DAILY 24-25 MAY 2026

 DAILY 24-25 MAY 2026

1.       NCB DIRECTOR

·         The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), chaired by Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, extended the deputation tenure of Anurag Garg, Director General (DG) of the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), till 31 July 2027.

·         NCBt was established in 1986 under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) as India’s apex anti-drug law enforcement and intelligence agency functioning under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

 


2.       SENEGAL PM 

·         Senegal President Bassirou Diomaye Faye appointed Ahmadou Al Aminou Lo, member of the Pastef party, as the new Prime Minister of Senegal.

·         The political transition took place, three days after President Faye dissolved the government and dismissed former PM Ousmane Sonko.

 

3.       PRIME MINISTER OF SLOVENIA

·         JanezJansa, the leader of the Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), was elected as the Prime Minister of Slovenia for a fourth term, securing 51 votes in Parliament and obtaining support to form a new coalition government.

·         He succeeded Robert Golob as the PM of Slovenia.

·         His Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS) formed a centre-right coalition with allied parties, ending the political deadlock that followed the 2026 parliamentary elections.

 

NATIONAL AFFAIRS

4.       68TH APO GOVERNING BODY MEETING

·         Union Minister PiyushGoyal, Ministry of Commerce & Industry(MoC&I), inaugurated the 68th Session of the Governing Body Meeting (GBM) of the Asian Productivity Organization (APO), in New Delhi.

·         Member economies reviewed progress under the APO Vision 2030 framework, focused on productivity-led transformation in the Asia-Pacific region.

·         The APO National Award for Productivity Advocates was presented to Ashok Panjwani, Director of BEIL Infrastructure Limited, Bharuch, Gujarat, while the APO National Award for Productivity Technical Expert was conferred on BakulLimbasiya, Founder Director of Bhathwari Technologies Private Limited, Gujarat.

·         APO: Established in 1961, the APO is an intergovernmental body with 21 member economies across the Asia-Pacific region working to improve productivity for sustainable socio-economic development in the Asia-Pacific region.

·         Headquarter- Tokyo, Japan.

 

5.       FIRST ALL-WOMEN EXPEDITION SUMMITS MT EVEREST 

·         The Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) completed its first-ever all-women international mountaineering expedition to the world’s highest peak Mount (Mt) Everest, with a 14-member team summiting the 8,848 meter (m) peak via the South Col Route from Nepal.

·         The Border Security Force (BSF), also successfully scaled Mt Everest through its first all-women expedition,Mission Vande Mataram’, as part of its Diamond Jubilee celebrations (60 years of service).

 

6.       DPIIT RELEASES GUIDELINES FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF BHAVYA SCHEME

·         The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry (MoC&I) released the detailed operational guidelines for the implementation of the BHAVYA (Bharat AudyogikVikasYojna) Scheme.

·         The objective of the Scheme is to develop investment-ready, world-class industrial infrastructure to enable investors to ground investment with ease, thereby adding to the manufacturing capacity in the country.

·         It is aligned with the objectives of Make in India and PM Gati Shakti. 

·         It is a Central Sector Scheme, i.e. it is 100% funded and implemented by the Central Government.
The total financial outlay for the scheme is Rs 33,660 crore (Cr).

·         This includes an administrative fund of Rs 60 Cr.

·         The scheme proposes the development of 100 investment-ready industrial parks.

 

7.       NIBE DEFENCE MANUFACTURING COMPLEX IN SHIRDI

·         Union Minister Rajnath Singh, Ministry of Defence (MoD), inaugurated the NIBE Group’s private defence manufacturing complex in Shirdi, Maharashtra and flagged off India’s first 300- km Universal Rocket Launching System “Suryastra”.

·         He also approved four defence corridors in cities of Maharashtra Pune, Nashik, Ahmednagar and Nagpur to strengthen India’s indigenous defence manufacturing ecosystem.

·         The project was developed by NIBE Group, with an investment of over Rs. 5,000 crore and is expected to generate around 4,000 jobs.

·         Suryastra was flagged off as an indigenous guided rocket launcher system developed under the emergency procurement framework and successfully tested at the IntegratedTest Range (ITR), Chandipur, Odisha.

 

8.       GOOGLE ANNOUNCES ‘GES’ FREE AI TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR SCHOOL TEACHERS

·         Google announced the ‘Google for Education Schoolers (GES)’, free Artificial Intelligence (AI) trainingprogramme for school teachers across Maharashtra, Assam, Punjab, and other regions of India, at the Education World Forum 2026 held in London.

·         The new programme has been launched in collaboration with several state governments and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

·         For the initial phase, the initiative will be implemented in partnership with the governments of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, and Assam, along with the Union Territory (UT) Ladakh and the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB).

·         During the 1st year of roll out, the programme will be available in 6 Indian languages such as: Assamese, Hindi, Marathi, Telugu, Odia, and Punjabi, through pilot projects in select states.

 

9.       MYAS NOTIFIES NSB AND NST RULES, 2026

·         The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports (MYAS) notified the National Sports Governance (National Sports Board (NSB)) Rules, 2026 and the National Sports Governance (National Sports Tribunal (NST)) Rules, 2026 under the provisions of the National Sports Governance Act, 2025.

·         The rules define the composition of the Board, term of office of the Chairperson and Members, salary, allowances and other conditions of service, as well as the powers and functions of the Board.

·         The NSB will function as the central authority for granting recognition to National Sports Bodies.

·         The NSB shall consist of a Chairperson and two Members.

·         NST Rules 2026 provide for the term of office of the Chairperson and Members of the Tribunal, their appointment and re-appointment process, salary and allowances, service conditions and powers of the Tribunal.

·         The Chairperson shall hold office for a term of five years or till he attains the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier.

·         The Members shall hold office for a term of five years or till they attain the age of 67 years, whichever is earlier.

 

10.    11TH QUAD FOREIGN MINISTERS’ MEETING

·         11th edition of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue(QUAD) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (QFMM 2026), chaired by the Union Minister S. Jaishankar, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), was held in New Delhi.

·         Penny Wong, Foreign Minister of Australia; Toshimitsu Motegi, Foreign Minister of Japan;Marco Rubio,Secretary of State of USA, participated at 11th QFMM.

·         QFMM launched the 1st ever Indo-Pacific Maritime Surveillance Collaboration (IPMSC) initiative and Quad Initiative on Indo-Pacific Energy Security to strengthen regional energy resilience.

·         India will host the 2nd edition of the Quad-at-Sea Ship Observer Mission.

·         Under the Advancing Innovations for Empowering Next Gen Agriculture (AI-ENGAGE) initiative, Over USD 6 million funding is awarded for 06 international research projects

·         Under Quad Critical Minerals Initiative Framework”, Quad partners pledged to mobilize up to USD 20 billion investment in government and private sector to bolster critical minerals supply chains, including in mining processing, and recycling through various actions.

 

11.    INDIA-US SIGNS BILATERAL FRAMEWORK 

·         India and USA signed a Framework on “Securing of Supply in the Mining and Processing of Critical Minerals and Rare Earths” aimed at securing the supply, mining, processing and recycling of critical minerals and rare earth elements.

·         The U.S. government is allocating over USD 30 billion through investments, loans, and public–private partnerships to strengthen critical mineral supply chains.

 

12.    COMMITTEE ON DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE

·         Government of India (GoI) constituted a High Level Committee under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) to study the demographic changes arising from illegal immigration and other abnormal reasons.

·         The committee will be chaired by retired Supreme Court Judge Justice Prakash Prabhakar Naolekar.

·         Committee Members: the Census Commissioner currently Mritunjay Kumar Narayan,retired IAS officer Durga ShankerMishra,retired IPS officer Balaji Srivastava (Retired IPS),Dr. Shamika Ravi, who is part of the PM’s Economic Advisory Council.

·         The Joint Secretary (Foreigners-I) in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) currently Mahatme Sandeep Namdeo, will act as Member Secretary.

·         The committee will examine demographic changes arising from illegal immigration and other unusual factors, identify their causes and recommend suitable policy, legislative and administrative measures.