DAILY GK 18 NOV 2025
1. E-JAGRITI PORTAL RESOLVES OVER 1.27 LAKH CASES: MOCAFPD
·
The Department of Consumer Affairs (DoCA)’s Unified Digital Platform, e-Jagriti, which
enables consumers to file and track grievances with all consumer commissions, had attracted over 2.75
lakh registered users.
·
The platform has handled nearly 1.30 lakh cases
since its launch on January 1 2025.
·
Information Technology and
Innovation (E-Jagriti) is a flagship
initiative of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Ministry of Consumer
Affairs, Food &Public Distribution (MoCAFPD), aimed at strengthening the consumer dispute redressal system across the
country.
·
Purpose : It enables consumers to file complaints, track case statuses, and access
judgments online.
·
It focuses on the computerization
and networking of all Consumer Commissions at the national, state, and district
levels to ensure transparency, efficiency, and speedy resolution of consumer
disputes.
·
It integrates consumer
grievance platforms such as Online Case
Monitoring System (OCMS), E-Daakhil, the National Consumer Dispute Redressal
Commission (NCDRC) and Computerisation and Computer Networking of Consumer
Forums (CONFONET) on a single platform.
·
The OTP Police)
registration feature of e-Jagriti
enables NRIs to file complaints, make digital payments, participate in virtual
hearings, exchange documents online, and track cases in real time,
eliminating the need for physical presence in India.
·
The 2.75 lakh registered users
include around 1388 NRIs.
·
The maximum number of NRI
complaints have originated from the following countries:United States of
America (USA) – 146 complaints, United Kingdom (UK) – 52, United Arab Emirates
(UAE) – 47.
2. GOI GRANTED GI TAG TO GUJARAT’S AMBAJI WHITE MARBLE
·
The Geographical Indications
Registry (GIR) granted the Geographical Indication (GI) tag under
the High-Quality Natural Stone category
to Ambaji Marble, a distinctive white marble quarried in Ambaji town, Banaskantha
district, Gujarat
·
Ambaji Marble Known for its milky-white colour, natural shine, high calcium content,
and strong durability.
3.
SIXTEENTH FINANCE
COMMISSION SUBMITS ITS REPORT
·
The Sixteenth
Finance Commission (FC) submitted its report for the distribution of net proceeds of taxes
between Centre and States for award period 2026-27 to 2030-31 to
President of India.
·
The report shall be available in the public domain once it is tabled in
the Parliament by the Union Finance
Minister under Article 281.
·
The FC established
under Article 280 of the Indian Constitution, is a constitutional body that recommends
distribution of the net proceeds of taxes between the Union and the States as
well as the allocation between the States of the respective shares of such
proceeds, grants-in-aid to States, review arrangements on financing Disaster
Management initiatives.
·
16th FC Members: The 16th FC, commencing April 1, 2026, is
chaired by Dr Aravind Panagariya
·
The other members of 16th FC are: Ajay Narayan Jha, Annie George Mathew,
Niranjan Rajadhyaksha, Soumya Kanti Ghosh.
4.
YUVA AI FOR ALL- FREE
NATIONAL AI COURSE
·
The Ministry of Electronics
and Information Technology (MeitY) launched ‘YUVA
AI for ALL’, a first-of-its-kind f reeArtificial Intelligence (AI) course designed for all Indians,
especially the youth, under the IndiaAI Mission.
·
With this new initiative, MeitY
aims to empower 1 crore citizens in the country with
foundational AI skills, to fix the digital divide gap, promote ethical AI
adoption, and prepare India’s workforce for the future.
·
This short, 4.5 hour (hr) self-paced course, is
available for free on leading learning platforms like: FutureSkills Prime(FSP), iGOTKarmayogi (iGOT-K) and
other popular ed-tech web portals.
·
The course is divided into 6 short modules, aimed to make AI
accessible and understandable to every Indian.
·
Participants receive a
government-issued certificate on completing the course.
·
This national course was
developed by renowned AI expert and author, JaspreetBindra, Founder
of AI & Beyond and Tech Whisperer Limited.
5.
DAE UNVEILS ‘COLONOX’
AND ‘BARC–B1401’
·
The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) announced
two major indigenous innovations: ColoNoX Wound Dressing, India’s
First Nitric-Oxide Wound Dressing
and Ferrocarbonatite(BARC B140), India’s first
indigenously developed Certified
Reference Material (CRM) for Rare Earth Elements (REE).
·
DAE introduced ColoNoX,
an Nitro-Oxide(NO) releasing dressing, designed by Bhabha Atomic Research
Center(BARC) under the DAE for Diabetic Foot Ulcers(DFU),
clinically validated through Phase II and III trials.
·
ColoNoX uses a collagen hydrogel that absorbs exudate, reduces pain, and delivers NO to promote wound healing via antimicrobial and
regenerative action.
·
BARC B140 was jointly developed by National Center for Compositional
Characterization of Materials(NCCCM) –BARC and Atomic
Minerals Directorate (AMD), Hyderabad, Telangana.
·
The CRM has certified
concentrations of 13 Rare Earth Elements (REEs) and 6 major
elements, making it a critical calibration material for research, mining,
refining, and industrial applications.
6.
‘SARAL SIMS’ TO
EASE STEEL IMPORT REGISTRATION PROCESS
·
The Ministry of Steel (MoS) launched ‘SARAL
SIMS’, a new registration
process under the Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS).
·
The interested importers can
now access the new facility through a dedicated web portal (www.sims.steel.gov.in/SARAL), where they are
required to declare only the total intended import quantity for the year.
·
Based on this information, they
will get a SARAL SIMS number, which can be used for multiple consignments
for the year.
·
SARAL SIMS for Small
Imports: It includes the imports of
small consignments, which is less than or equal to 10 Metric Tonnes (MT)
subject to annual threshold limit of 1,000 MT.
7.
INDIA’S FIRST
INDIGENOUS CRISPR GENE THERAPY ‘BIRSA 101’ FOR SICKLE CELL DISEASE
·
Union Minister of State(MoS)
(Independent Charge, IC) Dr. Jitendra Singh, Ministry
of Science & Technology (MoS&T), launched India’s first indigenous
Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats(CRISPR)-based
gene therapy, named BIRSA 101, to treat Sickle
Cell Disease (SCD).
·
The therapy is of high national importance, particularly for tribal
communities in central and eastern India, which
bear the highest burden of SCD.
·
It is developed by Council of Industrial and Scientific
Research) - Institute of Genomics & Integrative
Biology (CSIR-IGIB) using the enFnCas9 CRISPR
platform.
·
Patient stem cells carrying the sickle mutation are extracted,
CRISPR-edited, and reinfused to produce healthy
blood cells, curing the disease at its
genetic source.
8.
PRESIDENT DRAUPADI’S VISIT
TO BOTSWANA
·
The President of
India DroupadiMurmu was on a three-day official visit to Botswana marking the first-ever state visit by an Indian President to
Botswana.
·
This visit marked the final
leg of her state tour to Angola and
Botswana.
·
President DraupadiMurmu was
welcomed by President of Botswana Duma
Gideon Boko at his office in Gaborone.
·
She addressed the National
Assembly of Botswana and also visited the Three Dikgosi Monument in
Gaborone.
·
During the visit, India and
Botswana signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Pharmacopoeial
cooperation
·
An MoU was signed by India
and Botswana to recognize the Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP) as a
reference “book of standards” for medicines in Botswana,
becoming the 18th country to recognize the IP as a
Pharmacopoeial standard.
·
8 Cheetahs Donated
President DraupadiMurmu, along with Botswana President Duma Boko, visited
the Molokodi Nature Reserve.
·
The two leaders witnessed
experts from India and Botswana release eight cheetahs, captured
from the Ghanzi region, into a quarantine facility, marking Botswana’s symbolic donation of the animals
to India under Project Cheetah.
