Indian Navy Conducted Exercise Poorvi Lehar On East Coast

• Indian Navy conducted Exercise Poorvi Lehar on the East Coast.
• The exercise aimed at validation of procedures towards assessment of the Indian Navy’s preparedness to meet Maritime Security challenges in the region.
• The exercise witnessed participation of Ships, Submarines, aircraft and Special Forces. It was conducted in multiple phases including combat training in a realistic scenario during the Tactical Phase and the successful conduct of various firings during the Weapon Phase towards reaffirming the Indian Navy’s capability to deliver ordnance on target.
• With the operation of aircraft from diverse locations, a near continuous Maritime Dotnain Awareness was maintained throughout the Area of operations.

President Droupadi Murmu To Confer Padma Awards

• President Droupadi Murmu will present the Padma Awards at the Civil Investiture Ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
• President Murmu will confer Padma Vibhushan on former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, and Bharatnatyam dancer Dr Padma Subrahmanyam.
• The Padma Vibhushan award will be given to Bindeshwar Pathak posthumously.
• Actor Mithun Chakraborty and singer Usha Uthup will receive the Padma Bhushan award.
• The other Padma Bhushan awardees include philanthropist Dr Sitaram Jindal, cardiologist Dr Tejas Madhusudan Patel and former Uttar Pradesh Governor Ram Naik.

PADMAAWARDS:

• Padma Awards, which were instituted in the year 1954, is announced every year except for brief interruption(s) during the years 1978 and 1979 and 1993 to 1997.

India's 17-Year-Old D Gukesh Wins Candidates Chess Tournament: Creates History By Becoming Youngest Challenger For World Championship Title

• In Chess, 17-year-old Indian prodigy, Dommaraju Gukesh made history as the youngest-ever player to win the FIDE Candidates tournament in Toronto.
• The Chennai-based teen bettered Kasparov’s record by quite a distance as the Russian great was 22 when he qualified in 1984 to clash with compatriot Anatoly Karpov.
• Gukesh also won a cash award of 88,500 Euros (approx Rs 78.5 lakh). The total prize fund of the Candidates was 5,00,000 Euros.
• He became only the second Indian after the great Viswanathan Anand to win the prestigious tournament. Five-time world champion Anand’s triumph came in 2014.
• In the other games of the day, Praggnanandhaa defeated Nijat Abasov while Vidit Gujrathi agreed to a draw against Alireza after barely five minutes at the board.
• In the women’s Candidates event, Chinese player Tan Zhongyi was crowned the winner.

Irdai removes age limit of 65 yrs for buying health insurance policies

• With a view to widen the market and foster adequate protection from healthcare expenses, insurance regulator IRDAI has removed the age limit of 65 years for individuals buying health insurance policies.
• By abolishing the maximum age restriction on purchasing health insurance plans, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) aims to foster a more inclusive and accessible healthcare ecosystem, ensuring adequate protection against unforeseen medical expenses.
• As per the earlier guidelines, individuals were allowed to purchase a new insurance policy only till the age of 65. However, with the recent amendment, which has been effective from April 1, anyone, regardless of age, is eligible to buy a new health insurance policy.

President Mohamed Muizzu's party wins Maldives Parliamentary election

• Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s People’s National Congress won the parliamentary election.
• It won 66 of the first 86 seats declared according to the Elections Commission of Maldives results.
• The election was seen as a litmus test for the pro-China leader whose policies are being closely watched by both India and China amidst regional power dynamics.
• This result will enable President Muizzu, seen as anti-India, to push policies through the parliament.

Maldives:

• Capital: Male
• Currency: Maldivian rufiyaa

US, Sri Lanka to conduct joint maritime drill

• The US Navy, the US Marine Corps, and the Sri Lankan Navy will conduct a bilateral maritime joint exercise, including anti-terrorism manoeuvres.
• The joint exercise called the Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) gets underway two days before the proposed visit of Iran President Ebrahim Raisi to the island nation to inaugurate an Iranian-funded hydropower project.
• CARAT Sri Lanka will feature the expertise of the US Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team (FAST), a US Marine Corps unit specialised in security and anti-terrorism for naval assets, engaging alongside their Sri Lanka Navy Marine counterparts on a full spectrum of naval capabilities.
• The CARAT Sri Lanka bilateral maritime exercise underscores the strong partnership and shared commitment of the United States and Sri Lanka to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific.

Citroen India ropes in MS Dhoni as brand ambassador

• French automaker Citroen, a Stellantis brand, has signed in popular Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its brand ambassador.
• Dhoni made his debut as captain for Team India in 2007. Over the years, he has won many accolades and has received various awards and honors, including the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, Padma Shri, Padma Bhushan, ICC ODI Player of the Year, and many others.
• Citroen entered the Indian passenger vehicle market in April 2021 with the launch of its C5 Aircross.
• Stellantis, which was formed after the merger of Italian-American conglomerate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and French PSA Group, currently sells its Jeep and Citroen brands in India. In February this year, Stellantis India elevated Shishir Mishra as the Brand Director for Citroen.

UGC Announces 4-Year Degree Holders Can Now Directly Appear For NET & Pursue PhD In Any Subject

• The University Grants Commission (UGC) has announced that four-year bachelors degree holders can now directly appear for NET and pursue PhD in any subject.
• The candidates should have a minimum of 7 5 percentage marks in aggregate or its equivalent grade on a point scale wherever the grading system is followed.
• Such candidates are allowed to appear in a subject in which they want to pursue a PhD irrespective of the discipline in which they have obtained the four-year bachelor’s degree.
• At present, a NET candidate requires a master’s degree with a minimum of 55 percent marks.

University Grants Commision:

• Formation: 28 December 1956
• Founder: Maulana Azad
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Chairman: Mamidala J agadesh Kumar

Verstappen claims maiden Shanghai Grand Prix win

• Max Verstappen overcame two Safety Ca interruptions to claim a maiden Chinese Grand Pri victory ahead of Lando Norris.
• With his fourth Grand Prix victory of the season Verstappen now boasts a total of 58 career wins. More importantly, he has extended his lead ove Perez in the Drivers’ Championship to a substantia 25 points, while Red Bull has pulled a massive 4 points ahead of Ferrari in the Constructors Standings.

Chinese GP result: Top 5

• Max Verstappen, Red Bull
• Lando Norris, McLaren
• Sergio Perez, Red Bull
• Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
• Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

Minus Zero, IIIT Hyderabad & IHub-Data to boost self-driving research ecosystem in India

• Autonomous driving technology startup Minus Zero signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) and I-Hub Data to foster an autonomous driving research ecosystem in India.
• Together, they aim to perform ground-breaking research on multiple verticals, including foundational models for autonomous driving, computer vision, AD simulators, synthetic data, etc.
• The alliance is aimed at strengthening the AI research ecosystem in the country by combining real-life industry problems with breakthrough academic research.
• The collaboration also aims to create a large-scale, engineered dataset of Indian roads that will be instrumental in training, validation, and benchmarking AI models for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Autonomous Driving (AD).