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April – 01
TNPSC BITS
❖ The Union cabinet has approved ₹22,919 crores of the Electronics Component
Manufacturing Scheme for a period of six years.
❖ The Union education ministry has launched the “Baalpan ki Kavita” initiative for
preparing a compendium of nursery rhymes and poems in all “Bharatiya Bhasha”
as well as English.
❖ The second Global Conference on Air Pollution and Health, hosted by WHO and
the Government of Colombia, was held in Cartagena, Colombia.
❖ The Lok Sabha has passed the Tribhuvan Sahkari University Bill, 2025 for the
creation of India’s first-ever national cooperative university at the Institute of
Rural Management Anand (IRMA) in Gujarat.
❖ India’s doubles badminton specialist player B Sumeeth Reddy from Telangana
has announced his retirement from professional badminton.
❖ The 14th edition of the Indian - Russia bilateral naval exercise INDRA is being
held in Chennai.
❖ India has launched ‘Operation Brahma’, an emergency relief mission aimed at
providing the disaster relief, search and rescue operations in the Earth quake hit
Myanmar.
NATIONAL NEWS
Boilers Bill, 2024
❖ The Parliament has passed the Boilers Bill, 2024, with the Lok Sabha approval.
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❖ The Bill repeals the Boilers Act, 1923.
❖ It seeks to provide for the regulation of boilers and the safety of life and property
of persons from the danger of explosions of steam boilers.
❖ The legislation also provides for uniformity in registration and inspection during
the manufacture and use of boilers in the country.
❖ The Four major offences which may result in loss of life and property, the criminal
penalties are retained in the bill.
❖ For other offences, provision has been made for a fiscal penalty.
❖ In the Boilers Act of 1923, there was no definition of state government, and now
in the new bill, the definition of the state government was incorporated.
Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill, 2024
❖ The Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill, 2024, was passed by a voice vote.
❖ The Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha on August 9, 2024.
❖ It seeks to replace the Indian Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, 1925.
❖ It establishes the responsibilities, liabilities, rights, and immunities in case of
goods carried from a port in India to other or to any other port in the world.
❖ The Act is in conformance with the International Convention for the Unification
of Certain Rules of Law relating to Bills of Lading of August 1924 (Hague Rules)
and subsequent amendments to it.
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❖ The new Bill retains all provisions of the Act.
Kosi Mechi Intra-State Link Project
❖ The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved Kosi Mechi Intra-
State Link Project of Bihar.
❖ This will be included under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana - Accelerated
Irrigation Benefits Programme (PMKSY-AIBP).
❖ This Project envisages the diversion of part of surplus water of Kosi River for
extending irrigation to Mahananda basin lying in Bihar.
❖ The PMKSY was launched during the year of 2015-16 to enhance the physical
access of water on farm and expand cultivable area under assured irrigation and
improved on-farm water use efficiency.
Three languages schools in India
❖ Tamil Nadu ranks the lowest among India’s large States in implementing Three
languages in schools.
❖ Only 1905 (3.2%) schools in Tamil Nadu offered three languages.
❖ 35,092 (59.8%) schools offered two languages and 21,725 (37%) schools offered
a single language.
❖ Overall, 9,06,225 (61.6%) schools in India offer three languages, 4,16,601(28.3%)
schools offer two and 1,49,065 (10.1%) schools offer only one language.
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❖ Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of schools offering three languages - 82.8%
(2,11,114).
❖ It is followed by Maharashtra 68.7% (74,342), Rajasthan 65.1% (70,148), Madhya
Pradesh 55.4% (68,388), Karnataka 76.4% (57,950) and Gujarat 97.6% (52,357).
❖ In the southern States, Kerala has only 11,367 (71.7%) schools offering three
languages, Andhra Pradesh has 26,696 (43.5%) schools while Telangana has only
26,828 (62.5%) schools.
❖ Overall, three-language schools have a 74.7% enrollment across India.
❖ The Large States having highest enrolment in these schools are Gujarat (97.6%),
Karnataka (89.5%), Telangana (89.3%), Maharashtra (87%) and Uttar Pradesh
(81%).
❖ The lowest among the large States is Tamil Nadu (10.8%), and followed by Bihar
(58%), Assam (58.6%), Jharkhand (59%).
ECONOMY NEWS
8 trillion Borrowing Plan for FY26
❖ The union government announced plans to borrow ₹8 trillion from the market in
the first half (H1) of 2025-26 (FY26).
❖ It will be accounting for around 54 per cent of the total gross market borrowing
target of ₹14.82 trillion.
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❖ This includes the issuance of ₹10,000 crore in sovereign green bonds (SGBs).
World’s Second-Largest Tea Exporter in 2024
❖ India has exported 254 million kg of tea in 2024, thus becoming the second-
highest exporter in the world.
❖ Kenya retained the first spot in global tea exports.
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❖ India surpassed Sri Lanka to take the second spot.
❖ Kenya exported over 500 M kg of tea in 2024.
❖ India's 2024 tea exports amounted to Rs 7,112 crore.
BAANKNET portal and e-BKray platform
❖ The Finance Ministry launched a revamped e-auction portal named 'BAANKNET'
to further streamline the listing and auctioning of banks' assets.
❖ The platform 'e-BKray' was launched in February 2019.
❖ The BAANKNET portal is specifically designed to enhance the transparency and
speed up the process of disposing of non-performing asset (NPA) cases.
❖ 'e-BKray' is the digital auction platform for disposing of assets under recovery
proceedings by PSU banks.
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY NEWS
Indigenously Developed MRI Scanner
❖ India has developed its first home-grown Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
machine to reduce the cost of scans by more than 30 per cent.
❖ This Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine aims to reduce the cost of scans
by more than 30 per cent.
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❖ This machine is a result of a collaboration between AIIMS, New Delhi, and Society
for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER).
Star in making - James Webb Space Telescope
❖ The James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled a stunning image HH 30.
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❖ It is a young star energising the surrounding space and illuminating a proto
planetary disk.
❖ The vortex of gas and dust has the potential to give birth to a new solar system.
❖ The possibly new formation star is located 450 light-years away in the Taurus
Molecular Cloud.
❖ HH 30 is a Herbig-Haro object, a small, radiant nebula nestled in a star-forming
region.
ENVIRONMENT NEWS
Channa nachi
❖ A new species of snakehead fish found from a remote stream in South Garo Hills.
❖ The fish has been officially recognized as Channa nachi.
❖ The name “nachi” comes from the Garo language, where it is used as a vernacular
term for the fish.
STATES’ NEWS
Farakka Barrage - 50 years
❖ Farakka Barrage is a barrage across the Ganga River located in Murshidabad
district, in the Indian state of West Bengal.
❖ Construction of the barrage started in 1962and became operational on 21 April
1975.
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❖ The purpose of the barrage is to divert water from the Ganges to the Hooghly
River for flushing out sediment deposition from Kolkata harbour.
❖ India and Bangladesh have had agreements over Ganga water sharing, like 1977
Farakka Agreement and 1996 Ganga Water Treaty.
IMPORTANT DAYS
International Day of Zero Waste 2025 - March 30
❖ This day highlights the importance of boosting waste management globally and
the need to promote the sustainable consumption and production patterns to
address the waste pollution crisis.
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❖ Every year, humanity generates between 2.1 billion and 2.3 billion tonnes of
municipal solid waste.
❖ The theme for 2025 is “Towards Zero Waste in Fashion and Textiles.”
MISCELLANEOUS NEWS
Education and Nutrition: Learn to Eat Well
❖ UNESCO released a report ‘Titled Education and Nutrition: Learn to Eat Well’.
❖ The paper has highlighted that 27 per cent of school meals worldwide were not
developed with input from nutritionists.
❖ Of the 187 countries evaluated, only 93 had any kind of legislation or guidance
on food served in schools.
❖ Studies showed school meals increased enrolment rates by 9 per cent, attendance
by 8 per cent, and also enhanced learning.
Banyan’s mental health housing model
❖ The Works done by a Chennai based NGO working in the field of mental health,
Banyan, has been mentioned in a recent publication of WHO.
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❖ The Guidance on ‘Mental Health Policy and Strategic Action Plans’ speaks of how
persons with mental health needs could be integrated into the community and
benefit from it.
❖ This is the second time Banyan’s work mentioned in a WHO document.
❖ Nine years ago, Banyan evolved on trial basis a housing option under its project
‘Home Again’ for persons who have recovered from mental ailment.
