The 15th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS COP15) has concluded with a major expansion of global wildlife protections, adding 40 new species to international conservation lists and adopting a series of unprecedented measures.
Held in Campo Grande, Brazil, the summit brought together 132 countries, resulting in 39 binding resolutions and 16 new international cooperation initiatives aimed at safeguarding migratory species and their habitats.
According to Agencia Brasil, the newly listed species include birds, fish and sharks, now placed under stricter protection frameworks.
Several were added to Appendix I, which covers species threatened with extinction, while others were included in Appendix II, requiring coordinated international conservation efforts.
Among the notable additions are migratory shorebirds, freshwater fish species and marine predators, reflecting growing concern over biodiversity loss across ecosystems.
The conference further adopted 39 resolutions covering ecosystem health, habitat preservation and the alignment of infrastructure development with migratory routes.
Lieutenant General Dhiraj Seth on April 1, 2026 assumed charge as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff after the Indian Army announced a series of top-level appointments across key operational commands.
An alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Khadakwasla, Lt. Gen. Seth was commissioned to the Armoured Corps in December 1986.
Over nearly four decades, he has built an operational profile across varied terrains and conflict environments, including counter-insurgency experience. He has commanded an armoured regiment in the desert sector, an armoured brigade, and a counter insurgency force in Jammu & Kashmir.
As a Lieutenant General, he led the Sudarshan Chakra Corps and later served as General Officer Commanding, Delhi Area.
Upon elevation as Army Commander, he headed both the Southwestern Command and Southern Command, earning the rare distinction of leading two operational commands along the Western Front.
In other key changes, Lieutenant General Sandeep Jain took over as the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C), Southern Command, succeeding Lt. Gen. Seth.
Lieutenant General V.M.B. Krishnan assumed charge as the GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, taking over from Lieutenant General R. C. Tiwari, who superannuated on March 31.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Pushpendra Pal Singh, who previously served as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff, took over as the GOC-in-C, Western Command. He succeeded Lieutenant General Manoj Kumar Katiyar, who also retired on March 31.
The Center for Marine Living Resources & Ecology (CMLRE), Kochi, Kerala , under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), has achieved a landmark milestone in marine conservation. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has officially designated CMLRE’s “Bhavasagara” Referral Centre as a National Repository for Deep-Sea Fauna.
This prestigious recognition, conferred under the provisions of the Biological Diversity Act, 2002, establishes the Centre as a critical national facility for the preservation, study, and documentation of India's vast deep-sea biological heritage.
The “Bhavasagara” Referral Centre currently serves as a vital scientific hub, housing an extensive collection of over 3,500 taxonomically identified and geo-referenced voucher specimens.
The collection spans a diverse range of marine life, from invertebrates—including cnidarians, annelids, molluscs, arthropods, and echinoderms—to vertebrates such as elasmobranchs and teleostean fishes.
Amid the escalating West Asia conflict and resulting volatility in global energy supply chains, India has taken a significant step towards strengthening its energy security and reducing import dependence with a key land leasing agreement for a major coal gasification project in Odisha.
In a major push for the coal gasification roadmap, Bharat Coal Gasification and Chemicals Limited (BCGCL) and Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) have signed an agreement for the country’s first indigenous coal-to-ammonium nitrate project at Lakhanpur in Jharsuguda district.
The project, with a planned capacity of 2,000 tonnes per day (TPD), will be set up at an estimated investment of Rs 25,000 crore. The agreement marks a crucial milestone as it will deploy indigenously developed coal gasification technology by Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL).
Coal gasification technology converts coal into synthesis gas (syngas), which can then be used to produce a range of value-added products, including ammonia, methanol, urea, hydrogen, synthetic natural gas (SNG), petrochemicals, and liquid fuels.
The Lakhanpur facility will specifically focus on producing ammonium nitrate, a key industrial chemical widely used in fertilisers and mining.
The Lakhanpur project is among seven coal gasification projects worth Rs 64,000 crore sanctioned for three states by the Ministry of Coal to reduce imports of energy products.
Of the seven projects, four are located in Maharashtra, two in Odisha, and one in West Bengal.
The project will come up on an area of over 350 acres of MCL land. It has gained momentum following a recent policy tweak by the Coal Ministry that allows the utilisation of coal-bearing area land for gasification projects.
The move is expected to unlock new avenues for value-added utilisation of India’s vast coal reserves (around 400 billion tonnes), the fifth largest globally, estimated to last at least 70 years.
The Centre has already extended financial support of Rs 1,350 crore to the project under its dedicated coal gasification incentive scheme.
Key engineering and construction contracts have already been awarded, with major lump sum turnkey (LSTK) packages — LSTK-1 and LSTK-2 bagged by BHEL, while LSTK-3 and LSTK-4 have been awarded to Larsen & Toubro.
Shri Chanchal Kumar has assumed charge as Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting on 1st April 2026. He is a 1992-batch IAS officer from Bihar cadre. Upon his assumption of charge, he was welcomed by outgoing Secretary, Shri Sanjay Jaju and other officials of the Ministry and various media units.
Shri Sanjay Jaju has now been assigned the charge of Secretary, Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region.
Prior to this, Shri Kumar served as Secretary in the Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and the Ministry of Civil Aviation, and has held several senior positions in the Government of India.
He has also served as Managing Director, National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL), contributing to strategic highway and infrastructure projects.
In the Government of Bihar, he has held several important positions including Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and Secretary to the Chief Minister, apart from serving as District Magistrate in multiple districts.
Shri Chanchal Kumar holds B.Tech and M.Tech degrees from IIT Kanpur and a Ph.D. in Economics from Patna University, bringing a strong academic background.
The Cochin Shipyard Ltd (CSL) delivered the second anti-submarine warfare shallow water craft to the Indian Navy.
The CSL had signed a Rs 6,311-crore contract with the Navy in 2019, to construct eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft. The first vessel of the series was delivered in October 2025.
The vessel, named Malwan, has been indigenously designed and constructed by the CSL according to the Navy’s specifications. ‘Malwan’ draws its name from the historic coastal town of Malwan in Maharashtra, a region intrinsically linked to the illustrious maritime heritage of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
The ship is equipped for underwater surveillance, Anti-Submarine Warfare operations in coastal waters, Low Intensity Maritime Operations, along with mine warfare capabilities.
Measuring 80 m in length and displacing 1,100 tonnes, the ASW vessel is equipped with torpedoes, multifunctional anti-submarine rockets, and state-of-the-art sensors, including advanced radars and sonar systems. With over 80% indigenous content, Malwan marks another milestone in indigenous warship construction.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has extended the deadline for implementing SIM-binding by over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat, Signal and Arattai to December 31 following industry pushback.
It has also rolled back the mandate requiring web and desktop sessions of OTT platforms to automatically log out within six hours and require re-authentication through QR code pairing. Instead, it has adopted a risk-based approach, where sessions must be terminated immediately only in cases of suspected fraud, officials told ET.
Platform players said enabling SIM-binding-which means the app on a device will remain linked to a particular mobile number-across both Android and Apple ecosystems will take time, with technical readiness expected only by October-November 2026.
In an effort to combat frauds such as digital arrests, the DoT, on November 28, 2025, directed OTT platforms to implement SIM-binding. Platforms were required to comply within 90 days.
The DoT directions were issued under the Telecommunications (Telecom Cyber Security) Rules, 2024, notified on October 22 as part of the Telecommunications Act.
The Ministry of Education and the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) launched a curriculum on computational thinking (CT) and artificial intelligence (AI) for students of classes 3 to 8.
The ministry released three documents comprising a curriculum, a teachers’ handbook, and learning material. The content will be made available online on the CBSE’s website.
The CBSE constituted an expert committee in October 2025 to develop a curriculum on computational thinking and artificial intelligence for school students.
The panel, chaired by Karthik Raman of the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, was tasked with designing age-appropriate learning modules, teaching resources, and assessment methods for students from classes 3 to 8.
Its mandate was to introduce foundational computational thinking skills early in school education and create a structured pathway for AI learning in line with the goals of the National Education Policy 2020 and the National Curriculum Framework for School Education 2023.
The curriculum will be introduced for students from classes 3 to 8 starting in the 2026–27 academic session. It is designed to develop foundational computational thinking skills such as logical reasoning, problem-solving, and pattern recognition, while familiarising students with the role of artificial intelligence in everyday life.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has accorded approval to Dubai-based Emirates National Bank of Dubai (NBD) to acquire up to a 74% stake in RBL Bank, paving the way for the bank to become a foreign lender.
The approval from RBI came on April 1 with one year validity, RBL Bank said in a regulatory filing on April 2, 2026.
The approval follows Emirates NBD Bank, the second largest in U.A.E, expressing its interest in October 2025 to acquire a majority 60% stake in RBL Bank for ₹26,853 crore.
As per the approval letter, the Emirates NBD (ENBD) would acquire and maintain a shareholding of at least 51% of the paid-up share capital of the RBL Bank & the bank would be classified as a foreign bank.
The voting rights of ENBD shall be capped at 26% of the total voting rights of RBL Bank, in accordance with section 12(2) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949.
The Maharashtra Government on March 31, 2026 appointed senior IAS officer Ashwini Bhide as the Municipal Commissioner of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), making her the first woman to head one of the oldest and richest civic bodies in the country.
Incumbent Municipal Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani, who completed his tenure on Tuesday (March 31, 2026), handed over charge to Ms. Bhide, who will be replaced by IAS officer Lokesh Chandra in her previous post as Additional Chief Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office.
She will also hold the additional post of Managing Director, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation.
Ms Bhide had earned the nickname “metro woman” after implementing Mumbai’s first underground Metro project. She also served as Additional Municipal Commissioner from May 9, 2020, to March 19, 2024, in the BMC, and has 31 years of experience in civil services.
The Government of India marked an important milestone in strengthening technology-enabled and citizen-centric governance with the signing of an Agreement for adoption of SAMPANN, the flagship digital pension and financial management platform of the Department of Telecommunications, by the State Government of Goa and the Cochin Port Authority (CPA).
SAMPANN (System for Accounting and Management of Pension) is a seamless online comprehensive pension management system developed in line with the vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s Digital India Mission and covers the entire pension administration lifecycle, from case initiation to pension disbursement and accounting.
SAMPANN is a cloud-based, end-to-end pension management system of the Department of Telecommunications, managed by the Office of the Controller General of Communication Accounts (CGCA). It was designed to streamline pension sanction, authorisation, accounting and payment through a single digital platform.
SAMPANN is now disbursing an average of Rs 1,650 Cr of monthly pension and total amount of about Rs 72,000 Cr has already been disbursed through it.
The Hon’ble Minister of Communications also released the SAMPANN Coffee Table Book, highlighting the growing role of Digital Public Infrastructure in delivering seamless, transparent and efficient public services.
Shri Anurag Kapil, a 1998 batch officer of the Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS), has assumed charge as Director (Finance) at NMDC Limited, India’s largest iron ore producer.
In a career spanning over 26 years across Indian Railways and CPSUs, Shri Kapil brings a blend of operational expertise and strategic vision in financial management and public sector governance.
He has held key positions in Indian Railways including Senior Divisional Finance Manager, FA&CAO (Traffic), FA&CAO (Finance & General) and Deputy Chief Vigilance Officer, and has also served as Director in the Ministry of Coal, handling critical policy and sectoral assignments.
Prior to joining NMDC, he was serving as Executive Director, Finance (Expenditure) at the Railway Board, where he was responsible for financial policy matters, expenditure management, planning, project monitoring and productivity analysis for Indian Railways. He has also held additional charge as Director (Finance), CONCOR.
Shri Kapil has served as Government Nominee Director on the Boards of several CPSEs including Singareni Collieries Company Limited, Mineral Exploration Corporation Limited, Railway Energy Management Company Limited and Konkan Railway Corporation Limited. He has undergone extensive training in finance, PPP, strategic management and vigilance, including programs at ISB.
