The National Education Policy (NEP), 2020 emphasizes the critical importance of universal and high-quality Early Childhood Education along with the power of multilingualism and the importance of including children’s languages in primary education. To fulfil the vision of NEP 2020, the Department of School Education & Literacy (DoSE&L), Ministry of Education has launched “Baalpan ki Kavita initiative: Restoring Bhartiya rhymes/poems for young children” for preparing a compendium of nursery rhymes/poems in all Bhartiya Bhasha and also in English, focusing on content relevant to the Indian context. The purpose of this initiative is that the young children can have better learning at the Foundational stage by becoming familiar with the world around them through easily understandable and joyful poems and rhymes, in their mother tongue.

To further this initiative, the DoSE&L in collaboration with MyGov is inviting contribution to the “Baalpan ki Kavita initiative: Restoring Bhartiya rhymes/poems for young children”. The participants of the contest can send existing poems/rhymes popular in folklore (mentioning the name of the author) or newly composed joyful poems/rhymes under three categories:

Pre-primary (ages 3-6)
Grade 1 (ages 6-7)
Grade 2 (ages 7-8)

Entries are invited in all Indian language (Bhartiya Bhasha), also in English, and can include regional rhymes/poems that hold cultural significance in Indian context. The competition is starting from 26.03.2025 till 22.04.2025, on the MyGov website (https://www.mygov.in/). There is no entry fee for participation. Other details of the competition can be seen on MyGov website.

The Central government has officially announced a 24% rise in the salary for Members of Parliament, effective from April 1, 2023. It has also announced a 25% raise in their daily allowance and a 24% hike in pension for MPs and ex-MPs.

According to a circular from the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, the monthly salary for Members of Parliament will rise from Rs 1,00,000 to Rs 1,24,000. Their daily allowance has been increased from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500.

The monthly pension for both MPs and ex-MPs has been revised from Rs 25,000 to Rs 31,000. Additionally, ex-MPs will see an increase in their additional pension per year of service from Rs 2,000 to Rs 2,500.

The national maritime games 2025 is all set to be held at the Indian Maritime University.

The grand opening ceremony was conducted by Padma Shri Dr. PT Usha. The competitions are to be held from March 24 to April 4.

Padma Shri Dr. P.T. Usha, President of the Indian Olympic Association and Member of Parliament, inaugurated the National Maritime Games 2025 at IMU, Palm Beach Road, Navi Mumbai.

In her address, Dr. Usha emphasized the importance of sportsmanship, stating,

"True sportsmanship overrides all else. In the arena of sport, there are no losers — every participant is a winner. It is not just about medals, but about the courage, discipline, and integrity each athlete brings to the field.” said Usha, the President of the Indian Olympic Association and Member of Parliament.

Selflessly working in the field of social service, was honored with the ‘Popular Civilian Excellence Award’ by Dr. Anil Kashi Murarka and Mandakini. This award is dedicated to her immense contribution to society and her selfless service. Award was organised by Santosh Mishra.

Sanghamitra Tai Gaikwad has been associated with the Republican Party of India (Athawale faction) for the past 25 years and currently serves as the Chief Secretary of Maharashtra. She expresses her appreciation for working under the leadership of Union Minister Ramdas Athawale, whom she considers a strong and visionary leader. She believes that under his guidance, she is able to continue serving society effectively.

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri cruised to his maiden Chinese Grand Prix win from pole position with the Australian untouchable ahead of his teammate Lando Norris as the pair completed McLaren’s milestone 50th one-two placing in Formula 1.

Piastri, who took his maiden pole position on Saturday (March 22, 2025), got a great start in Sunday’s (March 23, 2025) race to lead into the first corner, as Norris passed George Russell’s Mercedes for second.

The Australian then slowly stretched his legs in an untroubled drive for his third career win, after Hungary and Azerbaijan last year.

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has announced the appointment of five new members to the reconstituted Insurance Advisory Committee.

According to a release by the IRDAI, this move comes under the powers conferred by Section 25 of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999, and as per Regulation 3A of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Insurance Advisory Committee) Regulations, 2000.

The new members include MR Kumar, former chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India and currently non-executive chairman of state-owned Bank of India; Dinesh Kumar Khara, former chairman of State Bank of India; Visakha Mule, CEO of Aditya Birla Capital; Nilesh Shah, MD of Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company; Kotak Ellis G Vaidyan, former CMD, GIC Re and independent director on the boards of Air India and Tata AIA Life Insurance.

Dividend payout by public sector banks (PSBs) have risen by 33 per cent to Rs 27,830 crore in FY24, indicating significant improvement in financial health of these lenders.

PSBs declared a dividend of Rs 27,830 crore to shareholders in 2023-24 as against Rs 20,964 crore in the previous fiscal, registering an increase of 32.7 per cent, according to the government data.

Of Rs 27,830 crore total dividend, nearly 65 per cent or Rs 18,013 crore was paid to the government towards their shareholding in FY24.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today said regional rural banks (RRBs) will get five more years, beginning with the current financial year (FY25), to amortise the additional expenditure in light of the revision in pensions. The extra time has been granted due to the difficulties expressed in absorbing the increased liability in a single year.

RRBs were earlier permitted to amortise their liability on account of the Employee Pension Scheme 2018 over five years, beginning with the financial year ending March 31, 2019. RRBs are now required to implement the pension scheme with effect from November 1, 1993.

The expenditure, if not fully charged to the profit and loss account in FY25, may be amortised over a period not exceeding five years, beginning with the financial year ending March 31, 2025. RRBs will have to make provision for at least 20 per cent of the total pension liability every year.

The 36-hour hackathon, titled “Hack the Future,” organized by the National Statistical Office (NSO) of India in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN), concluded successfully at the IITGN campus, as per an official statement from the Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MoSPI) on Monday.

The event saw the participation of 18 teams representing leading academic institutions from across the country, including IITs, NITs, IIITs, and more. Teams tackled three innovative challenges with guidance from mentors from the Ministry and the institute. A panel of five jury members, consisting of experts from industry, academia, and the Ministry, evaluated the final solutions.

The valedictory session was graced by Dr. Saurabh Garg, Secretary, MoSPI & Head NSO; P.R. Meshram, Director General, NSO India; and Dr. Rajat Moona, Director, IIT Gandhinagar. P.R. Meshram congratulated the participants, emphasizing that the hackathon aligns with the Ministry’s ongoing modernization efforts.

With an objective to boost the sale value realized through bank e-auctions, public sector banks (PSBs) were requested by Department of Financial Services to redesign their e-auction platform. The platform 'e-BKray' was launched on February 28, 2019. In order to further streamline the listing and auctioning of assets of banks, a revamped e-auction portal named 'BAANKNET' was launched on January 3 this year.

Salient features of the BAANKNET portal State-of-the-art Innovative Platform: A cutting-edge property listing and e auction platform specifically designed for banks and lending institutions to address the recovery of non-performing asset (NPA) loans through efficient property auctions.

Robust Architecture: Ensures seamless reliability and accessibility for users through both mobile and web interfaces, making it easy for stakeholders to interact with the platform.