DAILY GK 26-27 DEC 2025
1. BWF WORLD TOUR FINALS 2025
·
The 8th edition of the Badminton World Federation (BWF)
World Tour 2025, officially known as the HSBC BWF World Tour, featured 29 tournaments and concluded
with the season-ending HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2025 held
in Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China.
·
South Korea’s An Se-young won
her 11th international title of 2025 in women’s
singles, while France’s Christo Popov became the
first French player to claim the men’s
singles crown.
·
The BWF introduced the
BWF World Tour in 2018, replacing
the Super Series (2007–2017), with five tournament levels, and the first
season-ending BWF World Tour Finals were held in December 2018 at Guangzhou,
China.
·
A total prize pool of USD 3,000,000, distributed as per BWF
regulations.
·
Satwiksairaj Rankireddy
and Chirag Shetty won the bronze medal
in men’s doubles, becoming the first Indian men’s doubles pair to medal at
the BWF World Tour Finals.
·
Indian Milestone: This achievement marked only
India’s second medal in the tournament’s history after PV Sindhu’s gold in
2018.
·
Badminton World Federation (BWF) Headquarters – Kuala Lumpur.
2.
SAFF WOMEN’S CLUB TITLE
·
India’s East Bengal Football Club (FC) clinched
the inaugural edition of South Asian
Football Federation (SAFF) Women’s Club Championship 2025
title after defeating Nepal’s Armed
Police Force (APF) FC by 3-0 in
Kathmandu, Nepal.
·
Following this victory, East Bengal FC has now become the 1st Indian
women’s FC to claim an international tournament.
·
The competition featured women’s FCs from 5 South Asian countries: India, Nepal, Pakistan (Karachi City FC), Bangladesh (Nasir Sports Academy) and Bhutan (Transport United).
3.
ACC MEN’S U19 ASIA CUP 2025
· The 12th edition
of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC)
Men’s Under-19 (U19) Asia Cup 2025 held at two venues
International Cricket Council (ICC) Academy Ground, and Sevens Stadium, Dubai.
· Pakistan’s
Under-19 men’s cricket team won the ACC Men’s Under-19 Asia Cup
2025 by defeating India
by 191 runs, in the final held at the ICC Academy
Ground, Dubai (UAE).
· Five
full members of the ACC, Afghanistan,
Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, are participating along with
three qualifying teams, Malaysia, Nepal,
and the UAE, from the 2025 ACC Men’s Under-19 Premier Cup.
· Pakistan
received USD 15,000 as winners, while India earned USD 7,500 as runners-up in
the Under-19 Asia Cup.
· Sameer Minhas (Pakistan)
was named Player of the Match in the
finals and Player of the Tournament.
· Pakistan
scored 347 runs for 8 wickets in 50 overs, while India were bowled out for 156
runs in 26.2 overs.
4.
LOGO, THEME SONG, AND
MASCOT OF FIRST EDITION OF KITG
·
Union Minister Dr.
Mansukh Mandaviya, Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS),
unveiled the logo, theme song, and mascot for the inaugural edition of
the Khelo India Tribal Games (KITG), scheduled to be held
in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh.
·
The Games are jointly managed by
the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MoYAS), Sports Authority of India
(SAI), Indian Olympic Association (IOA), National Sports Federations (NSFs),
and the Chhattisgarh state organising committee.
·
The inaugural edition will
feature seven competitive sports: Archery, Athletics,
Football, Hockey, Wrestling, Swimming, and Weightlifting.
·
Selected athletes will
receive Rs 5 lakh per year for eight years to support
long-term athlete development.
·
Mascot: The
official mascot is named ‘Morveer’, derived from ‘Mor’ (meaning
“mine” or “our own” in Chhattisgarhi) and ‘Veer’
(symbolising courage and valour), representing the identity, pride, and spirit
of India’s tribal communities.
·
Logo: The
logo represents the identity and pride of India’s tribal communities while
reflecting the official Khelo India branding.
·
Theme Song: The
theme song celebrates the rich cultural heritage and “undying spirit” of tribal athletes, aiming to inspire youth
from remote regions to join the national sporting framework.
5.
GLOBAL CHESS LEAGUE 2025
·
Alpine SG Pipers clinched
the 3rd edition of the Global Chess League (GCL) 2025, also
known as Tech Mahindra Global Chess League (TechM GCL) 2025 title,
by defeating Triveni Continental Kings in Mumbai.
·
The Event was organised by FIDE,
as a joint venture with Tech Mahindra Limited.
·
It is a Franchise-based international rapid chess league featuring mixed
teams (male and female players).
·
Prize Pool: USD
1 million.
·
Male Player of the Tournament: Alireza Firouzja
(Triveni Continental Kings).
·
Notable Female Player: Hou Yifan
(Alpine SG Pipers) for consistent performance on the women’s board.
·
FIDE
Headquarters – Lausanne, Switzerland.
·
Established – 1924.
6.
NITI AAYOG REPORT ON ‘INTERNATIONALISATION OF HIGHER
EDUCATION IN INDIA’
· The
National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog released
a report titled ‘Internationalisation of Higher Education in
India: Prospects, Potential, and Policy Recommendations’, outlining
a long-term roadmap to make India a global hub for higher education and
research by 2047.
· The
study centres on the concept of “internationalisation
at home” as outlined in National Education Policy (NEP) 2020
· Increase in Student
inflow: To emerge as a global hub
for higher education and research, India
must increase international student inflows, for
which the study provides time-bound projections using two forecasting models.
· The
Global Benchmarking Approach based on the Compound
Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) has projected the range for international
student enrolment in India between 85,000 and 1.3 lakh in 2030, 1.23 lakh
and 2.44 lakh in 2035, and 3 lakh and 11 lakh in 2047.
· The
Internationalisation Intensity Approach
based on the strategic intensity model has estimated international student
enrolment at 1.5 lakh in 2030, 3.59 lakh in 2035, and 7.89 lakh in
2047.
· The
Report presents 22 Policy
Recommendations, 76 Action Pathways, 125 Performance Success Indicators,
along with nearly 30 Indian and Global Practices currently pursued.
7.
RBI’S BOARD APPROVED RISK-BASED DEPOSIT INSURANCE
FRAMEWORK FOR BANKS
·
The Central Board of Directors (BoD) of
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) granted its approval for a risk-based deposit insurance
framework for banks, transitioning from the existing premium charged to
banks under the Deposit Insurance and
Credit Guarantee Corporation (DICGC) scheme.
·
The decision was taken at
the 620th meeting of Central BoD of RBI, chaired
by Sanjay Malhotra, Governor of RBI, held in Hyderabad, Telangana.
·
DIGC, established under the DICGC Act, 1961, has been
operating the flat-rate premium-based deposit insurance scheme since
1962 i.e. currently, banks pay a premium of 12 paise for
every Rs 100 of assessable deposits.
·
The newly approved
framework will replace the existing flat-rate premium followed by the banks
with a risk-based structure which will enable banks with stronger capital
adequacy, better asset quality to pay lower premia.
·
Apart from RBI Governor, the meeting was attended by Deputy Governors of RBI: T. Rabi Sankar,
Swaminathan J., Poonam Gupta, Shirish Chandra Murmu.
8.
RBI POSTPONED IMPLEMENTATION OF
PHASE-II OF CHEQUE TRUNCATION SYSTEM
·
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) postponed the
implementation of Phase-II of Continuous Clearing and
Settlement on Realisation (CCSR) in Cheque Truncation
System (CTS), originally scheduled for 3 January 2026,
until further notice.
·
The RBI’s decision, issued under the Payment and Settlement Systems
(PSS) Act, 2007, provides banks additional time to streamline operational
processes.
·
Under the revised timeline, Phase I, launched on 4 October 2025, will
continue, enabling banks to process and confirm cheques through continuous
digital clearing during working hours.
·
RBI has revised the working hours for the CTS like: the presentation
session has been changed to 9 am to 3 pm (against 10 am to 4
pm).
·
While, banks have been directed to either confirm or reject
cheques from 9 am to 7 pm (against previous timeline of 10
am to 7 pm).
·
Under
Phase-II, the item expiry time of cheques is expected to be revised to 3 hours
(hrs) or (Transaction
date plus 3 hours, T+3), significantly reducing the settlement
timeline compared with conventional T+1 or T+2 framework.
9.
BOOK- ‘Salman Khan: The Sultan of Bollywood’.
·
Harper Collins India released the biography ‘Salman
Khan: The Sultan of Bollywood’, written
by journalist Mohar Basu
·
Mohar Basu, award-winning entertainment journalist and
Chief Correspondent (Entertainment) at Midday, also authored Shah Rukh Khan
(2024, HarperCollins) and was featured in the Indian Achievers Club ‘40
under 40’ list.
