• India on March 24 has said references made to it at a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Islamabad were based on "falsehoods and misrepresentation".
• The strong reaction by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) came a day after the OIC at its foreign ministerial meeting in Pakistan criticised India for its policy on Kashmir.
• MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi  was referring to media queries on references made to India in the resolutions adopted at the OIC meeting.

• The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a notice to the West Bengal government and the state's police chief on March 24 in connection with the killing of eight people in Birbhum district, and sought a report within four weeks, detailing the steps taken to ensure the safety of people.
• Eight people, mostly women and children, were burnt alive at Bogtui village in Birbhum on March 21  in a suspected act of retribution for the killing of a panchayat official of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the state.
• The incident has sparked nationwide outrage.
• The NHRC has issued a notice to the West Bengal government via the chief secretary and the director general of police (DGP) of the state in connection with the killing of eight people at Bogtui village in Birbhum district.
• The commission has sought a detailed report within four weeks, including the status of the FIRs registered, the steps taken to ensure the safety of the people in the village and any relief or rehabilitation provided by the state government.

India's projected economic growth for 2022 has been downgraded by over two percent to 4.6% by the United Nations, a decrease attributed to the ongoing war in Ukraine, with New Delhi expected to face restraints on energy access and prices, reflexes from trade sanctions, food inflation, tightening policies and financial instability, according to a UN report released on March 24.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report downgraded its global economic growth projection for 2022 to 2.6% from 3.6% due to shocks from the Ukraine war and changes in macroeconomic policies that put developing countries, particularly at risk.

The report said while Russia will experience a deep recession this year, significant slowdowns in growth are expected in parts of Western Europe and Central, South, and South-East Asia.

India was forecast to grow at 6.7 percent in 2022 and this projection has been downgraded to 4.6 per cent by UNCTAD.

• The Maharashtra Assembly on March 24 unanimously passed a bill that aims to make use of Marathi language mandatory in official works of local authorities, including civic bodies and corporations formed by the state government.
• State minister Subhash Desai said the introduction of the bill was necessitated as the Maharashtra Official Language Act, 1964 did not make it mandatory for the local authorities to use Marathi in their official works.
•      He also cited examples of the authorities taking "advantage" of the lack of the provision in the Act.
• The minister also said the use of English or Hindi by local authorities for certain government works like communicating with foreign ambassadors has been allowed.

• All five Aam Aadmi Party nominees for the Rajya Sabha polls have been elected unopposed from Punjab.
• The AAP had nominated former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, party leader Raghav Chadha, Lovely Professional University founder Ashok Mittal, IIT Delhi professor Sandeep Pathak and industrialist Sanjeev Arora for the March 31 elections. March 24was the last day for the withdrawal of candidature.
• All the five candidates have been elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha, said Returning Officer Surinder Pal. No other political party had nominated any candidate from Punjab for the Rajya Sabha elections.
• The term of five Rajya Sabha members from Punjab -- Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa (SAD), Naresh Gujral (SAD), Partap Singh Bajwa (Congress), Shamsher Singh Dullo (Congress), and Shwait Malik (BJP) -- will expire on April 9.
• Harbhajan Singh is a former spinner of the Indian cricket team. Hailing from Jalandhar, Singh also captained Mumbai Indians and Kings Xl Punjab in the IPL.
• Ashok Mittal is the founder of Phagwara-based Lovely Professional University (LPU), the first private university in the state and one of the largest in India.
• Raghav Chadha, 33, is the AAP's co-in-charge of Punjab affairs and is considered by the party as one of the architects of its victory in the state Assembly polls.
• Sandeep Pathak, an associate professor at IIT Delhi, was also instrumental in strategising the AAP's victory in the state polls. He did his Ph.D. from Cambridge University of UK.
• Sanjeev Arora, a businessman from Ludhiana, runs the Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Charitable Trust. He founded it after his parents lost their lives to cancer. The trust has treated more than 160 cancer patients free of cost.
• Arora is also on the governing board of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana and is also a member of the apex council of the Punjab Cricket Association.

• Madeleine Albright, the first female US secretary of state, has died of cancer.
• She was 84. President Bill Clinton chose Albright as America's top diplomat in 1996, and she served in that capacity for the last four years of the Clinton administration.
• At the time, she was the highest-ranking woman in the history of US government.
• She was not in the line of succession for the presidency, however, because she was a native of Czechoslovakia.
• She was a native of Prague.
• Albright remained outspoken through the years. After leaving office, she criticized President George W Bush for using "the shock of force" rather than alliances to foster diplomacy and said Bush had driven away moderate Arab leaders and created potential for a dangerous rift with European allies.

• A White House official says the U.S. is trying to help its Eastern European allies by taking in up to 100,000 of the 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees who have fled Russia’s invasion of their country.
• Among the first Ukrainian refugees coming to the U.S. will be those who have family already in the United States, senior Biden administration officials said in a conference call with reporters.
• U.S. refugee efforts will also focus on helping refugees who are considered particularly vulnerable following the Russian invasion, groups that include LGBTQ people, those with medical needs as well as journalists and dissidents.

• Prince William has expressed his “profound sorrow” for slavery during a visit to Jamaica, though he stopped short of offering the apology demanded by protesters who are also seeking reparations for Britain’s role in the slave trade.
• William, second in line to the throne, made the comments while addressing a dinner in Kingston, Jamaica’s capital. He echoed the words of his father, the Prince of Wales, who described the slave trade as an “appalling atrocity” during a visit to Barbados last year when that Caribbean nation severed its ties to the British crown and became a republic.
• The prince and his wife, the Duchess of Cambridge, are on a weeklong trip to Belize, Jamaica and the Bahamas designed to strengthen Britain’s ties with Commonwealth nations as Queen Elizabeth II marks 70 years on the throne. Jamaican Prime Minister Andrew Holness said earlier that his country intends to sever its ties to the monarchy and become fully independent.
• The queen, William’s grandmother, remains the head of state for Jamaica and 13 other countries that were once British colonies.
• William’s comments underscore the sensitivity of the trip in a country where Britain’s legacy as Jamaica’s colonial ruler during the era of enslaved African labour is still controversial. The prince said anniversaries such as the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which will be marked on March 25 , provide a moment for “reflection.”