DAILY GK 20-21 OCT 2025
1.
FIRST WOMAN PRESIDENT OF
ICA
·
Former India women’s
cricket captain Shantha Rangaswamy was elected President of
the Indian Cricketers’ Association (ICA), becoming the first
woman to lead the organization.
·
Secretary & Director: Venkat
Sundaram.
·
Treasurer & Director: Deepak
Jain.
·
She is First woman cricketer to receive the Arjuna Award (1976)
for her achievements in cricket .
2.
CHAIR OF WIPO ADVISORY
BOARD OF JUDGES
·
Justice Prathiba Maninder (M). Singh of
the Delhi High Court(HC) was appointed as the Chair of the World Intellectual Property
Organization (WIPO) Advisory Board of Judges for the 2025
-2027 term by WIPO.
·
She is the first
Indian to head this international body.
·
The Board includes judges
from Panama, China, Kazakhstan, Egypt, France, Canada, Tanzania, Luxembourg,
and South Korea.
·
The Board functions under the WIPO Judicial Institute, a
global hub for IP judicial training and collaboration.
·
It is a top-level global forum made up of judges
from different countries, all with extensive knowledge of IP law.
3.
JAPAN’S 1ST FEMALE
PM
·
Sanae Takaichi, and
leader of the Liberal Democratic Party
(LDP), made history by becoming Japan’s first female Prime
Minister after her election as LDP President was ratified by both the Houses of
Parliament (known as Japanese Diet).
·
She succeeded Shigeru
Ishiba, who resigned in September 2025, becoming Japan’s 104th
PM and the fourth to hold the post in five years.
·
Sanae Takaichi was
elected by the lawmakers in the lower house of parliament, securing 237
votes against 149 votes by her closest rival Yoshihiko Noda,
leader of the liberal Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP).
·
Later, she was elected by
the upper house of parliament, receiving
125 votes, just one vote above the simple majority necessary for victory.
4.
1ST SMRI TO BOOST
REFORMS IN MINERAL SECTOR
·
The Ministry of
Mines (MoM) has unveiled the first-of-its-kind ‘State
Mining Readiness Index (SMRI)’
and state-level rankings.
·
The index, developed by MoM, aims to
foster healthy competition among states to undertake structural reforms,
adopt e-governance, and bolster compliance and environmental management in
mining operations.
·
Under
the SMRI framework, states have been grouped into 3
different categories based on their mineral endowment such as Category-A (mineral rich states),
Category-B (medium mineral resources) and Category-C (limited mineral
resources).
·
Top Performing States in
SMRI 2025 Category A- Madhya Pradesh, MP, Category
B- Goa,Category C- Punjab.
·
The Government of India
(GoI) has allocated Rs 5,000 crore for the scheme, to reward states leading in
mining reforms.
·
Of this total
outlay, Rs 900 crore has been earmarked for top 3 performing states in categories A, B, and C, as
per the SMRI ranking.
·
Each
top-ranking state in these categories is eligible
to get Rs 100 crore as part of SASCI’s reform-linked
incentive structure.
5.
UIDAI LAUNCHES SITAA
·
The Unique Identification
Authority of India (UIDAI) has launched the Scheme for Innovation and Technology
Association with Aadhaar (SITAA) to foster innovation and collaboration in digital
identity.
·
The scheme will bring together startups, academic
institutions, and industry to work with UIDAI on developing advanced, indigenous, and future-ready
Identity (ID) technologies, strengthening India’s digital identity ecosystem.
·
The initiative will promote collaboration to create scalable,
secure, and globally competitive solutions in digital identity.
·
The key focus areas include biometrics, authentication systems, data
privacy, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and secure identity application.
·
Under this challenge,
startups are invited to create Software
Development Kits (SDKs) that can detect face-liveness
using passive and active methods.
·
As part of the PAD challenge, the Academic and research institutions are encouraged to develop AI/
Machine Language (ML)-based systems that can detect fake or manipulated
faces, including print, replay, morphs, deepfakes, etc.
·
Under this challenge, Innovators can develop SDKs, enabling
fingerprint capture using smartphone cameras, ensuring high image quality,
spoof detection, and compliance with UIDAI standards.
6. ‘KAPAS KRANTI MISSION’
TO PROMOTE COTTON CULTIVATION
·
The Government of
India(GoI) launched the Rs 600 crore ‘Kapas Kranti Mission’ to
promote high-yield, long-staple cotton cultivation in key
regions like Akola, Maharashtra and Telangana.
·
The procurement of cotton
through CCI has increased significantly from 173 lakh bales worth Rs 24, 825
crore (from 2004-14) to 473 lakh bales worth Rs
1.37 lakh crore (from 2014-24).
·
Over the last 10 years,
the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for cotton has doubled i.e. from Rs 4,050 per
quintal (in 2014) to Rs 8,110 per quintal (in 2024).
·
Cotton Corporation of
India Limited (CCI): is a Central Public Sector Undertaking (CPSU)
which works under the control of the Ministry of Textiles (MoT).
·
Headquarters- Mumbai.
7. GOI
NOTIFIED NOTARIES (AMENDMENT) RULES, 2025
·
The Department of Legal
Affairs (DLA), under the Ministry of Law and Justice (MoLJ),
notified the Notaries (Amendment) Rules, 2025.
·
The amendment revises the maximum number of Notaries
that may be appointed by the State Governments of Gujarat, Tamil
Nadu (TN), Rajasthan, and Nagaland under the
Notaries Rules, 1956.
·
A Notary is
a public official appointed by the government to perform legal
certification duties.
·
Key Functions Verify,
authenticate, and certify legal documents,Witness signatures on official
papers,Administer oaths and affirmations.
·
Revised Notary Limits:
Gujarat -6,000, Tamil Nadu (TN)- 3,500, Rajasthan-3,000, Nagaland-400.
8.
‘WE RISE’ INITIATIVE TO
EMPOWER WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS
·
NITI (National
Institution for Transforming India) Aayog’s Women
Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) in collaboration with United Arab Emirates(UAE) based DP
World, launched the joint initiative ‘We Rise – Women Entrepreneurs
Reimagining Inclusive and Sustainable Enterprises’ under the aegis of
WEP’s Award to Reward (ATR) programme.
·
Objective is to To
empower women-led Micro, Small and
Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in India by enabling them to expand globally
through trade facilitation, mentorship, and strategic partnerships.
·
Selected
entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to
showcase their products at Bharat Mart in Dubai(UAE), located
within the Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), providing access to
international buyers.
9.
FIRST INDIAN CITY TO
IMPLEMENT REAL-TIME FLOOD FORECASTING SYSTEM
·
Chennai, Tamil
Nadu, became the first city in India to fully operationalize a Real-Time Flood Forecasting and Spatial
Decision Support System (RTFF
& SDSS).
·
A real-time flood
forecasting and decision support system
that predicts and manages urban floods by integrating data from Automatic Rain Gauges (ARGs), Automatic Weather Stations (AWS), Automatic Water Level Recorders (AWLRs), and Gate Sensors (GS).
10.
DAY-NRLM - EMPOWERING
RURAL COMMUNITIES
·
The Deendayal Antyodaya
Yojana – National Rural Livelihood Mission(DAY-NRLM), one of the world’s largest poverty alleviation
programmes, has mobilized 10.05 crore (cr) rural women households into more
than 90.90 lakh Self Help Groups(SHGs) across 28 states
and 6 Union Territories (UTs).
·
The NRLM was launched
in 2010 as a mission-mode scheme by
restructuring the erstwhile Swarnajayanti Grameen Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY).
·
In 2016, the
program was renamed DAY-NRLM.
·
It is a flagship poverty alleviation program being implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD).
·
Bihar, Uttar
Pradesh(UP), and Andhra Pradesh(AP) lead in SHG numbers and women’s household
mobilization as of June 30, 2025.
·
In
farm-based initiatives, Maharashtra stands
out for covering the highest number of ‘MahilaKisans’ (women farmers) under
Agro-Ecological Practices, followed by UP and AP.
·
For promoting non-farm micro-enterprises, Assam is
the leading state with Kerala and West Bengal (WB)
also showing strong performance.
11.
NEW HELPLINE ‘1515’ FOR
POSHAN AND PMMVY
·
The Ministry of Women and
Child Development (MoWCD) has announced the launch of a new
toll-free helpline number ‘1515’,
effective from November 1, 2025.
·
This new number will
replace the existing helpline, 14408, for beneficiaries of the
POSHAN Abhiyaan(Erstwhile National
Nutrition Mission, NNM) and the Pradhan
Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY).
12.
UDAN 9TH ANNIVERSARY
·
The Ministry of Civil
Aviation (MoCA) celebrated the 9th anniversary of
the Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS) –
UDAN (Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik) in New Delhi.
·
The Prime Minister of
India, Narendra Modi launched the RCS-UDAN scheme on October 21, 2016.
·
Components: The first one
is to improve the existing airports and develop new ones for faster regional
connectivity.
·
The second one is the addition of new, capped airfare and financially
viable regional reel roots.
13.
MERCER CFA GLOBAL PENSION
INDEX 2025
·
An American consulting
firm, released a report titled “Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index (MCGPI)
2025”, in collaboration with Chartered Financial
Analyst (CFA) Institute and Monash Centre for Financial
Studies (MCFS).
·
India
has ranked 52nd, the lowest in the index, with overall index grade “D” with
a score of 43.8 out of 100, slightly down from 44.0 in 2024.
·
Other countries in Group
D include Turkiye (48.2), the
Philippines (47.1), and Argentina (45.9).
·
The Netherlands topped
the Pension Index with 85.4, followed by Iceland at 84.0 and Denmark at 82.3.
·
In the 2025 edition,
countries such as Kuwait, Namibia, Oman,
and Panama have been newly added to
the index.
·
Singapore
secured an overall score of 80.0, becoming
the first Asian country to achieve a Grade A ranking.
