Daily Current Affairs One-Liners – 19 March 

• Kusunpur village in Kendrapada district, Odisha, is being developed as the state’s first smart village under an initiative of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research.

• India’s unemployment rate declined slightly to 4.9% in February 2026, according to data released by the National Statistics Office under the Periodic Labour Force Survey.

Daily Current Affairs One-Liners – 18 March (Plagiarism-Free)

• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare approved lifetime validity for licences issued by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, aiming to reduce regulatory burden and enhance ease of doing business.

• The National Highways Authority of India revised the FASTag Annual Pass fee structure for private, non-commercial vehicles to streamline toll payments.

• Chirag Paswan inaugurated a state-of-the-art Common Incubation Centre at Tezpur University, Assam, aimed at supporting food processing startups and innovation.

• The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs hosted AMRUT Mitra Mahotsav 2026 at Bharat Mandapam to honour women Self-Help Groups contributing to AMRUT 2.0 urban development initiatives.

• The Supreme Court of India allowed withdrawal of artificial life support in the Harish Rana passive euthanasia case, adding a new dimension to the legal framework governing end-of-life decisions in India.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi began a two-day visit to Assam, launching and inaugurating development projects worth over ₹24,000 crore focused on infrastructure, energy, connectivity, and welfare initiatives.

🔶 Judiciary & Reservation Policy

Supreme Court Clarification on Creamy Layer Criteria
The Supreme Court of India clarified that parental income alone cannot be the sole determinant for identifying the “creamy layer” within the Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation framework.
Significance: The ruling highlights the need to consider multiple socio-economic indicators beyond income while determining eligibility for OBC reservation benefits.