DAILY GK 28-29 APRIL 2025
1.
11TH BRICS LABOUR &
EMPLOYMENT MINISTERS’ MEETING
·
11th BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South
Africa) Labour and Employment Ministers’ meeting was
held under the slogan “Strengthening the
Cooperation of the Global South for More Inclusive and Sustainable
Governance” under Brazil’s presidency in
Brasilia, Brazil.
·
A forward-looking declaration was adopted,
focusing on two key themes: “Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Future of Work” and “The
Impacts of Climate Change on the World of Work and a Just Transition”.
2.
UGANDA DECLARES END TO EBOLA
SUDAN VIRUS OUTBREAK
·
Uganda officially
declared the end of the Ebola Sudan Virus Disease (SVD)
outbreak, less than 3 months after confirmation in the capital Kampala.
·
The Ebola
strain that has been contained in Uganda was of the SVD
subtype. In past outbreaks, SVD killed 4 in 10 of the people infected.
·
Ebola Sudan Virus Disease
(SVD) is a severe disease caused by a virus, Sudan
virus (SUDV), belonging to the same family as the Ebola
Virus (EBOV). SUDV was first
identified in southern Sudan in
June 1976.
·
SVD is a severe, often fatal illness affecting humans and other primates due
to Orthoebola virus sudanense (Sudan virus),
a viral species belonging to the same genus as the virus causing Ebola
Virus Disease (EVD), formerly known as Ebola haemorrhagic fever.
3.
FIJI’S HIGHEST HONOUR
·
Sri Madhusudhan Sai, an Indian
spiritual and Humanitarian leader, was conferred the ‘Companion
of the Order of Fiji’, the nation’s highest civilian award
·
He was awarded for his significant
contributions to healthcare and social welfare in Fiji, through his Sri
Satya Sai Sanjeevani Children’s Hospital,
·
He founded ‘One World One Family’,
global humanitarian mission, which works across more than 80 countries to
improve access to healthcare, nutrition and education.
·
Fiji President – RatuNaiqama
Lalabalavu
·
Capital – Suva
4.
FRANCE
“OFFICIER DANS L’ORDRE DES ARTS ET DES LETTRES”
·
Indian
filmmaker Payal Kapadia was honoured with
the “Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et
des Lettres” (Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters), France’s highest civilian honours in the
field of arts and literature, for her outstanding contribution to global cinema and for promoting
Indo-French cultural collaboration.
·
Kapadia’s fiction feature debut, All We Imagine as Light (2024), won the
Grand Prix at the 77th Cannes Film Festival (CFF).
5.
THE ASIA UNIVERSITY RANKINGS
2025
·
London based
Times Higher Education (THE) released its 13th Asia
University Rankings.
·
Indian
Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru,
Karnataka topped among all the Indian Institutes featured on the
list. IISc has secured 38th rank on the list with an
overall score of 65.2, down from 32nd list (in
2024).
·
Overall, China topped
the list, retaining 1st (Tsinghua University) and 2nd (Peking
University, score 92) spots.
·
It is
followed by National University of Singapore (NUS) (Singapore)
and Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) ranked at 3rd and 4th position
respectively.
·
This latest edition ranked 853 universities from
35 countries/territories
·
Among India’s
top 10 universities, only two Indian Institute of Technologies
(IITs): IIT-Indore in Indore (MP) (ranked 131st)
and IIT-Guwahati in Guwahati, Assam (ranked at
184th) featured on the list.
·
The Shoolini
University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences ranked at 146th spot emerged
as the highest-ranked private university in India for
2nd consecutive year.
6.
WORLD BANK REPORT- INDIA’S EXTREME
POVERTY DROPS TO 2.3%
·
World
Bank (WB) released its latest report titled ‘India Poverty and
Equity Brief : April 2025’.
·
As per
the report, India’s extreme poverty
(defined as living on less than USD 2.15
per day) has dropped significantly from 16.2% (in 2011-12) to
2.3% (in 2022-23).
·
The
report further showed that 17.1 crore people have
been lifted out of extreme poverty,
and 37.8 crore have moved above the
broader poverty line during this period.
·
The report showed that decline rate in India’s extreme poverty line was highest in rural areas of the country,
where it dropped from 18.4% to 2.8%.
·
Urban extreme poverty decreased from 10.7% to 1.1% which
narrows the rural-urban poverty gap from 7.7% to just 1.7%, which reflects 16%
Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) decrease.
·
India’s employment rates, especially among
women, are increasing, and urban unemployment dropped to 6.6% in
1st Quarter (Q1: April to June) of Financial Year 2024-25 (FY25)
·
WB President– Ajay
Banga
7.
SIPRI REPORT ON GLOBAL
MILITARY SPENDING
·
World military expenditure reached USD 2718 billion
in 2024, an increase of 9.4% in
real terms from 2023, according to a new report by Stockholm, Sweden-based Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute (SIPRI).
·
USA maintained its position as the world’s top spender with USD 997 billion.
·
China, with USD 314 billion placed in the 2nd
position, and Russia, with USD 149 billion
placed in the 3rd position.
·
India maintained its position as the 5th-largest military
spender, USD 86.1 billion, marking a
1.6% increase from the previous year.
·
The share of global gross domestic product
(GDP) devoted to military expenditure increased to 2.5% in 2024.
8.
CARE EDGE STATE RANKINGS
·
Mumbai based Care Edge Ratings (formerly CARE Ratings Ltd) released its second
edition of it’s state rankings
·
Maharashtra has emerged as the best in overall
composite rankings with a score of 56.5, followed by Gujarat
(52.4) and Karnataka(51.9).
·
It
evaluates Indian states across 7 pillars: Economic,
Fiscal, Infrastructure, Financial Development, Social, Governance and
Environment – together capturing 50 indicators.
·
Goa topped the ranking in the North-East, Hilly & Small states (Group B)
category.
9.
IMF REPORT ON LARGEST
ECONOMIES
·
USA retains its position as the largest
economy in the world with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD
30.51 trillion, followed by
China(USD 19.53 trillion) and Germany
(USD 4.92 trillion) IMF’s ‘April 2025 World
Economic Outlook(WEO)’,
·
India is the fourth largest economy in the world with a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of USD
4.39 trillion.
·
India is
expected to overtake both Germany and
Japan by the year 2030, provided the current economic growth trajectory
remains consistent.
10.
INDIA & FRANCE DEAL FOR
26 RAFALE-M FIGHTER JETS
·
The
Government of India and the Government of France officially
signed a Rs 64,000-crore deal for the purchase
of 26 Rafale-Marine (Rafale-M) fighter
jets to strengthen the Indian Navy
(IN)’s power at sea.
·
Out of
the 26 jets, 22 will be single-seat fighter planes and 4 will be twin-seat
trainer aircraft.
·
They will
mainly operate from India’s first indigenous
carrier, Indian Naval Ship (INS) Vikrant.
