• Startup Mahakumbh, a three-day long startup event was organised at Bharat Mandapam in Delhi.
• The first-of-its-kind event brings together startups, investors, incubators, accelerators, and leaders on a single platform.
• Over 1,000 startups, 500 incubators, 1,000 investors, 5,000 delegates, and over 40,000 visitors attended the event.
• The innovative initiative spearheaded by leading industry organizations including ASSOCHAM, Nasscom, Bootstrap Incubation & Advisory Foundation, TiE, and Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association.

• The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC), the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) facility at Thumba in Thiruvananthapuram, has developed a multi-purpose app ‘SAKHI’ that will help astronauts on the Gaganyaan space flight mission carry out a range of tasks such as looking up vital technical information or communicating with one another.

About SAKHI

• The Space-borne Assistant and Knowledge Hub for Crew Interaction (SAKHI) is equipped to monitor astronauts’ health, maintain communication with Earth, and manage dietary schedules.
• It serves as an essential tool for the crew, offering real-time assistance and access to necessary data.
• It would assist astronauts during the Gaganyaan space flight mission, facilitating tasks such as accessing vital technical information and communication.
• Strapped to astronauts’ space suits, it allows for easy access and facilitates the maintenance of mission logs in various formats.

BENEFITS OF SAKHI APP:

HEALTH MONITORING:

• It will provide information on key parameters like blood pressure, heart rate and oxygen saturation & invaluable insights into the crew’s physical condition throughout the mission.
• It will also remind them about their hydration and dietary schedules and sleep patterns.

CONNECTIVITY:

• Astronauts can use the app to maintain a log on the mission in multiple formats including voice records, texts and images.
• It will keep the crew connected with the onboard computer and ground-based stations, guaranteeing a seamless communication link.

ABOUT GAGANYAAN MISSION:

• ISRO aims to launch the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission in 2025.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi revealed the names of the four astronaut-candidates for the first human spaceflight mission.
• They are group captains Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Ajit Krishnan, and Angad Pratap, and wing commander Shubanshu Shukla.

• ‘International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’ is celebrated every year on 21 March. On the occasion of this day, unity is called for against casteism and racial discrimination.
• The legacies of racial discrimination, slavery and colonialism destroy lives. This reduces the various opportunities that come in life. Billions of people are deprived of their full human rights and freedoms due to racial discrimination.
• The theme of this year 2024 is ‘A Decade of Recognition, Justice, and Development: Implementation of the International Decade for People of African Descent’.

History-

• On March 21, 1960, people organized a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid law in Sharpeville, South Africa. Meanwhile, the police opened fire on a peaceful demonstration in which 69 people died.
• The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) designated March 21st as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in October 1966.
• In 1979, the UNGA adopted a program of activities calling for action to combat racism and racial discrimination.
• During this, UNGA decided that from 21-27 March it will organize a ‘Week of Solidarity with People Struggling against Racism and Racial Discrimination’. It is a symbol of solidarity with the people fighting against racism and racial discrimination. Since then it is held every year for a week in all countries.

• South Korea hosted the 3rd Summit for Democracy in Seoul from 18-20 March 2024 in a hybrid format.
• The Summit for Democracy was started by American President Joe Biden in 2021 to address the emerging challenges to democracy from authoritarianism and defend and promote human rights.
• The Summit was opened by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was joined by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
• The theme of the third Summit for Democracy 2024 was “Democracy for Future Generations.”

SUMMIT FOR DEMOCRACY

• The 1st Summit for Democracy was organized by the United States Department (Foreign Ministry) and hosted by S. President Joe Biden virtually on 9-10 December 2021. Over 100 countries’ representatives attended it. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also addressed the summit.
• The 2nd Summit for Democracy was co-hosted by the United States of America with Costa Rica, Zambia, South Korea and the Netherlands from 28-30 March 2023. It was also held mostly in virtual mode. Around 121 world leaders, including India, were invited to the summit.
• At the end of the 2nd summit, it was decided that South Korea would host the 3rd summit.
• The 3rd summit mainly focused on threats to democracy from digital sources, including misinformation, deep fakes, and artificial intelligence.
• Representatives of over 30 countries attended the 3rd summit, with Pakistan and China not invited. This included US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, British Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, the foreign ministers of Indonesia, Ecuador, Gambia, Guyana, and Mauritius, and other minister-level leaders.

• The Indian Express Group has announced the 17th Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards (RNG Awards) for journalists across the country for the years 2021 and 2022.
• Union Minister for Road Transport and Highway Nitin Gadkari was the chief guest of the award ceremony.
• The 4-member jury which selected the winners in various categories included former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi, former Supreme Court Judge Justice B N Srikrishna, K G Suresh and Dr C. Raj Kumar.

ABOUT THE AWARD:

• RNG awards are one the most prestigious awards in India in the field of journalism, held annually since 2005.
• The award is named after Ramnath Goenka, the founder of “The Indian Express” and Indian Express Group in 1932.

AWARD WINNERS:

• The Ministry of External Affairs, in a statement, announced that Vinay Kumar has been appointed India’s next ambassador to Russia.
• The Ministry of External Affairs also announced a host of new ambassadors of India appointed to different countries.
• All the new appointees are expected to take up their new assignments shortly, said the Ministry of External Affairs.

AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA

• 1992 batch Indian Foreign Service officer Vinay Kumar, who is presently the ambassador to Myanmar, has been named the next ambassador to Russia.

AMBASSADOR TO CUBA

• The 1997 batch of Indian Foreign Service officer T. Armstrong Changsan has been appointed the next ambassador of India to Cuba. Armstrong Changsan is currently posted as a Joint Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.

AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ

• The 1993 batch of Indian Foreign Service officer SoumenduBagchi has been appointed the next ambassador of SoumenduBagchi is currently the DDG, Indian Council for World Affairs(ICWA).

AMBASSADOR TO CHILE

• 1995 batch Indian Foreign Service officer MsAbhilasha Joshi has been appointed the next Indian ambassador to the South American country Chile. MsAbhilasha Joshi is currently an Additional Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AMBASSADOR AND HIGH COMMISSIONER

• Every sovereign country appoints a senior diplomat to a foreign country to represent and safeguard its national interest. The senior diplomat is either called an Ambassador or a High Commissioner.

HIGH COMMISSIONER

• When a country which is a member of the Commonwealth appoints a senior diplomat to another commonwealth country, then the senior diplomat will be called as High Commissioner. For example, a senior Indian diplomat to Britain will be called as High Commissioner.
• The Commonwealth is an association of Independent countries who were once part of the British empire. At present 56 countries are members of the commonwealth.

AMBASSADOR

• Senior diplomat appointed to a country that is not a commonwealth member is called Ambassador. For e.g. India’s ambassador to Russia, the United States of America, France, etc. These countries are not members of the Commonwealth.

• India was ranked 126th out of 143 nations in a global happiness index released recently, which noted that older age is associated with higher life satisfaction in the world’s most populous country.

KEY-FINDINGS OF THE REPORT

• Finland with a score of 741, remained the world’s happiest country for a seventh straight year.
• The other top 10 countries are Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Australia.
• Afghanistan, plagued by a humanitarian catastrophe since the Taliban regained control in 2020, stayed at the bottom of the 143 countries surveyed.
• The ranking is based on six factors—
  • GDP per capita
  • Social Support
  • Healthy life expectancy
  • Freedom
  • Generosity
  • Freedom of corruption
• Since 2012, the World Happiness Report has been released annually around March 20th as part of the International Day of Happiness
• The World Happiness Report is a partnership of Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network.

UNITED NATIONS SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS NETWORK

• The UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) has been operating since 2012 under the UN Secretary-General.
• SDSN mobilizes global scientific and technological expertise to promote practical solutions for sustainable development, including the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Climate Agreement.

• The Election Commission (EC) of India has launched a special campaign in Himachal Pradesh to maximise voter turnout in 414 polling stations which registered less than 60% voting in the last Lok Sabha polls.
• Bypolls to six Assembly seats that fell vacant after disqualification of Congress MLAs would be held simultaneously with four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh in the last phase on June 1.

OTHER FACTS

• As many as 7,990 polling stations, which are 267 more than the last Lok Sabha elections have been notified and 150 polling stations would be supervised exclusively by women election officers, 54 by youth and 29 by PwD (People with Disability).
• The expenditure limit of candidates for Lok Sabha polls would be ₹95 lakh and Assembly bypolls ₹40 lakh.
• Tashigang polling station in Lahaul and Spiti located at an altitude of 15,256 feet is the highest polling booth in the country.
• Manola polling station in Dalhousie of Chamba district has the maximum number of 1,410 voters, while Kaa polling station in Kinnaur district has the lowest of 16 voters.

• Odisha CM inaugurated India’s first indoor athletics stadium and indoor aquatic centre at the Kalinga stadium in Bhubaneshwar.

FEATURES

• The Indoor Athletics Centre stands as India’s first capable of hosting indoor continental and regional championships.
• The centre boasts a 10,000-square-meter track used in Olympics, marking a pioneering feat within the country.
• The centre includes a 200-meter synthetic track, an 80m+20m running track, and designated areas for long jump, triple jump, pole vault, and shot-put, each meticulously designed to meet specific athletic requirements.
• Accommodating the needs of high-performance athletes, the facility features 60 twin-sharing rooms for those undergoing full-time coaching.
• Its iconic stature was solidified with the esteemed Category 1 certification from World Athletics in December 2023.

• In a historic gathering in Cameroon’s capital Yaoundé, African health ministers, global malaria partners, funding agencies, scientists, civil society organisations and other principal malaria stakeholders pledged to end malaria deaths.

STATISTICS

• Globally, the number of malaria cases in 2022 surged significantly compared to the pre-COVID-19 era.
• The total cases rose from 233 million in 2019 to a staggering 249 million.
• Africa remains the epicentre of the malaria crisis, bearing an immense burden.
  • It accounts for 94 per cent of all global malaria cases and a staggering 95 per cent of global malaria-related deaths, totaling an estimated 580,000 deaths in 2022.
• Significantly, the 11 African countries whose health ministers took part in the Yaoundé conference — Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Sudan, Uganda and Tanzania — “account for more than 70 per cent of the global malaria burden.”