Daily Current Affairs and GK | 27 March 2026

Topic: National Appointments

1. The government has appointed Kompella Venkata Ramana Murthy as a Whole-Time Member of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).

• His tenure will last for three years or until further orders are issued.
• With his induction, SEBI now has a full set of four Whole-Time Members.
• The other Whole-Time Members include Amarjeet Singh, Kamlesh Chandra Varshney, and Sandip Pradhan.
• Murthy is a retired officer of the 1991 batch of the Indian Defence Accounts Service.
• Previously, he served as the Additional Controller General of Defence Accounts under the Ministry of Defence.
• SEBI was formed as a non-statutory body on April 12, 1988. It was set up through a resolution of the Government of India.
• It was set up as a statutory body in 1992. Tuhin Kanta Pandey is its current Chairperson.

Topic: Summits/Conferences/Meetings

2. WTO 14^th Ministerial Conference convened in Yaoundé to address global trade issues.

• On 26 March, the 14th Ministerial Conference (MC-14) of the World Trade Organization started in Yaoundé, Cameroon, and will continue until 29 March 2026.
• The conference is being attended by ministers from 166 member countries to discuss key global trade issues.
• Major areas such as WTO reform, agriculture, e-commerce, and investment facilitation have been included in the agenda.
• The event has been chaired by Cameroon’s Minister of Trade, Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana.
• The conference is being held in the context of rising geopolitical tensions and global economic uncertainties.
• Trade tensions, particularly between the United States and China, have been identified as a significant concern.
• Recent tariff measures by the United States have been questioned for being inconsistent with WTO principles.
• Core principles such as Most Favoured Nation treatment and bound tariff commitments have been highlighted during discussions.
• The conference is being viewed as an opportunity to restore confidence in the multilateral trading system.