DAILY GK 12-13 MAY 2026
1. DEVELOP
INDIA’S 1ST PLASTIC WASTE GEOCELL ‘PHOENIX’
·
The Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research –Central Road Research Institute (CSIR-CRRI), in
collaboration with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), developed
and demonstrated ‘Phoenix Geocell, India’s first technical textile geocell made
entirely from end-of-life mixed plastic waste.
·
It is a three-dimensional honeycomb-like
structure made entirely from processed mixed plastic waste.
·
It is used in road construction, weak soil
stabilisation, and slope protection.
2. URBAN UNEMPLOYMENT
RATE DECLINED TO 6.6%
·
The National Statistics Office (NSO)
under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI)
released Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) Quarterly Bulletin:
January-March 2026 (Q4 Financial Year 2025-26 (FY26)), 4th in
the series of PLFS Quarterly bulletins
covering both rural and urban areas.
·
As per
this report, the urban unemployment rate
(UR) in India for people
aged 15 years and above declined to 6.6% in
January-March 2026, down from 6.7% in the previous quarter.
·
Labour Force Participation
Rate (LFPR): The overall LFPR among persons of age 15 years and above
estimated at 55.5% in Q4 FY26, compared to 55.8% in
the previous quarter.
·
In rural areas, LFPR for persons of age 15
years and above was
observed as 58.2% in the present quarter while it
stood at 58.4% in October-December, 2025.
·
Urban LFPR for the same age group was 50.2% in Q4
FY26 compared to 50.4% observed in the preceding quarter.
3. ‘SEHAT
MISSION’ TO LINK AGRICULTURE WITH PUBLIC HEALTH
·
Jagat Prakash Nadda, Ministry of Health and
Family Welfare, and Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Ministry of
Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare, and Rural Development, launched the ‘SEHAT Mission’ (Science Excellence for Health through
Agricultural Transformation) to connect agriculture, nutrition and public
health through scientific collaboration in Delhi.
·
The
mission has been jointly launched by the Indian Council of Agricultural
Research (ICAR) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) under the
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (MoA&FW) to
build a framework for ‘Healthy Food, Healthy Farms and a Healthy
India’.
·
SEHAT Mission is a major initiative that
combines science, policymaking, and implementation to build a healthier India.
4. ‘ONE
CASE ONE DATA’ INITIATIVE & AI CHATBOT ‘SU SAHAY’
·
Justice Surya Kant,
Chief Justice of India (CJI), announced the launch of the ‘One
Case One Data’ initiative along with an Artificial intelligence
(AI) -powered judicial assistance
chatbot named ‘Su Sahay’ to strengthen data
integration, transparency, and efficiency in court case management across all
levels of the judiciary.
·
One Case One Data
will integrate multi-level information from all the high courts, district and
taluka courts details embedded into a unified system.
·
Under
the new initiative, each case will be
assigned a single unique digital identity(ID).
·
Chatbot Su Sahay: An
AI-powered assistance chatbotintegrated
with the Supreme Court (SC) website to facilitate easier access to justice
and court-related services for litigants.
5. PUNJAB
LAUNCHES ‘MERI RASOI YOJANA’
·
Bhagwant Mann, CM
of Punjab, launched ‘Meri Rasoi Yojna(My Kitchen Scheme)’ in Bhalwan village,
Sangrur district in Punjab,to provide free
food kits to around 40 lakh economically weaker families across the state,
under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.
·
Each kitchen kit under the ‘Meri Rasoi’
scheme will contain 2 kilograms (kg) of
moong-chana dal, 2 kg of sugar, 1 kg of iodised salt, 200 grams of turmeric,
and 1 litre of mustard oil, with beneficiary families receiving the kit once every three months.
·
The scheme includes special provisions for families with differently abled members, senior
citizens, and single-parent households.
·
The kitchen kits will be assembled by the
Punjab State Cooperative Supply and Marketing Federation Limited (MARKFED) and
distributed through the Department of Food and Civil Supplies, Punjab.
6. IMPLEMENTATION
OF RURAL EMPLOYMENT ASSURANCE UNDER VB-G RAM G
·
The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) notified the
implementation of the Viksit Bharat – Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission
(Gramin) VB–G RAM G Act, 2025, across the country from July 1,
2026.
·
With
the implementation of VB-G RAM G Act, 2025, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA, 2005) will be
repealed with effect from the same date.
·
The new act provides a statutory guarantee of 125 days of work
in every financial year (up from the provision of
100 days in MGNREGA, 2005) to every household whose adult members volunteer for unskilled manual work.
·
Under the Viksit Bharat–G RAM G Act, 2025,
the scope of permissible works has been covering four key areas: water
security, rural infrastructure, livelihood infrastructure, and climate
resilience works.
·
wages to labourers will be made through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)
into their bank or post office accounts.
·
Payments
will be processed within three days, ensuring that
all procedures are completed and the funds reach their accounts within a maximum time period of 15 days.
7. DFS,
MOF LAUNCHED USD 1.5 BILLION BMIP
·
The Department of Financial Services (DFS)
under the Ministry of Finance (MoF) launched the ‘Bharat
Maritime Insurance Pool (BMIP)’ of USD 1.5 Billion
(Bn), with a sovereign
guarantee of USD 1.4 Bn (Rs 12,980 Crores) .
·
Indian
vessels rely heavily on foreign International Group (IG)
Protection and Indemnity (P&I) Clubs for coverage against
third-party liabilities such as oil pollution, wreck removal, cargo damage,
crew injury, repatriation, and collision liabilities.
·
The
BMIP will provide risk cover to Indian Vessels on
international sea routes, including war and high-risk zones, in the backdrop of
current West Asia tensions.
8. INDIA
HOSTED 10TH EDITION OF INDIAN OCEAN DIALOGUE
·
India, which
currently holds the chairship
of Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) for 2025-27, hosted the 10th
edition of the Indian Ocean Dialogue (IOD-10) in New
Delhi.
·
The dialogue
was held under the theme “Indian Ocean Region in a Transforming
World”.
·
At IOD-10, India reaffirmed its commitment to
a peaceful, stable and prosperous IOR, aligned by its MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth
Across Regions)vision andNeighbourhood First policy.
9. MSP
FOR KHARIF CROPS FOR MARKETING SEASON 2026-27
·
The Cabinet
Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) chaired by the Prime
Minister approved the increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSP)
for 14 Kharif Crops for marketing season 2026-27.
·
The highest absolute increase in MSP over the
previous year has been recommended for Sunflower
seeds at Rs 622 per quintal,Cotton at Rs 557 per quintal, Sesamumat Rs 500 per
quintal.
·
The
MSP for common paddy has been increased to Rs
2,441 per quintal for the 2026-27 season, up by Rs 72 from the
previous MSP.
·
Grade A paddy has been fixed at Rs 2461 per
quintal.
10. LEADS
2025 REPORT
·
Union
Minister Piyush Goyal, Ministry of Commerce
& Industry (MoC&I), released the 7th edition
of Logistics Ease Across Different
States (LEADS) 2025 report .
·
Tamil
Nadu (TN), Uttar Pradesh (UP), Mizoram and Delhi have
been categorized as ‘Exemplars’ for their exceptional
logistics performance.
·
The latest LEADS framework has transitioned
from its previous three-tier classification (Achievers, Fast Movers, and
Aspirers) to four-tier performance
framework (Exemplars, High Performers, Accelerators and Growth-Seekers).
·
LEADS
report has categorised 11 states and UTs such as
Gujarat, Kerala, Maharashtra, Puducherry, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), among
others, as high performers.
·
18 states and UTs such as: Punjab, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh (AP),
Ladakh, Lakshadweep, among others, have been categorised as Accelerators.
·
This year, 3 states namely, West Bengal (WB),
Rajasthan, and Sikkim and One UT (Andaman &
Nicobar Islands) have been categorised as Growth-Seekers.
11. INDIAN
COAST GUARD COMMISSIONS INDIGENOUS FPV ‘ICGS ACHAL’
·
The Indian Coast Guard (ICG) commissioned
Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS)
Achal, the fifth in the series of eight new-generation Adamya-class Fast
Patrol Vessels (FPV), at Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) in
Goa.
·
Built by GSL at a cost of Rs 473
crore with over 50% indigenous
components, ICGS Achal supports the Government of India (GoI)’s Atmanirbhar
Bharat and Make in India initiatives.
12. NATIONAL
PANCHAYAT AWARDS 2025
·
The Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) announced
the winners of the National Panchayat Awards 2025 (NPA-2025),
recognising 42 Panchayats from across the
country .
·
Karnataka topped the
NPA 2025 with 6 awards,
followed by Odisha and Andhra Pradesh(AP) with
5 awards each.
·
34
Gram Panchayats (GP) span across 17 States
and Union Territories (UTs) have been selected under Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Satat Vikas Puraskar (DDUPSVP) that
also includes joint winners.
·
8 Panchayats have
been selected as winners under Nanaji Deshmukh SarvottamPanchayat Satat Vikas Puraskar
(NDSPSVP-2025), comprising 3 under the Best District Panchayat category, 2
under Best Block Panchayat and 3 under Best Gram Panchayat (GP) category.
·
New Napam Gaon Panchayat (Assam) bagged
India’s Best GP award under NDSPSVP
2025, earning a monetary prize of Rs 1.5 crore.
·
It is
followed by Telcup (Bihar), Biraharu
(Uttar Pradesh, UP) ranked at 2nd and 3rd positions, with monetary prize of
Rs 1.25 crore and Rs 1 crore, respectively.
