1. *PM Modi Launches ‘Amrit Mahotsav’ On 91 Years Of Dandi March* : PM Modi reached Sabarmati Ashram accompanied by Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat and Chief Minister Vijay Rupani. The Prime Minister paid floral tributes to Mahatma Gandhi and also registered his comments on the visitor’s book. Prime Minister inaugurated the curtain-raiser activities of ‘ *Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav* ‘ and flagged off a Padyatra from Sabarmati Ashram.
2. The Mahotsav is a series of events being organised by the Government to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of India’s Independence. It will be celebrated as a Jan-Utsav in the spirit of Jan-Bhagidari. The curtain raiser activities begin from March 12, 75 weeks prior to 15th August 2022.
3. *Haryana Government Presents Rs 1.55 Lakh Crore Budget With Focus On Health, Agriculture*
The budget outlay comprises 25 per cent as capital expenditure of Rs 38,718 crore and 75 per cent as revenue expenditure of Rs 1,16,927 crore.
4. *Filing of nomination papers began on Friday for the single-phase assembly elections in Kerala, Tamil Nadu as well as the Union Territory of Puducherry* . All the 140 Assembly Constituencies of Kerala and 234 Assembly Constituencies in Tamil Nadu along with 30 Assembly Constituencies in Puducherry will go to polls together on 6th of April.
5. *Madan Kaushik Appointed Uttarakhand BJP President* replaced Banshidhar Bhagat as the BJP president of Uttrakhand on Friday.
6. *Yogi Aditya Nath led Uttar Pradesh government has ordered to remove all the religious structures on public roads* : The home department of the Uttar Pradesh government has directed the district magistrates and Mandalayukt across all the districts to remove all religious places that have encroached the roads.
The senior administrative and police officials at district level have also been informed that if any such religious construction or encroachment has been done on public roads on or after January 1, 2011, then those constructions should be shifted to land offered by followers of that religion or any private land proposed by people who are responsible for its management within six months.
7. *Good News for all central government employees. Finance Ministry has reiterated that three pending installment of Dearness Allowances of Central Government employees and pensioners will be restored prospectively as and when the decision is taken.* The three installments of Dearness Allowance and Dearness Relief to central government employees and pensioners due from 1.1.2020, 1.7.2020 and 1.1.2021 was freezed in view of Corona crisis.
8. *Kamal Haasan, veteran Tamil movie actor and founder of the fledgeling Makkal Needhi Maiam, will be contesting the upcoming state Assembly polls from the Coimbatore South constituency.*
9. *BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari called himself a “bhoomiputra” as he filed his documents to contest the Bengal election from Nandigram* , where he has challenged his former mentor Mamata Banerjee.
10. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was released from the hospital on Friday, with doctors saying she has responded well to treatment, two days after the Trinamool Congress leader was injured in the Nandigram assembly seat days before the state elections.
11. *Maths, physics, chemistry not compulsory for B.E, B. Tech degrees:* All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) revised rules make these subjects optional for admission to engineering courses, opening them up for students coming from diverse backgrounds.
12. Home Minister Amit Shah will campaign in the two states Asam & West Bengal on March 14, 15.
13. *Bombay Court Orders FIR Against Kangana Ranaut Over Copyright Complaint* :
A Mumbai court has asked the city police to register an offence against actor Kangana Ranaut after the author of “Didda: The Warrior Queen of Kashmir” accused her of copyright violation
14. *Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu continue to report a surge in daily COVID-19 cases, accounting for 85.6 per cent of the new cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday* .
15. *Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal Tests Positive For COVID-19* The COVID-19 tally in Punjab rose to 1,93,345 with 1,309 fresh cases on Thursday.
*✈INTERNATIONAL NEWS*
1. *INS Jalashwa reached the port of Antsiranana, Madagascar on Friday with an Indian Naval training team on-board.* The Indian Naval training team will be deployed in Madagascar for capacity building and training of the Malagasy Special Forces for two weeks
2. *PM Modi participated in the first Leaders’ Summit of the Quadrilateral Framework along with the Prime Minister of Australia, Scott Morrison; Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshihide Suga and President of United States of America, Joseph R. Biden.* The summit took place virtually on March 12, 2021.
3. The QUAD Leaders
discussed the regional and global issues which are of shared interest. They also exchange their views on several practical areas of the cooperation to maintain a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific region.
4. *The World Health Organization (WHO) on Friday approved a vaccine developed by Janssen (Johnson & Johnson), for emergency use in all countries and for COVAX roll-out.* The decision comes on the back of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) authorization, which was announced on Wednesday.
5. *First meeting of BRICS Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues held* : The BRICS Contact Group on Economic and Trade Issues (CGETI) leads held their first meeting under India’s Chairship from 9-11 March 2021. The theme of BRICS this year is -“BRICS@15: Intra BRICS Cooperation for Continuity, Consolidation, and Consensus”.
India, under its Chairship in 2021, presented the calendar of events for BRICS CGETI 2021, which included the priority areas for deliverables, schedule and scope of the MSME roundtable conference workshop on Services Statistics, and the BRICS Trade Fair.
6. *The Indian Navy provided assistance to a stranded cargo ship with seven Indian crew members as it was drifting in the Gulf of Oman following failure of its propulsion and power generation systems* ,
7. *International Day of Action for Rivers is observed every year on March 14.* This year, it is the 24th edition of the International Day of Action for Rivers. It is a day dedicated to save, celebrate and make people around us aware about our life-giving source of water.
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