Says, It Strongly Condemns ‘All’ Forms Of
Religiophobia And Warned Against Dividing United
Nations Into Religious Camps
 India said, it strongly condemns ‘all’ forms of religiophobia and
warned against dividing the United Nations into religious camps.
 This was stated by India’s Permanent Representative to the UN,
Ruchira Kamboj while addressing the United Nations General
Assembly during the adoption of a resolution ‘Measures to combat
Islamophobia’ at the 78th session of the United Nations General
Assembly.
 Ms Kamboj, stressed that the resolution adopted today should not
establish a precedent that could result in numerous resolutions
centred on phobias tied to specific religions, potentially dividing the
United Nations.
 Ms. Kamboj said, India, as a proud champion of pluralism, firmly
upholds the principle of equal protection and promotion of all
religions and all faiths.
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8.  Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed his delight on over one crore
households having registered under the PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana.
Mr Modi said in a social media post that registrations have been pouring in
from all parts of the nation.
 He added that Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and
Uttar Pradesh have seen over five lakh registrations.
 Prime Minister Modi highlighted that Muft Bijli Yojana will potentially bring
substantial reductions in electricity expenses for households, along with
ensuring energy production.
 He assured that the initiative will encourage Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE)
on a grand scale and contribute to a better planet.
 The Prime Minister urged the people to register at the earliest.
Registrations are open at the website pmsuryaghar.gov.in.
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PM Modi Expresses Delight On One Crore Households Having
Registered Under PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana

9.  Union Minister of Consumer Affairs Piyush Goyal on Friday (15th
March 2024) inaugurated National Time Protocol (NTP) for
dissemination of Indian Standard Time in Mumbai.
 This will provide Uniform and precise time information with
milliseconds accuracy and will also increase the cyber security.
Public can access it via time.nplindia.org or time.nplindia.in.
 Mr. Goyal also virtually inaugurated timing infrastructure at
Regional Reference Standard Laboratory (RRSL) at Faridabad and
Ahmedabad.
 Talking exclusively to Akashvani, CSIR National Physical
Laboratory’s Head of Indian Standard Time division Dr. Ashish
Agarwal said, India is the first country to implement time
distribution system.
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Union Minister Piyush Goyal Inaugurates National Time Protocol For
Dissemination Of IST In Mumbai

10.  Home Ministry has said it is committed to ensure timely redressal of
public grievances on Centralized Public Grievance Redressal and
Monitoring System, CPGRAMS. Ministry said in a statement that it
has consistently ranked amongst top 10 Ministries during 2023-24
in Grievance redressal Assessment Index, GRAI performing well in all
15 indicators of GRAI.
 During 2023-24, the Ministry has performed exceptionally well by
redressing 48 thousand 837 public grievances cases with average
redressal time of 8 days against standard of 30 days.
 Only 10 percent of grievances resulted in appeals which is one of
the lowest among Ministries. Citizen satisfaction also stands at 40
percent.
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MHA Ranks Amongst 10 Top Ministries In
Grievance Redressal Assessment Index

11. G42 Partnered With Cerebras Systems To
Build Supercomputer Condor Galaxy 3
 Abu Dhabi’s leading technology holding group, G42, has
partnered with Cerebras Systems, a pioneer in accelerating
generative AI, to build the supercomputer Condor Galaxy 3.
 Condor Galaxy 3 is the third and most powerful cluster in their
series of AI supercomputers, solidifying its position as the
world leader. Condor Galaxy 3 boasts double the processing
power of its predecessors, reaching a phenomenal 16 exaFLOPs
of AI computing power.
 This immense power is achieved through 64 of Cerebras’ latest
CS-3 systems, each featuring the industry’s fastest AI chip, the
Wafer-Scale Engine 3 WSE-3.
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12. NASA To Carry ‘Message In Bottle’ To Europa,
One Of Jupiter’s Moon In October
 NASA will carry ‘message in a bottle’ to Europa, one of Jupiter’s
moon in October this year.
 The mission dubbed as Europa Clipper mission will explore signs of
life as Scientists chose predicts a salty lake under its icy crust.
 The Europa Clipper spacecraft will carry a triangular metal plate
with an engraving of US Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s handwritten “In
Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa,” along with a silicon
microchip stenciled with more than 2.6 million names submitted by
the public.
 But that is not all, it has an Indian connection as well.
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13. Mass Evacuation Begins In Ukraine’s Sumy
Region Near Russian Border Due To Intense
Shelling In Area
 A mass evacuation has begun in Ukraine’s Sumy region near the
Russian border due to intense shelling in the area.
 The military administration of Ukraine said on Telegram that over 180
residents near the Velikopysarska community were evacuated over
the past three days.
 It added that a total of 4,500 residents have been evacuated from 22
villages. According to regional administration, three people were
killed and 13 wounded over the past five days in the tense region.
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14. England Open Badminton: Lakshya Sen Faces
Jonatan Christie Of Indonesia In Men’s Singles
Semifinal At Birmingham
 In England Open Badminton, Lakshya Sen will take on
Jonatan Christie of Indonesia in the semifinal at Birmingham
this evening.
 Earlier, Indonesian star shuttler Anthony Ginting has entered
the final in Birmingham on Saturday. Fifth seeded Ginting
defeated Christo Popov of France 19-21 21-5, 21-11.
 He will now meet the winner of the second semi-final
between Lakshya Sen and Jonatan Christie.
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