CONTENTS

TNPSC BITS ........................................................................................................2

TAMIL NADU ..................................................................................................... 16
NATIONAL ......................................................................................................... 24
INTERNATIONAL ............................................................................................... 48
ECONOMY ......................................................................................................... 57
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY............................................................................. 63
ENVIRONMENT.................................................................................................. 72
REPORTS AND INDICES .................................................................................... 77
PERSONALITIES, AWARDS AND EVENTS ........................................................... 87
SPORTS............................................................................................................. 89
IMPORTANT DAYS ............................................................................................. 90
MILITARY EXERCISES ...................................................................................... 92
MISCELLANEOUS .............................................................................................. 92

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 TNPSC BITS

❖ Doordarshan has been honoured with the award in the Electronic Media category
for its comprehensive campaign on Voter Awareness and Education.
❖ Tarlochan Singh Bedi, a veteran academician who translated Tirukkural into
Punjabi, and father of Gagandeep Singh Bedi died recently in Ludhiana, Punjab.
o It was published by the Central Institute of Classical Tamil, Chennai, in 2012.
❖ Archaeologists of Tamil Nadu have found a 13-cm-long iron knife in the ongoing
excavation site in Marungur, Cuddalore district.
❖ The Madras High Court dismissed a writ appeal filed by Nityananda against Tamil
Nadu Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) department's
decision to appoint executive officers to administer the properties of four mutts.
❖ The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) passed a resolution to made pet animal
microchipping mandatory for pet parents of the region.
❖ The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have begun erecting refurbished
“Save Our Souls” (SOS) boxes which used to make emergency calls on Chennai-
Bengaluru Highway.
❖ The Supreme Court has ruled that tanneries in Vellore district have caused
“irreversible damage to the waterbodies, groundwater and agricultural lands” by
discharging the untreated or partially treated effluents into the Palar River and
directed the state government to pay compensation.
❖ Birla Institute of Management Technology (BIMTECH) has introduced an India’s
First Campus Blockchain Currency- ‘BIMCOIN’.
❖ The 32.78-hectare area of Guneri village in the Kutch district, a natural inland
mangrove site, has been declared as the first Biodiversity Heritage Site of Gujarat.
❖ The first Independent International AI Safety Report, published before the AI
Action Summit in France, sets a new global standard for AI safety assessment.
❖ The Supreme Court has ordered a complete ban on manual scavenging and sewer
cleaning in six major metropolitan cities - Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata,
Bengaluru, and Hyderabad.
❖ For the first time in the country, the Andhra Pradesh state government has
launched WhatsApp Governance titled ‘Mana Mitra’, which can deliver 161
civil services through WhatsApp.
❖ The central government has signed agreements with the three local miners to
commence scientific coal mining in two districts of Meghalaya (West Khasi
Hills and East Jaintia Hills districts).

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❖ The Ministry of Railways on Friday launched a new app - SwaRail as a one-
stop shop for offering public-facing services such as reserved ticket booking,
ordering food on trains, and PNR enquiries.
❖ The three-day Araku Utsav tiled ‘Chali’ was held in the Araku Valley of Alluri
Sitharama Raju district, Andhra Pradesh.
❖ The Prime Minister has inaugurated the 38th National Games in Dehradun,
Uttarakhand.
❖ The Odisha Warriors became the first-ever Women's Hockey India League
champion 2025 in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
❖ Niger becomes the first country in Africa to eradicate onchocerciasis, which
had particularly impacted populations living near certain waterways.
❖ The first Raisina Middle East Conference was held in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
❖ The UAE President announced 2025 as the Year of Community and launched
a national initiative aimed at fostering unity and inclusion across society.
❖ American long jump great Greg Bell, who had been the oldest living Olympic
gold medallist in athletics (1956), has died recently.
❖ Fintech platforms MobiKwik and CRED rolled out an e₹ wallet for users on the
platforms becoming the first non-banks to offer the central bank digital currency
(CBDC).
❖ Christine Carla Kangaloo, the President of Trinidad and Tobago, was awarded the
Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award for her contributions to public affairs and
promoting India's global prestige.
❖ The Marshall Islands (central Pacific Ocean) has declared its first national marine
sanctuary, which covers 48,000 square kilometres of Pacific Ocean water.
❖ Union Ministry of Textiles launched Handloom Weavers E-Pehchaan portal and
Online module for Handloom Awards.
❖ SEBI launched a web-based portal called Integrated SEBI Portal for Technical
Glitches (iSPOT) for submitting root cause analysis (RCA) reports on technical
glitches.
❖ Tata Steel became the first Indian company to develop the pipes designed for
transporting hydrogen, marking an important step in India’s clean energy efforts.
❖ Tripura became the first northeastern state to sign a MoU with the Digital India
Bhashini Division (DIBD) of the Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology (MeitY).
❖ Shailesh Kumar Davey, a co-founder of Zoho Corp, has been appointed as the
new group CEO, replacing Sridhar Vembu.

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❖ SEBI has launched a digital knowledge repository, "Dharohar - Milestones in the
Indian securities market", on the occasion of the country's 76th Republic Day.
❖ The India Women's Team won the Women's U19 T20 Cricket World Cup 2025
final held at Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur) after defeating South Africa Women's team
by 9 wickets.
❖ Grandmaster R Praggnanandhaa clinched the Tata Steel Masters 2025 title in
Netherlands by defeating World Champion D Gukesh.
❖ Avaada Group is going to build India's largest green ammonia plant in Gopalpur,
Odisha, with a production capacity of 1,500 tonnes per day.
❖ The Garuda Aerospace invests ₹100 crore in Andhra Pradesh is to establish
India's first 'Drone City', aiming to revolutionize drone technology.
❖ Budget 2025-26 proposed to raise the foreign investment limit to 100% from 74%
in the insurance sector as part of new-generation financial sector reforms.
❖ The Central Zoo Authority (CZA) has approved India's first white tiger breeding
centre in Madhya Pradesh's Rewa district.
❖ The Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha was awarded the
Maharaja Hari Singh Award.
❖ The United Kingdom is set to become the first country to introduce laws against
artificial intelligence tools used to generate sexualised images of children/ Child
Abuse.
❖ The Social media platform X announced the launch of a digital wallet and peer-
to-peer payments services named X money in collaboration with Visa.
❖ The Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company has introduced the Kotak
MSCI India ETF (Morgan Stanley Capital International), the country's first
exchange-traded fund (ETF) designed to track the MSCI India Index.
❖ The DRDO-Industry-Academia Centre of Excellence (DIA-CoE) at IIT Hyderabad
achieved the application demonstration of Large Area Additive Manufacturing
(LAAM) System.
❖ India's first national cooperative university, Tribhuvan Sahkari University, will
be established in Gujarat at the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA).
❖ The Union Govt has announced that gig workers would be eligible for healthcare
facilities under the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana
(PMJAY) scheme.
❖ The Union government has set a target of achieving 3,000 million tonnes (mt) of
cargo by 2030.
❖ The Hyderabad-based Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services
(INCOIS) has been awarded the prestigious Subhash Chandra Bose Disaster
Management Award for 2025 in the institutional category.

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❖ The Global Nature Foundation of Thuraiyur bagged the ‘Sutrusoozhal Sudaroli’
award (second prize, organisation category) at the Tamil Nadu Climate Summit
3.0.
❖ Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), headquartered at Chennai, has become a signatory
of the Partnership for Carbon Accounting Financials (PCAF).
❖ After Indore, the Bhopal district administration has imposed a ban on begging,
giving alms and purchasing any goods from the beggars in the Madhya Pradesh
capital.
❖ India has become the world's 2nd largest mobile manufacturer, producing 99.2%
of mobile phones sold domestically.
❖ The largest Hindu temple and cultural complex in the southern hemisphere was
unveiled in Johannesburg, South Africa.
❖ The Late Chaman Arora has been chosen for the Sahitya Akademi Award 2024
in Dogri Language for his book ‘Ik Hor Ashwthama’.
❖ Dubai is going to host the inaugural Global Justice, Love & Peace Summit in
April 2025.
❖ The Ministry of Textiles has approved 04 Start-Ups with a grant of approx INR 50
Lakhs, each, under the ‘Grant for Research & Entrepreneurship across Aspiring
Innovators in Technical Textiles (GREAT)’ scheme.
❖ Maharashtra is going to establish India's first AI university to advance education,
research, and innovation.
❖ New Delhi has hosted the 15th International Meeting of World Pharmacopoeias
recently.
o Pharmacopeia is a legally binding collection of the standards and quality
specifications for medicines used in a country.
❖ R.S. Venkatraman, 102, who had announced to Tamil listeners that the nation
had attained Independence on All India Radio (AIR), passed away.
❖ TN Chief Minister inaugurated the country’s single largest (4.3 GW) solar cell and
module manufacturing plant of TP Solar Ltd at Gangaikondan SIPCOT in the
Tirunelveli district.
❖ The Gujarat government announced the formation of a high-level committee to
evaluate and draft a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) for the state.
❖ India has launched its first Ferret Research Facility at the Translational Health
Science and Technology Institute (THSTI) in Faridabad (Haryana) to research the
infectious and non-communicable diseases.
❖ WHO and other partners launched a first-ever clinical efficacy trial for a vaccine
against Ebola in Uganda.

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❖ India has paid 37.64 million USD to the UN Regular Budget for 2025, joining the
"honour roll" of the 35 member states who have paid their regular budget
assessments in full and on time to the UN.
❖ After USA, Argentina has also announced its withdrawal from the World Health
Organization (WHO).
❖ Astronauts aboard China's Tiangong space station have successfully produced
oxygen and rocket fuel using artificial photosynthesis.
❖ The International day of Human Fraternity is observed annually on February 04
to honour the value of the people coming together to live in harmony and the
importance of unity in variety.
❖ Tamil Nadu government has announced that the Tirunelveli district will get two
more industrial estates – one at Nanguneri and other one at Moolaikkaraipatti.
❖ The Tamil Nadu Fisheries and Fishermen Welfare Department has planned to
begin a trial of 50 Turtle Excluder Devices (TEDs) on fishing boats to help protect
sea turtles.
❖ Tamil Nadu’s Deputy Chief Minister will inaugurate the Trichy Bird Park and
India’s largest Aviary in Kambarasampettai, located on the banks of the Kaveri
River.
❖ After a pilot run, the 108-ambulance network has rolled out its application -
‘Avasaram 108 Tamilnadu’ to enable persons seeking ambulances for medical
emergencies to track the vehicles on their mobile phones.
❖ Tamil Nadu has approved the establishment of a native species seed vault with
cryogenic facilities at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) in Coimbatore
to conserve the rare, endangered, and threatened plant species through the
cryopreservation.
❖ To mark 75 years of the Constitution, Sankara Eye Hospital in collaboration with
CII Young Indians (Yi) Bengaluru, has brought out a Braille-enabled version of
the Indian Constitution.
❖ The GMR Airports Ltd (GAL) has joined the United Nations Global Compact,
reinforcing its commitment to corporate sustainability.
❖ Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister laid the foundation stone for north India's first
1-MW green hydrogen plant at Dabhota in Solan district.
❖ Zepto, India's quick commerce startup, became the world's second most
downloaded food and drink app, surpassing KFC and Domino's, per Sensor
Tower’s report.
❖ The 38th Surajkund International Crafts Mela, one of the largest crafts fairs in
the world is being held in Surajkund, Faridabad, Haryana.

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❖ Israel announced its withdrawal from the United Nations Human Rights Council
(UNHRC) following a decision by the USA.
❖ Australia women’s cricket team has won the ICC Women’s Championship 2025
for the third consecutive time.
❖ Varun Chakravarthy became India's second-oldest cricket player to debut in
ODIs, behind Farokh Engineer (36 years, 138 days).
❖ Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigned after two years of ethnic violence
broke out in the state.
❖ The five-day long 16th edition of biennial Aero India 2025 is taking place at
Yelahanka Indian Air Force station in Bengaluru.
❖ Manush Shah and Diya Chitale won the men's and women's singles titles,
respectively, at the Senior National Table Tennis Championships 2025.
❖ US President Donald Trump officially renamed the Gulf of Mexico as the "Gulf of
America" and declared February 9 as "Gulf of America Day".
❖ OpenAI's ChatGPT Gov is a new tailored version of ChatGPT designed to provide
US government agencies with an additional way to access the OpenAI’s frontier
models.
❖ The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) has established a new Company operative
Base (COB) in Kutul, located in Chhattisgarh's Abhujhmad region.
❖ The International Buddhist Confederation (IBC) is set to launch the Lord Buddha
Trination Tri services Expedition, a historic initiative uniting the armed forces of
India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
❖ The first-ever Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic
Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Youth Summit 2025 was held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat
under the Theme of "Youth as a Bridge for Intra-BIMSTEC Exchange."
❖ Indian Navy's First Training Squadron (1TS) comprising INS Sujata, INS Shardul
and ICGS Veera visited Changi Naval Base, Singapore for a series of joint Training
activities.
❖ RBI would introduce a new web domain “.bank.in”, which is designed to promote
trust in the domains that banking customers in the country use from April 2025.
❖ French tennis player Kyrian Jacquet won his first ATP title by clinching the 2025
Chennai Open men's singles title.
❖ The Hindustan Jet Trainer HJT-36, the flagship training aircraft of HAL, has been
renamed 'Yashas' after extensive modifications.
❖ The Bangladesh interim government has started a special drive named 'Operation
Devil Hunt' to curb unrest and ensure public safety across the country.
❖ Meghalaya has been selected as the host for 39th National Games 2027.

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❖ The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) has unveiled air-conditioned train set for the
Chennai division of Southern Railway.
❖ India's first indigenous Automated Biomedical Waste Treatment Plant is named
“Sṛjanam” and inaugurated at AIIMS New Delhi.
❖ The United Kingdom has announced the formal launch of “Defence Partnership–
India”, or DP-I, a dedicated cell within the U.K. Ministry of Defence for deepening
cooperation with India.
❖ IIT-Madras, and the ISRO have developed an indigenous aerospace quality
Shakti-based semiconductor chip.
❖ India's Pankaj Advani secured his 36th overall national title and 10th men's
snooker crown at the Yashwant Club, Indore in Madhya Pradesh.
❖ Three Indian computer science students from New Delhi won the Bronze Award
at the Global Best M-Gov Award 2025 during the World Government Summit
(WGS) in Dubai.
❖ The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has introduced ‘Culinary,
Crafts & Clicks – Moods & Magic’ festival to highlight India’s cultural richness
through food, traditional arts, and photography.
❖ Lok Sabha Speaker announced the extension of translation services in the House
to six additional languages of the present 10 — Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, Manipuri,
Sanskrit and Urdu.
❖ The World Government Summit (WGS) 2025 was held in Dubai under the theme
Shaping Future Governments.
❖ The Indian Prime Minister had visited the Mazargues War Cemetery in France's
Marseille which contains a memory of Indian soldiers who made the sacrifice
while defending foreign lands during the World Wars.
❖ Rajasthan’s 132-year-old Foy Sagar Lake is now called Varun Sagar, and the 113-
year-old King Edward Memorial Bhawan has been renamed Maharishi Dayanand
Vishrant Grih.
❖ Tulsi Gabbard was sworn in as the US Director of the National Intelligence and
became the First Hindu to lead US Intelligence but has no links to India.
❖ A conch shell, which used to make bracelets, has been unearthed at Marungur
near Panruti in Cuddalore district.
❖ The Madras High Court held that, the Caste cannot be a criterion to appoint
temple trustees rather religious faith, deep devotion towards God and a virtuous
behaviour should be considered.
❖ The International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS) and the Department
of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) was successfully
concluded the IIAS-DARPG India Conference 2025.

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❖ The International Conference on “Innovations in Unani Medicine for Integrative
Health Solutions – A way forward” organized as part of Unani Day 2025 in New
Delhi
❖ Oil marketing companies have selected 26 Primary Agricultural Credit Societies
(PACS) out of 286 applications for setting up retail petrol and diesel outlets.
❖ The Reserve Bank of India is to issue New ₹50 Notes with the Governor Sanjay
Malhotra's Signature.
❖ Asia’s first hyper-realistic life-sized animatronic elephant, Ellie, was unveiled at
St. Joseph’s School in Bengaluru captivating students while delivering a message
on animal welfare.
❖ The Indian Prime Minister announced that India will host the next Global AI
Summit, following discussions at the AI Action Summit in Paris.
❖ The Vice President of India has launched the much-anticipated book, “I Am?”
compiled by Gopichand P. Hinduja, Chairman of the Hinduja Group.
❖ India, with its Indian Ocean partners like Singapore and Oman, is hosting the
Eighth Indian Ocean Conference (IOC) in Muscat, the capital of Oman.
❖ To mark the 10-year anniversary of the International Day of Women and Girls in
Science, UNESCO launches the campaign "Imagine a world with more women in
science".
❖ Madhya Pradesh has unveiled a Global Capability Centre (GCC) Policy 2025 to
attracting multinational companies and establishing Madhya Pradesh as a digital
and technological hub.
❖ The Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA) issued notices to Ola and
Uber for allegedly charging different rates from consumers based on their mobile
phone operating systems.
❖ SEBI introduced a new digital platform, MITRA, to assist investors in tracking
and reclaiming inactive or unclaimed mutual fund folios.
❖ The Ministry of Fisheries is organising a special nationwide campaign for the
registrations on the National Fisheries Digital Platform (NFDP) for encouraging
eligible stakeholders to avail themselves of the numerous benefits under the
PMMKSSY (Pradhan Mantri Matsya Kisan Samridhi Sah-Yojana).
❖ The Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare has conducted 12th Nation-
wide Pension Adalat with focus on resolution of long outstanding Pension Cases
pending for more than 120 days in 16 Departments/Ministries.
❖ NTPC Ltd has been conferred with the prestigious Forward Faster Sustainability
Award 2025 in the Water Resilience category.
❖ The President of India has graced in the inaugural session of the International
Women’s Conference organized by The Art of Living in Bengaluru.

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❖ BHARAT TEX 2025, the second edition of the textiles trade fair and knowledge-
sharing events, was held in New Delhi and Greater Noida.
❖ The office of the Development Commissioner for Handlooms, Ministry of Textiles,
organized a fashion event titled “Breathing Threads” in BHARAT TEX 2025.
❖ Aadi Mahotsav-2025, the flagship initiative of the Tribal Co-operative Marketing
Development Federation of India Limited (TRIFED) under the Ministry of Tribal
Affairs is being held in New Delhi.
❖ Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda broke the world half-marathon record in Barcelona,
finishing the 21.0975 km race in 56 minutes and 42 seconds.
❖ Olympic shooter Manu Bhaker has been named BBC Indian Sportswoman of the
Year for 2024 after a global public vote.
❖ The National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI) launched its Internet Governance
Internship and Capacity Building Scheme to build the awareness and develop
expertise in internet governance (IG) among Indian citizens.
❖ Tamil Nadu Chief Minister unveiled the foundation stone for establishing TIDEL
Parks in Tiruchi and Madurai at a total cost of ₹717 crore.
❖ Tata Group Chairman Chandrasekaran has been conferred Honorary Knighthood
by the United Kingdom for his services to the UK-India business relations.
❖ India’s Fourth-Generation Deep-Ocean Submersible known as ‘Matsya-6000’ has
very successfully completed the wet testing which focusing on human safety,
system reliability, and scientific payload testing.
❖ Kerala State has made history by launching India’s first all-women scuba diving
firefighting team, “Gannets,” comprising of 17 highly-trained officers ready to
respond to underwater emergencies.
❖ Indonesia has won the Badminton Asia Mixed Team Championships 2025 for the
first time, beating hosts People's Republic of China.
❖ One of the world's very most active volcanoes, Mount Etna in Italy, has erupted
recently.
❖ The birthday of U.V. Swaminatha Iyer (February 19), popularly known as ‘Tamil
Thatha’ was celebrated as Tamil Literary Renaissance Day in Tamil Nadu.
❖ The Indian Ambassador unveiled the statue of noted Tamil poet and philosopher
Thiruvalluvar in the Philippines.
❖ G Kamalini from Chennai, a member of India's U-19 T20 World Cup-winning
team, became the youngest player to debut in the Women's Premier League (WPL).
❖ The 23rd National Para Athletics Championship, Chennai edition has set a new
benchmark with an unprecedented 1,476 para-athletes competing across 155
events, representing 30 teams.

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❖ India’s first “Open Air Art Wall Museum”, a unique open-air art museum, was
inaugurated at the “Mausam Bhawan” in Delhi, which is also celebrating the 150
years of milestone journey of the India Meteorological Department (IMD).
❖ A national conclave on “Waste Recycling & Climate Change 2025” is organized by
the Recycling and Environment Industry Association of India (REIAI) in New
Delhi.
❖ The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority
(APEDA) showcased India’s organic legacy at BIOFACH 2025 in Germany with
leading organic exporters from across India.
❖ In Rajasthan, Ajmer hosts Maiden All India Conference of Transgenders in
memory of Anita Bai, the mentor of Gaddipati Saloni Nayak of the Ajmer's
transgender community and 2,000 attended it.
❖ CheQ, leading credit management platform, has unveiled CheQ Wisor, country’s
first AI-powered credit card expert.
❖ The Central Silk Board organizes the International Conference on the Emerging
Technologies in Silk Sector - SILKTECH-2025 in New Delhi.
❖ The Indian Navy has launched its eighth Missile Cum Ammunition (MCA) Barge,
LSAM 11 in Maharashtra.
❖ The Prime Minister has announced the formation of a "Deregulation Commission"
to reduce government interference in the society.
❖ The Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority has
(APEDA) successfully completed India’s first-ever commercial trial shipments of
premium Sangola and Bhagwa pomegranates respectively to Australia via sea.
❖ Hindu College in Delhi celebrated its 126th Founder’s Day recently.
❖ The first edition of the Olympic Esports Games will be held in 2027 in Riyadh of
Saudi Arabia.
❖ Over 100 partners, including 37 technical companies, 11 countries and 5 inter-
national organizations, have joined the forces with the UN under the Coalition for
Environmentally Sustainable Artificial Intelligence.
❖ Prime Minister inaugurated the first edition of the SOUL Leadership Conclave in
New Delhi.
❖ The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has formed
a high-powered committee, led by Dinesh Khara to scrutinise various aspects of
the Insurance Act 1938 and suggest amendments.
❖ Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani made a 2-day visit to India as
second visit to the country since March 2015.

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❖ Centre inaugurated the Inland Waterways Terminal (IWT) at Jogighopa of Assam
which will play a crucial role in India’s trade with Bangladesh and Bhutan.
❖ The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) has
launched a new fund with a huge corpus of Rs 500 crore to support the growth
of India’s space startups.
❖ The union government has extended the term of chief economic advisor (CEA)
V Anantha Nageswaran by two years till March 2027.
❖ The Delhi cabinet led by CM Rekha Gupta has approved the implementation
of the Central Government's Ayushman Bharat scheme and tabling of the 14
CAG reports in the first session of the new assembly.
❖ Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has achieved a significant milestone by
conducting the engine ground run of a full-scale demonstrator, Combat Air
Teaming System (CATS) – Warrior.
❖ The Researchers at the IIT Guwahati have developed an advanced biological
method to convert methane and carbon dioxide into cleaner biofuels using
methanotrophic bacteria.
❖ Google DeepMind unveiled GenCast, an artificial intelligence (AI) model that
could forecast the weather better than the most existing tools as well as more
days in advance.
❖ Researchers at IIT Roorkee has successfully used an esterase enzyme which
is produced by soil bacteria Sulfobacillus acidophilus to break down diethyl
hexyl phthalate (DEHP) plasticizer.
❖ The 2nd national convention on draft University Grants Commission (UGC)
regulations of 2025 held in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala with the
participation of Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Jharkhand to oppose the
draft.
❖ The Centre has launched the Digital Brand Identity Manual (DBIM) at the
inaugural Chief Information Officer (CIO) Conference 2025, New Delhi
❖ The Indian Naval Sailing Vessel (INSV) Tarini entered Port Stanley, Canada
by completing the third and most challenging phase of Navika Sagar
Parikrama II.
❖ The 4th No Money for Terror (NMFT) Conference was held in Germany and
India proposed a permanent NMFT Secretariat at New Delhi.
❖ West Bengal led third consecutive times with 543 species in the 28th Great
Backyard count.
❖ Mangaluru-based Karnataka Bank Ltd. (KBL), set up in February 1924 by a
group of professionals, turns 100 recently.

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❖ Nagaland Forest Management Project (NFMP) has been honoured with the
prestigious SKOCH Award 2024 at the 100th SKOCH Summit in New Delhi.
❖ The two-day 2nd Simolu Festival celebrating the attractiveness of the Bombax
ceiba flowers was held in Assam.
❖ Tamil Nadu CM introduced app for parents and teacher association called APPA
(Anaithu Palli Parent Teachers Association) to help the teachers and the parents
to know information about education.
❖ The 'Amudha Karangal' scheme was launched in Kolathur, Chennai to provide
food to 1,000 people at various places every day till February 19 next year.
❖ To support India’s gaming industry growth, the Bharat Tech Triumph Program
(TTP) has been launched as part of the Create in India Challenge Season 1.
❖ Prime Minister inaugurated the 98th Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan
(All India Marathi Literature Convention) in New Delhi.
❖ Indian-American Kash Patel was formally sworn in as new USA Federal Bureau
of Investigation (FBI) Director.
❖ India has assumed the chairmanship of the Bay of Bengal Inter-Governmental
Organisation at the 13th Governing Council Meeting in Male, Maldives.
❖ The Finance Minister of Gujarat has presented the Budget 2025-26 digitally via
National eVidhan Application (NeVA) for the First time at the Assembly.
❖ Microsoft has presented Magma, a foundational model that can understand both
pictures and language in the digital world and physical world, to complete tasks
like using an app or moving a robot, respectively.
❖ Mount Dukono, one of Indonesia’s most active volcanoes, erupted recently.
❖ Rajasthan has presented the state’s first “Green Budget” with a special focus on
climate change adaptation, forests, environment, and biodiversity.
❖ Assam's conservationist Purnima Devi Barman has made it to Time magazine's
Women of the Year 2025 list for her exceptional contributions to the wildlife
conservation.
❖ India's first indigenously designed 3GPP compliant modem system-on-chip (SoC),
developed by WiSig Networks under the government's Design Linked Incentive
(DLI) scheme, faces production challenges despite significant funding.
❖ The IIIT-Delhi has developed an artificial intelligence-based platform, AgeXtend,
designed to identify molecules that could promote healthy ageing.
❖ The International Energy Agency (IEA) has hosted a Global Conference on AI and
Energy in Paris.
❖ Punjab National Bank (PNB) becoming the first Indian bank to implement Clari5’s
National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) Integration Solution.

For any Queries Mail to: [email protected] 13

❖ The upgraded Primary Health Centre (PHC) in Nandivaram (Chengalpattu
District) became the first PHC in Tamil Nadu's to start a dialysis centre.
❖ The state Government of Kerala, in collaboration with the Remidio, has launched
Nayanamritham 2.0, an AI-assisted program for screening chronic eye diseases.
❖ 20-year-old Vishvaa Rajakumar from India has been crowned as the winner of
the Memory League World Championship.
❖ John McFall of British, a former Paralympian with a prosthetic leg, becomes the
first astro naut with a disability approved for ISS missions.
❖ Hyderabad recently hosted the International Art Exhibition 2025.
❖ AI chipmaker Nvidia and its research partners have created a new AI system,
called Evo 2 which can read and design genetic code across all forms of life.
❖ India’s first ‘bio bank’ known as ‘frozen zoo’ in a zoo is up and running at Padmaja
Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park, better known as Darjeeling Zoo in West Bengal.
❖ The Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das has been appointed
Principal Secretary to Prime Minister.
❖ IIIT- Delhi have developed AI-powered data integration and predictive analytics
tools - AMRSense, to understand the patterns of antibiotic resistance in real time.
❖ Manohar International Airport (GOX) of Goa becomes the first airport in India to
receive the “Sarva Shrestha Suraksha Puraskar (GOLDEN TROPHY)” at National
Safety Council of India (NSCI) Safety Awards 2024 under ‘Service Sector’.
❖ The Madurai bench of Madras High Court said the selective visibility provided to
dominant castes in temple festivals reinforces systemic inequality, denying Dalits
both social value and meaningful participation in society.
❖ Mangalam Srinivasan, an expert in Rangoli and Thanjavur painting from Tiruchi,
has been conferred with the ninth Rani Ma Gaidinliu award for her outstanding
achievements in the field.
❖ The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister ‘Mudhalvar Marunthagam’ was opened (the Chief
Minister’s Pharmacies) in Dindigul and Theni districts as part of the 1,000 CM’s
Pharmacies opened across the State.
o It provides generic medicines at significantly reduced prices offering discounts
ranging from 20% to 90% reduced rate along with additional discounts up to
25 % for the consumers.
❖ The Indian government has been honoured with the Prince Michael Decade of
Action Road Safety Award 2025, the highest accolade in the field, for its efforts
in enhancing vehicle safety standards over the past ten years.
❖ India nominated the 'Maratha Military Landscapes' - representing extraordinary
fortification and military system envisioned by the Maratha rulers for inclusion
in the UNESCO World Heritage List for the 2024-25 cycle.

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❖ The Bharti Enterprises founder and chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal received an
Honorary Knighthood medal for advancing business relations between the UK
and India.
❖ Five more cheetahs were released into the “wild” from their enclosures at Madhya
Pradesh’s Kuno National Park (KNP), taking the total number of the big cats now
loose in the forest to 12.
❖ Tamil Nadu CM has inaugurated the Kalaignar Centenary Boxing Academy in
Gopalapuram in Chennai.
❖ The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) and IIT Madras signed a MoU
to foster innovation, enhance the data analytic capabilities and contribute to the
technology-driven governance practices.
❖ The Renowned Odissi dancer Mayadhar Raut who is considered as the "Father of
Odissi dance" (92) died recently.
❖ The annual Khajuraho Dance Festival 2025 was organized by the Department of
Culture, Madhya Pradesh.
❖ NITI Aayog has set up a committee, led by V.K. Paul, to reform AIIMS, New Delhi,
focusing on governance, efficiency, and sustainability.
❖ Datia has officially emerged as Madhya Pradesh's eighth airport after receiving a
licence from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
❖ The 17th edition of the International Defence Exhibition - IDEX and 8th edition
of the Naval Defence and Maritime Security Exhibition – NAVDEX was held in
Abu Dhabi, UAE.
❖ Sambhar Festival 2025 a vibrant celebration of culture, adventure, and heritage
was held Sambhar Lake in Rajasthan.
❖ Karnataka Health Department issued an order to implement the Supreme Court’s
ruling allowing terminally ill patients to die with dignity.
o Karnataka is the second State after Kerala to implement the directive.
❖ The Haryana state Cabinet recently, allows the controlled culling of nilgais, a
species often blamed for extensive damage to crops in rural areas.
❖ National Road Safety Month 2025 is being observed from January 01 to 31 to
propagate the cause of safer roads for all.
o The theme for 2025 is Sadak Suraksha - Jeevan Raksha.
❖ The Union Civil aviation ministry has launched Directorate General of Civil
Aviation’s (DGCA) “electronic personnel license (EPL) for pilots.
❖ The International Fleet Review (IFR) 2025 is currently taking place now in Bali,
Indonesia.

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 TAMIL NADU

Economic Survey 2024-25 on Tamil Nadu

❖ The Economic Survey 2024-25 highlights the Tamil Nadu government’s strategic
initiatives to foster footwear manufacturing and Illam Thedi Kalvi (education at
the doorstep).
❖ Tamil Nadu is a leader in the traditional leather sector and now championing the
growth of non-leather footwear.
❖ The State contributes a 38% share to India’s footwear and leather products
output and accounts for 47% of India’s total leather export.
❖ This sector generates more than 2 lakh jobs.
❖ The State has launched a dedicated Footwear and Leather Products Policy, 2022.
❖ Illam Thedi Kalvi (education at the doorstep) was launched to bridge the gap in
education caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the digital divide.
❖ The initiative focuses on education through physical methods.
❖ Among the bigger States, Tamil Nadu leads the pack with the highest
concentration of factories per person, followed by Gujarat.

Childhood cancer registry - first report

❖ The Chennai PBCCR (Chennai Population-Based Childhood Cancer Registry) is
the country’s first dedicated childhood cancer registry.
❖ It registered 241 paediatric cancer cases (139 boys and 102 girls aged up to 19)
in the Greater Chennai Corporation in 2022.
❖ Of the 96,000 new patients diagnosed with cancer in Tamil Nadu in a year, 2,500
are children.

Tamil Nadu’s share of Central taxes 2025

❖ Tamil Nadu would receive a higher amount as its share of Central taxes as per
the Union Budget for 2025-2026.
❖ Tamil Nadu’s share of Central taxes is 4.079%, as recommended by the 15th
Finance Commission.
❖ The amount is to be received by the State as the share of the Central taxes has
been increased to ₹52,491.88 crore in the revised Union Budget estimates for
2024-25 from ₹50,873.76 crore in the initial estimates.
❖ For 2025-2026, the Union Budget has estimated Tamil Nadu’s share of Central
taxes at ₹58,021.50 crore.

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 ❖ States were allowed a Fiscal Deficit (the difference between total receipts and total
expenditure) of 3% from 2023-24 onwards.
❖ An additional borrowing of 0.5% of GSDP was allowed for a period of four years
from 2021-22 to 2024-25 on fulfilment of Power Sector Reforms.

Paddy procurement – Tamil Nadu

❖ Nearly eight lakh tonnes of paddy have been procured from Tamil Nadu farmers
by the civil supply’s authorities.
❖ The major chunk of the paddy procured — around 6.2 lakh tonnes — has been
provided by the Cauvery delta districts.
❖ Thanjavur leads the pack with about two lakh tonnes.
❖ Tiruvarur is placed next to Thanjavur, accounting for approximately 1.6 lakh
tonnes; Mayiladuthurai, 85,400 tonnes; and Cuddalore, 70,500 tonnes.
❖ As regards the non-Cauvery delta districts, Chengalpattu leads the group with
around 36,000 tonnes; Erode, 31,000 tonnes; and Tiruvallur, 23,300 tonnes.
❖ The group of districts has supplied 1.67 lakh tonnes.

Janmam lands in Gudalur

❖ The Tamil Nadu government has decided to approach the Supreme Court to lift
the temporary stay that prevents the creation of basic facilities on Janmam lands
in Gudalur, located in the Nilgiris district.
❖ It will request the Supreme Court to allow the cases related to the Tamil Nadu
Gudalur Janmam Estates (Abolition and Conversion into Ryotwari) Act, 1969, to
be heard separately from other pending cases.
❖ Since the lands had reached the end of their lease period, the Govt started to
reclaim Janmam lands covering an area of 34,986 acres.

T.N. Climate Summit 3.0

❖ The T.N. Climate Summit 3.0 was held in Chennai.
❖ During the event, the Chief Minister launched a website for the voluntary rating
of industries to encourage them to reduce their environmental impact by adopting
production technologies that are more eco-friendly.
❖ He unveiled the ‘Lifestyle for Climate’ document, which introduces a certification
programme for industries.
❖ An action plan for decarbonising Rajapalayam in Virudhunagar district was also
launched.

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 ❖ It is a specific plan to transform the industrial sector in the area into a model for
low-carbon growth.
❖ CM also announced the establishment of eco-clubs in all schools in Tamil Nadu.
❖ It is the part of the government’s plan to teach students about climate change
and its impact from a young age.

Porpanaikottai excavation 2025

❖ A bone point, probably used as a tool for weaving, and a tiny broken piece of gold,
have been unearthed by archaeologists at Porpanaikottai in Pudukottai district.
❖ Significantly, the archaeologists found a gold stud in floral design at the site
during the first season of excavation in 2023.

Dam Rehabilitation under DRIP II – Tamilnadu

❖ Five major dams in the State, which are over five decades old, are proposed to be
rehabilitated soon under Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP)–II
with the World Bank assistance.
❖ The projects aim to ensure the dam safety and to improve the operation of the
structures, are in various stages of implementation.
❖ The department is awaiting the World Bank’s nod to start renovation works in
Anaikuttam dam in Virudhunagar district, Mirugandanadhi dam in
Tiruvannamalai district and Amaravathy dam.
❖ It is also preparing proposals for dam rehabilitation project in Willington
(Cuddalore district) and catchment area treatment works at Mettur dam.
❖ Two other dams-Kelavarapalli and Upper Nirar have been renovated.
❖ Vaigai dam was inaugurated in 1959 and benefited residents of the districts,
including Ramanathapuram and Madurai.
❖ The Bhavanisagar dam was built across Bhavani River.

Committee on Old Pension Scheme - Tamilnadu

❖ The Tamil Nadu government has constituted a three-member committee to study
the Old Pension Scheme, Contributory Pension Scheme and the Unified Pension
Scheme.
❖ IAS officer Gagandeep Singh Bedi, former Director of Madras School of Economics
K.R. Shanmugam are members of the Committee.
❖ It will submit a detailed report with recommendations within nine months.

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 ❖ The CPS was introduced for State government employees, who joined service on
April 1, 2003.
❖ The National Pension System was introduced for the employees of the Union
government from January 1, 2004.
❖ The Union government introduced the Unified Pension Scheme on January 24
this year.

Erode (East) Assembly by-election 2025

❖ DMK has won the Erode (East) assembly seat by-election by a decisive margin of
91,558 votes.
❖ 6,109 were casted as the NOTA (none of the above), in an election where 46
candidates were in the contest.
❖ The eligible voters in Erode (East) constituency are 2,27,546-1,10,128 men,
1,17,381 women and 37 transpersons.
❖ However, only 1,54,657 cast their votes: 74,260 men, 80,376 women, and 21
transpersons.

State Action Plan on Climate Change 2025

❖ Tamil Nadu government has finalised its State Action Plan on Climate Change
(SAPCC) and submitted it to the union environment ministry for approval.
❖ Tamil Nadu was the first state in the country to launch a dedicated climate
change mission and make a budgetary allocation.
❖ Tamil Nadu constitutes 4% of India’s land area and is inhabited by 6% of India’s
population, but has only 2.5% of India’s water resources.
❖ More than 95% of surface water and 80% of groundwater have already been put
into use.
❖ The per capita availability of the water resources is just 900 m3 compared to the
national average of 2,200m3.

Priority stretches’ by CPCB

❖ Rivers in Chennai and Salem have been identified as “priority stretches” by the
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) based on water quality data.
❖ According to CPCB, Tamil Nadu has 10 severely polluted river stretches and have
been categorised under Priority I to V.
❖ Of these, the Adyar and Cooum in Chennai, and Thirumanimuthar and Vasishta
rivers near Salem are Priority I.

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Real Money Games Regulations
❖ The Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Authority has introduced some new regulations
governing real money online games.
❖ The Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Authority (Real Money Games) Regulations,
2025, prohibits minors under 18 from playing online real money games.
❖ Real money games will be restricted between midnight and 5 am and No logins
will be allowed during these hours.

Crime against SC/STs in Tamilnadu

❖ Tamil Nadu has recorded a rise in crimes against the SCs and STs during the
period between 2020 and 2022.
❖ The Cases registered under crime against the SCs in 2020 were 1,274 and 1,377
in 2021.
❖ In 2022, there was a spurt in crimes against the SCs and it resulted in the
registration of 1,761 cases.
❖ In 2020, there were 23 cases and increased to 30 in 2021 and 67 in 2022.
❖ The State also witnessed crimes against women belonging to the SCs and STs.
❖ Cases of rape of SC women were 116 in 2020, 123 in 2021 and 166 in 2022.
❖ In the case of ST women, cases of rape were 3 in 2020, 6 in 2021 and 14 in 2022.

Update in BCs list of Tamil Nadu

❖ The Tamilnadu State government has allowed the delinking of the Thuluva
Vellalars community from Agamudayars in the list of Backward Classes (BCs).
❖ This marks the end of the 80-year-long “association” of the community with the
Agamudayars, who are one of the three constituents of ‘Mukkalothars’, the other
two being Kallars and Maravars.
❖ The First BC Commission, headed by veteran civil servant A.N. Sattanathan, was
functioned during November 1969-70.
❖ The Second BC panel (1982-85) was headed by J. A. Ambasankar.

Inter-faith marriages and Special Marriage Act of 1954

❖ The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court observed that, a person of Hindu
faith who wishes to marry a person of another faith, then such a marriage should
be registered under the Special Marriage Act of 1954.
❖ This will avoid the marriage being declared illegal and void.

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Tamil Nadu Prison Rules 2024
❖ The Rule 348 of the Tamil Nadu Prison Rules, which came into force in November
2024, defines the eligibility criteria for life convicts seeking premature release.
❖ The revised rule explicitly states that “Prisoners convicted for sexual offences or
under the POCSO Act, 2012”, shall not be considered for premature release.

9 growth centers around Chennai

❖ The Tamil Nadu government has started of preparing the new town development
schemes for nine growth centres around Chennai.
❖ The Nine growth centres around Chennai — Minjur, Tiruvallur, Thirumazhisai,
Mamallapuram, Chengalpattu, Kancheepuram, Maraimalainagar, Thiruninravur
and Parandur — will get new town development schemes.

Panchayat devolution index 2024

❖ The report - Status of Devolution to Panchayats in States (2024) – An Indicative
Evidence Based Ranking’ - was launched by the Union Minister of State for the
Panchayati Raj.
❖ Tamil Nadu has been ranked third at the all-India level under the Panchayat
Devolution Index (PDI).
❖ The State has received a score of 68.38 next to Karnataka (72.23) and Kerala
(70.59).
❖ Tamil Nadu has the highest score at the national level with 60.24 with regard to
the dimension of “functions.”
❖ In Tamil Nadu, there are 12,525 village panchayats, 388 panchayat unions and
37 district panchayats.
❖ For Tamil Nadu, the share of panchayats’ revenue in the State’s Own Revenue
was 0.31% during 2021-22.
❖ Three southern States - Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka - had higher
share with 2.84%, 2.42% and 0.67% respectively.

NAKSHA Pilot Project

❖ A national geospatial knowledge-based land survey of the urban habitations
(NAKSHA), a pilot programme to modernise urban land records, was launched in
Thanjavur.
❖ The programme is taken up under the Digital India Land Records Modernisation
Programme of the Department of Land Resources of the Union Ministry of Rural
Development.

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Pink uniform for women drivers
❖ The Tamil Nadu state government has proposed to amend the Tamil Nadu Motor
Vehicles Rules, 1989.
❖ According to the draft amendment, ‘pink auto’ is the auto rickshaws owned and
driven by women drivers under Pink Auto Scheme of Social Welfare and Women
Empowerment Department and they would be in pink colour uniform.
❖ The pink autos would also be installed with GPS/VLTD connected to the police
helpline to ensure rapid response during emergencies.

Ethnographic documentation of five tribal communities

❖ The Department of Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare of Tamilnadu, under its very
flagship Tholkudi scheme, has issued guidelines for ethnographic documentation
of five Scheduled Tribe communities.
❖ It involves digital recording of linguistic resources and phonetic forms of Irulas,
Todas, Narikuravars, Kanikkarars and Kurumbars.

New members to SC/ST Commission 2025

❖ Noted writer and Sahitya Akademi Award recipient Imayam alias V. Annamalai
has been named the Vice-Chairperson of the Tamil Nadu State Commission for
SC/ST.
❖ S. Selvakumar (Coimbatore district), S. Ananda Raja (Thanjavur), M. Pon Dhous
(the Nilgiris) and P. Ilanchezhian (Tirunelveli) were the other members of the
Commission.
❖ Ilanchezhian has been re-nominated to the council.
❖ The members of the commission have three-year tenure.
❖ The State government has constituted the commission under the provisions of
the Tamil Nadu State Commission as per the SC/ST Act 2021.
❖ It appointed a retired Madras High Court Judge S. Tamilvanan as Chairperson.
❖ Its role is crucial in public seeking remedy for violations of rights under the
Protection of Civil Rights Act 1955 and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Inscriptions of Pandya period

❖ Epigraphists from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has recently copied a
set of three inscriptions found on the slopes of a hillock near Kambur in Melur
taluk in Madurai district.
❖ These inscriptions date back to the period of Pandya King Maravarman Sundara
Pandyan I, who ruled during the 13th century.
❖ The first inscription mentions the donation of a parcel of land by a local chieftain
named Baskaran to a Shiva temple.

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 ❖ The other two inscriptions have information about people of Kambur and another
local chieftain named Thenna Gangadevan’s land donation for special pujas.
❖ These inscriptions also reveal that Kambur was once referred to as Kambavur
and areas around Natham were called Dvarapathi Nadu.

OBC in TN rural local bodies

❖ The overall share of OBCs in the Rural Local Bodies (RLBs) is 12.39%.
❖ The break-up is being 12.16% in village panchayats; 15.42% in panchayat unions
and 17.25% in district panchayats.
❖ The report also talks of women’s quota, which has been mentioned as 57.3% at
the overall level.
❖ At the three layers of the RLBs, the figures are 57.2%, 58.07% and 55.41%.
❖ As on January 1, 2024, the figures of the share of “non-reserved General and the
Backward Classes representatives” were as follows:
o 65% in respect of presidents of village panchayats;
o 72% for members of village panchayats’ wards;
o 76% for panchayat unions’ ward members and
o 72% for district panchayats’ ward members.

Cadaveric liver transplants 2025

❖ The Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), Tamil Nadu’s largest
government hospital, has gone on to perform 15 deceased donor liver transplants
so far, with a 100% survival rate.
❖ RGGGH has carried out its first cadaveric liver transplant on February 10, 2023.
❖ Eight liver transplants were performed that year, followed by five more in 2024.
❖ Two liver transplants have been performed so far this year.

Chief Minister’s Pharmacies

❖ The Tamilnadu State government plans to open 1,000 Mudhalvar Marunthagam
(Chief Minister’s Pharmacies) across the State by the end of this month.
❖ The initiative aims at providing medicines at prices lower than those offered at
cooperative, Amma, and Pradhan Mantri Jan Aushadhi pharmacies.
❖ It will be implemented under the Department of Co-operation, Food and the
Consumer Protection of state of Tamil Nadu.

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 NATIONAL

Economic Survey 2025

❖ The Economic Survey is a document which provides a summary of the Indian
economy's performance, the government policies, and outlook for the upcoming
financial year.
❖ The Economic Survey is prepared by the economic division of the Department of
Economic Affairs headed by the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA).
❖ The survey has projected GDP growth to be 6.4 per cent for the financial year
2025-2026 (FY26).
❖ In the last fiscal year, construction sector showed exponential growth, growing
about 15 per cent above its pre-pandemic trend.
❖ India's real GDP growth of 6.4 per cent in FY25 remains close to the decadal
average.
❖ The gross non-performing assets declined to a 12-year low of 2.6 per cent of gross
loans and advances.
❖ The aggregate demand in the economy is estimated to grow by 7.3 per cent, driven
by a rebound in rural demand.
❖ Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) (at constant prices) is estimated to grow by
6.4 per cent.
❖ On the supply side, the real gross value added (GVA) is estimated to grow by 6.4
per cent.
❖ The agriculture sector is expected to rebound to a growth of 3.8 per cent in FY25.
❖ The industrial sector is estimated to grow by 6.2 per cent in FY25.
❖ Growth in the services sector is expected to remain robust at 7.2 per cent.
❖ The Survey expects the real GDP growth in FY26 to be between 6.3 and 6.8 per
cent.
❖ The percentage of self-employed individuals in India's workforce has increased to
58.4 per cent in 2023-24 from 52.2 per cent in 2017-18.
❖ India has tied with Germany, Vietnam, and UK in terms of the average weekly
working hours at the highest level of 48 hours.
❖ Malaysia stands at the second spot, with an average weekly working hours of 45,
and Singapore is third, with an average of 44 hours per week.
❖ The school dropout rates have steadily declined in recent years, standing at 1.9
per cent for the primary, 5.2 per cent for the upper primary and 14.1 per cent for
the secondary levels.

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 ❖ The India's school education system serves 24.8 crore students across 14.72 lakh
schools with 98 lakh teachers.
❖ 313 Gram Nyayalayas disposed of more than 2.99 lakh cases from December
2020 to October 2024.
❖ The retail headline inflation softened from 5.4 per cent in FY24 to 4.9 per cent in
April –December 2024.
❖ India’s current account deficit stood at 1.2% of GDP in Q2FY25.
❖ The unemployment rate has reduced to 3.2 per cent in 2023-24 (July-June) from
6.0 per cent inn2017-18 (July-June).
❖ After the general elections, Capital expenditure has capex has grown by 8.2 per
cent during July – November 2024 on a year-on-year basis.
❖ The net FDI inflows to India dropped from $42 billion during FY23 to $26.5 billion
in FY24.

Budget 2025 highlights

❖ The Budget has initiated reforms in six domains — taxation, urban development,
mining, financial sector, power and regulatory reforms.
❖ The Union Budget 2025-26 envisaged an expenditure of Rs 50,65,345 crore, an
increase of 7.4% over the current fiscal.
❖ The 2024-25 expenditure (Revised Estimates) is Rs 47.16 lakh crore.
❖ The Revised Estimate 2024-25 of fiscal deficit is 4.8 per cent of GDP.
❖ The Budget Estimates 2025-26 is estimated to be 4.4 per cent of GDP.
❖ No income tax up to ₹12 lakh under new regime.
❖ Effectively, under the new tax regime with standard deduction of ₹75,000, income
of up to ₹12.75 would have no income tax liability.
❖ The Pradhan Mantri Dhan Dhanya Krishi Yojana for the developing agri-districts
was announced in the Budget.
❖ The investment limit classification will be enhanced 2.5 times for MSMES.
❖ A new Makhana Board, National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship
and Management were announced for Bihar.
❖ A new scheme will be launched for 5 lakh women Scheduled Caste and Schedule
Tribe first-time entrepreneurs.
❖ The gig workers will be provided healthcare under PM Jan Arogya Yojana.
❖ Jal Jeevan Mission, which aims to provide the tap water connection to all rural
households, has been extended till 2028.

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 ❖ As many as 36 lifesaving drugs will now be fully exempted from customs duty.
❖ 50,000 Atal Tinkering labs will be set up in government schools in the next five
years.
❖ A Deep Tech Fund of Funds will also be explored to catalyse the next generation
startups as a part of this initiative.
❖ A Bharatiya Bhasha Pustak Scheme will be announced to provide digital-form
Indian language books for school and higher education.

SC on Ad hoc Judges
❖ The Supreme Court relaxed its earlier condition to appoint ad hoc judges in High
Courts to clear the backlog of pending criminal cases.
❖ The SC bench ordered that “each High Court may appoint ad hoc judges by taking
recourse to Article 224A for appointment of ad hoc judges between two to five in
number but not exceeding 10 per cent of the sanctioned strength.”
❖ Article 224A deals with the appointment of the retired Judges at sittings of High
Courts.

Railway Budget 2025

❖ The Budget allocation for Indian Railways for FY 2025-26 stands at ₹2.65 lakh
crore, the same as last year’s allocation.
❖ The Railway Capex stands at ₹2.52 lakh crore from the total ₹2.65 lakh crore
allocation that include(s) Public Private Partnership investments.
❖ The allocation to develop customer amenities in Indian Railways has continued
to decline to ₹12,118.39 crore in the FY 2025-26.
❖ Also, the allocation for investment in the Public Sector Units (PSU) and Joint
Ventures (JV) has gone down from the revised estimate of ₹27,570.77 crore in FY
2024-25 to ₹22,444.33 crore in FY 2025-26.
❖ By March 2025, the Indian Railways will achieve an important milestone of
carrying 1.6 billion-tonne cargo carrying capacity.
❖ With this, it become the second largest cargo carrying railway in the world, next
only to China, which has the capacity of 3.7 billion tonnes.

❖ The allocation for ‘Bullet’ train project has been reduced to ₹19,000 crore in the
Budget for FY 2025-26.
❖ The Railways is set to achieve 100% electrification of its network in FY 2025-26.
❖ For the first time, the Railways is projected to achieve ₹3 lakh crore in passenger
revenue in FY 2025-26.

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 ❖ The Railway Budget was first separated from the General Budget in 1924.
❖ The practice came to an end after 92 years when then Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley presented the Merged Union Budget for the year 2017-18.
❖ The decision to merge these two budgets was based on the recommendations of
a committee headed by Bibek Debroy.

TEAM Initiative
❖ The Trade Enablement and Marketing (TEAM) Initiative was launched Ministry of
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises.
❖ It has been launched under the "Raising and Accelerating MSME Productivity
(RAMP)" Programme.
❖ It is aimed to enable MSMEs to embrace digital commerce and expand their
market presence.

Jal Jeevan mission extension

❖ The 2025-26 Budget speech announced the extension of the Jal Jeevan Mission
until 2028, with an enhanced total outlay.
❖ Since 2019, 150 million households — representing 80 per cent of India’s rural
population have gained access to potable tap water connections.
❖ To achieve 100 per cent coverage, the Jal Jeevan Mission has been extended to
2028.
❖ The Jal Jeevan Mission was launched in August 2019 with the ambitious goal of
providing tap water to every rural household by 2024.

Gender Budget 2025-26

❖ The share of Gender Budget allocation in the total Union Budget has increased
to 8.86% in FY 2025-26 from 6.8% in FY 2024-25.
❖ An allocation of Rs. 4.49 lakh crore has been reported for welfare of women and
girls in the gender budget statement of FY 2025-26.
❖ This is an increase of Rs. 37.25% over the GBS allocation of Rs. 3.27 lakh crore
in FY 2024-25.
❖ Part A (100% women-specific schemes) got ₹1,05,535.40 crore (23.50% of total
GBS).
❖ Part B (30-99% allocation for women) got ₹3,26,672.00 crore (72.75% of total
GBS).
❖ Part C (Below 30% allocation for women) received ₹16,821.28 crore (3.75% of total
GBS).

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 ❖ This year a total of 49 Ministries/Departments and 5 UTs have also reported
allocations as against 38 Ministries/Departments and 5 UTs in FY 2024-25.
❖ Top 3 Ministries/Departments that also have reported more than 30% of their
allocations in the Gender Budget for FY 2025-26 are
o Ministry of Women & Child Development (81.79%),
o Department of Rural Development (65.76%) and
o Department of Food & Public Distribution (50.92%).
❖ Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana–Grameen (PMAY-G) show low implementation -
only 23% of houses allotted to women.

SC/ST Act - Intellectual Property

❖ The Supreme Court uphold the Bombay High Court’s ruling on the intellectual
property loss compensation under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989,
and its 1995 Rules.
❖ The Bombay High Court ruled that the term "property" should be interpreted
broadly to include intellectual property such as data, electronic material, and
intellectual rights, whether tangible or intangible.
❖ Patents, copyrights, and designs, are property, even though they lack physical
existence, and are capable of being valued for compensation under the SC/ST
Act, 1989.
❖ Notably, Section 8 establishes a reverse burden of proof, shifting the onus onto
the accused to prove their innocence.

GARBH-INi-Drishti
❖ The IIT Madras and the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute,
Faridabad, have collaborated to develop an India-specific artificial intelligence
model named Garbhini-GA2.
❖ It is a data dashboard that provides a comprehensive overview of one of South
Asia’s largest pregnancy cohort datasets.
❖ GARBH-Ini GA-2 is based on genetic algorithms.

Rise in Female Labour Force Participation 2024

❖ There had been a consistent increase in Female Labour Force Participation Rate
(FLFPR) over the past seven years.
❖ The FLFPR had increased over the past seven years from 23.3% in 2017-18 to
41.7% in 2023-24.

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 ❖ Participation of women increased in economic activities across various categories,
including rural and urban.
❖ Currently, 21 States have a FLFPR in the range of 30-40%.
❖ Seven States or Union Territories reported FLFPR greater than 40%, with Sikkim
reporting the maximum rate of 56.9%.

'Gyan Bharatam Mission' 2025

❖ The Union Budget 2025 accommodated the ‘Gyan Bharatam Mission’ under the
National Manuscripts Mission (NMM).
❖ It is a special mission for the survey, documentation, and conservation of India’s
manuscript heritage.
❖ Presently, NMM is a part of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts.
❖ It was set up in 2003.

Bharatiya Bhasha Pustak scheme

❖ The Union Budget 2025 introduced the Bharatiya Bhasha Pustak Scheme.
❖ It is a new initiative to provide digital books in Indian languages for school and
higher education students.
❖ This scheme aims to make learning more accessible by offering study materials
in regional languages.

National Manufacturing Mission 2025

❖ The central government will set up a mission for the small, medium and large
industries with a focus on clean tech manufacturing.
❖ The mission’s mandate will include five focus areas – ease and cost of doing
business, upskilling for in-demand jobs, MSMEs, availability of technology, and
quality products.
❖ The scheme will support the design capacity, component manufacturing, and
machinery required for production of non-leather quality footwear, besides the
support for leather products.
❖ India aims to increase the share of manufacturing in its gross domestic product
(GDP) to 25 per cent from the current 17 per cent.

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SWAMIH Fund 2.0
❖ Union has made a budgetary provision for second tranche of the Special Window
for Affordable and Mid-Income Housing (SWAMIH) Fund of Rs 15,000 crore.
❖ It aims to help in the completion of one lakh dwelling units.
❖ SWAMIH Fund is funded by the Ministry of Finance.
❖ It is created for the debt financing of the stressed and brownfield residential
properties.

Five-year Cotton Mission 2025

❖ It aims to increase the cotton productivity especially extra-long staple varieties.
❖ Science & Technology support will be provided to farmers under this Mission.
❖ The Mission is in keeping with the 5 F principle and will increase income of the
farmers and augment a steady supply of quality cotton.
❖ To promote the domestic production of technical textile products such as Agro-
textiles, medical textiles and geo textiles at competitive prices, two more types of
shuttles-less looms added to the list of fully exempted textile machinery.
❖ The Budget announced an outlay of Rs. 5272 crores (Budget Estimates) for the
Ministry of Textiles for 2025-26.

Extension of Skill India mission 2025

❖ The Union Cabinet approved the continuation and restructuring of the Central
Sector Scheme ‘Skill India Programme (SIP)’ till 2026.
❖ The following three key components, are now combined under the composite
Central Sector Scheme of “Skill India Programme”.
o Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 4.0 (PMKVY 4.0),
o The Pradhan Mantri National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme (PM-NAPS),
and
o The Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) Scheme
❖ PMKVY 4.0 scheme provides NSQF aligned skill development training through
Short-Term Training (STT) including the Special Projects (SP) and reskilling and
upskilling.
❖ The JSS scheme is a community-centric skilling initiative.
❖ It is designed to make the vocational training accessible, flexible, and inclusive,
particularly for women, rural youth, and economically disadvantaged groups and
caters to the age group of 15 -45 years of age.

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Swavalambini program
❖ Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), in collaboration
with NITI Aayog launched Swavalambini in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram.
❖ This Women Entrepreneurship Program aimed at empowering female students in
select Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in the northeast
❖ It will equip them with the essential entrepreneurial mind-set, resources, and the
mentorship they need to succeed in their entrepreneurial journey.

New Agri-Tech Schemes 2025

❖ The government announced at least nine new missions or programmes focused
solely on the Agri sector.
❖ Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana’ will be implemented in partnership
with states through the convergence of existing schemes.
❖ It will be implemented in 100 districts with the low productivity, moderate crop
intensity, and below-average credit parameters.
❖ The Comprehensive programme for vegetables and fruits will be launched in
partnership with states.
❖ It aims to promote production, efficient supplies, processing, and remunerative
prices for farmers.
❖ The National Mission on High-Yielding Seeds mission will target the commercial
availability, development, and propagation of over 100 high-yielding, pest-
resistant, and climate-resilient seed varieties released since July 2024.
❖ A makhana board will be established in Bihar to improve the production,
processing, value addition and marketing of makhana (foxnut).
❖ The ‘Rural prosperity and resilience programme’ initiative will be launched in
partnership with states to address the underemployment in agriculture through
skilling, investment, and technology.
❖ It will focus on rural women, young farmers, rural youth, marginal and small
farmers, and landless families.
❖ Urea plant with annual capacity of 1.27 million tonnes will be set up at Namrup,
Assam to further augment the supply of urea.

Mission for Aatmanirbhar in pulses 2025

❖ Mission for Aatmanirbhar in pulses is a six-year mission with an allocation of Rs
1,000 crore for the financial year 2025-26.
❖ It is focusing on toor (pigeon pea), urad (black gram), and masoor (red lentil).

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 ❖ Under this scheme, central agencies such as NAFED and National Cooperative
Consumers’ Federation will procure these pulses “as much as offered” over the
next four years from farmers who register with these agencies and enter into
agreements.

Nuclear energy mission 2025

❖ The Nuclear Energy Mission is poised to accelerate nuclear power development,
positioning India as a global leader in advanced nuclear technology by 2047.
❖ Development of at least 100 GW of nuclear energy by 2047 is essential for our
energy transition efforts.
❖ For an active partnership with the private sector towards this goal, amendments
to the Atomic Energy Act and the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act will be
taken up.
❖ A Nuclear Energy Mission for research & development of Small Modular Reactors
(SMRs) with an outlay of INR 20,000 crore will be set up.
❖ At least 5 indigenously developed SMRs will be operationalized by 2033.
❖ The Atomic Energy Act of 1962 prohibits the private control of nuclear power
generation in India.
❖ Only two government-owned enterprises - NPCIL and Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut
Nigam Limited are legally allowed to own and operate nuclear power plants in
India.
❖ The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act of 2010 places responsibility for any
nuclear accident with the plant operator and limits total operator liability.
❖ But it allows the operator to have legal recourse to the reactor supplier, with no
limit on supplier liability.
❖ India is already working to expand its nuclear capacity from 8180 MW today to
22,480 MW by 2031-2032.

Watershed yatra 2025

❖ The Union Minister of Rural Development has launched a national level mass
outreach campaign “Watershed Yatra”.
❖ It aims to generate the people’s participation and create the awareness about the
Watershed Development activities carried out under the Watershed Development
Component of the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (WDC-PMKSY 2.0) in
project areas.

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Child road safety crisis
❖ A national roadmap for child and adolescent road safety in India, released on
February 4 by UNICEF in collaboration with the WHO Collaborating Centre for
Injury Prevention and Safety at NIMHANS.
❖ It highlights alarming figures on road traffic injuries (RTIs) among children.
❖ RTIs are now the leading cause of death among children and adolescents in India,
accounting for 10% of all road crash fatalities.
❖ Notably, 75% of these fatalities occurred among 14- to 17-year-olds, and the
numbers more than doubled in this group over the past decade.

SARAT Version 2
❖ The Ministry of Earth Sciences has launched the latest version 2 of Search and
Rescue Aid Tool (SARAT).
❖ It is a satellite-based distress alert system aiding vessels, aircraft, and individuals
in remote or high-risk areas at sea.

Top 50 tourist destinations - ‘Challenge Mode’

❖ The Union Budget has allocated funds for the development of the top 50 tourist
destinations in the country in partnership with State governments through a
“challenge mode”.
❖ The States will be responsible for providing land for essential infrastructural
development.
❖ Hotels at these destinations will be included in the Harmonised Master List (HML)
of infrastructure projects.
❖ Additionally, the country will streamline the e-visa facilities and provide visa fee
waivers for select tourist groups to attract international visitors.
❖ There will be a special focus on destinations related to the life and times of Lord
Buddha.

Domestic Defense Production 2024

❖ The country’s defence budget, which stood at ₹2,53,346 crore in 2013-14, has
seen a significant rise, reaching ₹6,21,940.85 crore in 2024-25.
❖ In FY 2023-24, India's domestic defence production reached ₹1.27 lakh crore,
marking a record high.
❖ It is an increase of approximately 174% from ₹46,429 crore in 2014-15.

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 ❖ India is on track to achieve a target of ₹1.75 lakh crore in defence production in
the current fiscal year.
❖ India aims to reach ₹3 lakh crore in defence production by 2029, further
establishing itself as a global defence manufacturing hub.
❖ The top three destinations for India's defence exports in 2023-24 were the USA,
France, and Armenia.

The South Coast Railway Zone

❖ The Union Cabinet ex post facto approved the plan to create the new South Coast
Railway Zone.
❖ The Prime Minister laid the foundation stone of the South Coast Railway
headquarters in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
❖ The SCoR zone will be the 18th zone of the Indian Railways.
❖ Its jurisdiction has been carved out from parts of the East Coast Railway and
South-Central Railway zones.
❖ It will cover a significant portion of Andhra Pradesh, along with the parts of
Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
❖ The Cabinet also divided the Waltair Railway Division (earlier under the East
Coast Railway) into two parts.
❖ Citing its colonial-era name, the government has renamed the first part as the
Visakhapatnam Railway Division and included it under the new zone.
❖ The other part will also be converted into a new division with headquarters at
Rayagada, Odisha, under the East Coast Railway.
❖ The East Coast Railway (ECoR) has surpassed all records of Indian Railways in
Freight Loading in the Financial Year 2023-24.

Shatavari – For Better Health

❖ To raise awareness about the health benefits of medicinal plants, a species-
specific campaign titled “Shatavari –For Better Health" was launched.
❖ The previous successful campaigns led by NMPB are those for Amla, Moringa,
Giloe, and Ashwagandha.

Potash reserves
❖ The Surveys of the Geological Survey of India (GSI) have also identified reserves
in parts of Rajasthan.
❖ Punjab is now the second state after Rajasthan to have the significant potash
reserves.

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 ❖ The three mining blocks with potash reserves — Kabarwala (Muktsar Sahib),
Sherewala and Ramsara (Fazilka) and Shergarh and Dalmir Khera (Fazilka) —
are spread over nearly 18 square kilometres.
❖ Potash refers to potassium-bearing minerals that are primarily used in fertilisers.

Milestone of 100 GW Solar Power Capacity

❖ India has achieved a historic milestone by surpassing 100 GW of installed solar
power capacity (100.33 GW).
❖ India’s solar power sector has witnessed an extraordinary 3450 % increase in
capacity over the past decade.
❖ It was rising from 2.82 GW in 2014 to 100 GW in 2025.
❖ The Solar energy remains the dominant contributor to India’s renewable energy
growth, accounting for 47% of the total installed renewable energy capacity.
❖ In 2024, record-breaking 24.5 GW of solar capacity was added reflecting a more
than two-fold increase in solar installations compared to 2023.
❖ Last year also saw the installation of 18.5 GW of utility-scale solar capacity, a
nearly 2.8 times increase compared to 2023.
❖ Rajasthan, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh are among
the top-performing states.
❖ The rooftop solar sector in India witnessed remarkable growth in 2024, with 4.59
GW of new capacity installed, reflecting a 53% increase compared to 2023.

NCSK extension
❖ The Union Cabinet has approved a three-year extension of tenure for the National
Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK).
❖ It functions under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
❖ It implements provisions of the law prohibiting manual scavenging across the
country.
❖ It is the implementing agency for provisions of the Prohibition of Employment as
Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013.
❖ The first NCSK, which was set up in 1994 under the National Commission for
Safai Karamcharis Act of 1993, was functioning as a statutory body till 2004,
when the law lapsed.
❖ Since then, the commission is acting as a non-statutory body under the Social
Justice Ministry with its tenure being extended from time to time.

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NITI Aayog Report on Higher Education 2025
❖ The policy report prepared by the NITI Aayog titled ‘Expanding Quality Higher
Education through States and State Public Universities’.
❖ Among all states and Union Territories, Jammu and Kashmir spends most for
education as a percentage of GDP at 8.11%, followed by Manipur (7.25%),
Meghalaya (6.64%), and Tripura (6.19%).
❖ Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana continue to
be the top spenders on per youth spending on higher education.
❖ The states like Rajasthan, Punjab and Chhattisgarh lagging in it.
❖ Maharashtra leads in higher education funding with a budget of ₹11,421 crore,
followed by Bihar (₹9,666 crore) and Tamil Nadu (₹7,237 crore).
❖ States like Sikkim (₹ 142 crore), Arunachal Pradesh (₹155 crore), and Nagaland
(₹167 crore) have the lowest higher education budgets.
❖ When considering higher education expenditure as a percentage of Gross State
Domestic Product (GSDP), Bihar ranks highest at 1.56%, followed by Jammu &
Kashmir at 1.53% and Manipur at 1.45%.
❖ Telangana has the lowest percentage at 0.18%, while Gujarat and Rajasthan
allocate 0.23% each.
❖ The national average university density is 0.8.
❖ Sikkim has the highest density of 10.3, followed by Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh,
Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Uttarakhand.
❖ In the highly populated states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, the West Bengal and
Maharashtra, density at the state level is below the national average, with Bihar
recording the lowest at 0.2.
❖ The States like Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh have higher female
enrolment rates than males.
❖ Smaller states and UTs like Chandigarh, Mizoram, and the Andaman and Nicobar
Islands have relatively balanced male-female enrolments, with differences of only
a few hundred students.

Social Security Cover for Gig Workers

❖ Budget speech made two announcements on social security cover for gig workers.
❖ First is gig workers will be provided health insurance under the PM Jan Arogya
Yojana.
❖ Second is such workers will be issued identity cards through the e-Shram portal,
which is expected to benefit 1 crore workers.

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 ❖ There in almost every sector of the gig economy—food delivery, ride-hailing, e-
commerce and other professional services.
❖ In India, the Niti Aayog estimates the gig workforce to be around 12.7 million in
2024-25, which may reach 23.5 million by 2029-30.

Atal Bhujal Yojana Expansion

❖ The Centre plans to extend the Atal Bhujal Yojana, to five more states, including
Bihar, Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
❖ This scheme is aimed at improving groundwater sustainability in seven water-
stressed states.
❖ Atal Bhujal Yojana (ATAL JAL) has been in place since April 2020.
❖ It is covering 8,774 water-stressed gram panchayats in 222 administrative blocks
or talukas across 80 districts in seven states -- Haryana, Gujarat, Karnataka,
Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
❖ The scheme is set to run for five years.

UDAN 5.5
❖ The Centre has launched the next phase of its flagship UDAN (Ude Desh ka Aam
Naagrik) scheme to enhance regional air connectivity.
❖ The UDAN 5.5 intends to promote last-mile connectivity in remote regions, hilly
areas, and island territories.
❖ The latest phase of the scheme will award routes that will be serviced exclusively
with seaplanes, choppers, and small aircraft with a seating capacity of less than
20 passengers.
❖ The 5.5 version is offering the operators a chance to chart out seaplane routes
between 80 water bodies, which include waterdromes, ponds, and dams.
❖ Around 400 helipads are also included in the scheme for operators to map out
the chopper routes.

Klub-S Missile System

❖ India has signed a contract with Russia to procure anti-ship cruise missiles for
the country’s submarine fleet.
❖ It will arm the Indian Navy’s Sindhu Ghosh-class diesel-electric submarines, a
domestic variant of Moscow’s Kilo-class submarines.
❖ The Klub-S missile is the Russia’s submarine-launched export version of the 3M-
54 Kalibr anti-ship missile.

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 ❖ It is providing a long-range precision strike capabilities, as each missile operates
at an altitude of 10 to 15 meters (32 to 49 feet) against naval and ground targets
for a maximum range of 300 kilometers (186 miles).

New Income Tax Bill 2025

❖ Finance Minister tabled the new income tax bill to cut through the jargon in the
1961 Income Tax Act and make it easier to understand.
❖ The new tax system is built on five core principles, which make it 'S.I.M.P.L.E' for
people to follow and to enforce.
❖ These five principles were explained as: "Streamlined structure and language,
Integrated and concise, Minimised litigation, Practical and transparent, Learn
and adapt, and Efficient tax reforms".
❖ There are 23 chapters, fewer than half the 47 chapters in The Income-tax Act.
❖ There are 16 schedules, two more than in the Act.
❖ The Bill introduces the concept of “tax year”, which has been defined as the 12-
month period beginning April 1.
❖ Virtual digital assets such as cryptocurrencies have been included in the
definition of property to be counted as a capital asset of the assessee.
❖ The new law will take effect from April 1, 2026.

Revised MIS guidelines

❖ The agriculture ministry has revised the guidelines for the Market Intervention
Scheme (MIS).
❖ It is increasing the procurement limit of crops to 25% from 20%.
❖ The MIS is implemented for procurement of various perishable agricultural /
horticultural commodities such as tomato, onion, potato, etc.
❖ For these goods, the minimum support price (MSP) is not applicable.
❖ The MIS will be implemented only when there is a minimum reduction of 10% in
the prevailing market price as compared to the previous normal year.

New 15 Point Program 2025

❖ The Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programs for welfare of Minorities is unveiled
recently.
❖ This programme covers the various schemes/initiatives of the participating the
Ministries / Departments with an aim to ensure that the underprivileged and the

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 weaker sections of six centrally notified minority communities have equal
opportunities for availing the various schemes.
❖ The programme has the following broad objectives:
o Enhancing opportunities for education;
o Ensuring an equitable share for the minorities in economic activities and
employment, through existing and new schemes, enhanced credit support for
self-employment, and recruitment to State and Central Government jobs;
o Improving the conditions of living of minorities by ensuring an appropriate
share for them in infrastructure development schemes; and
o Prevention and control of communal disharmony and violence.

U.S.-India COMPACT Initiative

❖ US-India reaffirmed the India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership
during the meeting in Washington.
❖ The Both have launched a new initiative named ‘US-India COMPACT (Catalysing
Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for
the 21st Century’.
❖ It aims to “drive transformative change across key pillars of cooperation”.
❖ It plans to sign new 10-year framework for U.S.-India Major Defense Partnership.
❖ Mission 500 is goal to double bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030.
❖ They have also launched the "U.S.-India TRUST" initiative to promote emerging
technologies in defense, AI, semiconductors, and space.
❖ The US vision of Make America Great Again (MAGA) and India’s idea of Make
India Great Again (MIGA) can translate into a “mega partnership”.

India Gas Market report - Outlook 2030

❖ The ‘India Gas Market Report: Outlook to 2030’ was released by the IEA.
❖ Natural gas consumption in India is projected to grow by nearly 60 per cent to
103 billion cubic meters (bcm) annually while gas imports will double by 2030.
❖ India’s natural gas demand grew by more than 10 per cent in both 2023 and
2024.
❖ The transmission pipeline network has been expanded by 40 per cent.
❖ Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) imports into India increased by 10 percent in 2023
and 2024.
❖ The Domestic production met 50 per cent of the country’s demand in 2023, and
is projected to grow gradually to just under 38 bcm by 2030.

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4-tier Narco-Coordination Centre (NCORD) mechanism
❖ Government has taken various measures to address the issue of illicit narcotics
trade and to improve cooperation between local police and anti-narcotics efforts.
❖ A 4-tier Narco-Coordination Centre (NCORD) mechanism will be established.
❖ An all in-one NCORD portal has been developed for information related to drug
law enforcement.
❖ To monitor the investigation of the important and significant seizures, a Joint
Coordination Committee (JCC) under the Chairmanship of Director General,
Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has been set up.
❖ A dedicated Anti-Narcotics Task Force (ANTF) headed by the Additional Director
General / Inspector General level Police Officer has been established in each State
/ Union Territory.
❖ The Government has empowered National Investigation Agency under NDPS Act,
1985 in the year 2020 for investigation of narco-terrorism cases.
❖ A National Narcotics Helpline “Madak-Padarth Nished Asoochana Kendra”
(MANAS) has been created as a 24x7, toll-free number - 1933 National Narcotics
Call Centre.
❖ A Toll-free Helpline No.-14446 for de-addiction is being maintained by the
Government for providing primary counselling and immediate assistance.
❖ India has launched Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan (NMBA) in 272 identified most
vulnerable districts, later on extended to all districts of the country.

Coal Gasification Incentive Scheme

❖ The Ministry of Coal has announced the selected applicants under Category-II of
the Financial Incentive Scheme.
o Jindal Steel and Power Limited
o New Era Cleantech Solution Pvt. Ltd.
o Greta Energy Limited
❖ With an ₹8,500 crore financial outlay, the scheme is designed to accelerate coal
gasification, reduce carbon emissions, enhance energy security, and promote
sustainable development.
❖ It was launched on January 24, 2024, the scheme encourages both the private
companies and government PSUs to undertake coal gasification projects.

Rules on Lottery Taxation Authority

❖ The Supreme Court ruled that only state governments - not the Centre - have the
authority to impose taxes on the sale of lotteries.

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 ❖ Lotteries fall under the definition of “betting and gambling” as per Entry 62 of the
State List in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution.
❖ This was making it clear that only state legislatures have the power to tax them.
❖ The central government made Amendments to the Finance Act in 2010, 2012,
2015 and 2016 sought to levy service tax on lottery-related activities
❖ The Centre was arguing that the distribution, promotion, marketing, and sale of
lotteries amounted to a taxable “service”.

Reservation in appointments in higher judiciary

❖ A DMK MP P. Wilson introduced a private member’s bill in Rajya Sabha revives
debate on reservation in appointments in higher judiciary.
❖ It is seeking reservation for the SC/ST and OBCs in the appointment of judges to
the Supreme Court and high court.
❖ It also sought consultation by the Government of India with the respective State
Governments while appointing Chief Justice or judge of any HC.
❖ In the 84th Report on Demand for Grants, the Committee had recommended the
strength of women judges should be around 50% of the total strength.
❖ The Law Ministry had then said there is no proposal for amendment to Articles
124 and 217 of the Constitution.

50 Future Skills Centers

❖ The National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) announced a set-up 50 new
Future Skills Centres (FSCs) and 10 NSDC International Academies.
❖ It aims to bridge the gap between the theoretical knowledge and practical skills
by aligning education with emerging technologies and industry needs.
❖ So far, 33 global corporations have partnered, and 21 Future Skills Centres have
been established in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs).

New CEC - Gyanesh Kumar

❖ Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was appointed as the next chief election
commissioner (26th CEC).
❖ He is the first CEC to be appointed under a new law on the appointment of the
members of the Election Commission (EC).
❖ Vivek Joshi assumed charge as an Election Commissioner.

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 ❖ Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment,
Conditions of Service, and Term of Office) Act, 2023 empowers the govt to appoint
CEC.
❖ He was appointed after a meeting of a three-member committee headed by Prime
Minister.
❖ The selection committee consists of PM, Union home minister, and the leader of
opposition in the Lok Sabha.
❖ A CEC or an EC retires at the age of 65 or can serve in the panel for six years.

Project Waterworth
❖ Meta introduced its internet subsea cable Project Waterworth.
❖ It will cross 50,000 km in length and bring enhanced connectivity to the U.S.,
India, Brazil, South Africa, and other locations.
❖ This is becoming the longest subsea cable project in the world.
❖ Subsea cables projects accounting for more than 95% of intercontinental traffic
across the world’s oceans.

Akash Missile Export

❖ India is likely to secure a defense export contract worth over $200 million with
the Philippines for the sale of Akash short-range surface-to-air missiles.
❖ If finalized, this would mark India’s second major weapons deal with Manila.
❖ The deal is expected to be larger than India's $230 million Akash missile export
to Armenia in 2023.
❖ This deal follows India’s $375 million sale of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles
to the Philippines in 2022
❖ Akash has a range of up to 25 km and is designed to intercept aerial threats.

EPFO Updates 2025

❖ The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has announced the several
significant updates to its services and guidelines that will be implemented in
2025.
❖ The Pensioners will soon be able to withdraw their pensions from any bank in the
country, without requiring additional verification.
❖ EPFO members will soon be able to withdraw their provident fund balance via
ATMs.

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 ❖ EPFO is considering offering its members the option to invest directly in equities,
beyond ETFs.
❖ The latest data shows a decrease in formal job creation, with a five-month low of
1.34 million new EPFO members in October 2024.

Immigration and Foreigners Bill 2025

❖ The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is likely to bring the Immigration and
Foreigners Bill, 2025.
❖ The bill repeals all the four existing legislations that deal with immigration and
movement of foreigners.
❖ The proposed legislation will replace the existing laws
o The Passport (Entry into India) Act, 1920
o The Registration of Foreigners Act, 1939
o The Foreigners Act, 1946; and
o The Immigration (Carriers’ Liability) Act, 2000.
❖ The proposed legislation also gives the power to the Centre to restrict or regulate
the entry, exit, and movement of foreigners within India.
❖ The new Bill imposes a penalty up to Rs 5 lakh for unauthorised entry, and up
to Rs 10 lakh for fake passport.
❖ The role of universities, hospitals, and other medical institutions admitting the
foreign nationals will be specified, along with matters related to passports and
visas.

India’s Richest Political Party in 2023-24

❖ The BJP emerged as the richest party with income exceeding Rs 4,340 crore for
the financial year 2023-24.
❖ It is followed by the Congress whose income was over Rs 1200 crore.
❖ The CPI(M)’s total income was Rs 167.636 cr while the party spent Rs 127.283
cr, 75.93% of its income.
❖ 6 National Parties (BJP, INC, CPI(M), AAP, BSP and NPEP) have declared a total
income of Rs 5820.912 cr, collected from all over India.

‘Bima Trinity’ Initiative

❖ The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) held the
9th edition of Bima Manthan.

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 ❖ During the event, IRDAI unveiled the plan for its ambitious ‘Bima Trinity’ plan.
❖ Bima Trinity comprises of Bima Sugam, Bima Vistaar and Bima Vahaak.
❖ Bima Sugam is an open marketplace for the sale, service and claims of the all-
insurance policies across insurance companies.
❖ Bima Vistaar is the first ever composite product covering the death, personal
accident, property, and surgical hospitalisation.
❖ Bima Vahaak is a localised women-centric insurance field sales force.

India - IALA Vice President

❖ India is elected as the vice president of the International Organisation of Aids to
Marine Navigation (IALA).
❖ India will also host the IALA Council meeting in December 2025 and the IALA
Conference & General Assembly in September 2027 in Mumbai.
❖ IALA was established in 1957 as a non-governmental organisation (NGO).
❖ It offers the opportunity to exchange and compare their experiences and their
achievements in the marine field.

Intensified Special NCD Screening Drive

❖ Centre has launched an intensified special NCD screening campaign.
❖ The campaign will also be executed across Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (AAMs)
and various healthcare facilities nationwide.
❖ This ambitious initiative aims to achieve 100% screening of all individuals aged
30 years and above for prevalent NCDs.
❖ It includes diabetes, hypertension, and three common cancers - oral, breast, and
cervical.

Reclassification of Minerals
❖ The Ministry of Mines has classified barytes, felspar, mica and quartz as "major
minerals".
❖ This move will extend the existing extraction contracts by 50 years and now
allows them to be mined for crucial science and technology applications.
❖ These mines will gradually need to register with the Indian Bureau of Mines and
be regulated as major minerals.
❖ Quartz, felspar, and mica are found in pegmatite rocks.

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 ❖ They are an important source of many critical minerals like beryl, lithium,
niobium, tantalum, molybdenum, tin, titanium, and tungsten.
❖ Until now, when the leases for quartz, felspar, and mica were granted as minor
mineral leases.

Supreme Court’s on Prisoner Remission

❖ The Supreme Court has directed states with remission policies to consider the
premature release of prisoners even if they don’t apply for remission beforehand.
❖ With the exceptions for certain kinds of convicts, states are empowered to release
prisoners before the completion of their sentence under the BNSS and the CrPC
- 1973.
❖ The power of remission refers to the power to reduce the period of a sentence for
a person who has been found guilty of a crime.
❖ Section 473 of the BNSS (and Section 432 of the CrPC) grants state governments
the power to remit sentences “at any time”.
❖ The states also may cancel the remission granted and arrest the convict again
without a warrant.
❖ This is separate from the power of the President and the Governor to remit the
sentences under Articles 72 and 161 of the Constitution respectively.

SC stay on Lokpal order

❖ The Supreme Court has stayed the Lokpal’s order which held it had the power to
look into complaints against sitting judges of High Courts.
❖ The Lokpal is headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice A M Khanwilkar.
❖ The Lokpal concluded that High Court judges were ‘public servants’ and came
within the ambit of the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act of 2013.
❖ The Lokpal had declared that it had no power over the Supreme Court judges,
including the Chief Justice of India.
❖ The Supreme Court was not a “body” established by an Act of the Parliament or
financed or controlled by the Central government.
❖ So, the Supreme Court judges, including the Chief Justice of India, even though
‘public servants’ in terms of the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1988, were not
amenable to the jurisdiction of the Lokpal.
❖ The 2013 Act does not provide for an explicit exception for the judges of the court
established by an Act of the Parliament.

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Decline of Suicide in India 2021
❖ India has seen a more than 30 per cent reduction in the suicide death rate in
India from 1990 to 2021.
❖ The suicide death rate in India was 18.9 per lakh population in 1990.
❖ In 2019 it stood at 13·1 lakh per lakh population and 13 per lakh population in
2021.
❖ From 1990 to 2021, the suicide death rate in India declined to 31·5 per cent.
❖ In 1990, the suicide death rate among females stood at 16·8 per lakh population,
which reduced to 10·3 per lakh population in 2021.

Mass Drug Administration (MDA) campaign

❖ Centre has launched the Annual Nationwide Mass Drug Administration (MDA)
Campaign for Lymphatic Filariasis (LF) Elimination.
❖ The campaign covers 111 endemic districts across 13 States with door-to-door
administration of filaria prevention medications.
❖ The MDA campaign is a core component of India’s LF elimination strategy, led by
the National Center for Vector Borne Diseases Control (NCVBDC).
❖ Lymphatic Filariasis (Haatipaon) is commonly known as elephantiasis.
❖ It is caused by infection with parasites classified as nematodes (roundworms) of
the family Filariodidea.
❖ It is a priority disease reported in 345 districts across 20 states and the union
territories, with 90 per cent of the total cases reported across eight states.

Energy Storage for Future Solar Projects

❖ The government has Mandated all future solar project tenders to include energy
storage systems.
❖ All renewable energy implementing agencies (REIAs) and state discoms are now
advised to incorporate a minimum of two-hour co-located energy storage systems
(ESS), equivalent to 10 per cent of the installed solar project capacity, in future
solar tenders.
❖ It will mitigate intermittency issues and provide critical support during the peak
demand periods.

TRAI’s New Framework 2025

❖ The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released its major
recommendations on the framework for service authorisations for the provision
of broadcasting services, under the Telecommunications Act, 2023.

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 ❖ This marks a significant shift from the previous regulatory structure that was
governed by the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885.
❖ New recommendations are ending radio co-location, reducing DTH fees to zero,
and promoting infrastructure sharing.

Skill Index 2025

❖ A new report, India’s Graduate Skill Index 2025, was released by Mercer-Mettl.
❖ Only 42.6 per cent of Indian graduates are employable.
❖ This is marking a decline from 44.3 per cent in 2023.
❖ The biggest challenge is a widening gap between what employer’s need and the
skills graduates have.
❖ Graduates from Tier-I colleges have the highest employability at 48.4 per cent,
followed by Tier-II (46.1 per cent) and Tier-III (43.4 per cent) institutions.
❖ Among the states, Delhi (53.4 per cent), Himachal Pradesh (51.1 per cent), and
Punjab (51.1 per cent) produce the most employable graduates.
❖ 46 per cent of Indian graduates are now employable in AI & ML roles, marking a
significant increase since 2023.

MoRTH annual report 2024

❖ The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways’ (MoRTH) recently released an annual
report 2024-25.
❖ The financial condition of the State Road Transport Undertakings (SRTUs) across
the country is getting worse, with year-on-year (y-o-y) losses to over Rs 30,000
crore in FY22.
❖ This was marking a 68 per cent increase in losses in three years.
❖ In FY21, 58 SRTUs reported a total loss of over Rs 29,000 crore.
❖ Out of a total 97,165 inter-city buses and 48,325 buses for the urban operations,
only 356 and 10,517 of the buses, respectively, have been made “fully wheelchair
accessible”.
❖ The number of accessible buses (without the wheelchair accessibility) for inter-
city and urban operations are 24,860 and 15,308, respectively.

Bima ASBA - First in India

❖ Bajaj Allianz Life has become the first insurer to go live with the BIMA-Application
Supported by Blocked Amount (Bima-ASBA) facility.

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 ❖ This initiative is in line with the IRDAI’s plan to improve policyholder convenience
and ensure transparency in premium payments.
❖ Bima-ASBA enables policyholders to opt for the UPI’s One-Time Mandate (OTM),
allowing them to authorise the blocking of a specified amount up to Rs 2 lakh in
their bank account.
❖ The amount is only debited once the insurance company completes the under-
writing process and accepts the policy proposal.
❖ If the application is not processed within 14 days or is declined, the blocked
amount is automatically released back to the customer’s account.
❖ This ensures that policy buyers’ funds remain accessible and continue earning
interest until policy issuance is confirmed.
❖ All insurers must offer the Bima-ASBA facility by March 1.

INTERNATIONAL

Asia Economic Dialogue 2025

❖ The Asia Economic Dialogue 2025, annual geoeconomics conference is being held
in Pune.
❖ It is organised by the ministry of external affairs (MEA) and Pune International
Centre (PIC).
❖ This 9th edition’s theme is “Economic Resilience and Resurgence in an Era of
Fragmentation”.

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – ECOWAS

❖ Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso officially left West Africa's main political and trade
group ECOWAS.
❖ The three countries are founding members of ECOWAS.
❖ Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have now formed their own confederation, the
Alliance of Sahel States (AES).
❖ The three have largely cut their security ties with France and turned towards
Russia, Iran and Turkey for assistance.

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U.S. Tariffs on Mexico, Canada, and China
❖ The U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs of 25% on imports from
Canada and Mexico, and an additional 10% on goods from China.
❖ US. imports from Canada and Mexico covered nearly $900 billion in goods as of
2023.
❖ Mexico and Canada also account for significant U.S. agriculture imports.
❖ Nearly 80% of Canadian goods exports go to the United States, amounting to
some $410 billion in value.
❖ Mexico’s exports to the United States represented 84% of the goods it sold to the
world.
❖ Mexico supplied 63% of U.S. vegetable imports and nearly half of U.S. fruit and
nut imports in 2023.

USAID status 2025

❖ The President Donald Trump’s administration has made significant changes to
the U.S. agency charged with delivering humanitarian assistance overseas.
❖ The Then-President John F. Kennedy had established the U.S. Agency for the
International Development, known as USAID, during the Cold War.
❖ The Congress passed the Foreign Assistance Act and Kennedy set up USAID as
an independent agency in 1961.
❖ USAID supporters argued that U.S. assistance in countries counters Russian and
Chinese influence.
❖ On his first day in office, Trump had also implemented a 90-day freeze on foreign
assistance.

Deflation in Sri Lanka

❖ Sri Lanka's consumer prices fell by 4.0 percent in January 2025.
❖ This is the highest deflation rate since July 1960.
❖ January was the fifth consecutive month of deflation, according to the Colombo
Consumer Price Index.
❖ Deflation is the sustained decline in the general price level of goods and services.
❖ It occurs when supply exceeds demand, leading to reduced consumer spending.
❖ Inflation has hit a record 69.8 percent in September 2022 at the height of the
country's economic crisis.
❖ Sri Lanka had secured a $2.9 billion bailout loan from the International Monetary
Fund (IMF) after the 2022 crash.

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Fentanyl Crisis
❖ Two individuals have been charged in Canada after they were arrested for alleged
possession of 8 kg of fentanyl, potentially amounting to millions of doses.
❖ US prosecution accused two Surat-based firms of shipping fentanyl precursors,
mislabelling them as Vitamin C.
❖ Fentanyl is A highly addictive synthetic opioid.
❖ It is also considered approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100
times more potent than morphine.
❖ In 2019, China classified fentanyl as a controlled narcotic and later added some
of the chemicals used to make it to the list.

Panama and BRI Initiative

❖ Panama President announced its withdrawn in China’s Belt and Road Initiative
(BRI).
❖ The BRI was launched by China in 2013.
❖ Panama had joined the initiative in 2017 during the administration of former
President Juan Carlos Varela
❖ Panama Canal was built by the US in the early 20th century and handed over to
Panama in 1999.

US withdrawal from UN Rights Council

❖ United States President is planning to cut off US engagement with the UN Human
Rights Council and extend a funding ban on the UN agency for Palestinian
refugees, UNRWA.
❖ After US announced Israel also join the US in its decision not to participate in
the UNHRC.
❖ Trump has already withdrawn the US from the World Health Organization (WHO)
and the 2015 Paris climate agreement.
❖ Earlier the Trump administration quit the Human Rights Council in 2018.

Guinea - Sleeping Sickness

❖ Guinea has successfully eliminated the gambiense form of the human African
trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as the sleeping sickness, as a public health
problem.
❖ The only form of human African trypanosomiasis found in Guinea has become
the first neglected tropical disease to be eliminated in the country.

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 ❖ HAT is a parasitic disease transmitted through the bite of infected tsetse flies.
❖ Guinea’s accomplishment is part of a broader trend, with seven other countries
— Togo, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Uganda, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, and Chad.

M23 Rebels in DR Congo – Goma

❖ M23 rebels backed by the Rwandan troops entered the city of Goma, Democratic
Republic of Congo and taken control of the city.
❖ Goma, a regional hub of over 2 million people, is on the DRC's border with
Rwanda.
❖ Tutsi rebels led by current Rwandan President Paul Kagame put an end to the
killing, and many Hutu offenders fled across the border into Congo.
❖ The rebel group, led by Congolese Tutsi commanders, formed in 2012 and is a
successor to earlier Tutsi-led rebellions.

Paris AI Summit 2025

❖ The third edition of the AI Action Summit was held in Paris.
❖ France and India’s Prime Minister acted as a co-chair the Paris Summit.
❖ The Summit focused on five major themes, including public service AI, future of
work, innovation and culture, trust in AI, and global governance of AI.
❖ It’s the latest in a series of global dialogues around AI governance with two
previous editions held in the UK in 2023.

Netzarim Corridor
❖ The Israeli military has withdrawn from an area of Gaza known as the Netzarim
corridor, which separates the enclave's north from south.
❖ This move is a part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Palestinian
militant group.
❖ The ceasefire, initiated on January 19, 2025, marked a pause in the ongoing war.
❖ It allowed for the movement of Palestinians back to their homes, particularly in
the war-torn northern regions.

First deep-sea water space station

❖ China has approved a deep-sea research facility that could redefine the marine
exploration.

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 ❖ The “cold seep” ecosystem research facility will be anchored 2000 meters (6560
feet) below the surface of the strategically significant South China Sea.
❖ The facility will be one of the most technologically advanced scientific underwater
facilities.
❖ China will be the world’s third country after the United States of America and the
Soviet Union to build and operate a deep-sea space station.
❖ The American deep-sea space station NR-1 was a nuclear-powered submarine
that was retired in 2008.
❖ The Soviet AS-12 Losharik, powered by a nuclear reactor reached a depth of 2000
meters.
❖ It was abandoned by the Russians in 2019 after a major fire.

Tobin Tax by USA

❖ Trump’s administration is considering imposing a Tobin Tax on capital flows, a
move that could disrupt global financial markets.
❖ The Tobin Tax is a tax on foreign exchange transactions aimed at discouraging
short-term speculative trading.
❖ It was proposed in 1972 by James Tobin, a Nobel Prize-winning economist, in
response to currency market fluctuations after the collapse of the Bretton Woods
system.
❖ India’s Securities Transaction Tax - 2004, acts as a Tobin-like tax on the stock
market transactions.

Sudan Virus Outbreak

❖ The Ugandan government and the World Health Organization recently confirmed
an outbreak of Sudan virus disease.
❖ It is a severe and often fatal illness with case fatality rates ranging from 41% to
100%.
❖ Uganda has had seven previous outbreaks, with the most recent occurring in
2022.
❖ A 2022 Sudan virus outbreak also in Uganda resulted in 164 cases and 77 deaths
(a fatality rate of 47%).
❖ The Sudan and Ebola viruses have both come from the orthoebolavirus family,
but they have different proteins and genetic components.

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The TRUST initiative
❖ The Under the TRUST initiative, India and US will reduce barriers to technology
transfer, address export controls, and enhance high tech commerce.
❖ TRUST stands for ‘Transforming Relationship Utilizing Strategic Technology’.
❖ This bilateral initiative for cooperation in the recovery and processing of critical
minerals, includes lithium and rare earth elements (REEs).
❖ The TRUST initiative’s effort to create robust supply chains for pharma could
focus on active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), many of which depend on
critical minerals like lithium, magnesium, zinc, and selenium.
❖ India joined the Minerals Security Partnership (MSP) in 2023.
❖ The MSP is a US-led collaboration of 14 countries that aims to catalyse public
and private investment in critical minerals supply chains.

ASIA for Underwater Domain Awareness

❖ India and US kick-started a new initiative named Autonomous Systems Industry
Alliance (ASIA).
❖ It aims to scale industry partnerships and production in the Indo-Pacific.
❖ The U.S. has offered a few co-production and co-development opportunities for
UDA technologies, on a commercial basis.
❖ India is the very first country with whom the U.S. defence industry has offered to
work with on these sensitive technologies.
❖ The Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA) refers to the capability of a nation or
an organization to monitor, detect, and assess activities occurring beneath the
surface of water bodies like oceans and seas.

Mpox Clade Ib Outbreak in DRC

❖ The rapid spread of mpox clade Ib in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
was majorly (83.4%) linked to sex workers.
❖ Overall, 200/751 (26.6%) of the professional sex workers were infected during
the study period.
❖ Since 2023, the DRC has reported more than 50,000 suspected mpox cases in
an outbreak that has spilled over to neighbouring countries.
❖ From September 2023 to June 2024, 670 mpox case-patients were admitted to
the hospital from 17 surrounding health areas.
❖ Of the cases, 52.4% were in females, and 47.6% in males.

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Munich Security Conference 2025
❖ The 61st Munich Security Conference (MSC) was held in Munich, Germany.
❖ The MSC was founded by a German official and publisher Ewald-Heinrich von
Kleist at the peak of the Cold War.
❖ Starting in 1963, the conference initially only focused on military issues and was
mainly attended by Western countries and their high-profile officials.
❖ After the end of the Cold War in 1991, the conference expanded its agenda beyond
defence and security to include issues like climate change and migration.
❖ It also began inviting the leaders from the eastern nations including Russia, India
and China.
❖ In 2023, for the first time in 20 years, Russia wasn’t invited to the event.

ICD 11 2025 edition – WHO

❖ The World Health Organization released the 2025 edition of the International
Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD-11).
❖ It is a tool that standardizes the language used by health professionals worldwide
in diagnosing, reporting and monitoring diseases, injuries and causes of death.
❖ A new module covering traditional medicine conditions of Ayurveda and related
traditional medicine systems, including Siddha and Unani, will enable systematic
tracking of traditional medicine services.
❖ In India, the Central Bureau of Health Intelligence (CBHI) is an agency under the
Ministry of Health serves as the WHO Collaboration Centre for ICD-related
activities.

Mission 300 Africa energy summit

❖ The Mission 300 Africa Energy Summit was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
❖ It was hosted by the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, the African
Union, the African Development Bank Group, and the World Bank Group.
❖ It has analysed the target of providing electricity access to 300 million people in
12 African countries by 2030 – known as Mission 300.

WHO Guidelines on Table Salt

❖ The World Health Organization (WHO) has released a very set of guidelines of
recommending use of lower-sodium salt substitutes.

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 ❖ WHO had already strongly recommended reducing sodium intake to less than 2
grams a day.
❖ Now, it recommends replacing regular table salt (sodium chloride) with lower-
sodium salt substitutes that contain potassium chloride (KCl).

Brazil on OPEC+
❖ Brazil’s government approved to joining OPEC+, a group of major oil-exporting
nations.
❖ OPEC+ officially invited Brazil to join the organization in late 2023.
❖ Brazil is the largest oil producer in South America, with an output of around 4.32
million barrels of oil per day.

World Economic Forum 2025

❖ The 2025 World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting concluded in Davos,
Switzerland.
❖ The theme of this year is “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age.”
❖ India had secured over Rs 20 lakh crore in investment commitments, with
Maharashtra securing nearly 80% of the total.
❖ Telangana secured Rs 1.79 lakh crore investment.
❖ A German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab in 1971 founded the European
Management Forum, it became the WEF in 1987.
❖ In 2015, the WEF was officially recognized as an international organization,
headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland.
❖ WEF Annual Meeting was held in Davos, Switzerland.

Job creation and cutting on emissions

❖ Thirteen new industrial clusters have joined the World Economic Forum's (WEF)
Transitioning Industrial Clusters initiative.
❖ It was bringing the total number of the participating clusters to 33 across 16
countries and five continents.
❖ The new joiners came from Australia, Brazil, Colombia, India, the Netherlands,
Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Thailand, and the United Kingdom.
❖ This initiative, launched at COP26 in 2021, aims to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions while promoting economic growth and job creation.

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 ❖ Together, the 33 clusters have the potential to cut 832 million tonnes of carbon
dioxide-equivalent emissions annually.
❖ It is roughly equivalent to the emissions of Saudi Arabia.
❖ These clusters also contribute $492 billion to global GDP and support 4.3 million
jobs.

HKU5-CoV-2 in China
❖ A newly discovered bat coronavirus, known as HKU5-CoV-2, similar to the virus
that caused the COVID-19 pandemic, has been identified in China.
❖ It is often referred as "Batwoman" for her extensive research on coronaviruses at
the Wuhan Institute.
❖ HKU5-CoV-2 is a newly discovered bat coronavirus that belongs to the merbeco
virus subgenus.
❖ It also includes the virus responsible for the Middle East respiratory syndrome
(MERS).
❖ The Researchers are still unsure about the potential risk of animal-to-human
transmission of the virus.

Gulf of Tonkin baseline

❖ Vietnam’s foreign ministry published a map defining its baseline claim in the Gulf
of Tonkin, where it shares a maritime border with China.
❖ The Baselines are used to determine the limits to territorial waters and exclusive
economic zones.
❖ In the South China Sea, China, Vietnam and other countries in the region have
some conflicting claims.
❖ In March last year, China announced its baseline in the Gulf of Tonkin.

FATF meeting 2025

❖ Giles Thomson from UK has been appointed as FATF Vice-President (2025-2027).
❖ Nepal and Lao People's Democratic Republic are placed in grey list.
❖ This is the second time Nepal has been placed on the grey list.
❖ Nepal was on the FATF grey list from 2008 to 2014.
❖ The Philippines removed from the Grey List due to progress in compliance.
❖ Kenya has joined the FATF Plenary under the guest initiative, alongside Cayman
Islands and Senegal.

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New International terrorist organizations tag
❖ The U.S. government designated eight Latin American organized crime groups as
international terrorist organizations.
❖ They include six Mexico-based groups, Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, and Central
America’s MS-13.
❖ After US, Canada also designates 7 Latin American groups as terrorist entities.
❖ The designation effectively freezes a group's assets and property.

EU Classification on Caffeine
❖ The European Union (EU) has issued a warning about caffeine, labelling it very
"harmful to humans if swallowed" under new chemical safety regulations.
❖ The 27-nation bloc in a fresh regulation has also banned the use of caffeine as a
pesticide.
❖ It was stating that the central component of coffee could cause adverse effects on
the heart, hydration, and body temperature.
❖ The warning is unlikely to deter coffee consumption but as the regulation kicks
into effect.

ECONOMY

Principal Purpose Test (PPT)

❖ The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has issued the updated guidance for
the application of the Principal Purpose Test (PPT) under India’s Double Taxation
Avoidance Agreements (DTAAs).
❖ It exempts certain provisions under the India-Cyprus DTAA, India-Mauritius
DTAA, and India-Singapore DTAA.
❖ PPT is a part of international tax rules aimed at preventing misuse of tax treaties.
❖ It is a key provision under the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty
related provisions to prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).
❖ DTAAs are bilateral treaties aimed at preventing the same income from being
taxed twice.

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Temporary Identification Number – CBIC
❖ The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has notified a new
amendment to GST rules.
❖ It aims to issue TIN to entities that are not required to register under the GST Act
but need to make payments under some specific provision.
❖ Under Goods and Services Tax (GST) rules, registration is mandatory for
businesses with an annual turnover of ₹40 lakh and ₹20 lakh in the
manufacturing and services sectors, respectively.

eCoO 2.0 system

❖ The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) has launched the enhanced
Certificate of Origin (eCoO) 2.0 System.
❖ It is a significant upgrade designed to simplify the certification process for the
exporters and enhance trade efficiency.
❖ This upgraded platform offers several user-friendly features, such as multi-user
access, which enables exporters to authorize multiple users under a single
Importer Exporter Code (IEC).
❖ As of 1st January 2025, the electronic filing of Non-Preferential Certificates of
Origin has become mandatory via the eCoO 2.0 platform.
❖ The Certificates of Origin (CoO) authenticates the origin of exported goods.

New MSME classification 2025

❖ The investment and turnover limits for classification of all MSMEs will be
increased 2.5 and two times respectively.
❖ The investment limit is to be classified as a micro enterprise goes up to Rs 2.5
crore.
❖ For small enterprises, this limit goes up to Rs 25 crore, and for medium ones, it
becomes Rs 125 crore.
❖ Similarly, the turnover limit for these classifications goes up to Rs 10 crore for
micro enterprises, Rs 100 crore for small ones, and Rs 500 crore for medium
enterprises.
❖ Currently, over one crore registered MSMEs, employing 7.5 crore people, and
generating 36% of our manufacturing.

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India’s gold investments 2024
❖ The Gold investments in India surged by 60% in 2024, reaching $18 billion
(approximately Rs 1.5 lakh crore), compared to 2023.
❖ The World Gold Council (WGC) report added that gold investment demand stood
at 239 tonnes, marking its highest level since 2013.
❖ This was a 29% increase from the 185 tonnes recorded in 2023.
❖ At 239 tonnes, the country’s gold investment accounted for 20% of the global
demand in this category, which stood at 1,180 tonnes in 2024.
❖ Worldwide demand also grew by 25% compared to 945.5 tonnes in 2023.

Debt-to-GDP Ratio - primary fiscal anchor

❖ The Union Budget has outlined a plan to reduce the central government's debt-
to-GDP ratio to 50 per cent by 2031.
❖ It was marking a significant shift from a qualitative goal to a specific, measurable
target.
❖ The debt-to-GDP ratio is a widely accepted indicator of a country's fiscal health.
❖ India's central government debt-to-GDP ratio presents a healthy range.
❖ Compared to its G7 counterparts, India's debt-to-GDP ratio is remarkably low,
except for Canada and Germany.

India's pharma exports 2047

❖ India’s pharmaceutical industry exports are projected to reach $350 billion by
2047.
❖ This is an estimated 10-15 times increase from the current levels.
❖ India currently ranks at 11th in pharmaceutical export value and India can secure
a position among the top five nations by 2047.
❖ The country’s pharma exports are expected to grow from approximately $27
billion in 2023 to $65 billion by 2030.
❖ The Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) exports are currently valued at $5
billion.
❖ It is projected to reach $80-90 billion by 2047.
❖ Indian biosimilar exports, presently valued at $0.8 billion, are expected to grow
fivefold to $4.2 billion by 2030 and reach $30-35 billion by 2047.

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AFA for International Transactions
❖ RBI announced the implementation of Additional Factor Authentication (AFA) for
cross-border “Card Not Present” (CNP) transactions.
❖ AFA has already proved its effectiveness in reducing fraud in the domestic digital
payment ecosystem.
❖ Until now, AFA was not mandated for international transactions.
❖ Now, AFA will be a must at the time of mandate registration, modification, or
deletion.

NDS-OM platform
❖ RBI will allow non-bank brokers registered with the SEBI to access the Negotiated
Dealing System-Order Matching (NDS-OM) platform.
❖ The NDS-OM platform, operated by the RBI, is an anonymous order-matching
system for secondary market trading in government securities (G-Secs).

Textile Exports by 2030

❖ India aims for a threefold increase in its textile exports to ₹9 lakh crore by 2030.
❖ The target can be achieved even earlier with the vision of “Five Fs” and new $7.5
billion worth of global opportunities in recycling of textile waste.
❖ The Five Fs consists of - farm, fiber, fabric, fashion, and foreign.
❖ India’s textile exports have now reached ₹3 lakh crore, earning the world’s sixth
largest textile exporter’s tag.
❖ Textiles and apparel industry contributes 2.3% to country’s GDP, and 13% to
industrial production and 12% to exports.

New Fiscal Approach

❖ Indian government has announced that it will replace the fiscal deficit target with
the debt-to-GDP ratio as the primary fiscal anchor from FY 2026-27.
❖ It aims to ensure fiscal sustainability, enhance transparency, and provide greater
flexibility in managing public finances.
❖ The debt-to-GDP ratio measures the share of a country's national debt in relation
to its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
❖ It serves as a reliable indicator of fiscal health, capturing both past and present
borrowing trends.

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 ❖ The government has set a long-term target of reducing the central government’s
debt-GDP ratio to 50±1% by March 31, 2031.
❖ The fiscal deficit target for FY 2024-25 is estimated at 4.8% of GDP, lower than
the original target of 4.9%.
❖ For FY 2025-26, the government has projected a further reduction to 4.4% of
GDP.

Entity Locker
❖ The union government has introduced ‘Entity Locker,’ a new digital platform.
❖ It was aimed at streamlining the management and verification of business and
organizational documents.
❖ It is developed by the National eGovernance Division (NeGD) under the Ministry
of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

DIA scheme
❖ The Department of Commerce, Government of India has launched the Diamond
Imprest Authorization (DIA) Scheme.
❖ It was aimed at strengthening the country’s foothold in the global diamond trade.
❖ The initiative seeks to simplify and reduce the costs associated with the importing
and handling diamonds for exporters.
❖ Now, the Exporters can import natural cut and polished diamonds of less than
¼ carat (25 cents) without paying customs duty.

India’s Digital Economy Contribution

❖ India’s digital economy has emerged as a significant contributor to its economic
growth.
❖ It was accounting for 11.74% of the GDP (INR 31.64 lakh crore or USD 402 billion)
in 2022-23.
❖ It was employing 14.67 million workers (2.55% of the total workforce) and the
digital economy is nearly five times more productive than the rest of the economy.
❖ Projections indicate the digital economy’s share will grow to 20% of GVA by 2029-
30, outpacing agriculture and manufacturing.

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India’s Smartphone Exports 2025
❖ India's smartphone exports had reached Rs 1.55 trillion during the April-January
period
❖ These exports surpassed Rs 1.31 trillion in FY24.
❖ January (2025) alone recorded the highest-ever monthly exports at Rs 250 billion.
❖ It was marking a 140 per cent increase over January 2024.
❖ Apple’s iPhone vendors accounted for nearly 70 per cent of these exports, with
Foxconn’s Tamil Nadu facility contributing about half.

India-Qatar Trade by 2030

❖ India and Qatar have decided to upgrade their bilateral relations to a strategic
partnership, strengthening cooperation in trade, investment, and energy.
❖ Both nations aim to double bilateral trade from the current $14.08 billion to $28
billion over the next five years.
❖ The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) has already invested $1.5 billion in India

MCGS for MSMEs

❖ The Centre launched the ‘Mutual Credit Guarantee Scheme for MSMEs’.
❖ It was announced in the Union Budget 2025-26 to boost the micro, small, and
medium enterprises.
❖ The scheme facilitates collateral-free loans to MSMEs by providing loans up to Rs
100 crore for the purchase of plant, machinery, or equipment.
❖ The scheme would provide 60 per cent guarantee coverage by the National Credit
Guarantee Trustee Company Ltd (NCGTC) to member lending institutions (MLIs)
for a credit facility up to Rs 100 crores.

Credit Guarantee Scheme for e-NWRs

❖ Centre launched the Credit Guarantee Scheme for e-NWR based Pledge Financing
(CGS-NPF).
❖ This scheme provides a corpus of Rs 1,000-crore for post-harvest finance availed
by farmers against electronic negotiable warehouse receipts (e-NWRs).
❖ Guarantee coverage will be 85% for loans up to Rs. 3L.
❖ 80% guaranteed for loan is between 3 to 75 lakhs for small and marginal farmers
/ women / SC / ST / PwD.

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Periodic Labour force survey 2025
❖ Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) in urban areas among persons of age 15
years and above has increased from 49.9% during October - December, 2023 to
50.4% in quarter October – December, 2024.
❖ LFPR for male of age 15 years and above in urban areas increased from 74.1% to
75.4% during the same period.
❖ LFPR among female of age 15 years and above for urban areas increased from
25.0% to 25.2%.
❖ Unemployment Rate (UR) in urban areas among persons of age 15 years and
above decreased from 6.5% to 6.4%.
❖ UR among males of age 15 years and above remained same as 5.8%.
❖ UR among female of age 15 years and above decreased from 8.6 % to 8.1%.

India's LNG imports 2024

❖ India’s imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the US surged to an all-time
high of 252.28 trillion cubic feet during 2024.
❖ It is roughly 7.14 billion cubic meters (BCM).

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

NVS-02 - 100th Mission from Sriharikota

❖ ISRO on January 29, 2025 launched its historic 100th launch from the Satish
Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
❖ The GSLV-F15 with the NVS-02 satellite lifted off from the spaceport’s second
launch pad.
❖ NVS-02 is the second satellite in the NVS series.
❖ The GSLV-F15 is the 17th flight of India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch
Vehicle (GSLV) and 11th flight with Indigenous Cryo stage.
❖ It is the 8th operational flight of GSLV with an indigenous Cryogenic stage.
❖ The first launch, on August 10, 1979, was the experimental flight of the Satellite
Launch Vehicle-3 (SLV-3 E10) carrying the Rohini Technology Payload.

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World’s 1st deep sea radar
❖ Chinese scientists claim to have developed the world’s first seabed 'radar' capable
of detecting high-altitude aircraft.
❖ It could significantly enhance China’s intelligence network and reshape future
naval warfare.
❖ It is an acoustic sensor array positioned on the seabed at a depth of 1,000 metres.

China's tokamak’s new record

❖ An experimental nuclear fusion reactor in China maintained its reaction for more
than 1,000 seconds, or over 17 minutes, which is a new record.
❖ It has produced about 12 MW of electricity for five seconds, enough to cater to
the demands of about 10,000 homes for that period of time.

Discovery of LID-568
❖ NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Chandra X-ray observatory
has discovered a bizarre black hole.
❖ The newfound black hole was designated LID-568.
❖ It is a low-mass supermassive black hole that existed just 1.5 billion years after
the Big Bang.

Deep Seek AI – China

❖ Recently, Deep Seek launched its AI models—DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1, a
reasoning model.
❖ These models quickly, surpassing ChatGPT to become the most downloaded app
on the App Store.
❖ Deep Seek models are open-source, unlike the closed models from OpenAI and
Google.

Gaia BH3 black hole

❖ Astronomers have discovered a gigantic black hole named Gaia BH3 hiding close
to the earth, the third of its kind.
❖ BH3’s 33 solar masses easily surpass Cygnus X-1, the galaxy’s prevailing
heavyweight, by 12 solar masses.
❖ Gaia BH3 is located about 2,000 light years away in the constellation Aquila.
❖ All three were discovered by the European Space Agency’s Gaia telescope.

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FEAST software by ISRO
❖ ISRO unveiled the latest version of Finite Element Analysis of Structures (FEAST)
software.
❖ FEAST software is a structural analysis software based on finite element method
used for analysing the behaviour of structures under various loads in fields of
aerospace, automobile, civil, mechanical, and marine engineering.

1st Kangaroo embryos

❖ Scientists have successfully produced the first kangaroo embryos through in vitro
fertilisation (IVF).
❖ IVF is being explored around the world for conserving endangered species.
❖ In January 2024, scientists in Germany transferred a rhino embryo, the world's
first produced through IVF, into a surrogate.

Pyricularia Spp Infection

❖ The ICAR-Indian Institute of Spices Research (IISR) have identified a new fungal
disease, Pyricularia Spp, that severely affected ginger crops.
❖ Pyricularia Spp is a fungal pathogen cause a blast disease, which is a new threat
to ginger cultivation.
❖ Pyricularia is well known for causing blast diseases in monocot plants like rice,
wheat, and barley.
❖ Pyricularia has been 1st time reported in ginger crop in 2024 in parts of Kodagu
district in Karnataka.

Quipu superstructure
❖ Astronomers have identified what could be the largest structure ever found in the
known universe.
❖ This massive formation is named “Quipu."
❖ It stretches an astonishing 1.3 billion light-years approx. across and contains an
estimated 200 quadrillion solar masses.
❖ Quipu’s immense is scaled over 13,000 times the length of the Milky Way.
❖ This is the longest-known structure in the universe and surpassing the previous
record-holders like the Laniākea supercluster.

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R-37M Missile
❖ Russia has offered India to replace the R-77 air-to-air missile under the wings of
the Su-30MKI with the R-37M missile.
❖ The R-37M is also known by its NATO reporting name AA-13 Axe head.
❖ It is a long-range air-to-air missile developed by Russia.
❖ The R-77 has a maximum engagement distance of about 100 kilometers,
significantly less than the R-37M’s 300-400 kilometers.
❖ Speed-wise, the R-77 reaches up to Mach 4-5, while the R-37M can hit Mach 6.

BrahMos NG Cruise Missile

❖ India's BrahMos NG (Next Generation) missile system development is in advanced
stages.
❖ BrahMos NG is a sleeker missile with the same capabilities as its predecessor.
❖ Brahmos NG being lighter, smaller and compact, will be compatible to be fitted
into the Russian-origin Sukhoi-30MKI fighter aircraft and indigenously developed
Light Combat Aircraft Tejas.
❖ The missile has a range of 290 km and a speed of up to 3.5 Mach.
❖ After Philippines, Indonesia will become the second foreign buyer of the missile
systems.

Reimei computer
❖ The 20-qubit quantum computer, called Reimei, has been integrated into Japan’s
Fugaku.
❖ Fugaku is the world's sixth-fastest supercomputer.
❖ It is the first fully operational hybrid quantum supercomputer, combining the
quantum and classical computing for advanced problem-solving.

F11 Bacteria
❖ A research team has discovered a strain of bacteria capable of breaking down and
transforming at least three types of PFAS.
❖ Notably, this strain can also degrade some of toxic byproducts produced during
the breakdown process.
❖ The bacterium Labrys portucalensis F11 (F11) metabolized more than 90% of
perfluoro octane sulfonic acid (PFOS) over 100 days.

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 ❖ PFOS is one of the most prevalent and persistent PFAS compounds, was classified
as hazardous by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2022.
❖ F11 bacteria were originally isolated from the contaminated industrial soil in
Portugal.

First-ever cross-blood kidney transplant

❖ The Doctors at MIOT International in Chennai, made a cross-blood transplant in
patient with rare Bombay blood group
❖ In 2010, team of MIOT Hospitals a used a kidney from a donor with B blood group
on a recipient with O blood group, successfully.
❖ They have used special procedure called double filtration plasmapheresis (DFPP)
developed by the Japanese.
❖ The Bombay, a.k.a. HH, blood group is a rare blood group first discovered in
Mumbai in 1952 by Y.M. Bhende.

Gravehawk System
❖ Ukraine has reportedly acquired a new weapon system - the Gravehawk hybrid
surface-to-air missile system.
❖ The system was developed by the United Kingdom in collaboration with Denmark.
❖ It has been described as a UK-designed “mobile air defense system”.
❖ This can “retrofit” air-to-air missiles into a ground-based air defense role.
❖ The missiles can reach speeds of up to Mach 2.5 and engage targets at a range
of approximately 12 miles.

World’s Largest Vertical Propellant Mixer

❖ ISRO successfully developed a 10-tonne ‘vertical planetary mixer’, the largest of
its kind for solid propellants globally.
❖ Solid propulsion plays a crucial role in Indian space transportation systems.
❖ A propellant mixer is a machine that mixes the ingredients of rocket propellants,
specifically fuel and oxidiser.
❖ It will ensure a uniform and reliable mixture for solid rocket motors.

Grok 3 AI
❖ Elon Musk's xAI has released the new Grok 3 series of models.
❖ Grok-3 has more than 10 times the computing capability of its predecessor.
❖ Grok 3 is expected to be powered by xAI’s Colossus supercomputer.
❖ It is claimed that this is the Smartest AI on Earth.

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DDoS attack on Kaveri 2.0
❖ In January, the web-based portal Kaveri 2.0, which streamlines the property
registrations in Karnataka, faced sporadic, crippling server outages.
❖ As a result, property registration and document-related citizen services went
almost to a standstill in the state.
❖ It is a “motivated Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack”.
❖ A DDoS attack is a malicious attempt to disrupt the normal functioning of a
targeted server, service, or network by overwhelming it with a flood of internet
traffic.

Microsoft - Majorana 1
❖ The Microsoft has announced the arrival of Majorana 1, a new quantum chip that
produces more reliable and scalable qubits than its predecessors.
❖ Qubits are the building blocks of quantum computers.
❖ The Majorana 1 is an eight-qubit chip, which may seem modest when compared
to quantum chips developed by rivals such as Google’s Willow (106-qubit chip)
and IBM’s R2 Heron (156-qubit chip).

Einstein ring around galaxy NGC 6505

❖ Recently, the Euclid space mission of the European Space Agency (ESA) spotted
an Einstein ring in the galaxy NGC 6505.
❖ This is located just 590 million lightyears from the earth.
❖ An Einstein ring is a special case of strong gravitational lensing.
❖ Astronomers discovered the first Einstein ring in 1998, more than 80 years after
Einstein predicted their existence.
❖ An Einstein ring is created when a gravitational lens distorts light coming from a
distant background object, like a star or a galaxy.

Silicon Carbide from Simulated Lunar Soil

❖ IIT-Madras have tasted success in extracting the silicon carbide from (simulated)
moon soil.
❖ This development could lead to the making of silicon carbide-based composites
for building lunar habitats.
❖ Silicon carbide is a combination of silicon and carbon.

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Inkathazo galaxy
❖ South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope has discovered a new giant radio galaxy,
nicknamed ‘Inkathazo,’ meaning ‘trouble’.
❖ The cosmic megastructure measures 3.3 million light-years.
❖ It is 32 times the size of our Milky Way galaxy and is 1.44 billion light-years away
from Earth.
❖ MeerKAT will soon become part of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

Quantum Teleportation
❖ The researchers achieved quantum teleportation of logical gates.
❖ Quantum computers use qubits (quantum bits) instead of the traditional bits of
classical computers.
❖ However, the scalability of quantum computing has remained a challenge for the
scientists.
❖ They use the quantum teleportation to create interactions between these distant
systems.
❖ Quantum teleportation involves sending information from one place to the other
by using something called "quantum entanglement".
❖ Unlike sending a physical object, it is sending the state or condition of a particle.

Advanced Hydrogel for Cancer Treatment

❖ The Researchers from the IIT -Guwahati and the Bose Institute, Kolkata have
developed an advanced injectable hydrogel for localised cancer treatment.
❖ This hydrogel serves as a stable reservoir for anti-cancer drugs, releasing it in a
controlled manner while sparing healthy cells from harm.

Javelin Anti-Tank Guided Missile

❖ India and the US have announced plans to pursue the new procurements and
co-production arrangements for Javelin anti-tank guided missiles.
❖ FGM-148 Javelin is a highly advanced American-made anti-tank guided missile
system.
❖ It is the man-portable, shoulder-fired, anti-armour system automatically guides
itself to the target after launch.
❖ It has an effective range of 2.5 km.

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Perovskite LEDs
❖ The Indian scientists have developed an innovative method to minimise anion
migration in perovskite nanocrystals.
❖ It will address key challenges such as sensitivity to heat and moisture, as well as
colour instability.
❖ Perovskite is a class of compounds which have the same type of crystal structure
as CaTiO3 – Calcium Titanate.
❖ Perovskite LEDs, which combine the advantages of OLEDs and QLEDs.

GG Tau A System
❖ Indian astronomers discovered a unique triple-star system known as GG Tau A.
❖ It is located approximately 489 light-years from Earth.
❖ This region, known as a birthplace for young planets, features a protoplanetary
disk—a swirling ring of gas and dust.

VSHORADS Trials
❖ DRDO has successfully conducted three successive flight-trials of Very Short-
Range Air Defence System (VSHORADS).
❖ VSHORADS is a Man Portable Air Defence system designed and developed
indigenously.
❖ The missile system has the capability to meet the needs of all the three branches
of the Armed Forces, viz. Indian Army, Navy and Air Force.

Human Gene Therapy for Hemophilia

❖ The Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore have successfully executed a first-
in-human gene therapy using lentiviral vectors for the disease.
❖ Haemophilia is a severe bleeding disorder caused by the deficiency of clotting
Factor VIII.
❖ It is leading to spontaneous internal and external bleeding episodes.
❖ India bears the world’s second-largest burden of haemophilia.

GLP-1 receptor agonists

❖ Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) are novel drugs approved
for diabetes and obesity.

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 ❖ They are originally developed for treating diabetes, work by stimulating insulin
secretion and suppressing glucagon release, thereby helping regulate blood
sugar.
❖ Now, these drugs also act on the brain’s reward system, an area deeply involved
in addiction.

TOI-6038A b
❖ A team of the scientists from the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad
discovered a giant planet that is bigger than Earth but smaller than Saturn.
❖ The planet, dubbed TOI-6038A b, is a dense sub-Saturn size with a mass of 78.5
Earth masses and a radius of 6.41 Earth radii in a wide binary system.
❖ TOI-6038A, is part of a binary system along with a K-type companion star, TOI-
6038B
❖ The planet orbits a bright, metal-rich F-type star every 5.83 days in a circular
orbit.
❖ An F-type star is a type of star that is hotter and brighter than our Sun but not
as extreme as the hottest stars in the universe.
❖ It falls between A-type (hotter) and G-type (like our Sun) in the star classification
system.
❖ It is the fifth exoplanet discovery facilitated by the combined efforts of the PARAS-
1 and PARAS-2 spectrographs.
❖ India's growing proficiency in the astronomical instrumentation is highlighted
through PARAS-2.
❖ PARAS-2 is the most precise stabilized radial velocity (RV) spectrograph in Asia.

KM3NeT Collaboration
❖ Recent developments in neutrino research have come from the KM3NeT (Cubic
Kilometre Neutrino Telescope) Collaboration.
❖ It is an international effort focused on constructing deep-sea observatories.
❖ The KM3NeT Collaboration unites more than 360 experts from 68 institutions in
21 countries.
❖ This team is constructing observatories deep beneath the Mediterranean Sea.
❖ Neutrinos are subatomic particles that are electrically neutral and have a very
small mass.
❖ They recently recorded a ghost particle in the Mediterranean Sea with the ARCA
detector of the KM3NeT project.
❖ The astounding neutrino, named KM3-230213A.

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Brine Pools at Red Sea
❖ The Scientists who have been exploring the Red Sea have discovered the natural
death traps in the region.
❖ The newly discovered NEOM Brine Pools are located mere 1.25 miles from shore.
❖ It is believed to be the location where Moses parted the waters.
❖ The brine pools were found 4,000 feet below the surface of the Gulf of Aqaba.
❖ Here the water is estimated to be up to 10 times saltier than the normal seawater
and a lack of oxygen causes the pools to kill or stun all marine life that enters it.

ENVIRONMENT

Olive Ridley turtles in Rushikulya mouth

❖ The Olive Ridley turtles had skipped the River Rushikulya mouth in Odisha’s
Ganjam district in 2024 for the mass nesting.
❖ Rushikulya river mouth is one of the major rookeries in the country, where
millions of female Olives Ridley turtles’ throng for mass nesting (arribada in
Spanish).
❖ The other sites in Odisha, where mass nesting of the Olive Ridleys take place are
Gahirmatha and Deve river mouth in Kendrapara and Puri districts, respectively.
❖ The mass nesting in the river mouth was missed in 2002, 2007, 2016, 2019,
2021 and 2024.

New wetlands in Tamil Nadu 2025

❖ Two bird sanctuaries in Tamil Nadu’s Ramanathapuram district — Sakkarakottai
and Therthangal — have been designated as Ramsar sites.
❖ With this, the State has 20 Ramsar sites and continues to have the highest
number of Ramsar sites in India.
❖ Uttar Pradesh follows with 10 sites.
❖ Ramanathapuram hosts two other Ramsar sanctuaries, that is Chitrangudi and
Kanjirankulam.
❖ Other 2 new sites are the Khecheopalri Wetland (Sikkim), and the Udhwa Lake
(Jharkhand).
❖ Thus, now India hosts total of 89 Ramsar sites.
❖ Tamil Nadu received its first Ramsar designation in 2002 for the Point Calimere
Wildlife and Bird Sanctuary.

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Mount Taranaki - Legal Person
❖ New Zealand has granted Mount Taranaki, now officially known as Taranaki
Maunga, the same legal rights as a human being.
❖ This recognition makes Taranaki Maunga the third natural feature in the country
to be accorded individual status.
❖ Earlier the Whanganui River and Te Urewera National Parkgot received the same
legal rights.
❖ Indigenous people view Mount Taranaki-now known by its Maori name, Taranaki
Maunga-as an ancestral entity.
❖ Mt Taranaki will effectively own itself, with representatives of the local tribes, iwi,
and government working together to manage it.

A23a in Atlantic Ocean

❖ A23a is the largest iceberg in the world was freed from the Filchner Ice Shelf in
Antarctica.
❖ It was set afloat recently on his journey in the south Atlantic.
❖ It's about one trillion tons in weight and has an area of about 400 square miles.

International Big Cat Alliance 2025

❖ The International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) has officially come into force as a treaty-
based, inter-governmental organisation.
❖ It is becoming a fully functional international legal entity on January 23.
❖ The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was acting as the Depository for the
Framework Agreement.
❖ The IBCA was launched by India on April 9, 2023, during an event
commemorating the 50th anniversary of Project Tiger.
❖ The initiative’s main objective is the conservation of seven major big cat species:
the Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Cheetah, Jaguar, and Puma.
❖ As of now, 27 countries, including India, have agreed to join the IBCA.

Eurasian Otters in Kashmir

❖ The Eurasian otters have resurfaced in the Valley of Kashmir over the last 3
years.
❖ This is first live documentation of the species for the last 25 years.
❖ In 1997, people spotted them in the back waters of famous Dal Lake.

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 ❖ The Eurasian otters is locally known as Vodur belongs to Mustelidae family and
inhabits semi-aquatic environments.
❖ The species feeds on fish and is responsible for maintaining healthy ecosystem.
❖ IUCN listed the Eurasian otters as near threatened on its red list in 2004 and
2008.

2025 Annual bird count - Pong Dam Lake

❖ The 2025 annual bird count at Pong Dam Lake Wildlife Sanctuary, recorded an
unprecedented surge in waterfowl, with a total of 1,53,719 birds of 97 species.
❖ Pong Dam Lake Wildlife Sanctuary is a protected wetland in Himachal Pradesh.
❖ The overall rise in bird numbers - 83,555 more individuals than were counted in
2024.

Climate Risk Index 2025

❖ India has improved its Climate Risk Index (CRI) rank from seventh worst affected
country globally due to extreme weather events in 2019 to 49th in 2022.
❖ However, historically it remains among the top 10 most affected ones by figuring
as the sixth worst in long-term (1993-2022) assessment.
❖ The findings are part of the CRI 2025, released by the environmental think tank
Germanwatch.
❖ India reported loss of 80,000 lives and nearly $180 billion in 400 extreme weather
events in 30 years (1993-2022).
❖ Globally, more than 7,65,000 people lost their lives due to more than 9,400
extreme weather events in the 30 years until 2022.
❖ India experienced devastating floods in 1993, 1998, and 2013, along with severe
heat waves in 2002, 2003, and 2015.

Intertidal BioBlitz
❖ India’s first Intertidal Bioblitz uncovers hidden treasures with a stunning array
of more than 500 species across coastal regions of Visakhapatnam, Mumbai, Goa
and Andamans.
❖ The Mumbai suburban recorded 80 species and while metropolitan recorded 120
species during the biobltiz.
❖ The Andaman Islands uncovered more than 70 species over the course of three
intertidal walks in different locations.

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Arctic Boreal Zone - Carbon Source
❖ The Arctic Boreal Zone, encompassing the treeless tundra, boreal forests, and the
wetlands spread over 26 million square kilometres, has undergone a significant
transformation.
❖ 40 per cent of this region has become a carbon source, releasing more of carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere than it absorbs.
❖ This is marking a shift from its role as a carbon sink for millennia.
❖ Permafrost, defined as soil or rock that remains at or below 0 degrees Celsius for
at least two consecutive years, stores vast amounts of carbon locked in ice.

Coral reefs in the Gulf of Eilat in Red Sea

❖ Researchers have discovered a significant pause in coral reef growth in the Gulf
of Eilat/Aqaba during the late Holocene period.
❖ Coral reefs in the Gulf of Eilat experienced a surprising 3,000-year ‘shutdown’ in
growth, from about 4,400 to 1,000 years ago.

Faunal survey in Parambikulam TR

❖ A faunal survey by the Forest Department at the Parambikulam Tiger Reserve in
Palakkad has added 15 new species to the protected area’s checklist.
❖ The survey recorded a total of 206 bird species.
❖ With the new additions, the total number of bird species in the reserve to 302
species.
❖ Five new butterfly species were also added to the reserve’s checklist.
❖ The addition of these species brings the butterfly count at the reserve to 273.

Record of Blue-cheeked Bee-eater

❖ The first breeding site of the Blue-Cheeked Bee-eater (merops persicus) in penin
-sular India has been discovered in Aandivilai near the Manakudy Mangroves in
Kanniyakumari district.
❖ Its breeding was primarily recorded in regions such as Nile Delta, Pakistan, and
Iran while its wintering grounds include parts of Africa.
❖ Some breeding burrows of the bird were eventually found along the saltpans of
Pazhayar river basin.

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Aravali safari park project
❖ It is the Haryana state government’s ambitious 3,858-hectare Aravali safari park
project.
❖ It is envisaged to be the world’s largest safari park.

New Phytopathogenic Fungus

❖ The Researchers have also recently discovered a new species of phytopathogenic
fungi, epicoccum indicum.
❖ It is associated with an emerging leaf spot disease in Chrysopogon zizanioides
(vetiver).
❖ Phytopathogenic fungi causes to diseases in the plants, leading to the significant
economic losses in agriculture and horticulture.

Beryllium-10 in Pacific Ocean

❖ The scientists have detected the unexpected accumulation of Beryllium-10 in the
samples collected from the Pacific seabed.
❖ Beryllium-10 is a rare radioactive isotope produced by the cosmic rays in the
atmosphere that can provide valuable insights into the Earth's geological history.
❖ Beryllium-10 has a half-life of 1.4 million years.

Iraq’s Zagros Mountains

❖ The region surrounding the Zagros Mountains in the Iraq’s north is sinking.
❖ The Researchers has found a sinking oceanic “slab” below the Earth’s surface is
pulling the northern region of Iraq down with it.
❖ A growing tear is forming in a region along the Arabian and Eurasian continental
plates known as the Neo Tethys oceanic slab.
❖ The slab, which formed the floor of an ancient ocean more than 66 million years
ago, is splitting from southeast Turkey to northwest Iran.
❖ So now, the slab is sinking into the Earth’s mantle.
❖ This process is complex and takes tens of millions of years.

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 REPORTS AND INDICES

Top 10 most powerful countries – 2025

❖ Forbes has released its 2025 list of the world’s 10 most powerful countries.
❖ The United States is leading the global rankings, followed by China in second
place and Israel rounding up the list at the tenth spot.
❖ Russia, with a $2.2 trillion GDP and a population of 84 million, has been ranked
third.
❖ The United Kingdom is fourth on the list this year, with a GDP of $3.73 trillion.
❖ Germany has been ranked fifth on the list. It possesses a $4.92 trillion economy.
❖ India is ranked 12th among the world's most powerful countries, with its GDP
estimated at $3.55 trillion and a population of 1.43 billion.

Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2024

❖ Transparency International releases Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2024.
❖ Denmark topped the list of being the least-corrupt nation, followed by Finland
and Singapore.
❖ India ranked 96 out of 180 countries in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI)
for 2024 as its overall score dropped a point to 38.
❖ It uses a scale of zero to 100, where "zero" is highly corrupt and "100" is very
clean.
❖ In 2024, India's overall score was 38 while it was 39 in 2023 and 40 in 2022.
❖ India's rank in 2023 was 93.

Global Investment Trends Monitor report 2024

❖ The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) released
its Global Investment Trends Monitor for 2024.
❖ The Global Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows are increased by 11% reaching
about USD 1.4 trillion in 2024.
❖ However, when excluding flows through the European conduit economies, FDI
was decreased by around 8%.
❖ FDI into developed economies was surged by 43%.
❖ Greenfield investment announcements decreased by 6% in number.

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 ❖ FDI in Africa was surged by 84% to the USD 94 billion, mainly driven by a large
project in Egypt.
❖ FDI flows to the developing Asia was decreased by 7%, with China experiencing
a 29% decline.
❖ ASEAN members saw a 2% increase and India saw a 13% rise.
❖ India experienced growth in greenfield projects.

Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report 2025

❖ The World Bank has released the Global Economic Prospects (GEP) report 2025.
❖ It is a flagship biannual publication of the World Bank Group.
❖ Global Economy projected to expand by 2.7% in both 2025 and 2026, the same
pace as in 2024.
❖ Developing Economies, now are contributing about 45% of global GDP, compared
to 25% at the start of the century.
❖ India, China, and Brazil, the three largest Emerging Markets have collectively
driven approximately 60% of annual global growth since the start of the century.
❖ India is projected to remain the fastest-growing large economy for FY26 and FY27
(growth rate – 6.7%).

World's largest military spender in 2025

❖ The global defence expenditures reached $2.46 trillion in 2024.
❖ The United States is the world’s largest military spender in 2025.
❖ US not only continues to dominate the rankings but also makes up 62.3 per cent
of the global top five military spenders.
❖ US is also followed by China and Russia with 18.6 per cent and 8.8 per cent,
respectively.
❖ India is recognised as one of the world’s leading military powers, ranking fourth
on the Global Firepower Index.

Asia and the Pacific SDG Progress Report 2025

❖ It is released by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
(ESCAP).
❖ Asia and the Pacific has improved, with 54 per cent of indicators having at least
two data points in 2024.

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 ❖ Significant gaps prevail, particularly concerning the disaggregated data by age,
disability, sex and location.

WEF report on Quantum Economy

❖ This report was named “Embracing the Quantum Economy: A Pathway for
Business Leaders”.
❖ The global quantum technology market is projected to reach $125 billion by 2030.
❖ Countries investing in quantum R&D, such as the U.S., China, and India, aim to
secure strategic advantages in defence, economy, and technological leadership.

Blueprint to Close the Women’s Health Gap Report

❖ This report was prepared by the World Economic Forum and the McKinsey Health
Institute.
❖ Women live 25% more of their lives in poor health when compared to men.
❖ 9 selected conditions drive 1/3rd of women’s health gap.
❖ It includes conditions that affects lifespan and conditions that affect health span
which includes Cervical & Breast cancer, Maternal hypertensive disorders etc.
❖ Closing this health gap could generate $1 trillion in annual global GDP by 2040.

THE World Reputation Rankings 2025

❖ The Harvard University emerged as the leading institution in the list of top
universities across the globe renowned for their academic reputations and the
prestige.
❖ This marks 14th consecutive year that Harvard University continues to hold the
top spot in the World Reputation Rankings 2025.
❖ The University of Oxford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
jointly share the second spot.
❖ Oxford University is the only highest-ranked UK institution in the top 7 list, while
the rest are US universities.
❖ This year, as many as 300 institutions from 38 countries and territories have
been ranked by the Times Higher Education (THE).
❖ Bengaluru's Indian Institute of Science (IISc) slipped to the 201-300 band from
101-125 ranking in 2023.
❖ IIT Delhi and IIT Madras also slipped ranks, joining IISc's 201-300 band.

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 ❖ IIT Delhi slipped from 151-175 band to 201-300, while IIT Madras dropped to
201-300 band from 176-200.
❖ IIT Bombay did not find a place in the list while in the previous year it appeared
in151-175 rankings.
❖ Shiksha ‘O’ Anusandhan, a private deemed-to-be university located in Odisha's
Bhubaneswar, is the new entrant in the list that found a spot in the 201-300
band.

Electricity 2025 report – IEA

❖ International Energy Agency (IEA) recently released the Electricity 2025 Report.
❖ Global energy demand rose by 4.3% in 2024 and forecast to continue to grow at
close to 4% out to 2027.
❖ China emerged as highest consumer of electricity leaving behind USA or EU.
❖ Global CO2 emissions from electricity generation are projected to stabilize from
2025 to 2027, following 1% rise in 2024.
❖ Renewable energy is set to meet about 95% of electricity demand growth from
2025-2027.
❖ India’s Electricity demand surged 5.8% in 2024 and forecast to grow at an
average 6.3% annually from 2025- 2027.
❖ India’s Nuclear power rose 13% in 2024.
❖ India’s thermal power capacity will rise to 283 GW by 2032.
❖ Coal remains dominant with 74% of India’s power mix in 2024.
❖ Renewable energy share to grow from 21 % (2024) to 27% (2027).

STATES
Population of Koraga tribe
❖ With falling birth rate and increase in infant mortality rate, the population of
Koragas is declining drastically.
❖ Two decades ago, Koragas were 20,000 in number, now it come down to 16,000.
❖ The Koraga tribe is classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).
❖ They are mainly found in the Dakshina Kannada district and Udupi districts of
Karnataka.

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Cannabis Cultivation Pilot Project
❖ Himachal Pradesh Cabinet has approved a pilot study by two universities on the
controlled cultivation of cannabis for medicinal and industrial purposes.
❖ In Madhya Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, already such cultivation has been
approved.
❖ If the pilot project is successful, Himachal Pradesh will become the fourth state
to allow controlled cannabis cultivation.
❖ Uttarakhand is the first state to allow controlled cannabis cultivation in 2018.

Chocolate War - Jharkhand Police

❖ The Jharkhand Police has adopted a unique initiative to check opium cultivation
among the state's rural population, naming it the "Chocolate War."
❖ Under the initiative, police personnel visit weekly village markets and distribute
chocolates in wrappers containing information about the legal repercussions of
opium cultivation.
❖ Notably, the state's Khunti district is among the worst affected, where opium has
become a 'major crop.'

Deepor Beel Festival 2025

❖ The recent, 3rd annual Deepor Beel Winter Birding Festival 2025 saw an increase
in the number of both migratory and residential birds compared to the count
done in 2024.
❖ Deepor Beel is a perennial freshwater lake located on the outskirts of Guwahati,
in the Kamrup district of Assam.

MY NREGA App - Barmer, Rajasthan

❖ 2020 batch IAS officer Siddharth Palanichamy took the initiative to develop the
MY NREGA App.
❖ This app is designed to simplify the employment demand process for the
MNREGA workers.
❖ It will be allowing them to apply for work with ease from their homes.

Rajasthan Anti-Conversion Bill 2025

❖ Rajasthan Assembly introduced a Bill to prevent religious conversions carried out
by force, fraud or inducement.

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 ❖ This bill states that those involved in unlawful conversion can be punished with
one to five years in jail with a minimum fine of Rs 15,000.
❖ In case of an unlawful conversion targeting a minor, a woman or a person
belonging to the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST), the punishment
can be between two to 10 years with a fine of Rs 25,000.
❖ For an unlawful mass conversion, the imprisonment would be three to 10 years
with a minimum fine of Rs 50,000.

‘Dhimsa’ dance
❖ The Tribal families from Neelabandha, a hillptop hamlet in Anakapalli district,
Andhra Pradesh received electricity for the first time after Independence.
❖ Dhimsa is a popular tribal dance in Andhra Pradesh performed by Bagata,
Valmiki, Poraja, Khond, Gadaba, Kondadora, Mukadora, and Kotia tribes.
❖ It symbolizes the unity and cultural heritage, with themes based on mythology,
folktales, economic activities, kinship, and marital life.
❖ There are 12 varieties of Dhimsa and its origin can be traced to the Koraput Area
the home to Ghond Tribe.
❖ It is accompanied by wind and percussion instruments, the dance changes by
the music, and a troupe comprises 20.

Makhana board in Bihar

❖ The Union Budget announced the establishment of “Makhana Board” in Bihar.
❖ It will improve the production, processing, value addition, and marketing of
makhana.
❖ Bihar contributes to 90% of makhana production in India.
❖ In 2022, ‘Mithila Makhana’ was conferred a Geographical Indication (GI) tag.

EV infrastructure status 2025

❖ Tamil Nadu is one of the frontrunners when it comes to creating infrastructure
needed to encourage adoption of more electric vehicles (EV) and manufacturing.
❖ Uttar Pradesh leads in the number of the EV charging stations installed by Oil
Marketing Companies with 2,561 stations.
❖ It is followed by Maharashtra with 1,595, Karnataka with 1,516, Rajasthan with
1,482 and Tamil Nadu with 1,448.

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Basalt Mining – Deocha Pachami
❖ The Work on the Deocha Pachami Coal Mining project in West Bengal’s Birbhum
district began recently.
❖ Mining of basalt is considered the first major step towards making the coal mine
functional as the coal reserve lies under a thick layer of basalt.

Goby Fish in Andhra Pradesh

❖ The Researchers discovered two species of goby fish – Hemigobius hoevenii and
Mugilogobius tigrinus at the Coringa wildlife sanctuary near Kakinada in Andhra
Pradesh.
❖ They had not been recorded in Andhra Pradesh previously.
❖ This discovery is significant as M. tigrinus has been found along the eastern
coastline of India for the first time.
❖ Both species belong to a group of fish commonly known as "gobies."
❖ Most gobies found in estuarine areas, especially around mangroves.

Morand-Ganjal Irrigation Project

❖ The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has warned that construction
of the Morand-Ganjal Irrigation Project in Madhya Pradesh could submerge the
forested areas used by tigers.
❖ The project involves the building of two dams on the Morand and Ganjal rivers to
improve irrigation in Hoshangabad, Betul, Harda, and Khandwa districts of the
state.

Nagoba Jatara 2025 - Telangana

❖ Keslapur village in Indervelli mandal of Telangana is celebrated the ‘Nagoba
jatara’.
❖ It is the famous annual tribal fair of the Boigutta branch of Mesram clan of the
aboriginal Raj Gond and Pradhan tribes
❖ It is the second biggest tribal festival in India, after the Sammakka Saralamma
Jatara, of Telangana.
❖ Gonds are one of the largest tribal groups in the world and subdivided into four
tribes.

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President Rule in Manipur
❖ The northeastern hill state of Manipur - rocked by violence for around two years
and staring at a constitutional crisis was brought under President's Rule.
❖ This is the 11th time President's Rule has been declared in the state since 1951.
❖ Article 174(1) of the Constitution says that state Assemblies have to be convened
no later than six months after their last sitting.
❖ The last imposition of President's Rule in Manipur began from June 2, 2001 and
ended on March 6, 2002, lasting for 277 days.
❖ Since the Constitution came into force in 1950, the President’s Rule has been
imposed a total of 134 times.

Pangsau Pass Festival 2025

❖ The Pangsau Pass International Festival was held in Nampong, Arunachal
Pradesh.
❖ Pangsau Pass or Pan Saung Pass is situated in 3,727 feet (1,136 m) altitude.
❖ It lies on the crest of the Patkai Hills on the India-Myanmar border.
❖ The pass offers easiest routes into Burma from the Assam plains.
❖ Pangsau Pass is considered to be “Hell gate” or “Hell Pass” due to difficult terrains
in the Indo-Burma Patkai Mountain Range.

Chilika Lake Bird Census 2025

❖ Over 11 lakh birds of 196 different species thronged Chilika lagoon this year
annual mid-winter waterfowl census 2025.
❖ The number of bird species congregated in the lake has increased.
❖ The bird count dropped by around 10,000 compared to last year when the head
count was around 11.37 lakh.
❖ 109 migratory and 87 resident categories found roosting in Chilika this season.
❖ 187 species (108 migratory and 79 resident) found last year.

India’s first Elderly Commission

❖ Kerala is set to establish India’s first Elderly Commission.
❖ It aims to address the challenges of its rapidly ageing population, ensuring senior
citizens’ rights, welfare, and social integration.
❖ Kerala’s elderly population is projected to reach 8.4 million by 2036.

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TrailGuard AI System
❖ Odisha’s Simlipal Tiger Reserve has 100-150 AI-enabled cameras that send real-
time alerts of poachers and animal movement inside the forest.
❖ The camera then performs the AI inference on the edge, meaning it uses the chip
inside to sort between various object classes such as ‘animals’, ‘humans’, and
‘vehicles’ in the image.
❖ If the AI deems it a necessary, it autonomously transmits an image using the
cellular system attached to the camera to an end-user in 30-40 seconds.

nPROUD Initiative
❖ Kerala is set to launch nPROUD (New Programme for Removal of Unused Drugs).
❖ It is a first-of-its-kind initiative in India to collect and scientifically dispose of
expired and unused medicines.

Delhi's New Chief Minister

❖ First-time MLA Rekha Gupta sworn as Delhi's new chief minister.
❖ The BJP party returns to power in the national capital after 27 years, securing
48 seats in the 70-member House.
❖ She was elected as a councillor from North Pitampura in 2007.

Organophosphate Poisoning in Baddal

❖ Organophosphate could be behind the 17 deaths that had spread panic in the
J&K’s Baddal village.
❖ These chemicals are used in pesticides and insecticides.
❖ Organophosphates are generally used to protect crops from pests and even to
control the spread of disease by insects.
❖ Organophosphates are synthetic chemicals.
❖ Initially developed for military use as nerve agents, they were later adapted for
agricultural purposes.

Uttarakhand Land law amendment bill

❖ The Uttarakhand Cabinet approved the Bhoo Kanoon (land law amendment bill).
❖ It will contain some stringent provisions pertaining to the purchase and sale of
agricultural /horticulture and the residential land by non-residents in 11 hill
districts.

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 ❖ The blanket ban on purchase of agricultural land will be applicable in the state
capital, Dehradun and some other districts.
❖ The purchase of agricultural/horticulture land will be allowed in Haridwar and
Udham Singh Nagar districts.

Mising Tribe - Ali Ai Ligang festival

❖ Assam’s Mising tribe have celebrated the Ali Ai Ligang festival recently.
❖ They are the largest tribal community in assam.
❖ It has been observed by the Mising community since ancient times.
❖ The festival includes the traditional Gumrag dance, performed by the men and
women in rhythmic harmony.
❖ They are part of the Tani people, who speak Tibeto-Burmese languages.

Bathouism - Official Religion in Assam’s BTR

❖ The government of the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) in Assam now includes
‘Bathouism’ as an official option in the religion column of the various application
forms.
❖ Bathouism is the traditional faith of the Bodos, the largest plains tribe of Assam.
❖ It has been the ancestral faith of the Bodos, though the Bodo society has seen
reformist movements like that of Kalicharan Brahma.
❖ The faith system is based on five elements: Bar (Air), San (Sun), Ha (Earth), Or
(Fire) and Okhrang (Sky).
❖ The Bathou faith is centred on the Sijou plant (Euphorbia splendens).

Palamu Tiger Reserve 2025 status

❖ For the first time in Jharkhand, the tiger of which had vacated from the Palamu
Tiger Reserve (PTR) brought back to its native territory.
❖ The Dalma Wildlife Sanctuary (Shelter) located in Jamshedpur is famous for the
elephants.
❖ Palamu Tiger Reserve is the first such sanctuary in the world, where tiger census
was done on the basis of footprint count.

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 PERSONALITIES, AWARDS AND EVENTS

Personalities Associated fields Remarks

Hariman Sharma Indian agriculture Apple Man of India
Libia Lobo Sardesai Goan freedom fighter Honoured with the Padma Shri
Group Captain Astronaut First Indian astronaut to travel to the
Shubhanshu Shukla International Space Station
Nirmala Finance Minister Presented a record eighth consecutive
Sitharaman’s budget.
Sunita Williams Astronaut Set a new record for the longest
spacewalking time by a woman, (62
hours and 6 minutes)
K. Alamelu Scout member Torch-bearer of the 75th Bharat Scouts
and Guides’ Diamond Jubilee function
Tshego Gaelae Mrs World 2025 First black woman to win the title in
the competition's 40-year history.
Mohammed Rafi Playback singer Government has decided to issue a
commemorative coin with the
denomination of ₹100.
C. Subramaniam Former Union Founder of National Agro Foundation
Minister (NAF)
R.M. Vasagam Space scientist Project director of India’s Baskara
satellite

BCCI Annual Awards 2025

Jasprit Bumrah Polly Umrigar Award for Best Men's International Cricketer
of 2023-24.
Sachin Tendulkar Col CK Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award
Smriti Mandhana Best women International Cricketer of 2023-24
Ravichandran Ashwin Special award
Sarfaraz Khan Best International Debut - men
Asha Sobhana Best International Debut -women
Mandhana Highest Run Getter in ODIs medal
Deepti Sharma Highest Wickets in ODIs
Tanush Kotian Best Performance in the BCCI Domestic Tournaments

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Mumbai Cricket Best Performance in BCCI Domestic Tournaments Trophy
Association
Akshay Totre Best Umpire in Domestic Cricket
BBC Awards 2024 winners
Manu Bhaker Indian Sports woman of the Year award for 2024
Sheetal Devi (archery) Emerging Player of the Year
Mithali Raj (cricket) Lifetime Achievement
Avani Lekhara Indian Para-sportswoman of the Year
(shooting)

5 Guinness records - Ayush ministry

❖ Ayush ministry's campaign Desh Ka Prakriti Parikshan Abhiyaan has achieved
an unprecedented five Guinness World Records.
❖ The most pledges received for a health campaign in one week: with 6,004,912
pledges, surpassing the minimum requirement of 14,571.
❖ The most pledges received for a health campaign in one month: with 13,892,976
pledges.
❖ It is surpassing the previous record of 58,284 pledges held by Cigna & CMB Life
Insurance Company Limited (China).
❖ The most pledges have received for a health campaign: overall with 13,892,976
pledges, surpassing the previous record of 569,057 pledges held by Zifi FDC
Limited (India).
❖ The largest online photo album of people displaying a digital certificate is with
62,525 photos.
❖ This is breaking the previous record of 29,068 photos held by the Accenture
Solutions Private Limited (India).
❖ The largest online video album of people saying the same sentence is with 12,798
videos.
❖ This is surpassing the previous record of 8,992 videos held by Ghe Bharari, Rahul
Kulkarni, and Neelam Edlabadkar (India).

14AFAF 2025
❖ The 14th Asian Fisheries and Aquaculture Forum (14AFAF) on the “Greening the
Blue Growth in Asia-Pacific” was held in Delhi.
❖ The AFAF is a triennial event of the Asian Fisheries Society with its Headquarters
in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
❖ This event is being hosted in India for the 2nd time after the 8AFAF held at Kochi
in 2007.

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 SPORTS
23rd National Para Athletics Championship 2025
❖ The official logo and mascot for the 23rd National Para Athletics Championship
2025 were unveiled in Chennai.
❖ The championship will bring together over 1,700 para-athletes from across the
country.
❖ The Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT), in collaboration with
the Tamil Nadu Para Sports Association, is supporting the event.

Para archery Asia cup 2025

❖ The 2025 Para Archery Asia Cup - World Ranking Tournament was held in
Bangkok, Thailand
❖ The 27-member Indian archery contingent won six gold medals to top the medals
tally.
❖ Overall, the Indian contingent won 12 medals – six gold, three silver, and three
bronze in the tournament.

National Games 2025

❖ The 38th edition of the National Games was held in Uttarakhand with 28 states,
the eight union territories and the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB).
❖ The Services bagged nine more medals, including three gold, for a Games total
haul of 121 (68 gold, 26 silver, 27 bronze).
❖ It had finished second behind Maharashtra in the 2023 edition in Goa.
❖ Before that, it had topped the medal tally in four successive National Games
(2007, 2011, 2015 and 2022).
❖ Maharashtra won more medals than Services with 198 (54 gold, 71 silver, 73
bronze) but the lesser number of golds.
❖ Even Haryana got more medals than Services with 153 (48 gold, 47 silver, 58
bronze).
❖ Tamil Nadu (27 gold, 30 silver, 34 bronze), Uttarakhand (24 gold, 35 silver, 43
bronze), West Bengal (16 gold, 13 silver, 18 bronze), Punjab (15 gold, 20 silver,
31 bronze) and Delhi (15 gold, 18 silver, 29 bronze) rounded off the top-10.

9th Asian Winter Games 2025

❖ The 9th Asian Winter Games were held in Harbin, China.
❖ The official mascots are “Binbin” and “Nini” (tigers), and the motto was “Dream
of Winter, Love among Asia”.

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 ❖ China topped the medal tally with 85 medals (32 Gold, 27 Silver, 26 Bronze).
❖ Republic of Korea finished second with 45 medals (16 Gold, 15 Silver, 14 Bronze).
❖ Japan secured third place with 37 medals.
❖ Kazakhstan and the Philippines completed the top five rankings.
❖ India sent its largest-ever contingent of 59 athletes but did not win any medals.

IMPORTANT DAYS

DATE IMPORTANT DAYS THEME

January 30 Martyrs’ Day 2025
January 30 World Neglected Tropical Unite. Act. Eliminate
Diseases Day 2025 -
February 02 World Wetlands Day 2025 Protecting Wetlands for Our
Common Future
February 01 Indian coast guard day
February 01/07 World interfaith harmony week
2025
February 04 World Cancer Day 'United by Unique
February 02/08 International Development Week Building a better world together
2025

February 06 International Day of Zero Step up the Pace

Tolerance to Female Genital
Mutilation 2025
February 10 International Day of the Arabian
Leopard 2025
February 10 International Epilepsy Day 2025 MyEpilepsyJourney

February 10 National Deworming Day 2025 Eliminate STH: Invest in a

healthier future for children
February 11 International Day of Women and Unpacking STEM Careers: Her
Girls in Science 2025 Voice in Science
February 11 Anti-Smuggling Day 2025
February 11 World Unani Day 2025 'Innovations in Unani Medicine
for Integrative Health Solutions'

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 Together for a Better Internet
February 11 Safer Internet Day 2025
February 12 National Productivity Day 2025 From Ideas to Impact: Protecting
Intellectual Property for
Competitive Startups
February 11 - India Energy Week
14
February 12 International Day for the
Prevention of Violent Extremism
2025
February 12 International Darwin Day 2025
February 13 World Radio Day 2025
February 13 National Women’s Day 2025
February 14 World Congestion Heart Defect
Awareness Day 2025
February 15 International Childhood Cancer
Day 2025
February 20 World Day of Social Justice 2025 Empowering Inclusion: Bridging
Gaps for Social Justice
February 20 Mizoram Foundation Day 2025
February 20 Arunachal Pradesh Foundation
Day 2025
February 21 International Mother Language
Day 2025
February 22 World Thinking Day 2025 Our Story
February 18 International Asperger Syndrome
Day 2025
February 23 World Peace and Understanding
Day 2025
February 24 Central Excise Day 2025
February 27 World NGO Day 2025 Empowering Grassroots
Movements for a Sustainable
Future
February 28 National Science Day 2025 Empowering Indian Youth for
Global Leadership in Science and
Innovation for Viksit Bharat’

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February 28 Rare Disease Day 2025 More than you can imagine; an
anthology of the rare
experiences."
February 24/28 Financial Literacy Week 2025 Financial Literacy: Women’s
Prosperity

MILITARY EXERCISES

Exercise Name Edition Countries Involved Venue

Theatre Level 25th Edition India Karwar,
Operational Readiness Karnataka, India
Exercise (TROPEX-25)
Ekuverin 13th Edition India, Maldives Maldives
Winged Raider - India (Army and IAF) Eastern Theatre,
India
Multilateral Naval 5th Edition Over 15 countries Indonesia
Exercise Komodo including Russia,
China, India, US
Dharma Guardian 6th Edition India, Japan Mount Fuji, Japan
Sagar Kavach - Indian Coast Guard West Bengal, India
Cyclone 2025 third edition India and Egypt Rajasthan

MISCELLANEOUS
Discovery of 30 Inscriptions – Karnataka
❖ The discovery of 30 inscriptions has put the spotlight on Abbana Bettu Basadi of
Karkala taluk, Udupi district.
❖ Of them, 29 are in Kannada script and one is in Nagari, bearing only the name
of a Tirthankara.
❖ This 16-line inscription records that Lakshmamana devi, wife of Saluva Bhaira
Rasa, commissioned a list of 24 Tirthankaras and granted it to the basadi.
❖ The earliest inscription, dated March 25, 1586 CE, belongs to the era of Saluva
Bhairarasa (Bhairarasa II).
❖ He was a ruler of Kalasa-Karkala Jain dynasty in late 16th century.

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Etikoppaka Bommalu
❖ It is a Tableau from Andhra Pradesh crafted with wooden toys, the ancient art of
Etikoppaka Bommalu.
❖ It is a 400-year-old craft that has become synonymous with eco-friendly creativity
and cultural heritage.
❖ In Etikoppaka, a small village nestled in the southeastern state of Andhra
Pradesh, artisans have perfected this tradition of toy-making.
❖ The toys, often the mythological figures or animals, have long stood out for their
seamless curves, vibrant hues, and delicate details.

Rhodamine B
❖ Rhodamine B is a synthetic dye known for its bright pink hue, commonly utilised
in industries such as textiles, paper, and leather.
❖ Its application extends to scientific research due to its fluorescent properties.
❖ Studies have indicated that Rhodamine B can cause DNA damage, leading to
mutations and potentially triggering cancerous growths.
❖ Animal research has demonstrated tumour development in organs like the liver
and bladder following prolonged exposure to the dye.
❖ In February 2024, Tamil Nadu banned the production and sale of cotton candy.
❖ Karnataka, in March 2024, prohibited the use of Rhodamine B in popular street
foods.

Bharat Cancer Genome Atlas

❖ IIT Madras Launches Bharat Cancer Genome Atlas (BCGA) is a First-of-Its-Kind
Cancer Genome Database to Transform Cancer Research in India.
❖ It has a data on 960 whole exomes sequencing it has completed so far from tissue
samples collected from 480 breast cancer patients.

Army’s Eastern HQ - Fort William

❖ Fort William in Kolkata, the headquarters of the Eastern Army Command, has
been renamed Vijay Durg.
❖ Additionally, Kitchener House inside Fort William has been renamed Manekshaw
House, and South gate, formerly known as St. George’s Gate, is now Shivaji Gate.
❖ Fort William, named after the King William III of England, was constructed by the
British in 1781.
❖ The new name, Vijay Durg, is derived from the oldest fort along the Sindhudurg
coast in Maharashtra.
❖ It was served as a naval base for the Marathas under Chhatrapati Shivaji.

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Passenger loads on domestic flights
❖ India’s domestic flights achieved a passenger load factor of 86.4 percent in 2024,
the highest globally.
❖ It was surpassing the US (84.1 percent) and China (83.2 percent), which ranked
second and third, respectively.
❖ Brazil secured the fourth position with a load factor of 81.9 percent.
❖ It is followed closely by Australia at 81.8 percent and Japan at 78 percent.

Brucellosis in Kerala
❖ An Eight-year-old girl from Kottakkal in Malappuram district of Kerala died due
brucellosis.
❖ Brucellosis is a bacterial disease caused by various Brucella species, which
mainly infect cattle, swine, goats, sheep and dogs.

INCOIS 26th foundation day

❖ Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) was established
in 1999, Hyderabad, Telangana.
❖ It is an autonomous body working under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES).
❖ It established the Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC) which provides
tsunami alerts within 10 minutes, serving India and 28 Indian Ocean countries.
❖ It has been recognized by UNESCO as a top Tsunami Service Provider.
❖ INCOIS has developed the Search and Rescue Aided Tool (SARAT) to assist in
locating individuals or objects lost at sea.
❖ During the event it launched two new products — Hilsa Fishery Advisory (HiFA)
services and INCOIS Global Ocean Reanalysis (IGORA) Version 1.

Extra-Long Staple (ELS) Cotton

❖ The Union Budget 2025 announced a five-year mission to “facilitate significant
improvements in productivity and sustainability of cotton farming, and promote
extra-long staple (ELS) cotton varieties”.
❖ Cotton is classified, based on the length of its fibres, as long, medium, or short
staple.
❖ Gossypium hirsutum, which constitutes roughly 96% of the cotton grown in
India, falls in the medium staple category.
❖ Its fibre lengths ranging from 25 to 28.6 mm.
❖ On the other hand, ELS varieties boast fibre lengths of 30 mm and above.

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 ❖ The Most ELS cotton comes from the species Gossypium barbadense, commonly
known as Egyptian or Pima cotton.
❖ Having originated in South America, ELS cotton today is mainly grown in China,
Egypt, Australia, and Peru.
❖ In India, some ELS cotton is grown along rain fed parts of Atpadi taluka in
Maharashtra’s Sangli district, and around Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.
❖ Currently, India’s per acre yields are significantly lower than other countries.
❖ For instance, Brazil boasts an average yield of 20 quintals per acre, while China
boasts a yield of 15 quintals.

Delhi UT Assembly election 2025

❖ The BJP won in Delhi after more than 26 years as it won 48 of the 70 seats in
the Assembly polls.
❖ The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) secured victories from 22 seats and the Congress
drew a blank for a third straight time.
❖ AAP candidate from Matia Mahal Aaley Mohammad Iqbal registered the highest
victory margin of 42,724 votes in the polls.
❖ BJP’s Chandan Kumar Choudhary won the Sangam Vihar seat by the lowest
margin of 344 votes.
❖ The election was concluded on February 5 with an overall voter turnout of
60.39%.
❖ The highest voter turnout was in Mustafabad (69%).
❖ Lowest was in Karol Bagh (47.40%).
❖ For the first time since Independence, the BJP will now have governments in
Delhi and all adjoining States.

‘Art in Prison’ initiative

❖ The ‘Art in Prison’ initiative is about bringing the folk art, theatre, botanical
cyanotype art, and music into Puzhal-1 Central Jail in Chennai, continuing for a
year now.
❖ The initiative is led by Sumanasa Foundation and Project 39A in collaboration
with Nam Veedu Nam Oor Nam Kadhai.
❖ The new additions to the initiative are a book drive that has already received
about 500 books.
❖ After a collection drive, the books will be sent to the inmates of Puzhal jail.

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75th Anniversary of NSS
❖ The Ministry of Statistics and Program Implementation (MoSPI) celebrated the
75th anniversary of the National Sample Surveys (NSS).
❖ In 1950, the National Sample Survey Directorate was established in the Ministry
of Finance.
❖ In 1957, the directorate was transferred to the cabinet secretariat.
❖ In 1970, it became a part of the National Statistics Service of the Ministry of
Planning’s Department of Statistics.
❖ It has been under the newly formed Ministry of Statistics and Programme
Implementation since 1999 (MOSPI).
❖ The Ministry has two wings - one relates to Statistics and the other is Programme
Implementation.
❖ The Statistics Wing called the National Statistical Office (NSO) consists of the
o Central Statistical Office (CSO),
o The Computer Center and
o The National Sample Survey Office (NSSO).

Dokra artwork
❖ The Indian Prime Minister gave the curated and hand-crafted gifts to the French
President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron.
❖ The Dokra craft, a technique older than 4000 years, is a traditional metal-casting
technique from Chhattisgarh.
❖ The artform requires precise and intricate craftmanship, and the structures are
usually made of brass, nickel and zinc alloys.
❖ He gifted a silver engraved table mirror to French First Lady during his visit to
the country for the AI Summit.
❖ The exquisite hand-engraved mirror was crafted by artists from Rajasthan.

Lumpy Skin Disease Vaccine – Biolumpivaxin

❖ The Bharat Biotech group firm Biovet has received the Central Drug Standards
Control Organization (CDSCO) licence for the lumpy skin disease (LSD) vaccine –
BIOLUMPIVAXIN.
❖ It is used for dairy cattle and buffaloes Biolumpivaxin.
❖ Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) was first detected in India in July 2019 in Odisha and
later spread to 20 states by the end of 2020.
❖ The disease affects cattle and Asian water buffaloes.
❖ It is spread by insects and causes a significant loss of milk production.

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Ratnagiri Buddhist Excavations
❖ Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has discovered significant Buddhist remains
during renewed excavations at Ratnagiri site in Jajpur district, Odisha.
❖ They recently discovered three colossal Buddha heads, a giant palm, an ancient
wall, and some inscriptions.
❖ Ratnagiri, literally “Hill of Jewels”, is located between two rivers, the Brahmani
and its tributary Birupa.
❖ It is one of the three points of Odisha’s famous Diamond Triangle along with
Udayagiri and Lalitgiri.
❖ The earliest historical structures excavated at the Diamond Triangle sites date to
the 5th century CE, during the reign of Narasimha Gupta Baladitya (c.495-530
CE).
❖ The Ratnagiri monastery is the only one of Buddhist monastery in India with a
curvilinear roof.
❖ The first excavations were carried out between 1958 and 1961 by Debala Mitra,
an archaeologist who eventually served as the ASI’s first woman director general
(1981-83).

Fulani Community - ‘Green Sahara’ period

❖ The Fulani, one of Africa’s largest pastoral populations, have a history going back
to the ‘Green Sahara’ period (12,000–5,000 years before the present).
❖ The Fulani number 40 million people and are spread from the Atlantic coast of
West Africa to Lake Chad in Central Africa.
❖ They are concentrated principally in Nigeria, Mali, Guinea, Senegal, and Niger
but can also be found in several other countries.
❖ Fulani are divided into three groups: Makiyaya (herders), Fulanin Soro (those
living in towns) and Bararo, which refer to Fulani living in forests.

2025 Brand Finance IT Services Rankings

❖ India has secured the second position, contributing 36 per cent of the total brand
value.
❖ India follows the US, which maintains its dominant position in IT services brand
value, holding 40 per cent of the total brand value.
❖ 15 out of the top 25 brands have seen an increase in their brand values.
❖ Accenture’s brand value soared 2 per cent to $41.5 billion.
❖ Infosys’ brand value rose an impressive 15 per cent to $16.3 billion.

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 ❖ This is making it among the world’s top three most valuable IT Services brands
for the fourth consecutive year.
❖ Infosys has also achieved the fastest compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in
brand value (18 per cent) over the last five years.
❖ HCL Tech (brand value up 17 per cent to $8.9 billion) has emerged as the world’s
fastest-growing IT Services brand in 2025.

Kalyana Chalukya Era Kannada inscriptions

❖ Three new Kannada inscriptions of the Kalyana Chalukya era were noticed for
the first time at Kankal village, Pudur mandal in Vikarabad, Telangana.
❖ They were also issued during the 4th, 5th and 6th regal years of Someswara-III,
Bhulokamalladeva, the Emperor of the Kalyana Chalukya dynasty ruled from the
Kalyana.
❖ They were dated to 25th December 1129 CE, 5th October 1130 CE and 8th
January 1132 CE respectively.

C40 Cities and UN-Habitat

❖ The Green & Resilient Urban Shift Africa Forum was held in in Nairobi, Kenya.
❖ C40 Cities and UN-Habitat have announced a landmark partnership to transform
urban planning.
❖ The partnership will create a new Urban Planning Accelerator to help cities cut
emissions by 25% by 2050.

Neo Tethys Oceanic Plate

❖ The Researchers have uncovered the Neo Tethys oceanic plate, which once lay
beneath the Arabian and Eurasian continents, is fracturing horizontally.
❖ This immense structural shift is taking place beneath the Zagros Mountains.
❖ It is a sprawling range that extends across southeast Turkey, northwest Iran, and
the Kurdistan region of Iraq.
❖ For millions of years now, the Arabian and Eurasian plates have been colliding,
which has pushed the oceanic plate downward into the Earth’s mantle.
❖ As the process continued, the descending oceanic plate functions like an anchor,
dragging down the Earth's crust and forming a vast depression that has been
accumulated millions of years' worth of sediment.
❖ The Arabian and Eurasian plates are colliding, pushing up the Zagros Mountains
and creating the Mesopotamian plains as eroded sediments build up over time.

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Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS)
❖ The fatality counts due to suspected Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) continue to
rose in Pune, Maharashtra.
❖ The analysis confirmed the presence of coliform, E. coli, Norovirus and C. Jejuni
bacteria in these regions.
❖ Guillain-Barre syndrome is a condition where the immune system attacks the
nerves, potentially causing weakness, numbness, or paralysis.

AIMC system
❖ The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has accelerated the use of
Automated & Intelligent Machine-aided Construction (AIMC) system.
❖ This will provide real-time data on the status of each project, with a survey going
hand-in-hand with construction at every stage of the road-building process.
❖ The generated data will be sent on a real-time basis to stakeholders.
❖ The NHAI is implementing AIMC on a pilot basis in the 63-km long under-
construction Lucknow-Kanpur Expressway Project.
❖ India presently has about 1.46 lakh km in its National Highways network.
❖ Out of this network, about 3,000 km comprises high-speed corridors.
❖ India has a vision to construct a further 45,000 km till 2047.

Time Spent on Employment-Related Activities

❖ Indians already spend an average of 422 minutes per day—around 42 hours per
week—on paid work.
❖ The Urban workers clock 469 minutes daily (7.8 hours), outpacing their rural
counterparts, who average 399 minutes (6.65 hours).
❖ Union Territories like Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli report over 600
minutes of daily work.
❖ In contrast, Goa and Northeastern states average under 360 minutes, with Delhi
at 8.3 hours and Goa at just 5.5 hours.
❖ Urban women work two hours less daily than men, while rural women trail their
male counterparts by 1.8 hours.
❖ A 1% increase in working time is linked to a 1.7% rise in per capita Net State
Domestic Product (NSDP).
❖ For larger states, this impact is even stronger—a 3.7% boost in NSDP for every
1% increase in work hours.
❖ Currently, Gujarat has the highest proportion of its population—7.21%—working
over 70 hours weekly, compared to just 1.05% in Bihar.



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