DAILY GK 29-31 MAR 2026
·
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE)
announced that Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti assumed charge
as Chairperson of the National
Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), succeeding Hansraj Gangaram Ahir.
·
Kiran Umesh Mahalle joined as Member of
the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC)
2.
NEW PM OF MONGOLIA
·
UchralNyam-Osor, leader of the Mongolian
People’s Party(MPP), was elected as the new PM of Mongolia.
·
He became the country’s
third PM in nine months.
·
He succeeds ZandanshatarGombojav who
resigned on 27 March 2026 to address the political crisis.
3.
DIRECTOR GENERAL OF DGCA
·
The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC)
appointed VirVikram Yadav, as the Director General (DG) of
the Directorate General of Civil
Aviation (DGCA).
·
He succeeded Faiz Ahmed Kidwai.
4.
INDIA’S FIRST HYDROGEN TRAIN TRIALS
·
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Ministry
of Railways (MoR) announced the successful completion of the oscillation trials
for India’s first hydrogen-powered trainset.
·
The test was conducted by the Research Designs and Standards
Organisation (RDSO) as part of the evaluation process.
·
As per MoR, India’s first
hydrogen-powered
train will run between Jind and Sonipat in Haryana.
·
The train is developed by Chennaibased Integral Coach Factory (ICF).
5.
WORLD BUDDHIST PEACE CONFERENCE 2026
·
The inaugural edition of the World Buddhist
Peace Conference 2026 was held across Hyderabad (Telangana) and Buddhavanam
at Nagarjunasagar, Nalgonda district (Telangana).
·
The conference was
organised by Buddhavanam, a unit of the Telangana
Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC), Government of Telangana, in association
with the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS).
·
A major highlight of the conference was the unveiling and
adoption of the Telangana Peace Declaration, which
emphasises inner transformation and
ethical values as the foundation for global harmony.
·
The Telangana government announced that Buddhavanam, spread across 274 acres,
will be developed as a global World Peace Centre.
·
During the conference, Telangana’s Tourism and Culture
Minister Jupally Krishna Rao was honoured with the ‘Grand
Prize for Contribution to World Peace’.
6.
20 YEARS OF EARTH HOUR
·
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)
in collaboration with the World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF-India)
organised awareness and outreach activities in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh (MP) to
mark 20 years of Earth Hour, with a nationwide call
to “Give an Hour for Earth”.
·
Activities under the Environmental Information, Awareness,
Capacity Building & Livelihood Programme (EIACP) were conducted with
support from WWF-India and attended by officials from MoEFCC.
7.
NSO RELEASED PUBLICATION “ENERGY STATISTICS INDIA
2026”
·
The National Statistics Office (NSO),
under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), released
the 33rd edition of its annual publication, “Energy
Statistics India 2026″.
·
The publication highlighted a significant surge in India’s Renewable Energy
(RE) potential, which stood at 47,04,043 MegaWatt as on March 31, 2025.
·
Among all the RE
sources in India, Solar Energy dominated
this segment, with a staggering growth of 33,43,378 MW (during FY: 2024-25)
(around 71% of total potential); followed
by Wind Power (11,63,856 MW) and Large Hydro (1,33,410 MW).
·
The publication revealed that the Credit Flow to the energy sector in India has increased more
than 6-times i.e. from an amount of
Rs 1,688 crore (in 2021) to Rs10,325
crore (in 2025).
·
The report noted that over 70% of India’s total potential for generation of RE is concentrated
in six states viz. Rajasthan (23.70%),
Maharashtra (14.26%), Gujarat (9.10%), Andhra Pradesh (9.1%), Karnataka
(8.59%) and Madhya Pradesh(8.09%).
8.
PM E-DRIVE SUBSIDY EXTENDED TILL JULY 31, 2026
·
The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI)
extended the demand subsidy for electric
two-wheelers (e-2Ws) under the Prime Minister’s Electric Drive Revolution in
Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) Scheme till July
31, 2026, providing an additional four months beyond March 31, 2026.
·
Subsidy for e-2Ws
overall scheme continues till 31 March 2028, with electric three-wheelers
(e-3Ws) supported throughout the scheme period.
·
Total allocation of Rs. 10,900 crore,
including Rs. 3,679 crore for demand incentives and Rs. 7,171 crore for
e-buses, charging infrastructure, and testing facilities.
9.
GOVERNMENT EXTENDS PM KUSUM PROJECT DEADLINE
·
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) extended
the timeline for commissioning certain projects under the Pradhan
MantriKisanUrja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM) scheme,
providing relief to developers and state agencies.
·
The commissioning deadline has been extended to March
31, 2027.
·
The scheme aims to add 34,800 MW of
solar capacity with central financial assistance of Rs 34,422 crore, originally
targeted for completion by March 2026.
·
The PM-KUSUM, launched
in 2019, aims to promote solar energy use in agriculture and reduce
dependence on diesel and grid electricity.
·
Under its funding
pattern, the Central and State
Governments each provide 30% subsidy, while farmers contribute 40% (with provision for bank loans), ensuring affordability and wider
participation.
10.
MUKH MANTRI MAWAN DHEEYAN SATKAR YOJANA IN PUNJAB
·
The Punjab Cabinet, led by Bhagwant
Singh Mann, Chief Minister (CM) of Punjab, approved a new
women-centric scheme named “MukhMantriMawanDheeyanSatkarYojana (MMMDSY)” in
the state.
·
The scheme marks a
major step towards ensuring direct
economic support to women across the state.
·
This newly approved scheme is designed as a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) initiative.
·
Women aged 18 years or
above; registered as a voter in Punjab.
·
The state government will provide monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000 to all women in the state,
while Scheduled Caste(SC) women will get
Rs 1,500 per month.
11. ‘NYAYA SETU’ AI CHATBOT AND MASCOT
‘DISHIKA’
·
Vice-President Chandrapuram Ponnusami (C.P.)
Radhakrishnan, unveiled the ‘Nyaya Setu Artificial
Intelligence (AI) Chatbot’ and its mascot ‘Dishika’ during
the Designing Innovative Solutions for
Holistic Access to Justice (DISHA) programme organised by the Department of
Justice (DoJ), in New Delhi.
·
Nyaya Setu is a voice-first,
multimodal, multilingual Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered legal assistant designed
to help citizens understand legal processes, rights, and next steps through
simple voice and text interactions in multiple Indian languages.
·
The platform has been
developed by the Digital India BHASHINI(BHASHA
INterface for India) Division (DIBD).
·
It is built on a complete end-to-end voice stack, integrating Automatic Speech Recognition
(ASR), Natural Language Processing
(NLP), and conversational AI systems.
12.
INDIA’S FIRST NATIONAL REPOSITORY FOR DEEP-SEA FAUNA
·
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)
officially designated the Bhavasagara Referral Centre at
Center for Marine Living Resources & Ecology (CMLRE), Kochi, Kerala
as India’s first National Repository for Deep-Sea Fauna.
·
It will Preserves representative
biological samples as voucher specimens along with essential data, including
Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) sequences, for future scientific
use.
·
It will Promotes expertise in deep-sea taxonomy in
line with the United Nations (UN) Decade of Ocean Science for
Sustainable Development (2021–2030).
13.
SIM-BINDING DEADLINE FOR OTT PLATFORMS EXTENDED
·
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT), under the
Ministry of Communications, extended the deadline for Over-The-Top (OTT)
platforms to implement Subscriber Identity Module (SIM)-binding by 31st
December 2026.
·
The DoT replaced the earlier six-hour automatic
logout rule with a risk-based mechanism where sessions are terminated only in suspected fraud cases,
addressing concerns over user inconvenience.
·
SIM-binding requires OTT
applications
to remain continuously linked to a
mobile number, preventing use without an active SIM and aiming to curb cybercrimes like digital arrest scams
and financial frauds while enhancing user verification.
14.
UN LAUNCHES TASK FORCE TO SAFEGUARD STRAIT OF HORMUZ
TRADE
·
Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United
Nations (UN), announced the formation of a dedicated task
force to address challenges arising from disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz due to the West Asia
conflict.
·
The newly formed task
force will be led by Jorge Moreira da Silva, the
Executive Director (ED) of the United Nations Office for Project Services
(UNOPS).
·
The task force will comprise representatives from key international organisations, including the
UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD),
International Maritime Organization (IMO),
and the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
15.
WTO’S 14TH MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE
·
The World Trade Organization (WTO) held its
14th Ministerial Conference (MC14) in Yaoundé,
Cameroon.
·
The conference was chaired by Luc
MagloireMbargaAtangana, Minister of Trade of Cameroon.
·
The Ministerial Conference is the highest decision-making body of the WTO and is usually held once every two years (biennial).
·
Members agreed to continue talks on fisheries subsidies ahead of MC15.
·
Two decisions were adopted to improve small economies’ integration and strengthen S&DT under SPS and TBT
agreements.
·
A draft “Yaoundé
Package” was also prepared for further negotiations
in Geneva (Switzerland).
