1. *The Ministry of Women and Child Development is celebrating the Poshan Pakhwada from March 16 to March 31, 2021* : Pakhwada are to address the nutritional challenges using the Food Forestry and to organize the Poshan Panchayats. Under it, the National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB) working under the Ministry of AYUSH, will distribute 4 samplings of the nutritional rich plants to each of the Anganwadi Centers. This will cater to the nutritional challenges.
2. *The Union Health Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, has been appointed as the chairman of “Stop TB Partnership Board”.*
It is to eradicate Tuberculosis (TB) from India by 2025. He will be serving the global body for a three-year term from July 2021.
3. *The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has introduced the Vehicle Scrapping Policy in the Lok Sabha which will come into effect from April 1, 2021.* 51 lakhs of the light motor vehicles which are 20 years old and more will be scrapped under this policy. 34 lakhs of light motor vehicles are older than 15 years. 17 lakh medium & heavy commercial vehicles are older than 15 years.
4. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that fugitive *businessmen Vijaya Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi are “coming back” to India” to face the law.*
5. *West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote a letter to Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal extending support over the contentious National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2021* : The Bill was introduced by Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy in Lok Sabha on Monday. It makes it mandatory for the Delhi government to take the opinion of the LG before any executive action in the national capital.
6. *Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Thursday (March 18) extended the night curfew in nine worst hit districts by two hours daily, by advancing it from 9 p.m. onwards.* The nine districts where the night curfew has been extended were Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Mohali, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Ropar, all daily getting 100 plus positive cases.
7. *Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) leader Rakesh Tikait on Thursday (March 18) demanded COVID-19 vaccination for the farmers protesting at the Delhi borders against the three contentious farm laws* .
8. *The Bombay high court on Thursday directed the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) to look into allegations of irregularities in toll collection on the Mumbai-Pune Expressway* .
9. Toll collection rights for a 15-year period, from August 2004 to August 10, 2019, were awarded for an upfront payment of Rs 918 crore to a private firm with an expected revenue of Rs 4,330 crore. However, the actual revenue by July 31, 2019 was Rs 6,773 crore and the excess revenue of Rs 2,443 crore had been retained by the firm, it was stated. Meanwhile, the state government had decided to continue collecting toll on the Expressway till 2030 in the name of recovering project costs,
10. Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that in the AatmaNirbhar Bharat Package announced on 12th October, 2020, the Government has earmarked Rs.200 crores each for 8 North EasternStates as a special interest-free 50-year loan to States under Capital Expenditure Boost for States package.
11. *BJP has released the list of candidates for the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth phases of West Bengal assembly elections* . A total of 148 candidates have been named in the list.
12. *Arun Govil famous for his portrayal as Lord Ram in Ramayana TV series, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)* : Govil started his career in Hindi films in the year 1977 with Tarachand Barjatya’s “Paheli”, which he followed up with other hits like ‘Sawan Ko Aane Do’ and ‘Saanch Ko Aanch Nahin’.
13. *COVID-19: Schools forced to shut again in Gujarat’s eight cities*
have suspended classes from March 19 to stop spread of the coronavirus. All classes which were being held in school premises in – Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Vadodara, Surat, Bhavnagar, Gandhinagar, Jamnagar and Junagadh will now not be held till April 10.
14. *The National Testing Agency (NTA) announced the result of JEE Main Paper 2 February 2021 examinations on Thursday (March 18).* NTA has also released the final answer keys on its official portal. Candidates can visit the official website of JEE Main — jeemain.nta.nic.in to check their results.
15. *IndiGo to Commence Flight Operations to Rajkot From Rajkot to Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad as part of its summer 2021 schedule from March 28, 2021.*
16. *Indian Naval Landing Craft Utility L58, the eighth and last ship of the Landing Craft Utility (LCU) Mark IV Class, was commissioned into the Indian Navy on 18th March 2021 at Port Blair.* Indigenously designed and built by M/s Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd (GRSE), Kolkata.
*✈INTERNATIONAL NEWS*
1. Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa says it’s time for India and Pak to bury the past and move forward.
2. *Operation Sankalp* : Indian Navy undertakes Passage Exercise (PASSEX) with Royal Bahrain Naval Force. “Enhancing interoperability & strengthening bilateral Maritime cooperation.
3. *India delivers 20,000 litres of pesticide to Iran to fight locust swarms*
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