DAILY GK 24-25 JULY 2025
·
The Ministry of
Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)
established a dedicated COP-33 Cell headed
by Joint Secretary Ved Prakash Mishra, under the Climate
Change Division, MoEFCC,
to manage the professional and logistical requirements for the 33rd Conference of the
Parties (COP-33) to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), proposed to be hosted by India in 2028.
·
If approved, COP-33 would mark India’s second
time hosting a UN
Climate Conference, following
COP-8 held in New Delhi (Delhi) in 2002.
·
The COP-33 Cell will have 11 members, including directors, consultants, and support staff.
·
COPs are annual global
climate summits held under the UNFCCC,
established in 1992, where nations review climate actions and progress
towards the Paris Agreement goal of limiting
global warming to 1.5°C.
·
Host countries are chosen through
regional rotation and formal
nominations by the five UN regional groups.
2. PM NARENDRA
MODI VISIT TO UK
·
The Prime Minister (PM)
of India, Narendra Modi undertook a
2-day visit to the United Kingdom (UK) as part of his 1st leg of his two-nation tour (UK
and the Maldives) at the invitation Keir Starmer,
Prime Minister (PM) of the UK.
·
This marked
PM Modi’s 4th visit to the UK since assuming
the office in 2014.
·
During the bilateral meeting,
PM of both countries endorsed the new ‘India-UK
Vision 2035’.
·
During his visit to UK, PM Modi met His Majesty
King Charles III at Sandringham Estate, the summer residence of His
Majesty.
·
PM Modi presented a sapling
of Davidia involucrate ‘Sonoma’, commonly known as the Sonoma dove tree, as part
of ‘Ek Ped Maa ke Naam’ (plant for mother) initiative to King Charles
III during the meeting.
3. INDIA SIGNS 6 MOUS WITH MALDIVES
·
The Government of India(GoI) signed six Memorandum of Understanding (MoUs) with
the Government of Maldives
in strategic sectors:
fisheries & aquaculture, meteorology, digital public infrastructure, Unified Payments Interface (UPI), and recognition of the Indian
Pharmacopoeia alongside a Line of Credit (LoC) worth Rs. 4,850 crore to support infrastructure development in the
Maldives.
·
The agreements were signed during
Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s
two-day official visit to Maldives.
·
India and Maldives jointly
launched the negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), to boost trade, private sector investment, and strengthen
economic integration.
·
National Payments
Corporation of India (NPCI) International Payments Limited (NIPL) and Maldives
Money Authority (MMA) signed
a Network-to-Network Agreement to launch UPI
in Maldives.
4.
WSIS CHAMPION
AWARD 2025
·
‘Meri
Panchayat’ mobile application (app), a
transformative digital governance initiative led by the Ministry of Panchayati
Raj (MoPR) has been awarded the World
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Prizes 2025 Champion Award
under the Action Line Category: Cultural Diversity and Identity, Linguistic Diversity and Local Content.
·
Sunita Jain, Senior
Director, NIC/NIC-MoPR, received
the award on behalf of the Government of India (GoI) during
the WSIS+20 High-level Event 2025 also
known as WSIS Forum 2025, held in Geneva, Switzerland.
·
The app, launched in 2023,
empowers more than 25 lakh elected representatives and nearly 950 million
rural residents across India’s 2.65 lakh Gram Panchayats (GPs).
·
The app ensures inclusivity through its multilingual interface by supporting over 12 Indian
languages.
5. WORLD’S TOP 10 FAVOURITE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORTS
·
Travel+Leisure, a travel and lifestyle magazine, released the Travel + Leisure Readers’ 10 Favourite International Airports of 2025 List.
·
Chhatrapati
Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSMIA) in Mumbai has been ranked ninth on the list with the
reader score of 84.23.
·
Istanbul Airport
(Turkey)
has been ranked first
for the second
consecutive year with a score of 98.57.
·
Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, known for its minimalist design
and operational efficiency, is the only new
airport featured in the 2025 list.
·
5 airports
across Asia from countries such as Singapore, China (Hong Kong International Airport), Japan (Haneda
Airport), UAE, India, and South Korea (Incheon International Airport) have been
ranked among top 10.
·
3 airports
across the Middle
East region such as Doha (Qatar),
Abu Dhabi (UAE),
Dubai (UAE) have featured among top 5.
6. GP BIRLA
MEMORIAL AWARD 2025
·
Dr. V. Narayanan, Chairman
of the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) and Secretary, Department of Space (DoS), received
the GP Birla Memorial
Award 2025 for
his outstanding contributions to India’s space programme
and advancement of cutting-edge space technologies.
·
The GP Birla Memorial Award,
recognises individuals for outstanding contributions in science, education,
culture, and public service.
·
The award is instituted by the Kolkata
based GP Birla Archaeological Astronomical and Scientific Institute.
7.
HENLEY PASSPORT
INDEX JULY 2025
·
As per the index,
India has recorded
the largest jump, by climbing
8 places to 77th from 85 in January 2025 edition.
·
With visa-free access
to 59 destinations, India now shares its rank with countries, including
Burkina Faso, Senegal, and Cote d’Ivoire.
·
Singapore has topped
the index as the most powerful passport,
offering visa-free access
to 193 out of 227 global
destinations, followed by Japan and
South Korea, which share the second position.
·
Seven European
Union (EU) nations, Denmark,
Finland, France, Germany,
Ireland, Italy, and Spain, jointly
hold the
3rd position
in the index.
8. WORLD BANK GLOBAL FINDEX
REPORT 2025
·
The World Bank (WB) has released
the 5th edition
of its Global Findex Database
titled “Connectivity and Financial
Inclusion in the Digital Economy”.
·
As per the report,
financial account ownership in India rose sharply to 89% in 2024, up from 77.5%
in 2021 and a significant
leap from just 35% in 2011.
·
The Global account
ownership rate stood
at 79%, an increase
of 28% points since 2011
·
In low- and middle-income economies, account ownership
grew from 42% in 2011 to 75% in
2024, while in most
high-income economies, it surged to 95%
in 2024, from 87% in 2011.
·
As of 2024, around
1.3 billion adults globally remain unbanked
of these, over 700 million are women.
·
In India, the inactive
account holder status i.e., non-usage of accounts in the past 12 months
in 2024 is 16% of account holders, compared to the
global average of 6%.
·
Out of the above 89% account
ownership in India, 88.7% were held with a bank/financial institution and 23.1% reported
having a mobile money account.
·
Only 48.5% of Indian adults made or received a digital
payment in the past year.
9.
INDIAN ARMY RECEIVES ‘AH-64E
APACHE HELICOPTERS’ FROM USA
·
Indian Army (IA) received the three AH-64E Apache attack helicopters, the
first batch of six AH-64E Apache Helicopters,
from USA, at Hindon Air Force Station
in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh (UP), marking
a boost to its combat capabilities.
·
The helicopters will be deployed
at the 451 Army Aviation squadron
at Nagtalao near
Jodhpur in Rajasthan.
·
This is the first instance of the Army Aviation
Corps acquiring Apache helicopters, whereas the Indian Air Force(IAF) already operates a
fleet of 22 AH-64E Apaches.
·
The AH-64E
is the most advanced version
of the Apache attack helicopter series, developed
by Boeing.
·
It features a 30-millimetre (mm) M320 chain gun capable of firing 625 rounds per minute, AGM-114
Hellfire Missiles, and Hydra 70 rocket pods, each containing 19
folding-fin rockets.
10. POLLUTION CONTROL
VESSEL ‘SAMUDRA PRACHET’
·
Goa Shipyard
Limited (GSL), has launched
‘Samudra Prachet’, the second indigenously designed Pollution
Control Vessel (PCV) for the Indian
Coast Guard (ICG).
·
The vessel
has a length of 114.5 metres
(m), a breadth
of 16.5 m, and
a displacement of 4,170 tonnes.
·
The vessel
will be manned by 14 officers
and 115 sailors, equipped with two side-sweeping arms which will help in
collecting oil spills while underway, as well as an advanced
radar system for detecting oil slicks.
11. NASA LAUNCHED
TRACERS MISSION TO STUDY EARTH’S
MAGNETIC SHIELD
·
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) launched
its new mission named ‘Tandem
Reconnection and Cusp Electrodynamics Reconnaissance Satellites (TRACERS)’, which comprises a pair of twin satellites that will study how Earth’s magnetic shield (magnetosphere),
protects our planet from the Sun called solar wind.
·
The spacecraft TRACERS was lifted
off aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch
Complex 4 East at
Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA.
·
NASA Headquarters- Washington DC, USA.
·
Established- 1958.
12. FIRST HYDROGEN-POWERED TRAIN COACH
·
Indian Railways
(IR) successfully conducted the test of
India’s
first hydrogen-powered train coach, known as the Driving Power Car
(DPC), at the Integral Coach Factory
(ICF) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu (TN).
·
The train
will consist of 10 coaches with two hydrogen-powered cars at both ends and eight passenger
coaches in the middle section.
·
The test is part of IR’s “Hydrogen
for Heritage” initiative, which aims to deploy 35 hydrogen-powered trains
on heritage and hilly routes across India.
·
In 2023, IR announced
its plan to introduce 35 hydrogen trains
across its network.
·
The initiative aims to make IR a net-zero carbon emitter by 2030
and strengthen India’s
leadership in hydrogen rail technology.
