DAILYGK 22-23 JULY 2025
1.
JAGDEEP DHANKAR
RESIGNED AS VICE PRESIDENT OF INDIA
·
Jagdeep Dhankar
who is also the Chairman
of Rajya Sabha has resigned
from the post of Vice President of India, India’s
2nd highest constitutional post, with immediate effect citing health grounds.
·
He submitted his resignation letter to the President of India,
Droupadi Murmu, in accordance with Article 67 (a) of the Constitution.
·
Following his resignation, Jagdeep Dhankar became only the 3rd Vice President in India’s history
to step down before
completing a full term, after VV Giri and
R. Venkataraman.
·
According to Article
91 of the Constitution, when the Vice-President’s post falls vacant,
the Deputy Chairperson of the
Rajya Sabha discharge the duties of Chairman until a new Vice President is
elected.
·
Harivansh Narayan
Singh who is currently serving
as the Deputy Chairman of Rajya
Sabha will be in charge
of the House for the ongoing
Monsoon session unless the President asks Jagdeep Dhankar to continue or a new Vice President is elected.
·
Election Time Period: As per the Articles 63 to 71 of the Constitution and the Vice-President (Election) Rules, 1974, which govern the election process
for the post of Vice President of India.
·
As per these rules,
the new Vice President must be elected within 60 days of the resignation i.e. by September
2025.
2. IRDAI NEW CHAIRMAN
·
Appointments Committee of the Cabinet
(ACC), chaired by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi,
approved the appointment of Ajay Seth as the new Chairman of theInsurance Regulatory and
Development Authority of India (IRDAI).
·
His term will be 3 years or
until he attains
65 years of age, or until further
orders, whichever is
earlier.
·
IRDAI is a statutory
body functioning under the Ministry
of Finance(MoF), Government of India(GoI).
·
Headquarters: Hyderabad, Telangana.
3. PRESIDENT OF UNGCNI
·
Vaishali Nigam Sinha, Co-Founder and Chairperson Sustainability, ReNew Private
Limited, was elected
as the President of
the United Nations Global
Compact Network India (UNGCNI) for the 2025–2027
term, becoming the first private
sector leader in over two decades to head the Indian arm of the United Nations
Global Compact (UNGC).
·
Under Vaishali
Nigam Sinha’s leadership, the Governing Council Will Promote the adoption
of the “Forward Faster” initiative, a global UNGC
campaign encouraging members to fast-track progress on key sustainable
development goals (SDG) targets.
·
Expand UNGCNI’s
initiatives in gender
equality, climate action,
water resilience, and the circular
economy.
·
UNGCNI is the Indian
local network of the UNGC, a UN-led
initiative to promote
responsible business practices.
4. RWANDA PM
·
Paul Kagame,
President of Rwanda,
has appointed Justin Nsengiyumva, as the Prime Minister (PM) of Rwanda, with immediate effect.
·
Rwanda Capital
– Kigali.
5. RBI’S CENTRAL
BOARD DIRECTOR
·
The Government of India (GoI) has appointed
Anuradha Thakur, Secretary of the Department
of Economic Affairs (DEA) under the Ministry
of Finance (MoF), as a
Director on the Central Board of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), becoming one of the two government nominee directors.
·
Other Nominee
on RBI Board: M Nagaraju, Secretary
of the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry
of Finance(MoF).
6.
INDIA’S PM DHAN-DHAANYA YOJANA
·
The Union Cabinet headed
by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi approved
the ‘Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana (PMDDKY)’,
a landmark initiative for transforming India’s
agricultural landscape.
·
The scheme announced in
the Union Budget 2025-26, with an outlay of Rs. 24,000 crores aim to catalyse growth in 100 agri-districts through saturation-based convergence of 36 Central
schemes across 11 Ministries, over a six- year period starting from
Financial Year 2025-26(FY26).
·
The scheme identifies 100 districts based on low productivity, low cropping intensity and less credit disbursement.
·
At least one district from each state will be selected to ensure balanced geographic representation across the country.
·
Each selected
district under PMDDKY
will establish a District Dhan-Dhaanya KrishiYojana (DDKY) Samiti, chaired by the District Collector (DC) or Gram
Panchayat (GP).
·
The scheme
will be managed
through a three-tier
implementation structure comprising 1. Committees at the district level 2. Steering groups at
the state level. 3. Oversight bodies at the national level.
7. MARITIME FINANCING SUMMIT 2025
·
The Ministry
of Ports, Shipping
& Waterways (MoPSW) has
successfully hosted the Maritime
Financing Summit 2025 in
New Delhi.
·
The event brought
together senior policymakers, industry leaders, global investors, and domain experts
to deliberate on transformative financial solutions for India’s maritime
future.
·
The summit was in
alignment with the Maritime Amrit Kaal Vision (MAKV 2047), which aims to
position India among the world’s
leading maritime hubs by
bolstering shipbuilding, port infrastructure and financial resilience.
·
India’s Ports
have significantly improved
operational efficiency, with average turnaround time reduced from
4 days to less than 1 day, outperforming many advanced countries.
·
The container handling capacity
at major India
Ports has increased by over 70%, and cargo
volumes.
·
The Government of India (GoI)
has enabled 100% Foreign Direct Investment
(FDI) in the shipping sector
under the Automatic Route
(AR), allowing easier and faster investment without prior approval.
8.
88TH SESSION
OF CCEXEC88 IN ROME
·
The 88th Session of the Executive Committee meeting of the Codex
Alimentarius Commission (CCEXEC88)
was held at the Food and
Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters in Rome, Italy.
·
During the meeting, India’s leadership in formulating a group standard
for whole millet grains
received formal recognition.
·
At the 47th Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC47) in 2024, India was officially acknowledged for spearheading the development of global millet grain
standards, with support from Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal as co-chairs.
9. WHO VALIDATED
SENEGAL FOR ELIMINATING TRACHOMA
·
The World Health Organization (WHO) has
officially validated that Senegal
has eliminated ‘Trachoma’ as
a public health problem.
·
Following this validation, Senegal
became the world’s
25th country and the 9th in Africa
to achieve this feat.
·
Trachoma is a highly contagious bacterial eye infection caused by bacterium ‘Chlamydia trachomatis’.
·
24
other countries worldwide including Benin, Burundi,
Cambodia, China, Gambia, Iran, Lao People’s Democratic (PDR), Ghana,
India (2024), Iraq, Malawi,
Mali, Mauritania, Mexico, Morocco, Myanmar, Nepal, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Togo,
Vanuatu and Vietnam, have been validated by WHO for having eliminated trachoma
as public health problem.
·
Senegal Capital-
Dakar.
10. WORLD BANK REPORT ON PROSPEROUS CITIES
IN INDIA
·
The World Bank Group (WBG) released its latest report titled ‘Towards Resilient and Prosperous Cities in
India’, prepared in partnership with the Ministry
of Housing and Urban Affairs
(MoHUA), Government of India (GoI).
·
The report has projected that Indian cities hold huge potential
as centres of economic growth, with 70% of
new jobs coming from cities by 2030.
·
Annual pluvial
flood-related losses are expected
to increase from currently estimated USD 4 billion to USD 5 billion
by 2030 and between USD 14 and USD
30 billion by 2070, if cities don’t invest in adoption.
·
India’s urban
population is expected to almost
double by 2050 to 951 million and
over 144 million
new homes will be required by 2070.
·
The report warns that Indian cities face increasing vulnerability
to climate risks like floods and heatwaves, necessitating investments exceeding USD 2.4 trillion by 2050
and USD 10.9 trillion by 2070 to develop resilient, low- carbon infrastructure.
·
The report
has studied 24 Indian
cities.
11. INDIA & UK SIGN CETA TO BOOST BILATERAL TRADE AND INVESTMENT
·
India and the United Kingdom
(UK) signed a landmark
Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement
(CETA) to strengthen bilateral trade, investment, and economic
cooperation.
·
The pact was signed
during Prime Minister
(PM) Narendra Modi’s
official visit to the UK at Chequers, Buckinghamshire, UK.
·
The deal aims to double bilateral trade from USD 56 billion
(2025) to USD 112 billion by 2030.
·
CETA contains
26 chapters, covering
areas such as goods, services,
digital trade, Intellectual Property (IP), and sustainability.
·
India’s Commitments Elimination of duties on 99% of tariff lines, covering almost
100% of the bilateral trade value.
·
99% of UK exports
(e.g., whisky, automobiles, medical devices) to gain zero-duty access.
·
Whisky tariffs
to be reduced from 150% to 75% immediately, and further down to 40% over 10 years.
·
UK’s Commitments: Reduction in 90% of tariff
lines, with
85% reaching zero-duty
status within 10 years.
12. USA ANNOUNCES
WITHDRAWAL FROM UNESCO
·
The President of the United States of America (USA), Donald Trump, announced that the USA will
withdraw from the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) effective December
31, 2026.
·
This decision
marks the third time the USA
has exited the organization, following
previous withdrawals in 1984
and 2017.
·
The USA cited ideological differences over divisive social and cultural issues that it believes do not align with the country’s national interests.
·
The
USA has highlighted the reasons such as
non-compliance of ideologies such as promoting divisive and cultural causes which includes Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
(DEI) toolkits, Anti-racism education, gender-based programs
of UNESCO like “Transforming MEN’talities.
·
It also opposes the
alignment of UNESCO with the United
Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially the goals such as Climate
change; Gender equality; Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual,
Transgender, and Queer Plus
(LGBTQ+) inclusion; Cultural diversity.
·
In 1984, the
USA withdrew from UNESCO under former President
Ronald Reagan. After 19 years,
the USA rejoined under President George W. Bush in 2003.
·
In 2017, President Donald Trump announced the withdrawal, effect
from December 31, 2018, claiming
anti- Israel bias and the appointment of Palestine as a full member
of UNESCO in 2011.
·
USA rejoined
in July 2023 under the former President Joe Biden.
·
The USA contributed over 8% of the total budget of UNESCO, which would face financial
gaps for a shorter period.
·
The other
impacts include the loss of voting
rights, reduced influence in setting international cultural, educational, and technical standards.
·
In January 2025, the USA withdrew
from the World Health Organization (WHO).
·
UNESCO Director-General (DG) – Audrey Azoulay.
·
Headquarters – Paris, France.
·
Established – 1945.
