MARCH CA 360 - 2025.

March 2025 Current Affairs focusing on international relations, awards, and key developments in constitution & politics and geography & environment.

International Relations and Diplomacy

• PM Modi's Visit to Mauritius (March 2025): Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Mauritius to attend the country's National Day celebrations. Agreements were signed in areas like economic & financial cooperation (local currency exchange between RBI & Bank of Mauritius), industrial reforms (MSME sector MoU), defense (White Shipping Information agreement), and diplomatic training. PM Modi was also honored with Mauritius' highest civilian award.

• India-Ireland Joint Economic Commission: Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met the Irish Foreign Minister to establish a Joint Economic Commission to enhance bilateral trade (€16 billion), investment, and technological ties.

• EU Defense Initiative: The European Union proposed an €800 billion defense plan (approx. ₹73.29 lakh crore) to strengthen its defense systems, reduce reliance on the U.S., and provide military support to Ukraine.

• India-UN Hindi Language Project: India and the UN renewed their agreement (April 1, 2024, to March 31, 2030) to promote Hindi language broadcasts, with India contributing ₹13.1 crore ($1.6 million) annually.

• Operation Brahma: India launched "Operation Brahma" to provide 15 tonnes of emergency humanitarian aid to Myanmar following devastating earthquakes that also struck Thailand.

Awards and Honours (2025)

• 97th Academy Awards (Oscars): The film Anora won Best Picture, Best Actress (Mikayla Madison Rosberg), Best Director (Sean Baker), and Best Editing (Sean Baker). Adrien Nicholas Brody won Best Actor for The Brutalist.

• Pritzker Architecture Prize: Liu Jiakun from China won the 2025 Pritzker Architecture Prize, considered the highest honor in architecture.

• Digital Transformation Award: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) won the 2025 Digital Transformation Award from Central Banking (London, UK) for developing digital platforms Pravaah and Sarthi.

• Abel Prize: Japanese mathematician Masaki Kashiwara won the 2025 Abel Prize, the "Nobel Prize of Mathematics," for his work in algebraic analysis and representation theory.

Constitution and Politics (India)

• Delimitation of Lok Sabha Constituencies: The freeze on Lok Sabha seats, based on the 1971 Census, was extended until 2026 by the 84th Constitutional Amendment (2002).

• Telangana Reservation Bill: The Telangana Assembly introduced a BC Reservation Bill proposing to increase reservations for Backward Classes from 25% to 42%, which could raise total reservations to 62%. This move is expected to face legal scrutiny due to the general 50% reservation limit set by the Supreme Court.