DAILY GK 17-19 OCT 2025
1.
FICCI PRESIDENT
·
The Federation of Indian Chambers
of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) appointed Anant Goenka,
Vice Chairman (VC) of RPG Group, as its President-Elect for 2025–26.
2.
BOOK- “READY, RELEVANT AND
RESURGENT II: SHAPING A FUTURE READY FORCE”
·
Book “Ready, Relevant and
Resurgent II: Shaping a Future Ready Force”, is written by Chief of Defense Staff (CDS), General Anil
Chauhan.
·
This volume builds on the first
book, “Ready, Relevant and Resurgent: A Blueprint for the Transformation of
India’s Military”, which was released in May 2025.
3.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF RURAL WOMEN
2025 – OCTOBER 15
·
The United Nations (UN’s)
International Day of Rural Women (IDRW) is annually observed
across the world on October 15 to honor
the contributions of rural and indigenous women to agriculture, food
security, and rural development.
·
The 2025IDRW, promoted by the UN Women.
·
2025 Theme:“The
Rise of Rural Women: Building Resilient Futures with Beijing+30”.
·
The IDRW was established in 1995 by
civil society organizations during the 4th
World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China.
·
International Year of the Woman
Farmer (IYWF) - 2026 : The UNGA officially declaring
2026 as the IYWF.
·
UN Women, formally
known as the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of
Women, is a United Nations agency
dedicated to gender equality and women’s empowerment worldwide.
·
Headquarters – New
York, USA.
4.
INDIA-INDONESIA NAVAL EXERCISE
“SAMUDRA SHAKTI 2025”
·
5th edition
of joint bilateral maritime exercise between the Indian Navy (IN) and the Indonesian
Navy, “Samudra Shakti 2025” held in Visakhapatnam,
Andhra Pradesh (AP).
·
The exercise is conducted in two
phases: the Harbour Phase and the Sea
Phase.
·
Samudra Shakti, initiated in 2018 first held in
Surabaya (Indonesia).
·
Indonesia Capital- Jakarta.
5.
HENLEY PASSPORT INDEX 2025
·
Henley & Partners, a British consultancy expertized in
investment migration, released Henley Passport Index 2025 Global
Ranking.
·
According to the index, the Indian passport
has fallen to 85th position from 77th in July 2025, providing visa-free or visa-on-arrival
access to 57 countries,
and is tied with Mauritius.
·
Singapore retains
its position as the most powerful
passport, offering visa-free access
to 193 of 227 destinations, with Japan
and South Korea jointly holding the second place.
·
Japan is demoted into Third place with
Visa-Free Score difference of just one less country (i.e. 189 score)
·
Five
European Union (EU) nations,
Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland jointly hold the 4th position
in the index with Visa-Free Score 188.
·
The USA, which held the top spot
in 2014, has dropped to 12th globally in 2025, marking the first time in its
20-year history that it has fallen out of the top 10.
6.
IUCN WORLD CONSERVATION
CONGRESS 2025
·
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World
Conservation Congress 2025 was held in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
·
Theme: “Powering Transformative Conservation” .
·
Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak will
continue as IUCN President for a second term.
·
The Republic of Panama has
been selected to host the next IUCN
World Protected and Conserved Areas Congress in September 2027.
·
During the event, Armenia became
a ‘State Member’ of the IUCN .
·
During the congress, Union
MoS Kirti Vardhan Singh unveiled India’s first National Red List Roadmap of India, a significant
initiative aimed at assessing and
monitoring the conservation status of India’s flora and fauna.
·
Under the roadmap, he unveiled
the first-ever Red List of Endangered Species of India and
India’s vision 2025-2030 for the National Red List Assessment (NRLA).
7.
38TH GFCI RANKINGS
·
The China Development Institute (CDI) in
Shenzhen (China) and Z/Yen Partners in London (the United
Kingdom, UK) released the 38th edition of the Global Financial
Centres Index (GFCI 38).
·
According to the index, Gujarat International Finance Tec-City
(Gift City) in Gujarat,
has climbed from the 46th position in the previous edition to 43rd position
·
The GFCI was compiled using 140
instrumental factors provided by third parties including the World Bank (WB),
the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development), and the UN (United Nation).
·
New York City (USA)
continues to hold the top position with a rating of 766, followed by London (UK)
in 2nd place with and HK (China) secures the third spot.
8.
ISRO PLANS CREWED MOON MISSION BY
2040
·
V Narayanan, Chairman of Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) announced that the space agency has set
the target to launch crewed moon mission
by 2040, while its maiden human
spaceflight mission ‘Gaganyaan’ is on track for launch in 2027.
·
These announcements were made by
him during the 35th convocation ceremony of Birla Institute of
Technology (BIT) Mesra in Ranchi, Jharkhand.
·
A half-humanoid robot ‘Vyommitra’, expected
to be launched in December 2025.
·
Government of India (GoI) has
approved a new space mission named
‘Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM)’, aimed to study various facets of planet Venus including its surface and atmosphere.
·
Bharatiya Antriksh Station
(BAS) will be India’s 1st Space Station, designed on the
lines of International Space Station (ISS), is expected to come up by 2035.
9.
WORLD STUDENTS’ DAY
2025 – OCTOBER 15
·
World Students’ Day (WSD) is
celebrated every year on 15 October to mark the birth anniversary of Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the 11th President of India (from 2002 to 2007) and “Missile Man of India,”
·
2025 Theme: “Empowering
Students as Agents of Innovation and Change”.
·
In 1981, he was awarded the Padma Bhushan in
the field of Civil Service and in Padma Vibhushan in 1990 in
the field of Science, and Engineering.
·
In 1997, he was awarded Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award, for
contributions to Science and Engineering.
10. UNTCC
CHIEFS CONCLAVE 2025
·
The Indian Army (IA) hosted the ‘United Nations Troop Contributing Countries
(UNTCC) Chiefs Conclave 2025’
in New Delhi.
·
The event brought together senior military leadership from 32 nations,
along with senior United Nations (UN) officials, to deliberate on the future of global peacekeeping operations.
·
Theme: “The Way Ahead for UN Peacekeeping
Operations”.
·
Guiding Principles Proposed: “4Cs”
– Consultation, Cooperation, Coordination, Capacity Building.
11. UN REPORT
ON WORLD’S TROPICAL FOREST
·
The United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) released a report
titled “High-risk forests, high-value returns: A co-benefit assessments for
decision-makers”, in which it highlighted that around 391 million
(mn) hectares (ha) of tropical forests are at high risk of deforestation.
·
These are areas with high carbon
stocks, significant additional ecosystem services, and a high likelihood of deforestation.
·
Together they cover about 391
mn ha of tropical forests, nearly
one-fourth of the world’s total 1.6 billion (bn) ha of tropical forest area.
12. INDIA
ELECTED CO-CHAIR OF UN-GGIM ASIA-PACIFIC COMMITTEE
·
Hitesh Kumar S. Makwana, Surveyor General of India (SGI), has
been officially elected as the Co-chair of the Regional Committee of the United Nations Global Geospatial Information Management for
Asia and the Pacific (UN-GGIM-AP) for a term of 3
years (2025 to 2028).
·
Hitesh Kumar will co-chair the committee
along with Woosug Cho (from Republic of Korea).
·
He was elected through the
elections held during the 14th Plenary
Meeting of UN-GGIM-AP, in Goyang-si,
Republic of Korea, which was hosted by National
Geographic Information Institute (NGII) of Korea.
·
It is one of the 5
UN-GGIM regional committees (UN-GGIM-Africa; UN-GGIM-Americas;
UN-GGIM-Europe and UN-GGIM-Arab States).
·
This
regional committee was initially established in 1995 as the Permanent Committee on
Geographic Information System (GIS) Infrastructure for Asia and the Pacific (PCGIAP), and was later, renamed as UN-GGIM-AP in 2012,
following the establishment of UN-GGIM in 2011.
·
It is represented by the National Geospatial Information Authorities
of 56 countries in
the Asia and Pacific region.
·
UN-GGIM was
established by the UN’s Economic and
Social Council (ECOSOC) as the apex
intergovernmental mechanism for joint decision-making and framing
guidelines regarding the production, availability, and use of geospatial
information within national, regional, and global policy frameworks.
·
Headquarters – New
York, USA.
13.
INDIA’S FIRST WOMEN UPI
“LXMEPAY”
·
Lxme,
India’s leading financial platform for women,
announced the launch of Lxmepay, the country’s first UPI (United Payments Interface) exclusively for
women.
·
It is specifically built for
women, as it empowers them to spend
smartly, budget effortlessly, track their expenses, save and grow their
wealth.
·
Digital Gold Rewards: Earn
gold on UPI transactions and other app engagement features not just spends, but
also when receiving money.
·
Smart Expense Tracking: Track
spends, get automated insights, spending categories, and monthly alerts to help
manage budgets.
14.
2030 COMMONWEALTH GAMES
·
Commonwealth Association has
approved India’s bid to host the 2030
Commonwealth Games (CWG 2030).
·
The centenary edition of the CWG
will be held in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, marking India’s second time hosting the Games after
the 2010 Delhi edition.
·
This approval marks a major step
for India, which is also aiming to host
the 2036 Olympic Games in Ahmedabad.
·
Ahmedabad was selected
against Abuja, the capital
of Nigeria.
·
2030 CWG
will mark the centenary (100th year) of the
inaugural event of CWG which was held in
Hamilton, Canada in 1930.
·
The Commonwealth Games, held every four years, unite athletes from 56 Commonwealth nations.
·
India last finished 4th at Birmingham 2022, winning 61 medals (22 Gold, 16 Silver, 23 Bronze).
·
The Glasgow 2026 Games will precede
the 2030 event.
15. WORLD
FOOD DAY 2025 – OCTOBER 16
·
The United Nations (UN)’s World Food Day (WFD) is
annually observed across the globe on 16 October to promote
awareness of healthy diets, food security, and access to nutritious food.
·
2025 Theme: ‘Hand
in hand for better food and a better future!’.
·
WFD was established in 1979 during
the 20th session of the FAO Conference held in Rome, Italy.
·
World Food Day 2025 Summit: summit
titled “World Food Day 2025: Food is Medicine and Eating for Health” was
held in Tempe, Arizona, USA.
