• Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad chief Sadanand Vasant Date has been appointed as the Director General of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), according to a Personnel Ministry order. The ACC also appointed Rajeev Kumar Sharma, a 1990-batch IPS officer of Rajasthan cadre, as the Director General of the Bureau of Police Research & Development.
• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Date as the Director General (DG) of the NIA for a tenure up to his superannuation on December 31, 2026, stated the order dated March 26.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi highlighted the popularity of Gujarat's traditional dance Garba.  The PM said Garba is a celebration of life, culture and devotion and it is gladdening to note that its global popularity is on the rise.
• The inclusion was made under the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage during the 18th meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage which began in Kasane, Botswana.

• Scientists have revealed that a mysterious crater in Gujarat’s Kutch could have formed due to one of the largest meteorites crash on Earth in the last 50,000 years. It is believed that during impact, this meteorite may have generated a colossal fireball, shockwaves, and subsequent wildfires, potentially engulfing the region inhabited by the people of the ancient Indus Valley civilization thousands of years ago.
• The crater, known as the Luna Structure is 1.8-kilometer-wide and the locals are quite familiar with it. Scientists have conducted a geochemical analysis of the crater which revealed a notable presence of iridium in the soil.

• Thailand's lower house of parliament passed the same-sex marriage bill with overwhelming majority. However, it still awaits approval from the Senate before it can receive royal endorsement and be published in the Royal Gazette.
• The new legislation, which was passed by 400 of 415 of lawmakers present, describes marriage as a partnership between two individuals, instead of between a man and woman.

• A top official at India’s National Disaster Management Authority has been appointed by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres as his special representative for disaster risk reduction. Kishore, in his current position at the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), holds the rank of secretary to the government of India. He succeeds Mami Mizutori of Japan at UNDRR.
• Kamal Kishore (55) has been appointed as assistant secretary-general and special representative of the secretary-general for disaster risk reduction, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), said Stéphane Dujarric, the secretary-general’s spokesperson, at the daily press briefing.

• Skyroot Aerospace, the leading space-tech company, has successfully test-fired the Stage-2 of Vikram-1 space launch vehicle, called Kalam-250, at the propulsion testbed of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), at its Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
• Stage-2 is a critical stage in the ascent of the launch vehicle, as it propels it from atmospheric phase to the deep vacuum of outer-space. The test, which lasted 85 seconds, recorded a peak sea-level thrust of 186 kilonewtons (kN), which will translate to a fully expanded vacuum thrust of around 235kN in flight.

• The new appointments took place as two existing Judicial Members namely Justice P. K. Mohanty and Justice Abhilasha Kumari and three Members namely Shri D. K. Jain, Smt. Archana Ramasundaram and Shri Mahender Singh have completed their tenure in Lokpal on 26th March 2024.
• Shri Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi, before joining as Judicial Member, Lokpal of India, was serving as the Chairperson of 22nd Law Commission of India. Before that, he was Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court. Shri Pankaj Kumar is a 1986 batch IAS officer from Gujarat cadre. Before joining as Member of Lokpal of India, he was serving as Chief Secretary of Gujarat.

• Microsoft internally merged the Windows and Surface teams once again and appointed IIT Madras alumni Pavan Davuluri to lead the development on both fronts, as per Windows Central that tracks developments at Microsoft.
• This comes after a brief separation between the two units during which Windows fell under Microsoft's new AI organisation. This marks a return of the earlier structure within Microsoft's Engineering and Devices organisation which is headed by Rajesh Jha.

• Daniel Kahneman, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Psychology, Emeritus, professor of psychology and public affairs, emeritus, and a Nobel laureate in economics whose groundbreaking behavioral science research changed our understanding of how people think and make decisions, died on March 27. He was 90.
• Kahneman joined the Princeton University faculty in 1993, following appointments at Hebrew University, the University of British Columbia and the University of California–Berkeley, and transferred to emeritus status in 2007.

• IAF ordered 83 Mk-1A fighters for Rs.48,000 crore in February 2021 and plans to buy 97 more Mk-1As at a cost of around Rs.67,000 crore. The first aircraft was to be delivered to IAF by March 31, but there is some delay as some key certifications are still pending, as first reported by HT on March 25.
• HAL thanked the defence ministry, the IAF, the Aeronautical Development Agency, the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification and other agencies that have contributed to the programme’s success.

Download Daily GK PDF of 29 March 2024