Daily & Latest Current Affairs in 2025

Correct Answer :   Shohini Sinha

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Indian-American Shohini Sinha has been appointed as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) special agent in charge of the Salt Lake City Field Office.

Sinha has been appointed to the post by FBI Director Christopher Wray, according to a release issued by the FBI.

Sinha most recently served as executive special assistant to the Director at FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC. She joined the FBI as a special agent in 2001. She was first assigned to the Milwaukee Field Office, where she worked in counterterrorism investigations.

She also served in temporary assignments at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, the FBI Legal Attaché Office in London, and the Baghdad Operations Center.

Sinha was in 2009 promoted to supervisory special agent and transferred to the Counterterrorism Division in Washington, DC. She served as program manager of Canada-based extraterritorial investigations and facilitated liaison efforts with Washington, DC-based Canadian liaison officers, according to the FBI release.

In 2012, Sinha was promoted to assistant legal attaché in Ottawa, Canada, working counterterrorism matters in collaboration with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. In 2015, she was promoted to field supervisor in the Detroit Field Office, where she led squads responsible for investigating international terrorism matters.

Sinha was in early 2020, transferred to the cyber intrusion squad, which worked both national security and criminal cyber intrusion matters. Later in 2020, she was promoted to assistant special agent in charge for national security matters, and later criminal matters, in the Portland Field Office.

In 2021, she was selected to serve as the executive special assistant to the FBI Director.

Before her employment with the FBI, Sinha worked as a therapist and later as an administrator for a private, not-for-profit clinic in Lafayette, Indiana. She earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and a master's degree in mental health counseling from Purdue University in Indiana.

Source : NDTV

Correct Answer :   Ministry of Minority Affairs

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Minority Affairs Minister "Smriti Irani" told in the Lok Sabha that about 1 lakh 20 thousand minority students have benefited under the Naya Savera Scheme. 'Naya Savera Yojana' is a scheme launched by the Ministry of Minority Affairs.

The Ministry implemented ‘Naya Savera’ scheme (‘Free Coaching and Allied’ scheme) to assist students/candidates belonging to the six notified minority communities namely Sikh, Jain, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist and Parsi by way of special coaching for qualifying examinations for admission in technical/professional courses and competitive examination for recruitment to Group Á, ‘B’, & ‘C’ services and other equivalent posts under the Central and State Governments including public sector undertakings, banks and railways. The scheme was implemented across the country through empaneled Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs).

Since inception, 1,19,223 minority students/candidates have been benefited under Naya Savera Scheme, out of which 12,155 beneficiaries were from state of Andhra Pradesh.

The details of physical achievement during last three years are given below:

Year	Number of students allocated
2019-2020	9,580
2020-2021	5,300
2021-2022	5,090

State-wise details of minority students benefited under the scheme is available on the website of Ministry www.minorityaffairs.gov.in .

The duration of the coaching period under the scheme were from 3 months to 2 years depending upon the coaching programme allocated to the PIAs. The scheme has been discontinued w.e.f. 2022-23.

This information was given by the Minister of Minority Affairs "Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani", in a written reply in Lok Sabha 3rd August 2023..

Source : PIB

Correct Answer :   63

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There are 63 DGCA authorised Remote Pilot Training Organisation (RPTO) in the country as on 25th July 2023. The List of DGCA Authorised RPTO is placed at Annexure.


Key Points :

* Training schools for Drone certified more than 5500 Remote Pilot Certificates

* Over 10 thousand drones are registered with a Unique Identification Number

* DGCA has issued 25 type certificates till date for drones manufacturing in India


DGCA has sanctioned applications of three RPTOs in Madhya Pradesh as under :

1. Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi, Gwalior

2. Ultimate Energy Resource Private Ltd, Bhopal

3. Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi, Bhopal

The Government has notified the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Drones and Drone Components with an objective to incentivise manufacturing of drones and drone components in India so as to make them self-sustaining and globally competitive. Drone import policy has been notified on 9th February 2022, banning import of foreign drones and freeing up import of drone components. Drone Rules have been liberalized to facilitate wider application of drones.

Given the combined benefits of the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021, the PLI scheme, the prohibition of drone imports and growing utilisation, the Indian drone industry is likely to grow along with an increase in employment.

Since notification of Drone Rules, 2021, 63 RPTOs have been approved by DGCA for providing drone training/skilling across the country. Till date, these training schools have certified more than 5500 Remote Pilot Certificates (RPCs). As on date, a total of 10010 drones are registered with a Unique Identification Number (UIN). DGCA has issued 25 type certificates till date for drones manufacturing in India.

This information was given by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Civil Aviation Gen. (Dr) V. K. Singh (Retd) in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha 3rd August 2023..

Source : PIB

Correct Answer :   Himanta Biswa Sarma

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Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday (2nd August 2023) launched the Department of Forest & Environment's Amrit Brikshya Andolan web portal/mobile application and the Wood-based Industry (WBI) registration web portal, along with the theme song for the Amrit Brikshya Andolan, an initiative aimed at planting a total of 1 crore (10 million) commercially-viable saplings across the State by individuals from various walks of life on coming September 17.

Sarma, referring to the launch of the Amrit Brikshya Andolan web portal/mobile app as a first step towards the target of 1-crore sapling plantation on September 17, said Amrit Brikshya Andolan would provide a major boost to the State's green economy.

Stating that rampant destruction of forests across the world as one of the major contributing factors behind global warming,

Sarma exuded confidence collective initiatives such Amrit Brikshya Andolan would be Assam's contribution towards the fight against climate change. On September 17, 2023, around 40 lakh members of women self-help groups from across the State would be planting two commercially-viable saplings each, taking the total to 80 lakhs. The rest (20 lakhs or more) would be planted by people belonging to various walks of life such as anganwadi workers, tea garden workers, government officials, police and forest battalions and members of the general public of the State.

* To encourage participation and ensure the success of the initiative, the state government will set up distribution centers to provide saplings conveniently.
* Moreover, individuals who register themselves with the ‘Amrit Brikshya Andolan’ app or portal and upload geo-tagged photographs of themselves planting the saplings will receive a reward of Rs 100 credited to their bank account.
* This incentive-based approach is expected to motivate a higher number of people to actively participate in the plantation drive.


Amrit Brikshya Andolan: Future Targets

While the immediate target of ‘Amrit Brikshya Andolan’ is to plant 1 crore saplings in a single day, the state government has set its sights on even more ambitious goals. By the year 2025, Assam aims to plant a staggering 5 crore saplings, further fortifying its commitment to environmental conservation and sustainable growth...

Source : India Times

Correct Answer :   Tamil Nadu

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The Tamil Cultural community celebrates Aadi Perukku, also known as Pathinettam Perukku, as an auspicious festival to honor the monsoon season and the fertility of the soil.

Aadi Perukku is celebrated on August 3rd, coinciding with the 18th day of the Tamil month of Aadi. Traditionally observed in late July or early August, this festivity centers around expressing gratitude to water bodies, as the entire month of Aadi is considered to herald the onset of the monsoon season.


Aadi Perukku: A Monsoon Festival Celebrating Water Sustainability and Gratitude in Tamil Nadu

* Aadi Perukku is a monsoon festival celebrated in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, that occurs on the 18th day of the Tamil month of Aadi.
* This joyous event revolves around promoting water sustainability and encompasses a variety of rituals and customs.
* Families unite to prepare special delicacies and partake in a lavish feast, expressing gratitude to the water deities for a prosperous year ahead.
* An intriguing facet of the Aadi Perukku celebration is the veneration of Goddess Parvati, with women offering prayers to both her and the divine.
* The festivities also showcase an array of rice-based dishes, including traditional favorites such as tamarind rice and curd rice, complemented by the delightful sweetness of Pongal.

Aadi Perukku: From Local Tradition to Global Celebration

* In its early origins, Aadhi Perukku was confined to the communities living alongside the Cauvery River. Over time, though, this festival has surpassed geographical confines and now embraces a worldwide observance.
* People from various corners of the globe, particularly those with Tamilian heritage, actively participate in the festivities, delighting in the preparation of a wide range of rice delicacies that spread joy on this occasion.
* Aadi Perukku has, in essence, evolved into an expression of gratitude and admiration towards Mother Nature, becoming a beloved family celebration cherished across the globe.

Correct Answer :   Ministry of Education

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To modernise and scale India’s free education tech platform DIKSHA, that serves over 200 million students, the Union Ministry of Education has migrated the platform to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure.

The ministry and Oracle Cloud Infrastructure have entered into a multi-year collaboration agreement. Under this collaboration, Oracle will help the education ministry use DIKSHA to provide educational resources to millions of additional students, teachers and collaborators across India.

Migration to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure will help the education ministry scale for DIKSHA 2.0 and lower the IT cost.

Since moving to OCI, DIKSHA has gained greater scalability, security, cost effectiveness, and the ability to adjust capacity based on demand, enabling DIKSHA to deliver more content and serve more students and teachers as the platform grows.

“Education is an important pillar for economic development, and India’s knowledge economy continues to be one of the largest in the world. We need to embrace modern tools and technology to make education more easily available and securely accessible to everyone,” said Indu Kumar, Head of Department, ICT and Training, Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), Ministry of Education, Government of India.

DIKSHA is one of India’s largest and most successful digital public infrastructure (DPI) initiatives, which was developed for school education and foundational learning programmes.

The platform supports 1.48 million schools across all of India’s 35 states and Union Territories and is available in 36 Indian languages.

Using the open-source platform Sunbird, developed by the EkStep Foundation, DIKSHA helps teachers support inclusive learning for communities of underserved and disabled learners across the country.

More than 200 million students and 7 million teachers from government and private schools access content from more than 11,000 contributors. Users of the platform stream 1.2 petabytes of text and video content per day from sources such as the National Council of Educational Research & Training (NCERT), Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERTs).

With the massive scale of the DIKSHA platform, DIKSHA generates a huge number of logs for which they run Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana (ELK stack) for application diagnosis, performance, analytics and dashboards. OCI Compute VMs and OCI Storage help manage DIKSHA’s workload and store application content such as PDFs, videos and webpages as well as performance logs.

For the massive scale is the platform, India’s Ministry of Education needed a cloud service provider that is well equipped to handle the processing, storage and distribution of large amounts of data in a variety of formats. To aid this continuous development and management of the DIKSHA application, many of its microservices run on Oracle’s Kubernetes clusters in OCI Container Engine for Kubernetes (OKE) and container images are stored in OCI Container Registry.

Additionally, OCI Media Flow and OCI Media Streams help make it easier for users to access the nearly 1.5 million videos on the platform by processing and storing video content in the right formats and resolutions to meet the users’ needs.

The DIKSHA migration project is being implemented by two Oracle PartnerNetwork members, Bharti Airtel and Trigyn Technologies. DIKSHA will be deployed in the Oracle Cloud Mumbai region..

Source : Business Today

Correct Answer :   IIT-Madras

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The Ministry of Railways and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) signed a memorandum of understanding ((MoU) to establish the India 5G testbed at the Indian Railway Institute of Signal Engineering and Telecommunications (IRISET) in Secunderabad;

The facility would be dedicated to the testing and development of 5G use cases for Indian Railways.

MoU Aim : The MoU between IRISET and IIT-Madras aims to accelerate the indigenisation efforts of Indian Railways in the field of communications and create a testing facility for Indian Railways.

Indian Railways Aim : The Indian Railways aims to leverage the potential of 5G technology to enhance its operational efficiency, passenger experience and overall safety. By simulating real-world scenarios, researchers and industry experts will explore innovative solutions to modernise various aspects of Railway communication and services.

About the 5G testbed :

The indigenous 5G solution and testbed has been developed jointly by IIT-Kanpur; Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER) under MeitY; IIT-Bombay; Centre of Excellence in Wireless Technology (CEWiT), a society of IIT-Madras;

IIT-Madras, as part of the indigenous 5G testbed project funded by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to a consortium of eight institutes.

The establishment of the India 5G testbed represents an important step in harnessing the potential of 5G technology for the railway industry. It will enable Indian Railways to explore and implement innovative solutions that can transform various aspects of railway communication and services..

Source : Indianarrative

Correct Answer :   ₹155.6

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In March 2023, the Indian government’s debt stood at ₹155.6 lakh crore, accounting for 57.1% of the country’s GDP. This represents a reduction from 61.5% of GDP in 2020-21, indicating efforts to manage debt levels.

The government has also implemented various schemes to promote capital expenditure, economic growth, and welfare at both macro and micro levels.

Additionally, a roadmap has been set in place to achieve the ambitious goal of making India a $5 trillion economy, involving digital economy promotion, technology-enabled development, energy transition, and more.


I. Government Debt and Fiscal Management :

* As of March 31, 2023, the central government’s debt amounted to ₹155.6 lakh crore, which represents 57.1% of the GDP.
* This debt-to-GDP ratio has reduced from 61.5% in 2020-21, indicating efforts to manage fiscal deficits and control debt accumulation.
* The debt of state governments is estimated to be around 28% of GDP at the end of the fiscal year 2022-23.


II. Capital Expenditure and Investment :

* Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) in the Indian economy has increased from ₹45.41 lakh crore in 2018-19 to ₹54.35 lakh crore in 2022-23 (Provisional Estimates).
* The government has implemented the ‘Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Expenditure’ and ‘Scheme for Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment’ to support capital projects in sectors like health, education, irrigation, and power.
* In the fiscal year 2023-24, ₹84,883.90 crore has been sanctioned under the special assistance schemes, with ₹29,517.66 crore disbursed to various states for capital expenditure and investment.

III. Roadmap for India’s $5 Trillion Economy :

* The government’s roadmap for achieving a $5 trillion economy focuses on growth at the macro level and inclusive welfare at the micro level.
* Initiatives include promoting the digital economy, fintech, technology-enabled development, energy transition, climate action, and encouraging a virtuous cycle of investment and growth.
* Major reforms have been implemented since 2014, including GST, IBC, corporate tax rate reduction, Make in India, Start-up India, and Production Linked Incentive Schemes.


IV. Capital Expenditure and Economic Growth :

* The central government’s capital expenditure has increased from 2.15% of GDP in 2020-21 to 2.7% of GDP in 2022-23, reflecting a commitment to infrastructure development and investment.
* The Union Budget 2023-24 has further increased the capital investment outlay by 33% to ₹10 lakh crore (3.3% of GDP) for the third consecutive year.
* This substantial push in capital investment is aimed at fostering economic growth and attracting private investment.

Correct Answer :   44%

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Transactions using the UPI (Unified Payments Interface) network touched a record high in July 2023, both in terms of volume and value, after witnessing a slight dip in June 2023.

Growth in Volume and Value :

The value of total UPI transactions touched ₹15.34-lakh crore, up 4 per cent m-o-m and 44 per cent y-o-y.

The number of transactions touched a high of 996 crore during the month, higher by 6.6 per cent from the previous month and 58 per cent compared to July 2022, according to data provided by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

The number of monthly transactions crossed the 900-crore in May 2023 and is expected to cross the 1,000-crore mark in the current quarter, according to market participants.

The growth in the value of UPI transactions has been over 40 per cent y-o-y and the growth in the volume has been above 50 per cent y-o-y.

In June, the transactions were 59 per cent higher y-o-y and value of transactions was higher by 45 per cent y-o-y.

Impressive Performance in FY23 :

In FY23, the UPI platform processed a total of 8,376 crore transactions aggregating to ₹139-lakh crore, compared with 4,597 crore transactions worth ₹84-lakh crore in FY22.

UPI-led retail digital payments grew at a CAGR of 50 per cent in volume and 27 per cent in value between FY17 and FY22, per RBI’s annual report for 2022-23.

The central bank’s Digital Payments Index, a measure of the extent of digitisation of payments across the country, rose to 395.57 in March 2023 from 377.46 in September 2022 and 349.30 in March 2022.

The Economic Survey for 2022-23 said that UPI transactions, on an average, grew 121 per cent in value and 115 per cent in volume between FY19 and FY22. It further said that India has the highest fintech adoption rate of 87 per cent compared to the global average of 64 per cent, helping the country to achieve the third place in digital payments behind the US and China.

Future Projections and Dominance of UPI Payments :

UPI transactions are expected to breach 100 crore transactions per day by FY27, per a report by PwC India.

According to the report, UPI payments will dominate the retail digital payments landscape, accounting for 90 per cent of total transaction volumes over the next 5 years..


Source : The Hindu Businessline

Correct Answer :   28%

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The 51st meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has decided to impose a 28% tax on the full face value of bets placed on online gaming, which will be implemented from 1st October 2023.

GST Council’s Decision and Implementation :

* The Finance Minister of India, Nirmala Sitharaman, announced that the 28% GST on online gaming will take effect from 1st October 2023.
* The decision aims to provide clarity on the taxation of supplies in casinos, horse racing, and online gaming.
* The council recommended amendments in the CGST Act 2017 and IGST Act 2017 to facilitate this implementation.
* Additionally, a specific provision in the IGST Act, 2017 will be inserted to address the liability to pay GST on the supply of online money gaming from suppliers located outside India to individuals within India.


Valuation of Online Gaming and Casinos :

* The GST Council recommended that the valuation of supply for online gaming and actionable claims in casinos should be based on the amount paid or payable to the supplier by the player, excluding the amount entered into games/bets from previous winnings.
* This decision is aimed at providing clarity on how to determine the taxable value and streamline the taxation process for these sectors.

State Minister Opposition and Varied Opinions :

While some states, including Delhi, opposed the levy of the 28% tax on online gaming, others like Goa and Sikkim expressed their preference for taxing the Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) rather than the face value of bets. On the other hand, states like Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh supported the decision taken at the last GST Council meeting for the implementation of the new levy.


About the GST Council :
 
* The GST Council, a constitutional body with the responsibility of proposing measures for the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in India, conducted its first session in September 2016. Since its inception, it has been meeting regularly to deliberate and decide on various GST-related issues.
* According to Article 279A (1) of the amended Constitution, the President must constitute the GST Council within 60 days of the commencement of Article 279A. The Council has been instrumental in making significant decisions regarding the GST, encompassing tax rates, exemptions, thresholds, and administrative procedures.