Daily & Latest Current Affairs in 2025

Correct Answer :   28th June

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National Insurance Awareness Day is annually observed on 28th June to raise awareness about Insurance which offers a layer of protection to guard in various situations and about the benefits of investing in an insurance plan.

The day also serves as a reminder to people to check if all their insurance payments (or renewals) are up to date.


What about the Insurance?

Insurance is a legal agreement (financial tool) between two parties – the insurer (Insurance Company/provider) and the insured (Policy holder), also known as insurance coverage or insurance policy, in which the insurer provides financial coverage for the losses of the insured that s/he may bear under certain circumstances.

Evolution of Insurance in India :

* India witnessed the emergence of life insurance business in 1818 with the establishment of the Oriental Life Insurance Company in Calcutta (Now Kolkata in West Bengal).

* In 1914, the Government of India (GoI) started publishing returns of Insurance Companies in India.

* The Indian Life Assurance Companies Act, 1912 was the first statutory measure to regulate the life insurance business.

* In 1956, an ordinance was issued nationalising the Life Insurance sector and Life InsuranceCorporation (LIC) came into existence

* The LIC of India was formed by an Act of Parliament (LIC, Act 1956), with a capital contribution of Rs. 5 Crores from GoI.

Note : The minimum paid-up equity capital of insurance companies is Rs.100 Crore. If the application is made for the business of Reinsurance, there must be documentary evidence proving that the paidup capital of the business is at least Rs. 200 crore.

Insurance penetration in India :

* As per the Economic Survey 2022-23 released on January 31, 2023, the Insurance penetration in India has risen from 2.7% (in 2000) to 4.2% (in 2020) and was 3.2% in 2021.

Note : Insurance penetration is measured as the percentage of insurance premiums to Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

* In 2021, the total global insurance premiums rose by 3.4% in real terms, with the non-life insurance sector witnessing a 2.6% rise.

* In the life insurance segment, global premium growth registered a projection of 4.5%.

Correct Answer :   Aarti Holla-Maini

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Indian-origin satellite industry expert Aarti Holla-Maini was on Tuesday (27th June 2023) appointed as the Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) in Vienna by the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Aarti Holla-Maini will succeed Simonetta Di Pippo of Italy.

* The primary objective of UNOOSA is to foster global collaboration in the peaceful utilization and exploration of outer space, as well as the effective application of space science and technology to achieve sustainable economic and social progress.

* Aarti Holla-Maini has over 25 years of professional experience in the space sector including managerial and advocacy functions.

* Before she was appointed as the Director of United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, she was Executive Vice-President Sustainability, Policy & Impact at NorthStar Earth & Space.

* Before that, Aarti Holla-Maini worked as the Secretary-General of the Global Satellite Operators Association. She held that role for 18 years.

* Holla-Maini’s experience includes service as a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Space; member of the Advisory Group of the Space Sustainability Rating managed by eSpace at the École Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) Space Center; member of the Advisory Board of the Satellite Industry Association of India; Senior Space Policy Advisor to Forum Europe and as Expert Advisor on Space Traffic Management for European Union studies 2021-2023.


Education :

* Aarti Holla-Maini holds a bachelor’s degree in law with German law from Kings College London, the United Kingdom, and a master’s degree in business administration from HEC Paris, France.

* She is also an alumna of the International Space University and speaks English, French, German and Punjabi and has moderate knowledge of Dutch..

Source : Mint

Correct Answer :   67th

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The World Economic Forum on June 28, 2023 ranked India at the 67th place globally on its Energy Transition Index and said it is the only major economy with energy transition momentum accelerating across all dimensions.

Sweden topped the list and was followed by Denmark, Norway, Finland and Switzerland in the top five on the list of 120 countries.

Releasing the report published in collaboration with Accenture, the WEF said the global energy transition has plateaued amid the global energy crisis and geopolitical volatilities, but India is among the countries that have made significant improvements.

"For example, despite continued economic growth, India has successfully reduced the energy intensity of its economy and the carbon intensity of its energy mix, while achieving universal energy access and effectively managing affordability of electricity," the WEF added.

Achieving universal access to electricity, replacing solid fuels with clean cooking options and increasing renewable energy deployment have been primary contributors to the improvement of India's performance.

India also emerged relatively less affected from the recent energy crisis, largely due to the low share of natural gas in power generation and increased use of existing generation capacities.

Besides India, Singapore is the only other major economy showing "true momentum by advancing sustainability, energy security and equity in a balanced way," the WEF said.

France (7) was the only G20 country in the top 10, followed closely by Germany (11), the U.S. (12), and the U.K. (13).

The WEF said that out of 120 countries, 113 have made progress over the last decade but only 55, including India, have improved their scores by more than 10 percentage points..

Source : The Hindu

Correct Answer :   Anurag Verma

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The Punjab government Monday (26th June 2023) appointed 1993-batch IAS officer Anurag Verma as Chief Secretary. Verma, who has been serving as the state’s home secretary, succeeds the 1989 batch IAS officer V K Janjua, who retires on June 30.

He is the 42nd Chief Secretary of Punjab. The state government had sought without success an extension in the service of Janjua by writing a letter to the Centre two months ago. But the government did not get any reply till date. Verma has superseded 10 IAS officers, of whom four are on central deputation, and two have already been chief secretaries.

Among the seniors who are on central deputation are Vini Mahajan (1987 batch), who retires on October 31, 2024; Anjali Bhawra (1988 batch), who is set to be superannuated on June 30, 2024; V K Singh (1990 batch); and Seema Jain (1991 batch).

Anurag Verma is next Chief Secretary of Punjab ⁦@iepunjab⁩ ⁦@IndianExpress⁩ pic.twitter.com/YJZvRjQHFg

— Kanchan Vasdev (@kanchan99) June 26, 2023

Others in the seniority list posted in Punjab are Anirudh Tewari (1990 batch, retiring on April 30, 2027), Anurag Agarwal (1990 batch), A Venu Prasad (1991 batch, retiring on July 31), Sarvjit Singh (1992 batch), Raji P Shrivastava (1992 batch) and K A P Sinha (1992 batch).

Tewari had already been a chief secretary, and Janjua had replaced him. The five including Tewari, Agarwal, Venu Prasad, Sarvjit Singh, Srivastava, Sinha and Seema Jain have now been posted as special chief secretaries.

Verma would join as CS on July 1, 2023, after Janjua retires on June 30, 2023. The government, sources said, had decided on appointment of Verma as next CS quite a few days ago. He was among the only two bureaucrats who were present at Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s lunch to celebrate victory of Jalandhar Lok Sabha byelection..

Source : Indian Express

Correct Answer :   Uttar Pradesh

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The Uttar Pradesh Police Department on Monday (26th June 2023) launched 'Operation Conviction' to combat criminals and mafias in the state.

Authorities claim that the initiative will expedite the prosecution of cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, as well as those involving cow slaughter, religious conversion, rape, and murder.

According to a senior police official, 'Operation Conviction' will ensure the immediate arrest of criminals, the collection of strong evidence against them, quality investigation, and effective representation of cases in courts so that they are punished in the shortest amount of time.

The Uttar Pradesh Police said in an official statement that each commissionerate/district will be required to identify 20 cases in each category under 'Operation Conviction' in addition to cases registered under the POCSO Act.

To ensure that victims receive prompt justice, charges will be framed within three days of the chargesheet being filed, and the trial will be completed within 30 days.

#WATCH | Uttar Pradesh DGP Vijay Kumar, says "Strict actions are being taken against criminals in the state since 2017. 'Operation Conviction' has been initiated, under this, in addition to all the charges under the POCSO Act, crimes of rape, murder, robbery, dacoity, religious… pic.twitter.com/p7b1ZzepdD

— ANI (@ANI) June 26, 2023

“Since 2017, the state government has been carrying out a crackdown on mafias under its zero-tolerance policy. Continuing with its policy, the government has launched ‘Operation Conviction’ to identify 20 cases in each district,” DGP Vijaya Kumar was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

District police chiefs will also coordinate with district judges in their respective districts and request that such cases be tried on a daily basis.

Correct Answer :   8th

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The stage is all set for the 8th edition of world’s largest urban swachhata survey, Swachh Survekshan 2023 – Mera Shehar, Meri Pehchan.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) launched the Field Assessment for Swachh Survekshan (SS) 2023. Under SS 2023, around 3,000 assessors will take the field for assessment from 1 July, 2023.

The assessors will study performances of 4500+ cities across 46 indicators and it is expected to be completed within a month. Rolled out on 24 May, 2022, Swachh Survekshan 2023 champions Waste to Wealth and is curated towards processing and scientific management of waste.

Originally designed as a competitive monitoring tool, Swachh Survekshan was introduced under the aegis of MoHUA in 2016, with an objective to sanitation, helping cities to achieve the goal of sustainable sanitation and waste management in a fast-track competitive manner.

Swachh Survekshan has enthused cities with a healthy spirit of competitiveness to improve urban sanitation and ensure best service delivery to their citizens. It is expected to engage with a whopping 10 Cr citizens during this year’s assessment making it indisputably the world’s largest annual urban cleanliness survey. Conducted over four quarters, the first three quarters of assessment have already been completed successfully.

A new third quarter for Swachh Survekshan 2023 was introduced this year and the States/ cities geared up for the survey enhancing their activities and level of preparedness. Avoiding the acute heat wave conditions across the nation in the last two months, the fourth quarter is now being launched from 1 July, 2023.  

Launching the fourth and final quarter of assessment of Swachh Survekshan 2023 which is also the most rigorous as well as awaited, Secretary, MoHUA, Mr. Manoj Joshi said in a virtual event, “Last 7 years of Swachh Survekshan has been the highlight of Swachh Bharat Mission and we have to continue that this year as well.

We continue to make efforts to make it easier and useful for smaller and medium size cities so that Swachh Survekshan continues to be a management tool for improvement in sanitation. Emphasizing on transformation of manhole to machine hole, Secretary, MoHUA highlighted the importance of SafaiMitra Suraksha. Speaking on waste processing, he focused on the need to segregate at source. He added that he was optimistic that Survekshan would keep motivating cities to become better in sanitation.


Swachh Survekshan 2023 Focus :

Swachh Survekshan 2023 indicators focus on parameters pertaining to segregated door-to-door waste collection, zero waste events, Divyang-friendly toilets, improved plastic waste management and cleaning backlanes, wherein the marks have been increased this year. Laying emphasis on transforming ‘manholes’ to ‘machine holes’, priority has been given to Safaimitra Suraksha..

Source : PIB

Correct Answer :   1.3 billion

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According to the data released by the Reserve Bank, the current account deficit (CAD) of India has been narrowed to 1.3 billion dollars or 0.2% of GDP in the January-March quarter of the last fiscal (2022-23).

The decline was mainly due to moderation in the trade deficit and a robust increase in services exports.

RBI data has shown that net services receipts increased, both sequentially and on a year-on-year basis, on the back of a rise in net earnings from computer services..

Source : AIR

Correct Answer :   Parshottam Rupala

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Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Shri Parshottam Rupala launched the Report Fish Disease(RFD) App here 28th June 2023 at Krishi Bhawan in the presence of Dr. L. Murugan, Minister of State, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and senior Officers from DARE, ICAR and NSPADD.

The app has been developed by ICAR-NBFGR under National Surveillance Programme for Aquatic Animal Diseases (NSPAAD), funded under Pradhan Mantri MatsyaSampadaYojana by the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Government of India.

Benefits :

* The RFD app will help the farmers in reporting incidence of diseases in finfish, shrimps, and molluscs on their farms with the field level-officers and fish health experts.

* This shall help farmers in getting the scientific advice for efficient management of disease.The data regarding the diseases will be stored on temporal & spatial scale and can be used for mapping the disease cases.

* The App would support farmers in improving farmer-based reporting, getting scientific advice, and reducing losses due to diseases, thereby increasing farmers’ income. Also, Fish Disease Reporting App shall have a massive impact on fish disease management, promoting early detection, rapid response, collaboration, and knowledge sharing.

* It will contribute to the sustainability and resilience of aquaculture systems by minimizing the negative impacts of fish diseases on fish population, industry, and ecosystems.


Background :

* Aquaculture sector is witnessing an impressive growth over the years and at present, total exports earnings from the sector are approximately Rs.57586.48 crores (2021-22). However, the diseases are the major constraint to the growth of the aquaculture.

* Surveillance for aquatic animal diseases is essential for early detection of diseases, thereby minimizing their impacts.Early detection of diseases is important for eradication and containment.

* Many cases of diseases in aquaculture go unreported due to unavailability of the field-level disease reporting mechanism.Therefore, there is a necessity of a mechanism that can connect farmers, field-level officers, and fish health experts..

Source : PIB

Correct Answer :   IIT Bombay

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The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay has made it to the top 150 in the QS World University Rankings 2023, which was released in the Wednesday (28th June 2023).

IIT Bombay made a remarkable leap to climb 23 positions to secure the 149th rank globally in the 20th edition of the rankings.

Earlier, only the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) achieved the feat in 2016 with a rank of 147.

This year’s rankings have witnessed major fluctuations due to the introduction of three new parameters and change in weightage of the existing parameters.

The three new parameters introduced by the agency were sustainability, employment outcomes, and international research network. These qualifying conditions carried a weightage of 5 percent.

To accommodate the three new indicators, the importance of other parameters was reduced, causing drastic changes in the rankings.

The IISc fell 70 positions from 155th rank to 225th to become the third-highest ranked Indian institution.

IIT Delhi also came down from 174th Rank to 197th Rank and IIT Kanpur fell from 264th to 278th while IIT Madras slipped from 250th to 285th.

Additionally, two new Indian universities made their debut in the top 500. The University of Delhi and Anna University in Tamil Nadu secured 407th and 427th ranks, respectively..

Source : CNBC

Correct Answer :   5

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (27th June 2023) visited Madhya Pradesh capital Bhopal and flagged off five Vande Bharat trains connecting important cities in different parts of the country.

* Modi reached Rani Kamalapati railway station in Bhopal from where he flagged off the five trains – two physically and three in virtual mode.

* Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Madhya Pradesh Governor Mangubhai Patel, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Jyotiraditya Scindia, among others, were present on the occasion.

* “These trains will improve connectivity in Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Goa, Bihar and Jharkhand,” Modi said in a tweet on Monday.

* This is for the first time so many Vande Bharat trains have been launched in one day.

* Two of them are for Madhya Pradesh, where the Assembly polls are due by the year-end.

* These semi high-speed trains are: Rani Kamalapati (Bhopal)-Jabalpur Vande Bharat Express, Khajuraho-Bhopal-Indore Vande Bharat Express, Madgaon (Goa)-Mumbai Vande Bharat Express, Dharwad-Bengaluru Vande Bharat Express, and Hatia-Patna Vande Bharat Express, as per an official statement..

Source : The Print