DAILY GK 24-25 MAY 2025
1. CHAIRMAN
OF DRDO
·
The
Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) approved
a second one-year extension in service to Dr.
Samir V. Kamat, Secretary of New Delhi based Department of Defence
Research and Development (DDR&D) and Chairman of
New Delhi based Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
·
He was
first appointed as Secretary, DDR&D and Chairman, DRDO on 25th August 2022,
succeeding Dr. G. Satheesh Reddy.
2. PRESIDENT
OF ROMANIA
·
Independent
candidate Nicușor Daniel Dan, a mathematician and
former Mayor of Bucharest, has officially sworn-in as the 7th President
of Romania during the joint session of Romanian Parliament in Bucharest, the capital of
Romania.
·
He ran
for the presidential election as an independent candidate and won the election
by defeating his opponent George Simion, leader of
the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), with 53.6% of
the total votes.
3. NEW
PRESIDENT OF ECUADOR
·
Daniel Noboa, representing the National Democratic Action
(ADN) party, was officially sworn in as the 48th President of
the Republic of Ecuador.
·
The
inauguration ceremony took place at the National
Assembly in Quito(Ecuador) marking the beginning of his four-year
presidential term (2025–2029)
·
Ecuador Capital –
Quito
·
Currency –
United States Dollar
4. YOUNGEST
INDIAN TO COMPLETE SEVEN SUMMITS CHALLENGE
·
Vishwanath Karthikey Padakanti, a 16-year-old mountaineer from Hyderabad
(Telangana), became the youngest Indian and the
second youngest globally to successfully complete the Seven
Summits Challenge, which involves climbing the highest peak on each of
the seven continents.
·
He
surpassed the previous national record held by Kaamya Karthikeyan,
who completed the Seven Summits at the age of 17 in 2024.
·
The
global record remains with Jordan Romero from the
United States of America (USA), who achieved the feat at the
age of 15 years in 2011.
·
He successfully summited peaks such as Mount
Everest (Asia), Aconcagua (South America), Denali (North America), Mount Elbrus
(Europe), Mount Kilimanjaro (Africa), Mount Kosciuszko (Australia), and Mount
Vinson (Antarctica).
5. INDIA’S
FIRST MAHOUTS’ VILLAGE
·
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K Stalin inaugurated
India’s first Mahouts’ Village at Theppakadu
Elephant Camp in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), Nilgiris district (TN to enhance the living conditions of mahouts
and cavadis who have served generations in elephant management.
·
Theppakadu Elephant Camp in Mudumalai Tiger
Reserve, established in 1917 during British rule, is Asia’s oldest
elephant camp and currently houses 27 elephants, including 20 Kumkis and 5
retired ones.
6. INDIA’S
FIRST VISTADOME JUNGLE SAFARI TRAIN
·
Uttar Pradesh government, in collaboration
with Indian Railways (IR), launched India’s
first Vistadome jungle safari train, enhancing eco-tourism
infrastructure in the state.
·
The
service connects Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in
Bahraich district (UP) with the Dudhwa Tiger Reserve in
Pilibhit district (UP)
7. SHIRUI LILY
FESTIVAL 2025 IN MANIPUR
·
Governor of Manipur Ajay
Kumar Bhalla inaugurated the 5th edition
of the Shirui Lily Festival 2025 at Shirui
Village, Ukhrul district, Manipur to commemorate the 75th anniversary
of the discovery of the rare Shirui Lily
(Lilium mackliniae)
·
Ukhrul, known as the “crown jewel of
Manipur’s hill districts,” is celebrated for its rich cultural and
ecological heritage.
8. INDIA
PARTNERS WITH WHO TO MAINSTREAM AYUSH GLOBALLY
·
Ministry of Ayush (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani,
Siddha, and Homeopathy), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with
WHO, to develop a Traditional Medicine Module under
the International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI).
·
The new module will complement
WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) by
codifying interventions from Ayurveda, Yoga, Siddha, and Unani (AYUSH) systems.
·
As part of this collaboration, India has
contributed USD 3 million to the WHO to support the
development of the traditional medicine module under ICHI.
9. ‘BHARAT
FORECAST SYSTEM’, WORLD’S FIRST WEATHER MODEL
·
‘Bharat
Forecast System (BFS)’, the world’s first
high-resolution Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) model offering a 6 kilometre (km)
spatial resolution, was launched.
·
Earlier,
one forecast would cover an area comprising about four villages within a 12 km
radius, currently a separate forecast can be performed for each village.
·
The previous system powered by supercomputer ‘Pratyush’ took 12-13 hours
to run models, BFS which is powered by Supercomputer ‘Arka’ with
a capacity of 11.77 petaflops and storage capacity of 33
petabytes(PB) will take approximately 3-4 hours.
·
BFS
resolution is 6 km at the tropics
and 7-8 km resolution at the poles.
10. 5
FOREIGN UNIVERSITIES’ CAMPUSES IN INDIA
·
New Delhi
based University Grants Commission (UGC), a statutory body under the Ministry of
Education, has approved the establishment of campuses of 5
internationally recognized universities in India, with an aim to
make India a Global Educational Hub.
·
Illinois
Institute of Technology (IIT), located in Chicago, USA is
the first American university to set up a campus in
India.
·
University of Liverpool (UoL), located in
Liverpool, United Kingdom (UK) is expected to start its operations in India by
2026 or 2027.
·
Victoria
University (VU), located in Melbourne, Australia,
aims to launch its Indian campus by 2026-2027.
·
Western Sydney
University (WSU), based in Penrith, Australia will begin
its operations in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh (UP).
·
Istituto Europeo
di Design (IED), located in Milan, Italy, is known for
its expertise in Fashion, Visual Arts (VA), and communication.
·
The
University of Southampton from the UK became the first foreign institution to
receive approval from the UGC to establish a campus in India.
·
UGC Chairman – Vineet Joshi
11. E-ZERO
FIR SYSTEM TO COMBAT CYBER FINANCIAL CRIMES
·
Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) introduced
the electronic-Zero First Information
Report (e-Zero FIR) initiative through its Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C),
aimed at accelerating action against cyber financial crimes.
·
The pilot
project was launched in Delhi and will be expanded to other States and Union
Territories (UTs) in a phased manner.
·
The e-Zero FIR initiative enables automatic
registration of FIRs for cyber financial complaints involving a loss of Rs
10 lakh and above reported through the New Delhi based National
Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP) or the Cybercrime Helpline 1930.
·
But, Complainants must visit the concerned
Cybercrime Police Station within 3 days to convert the Zero FIR into a regular
FIR.
12. HOUSING
RESERVATION FOR PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
·
The
Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) announced
to provide 4% reservation for Persons with
Disabilities (PwDs) in the allotment of government
housing under the General Pool
Residential Accommodation (GPRA) category which
will cover houses up to Type 5,
benefitting officials from Assistant
Section Officer (ASO) level to Director Rank.
·
This
decision reaffirms Government of India (GoI)’s commitment to provide equal
opportunities for every individual under the Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya
Bharat Abhiyan).
·
The Unique Disability Identification (UDID)
card issued by the GoI will be considered a valid document for proof of
disability.
·
Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan is a
nationwide initiative launched by the Government of India (GoI) in 2015, with
the aim of making public spaces, transportation systems, and information and
communication technologies accessible to PwDs.
13. GLOBAL
FOREST WATCH DATA
·
As per
the latest data by the Global Forest Watch (GFW), an
international collaboration of more than 100 organisations, India lost 18,200
hectares (ha) of primary forest
in 2024 compared to 17,700 ha lost in 2023.
·
The data
further revealed that India lost 3,48,000 ha or 348 kilo
hectare (kha) of humid primary forest between 2002 and 2024,
accounts about 5.4% of the country’s
total humid primary forest.
·
This
figure also represents 15% of India’s
total tree cover loss during the same period.
·
Globally,
2024 witnessed unprecedented forest loss, largely driven by massive fires. The
tropics alone lost a record 6.7 million ha of primary rainforest.
·
This data is provided
by GFW,an initiative of the United States of America(USA)
based World Resources Institute(WRI) in collaboration with the USA based University
of Maryland.
14. ALGERIA OFFICIALLY JOINS
NDB
·
The
Shanghai (China) based New Development Bank (NDB), established
by BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), officially
admitted Algeria as its new member.
·
This was
announced by NDB President Dilma Rousseff.
·
In
addition to its founding members(Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South
Africa), the NDB includes Bangladesh, UAE, Egypt, and Indonesia as member
countries, with Uruguay currently holding the status of a prospective member.
·
NDB, formerly known as the BRICS Development
Bank, was established in 2015 by the BRICS nations
(Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) to advance the
development priorities of emerging market economies.
·
The bank was founded with an initial
authorized capital of USD 100 billion, divided into one
million shares, each with a face value of USD 100,000.
·
The first President of
the NDB was K.V. Kamath from India, who served from
2015 to 2020.
·
In 2022, NDB announced the launch of its
Indian Regional Office (IRO) located in
the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) at
Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
15. 2025
WORLD HYDROGEN SUMMIT
·
The 6th
edition of World Hydrogen Summit and Exhibition, the
world’s largest dedicated Hydrogen event ,was held in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
·
Under the
theme “Navigating
Challenges with Solid Form of Financial Investment Decision(FIDs)”,
the summit focused on advancing the global hydrogen market by addressing
critical challenges and setting actionable steps for industry growth.
