Current Affairs | National | International | SSC | UPSC 7th March 2025

1. PM Modi has been honored with Honorary Order of Freedom of Barbados. 

• Union Minister of State for External Affairs Pabitra Margherita received Honorary Order of Freedom of Barbados on his behalf. 
• Barbados President Dame Sandra Mason awarded the honor. 
• The award is a recognition of PM Modi’s leadership and his support during COVID-19 crisis. 
• The award ceremony was held at Government House in Bridgetown. 
• The award was announced at 2nd India-CARICOM Leaders' Summit in Georgetown, Guyana, on November 20, 2024. 
• The diplomatic ties between the two countries date back to 1966. 

2. Tropical Cyclone Alfred is impacting eastern Australia. 

• Tropical Cyclone Alfred is bringing intense rainfall and unusually large waves in the area. 
• Evacuations have been ordered in certain areas. Schools have been closed and public transport halted. 
• This is the first cyclone to strike eastern Australia since 1974. 
• Alfred is predicted to make landfall close to Brisbane, the third-largest city in Australia. 
• Cyclones are uncommon in the cooler southern waters compared to the tropical northern regions. 
• The cyclone developed from a tropical disturbance in the Coral Sea on February 20. 

3. Union IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw introduced the IndiaAI compute portal. 

• He also launched AIKosha dataset platform to boost AI development and access. 
• The compute portal provides more than 18,000 GPUs, cloud storage, and AI resources. 
• These are meant for students, startups, researchers, academics, and government entities. 
• \AIKosha aims to offer non-personal datasets, tools, and mentorship to drive AI progress. 
• The portal will assist in the creation of India's own foundational AI model. 
• In 3-4 years, India plans to introduce its own GPUs for global competition, with a cost of less than Rs 100 per hour. 
• The AI Compute Portal is the largest component of the India AI Mission. 
• The IndiaAI mission, approved by the cabinet in March last year with a budget of Rs 10,371.92 crore, seeks to foster AI innovation through public-private collaborations. 
• The mission is managed by the IndiaAI Independent Business Division under the Digital India Corporation. 

4. The establishment of a family-centric citizen database proposed by the Government of Arunachal Pradesh. 

• This initiative aims to ensure the efficient, transparent, and targeted delivery of public welfare benefits and services. 
• With the aim of creating this database, the state government introduced the Arunachal Pradesh Arun Parivar Patra Authority Bill, 2025, on the first day of the state budget session in the legislative assembly on 6 March. 
• Another bill, the Arunachal Pradesh Flood Plain Zoning Bill, 2025, was also introduced in the House. 
• It aims to regulate flood zone demarcation along the river waterways of the state to reduce flood risks and ensure better land use planning. 
• Along with these, the government tabled two more bills during the session. 
• These include the Arunachal Pradesh Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2025, and the Arunachal Pradesh Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) (Amendment) Bill, 2025. 

5. The New Credit Assessment Model for MSMEs launched by the Union Finance Minister. 

• The New Credit Assessment Model based on the scoring of digital footprints of MSMEs was launched by the Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman. 
• This was announced in the Union Budget 2024-25. 
• In this, public sector banks will develop their in-house capacity to assess MSMEs for credit instead of relying on external assessment. 
• A new credit assessment model based on the scoring of digital footprints of MSMEs in the economy will be developed by PSBs. 
• This credit assessment model will leverage digitally fetched and verifiable data available in the ecosystem. 
• It will devise automated journeys for MSME loan appraisal using objective decisioning for all loan applications and model-based limit assessment for both Existing to Bank (ETB) and New to Bank (NTB) MSME borrowers. 
• The model utilizes digital footprints such as PAN authentication, OTP-based verification, GST data fetch, bank statement analysis, ITR verification, bureau checks, and fraud detection through APIs. 
• With this model, MSMEs can submit applications online, eliminating the need for paperwork and branch visits. 

6. India’s real GDP growth will be 6.5% in fiscal 2026, as per a report by Crisil. 

• This GDP growth is forecasted despite global geopolitical uncertainties and disruptions and assuming normal monsoon season and stable prices of commodity. 
• Discretionary consumption is likely to be boosted by declining food inflation, tax benefits in Union Budget 2025-26 and decreasing borrowing costs. 
• Economic growth is stabilizing at pre-pandemic levels as fiscal stimulus normalizes and the impact of a high base goes. 
• India has continued to outperform major economies. High-frequency data from the Purchasing Managers' Index support this trend. 
• Domestic demand, both rural and urban, will remain key in sustaining short-term growth despite external volatility. 
• Manufacturing growth is projected to average 9% annually between fiscals 2025 and 2031, compared to 6% in the pre-pandemic decade. 
• The services sector will remain dominant, and the manufacturing sector’s GDP share is expected to rise from 17% in fiscal 2025 to 20%. 
• Lower inflation and fiscal consolidation have allowed room for a 50-75 basis point reduction in interest rates in the next fiscal year. 
• India’s large-scale infrastructure development and economic reforms have widened its growth premium over advanced economies. 

7. RBI has appointed Dr. Ajit Ratnakar Joshi as its new Executive Director, starting March 3.

• Dr. Joshi will manage the Department of Statistics and Information Management, as well as the RBI's Financial Stability Department. 
• Prior to his promotion, he held the position of Principal Adviser in the Department of Statistics and Information Management. 
• With more than three decades of experience in statistics, IT, and cyber risk management, Dr. Joshi brings valuable expertise. 
• He has taught at the Institute of Development and Research in Banking Technology, Hyderabad. 
• Dr. Joshi has been involved in various committees and working groups focused on macroeconomic statistics and policy development. 
• He holds a master’s degree in statistics from Nagpur University, a Ph.D. in monetary economics from IIT Madras, and a Diploma in Development Policy and Planning from the Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi. 
• Additionally, he is a certified associate of the Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (CAIIB). 

8. Over 10 crore rupees allocated by the government for the IndiaAI mission. 

• On 7 March, an allocation of over Rs 10,300 crore for the IndiaAI Mission was approved by the Cabinet, marking a significant step towards bolstering India’s AI ecosystem. 
• This huge financial contribution, which will run for the next five years, will boost the India AI Innovation Centre (IAIC), India AI Datasets Platform, India AI Application Development Initiative, and India AI FutureSkills. 
• India's AI mission includes key initiatives such as Future Skills, India AI Startup Financing, and Secure and Trusted Artificial Intelligence. 
• The main focus of this mission is to develop a high-end general computing facility equipped with 18,693 graphics processing units (GPUs), making it one of the most comprehensive AI computing infrastructures globally. 
• In this year's budget, the government had announced the setting up of a new Centre of Excellence for AI in Education with an outlay of Rs 500 crore. 
• Also in 2024, the world's first government-funded multimodal LLM initiative, BharatGen, was launched in Delhi. 
• Wheebox's India Skills Report 2024 estimates that the country's AI industry will reach US$28.8 billion by 2025, at a compound annual growth rate of 45%. 
• Massive growth in the AI-skilled workforce has been witnessed in India from 2016 to 2023, making it one of the top five fastest-growing AI talent hubs, alongside Singapore, Finland, Ireland, and Canada. 

9. The “Nari Shakti Se Viksit Bharat” conference inaugurated by President Murmu on Women’s Day. 

• A national conference in New Delhi is inaugurated by President Droupadi Murmu on International Women’s Day on the 8th of March. 
• The conference on the theme of “Nari Shakti Se Viksit Bharat” was organized by the Women and Child Development Ministry. 
• The event was attended by women from various sectors, including officers from the Armed Forces and Paramilitary Forces, Delhi Police, My Bharat volunteers, Anganwadi workers, Asha workers, and Self-Help Group members. 
• Representatives from international organizations such as the World Bank, UNICEF, United Nations Women, UNDP, and UNFPA also attended the event. 
• On the occasion, a mega campaign called #SheBuildsBharat was also launched by the Centre. 
• Apart from this, the Lakhpati Didi program was attended by PM Modi at Vansi-Borsi in Navsari, Gujarat, on the occasion of International Women's Day. 

10. India's high net worth population is set to reach 93,753 in the next three years. 

• According to Knight Frank's The Wealth Report 2025 released on March 5, the number of India's high net worth individuals (HNWIs) with assets above $10 million is estimated to be 85,698 in 2024. 
• This number is expected to grow by 9.4% to 93,753 by 2028, reflecting the country's growing wealth landscape. 
• In 2024, the number of Indian HNWIs grew by 6% year on year to 85,698 from 80,686 in 2023. 
• India accounts for 3.7% of the world's high-income individuals and currently holds the fourth position globally, following the US (905,413 HNWIs), China (471,634 HNWIs), and Japan (122,119 HNWIs). 
• In 2024, the country's billionaire population has also seen a strong year-on-year growth of 12% compared to the previous year. 
• India now has 191 billionaires, with 26 joining the category last year alone, compared to just 7 in 2019. 
• According to the report, the combined wealth of Indian billionaires is estimated at US$950 billion, ranking the country third globally after the US (US$5.7 trillion) and Mainland China (US$1.34 trillion). 
• Similarly, in 2024, more than 82% of new billionaires were men, down from 90% four years ago.
• Of billionaires under the age of 30, about 47% were women last year, pointing to a potentially more balanced future. 

11. Table tennis legend Achanta Sharath Kamal announced his retirement. 

• Indian table tennis icon A. Sharath Kamal has announced his retirement in March 2025, bringing an end to his illustrious 22-year career at the pinnacle of the sport. 
• Sharath will participate in the WTT Star Contender event in Chennai, which is his last tournament and will run from March 25 to 30. 
• His impact on the sport goes far beyond his achievements, which include seven Commonwealth Games gold medals, two historic Asian Games bronze medals, and appearances at five Olympics. 
• He competed in his fifth and final Olympics in Paris in 2024 and was India's joint flag bearer at the opening ceremony. 
• Currently, Sharath is also the Vice-chairperson of the Athletes Commission of the Indian Olympic Association. 

12. Central government has given the green signal to 'Project Lion’. 

• Union Government has approved 'Project Lion' with a budget of Rs 2,927.71 crore. 
• It is a significant step towards the conservation and expansion of the Asiatic lion population. 
• This initiative has been launched for the well-being of Asiatic lions, whose numbers, as per the 2020 census, stand at 674. 
• These lions are spread across 53 talukas in nine districts of Gujarat. 
• Project Lion is an effort to integrate habitat and population management, wildlife health monitoring, human-wildlife conflict mitigation, local community involvement, scientific research, eco-tourism development, and biodiversity conservation. 
• For the conservation effort, 237 beat guards, including 162 men and 75 women, were recruited in 2024. 
• The Asiatic lion is one of the most endangered large carnivores. It is mainly found in Gujarat’s Gir Forest and surrounding landscapes. 
• The project is expected to act as a model for wildlife conservation, balancing ecological preservation with sustainable development. 

13. Cheetah reintroduction plan to be expanded to Gujarat 

• After Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park, cheetah introduction will be expanded to Banni Grasslands in Gujarat and Gandhisagar Sanctuary of Madhya Pradesh. 
• African cheetahs were reintroduced at Kuno National Park in two batches in September 2022 and February 2023. 
• Banni Grasslands is a 2,500 sq km protected forest in the Kutch district of Gujarat that supports numerous animal genetic resources like Banni buffalo, Kankrej cattle, sheep, goats, camels, and horses. 
• The grassland is a breeding and nesting ground for more than 250 bird species, including resident and winter migratory birds. 
• Gandhisagar Sanctuary in eastern Madhya Pradesh spreads over Mandsaur and Neemuch districts. It is known as Nimar region, with borders touching Rajasthan and is more or less dry. 
• The sanctuary is spread over the area surrounding Gandhisagar dam backwater, and is known for some rare wildlife species like wild dogs (dholes), chinkaras, leopards, otters and crocodiles. 
• Under the “Action Plan for Reintroduction of Cheetah in India”, around 50 cheetahs are estimated to be brought from African countries to various national parks over five years. 

14. Sahitya Akademi organised “Festival of Letters” 2025 

• Sahitya Akademi, India’s premier literary institution working under the Ministry of Culture, Government of India, will be organizing its annual Festival of Letters at Rabindra Bhavan in New Delhi from 7th March 2025 to 12th March 2025. 
• Union Minister for Culture and Tourism Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, has inaugurated the festival. 
• Sri Mahesh Dattani, eminent English Playwright will be the chief guest of the award ceremony in which the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Awards in 23 languages will be presented and Sri Upamanyu Chatterjee, eminent Writer and Scholar will deliver this year’s Samvatsar Lecture. 
• This is Asia’s Largest Literature Festival with about 700 writers from different parts of the country representing more than 50 languages participating in the festival that spans over 100 sessions. The theme of the festival will be Indian Literary Traditions and a National Seminar on the topic featuring eminent thinkers and writers will be organized during the last three days of the festival. 

15. Bhupender Yadav inaugurates World Sustainable Development Summit 2025 

• Union Minister for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change, Bhupender Yadav has inaugurated the World Sustainable Development Summit (WSDS) 2025 in New Delhi. 
• The summit-themed Partnerships for Accelerating Sustainable Development and Climate Solutions was Organised by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). 
• The event was attended by distinguished dignitaries, including Prime Minister of Guyana, Brigadier Mark Phillip, and Brazil’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva, were present at the event. 

16. India ranks 4th globally with 85,698 super rich, behind US, China and Japan

• India has emerged as a leading global wealth hub, with a current population of 85,698 High Net-Worth Individuals (HNWIs), placing it fourth globally, behind only the US, China, and Japan, according to the latest Global Wealth Report by property consulting firm Knight Frank. 
• The number of HNWIs—defined as individuals with at least US$1 million in investable assets—rose by 4.4% globally in 2024, reaching over 2.3 million people. Notably, the population of ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNWIs), those with assets exceeding US$100 million, surpassed 100,000 for the first time, reflecting a broader trend of growing wealth across the world. 
• America continues to dominate as the world’s primary wealth creator, with nearly 40% of global HNWIs residing in the US, a figure far surpassing China, which holds 20%, and Japan, which accounts for just over 5%. 

17. Suborno Bose Receives Lifetime Achievement Award for Hospitality and Education 

• Suborno Bose, Chairman of the International Institute of Hotel Management (IIHM), one of India’s foremost hospitality educators and a visionary in integrating technology with hospitality, has been honoured with the ‘Lifetime Achievement in Hospitality and Education Through Technology’ award by Union Tourism Minister Gajendra Shekhawat. 
• The award was conferred at the Vibrant Bharat Global Summit 2025, an event organized by Bharat 24, one of the country’s leading language media networks. 
• This prestigious recognition marks a significant milestone in Dr. Bose’s relentless efforts to revolutionize hospitality, tourism, and education through technology, particularly artificial intelligence (AI).

Recent Award 

• Pritzker Architecture Prize 2025 – Chinese architect and educator Liu Jiakun 
• Laureus World Sports Award 2025 (in comeback of the year category) – Rishabh Pant 
• Icon of Excellence award at Forbes India Leadership Awards 2025 -ICC Chairman Jay Shah 
• Sarvashrestha Suraksha Puraskar (Golden Trophy) – Manohar International Airport, Goa 
• Time Magazine’s Women of the Year 2025 – Purnima Devi Barman 

18. Steve Smith retires from ODI cricket 

• Australian cricket legend Steve Smith has officially announced his retirement from One-Day Internationals (ODIs), marking the end of an illustrious 14-year career in the 50-over format. He will continue to be available for Test and T20I selection. 
• Smith’s decision came just after Australia’s semi-final defeat to India by four wickets in the ICC Champions Trophy, where Smith top-scored with 73 runs in what turned out to be his final ODI innings. 
• The 35-year-old batter leaves behind an impressive legacy. Across 170 ODIs, scoring 5800 runs at an average of 43.28 and a strike rate of 86.96, including 12 centuries and 35 half-centuries. He finished his career as the 12th-highest run-getter for Australia in ODIs. Having made his debut as a leg-spinning allrounder, he also picked 28 wickets and took 90 catches. 
• He captained Australia in 64 matches, winning 32 and losing 28. 

Recently Retired Players 

• Sharath Kamal – Table Tennis 
• Martin Guptill (New Zealand) – International cricket 
• Rishi Dhawan (India) – Cricket 
• Moeen Ali (England) – International Cricket 
• Shannon Gabriel (West Indies) – International Cricket 
• Dawid Malan (England) – International Cricket 

19. J&K govt. to promote Bangus Valley near LoC for ecotourism 

• The Jammu and Kashmir government on Thursday announced a new set of rules for Bangus, a far-off tourist spot near the Line of Control (LOC) in north Kashmir, in a bid to promote it as an ecotourism destination. 
• The decision comes in the wake of unplanned and uncontrolled growth in the traditional tourist hotspots of Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Sonamarg. 

CM's announcement 

• "To maintain ecological balance, the department concerned has focused on avoiding construction of massive buildings and hotels. The aim would be to develop the area as an ecotourism destination," Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said in the Assembly. 
• He said the government will focus on creating basic recreation facilities, rain shelters, public conveniences, signages, lighting, and waste disposal facilities for visitors. 
• Bangus lies close to the LoC in north Kashmir's Kupwara district. After Gurez, Machil and Keran, Bangus is one more addition to the list of tourist spots near the LoC. 
• Once a militant infiltration route, Bangus is around 100 km away from Srinagar, with two bowl-shaped valleys perched at an altitude of 10,000 feet. 
• Work on the basic facilities, according to Mr. Abdullah, would be undertaken after the Deputy Commissioner, Kupwara, identifies land parcels in consultation with the Forest department. "Once the land parcels are identified, the necessary permissions and no-objection certificates shall be sought on the Parivesh Portal for forest clearance," Mr. Abdullah said.  
• To safeguard the livelihood of local shepherds, no-mads, and other inhabi-tants of the Valley, Mr. Ab-dullah said the J&K Tourism Department had initiated the process of registering paying guest houses in the area. "This will help preserve and promote local culture, traditions, and cuisine, and will be an immersive travel experience for tourists," he added. 
• At present, 19 paying guest houses in the proximity of the Bangus Valley are registered with the Department of Tourism, Kashmir. 
• Fresh measures 
• The fresh measures to-wards ecotourism are being taken as a record number of tourists are visiting the Valley, leading to uncon-trolled constructions in the favourite tourist places of Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Sonamarg, posing a threat to the environment. 
• Officials told the J&K Assembly that notices were issued against 269 unauthorised constructions in Pahalgam over the past two years. 
• "The Pahalgam Development Authority (PDA) has been conducting demolition drives whenever necessary to curb illegal construction activities in the area," the government told the House. 

20. First CDS visit to Australia boosts cooperation on 'shared priorities’ 

• Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan's visit to Australia has advanced cooperation on "shared priorities and interoperability, including in maritime domain awareness, reciprocal information sharing, and deployments from each other's territories," the Australian Defence Ministry said in a statement on Thursday. 
• This is the first visit to Australia by an Indian Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) and Gen. Chauhan was hosted in Canberra by Admiral David Johnston, the Chief of the Defence Force of Australia. 
• "Discussions focused on practical ideas to realise both nations' long-term vision of a defence and security collaboration that enhances collective strength and contributes to both countries' security," the Australian statement said. 
• India is a top-tier security partner for Australia, with both countries committed to working together to promote a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region, the statement said. The two countries have established a strong tempo of exercises and activities across maritime, land and air domains, working through the bilateral comprehensive strategic partnership and as trilateral and quadrilateral partners, it added. 
• The visit underlines the value of Australia's defence partnership with India, Adm. Johnston said in the statement. "We are committed to working closely with our Indian partners to enhance our interoperability, strengthen people-to-people links, and further cooperation with key partners to promote regional stability and security," he said. 

21. CISF to recruit up to 20,000 personnel annually: D-G 

• The Central Industrial Security Force is set to recruit between 15,000 and 20,000 personnel annually over the next few years, to increase its capacity to cover more facilities, Director-General Rajwinder Singh Bhatti said in Chennai on Thursday. 
• He further said CISF cover for airports in Navi Mumbai, Lengpui in Mizoram, Jewar in Noida, Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu, and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, among others, were "under consideration. 
• Addressing the annual press conference ahead of the CISF's Raising Day celebrations, Mr. Bhatti said the force was expanding by about 10% annually. While the recruitment of around 14,000 personnel was completed recently, recruitment for 17,000 more was under way. 
• Language issue Meanwhile, senior officers of the force said as per the posting policy, 60% of the personnel posted in airports were drawn from the Sector or State where the facility was located, amid concerns over language is-sues faced by the public. The officials also assured that language balance in this regard would be improved. 
• The CISF's Southern Sector covers five States Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana, besides the Union territory of Puducherry. At airports in the sector, about 60% of personnel would be from the same State, they said. 

22. PM likely to visit Sri Lanka in April, launch solar power plant project 

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to visit Sri Lanka in early April, Sri Lankan media has reported, ahead of an official announcement from either side confirming the visit. According to Colombo based publications, Mr. Modi will be in Sri Lanka during the first week of April. Apart from bilateral meetings in Colombo, Mr. Modi is expected to launch a solar power plant project in the eastern town of Sampur, in Trincomalee district, coming up as a joint venture between the Ceylon Electricity Board and National Thermal Power Corporation of India. 
• Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs said there was no decision on the visit vet, but an official said Mr. Modi was likely to attend the regional BIM-STEC meetings in Thailand, indicating that he will transit through Colombo before or after the event to have a high-level participation at the BIMSTEC summit, all eyes will be on interactions between Mr. Modi and Bangladesh Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus, as well as Nepal Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli, given the tensions in India's ties with both countries in the past few months. 
• Mr. Modi's Sri Lanka visit comes in response to an invitation from President Anura Kumara Dissanayake, who was in New Delhi in December 2024, on his first state visit abroad months after he assumed office after winning a historic election in September 2024. Mr. Dissa-nayake subsequently visit-ed China in January and the United Arab Emirates last month. 
• Mr. Modi has visited Sri Lanka thrice since 2014. He was last in the island na-tion in June 2019. Prior to that, he visited in 2015 and 2017. During Mr. Dissa-nayake's visit in December, regional security, digital infrastructure, connectivity, energy projects and the Palk Bay fisheries conflict were among the key issues discussed by the leaders. Mr. Modi will be the first head of government to visit Sri Lanka after Mr. Dissanayake and his National People's Power coalition rose to power late last year. 
• Last month, Pan Yue, director of the National Ethnic Affairs Commission of China, was in Sri Lanka and reportedly held talks on ethnic reconciliation and bilateral cooperation in culture and education. Neither Sri Lanka's Foreign Ministry nor the Chinese Embassy in Colombo issued an official statement on the visit. 
• However, Sri Lanka's Minister of Buddhasasana, Religious and Cultural Affairs Hiniduma Sunil Senevi posted on his social media page about a meeting with the visiting Chinese official. Mr. Pan also visited the University of Peradeniya, near Kandy, "to promote enhanced educational exchange and cooperation", the institution said on its website. 

23. Maharashtra to start media monitoring centre to identify 'misleading reports’ 

• In a move to monitor and analyse news across print, electronic, and digital plat-forms, the Maharashtra government has approved the establishment of a state-of-the-art media monitoring centre with a budget of 210 crore. 
• The decision was formalised through a government resolution issued on Wednesday. 
• According to the resolution, the proposed centre will systematically collect and evaluate news content, identifying both factual and misleading reports; it will generate comprehensive factual 
• The initiative aims to ensure accurate dissemination of news, the government said.. analyses and issues real-time clarifications in cases of inaccurate or negative coverage, it said. 
• The initiative aims to ensure timely and accurate dissemination of tion related to government policies, schemes, and initiatives, the resolution read. 
• The government said there was a need for a centralised system to monitor how news about its activities is being reported and perceived by the public. 
• Operational aspects To be operational from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day, the centre will be overseen by the Directorate General of Information and Public Relations (DGIPR). The government has granted full administrative and financial approval for the project. 
• To streamline opera information, a professional consultant will be appointed through an e-tender process, it said. The consultant will be responsible for collecting government-related news in PDF format and categorising it into segments such as positive, negative, departments, is-sues, incidents, and individuals. For electronic media, the consultant will provide hourly updates on news trends, mood, and tone. 
• The consultant's initial contract will span one year, with the possibility of extension to two years based on performance, as determined by the DGIPR. However, the government resolution specifies that the total term shall not exceed three years. 

24. Govt. launches AI Kosha, repository of data to build models and tools 

• The Union government on Thursday launched Al Kosha, a platform with datasets that is being touted as a home for non-personal data that will assist with deve-loping artificial intelligence models and tools. At launch, the platform.con tains 316 datasets, the bulk of these being programmes to help in creat-ing or validating language translation tools for Indian languages. 
• The IndiaAl Datasets Platform is one of the seven pillars of the IndiaAl Mission, the Union government's main state-backed Al effort. The Mission has an outlay of 10,370 crore, and last month the Centre announced that under its Compute Capacity pillar, start-ups and academia would be able to use pooled access to graphics processing units (GPUs), which are needed to train and run All models. Other than translation, the limited datasets include submissions from Telangana's own open data initiative, such as health data; 2011 More GPUs 
• Information Technology Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said while announcing the AT Kosha platform that 14,000 GPUs had been commissioned for shared access, as against nearly 10,000 when announced earlier this year. More earlier GPUs will be added on a quarterly basis, Mr. Vaish naw said. 
• The Minister provided an update on the government-supported effort to create a homegrown foundational At model, an aim that has gained urgency following the success of DeepSeek, the Chinese firm that was able to train and launch such a model at a fraction of the cost that American firms such OpenAl and Google had to spend. "Now, the team is actually inundated with how to evaluate these applications," Mr. Vaishnaw said, indicating a high level of interest from start-ups to build such a foundational model for India. 
• Government datasets This is not the first time the Union government has sought to aggregate public data to nudge other entities to leverage it. The government's Open Governance Data platform (data.gov.in) currently hosts over 12,000 datasets provided by different go-vernment agencies across India. The government has designated "Chief Data Officers" across Ministries and departments, encouraging them to provide da-tasets that can be used by researchers, companies, and other parts of the government 
• In 2018, the government constituted a committee to explore the possibility of compelling firms to provide start-ups and govern-ment access to non personal data, such as traffic data from ride-sharing apps, to help new entrants and assist government policy. The committee, led by Infosys co-founder Kris Go palakrishnan, submitted its report in 2020. However, the proposals faced pushback from the tech in-dustry, as private players were reluctant to share their data with other parties. The conversation within the government around non-personal data from private firms took place largely before the ad-vent of large language models (LLMS) such as ChatGPT. 

25. 21 lakh crore fund to stimulate private sector research and development close to approval 

• The government is close to finalising an ambitious lakh crore fund to stimulate private sector investment in core research and development. 
• While there have been schemes before to galvanise research and development, the unique attribute of this scheme is that funds. - primarily in the form of low-interest, long-term loans will be available to private companies to develop novel products and new intellectual property. These funds cannot be used by universities or academic institutes but they may be co-opted by a private company towards developing technology, Ajay Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India, told The Hindu in an exclusive interaction. "You could understand it as a sort of huge PLI (Production Linked Incentive) scheme for research and development." 

Major weakness 

• A major weakness of India's investment in research and development, experts have pointed out since long, is that the share of investment in R&D as a percentage of GDP is less than 1% (0.65) whereas scientifically. advanced countries spend between 1.5%-3%. In this, the private sector investment in overall R & R&D spend has remained 30%-36% in India whereas countries such as the U.S. and China see private sector contribute 75% and 77%, respectively. 

First announced by Finance Minister Nirmala 

• Sitharaman in the interim Budget in February 2024, the government apportioned a part of it 220,000 crore to the Department of Science and. Technology (DST). 
• Dr. Sood said that a Cabinet note detailing the contours of the scheme and focus areas of technology was being prepared and "will be available very soon. 
• He said that while the money was for now with the DST, it was the newly created Anusandhan Na-tional Research Foundation (ANRF) that would likely be involved in administering the fund. 
• "The loans will almost be zero percent interest, essentially a huge PLI scheme. This intent (to bolster private sector R&D) was never there earlier, 
• Dr. Sood underlined. He emphasised that the loan could be used only if the private sector company (or a consortium) made a compelling case that the research would result in a commercial product. 
• "Otherwise why would industry do it? They are taking a loan, not a grant," he averred. "This will not be for blue sky research." Tenures for the loan could range from five to seven years and proposals would be evaluated by a professional body and not the DST. 
• "Be it space, pharma-ceuticals, auto, energy. We are sector agnostic. There are some broad areas but they cover nearly every area. However if it is a service industry (like information technology) they won't make the cut," Dr. Sood opined. 
• The ANRF aims to establish a 250,000-crore corpus with 236,000 crore of it coming in from non-government sources. 

26. INSV Tarini with two women Navy officers leaves Port Stanley 

• INSV Tarini left Port Stanley in the Falkland Islands Tuesday at about 9.10 a.m. local time for its onward journey to Cape Town, the Navy said in a statement on Thursday. 
• The sailing vessel is on the fourth leg of an ongoing global circumnavigation by two women Indian Navy officers, Lieutenant Commander Dilna K. and Lieutenant Commander Roopa, under the 'Navika Sagar expedition. Parikrama-II' 
• INSV Tarini arrived at Port Stanley on February 18. During the stay, the vessel's crew undertook repairs and maintenance of the boat to address defects that occurred during the most treacherous leg of their journey passing through Drake's Passage.