DAILY GK 24-25 JUNE 2026
1. BANGLADESH
JOINS INTERNATIONAL BIG CAT ALLIANCE
·
Bangladesh officially
joined India’s International Big Cat
Alliance (IBCA) as its 27th member country.
·
Bangladesh’s
accession is expected to strengthen regional cooperation in protecting big cat
species, combating wildlife crime, promoting scientific research, and
conserving shared ecosystems across national borders.
2. 2ND PAX
SILICA SUMMIT IN USA
·
35 nations, including India, signed
a Statement on Artificial Intelligence (AI), USA-led initiative that aims to build trusted and resilient supply chains to
support AI technologies, at the 2nd Pax Silica Summit held in Washington
·
The initiative was joined by countries like: Argentina, Germany, the Netherlands,
Chile, Costa Rica, Greece, Kazakhstan, Panama, and the European Union (EU).
·
The
word “Pax” is a historical term which refers to peace, stability and prosperity.
·
It is a flagship initiative of the US Department of State’s on AI and supply
chain security.
·
The
initiative spans across areas like:
critical minerals, energy, advanced manufacturing, semiconductors, AI,
infrastructure and logistics.
3. THREE
INDIGENOUSLY BUILT IN PLATFORMS COMMISSIONED
·
PM Narendra Modi commissioned
3 indigenously built frontline platforms: ‘Indian Naval Ship (INS) Dunagiri advanced
guided missile frigate, INS Sanshodhak, 4th Survey Vessel (Large); and INS Agray Anti-Submarine Warfare-Shallow Water Craft
(ASW-SWC) into the Indian Navy (IN).
·
These new vessels were designed by the Indian
Navy (IN)’s Warship Design Bureau (WDB) and constructed by
Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited (GRSE),
Kolkata (WB).
4. INDIGENOUS BUILD
VEHICLE-MOUNTED MORTAR SYSTEM
·
India successfully tested Garudastra,
an indigenous 120 Millimeter (mm)
vehicle-mounted mortar system, developed by Nibe Limited,
at the Infantry School in Military
Headquarters of War (Mhow), Madhya Pradesh.
·
Garudastra,
one of India’s heaviest indigenous
vehicle-mounted mortar systems, is designed to provide accurate fire
support, high mobility, and enhanced battlefield survivability.
·
It can engage targets at a range of 7–10 Kilometre (km), fire 12 rounds in 60
seconds, and sustain a firing rate of 3–4 rounds per minute.
5. FAO’S SOFIA
2026 REPORT
·
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released
the latest edition of a report titled “State of World Fisheries
and Aquaculture (SOFIA) 2026” under the theme of “Blue
Transformation: Turning Vision into Impact”.
·
India
emerged as the world’s 2nd largest producer of aquatic animals only after China, contributing 9% of
the world’s total aquatic animals
in 2024.
·
Globally,
India is ranked 1st in inland water
catches, producing 2.2 MT from rivers, lakes and
freshwater systems, ahead of Bangladesh’s 1.4 MT.
·
India, along with China, Indonesia, Viet Nam
and Bangladesh, is among the world’s top
5 countries that account for 82% of global
production of all farmed aquatic animals.
·
Global
fisheries and aquaculture production reached a new high of 235
Million Tonnes (MT)in 2024, including 195
million tonnes of aquatic animals
and 40 million tonnes of algae.
·
The
Aquaculture production alone reached a record high of 142
MT in 2024, reflecting its role as the key driver of growth in aquatic
animal production.
6.
QS WORLD FUTURE SKILLS
INDEX 2027
·
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS),
global higher education analytics firm released the latest edition of “QS
World Future Skills Index 2027”.
·
India
secured 13th position globally, with an overall score of 89.4 out
of 100.
·
India ranked 1st in
the South Asia region and is the only South Asian country featured among the top 15 in the index.
·
USA continued
to lead the overall rankings with a
score of 99.2 followed by Australia and the UK ranked
at 2nd and 3rd positions,
respectively.
·
India’s Rank Across
Indicators: Skills Alignment (18th); Academic
Readiness (22nd); Future of Work (5th) and Economic Transformation (14th).
7. TOP
500 SUPERCOMPUTER RANKINGS 2026
·
The 67th edition
of the TOP500 Supercomputer Rankings 2026, a biannual list of the world’s
most powerful supercomputers, was released at the International
Supercomputing (ISC) High
Performance 2026 conference in Hamburg, Germany.
·
China’s LineShine machine, merged
as the world’s most powerful
supercomputer, replacing the United States of America (USA)’s
El Capitan.
·
LineShine is nearly 26 times faster than
India’s most
powerful supercomputer ‘Shakti Cloud’, which
secured 32nd spot
on the list, with a performance of 84.31 petaflops.
·
The USAs’ Frontier (3rd) and Aurora (4th),
followed by Germany’s Jupiter, which ranks 5th.
·
The USA with 161
systems, topped among the countries with
the highest share of systems on the list, followed by Japan (44), Germany
(41), China (31), among others.
·
India is ranked 16th, with 7 supercomputers (PARAM Siddhi-AI,
Pratyush, Mihir, Aditya, SahasraT, Arka, and Param Bramha).
8. WOLF
PRIZE IN PHYSICS
·
Indian-origin theoretical physicist Jainendra K.
Jain received the prestigious 2025 Wolf Prize in Physics, awarded
by the, Israel.
·
He was honoured for his pioneering discovery
of Composite Fermions, which revolutionized the
understanding of the Fractional Quantum
Hall Effect (FQHE).
·
He shared the 2025 Wolf Prize in Physics with James P. Eisenstein and Mordehai Heiblum, becoming the first
person of Indian origin to receive the award since its inception
in 1978.
9. INDIA’S
28TH NAVRATNA COMPANY
·
The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), Ministry
of Finance (MoF), upgraded Chennai
Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) from Miniratna Category-I to Navratna Central
Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) status.
·
CPSE
must be a Schedule-A CPSE, hold
Miniratna Category-I status, and have secured an “Excellent” or “Very Good” Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) rating
in at least three of the previous five
years to qualify for Navratna status.
·
The company must score at least 60 out of 100
based on six parameters.
10. AFI’S
1ST INDIAN ATHLETICS AWARD 2025
·
Javelin Thrower, Neeraj
Chopra, was named as the Best
Male Athlete of the Year at the inaugural Indian Athletics
Awards 2025 ceremony, organised by Athletics Federation of India (AFI) in
New Delhi.
·
And, Parul
Chaudhary, a national record-holder in the
3000 meter (m) steeplechase, was honoured with the Best Female Athlete of the Year award.
·
The awards featured a total of 10 categories, including Best Male
Athlete, Best Female Athlete, Best Coach, Emerging Male Athlete, Emerging
Female Athlete, Lifetime Achievement, Best State Association, among others.
