🔆 Current Affairs Pointers — 25 March 2026

🔆 International News

📍 Global Air Quality Status
✅ Only 14.89% cities meet WHO PM2.5 safe limit (5 µg/m³)
✅ Asia most polluted; Oceania & North America cleaner
✅ PM2.5 → major cause of lung & heart diseases

📍 WMO Climate Warning 2026
✅ Earth’s climate system “flashing red” due to energy imbalance
✅ Oceans absorb ~91% excess heat → hidden warming crisis
✅ CO₂ highest in 2 million years, sea level ↑ ~11 cm since 1993

📍 GlobE Network Meeting
✅ India hosted 12th Steering Committee Meeting
✅ Platform for anti-corruption cooperation (origin: G20 Riyadh Initiative 2020)

📍 AI for Agriculture Innovation (AI4AI)
✅ Launched by WEF (2021) to promote agri-tech & sustainable farming
✅ Implemented in UP, Maharashtra, Telangana, MP

🔆 National News

📍 National AI Skilling Initiatives
✅ Launched by Ashwini Vaishnaw
✅ Includes AI Skilling Programme (target 15,000), MyWAVES platform, advanced EPG in TVs

📍 NITI Aayog Support to RISE Centre
✅ ₹1.55 crore sanctioned (Andhra Pradesh)
✅ Focus: Women entrepreneurship & AI-based skill training

📍 RoDTEP Rates Restored
✅ Refund of taxes/duties on exports to boost competitiveness
✅ Scheme launched 2021, replaced MEIS

📍 Strategic Petroleum Reserves (SPRs)
✅ India storage level ~64% capacity
✅ Emergency crude stockpiles at Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru, Padur

📍 Jal Seva Aankalan Framework
✅ Village-level monitoring of rural tap water services
✅ Community-led assessment via VWSC & Gram Sabha validation

🔆 MoUs / International Cooperation

📍 Vietnam–Russia Nuclear Deal
✅ Plan for Ninh Thuan-1 plant (2 reactors, 2400 MW)
✅ Revives Vietnam’s nuclear plans for clean energy & energy security

🔆 States

📍 Delhi Green Budget 2026-27
✅ Outlay ₹1.03 lakh crore; 21% for green initiatives
✅ Aim: Pollution reduction & sustainable development

📍 Musi River Rejuvenation (Telangana)
✅ Restore river ecosystem & urban development in Hyderabad

📍 Nivesh Mitra 3.0 (UP)
✅ Digital investment platform with AI chatbot & single-window approvals
✅ Reduces documentation & procedural steps

🔆 Important Days

📍 International Nowruz Day — 21 March
✅ Promotes peace, cultural exchange & neighbourliness

📍 World Poetry Day — 21 March
✅ Theme: “Poetry as a Bridge for Peace and Inclusion”

📍 World TB Day — 24 March
✅ Theme: “Yes! We Can End TB”; target elimination by 2030

🔆 Appointments

📍 P.V. Narayana Rao → Co-opted Member, ICAI SRSB (2026-27)
📍 Kompella Venkata Ramana Murty → SEBI Whole-time Member (3 yrs)

🔆 Awards
📍 Kalpana Soren → Women Empowerment Trailblazer Award (BRICS CCI WE Summit)
📍 Subhash Chandra Bose Aapda Prabandhan Puraskar → For excellence in disaster management

🔆 Science & Technology
📍 New Cockroach Species Discovered
✅ Neoloboptera peninsularis found in Pune (ZSI scientists)

📍 Terafab Chip Project (USA)
✅ Semiconductor facility for Tesla, SpaceX & humanoid robots
✅ Entire chip lifecycle under one roof

#CurrentAffairs

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🔆 CURRENT AFFAIRS — 26 MARCH 2026

🔆 INTERNATIONAL

📍 Best Airlines Ranking 2026 (AirlineRatings)
✅ Qatar Airways ranked No.1 full-service airline
✅ Safest airline: Etihad Airways

📍 SKYTRAX Airport Rankings
✅ Best airport globally: Singapore Changi Airport
✅ Indian airports in Top-100:
• Delhi IGI – Rank 28
• Hyderabad – Rank 43
• Goa Manohar – Rank 64
• Mumbai CSMIA – Rank 66

🔆 NATIONAL

📍 10 Years of BIS Act 2016
✅ Bureau of Indian Standards ensures quality certification (ISI mark)
✅ HQ: New Delhi

📍 Indigenous Cattle Breeding Breakthrough
✅ ICAR-IVRI Bareilly produces 5 Sahiwal calves using OPU-IVF-ET technology

📍 IVFRT Scheme Extension
✅ Immigration-Visa-Foreigners Tracking scheme extended 2026–31
✅ Budget: ₹1800 crore
✅ Fast Track Immigration e-gates reduce clearance time to ~30 sec

📍 India’s New NDC Targets (2031–35)
✅ Emissions intensity cut 47% (from 2005)
✅ 60% power capacity from non-fossil sources
✅ Carbon sink: 3.5–4 billion tonnes CO₂

📍 Modified UDAN Scheme (2026–36)
✅ Outlay: ₹28,840 crore
✅ Plan: 100 new airports + 200 helipads
✅ Push for HAL Dhruv & Dornier aircraft

📍 Steel Girders Portal
✅ Rail-Road bridge project approvals cut from 12 months → 3–4 months

🔆 MoUs
📍 BHASHINI – PFRDA MoU
✅ Initiative: BHASHINI for Seva-Sanchalan
✅ Aim: Multilingual pension services (22 languages)

🔆 SCHEMES
📍 PM Internship Scheme Revamp
✅ Stipend increased ₹5,000 → ₹9,000/month
✅ Eligibility expanded: PG & MBA students included
✅ Age range: 18–25 years
✅ Target: 1 lakh internships

🔆 IMPORTANT DAYS
✅ International Day of Solidarity with UN Staff — 25 March
✅ International Day of the Unborn Child — 25 March

🔆 APPOINTMENTS
✅ Kiran Mani appointed Asia-Pacific Head (OpenAI)
✅ K.V. Ramana Murty appointed SEBI Whole-Time Member (3 yrs)
✅ Puneet Gupta becomes DNPA Chairperson

🔆 SCIENCE & TECH
📍 Akasha300 3D Printer
✅ Delivered to ISRO-LPSC
✅ High-temperature aerospace printer for rapid prototyping of rocket & satellite parts

🔆 SPORTS
📍 India Sports Industry Report
✅ Value (2025): ₹18,864 crore ($2.13 bn) | Growth 13.4% YoY
✅ Cricket share: ~89%

#CurrentAffairs

Punjab PCS Mains Admit card

https://ppsc.gov.in from 26/03/2026 onwards. Exam Date is 01/04/2026.

🔆 Regional Connectivity Scheme – Modified UDAN

📍 Why in News?
✅ Union Cabinet approved Modified UDAN Scheme (2026) to strengthen regional air connectivity with focus on timely infrastructure completion, sustainability and innovation.

🔆 About Modified UDAN Scheme

📍 Duration & Outlay
✅ Time period: 10 years (FY 2026-27 to FY 2035-36)
✅ Total outlay: ₹28,840 crore

📍 Key Components

✅ Development of Aerodromes (CAPEX)
➡️ 100 new airports to be developed from unserved / underserved airstrips
➡️ Supports Viksit Bharat 2047 vision

✅ Operation & Maintenance (O&M) Support
➡️ Financial support for 3 years to about 441 RCS-only aerodromes
➡️ Cap: ₹3.06 crore per airport and ₹0.90 crore per heliport / water aerodrome

✅ Modern Helipads Development
➡️ 200 helipads in remote, hilly & aspirational districts
➡️ Improves last-mile connectivity & emergency response

✅ Viability Gap Funding (VGF)
➡️ ₹10,043 crore support over 10 years
➡️ Helps airlines sustain low-traffic regional routes

✅ Atmanirbhar Aircraft Acquisition
➡️ Procurement of HAL Dhruv helicopters and Dornier aircraft
➡️ Enhances aviation capacity in difficult terrains

🔆 About UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik)

📍 Launch & Implementation
✅ Launched: October 2016
✅ Ministry: Civil Aviation

📍 Objective
✅ Make air travel affordable & accessible
✅ Improve connectivity of Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities

📍 Achievements (till March 2026)
✅ 663 routes operationalised
✅ 95 airports / heliports / water aerodromes connected
✅ 3.44 lakh+ flights operated
✅ 163 lakh+ passengers carried
➡️ Boost to tourism, regional development & emergency services

#goverment_schemes

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🔆 Ol Chiki Script

📍 In News: The centenary celebrations of Ol Chiki (1925–2025) are being marked through commemorative initiatives and growing institutional recognition.

📍 About Ol Chiki Script

✅ Language: Official script of the Santhali language, a major tribal language with strong oral traditions.

✅ Developer: Pandit Raghunath Murmu (1925) created it to provide a scientific and dedicated writing system for Santhali.

📍 National Recognition
➡️ Constitution of India was officially translated into Santhali (Ol Chiki) and released in December 2025.
➡️ Government issued a ₹100 commemorative coin and postage stamp marking 100 years of the script.

📍 Key Linguistic Features
✅Designed exclusively for Santhali phonetics.
✅ Consists of 30 letters (vowels + consonants).
✅ One-to-one sound-symbol correspondence ensures phonetic accuracy.
✅ Captures glottal stops and unique phonetic elements effectively.

📍 Significance
➡️Strengthened linguistic identity and cultural heritage of the Santhal community.
➡️ Enabled formal education, literature, and governance use in the Santhali language.

#prelims
#art_and_culture

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🔆 Integrated Programme for the Textile Sector — Union Budget 2026–27

📍 What is the Integrated Programme
✅ A comprehensive, end-to-end policy framework
✅ Covers the entire textile value chain — fibre → fashion, village industries → global markets
✅ Objective: Competitiveness, employment, sustainability & self-reliance

📍 Five Sub-Components (Core Architecture)

✅ National Fibre Scheme
Focus on self-reliance across the fibre spectrum
Supports natural fibres (silk, wool, jute), man-made fibres, and new-age fibres

✅ Textile Expansion & Employment Scheme
Modernisation of traditional textile clusters
Capital support for machinery, technology upgradation
Creation of common testing & certification centres

✅ National Handloom & Handicraft Programme
Integration of existing schemes into one unified national framework
Strengthens handloom and handicrafts with better coordination

✅ Tex-Eco Initiative
Promotion of globally competitive and environmentally sustainable textiles & apparel
Aligns Indian textiles with green manufacturing standards

✅ Samarth 2.0
Modernisation of the textile skill ecosystem
Deeper collaboration with industry & academic institutions

📍 Other Key Textile Initiatives Announced

✅ Mahatma Gandhi Gram Swaraj Initiative
Strengthens khadi, handloom & handicrafts
Focus on branding, global market linkages
Supports One District One Product (ODOP)

✅ Mega Textile Parks & Technical Textiles
Boosts technical textiles — a high-growth segment
Critical for industrial, medical, defence & infrastructure applications

📌 Why It Matters
✅ GS-3: Industry, MSMEs, Employment, Sustainable Manufacturing
✅ Boosts Make in India & Atmanirbhar Bharat
✅ Links rural livelihoods with global value chains

#goverment_schemes

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🔆 Re-looking India–Iran Historical & Civilizational Ties

📍 Context:
✅ India–Iran relations have deep historical, cultural and civilizational roots, reflected in administration, language, art, architecture and music.

📍 Early Persian Contacts & Invaders

✅ Cyrus (558–530 BCE)
➡️ First Achaemenid ruler to enter India → captured Gandhara region

✅ Darius I (522–486 BCE)
➡️ Conquered Indus Valley (518 BCE) → annexed Punjab & Sindh

🔆 Persian Influence on India

📍 Administration
✅ Achaemenian statecraft influenced governance under Chandragupta Maurya
✅ Persian remained official language in administration till British reforms (1830s)

📍 Literature & Language
✅ Similarities between Rigveda and Avesta
✅ Persian became official court language under Akbar (1582)
✅ Many Persian words integrated into Indian languages → kagaz, vakil, diwani, tahsil, mohalla

📍 Art
✅ Development of Mughal miniature painting
➡️ Persian artists like Abd al-Samad & Mir Sayyid Ali invited by Humayun

📍 Architecture
✅ Mauryan Period:
➡️ Use of Kharosthi script (Iranian origin)
➡️ Influence on Ashokan edicts

✅ Mughal Period:
➡️ Introduction of Charbagh garden style (symmetrical layout, water channels)
➡️ Reflected in monuments like Humayun’s Tomb and Taj Mahal

📍 Other Cultural Influences
✅ Music: Instruments like sitar, santur; forms like ghazal, qawwali
✅ Spiritual traditions: Spread of Sufism

📍 Conclusion
✅ India–Iran ties reflect a shared civilizational continuum, where Persian influences enriched Indian polity, culture and aesthetics, leaving a lasting legacy in multiple domains.

#history #prelims #mains

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Earth Hour 2026

Lights Off, Future On

https://youtube.com/shorts/2eE4EnuEIe8

🔆 Important Chalcolithic Sites in India

📍 Ahar–Banas (Rajasthan)
✅ Evidence of smelting & metallurgy.
✅ Supplied copper tools to contemporary communities.
✅ Evidence of rice cultivation.
✅ Black-and-Red Ware pottery with white designs.

📍 Gilund (Rajasthan)
✅ Evidence of stone blade industry.
✅ Important centre of the Ahar culture.

📍 Navdatoli (Madhya Pradesh)
✅ Located on the Narmada River.
✅ Cultivated almost all major food grains.
✅ Round & rectangular houses.

📍 Malwa (Madhya Pradesh)
✅ Along Narmada River.
✅ Known for rich Chalcolithic ceramics.
✅ Evidence of spindle whorls (textile activity).

📍 Kayatha (Madhya Pradesh)
✅ Near Chambal River.
✅ Houses with mud-plastered floors.
✅ Pottery shows Pre-Harappan elements.
✅ Copper tools with sharp cutting edges.

📍 Daimabad (Maharashtra)
✅ Southern extension of Indus Valley influence.
✅ Largest Jorwe culture site in Godavari valley.
✅ Famous for bronze artifacts:
• Rhinoceros
• Elephant
• Two-wheeled chariot with rider
• Buffalo

📍 Songaon, Inamgaon & Nasik (Maharashtra)
✅ Large mud houses with ovens.
✅ Evidence of circular pit houses.
✅ Burial practice: Dead buried under house floors (North–South direction).

📍 Nevasa (Jorwe, Maharashtra) & Eran (Madhya Pradesh)
✅ Associated with Non-Harappan Chalcolithic culture.

📝 UPSC Prelims Focus
• Rivers linked – Narmada, Chambal, Godavari
• Culture – Ahar, Malwa, Jorwe
• Bronze artifacts – Daimabad
• Black-and-Red Ware – Ahar-Banas

📝 Conceptual Note
✅ Though Chalcolithic (Copper Age) generally predates Bronze cultures, in India some Harappan sites are older than certain Chalcolithic cultures.

#history #prelims #mains

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🔆 Dravyaratnākara Nighaṇṭu & Dravyanamākara Nighaṇṭu

📍 Context
✅ The Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences has revived two rare Ayurvedic manuscripts:
➡️ Dravyaratnākara Nighaṇṭu
➡️ Dravyanamākara Nighaṇṭu

🔆 Dravyaratnākara Nighaṇṭu

📍 About
✅ An Ayurvedic manuscript belonging to Nighaṇṭu literature.
➡️ Deals with medicinal substances and their uses.

📍 Meaning of Nighaṇṭu
✅ Refers to compilations describing:
• Medicinal drugs
• Synonyms
• Properties
• Parts used

📍 Authorship
✅ Written by Mudgala Pandita
✅ Composed around 1480 CE

📍 Sources
✅ Draws from classical Ayurvedic lexicons such as:
➡️ Dhanvantari Nighantu
➡️ Raja Nighantu

🔆 Dravyanamākara Nighaṇṭu

📍 About
✅ Another Ayurvedic manuscript authored by Bhisma Vaidya

✅ Focuses exclusively on homonyms of drug and plant names.
➡️ Important for identifying medicinal plants correctly in Ayurveda.

✅ Functions as a standalone appendix to the Dhanvantari Nighantu.

#prelims
#art_and_culture

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Day 101: 29 March target



Topics:
Full length test

Current affairs: Backlogs



#UpscRevisionProgram


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@CSE_EXAM

🔆 Majorana Particles

📍 About
✅ Hypothetical particles that are their own antiparticles.
✅ Proposed in 1937 by Ettore Majorana.
✅ Electrically neutral, hence difficult to detect.

📍 Key Features
✅ Called “self-mirror particles”.
➡️ Unlike electrons and protons, they do not annihilate with themselves.
➡️ Particle and antiparticle are identical.

✅ Usually appear as quasi-particles in condensed matter systems.
➡️ Found mainly inside superconductors at extremely low temperatures.

📍 Applications
✅ Quantum computing
➡️ More stable and error-resistant quantum computers.

✅ Particle physics
➡️ May explain neutrinos and dark matter.

✅ Condensed matter physics
➡️ Helps study exotic quantum states and advanced materials.

🔆 Antimatter

📍 Meaning
✅ Same as ordinary matter but with opposite electric charge.
➡️ Also called “mirror matter”.

📍 Examples
✅ Electron → Positron
✅ Proton → Antiproton
✅ Neutron → Antineutron

📍 Difference from Majorana Particles
➡️ In antimatter, particle and antiparticle are different.
➡️ In Majorana particles, both are the same.

#GS3
#prelims
#science_technology
#science_and_technology

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