DAILY GK 19-20 DEC 2025

 DAILY GK 19-20 DEC 2025

1.       TURNER PRIZE 2025

·         Nnena Kalu, a British contemporary artist known for her sculptures and drawings, became the first artist with a learning disability to receive the Turner Prize, one of the most contemporary art awards of the United Kingdom (UK), at a ceremony in Bradford, UK.

·         NnenaKalu received the prize from the jury, chaired by Alex Farquharson, Director of Tate Britain and a cash prize of 25,000 British pounds.

·         Instituted in 1984, the Turner Prize honors a British or UK-based artist for outstanding contemporary art, promoting innovative and challenging artistic practices.

·         The Turner Prize, named after Joseph Mallord William (J.M.W) Turner, the famous British painter.

·         Turner Prize is awarded by Tate Britain, the national gallery of British art.

·         The artist must be under 50 years old and should be either British or working mainly in Britain.

 


2.       INDIA UNVEILS 1ST INDIGENOUS 64-BIT DUAL-CORE MICROPROCESSOR ‘DHRUV64’

·         The Government of India (GoI) unveiled ‘DHRUV64’, India’s 1st indigenous built 1.0 Giga Hertz (GHz), 64-bit dual-core microprocessor, marking a significant milestone in strengthening India’s self-reliant microprocessor ecosystem.

·         This newly launched semiconductor chip was developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Research and Development (R&D) organisation under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), under the Microprocessor Development Programme (MDP).

·         DHRUV64 is the 3rd processor to be fabricated under DIR-V, following the THEJAS32, 1st chip fabricated at Silterra facility in Malaysia and THEJAS64, manufactured locally at Semiconductor Lab (SCL) in Mohali, Punjab.

 

3.       DIVING SUPPORT CRAFT ‘DSC A20’

·         The Indian Navy (IN) commissioned ‘DSC A20’, India’s first indigenously designed and constructed Diving Support Crafts (DSC), at a ceremony held at the Naval Base in Kochi, Kerala, under the Southern Naval Command (SNC).

·         The contract to build five DSCs was signed on 12 February 2021 between the Ministry of Defence(MoD) and Titagarh Rail Systems Limited (TRSL), Kolkata (West Bengal, WB).

·         DSC A20 is the first of five DSC, constructed by TRSL.

·         The vessel is specially designed to support diving and underwater operations in coastal waters and is fitted with modern diving systems that ensure high safety and efficiency.

·         It has a displacement of about 390 tonnes.

 

4.       INDIAN NAVY COMMISSIONS INAS 335 (OSPREYS)

·         The Indian Navy (IN) commissioned its second (Multi-Mission Helicopter) MH-60R Seahawk helicopter squadron, Indian Naval Air Squadron 335 (INAS 335) (Ospreys), at Indian Naval Station (INS) Hansa, Goa.

·         The commissioning ceremony was presided over by Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS).

·         INAS 335 is a frontline naval aviation squadron operating MH-60R Seahawk helicopters, acting as the “eyes, ears, and first hunters” of the fleet.

·         The MH-60R is an all-weather, multi-role maritime helicopter capable of day and night operations against conventional and asymmetric threats.

·         The Indian Army (IA) received the final batch of three Attack Helicopters 64 Echo (AH-64E) Apache from Boeing, the United States of America (USA), at Hindon Air Force Station, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh (UP).

·         The helicopters will be stationed at Jodhpur, Rajasthan, under the newly raised 451 Army Aviation Squadron, tasked with operations in the western sector across desert and high-threat environments.

 

5.       WORLD INEQUALITY REPORT 2026

·         World Inequality Lab (WIL) released the 3rd edition of the World Inequality Report (WIR 2026), tracking the evolution of economic disparities.

·         According to the report, the top 10% of earners in India capture 58% of total income, while the bottom 50% share only 15%, highlighting extreme income disparity.

·         In India, the top 10% own around 65% of total wealth, with the top 1% holding about 40%.

·         The average per capita income is approximately 6,200 euros (PPP), and average wealth is about 28,000 euros.

·         Women in India earn only 18% of labor income and have low workforce participation, below global averages of 34% income and 51% employment.

·         The global inequality remains high, with 10% earning more than the bottom 90% combined and owing about 75% of global wealth.

·         The bottom 50% hold just 2%.

·         The poorest 50% of the world produce only 3% of emissions from private capital and 10% of emissions from consumption.

·         The richest 10% produce 77% of emissions from private capital and 47% of consumption-based emissions.

·         The top 1% alone are responsible for 41% of private capital emissions, almost twice as much as the entire bottom 90% combined.

·         Globally, women receive just over 25% of total labor income, encompassing Middle East & North Africa(MENA) (16%), South & Southeast Asia (20%), Sub-Saharan Africa (28%), East Asia (34%), Europe, North America & Oceania, Russia & Central Asia (40%).

·         Women earn much less than men when paid and unpaid work are included. Women earn 32% of men’s earnings per hour including unpaid care or domestic work and 61% when unpaid work is excluded.

 

6.       STANFORD’S GLOBAL AI VIBRANCY TOOL 2025

·         Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) released the ‘Global AI Vibrancy Tool (GVT) 2025’, under its Artificial Intelligence (AI) Index project.

·         According to the report, India ranked 3rd in the 2024 Global Vibrancy Index with a score of 21.59, marking a significant improvement from its 7th position in 2023.

·         The United States of America(USA) topped the rankings with a score of 78.6, while China placed second with 36.95.

·         South Korea secured the 4th position with a score of 17.24, while the United Kingdom (UK) ranked 5th with 16.64.

·         Singapore (6th rank) (16.43), Spain (7th rank) (16.37), United Arab Emirates (UAE) (eighth rank) (16.06), Japan (ninth) (16.04), and Canada (tenth) (15.56).

 

7.       HURUN INDIA SELF-MADE ENTREPRENEURS OF THE MILLENNIA 2025

·         Hurun India in partnership with IDFC FIRST Private Banking, a division of IDFC First Bank Limited, released the 3rd edition of India’s Top 200 Self-Made Entrepreneurs of the Millennia 2025.

·         As per the report, DeepinderGoyal, founder, Managing Director(MD) & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Eternal (formerly Zomato), has topped the list with a valuation of Rs. 3, 20,700 crore, marking a 27 % increase from the previous year.

·         Radhakishan Damani, founder of Avenue Supermarts (DMart), who topped the list in 2023 and 2024 has slipped to the 2nd position with a valuation of around Rs. 2,97,800 crores.

·         Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal of InterGlobe Aviation (IndiGo) secured third place, with their company valued at Rs.2,19,300 crores.

·         The list features 20 women entrepreneurs with a combined company valuation of Rs.3.3 trillion, led by FalguniNayar and AdwaitaNayar of Nykaa (Rs. 67,500 crore), followed by Neha Bansal of Lenskart (Rs. 67,000 crore).

·         Youngest founders overall are Kaivalya Vohra (22) and AaditPalicha (23) of Zepto, valued at Rs. 52,400 crore, while AdwaitaNayar (34) is the youngest woman entrepreneur.

 

8.       IAF BILATERAL AIR EXERCISE AVIAINDRA-2025 WITH RUSSIA

·         The Indian Air Force (IAF) commenced the 3rd edition of Exercise AviaIndra (2025), a bilateral air exercise with the Russian Federation Aerospace Force (RFASF), in New Delhi.

·         The AviaIndra series, launched in 2014, is a biennial India–Russia air exercise focused on joint flying operations and operational coordination.

·         The AviaIndra exercise was interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020–2021 and later saw a prolonged pause following the outbreak of the Russia–Ukraine conflict in 2022–2024.

 

9.       INDIA-UAE JOINT MILITARY DRILL ‘DESERT CYCLONE-II’

·         The 2nd edition of the joint military exercise “DESERT CYCLONE-II” between the armies of India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), commenced at Abu Dhabi, the capital city of UAE.

·         India hosted the 1st edition of Desert Cyclone-I at the Mahajan Field Firing Ranges (MFFR) in Rajasthan in January 2024.

 

10.    SQUASH WORLD CUP

·         The World Squash Federation (WSF) in collaboration with The Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) organized the 2025 Squash World Cup, which was held in Chennai, Tamil Nadu (TN).

·         The Indian mixed-team clinched its first-ever 2025 Squash World Cup title after a dominant 3–0 victory over top-seeded Hong Kong in the final, becoming the first Asian nation and fourth overall after Australia, England, and Egypt, to win the trophy.

·         The Squash World Cup 2025 was a mixed-team event featuring 12 nations, held for the third consecutive time in Chennai, TN, and enhanced India’s prospects ahead of squash’s Olympic debut at the Los Angeles 2028, California, USA.

·         India (mixed team) won the gold medal, Hong Kong (China) secured the silver medal, while Egypt and Japan shared the bronze medal at the Squash World Cup 2025.