1 Dalai Lama awarded Gold Mercury Prize for Peace and Sustainability
Tibetan spiritual leader Tenzin Gyatso , popularly known as the 14th Dalai Lama , has been awarded the prestigious Gold Mercury Prize for Peace and Sustainability for 2025. The award was presented to the 90-year-old Dalai Lama at his residence in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh on March 31, 2025. The award was presented to the Dalai Lama by Nicholas De Santis , President and Secretary General of Gold Mercury International . The Dalai Lama was given the award for his leadership in promoting peace, non-violence, knowledge culture and environmental protection at a time when the world is facing rising global tensions, conflicts and environmental challenges.
2 Shirley Botchwe: First African woman to become Commonwealth Secretary-General
Shirley Botchwey has become the first African woman to hold the position of Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations on 1 April 2025. She replaced Patricia Scotland of Dominica , who incidentally was the first woman to hold the position of Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations . The Commonwealth is an association of 56 independent countries that were once colonies of Great Britain . Ms Botchwey has over 20 years of leadership experience in diplomacy, international relations, governance and public service. Previously, she served as Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration from January 2017 to January 2024. She was also a member of Ghana’s National Security Council.
3 Japanese mathematician Masaaki Kashiwara awarded Abel Prize 2025
In March 2025 , the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters announced that renowned Japanese mathematician Masaki Kashiwara (78 years old) has been awarded the 2025 Abel Prize in Oslo, Norway . He won this award for his fundamental contributions to algebraic analysis and representation theory , especially for the development of the theory of D-modules and the discovery of crystal bases. With this, Masaki Kashiwara became the first Japanese person to be awarded the Abel Prize, also known as the ‘Nobel Prize for Mathematics’ and is the 28th recipient of this prestigious award in the field of mathematics.
4 Visakhapatnam: 4th edition of bilateral tri-service India-US Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Exercise Tiger Triumph begins
The fourth edition of the bilateral tri-service India-US Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Exercise Tiger Triumph has begun in Visakhapatnam . The exercise is being conducted with the aim of developing interoperability and formulating standard operating procedures for conducting humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations between the two countries.
5 India started air force exercises with countries like America, Israel, France and Greece
A multinational and important air force exercise ‘ Iniochos-25 ‘ of the air forces of 15 countries has started from Monday. India is a part of this multinational military exercise. Apart from India, countries like America, France, Israel, Spain, Italy and Greece have participated in the Air Force exercise. This exercise has started in Greece from Monday 31 March . The Indian team reached Greece on Monday to participate in the ‘Iniochos-25’ multinational air force exercise. Here 15 countries are becoming a part of the exercise based on the scenarios of modern air warfare. ‘Iniochos-25’ has started from 31 March and will continue till 11 April at Andravida Airbase in Greece.
6 ‘Project Tiger’ completes 52 years
The country is celebrating 52 years of ‘ Project Tiger ‘ , a pioneering initiative that has changed the landscape of wildlife conservation. On 1 April 1973 , the Government of India launched ‘Project Tiger’ to protect the country’s dwindling tiger population. The project has played a key role in increasing the tiger population and preserving their natural habitats. Over five decades, the initiative has become one of the most successful wildlife conservation programmes in the world. The wild tiger population in India was only 1,411 in the year 2006, which increased to 3,682 in the year 2022. About 75 percent of the world’s wild tigers are in India. The country now has 57 tiger reserves, spread over about 83 thousand square kilometers of forest land. The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is a statutory body of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, which plays a key role in ‘Project Tiger’.
7 Niharika Singhania of India won gold medal in Ezelhof CSI Lier Equestrian Competition held in Belgium
India’s Niharika Singhania has won the gold medal in the Ezelhof CSI Lier equestrian competition held in Belgium . Niharika won the title with 40.72 and 40.34 points.
8 Veteran Indian hockey player Vandana Katariya announces retirement from international hockey
Indian women’s hockey legend Vandana Katariya has officially announced her retirement from international hockey after an illustrious career spanning over 15 years . With 320 international matches and 158 goals , Vandana is the most capped player in Indian women’s hockey history . The 32-year-old entered the senior team in 2009 and has been a key part of many defining moments in the sport, including India’s historic fourth-place finish at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics , where she became the first and only Indian woman to score a hat-trick . For her immense contribution to the sport, Vandana was awarded the prestigious Arjuna Award, and the Padma Shri . She was also awarded the Hockey India Balbir Singh Senior Award for the Best Women’s Player of the Year in 2014 , the Hockey India President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in 2021 , and the Hockey India Dhanraj Pillay Award for Best Forward of the Year in 2021 and 2022 .
