US Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin met with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval last night. In a tweet today, Mr. Austin said, the breadth of collaboration between United States and India reflects the significance of major defense partnership. He added that both the countries are working together to address the most pressing challenges faced by Indo-Pacific region.

Central Bureau of Investigation has conducted nationwide joint surprise checks at premises of Central government Department and Organisations in more than 25 States and Union Territories.
 
The joint surprise checks were conducted in the premises of around 30 Departments and Organizations of the Government of India. These joint surprise checks were conducted to unearth any wrong-doing at places which are prone to corruptible practices while rendering services or implementing projects of the Government of India, at the cutting edge level.
 
Various cities and towns where the surprise checks were conducted include Shillong, Agartala,  Guwahati,  Imphal, Agra, Allahabad, Ahmedabad,  Gandhi Nagar, Goa,  Coimbatore, Manali, Mumbai, Howrah,  Delhi, Bangalore; Hyderabad; Jaipur,  Vishakhapatnam,  Patna, Ranchi,  Dhanbad and Cochin.
 
The Departments where surprise checks were conducted by the CBI include Food Corporation of India, Railways, BSNL, GST, Postal Department, CSD Godown, North Coal Fields Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation, CPWD and Military Engineering Service.

Political parties have intensified campaigning in poll bounds states and Union Territory. Senior BJP leader and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in West Bengal and Assam today and tomorrow. He will address rallies in Kharagpur in West Bengal and Chabua in Assam today. In a tweet, Mr Modi said, in his speeches he will elaborate on BJP’s development agenda. He said, it is clear that both states West Bengal and Assam want to elect NDA in the upcoming polls.

US Secretary of Defence Lloyd James Austin III, who is on an official visit to India, called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi yesterday. During the meeting, Prime Minister outlined his vision for the strategic partnership between both countries and emphasized the important role of bilateral defence cooperation in India-US ties. Mr Modi welcomed the warm and close relationship between the two countries, which is rooted in shared values of democracy, pluralism and commitment to a rules-based order. He requested Secretary Austin to convey his best wishes to President Biden.
 
Secretary Austin reiterated the US Government’s continued commitment towards strengthening the bilateral defence relations between the two countries. He expressed US’ strong desire to further enhance the strategic partnership for peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. Secretary Austin conveyed greetings of President Biden to the Prime Minister.

The Home Ministry has instructed all the States and Union Territories to take necessary steps to promote COVID-19 appropriate behaviour among people and ensure strict enforcement of safety measures to curb the rising cases of COVID-19 in the country.
 
In a letter written to all the Chief Secretaries of States and Administrators of Union Territories by the Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla, it is stressed that guidelines for surveillance, containment and caution must be strictly followed. It is also asked to ensure wearing of masks, hand hygiene and social distancing.
 
The Home Ministry has urged all the States and Union Territories to take necessary measures for creating awareness among people to follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. This order came in the wake of rising cases of COVID-19 in some of the States and Union Territories.

More than four crore 20 lakh 63 thousand doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered to the beneficiaries in the country so far. The Health and Family Welfare Ministry has informed today that a total of 27 lakh 23 thousand 575 doses of vaccines have been administered to the beneficiaries in the last 24 hours.
 
Meanwhile, the country’s COVID-19 recovery rate reached 96.12 per cent with a total recovery of 23 thousand 653 patients within 24 hours. The Health Ministry said more than one crore 11 lakh patients have already been recovered from this disease. However, the active caseload is continuously rising in the country due to a sudden spike in the cases reported from various States.
 
At present, there are 2 lakh 88 thousand 394 active cases in the country which comprises 2.49 per cent of the total positive cases. Amid the rising new cases, a total of 40 thousand 953 new cases have been reported in the country in the last 24 hours taking the cumulative positive cases to over one crore 15 lakh. The Health Ministry said, 188 deaths have been reported within a day taking the toll to over one lakh 59 thousand across the country. Various laboratories have conducted more than 10 lakh 60 thousand tests of corona virus samples in the last 24 hours taking the cumulative testing to more than 23 crore 24 lakh.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd J Austin will arrive in India this evening. During the visit, he will meet Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and other senior dignitaries of the government to discuss deepening the India US Major Defense Partnership. They will also discuss advancing cooperation for a free, prosperous and open Indo-Pacific Region. Discussions regarding defence cooperation would also focus on how both countries could consolidate military to military cooperation and defence trade and industry cooperation.
 
Mr Austin’s visit to India as part of his first overseas travel emphasizes the strength of the India-US strategic partnership.

The process of filing of nominations closes today for the third Phase of Assembly Elections in West Bengal, third and final phase in Assam. It also ends today for the assembly elections in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Union Territory of Puducherry, where the polling is being held in a single phase.
 
Electioneering for the Assembly Elections is gaining momentum in all the States, particularly in the constituencies where today is the last date for filing nominations. 
   
47 Assembly Constituencies in Assam and 30 Assembly Constituencies of West Bengal go to polls on 27th of March din the First Phase. In the second phase polling will be held on first of April in 30 Assembly Constituencies of West Bengal and 39 Assembly Constituencies of Assam. 40 Assembly Constituencies of Assam and 31 Assembly Constituencies of West Bengal will go to polls on 6th of April in the third Phase.
 
Kerala, Tamil Nadu along with the Union Territory of Puducherry will go to polls on a single day on 6th of April. On that day polling would be held for all the 140 Assembly Constituencies of Kerala and 234 Assembly Constituencies in Tamil Nadu along with 30 Assembly Constituencies in Puducherry. Polling would also be held for Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha seat in Tamil Nadu and Malappuram Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala simultaneously, where the by-elections are being held.

The Madhya Pradesh government yesterday announced a ban on the movement of passenger buses to and from Maharashtra from March 20.

AIR correspondent reports that in view of the alarming rise in COVID cases in the neighboring state Maharashtra, state government announced a ban on movement of passenger buses to and from Maharashtra. The restriction will be imposed from March 20. The decision was taken by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan during a meeting to review the COVID-19 situation with municipal commissioners and district collectors.

The government has already advised officials in border districts to place the passengers arriving from Maharashtra in week-long quarantine. Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh on Thursday reported 917 covid positive cases while the positivity rate increased to 5.0 percent.

In view of the COVID-19 pandemic, the admission eligibility for Bachelor of Architecture, B.Arch. Degree Course has been relaxed for academic session 2021-2022.

Education Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has said that the minimum requirement of 50 per cent in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics and aggregate of 102 is relaxed to only pass in 12th Class with PCM subjects or 103 Diploma with Maths.

Union Health Ministry said that the country has administered over three crore 93 lakh vaccination doses in the country so far. More than 22 lakh two thousand people have been inoculated with Covid-19 doses in the last 24 hours.
 
Meanwhile, the country saw a spike in reported cases taking the total number of new infections to 39 thousand 726 in the past 24 hours taking the cumulative positive cases to over one crore 15 lakh. The Health Ministry said, 154 deaths have also been reported during the last 24 hours taking the toll to over one lakh 59 thousand across the country.
 
Meanwhile, the country’s COVID-19 recovery rate is 96.26 per cent at present with the total recovery of more than 20 thousand patients in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that more than one crore ten lakh patients have already recovered from this disease. Presently, the total number of active cases in the country is over two lakh 71 thousand which comprises only 2.36 per cent of the total positive cases.
 
The Indian Council of Medical Research said that various laboratories have conducted more than ten lakh 57 thousand tests of corona virus samples during the last 24 hours and more than 23 crore 13 lakh tests have been done in the country so far.

Government today said that Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh are reporting a steep rise in daily new Covid Cases. Maharashtra reported highest daily new cases at 25 thousand 833. It is followed by Punjab with two thousand 369 while Kerala reported one thousand 899 new cases.
 
Union Health Ministry said, Centre is actively engaging with all State and Union Territory governments, especially those showing an upsurge in daily new cases and with a high caseload of active cases. It said, centre is regularly reviewing the status of COVID containment and public health measures with them.
 
The Ministry said, States and UTs have been advised to improve testing in districts reporting reduction in testing. They have been also advised to carry out an average close contact tracing of minimum of 20 persons per positive case in the first 72 hours along with isolation and early treatment of the serious cases. It is also advised to focus on surveillance and stringent containment of those areas in selected districts which are seeing cluster of cases and focus on clinical management in districts reporting higher deaths.
 
Recently, the Centre had deputed high level Public Health teams to Maharashtra and Punjab to assist in COVID-19 control and containment measures in view of recent spike in cases in these States. The Central Government had earlier deputed high-level teams to Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Jammu and Kashmir to support them in their fight against the recent spike in COVID-19 cases.

In Cricket, India will face England in the fourth T-20 match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad today. The match will begin at 7.00 PM IST.

England are 2-1 up in the five-match series after a convincing win in the third T-20. Yesterday, England Yesterday defeated India by eight wickets. The Fifth and the final T-20 Match will be played on Saturday.

Tanzania’s President John Magufuli has passed away at a hospital in Dar es Salaam. He was 61. In a televised address, Vice President Samia Suluhu Hassan said, the President died of a heart ailment that he has battled for over 10 years. She added that the president had been receiving treatment at Mzena hospital since Sunday. The Vice President announced 14 days of national mourning.
 
According to the African country’s constitution, Ms Hassan will be sworn in as the new president and should serve the remainder of Magufuli’s five-year team which he began last year. While a date for her swearing in has not yet been announced, she will be Tanzania’s first female president.