Current Affairs | National | International | SSC | UPSC 11th March 2025

1. Rohit Sharma becomes 2nd-most successful Indian captain with two ICC titles 

• Rohit Sharma became the second-most successful Indian captain by clinching his second ICC title. 
• Under Rohit’s captaincy, India lifted their second ICC silverware in less than nine months after winning the 2024 T20 World Cup against South Africa in Bridgetown. 
• It was also India’s fourth consecutive ICC final in less than two years – the World Test Championship (WTC) in 2023, the ODI World Cup in 2023, and the T20 World Cup in 2024 before playing their third successive Champions Trophy final in Dubai. 
• Rohit became the first captain in international cricket to lead his team in the final of all four major ICC events. The Rohit Sharma-led India won the 2024 T20 World Cup last year to end a more-than-decade-long ICC title drought stretching to the Champions Trophy win under MS Dhoni’s leadership in 2013. 
• Rohit has joined the list with two ICC titles in less than a year’s gap to finish ahead of legendary cricketers Sourav Ganguly (2002 Champions Trophy) and Kapil Dev (1983 ODI World Cup).
• India also became the first country to win the Champions Trophy for a record third time in the eight-team tournament’s history. 

2. Assam government will launch its own satellite. 

• The Assam state government announced to launch its own satellite named ‘ASSAMSAT’. 
• Assam will be the first state in the country to have its own satellite. 
• Assam will develop this satellite with IN-SPACe (Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre) of the Department of Space. 
• This satellite’s aim is to strengthen data access for key socio-economic initiatives and enhance border surveillance. 
• The satellite will help in providing dedicated services for agriculture, disaster management, infrastructure development and border security management and police operations. 
• It will also ignite the imagination of students of the states, who will be involved in building experimental satellites with the support of INSPACe and ISRO. 

3. India's agricultural production reached record high in 2024-25. 

• The Second Advance Estimates of production of Major Agricultural Crops for the year 2024-25 have been released by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare. 
• The estimated Kharif food grain production is approximately 664 lakh metric tonnes, while the Rabi food grain production is estimated to be more than 645 lakh metric tonnes. 
• Kharif rice production is estimated to exceed 1,206 lakh metric tonnes, up from about 1,132 LMT in 2023-24.
• Rabi rice production is estimated at 157.58 lakh tonnes. 
• The production of tur and gram is estimated at 35.11 lakh metric tons and 115.35 lakh metric tons, respectively. 
• Wheat production is estimated at 1154.30 lakh tonnes, which is 21.38 lakh tonnes higher than last year's production of 1,132.92 lakh tonnes. 
• The production of millet (kharif) is estimated at 137.52 lakh tonnes, and that of millet (rabi) is estimated at 30.81 lakh tonnes. 
• Cotton production is estimated at 294.25 lakh bales (of 170 kg each), and sugarcane production is estimated at 4350.79 lakh tonnes. 

4. Classical singer Garimela Balakrishna Prasad passed away at the age of 76.

• On March 9, renowned classical singer and former Asthana Vidwan (court musician) of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Garimela Balakrishna Prasad passed away in Tirupati. 
• Balakrishna Prasad, who served the TTD from 1978 to 2006, became famous for composing tunes for over 1,000 compositions of saint-poet Tallapaka Annamacharya. 
• Some of his compositions, like Vinaro Bhagyamu Vishnukatha and Jagadapu Chanavula Jajara, were featured in the popular Telugu film Annamayya. 
• His contributions to devotional music, especially in disseminating the literature of Annamacharya, have left a lasting legacy in the world of classical and Carnatic music. 

5. Syria's interim president signed a deal to merge the army with the Kurdish-led SDF. 

• On 10 March, a deal to join Syria’s new state institutions was signed by the Kurdish-led and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which control much of Syria’s oil-rich northeast, with the Damascus government. 
• The agreement calls for integrating SDF-controlled civilian and military institutions in northeastern Syria with the state. 
• The agreement comes as Shara is grappling with the fallout from mass killings of members of the Alawite minority in western Syria.
• He said the violence threatened his efforts to unify Syria after 14 years of conflict. 
• The signed agreement calls for SDF-controlled border crossings, an airport, and oil and gas fields in eastern Syria to become part of the Damascus administration. 

6. Anti-dumping duty up to $986/tonne on water treatment chemical from China and Japan has been imposed by India. 

• India has introduced an anti-dumping duty of up to 986 US dollars per tonne for five years on Trichloro isocyanuric acid imported from China and Japan. 
• The measure is designed to shield the domestic industry from low-cost imports. 
• The Ministry of Finance issued this decision based on recommendations from the Directorate General of Trade Remedies. 
• The Directorate’s investigation concluded that the domestic market had been harmed by the influx of unfairly priced imports. 
• The imposition of this duty aims to promote fair competition and support the domestic sector. 

7. India and Armenia have entered into a MoU for collaboration in regulating medical products. 

• The agreement was signed in Delhi in the presence of India’s External Affairs Minister, Dr. S. Jaishankar, and Armenia’s Foreign Minister, Ararat Mirzoyan. 
• The two sides discussed potential cooperation in the fields of digital technology and pharmaceuticals. 
• They also assessed the expanding India-Armenia relationship, including areas like political exchanges, trade, economics, connectivity, education, culture, and people-to-people ties. 
• A separate MoU was signed between the Sushma Swaraj Institute of Foreign Service and Armenia's Diplomatic School. 
• Dr. Jaishankar reiterated India’s commitment to strengthening its historical ties with Armenia. 
• He highlighted the positive political relations, growing trade, and deepening defense cooperation between the nations. 
• Dr. Jaishankar also exchanged views with Mr. Mirzoyan on regional and global issues of mutual concern. 

8. Parliament passed Railways (Amendment) Bill 2024 for better functioning and Independence of Railway Board. 

• The Railways (Amendment) Bill 2024 has been passed in Rajya Sabha with a voice vote. 
• The Railways (Amendment) Bill 2024 will amend the Railways Act 1989. 
• Its main aim is to enhance the power of the Railways Board and enhance the functioning and independence of the body. 
• The bill proposes to simplify the legal framework by incorporating all the provisions of the Indian Railway Board Act, 1905, and the Railways Act, 1989.
• The provisions of the bill will reduce the need to refer to two laws, and instead, reference will be required to only one law. 
• This new act will not affect the functioning of the Railway Board, Zones, and Divisions.

9. 54th National Safety Week has been observed from 4 th -10 th March. 

• The 54th National Safety Week is celebrated between the 4th to 10th of March annually. 
• National Safety Week celebrations started with a safety awareness march from NTR Stadium to Pentakota Convention Center. 
• ‘Safety and Well-being Crucial for Viksit Bharat’ is the theme of the 54th National Safety Week. 
• The National Safety Council of India leads the National Safety Week Campaign.
• In 1972, National Safety Day was formally celebrated for the first time, and the week-long event. 
• It is focused on the importance of safety for a developed India. 

10. Surat Food Security Saturation Campaign has been launched by PM Modi. 

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Surat Food Security Saturation Campaign.
• Under this campaign, efforts have been made to identify eligible poor beneficiary families. 
• The special focus will be on Ganga Swaroopa (widowed) women, elderly individuals, Divyangs, and marginalized daily wage earners. 
• Prime Minister also distributed benefits to approximately 2 lakh eligible beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY). 
• The main aim of the initiative is to ensure comprehensive food security coverage. 
• It will also help the government in achieving the goal of providing essential food grains to the underprivileged. 
• 'Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana' (PMGKAY) was launched in 2020 to provide free, quality food grains to poor families. 

11. India's first hydrogen train is to be launched on the Jind-Sonipat route by March 31. 

• India is ready to achieve a historic milestone in its railway sector with the launch of its first hydrogen-powered train. 
• The train is scheduled to commence operations by March 31, 2025, on the Jind-Sonipat route in Haryana. 
• Hydrogen trains are the future of eco-friendly rail transport. 
• Hydrogen trains use hydrogen fuel cells, which produce only water and heat as by-products. 
• These trains will cut the carbon emissions and noise pollution. It will make them a cleaner alternative for passenger travel. 
• The train can achieve a top speed of 110 km/h and can accommodate 2,638 passengers. 
• The train will be equipped with a 1,200 HP engine, which will make it the highest-capacity hydrogen-powered train in the world. 

12. ICMR launches patent filing support initiative to boost biomedical innovations in India 

• Union Health Minister J P Nadda has launched the Indian Council of Medical Research’s (ICMR) flagship initiative ‘Medical Innovations Patent Mitra’ to enhance India’s healthcare innovation ecosystem. 
• The initiative aims at providing end-to-end guidance and handholding support to innovators for patent filings and technology transfer of medical innovations to industry. 
• The initiative was launched at the International Symposium on Health Technology Assessment (ISHTA). 
• This program, developed under the guidance of NITI Aayog and in partnership with the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), is supported by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). 
• Medical innovation Patent Mitra is a testament of ICMR’s commitment to advancing medical innovation. 

13. Union minister Annapurna Devi to lead India’s delegation at Commission on Status of Women at UN 

• Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Annapurna Devi will lead India’s delegation at the 69th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) at the United Nations headquarters in New York. 
• The session will focus on global progress in achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. 
• She will also participate in discussions on resourcing and accelerating the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 

14. Financial Grant Scheme for Young Artists 

• The Ministry of Culture is implementing a financial grant Scheme by the name of ‘Scholarships to Young Artists in Different Cultural Fields (SYA)’ to support young artists specialising in various cultural fields such as classical dance forms, indigenous artwork and other traditional art-forms for undergoing advanced training in their respective fields. 
• Under this scheme component, a Scholarship of Rs. 5,000/- per month is provided upto a maximum of 400 Scholars for a period of 02 years in four equal six-monthly instalments. The selected scholars should be in the age group of 18 years to 25 years and have been undergoing training under any Guru or Institution for a minimum of 5 years. 
• The Scholars are selected on the basis of their performance in a personal interview / interaction before an Expert Committee constituted by the Ministry.

15. Bank of Baroda launches first savings account for women NRIs 

•  Bank of Baroda has launched a specialised savings account for women NRIs, becoming the first Indian public sector bank to offer such a product. 
• The BoB Global Women NRE & NRO Savings Account provides benefits including concessional rates on home and auto loans, reduced processing fees, full waivers on locker rent, and a customised debit card with complimentary airport lounge access. 
• The account also comes with free personal and air accident insurance coverage. 
• The bob Global Women NRE & NRO Savings Account recognises the changing dynamics of today’s global Indian women and is designed to empower them. '

About Bank of Baroda (BOB) 

• Founded – 1908 
• Headquarters – Vadodara, Gujarat 
• MD & CEO – Debadatta Chand 
• Chairman – Mukesh Kumar Bansal 
• Tagline – India’s International Bank 

16. Justice Bagchi appointed as SC judge, set to become CJI in 2031 

• The Union government appointed justice Joymalya Bagchi as a judge of the Supreme Court, following the recommendation made by the Supreme Court collegium. 
• With this elevation, justice Bagchi is set to become the Chief Justice of India (CJI) in May 2031, albeit for a little over four months, before retiring on October 2, 2031. 
• His appointment fills one of the two vacancies in the Supreme Court, which has a sanctioned strength of 34 judges. 
• The Supreme Court collegium, comprising Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and justices Bhushan R Gavai, Surya Kant, Abhay S Oka and Vikram Nath, had recommended Justice Bagchi’s appointment on March 6. 
• Justice Bagchi was appointed as a judge of the Calcutta high court in June 2011. In January 2021, he was transferred to the Andhra Pradesh high court, before being repatriated to the Calcutta high court in November 2021. Over his 13-year tenure as a high court judge, he has gained extensive experience across diverse fields of law. 

17. Russia set to hold joint naval exercises with China, Iran in Indian Ocean 

• Russia, China, and Iran are going to hold joint naval exercises in the Indian Ocean later this month. The exercises, called “Security Belt-2025”, will take place near the Iranian port of Chabahar. 
• This is the seventh time the three countries are holding these exercises together. 
• The exercises aim to strengthen military cooperation and trust among the participating countries. 

Recent Exercise 

• Exercise Desert Hunt 2025 between Indian Navy, Indian Army and India Air Force – Indian Air Force at Air Force Station Jodhpur. 
• 6th edition of Exercise Dharma Guardian between Indian Army and Japan Ground Self-Defence Force (JGSDF) – Mount Fuji, Japan. 
• 3rd edition of military exercise “Cyclone 2025” between India and Egypt – Mahajan Field Firing Range in Rajasthan. 
• EX Winged Raiders between Indian Army and the Indian Air Force – Eastern Theater. 
• 13th edition of military exercise ‘Ekuverin’ between the Indian Army and the Maldives National Defence Force – archipelago nation. 

18. 10 March – International Day Of Women Judges 

• The International Day of Women Judges is observed annually on March 10 to recognize the significant role of women in the judiciary and promote gender equality in legal systems worldwide. 
• The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declared March 10 as the International Day of Women Judges in 2021 through Resolution 75/274. 

19. Former Supreme Court judge V. Ramaswami dead 

• Former Supreme Court judge V. Ramaswami passed away at 96. 
• He enrolled as an advocate on July 13, 1953 and practiced in civil and criminal matters. He was appointed as an Additional Government Pleader in 1962 and as State Public Prosecutor in 1969 before being elevated as a judge of the Madras High Court in 1971. 
• In 1987, he got appointed as Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court and was elevated to the Supreme Court in 1989. An impeachment motion was moved against him for extravagant spending during his tenure in Punjab and Haryana High Court but the motion failed in 1993 and he retired from service in 1994. 

20. Senior BJD leader Ananta Das passes away 

• Veteran Biju Janata Dal (BJD) leader and former Minister Ananta Das passed away at the age of 85 in Bhubaneshwar. 
• Das represented the Bhograi constituency of Balasore district in the Odisha Assembly by winning the seat for four times consecutively between 2004 and 2019 on a BJD ticket. 
• Das also held several ministerial portfolios, including higher education and industries departments, between 2017 and 2019. He was also the chief whip in the Odisha Assembly from 2014 to 2017. 

21. India second-largest arms importer after Ukraine in 2020-24, says SIPRI 

• A war with Russia for the past four years, became the largest importer of major arms in the world during the period between 2020 and 2024, clocking a nearly 100-fold rise in imports compared with the figures for 2015-2019. 
• India was the second-largest arms importer, though the trade figures decreased by 9.3% between 2015-19 and 2020-24, show data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). 
• The country was the big-gest arms export destination for both Russia and France, though the volume with Moscow has signifi-cantly reduced. 
• China dropped out of the list of top 10 arms importers for the first time since 1990-94, showcasing its expanding domestic industrial base. 
• The largest share of Indian arms imports (36%) came from Russia, a significantly smaller share than in 2015-19 (55%) and 2010-14 (72%), the report noted. 
• "Arms imports by Pakistan grew by 61% between 2015-19 and 2020-24. China became even more dominant as its supplier, accounting for 81% of Pakis-tan's arms imports in 2020-24, compared with 74% in 2015-19," the SIPRI report released on Monday said. 
• While European arms imports overall grew by 155% between the same periods as the continent rearms itself, the U.S. further increased its share of global arms exports to 43%, while Russia's exports fell by 64%, accounting for 7.8% of global arms exports, falling behind France (9.6%), which emerged as the second largest arms exporter in 2020-24. 
• Four countries in Asia and Oceania India, Pakistan, Japan, and Australia-ranked among the 10 largest arms importers globally in 2020-24. 
• Russia delivered major arms to 33 countries in 2020-24, of which two-thirds went to three coun-tries India (38%), China (17%), and Kazakhstan (11%). 

French exports 

• At the same time, France exported arms to 65 countries, and its exports of major arms to other European countries almost tripled between 2015-19 and 2020-24 (187%), according to SIPRI. 
• "This was mainly due to deliveries of combat aircraft to Greece and Croatia, and arms supplies to Ukraine after Russia's full scale invasion in 2022." 
• Nevertheless, India received by far the largest share of French arms exports (28%) , almost twice the share that went to all European recipients combined (15%). 
• The second largest recipient of major arms from France was Qatar (9.7%). 
• India has inked contracts for some major military platforms from France, including 36 Rafale fighter jets and six Scor pene-class conventional submarines, and has more mega deals lined up. Meanwhile, deals for 26 Rafale-M jets and three submarines are set to be concluded very soon. 
• Global transfer volume The overall volume of arms transfers globally remained at roughly the same level as in 2015-19 and 2010-14 (but was 18% higher than in 2005-2009), as increasing imports in Europe and the Americas were offset by decreases in other regions, data show. 
• Italy, with a 4.8% share of arms sales, jumped from 10th to sixth place on the exporters' list. 
• The report stated that at least 35 countries have sent weapons to Ukraine since the war began in 2022, and a substantial number of deliveries are in the pipeline. The country received 8.8% of global arms imports in 2020-24. 
• "The new arms transf-ers figures clearly reflect the rearmament taking place among states in Eu-rope in response to the threat from Russia," said Mathew George, programme director at SIPRI. However, some major arms importers, including Saudi Arabia, India, and China, saw large declines in import volumes for a variety of reasons, he added.

22. Looking for a potent cosmic particle accelerator? There's one near earth 

• Understanding how particles such as electrons travel vast distances in space or how they acquire ultra high energy has been a long-standing puzzle inergy has 
• In fact, physicists' picture of the manner of energy propagation in the diverse world is still not fully clear. On January 3, researchers with the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in the US. and Northumbria University made an important finding that mitigates some of the fuzzine tiness. 
• In their paper, published in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers reported that collisionless shock waves, which are easy to find throughout the + universe , could be the cosmic engines driving subatomic particles in space to extreme speeds. The team found these shock waves to be among nature's most powerful particle accelerators 
• Scouting the plasma These shock waves are born in plasma gas of charged particles that can conduct electricity and interact with magnetic 
• The study was based on data from three of NASA's space hashed data sources Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, the Time-History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Subestorius (THEMIS) mission, and the Acceleration Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the Moon's teraction with the Sun (ARTEMIS) sed on their analysis, the researchers have proposed a comprehensive new ndel that includes recent theoretical advancements in physics that they have said can explain the accelerated electrons in collisionless shock environments.
• When you shout at your friend across a hold, say, the sound waves travel through the air between you two to reach your friend's ears. The travel happens at a speed equal to the speed of sound through the atmosphere. But sometimes, 
• It's possible to transmit waves at faster than the speed of sound through the atmosphere shock
• In general, the density of a plasma is far lower than that of the three most common states of matter: solid, hquid, and gas. Another way of saying this is that the average distance between the constituent particles of plasma is much greater na dense solid, liquid, 
• But in plasma, the interparticle distance is even greater than the range of interparticle forces, which means any particle in the plasma rarely collides with another. Instead, the particles interact the electromagnetic forme 
• This means a shock wave sent through the plasma will transfer its energy forward not hy smashing the particles together but by riding the electromagnetic forces between them 
• The electron injection problem ronomen found shock waves in outer space mere pulsars and magnetars, in the zer surrounding black holes, similar energetic objects. When a sufficiently massive star explodes into a supernova, it throws a significant amount of energy. If the star is surrounded by a plasma, the shock front will essentially propagate in a collisionless manner. 
• The electrons within the plasma smell will be pushed forward at a speed that, depending on the circumstances, could be very close to the speed of light. Such electrons are said to be relativistic, since their properties can now be described only by the theories of relativity. 
• Such shock waves have previously been found to play a key role in producing cosmic rays streams of high-energy particles travelling through the universe When one such stream smashes into the earth's atmosphere, it breaks up into a shower of other particles. In the new seaty, the researchers focused on diffusive shock acceleration, a well-known mechanism capable of accelerating electrons to tremendous mergies through collisionless shock waves. But there's a catch. 
• Astronomers have found shock waves in outer space near pulsars and magnetars, in the hot disks of matter surrounding black holes, and other similar energetic objects mechanism that requires electrons to have accelerated to around 50% of the speed of light first before it can propel them even further. 
• Whether there's a natural process in the universe capable of providing this first bumpaka the electron injection problem has been a long standing mystery in astrophysics. 
• Solar wind vs. magnetosphere The researchers used real-time data from the MMS, THEMIS, and ARTEMIS missions about how the solar wind interacted with the earth's magnetosphere and about the upstream sma environment near the moon. Not near the moon. The solar wind is a riser of charged particles constantly flowing out from the sun inmo the solar system. 
• One of the most effective ways to deepen our understanding of the universe we live in is by using our near-earth plasma environment as a natural laboratory, Nor Northumbria research arch fellow and study coauthor Ahmad Lalti said in a press release. 
• When the anlar wind hits the magnetosphere, it slows down and transfers its energy into a shock wave. The region where this transfer happens is known as the bow shock, and its leading sees is called the toneshock. The position of the bow shock depends on the speed of the solar wind and its density 
• Data collected by the three missions on December 17, 2017, in particular, revealed something strange. The team found a transient but large-scale phenomenon upstream of the earth's bow shock During this event, electrons in the earth's Foreshock seemed to acquire more than 500 keV of energy. If this was entirely kinetic energy, the electrons would have been moving at around 80% of the speed of light. This was a striking result given the fact that electrons in the foreshock region typically have just around 1 keV of energy. According to the researchers, these high-energy electrons were generated by a complex interplay of multiple acceleration mechanisms, including the interactions with various plasma waves and with transient structures in the earth's bow shock and foreshock. They foreshock also excluded the influence of solar flares and coronal mass ejections from the sun 
• A cosmic-ray contribution "In this work, we use in-situ observations from MMS and THEMIS ARTEMIS to show how different fundamental plasma processes at different scales work in concert to energise electrons from low energies up to high relativistic energies" Lalit sale in the statement. "Those Fundamental processes are not restricted to our solar system and are expected to be cut across the universe. 
• Indeed, the team's refined acceleration model provides new insights into the workings of space plasma and other phenomena within our solar system, For example, as the researchers wrote in their paper, scientists believe supernova shocks are responsible for creating cosmic rays year it's possible at least some of them might have been created by the process described in the paper to some star systems, they went, 
• "Under the presence of (jas giants orbiting very close to their stars), the existence of massive magnetic helds enables our mechanism to potentially sustain electrims of a million to a billion keys of energy. 
• "Our results, therefore, imply that a portion of the cosmic ray distribution of relativistic electrons might originate from the interaction of planetary shocks with typical stellar winds" 
• They concluded by asking for more research by the "stellar astrophysics and particle acceleration communities" to verify their idea.