• Indian long jumper Someswara Rao Ramudri and javelin thrower Mohit clinched gold medals in their individual events at the 2022 World Para Athletics Grand Prix on March 24.
• Overall, the Indian contingent won six medals on the penultimate day and set two Asian records, thanks to the efforts of Ramudri in long jump men T64 final and paralympian Dharambir in discus wheelchair men F51 final.
• In one of the last events of the day, Ramudri came out with a personal best effort -- a leap of 6.40m -- to take the long jump men T64 gold medal, in the combined T43/44/63/64 final.
• Thailand's Kantinan Khumphong (5.74 m) and Malaysia's Eddy Bernard (6.20m) finished second and third, respectively.
• In javelin men final F44/46/63/64 finals, Mohit achieved an impressive 54.71m distance in his very first throw which was enough to clinch the gold medal.
•   Second medal for Dharambir
• Meanwhile, Paralympian Dharambir claimed his second silver medal in the Championships, this time in discus wheelchair men final F51 where he attained a distance of 10.93m.
• Algeria's Mohamed Berrahal (12,29m) took the gold, as Dharambir's fellow thrower Ajitkumar Amrutla Panchal claimed the bronze in F52 category with a throw of 18.57m.
• In women's track events, Jayanti Behera claimed the silver medal in 200m women final T46/47 clocking 26.94s, finishing behind USA's Brittni Mason (26.08s).
• Ishwari Nishad also took second place with a timing of 1:25.50 in 400m women's final T11.

• Pushkar Singh Dhami on Mar 23  took oath as the Uttarakhand chief minister during a ceremony held at Parade Ground in Dehradun in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

• Apart from Dhami, eight ministers were also administered the oath by Uttarakhand Governor Lt Gen (retd) Gurmit Singh. This is 46-year-old Dhami's second consecutive stint as the chief minister.

•   Dhami, under whose leadership the party had won the just-concluded Assembly polls, had lost the elections from Khatima, the constituency he had been representing since 2012.

• Dhami needs to be elected to the state Assembly within six months to continue as chief minister.
• The BJP MLAs who took oath as state ministers were Satpal Maharaj, Dhan Singh Rawat, Subodh Uniyal, Premchand Agarwal, Rekha Arya, Ganesh Joshi, Chandan Ram Das, and Saurabh Bahuguna.
• Except former CM Vijay Bahuguna's son Saurabh Bahuguna, Bageshwar MLA Chandan Ram Das, and Rishikesh legislator Premchand Agarwal, all other leaders were part of the previous Dhami-led cabinet.
• Agarwal was the Speaker in the previous Assembly.

• Glowing tributes were paid to freedom fighters Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev in Lok Sabha on Mar 23, with Speaker Om Birla saying their sacrifices will be remembered by the country forever.
• As soon as the House assembled, Birla said March 23 is being observed as Martyrs' Day (Shaheed Diwas) in memory of heroes of the independence struggle and their sacrifices are inspirations for generations to come.
• Paying tributes to Bhagat Singh, Rajguru, Sukhdev and all the other freedom movement heroes, Birla said every citizen of the country should devote themselves for the welfare of the people and law makers should set the highest standards through their behaviour and conduct.
• Members of the house also stood in silence for a few moments as a mark of respect to the martyrs.
• On this day, Bhagat Singh, Shivaram Rajguru and Sukhdev Thapar were hanged to death by the British in 1931.

Hailing the country's success in achieving its goods export target of USD 400 billion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that this is a key milestone in India's 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat' journey.

He posted graphics of India achieving the highest ever export target nine days ahead of the intended deadline.

• Pakistan's top election body has imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Prime Minister Imran Khan for violating election code of conduct by addressing a rally in Swat ahead of the local government election in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
• The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had on March 15 barred him from visiting Swat to address a public rally, but the premier ignored the directives and addressed a rally a day later.

• French authorities say a convoy of rescue vehicles and emergency equipment is to leave Paris on Mar 23 to be provided to Ukraine's emergency service.
• A statement from the French foreign and interior ministries says 100 firefighters and rescue staff will dispatch the vehicles and equipment to Romania, at the border with Ukraine.
• They include 11 fire engines, 16 rescue vehicles, and 23 trucks transporting 49 tons of health and emergency equipment. It comes in addition to a convoy of 21 new ambulances, which left on Mar 22 .
• The statement says the operation is meant to support rescuers from Ukraine's Emergency Situations Service mobilised day and night to provide relief to victims.
• German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has reiterated that his country will not support a no-fly zone over Ukraine or send troops to intervene in the war launched by Russia.

• In a surprise decision the hardline leadership of Afghanistan's new rulers decided against opening educational institutions to girls beyond Grade 6, a Taliban official said  on Mar 23  on the first day of Afghanistan's new school year.

• The latest setback for girls education is certain to receive widespread condemnation from the international community that has been urging the Taliban leaders to open schools and give women their right to public space.

• The government has no plans for disinvestment of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), Parliament was informed on  March 23.
• Minister of State for Communications Devusinh Chauhan in a written reply to the Lok Sabha also asserted that there is no delay or deficiency in services provided by BSNL due to the implementation of voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) in early 2020.
• The current strength of employees is sufficient for the operation of the state-owned telecom corporation, Chauhan said.
• The value of immovable assets, including buildings, lands, towers, telecom equipment and non-telecom equipment as of March 31, 2021, adds to Rs 89,878 crore (total netblock), as per audited financials.
• As of December 31, 2021, the all India market share of BSNL stood at 9.90 per cent for mobile subscribers, and 15.40 per cent for wired broadband subscribers.
• The government had approved a revival plan for BSNL in October 2019, which included measures to reduce the staff cost through a VRS for employees of 50 years of age and above, administrative allotment of spectrum for providing 4G services with funding through budgetary allocation, monetisation of non-core and core assets to generate resources to retire debt, meet capital expenditure and other requirement and debt restructuring by raising of sovereign guarantee bonds.
• Responding to a separate question on national digital communications policy, Chauhan said the said policy was launched in 2018 with a vision to fulfil the information and communication needs of citizens and enterprises through the establishment of a ubiquitous, resilient, secure, accessible and affordable digital communications infrastructure.
• The implementation of the objectives of the policy has not been divided into phases.
• On whether the government intends to launch a follow-up policy with the completion of the NDCP (National Digital Communications Policy) in 2022, the minister replied, "As of now, the Government has not thought of launching a follow-up policy".