Current Affairs | National | International | SSC | UPSC 22nd March 2025

 National News 

1. India and EU to hold 4th Maritime Security Dialogue 

• The 4th India-EU Maritime Security Dialogue was held in New Delhi. 
• The Indian delegation was led by Joint Secretary (Disarmament and International Security Affairs) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Muanpuii Saiawi and the EU delegation by Director for Security and Defence Policy, European External Action Service, Maciej Stadejek. 
•  Both sides agreed on the ways to sustain a secure maritime environment conducive for inclusive growth and global well-being. 
•  They reviewed ongoing cooperation initiatives in the maritime sector and avenues of reinforcing international and regional mechanisms for comprehensive maritime security. 
•  They agreed to strengthen their shared efforts in areas such as countering Illicit Maritime Activities, protection of critical maritime infrastructure, regional capability development and capacity-building activities. 

International News 

2. Trump revoked the legal status of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans 

•  U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration announced to removal of the temporary legal status of 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans. 
•  Immigrants from these four countries, who have arrived in the United States since October 2022 with financial sponsors were granted two-year permits to live and work in the US. 
•  They will now lose the legal status on April 24 or 30 days after the notice is published in the Federal Register.
•  This move will effectively remove the two-year "parole" granted to these migrants under former President Joe Biden. 
•  The humanitarian parole system is a long-standing legal tool that give power to the president to allow people from countries where there’s war or political instability to enter and temporarily live in the US. 
• In 2022, then-President Joe Biden introduced a parole entry program for Venezuelans, later it was expanded to Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans in 2023. 
•  Diplomatic and political relations between the United States and these four countries have remained strained. 

3. Japan became the first team to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup 

• Japan has officially booked its spot in the 2026 FIFA World Cup by defeating Bahrain by 2-0. 
•  Japan is the first non-host country to qualify for the tournament, joining co-hosts Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
•  Japan has secured one of the two automatic qualification spots from Group C. 
• The qualification process will continue until June when the third round concludes. 
• In Group B, South Korea tops the table, with Iraq and Jordan trailing closely behind. 

State News 

4. Delhi Health Minister Pankaj Kumar Singh launched six mobile dental clinics 

• These clinics will provide free dental care to residents. 
• The Delhi government and Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences are jointly operating these clinics. 
•  Each clinic is having advanced dental chairs, portable X-ray machines, and sterilization units. 
• Clinics are also equipped with ultrasonic scalers for dental cleaning. 
• Patients will receive free fluoride treatments. 
•  The initiative ensures dental care reaches all areas of the city. 
•  It will also serve underprivileged communities, including slums. 

Banking News

 5. DPIIT inked a pact with Yes Bank to strengthen India's startup ecosystem 

•  The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with YES BANK. 
•  Its main aim is to foster innovation and provide crucial support to product startups, innovators, and entrepreneurs across the country. 
•  The partnership will leverage DPIITs Startup India initiative and YES BANKs financial expertise. 
•  It will facilitate market linkages, funding access, mentorship, and infrastructure support for early-stage ventures. 
•  Startups will benefit from YES BANK's Head Startup program. 
• It will offer tailored banking and financial solutions, including working capital, credit access, and cash flow management. 

Economy News 

6. India's bio-economy reached $165B in 2024 

• Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh announced that India's bio-economy has witnessed a 16-fold rise over the past decade, growing from $10 billion in 2014 to $165.7 billion in 2024. 
•  He made this announcement while releasing the "India Bioeconomy Report 2025" (IBER 2025) at the BIRAC Foundation Day ceremony at the National Media Centre on 21 March.
• The report highlights the progress made by the bioeconomy sector and, the sector is contributing 4.25% to the overall GDP. 
• The sector has shown a CAGR of 17.9% in the last four years, indicating India's potential as a global biotechnology superpower. 
•  BioSaarthi, a pioneering global mentorship initiative aimed at nurturing biotech startups, has been unveiled by the Minister. 
•  Designed as a six-month cohort, Biosaarathi will facilitate structured mentor-mentee engagement, providing personalised guidance to budding entrepreneurs in the biotech sector. 
•  The India Bioeconomy Report is an annual publication by the Department of Biotechnology and BIRAC.
• It tracks the growth and performance of India's bioeconomy, maps its size, structure, and key trends, and provides insights for policy and investment decisions. 

Important Day News 

7. World Poetry Day 2025: 21 March 

• Every year on 21 March, World Poetry Day is observed. 
•  Its main aim is to encourage young poets and appreciate the role of poetry in the development and enlightenment of the world. 
•  The theme of World Poetry Day 2025 is "Poetry as a Bridge for Peace and Inclusion." 
•  Poetry is an art form that can transform even the most basic of lines into a powerful catalyst. 
•  It is observed to honour poets and aware the new generation about the tradition of Poetry. 
• UNESCO announced 21 March as World Poetry Day at its 30th General Conference in Paris in 1999.  Poetry is the oldest form of readable and understandable human language. 

Awards and Achievements News

 8. 2025 Stockholm Water Prize won by Hydrologist Günter Blöschl 

•  According to a statement by the Prize Committee on March 20, 2025, hydrologist Günter Blöschl, a pioneer of water engineering, has been awarded the prestigious Stockholm Water Prize. 
•  Blöschl's comprehensive database and analysis have revolutionized and deepened the global understanding of flood risk reduction and water resources management. 
•  According to the statement, all this has helped in increasing awareness about flood risks under climate change at the global level. 
• Blöschl is a Professor at the Vienna University of Technology, currently Head of the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management at the Vienna University of Technology. 
•  He is also Director of the Doctoral Program in Water Resources Systems at the Vienna University of Technology, which he founded more than 15 years ago, and is also a part-time Professor at the University of Bologna. 
• The Stockholm Water Foundation, in cooperation with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, awards the Stockholm Water Prize. 
•  In August, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, the official patron of the prize, will present the prize to Blöschl during World Water Week in Stockholm. 

9. Anahat Singh won the women's title at the PSA Challenger Squash tournament in Chennai 

•  Veer Chotrani secured the men's title at the PSA Challenger Squash tournament in Chennai. 
•  Anahat, the third seed, won over top-seed Akanksha Salunkhe. 
• This was Anahat’s third win against Akanksha in four matches.
•  Veer Chotrani, the second seed, made a strong comeback in the final. 
•  He defeated Melvil Scianimanico of France. This victory earned him his sixth PSA title. 

Science and Technology News

 10. ‘Samarth,’ a cutting-edge incubation program launched by the Centre for Development of Telematics 

• On 19 March, the first cohort of the Incubation Program named “Samarth” has been launched by the Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DoT), an autonomous Telecom R&D centre of the Department of Telecommunication (DoT), Govt. of India. 
•  The program aims to foster innovation and promote technological advancements in India’s telecommunications and IT sectors. 
•  The “Samarth” Incubation Program is designed to support startups and innovators developing next-generation technologies. 
•  It focuses on Telecom Software Applications, Cyber Security, 5G/6G Technologies, AI, IoT Applications, and Quantum Technologies. 
•  The program aims to encourage the development of sustainable and scalable business models, provide access to cutting-edge resources, and help startups bridge the gap from ideation to commercialization. 
•  C-DOT has selected Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) as the implementation partner to drive the vision of fostering high-impact, innovative solutions and startups in the tech ecosystem. 
•  'SAMARTHA' represents a dynamic and supportive environment for startups looking to make their mark in the rapidly evolving landscape of telecom and IT. 
•  The program will have a maximum cohort of 18 startups per program, taking in a total of 36 startups across two six-month cohorts. 

11.In push for made-in-India browser, a mandate to trust govt. encryption 

•  Making a push for an indigenous web browser, the Centre on Thursday awarded a prize of 21 crore to the Tenkasi-based Zoho Corporation for a web browser development challenge. A key condition for the browser, though, has highlighted the principal motivation behind the project: the browser, Ulaa, must trust India's so-called root certifying authority. 
•  This is also meant to be contingency planning, to ensure that if India's access to the global Internet is ever cut off, due to some unforeseen security scenario, it will still be possible to have a completely opera-tional browser within the country.
•   Indian root certificate Root certifying authorities are around 100 organisations across the world who can confer trustworthiness tag on firms that issue Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificates, which are represented by the "https" on a web address. On most mainstream web browsers, a green lock icon with the "https" in the URL indicates an encrypted and legitimate connection to any given website. 
•  Zoho Corporation accepts the first prize in the Indian web browser development challenge from Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw. 
•  The Controller of Certifying Authorities (CCA) , a body set up under the Electronics and Information Technology Ministry has already created an Indian root certificate. But after a security breach in 2014, where the govern-ment's National Informat-ics Commission's systems. were used to generate fake SSL certificates for sites like Google and Yahoo, web browsers and operating systems stopped in-cluding the CCA's certificates in their software repositories. 
• The ₹1 crore prize-announced in 2023 was to create a web browser that trusts the latest iteration of this root certificate. 
•  Only one Indian organisation, the private company eMudhra's emSign, is currently trusted as a root certifying authority by browsers around the world. 
•  Arvind Kumar, the current CCA, said on Thursday that Ulaa would help the government to navigate "the multiple kinds of negotiation compliances. which [major browsers] are proposing on us", and that "we should be able to have a good negotiation. stage while developing while working with Mozilla or Google". 
•  Mr. Kumar added that the browser would allow for an "indigenous authentication mechanism and enhance cybersecurity". 
• IT Secretary S. Krishnan said that a domestic browser would be "a key step in achieving Internet resilience for the country". 

12. There is progress on GM food crops, says ocial 

• Ahead of a fresh series of hearings in the Supreme Court next month over genetically modified (GM) food crops, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) said there was "progress" on this front. 
•  "The matter is sub judice but GM mustard stories are being taken up again," DBT Secretary Rajesh Gokhale said at a biotechnology event on Friday. The DBT, which has for years funded research and development into transgenic and GM food crops, comes under the Ministry of Science and Technology. 
•  At present, Bt cotton is the only genetically modified crop allowed to be cultivated. Though the Environment Ministry gave its conditional go ahead for commercial cultivation of GM mustard in 2022, it has not taken off as it was challenged in the Supreme Court. 
• Science Minister Jiten-dra Singh who was also at the event, said, "There is so much dynamism in bio- technology development that we cannot look at tomorrow through the prism of today." 
• Hearing from April 15 
• On March 6, a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court said it will begin hearing from April 15 petitions challenging the Environment Ministry's appro-val for cultivation of GM mustard. The court has told all parties to file their written submissions within a week. 
• A two-judge Bench of the top court, on July 23, 2024, gave a split verdict on the validity of the Centre's 2022 decision granting conditional ap-proval for the environmental release of GM mustard crop. However, it also directed the Centre to formulate a "national policy" on GM crops. Mr. Gokhale told The Hindu that the DBT had provided "technical inputs to the Union Environment Ministry, which was formulating the policy and was the "nodal coordinator". 
• Safety concerns 
• GM mustard, developed using public funds, was the first transgenic food crop to be approved for farmer fields by the Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee, a scientific body. Ho-wever, it wasn't approved for cultivation following safety objections by activist groups. 
•  However, the use of bio-technology to improve food crops as in the case of GM mustard is a key focus of the government's BioE3 policy. 
•  This involves manufacturing new kinds of enzymes, pharmaceuticals and agricultural products while applying techniques, including engineering. genetic 
•  A report released by the DBT at the event on Friday on the current state of India's 'bio-economy' says that bio-agriculture ac-counts for 8.1% the smallest share of the $165.7 billion bio-economy in India.. 
• "Valued at $13.5 billion, this segment enhances agricultural productivity and resilience through ge-netically modified crops like Bt Cotton and precision agriculture technologies," the report notes. 

Sports News 

13. India to host the 11th Asian Swimming Championship at the Naranpura Sports Complex in Ahmedabad 

•  The event will take place from October 1 to 15. 
•  The championship will feature swimming, diving, artistic swimming, and water polo. 
• Swimmers from Japan and South Korea are expected to compete at the continental meet. 
• The Swimming Federation of India announced that it has received in-principle approval from both the Gujarat government and Asia Aquatics to organize the championship. 
•  India hosted the 10th Asian Age Group Championships in 2019. 

14. A bid to host the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Gujarat has been submitted by India 

•  Taking a major step towards hosting global sporting events, India has officially submitted an expression of interest to host the Centenary Commonwealth Games in Ahmedabad, Gujarat in 2030.
•   Commonwealth Games Association of India President PT Usha leads the bid, underscoring Ahmedabad’s readiness to serve as an exceptional host city. 
•  The move is in line with India's broader ambition to secure major international events, including hosting the 2036 Olympic Games. 
•  Hosting the Commonwealth Games will not only enhance India's stature in sports governance but will also bring significant economic benefits. 
• PT Usha confirmed that the Commonwealth Games Federation has approved India's proposal.