Daily Current Affairs

Union Cabinet (chaired by PM Narendra Modi) approved the following on May 28, 2025:

• Modified Interest Subvention Scheme (MISS): Continuation of 1.5% Interest Subvention for FY26 to double farmers’ income, strengthen rural credit, and boost agricultural growth
• CCEA approved two multitracking railway projects in MP and Maharashtra under Pradhan Mantri Gati Shakti National Master Plan (PMGS-NMP) for faster passenger and goods transport
• CCEA approved increase in Minimum Support Prices (MSP) for 14 Kharif Crops for Marketing Season 2025-26

India’s first AI-centric Special Economic Zone (SEZ) to be developed by RackBank Data Centers (Indore, MP) at Nava Raipur, Chhattisgarh, with investment of ₹1,000 crore.

• Spread across 6 acres; 1.5 lakh sq ft facility with advanced servers capable of powering AI technologies
• Plans for 4 high-density data centres with combined capacity of 80 MW — sufficient to support digital infrastructure across multiple states

Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal (MoPSW) chaired Consultative Committee meeting on Inland Waterways Transport (IWT), Mumbai, May 26, 2025.

• 76 National Waterways (NWs) targeted to be operational by 2027, including 47 new NWs
• Cargo on NWs projected to reach 156 MTPA by FY26 (aligned with Maritime India Vision 2030 target of 200 MTPA)
• IWT network to expand from 11 states (FY24) to 23 states & 4 UTs by FY27

Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) and Airbus will establish India’s first privately-led helicopter Final Assembly Line (FAL) in Kolar district, Karnataka.

• Will assemble the Airbus H125 helicopter (global bestseller, intermediate single-engine category); operations expected to begin by 2026
• 4th such FAL globally (after France, USA, Brazil); initial capacity: 10 H125 helicopters/year
• Airbus H125 (Écureuil family): ~80% global market share in category; 4,300+ units in service; 38 million+ cumulative flight hours
• Tata and Airbus also jointly developing C295 aircraft assembly facility in Vadodara, Gujarat

16-year-old Vishwanath Karthikey Padakanti (Hyderabad, Telangana) became the youngest Indian and 2nd youngest globally to complete the Seven Summits Challenge.

• Surpassed previous Indian record held by Kaamya Karthikeyan (completed at age 17 in 2024)
• Global record: Jordan Romero (USA) — achieved at age 15 in 2011
• Began mountaineering at age 11 with a trek to Mt. Rudugaira, Uttarakhand

WMO (Geneva) released Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update (2025–2029) on May 28, 2025.

• Global temperatures likely to temporarily surpass 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels (1850–1900) within next 5 years
• Each year 2025–2029: average near-surface temperature projected 1.2°C–1.9°C above 1850–1900 baseline
• 80% chance at least one year in 2025–2029 will surpass 2024 as the warmest year on record
• 20-year average warming (2015–2034): central estimate 1.44°C (90% confidence range: 1.22°C–1.54°C)

RBI issued draft guidelines for banks and NBFCs on gold loan issuance to establish uniform rules.

• Loan-to-Value (LTV) ratio capped at 75% (down from 80% temporarily allowed during COVID-19 pandemic)
• Borrowers must furnish proof of gold ownership; where original receipts unavailable, a suitable declaration must be prepared

SBI Life Insurance (JV between SBI and France’s BNP Paribas Cardif) and Vidyaniti LLP (Bengaluru) jointly acquired 4.25% stake in National Highways Infra Trust (NHIT) for ₹1,100.61 crore.

• SBI Life: 1.93% (3.74 crore units) | Vidyaniti: 2.3% (4.49 crore units) | Price: ₹133.57/unit
• NHIT: InvIT launched in 2021 by NHAI to support GoI’s National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP)

RBI released draft circular on ‘Updation/Periodic Updation of KYC — Revised Instructions’ to streamline KYC and reduce compliance burden.

• KYC update allowed at any branch (including non-home branch) for reactivating dormant/inoperative accounts
• Remote KYC via V-CIP (Video-based Customer Identification Process) permitted on customer request
• Authorised Business Correspondents (BCs) can collect KYC documents to assist reactivating inoperative accounts

SEBI barred former IndusInd Bank CEO Sumant Kathpalia and 4 other senior officials from trading in securities markets (May 28, 2025) for alleged trades while in possession of UPSI (Unpublished Price-Sensitive Information).

• Others barred: Arun Khurana (ex-ED & Deputy CEO), Sushant Sourav (Treasury head), Rohan Jathanna (GMG operations), Anil Marco Rao (CAO, consumer banking)
• Jio BlackRock Asset Management received final SEBI approval to start a Mutual Fund (MF) business

Ministry of Coal reported coal imports declined 7.9% to 243.62 MT in FY25 (from 264.53 MT in FY24); foreign exchange savings of ~USD 7.93 billion (₹60,681.67 crore).

• Non-Regulated Sector (NRS): cement, sponge iron, captive power plants — sharpest decline at -8.95% YoY
• Coal imports for blending by thermal power plants declined 41.4%; coal-based power generation grew 3.04% in FY25
• Domestic coal output grew 5% in FY25 due to Commercial Coal Mining and Mission Coking Coal initiatives

Spiritual leader Jagadish ‘Jaggi’ Vasudev (Sadhguru), founder of Isha Foundation, received the ‘Global Indian of the Year 2025’ award at an event in Toronto, Canada.

• Award presented by CIF Chairperson Ritesh Malik and National Convenor Sunita Vyas; comes with CAD 50,000 prize, dedicated by Sadhguru to Cauvery Calling initiative
• Cauvery Calling: movement to revitalise the Cauvery River, supporting 84 million people in Southern India
• Sadhguru has been teaching yoga since 1982; Isha Foundation established 1992 in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu
• Past CIF Global Indian Award recipients: Ratan Tata, Narayana Murthy, Sudha Murty

Former cricketer Anil Kumble appointed brand ambassador for Karnataka Forest and Wildlife Department (announced by Forest Minister Eshwar B Khandre, May 27, 2025). Aim: raise awareness on forest conservation, tree preservation, and wildlife conservation. Kumble previously served as Vice-President of the Karnataka Wildlife Board.

• MS Dhoni appointed brand ambassador of Dettol India (Gurugram) for Soaps, Bodywash and Handwash range

Google LLC introduced its AI-first restructuring strategy ‘AI Matryoshka’ at Google I/O Developers Conference 2025, California; inspired by Russian nesting dolls. Core AI powered by Gemini 2.5 models.

• Gemini 2.5 Pro: complex reasoning & coding | Gemini 2.5 Flash: 20–30% better efficiency, multi-speaker TTS in 24 languages
• Ironwood TPUs: Google’s 7th-generation Tensor Processing Units; 5 exaFLOPS computing power for large-scale AI training
• Generative Media Models: Imagen 4 (images), Veo 3 (videos), Lyria 2 (music); SynthID tools for watermarking and copyright protection
• Gemini API and Vertex AI support Model Context Protocol (MCP) for agent interactions
• AI Mode in Search: deep, cited search results | Gemini App: enables private data analysis

PepsiCo (New York) signed a partnership agreement with F1 (London, UK) until 2030.

• Sting Energy (Heckmondwike, England) — official Energy Drink of F1
• Gatorade (Illinois, USA) — official partner of F1 Sprint
• Doritos (Texas, USA, wholly-owned PepsiCo subsidiary) — official savoury snack partner of F1

Asian Weightlifting Federation (AWF, Doha) announced Ahmedabad, Gujarat will host the 2026 Asian Weightlifting Championships from April 1–10, 2026.

• Last hosted by India in 1982 in New Delhi during the Asian Games — a 44-year gap
• Hosting rights awarded to India in 2024 at AWF annual congress in Tashkent, Uzbekistan
• First Asian Championships under revised weight categories introduced by IWF (Lausanne, Switzerland)
• Organised by Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWLF), New Delhi under AWF

Theme 2025: ‘The Future of the Peacekeeping’. May 29, 2025 marks the 77th anniversary of UN Peacekeeping. First UN peacekeeping mission, UNTSO, commenced in Palestine on May 29, 1948.

• UNGA resolution A/RES/57/129 (2002) proclaimed May 29 as International Day of UN Peacekeepers; first observed May 29, 2003
• India: 4th largest contributor of uniformed personnel to UN Peacekeeping — 5,300+ military and police personnel (missions in Abyei, Central African Republic, etc.)

Initiated by World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO); first observed May 29, 2004. Theme 2025: ‘Your Digestive Health: Nourish to Flourish’.

• WGO founded May 29, 1958 on the last day of the 1st World Congress of Gastroenterology in Washington, USA; WDHD established to commemorate WGO’s 45th anniversary in 2003
• 40% of global population suffers from functional GI disorders (WHO); colorectal cancer is 3rd most common cancer globally
• WGO President: Prof. Geoffrey Metz (Australia) | HQ: Wisconsin, USA | Est: 1958

Commemorates first successful summit of Mt. Everest on May 29, 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary (New Zealand) and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa (Nepal). 2025 marks the 72nd anniversary.

• Nepal declared May 29 as International Everest Day in 2008, following Hillary’s death
• Mt. Everest height: 8,848.86 m (29,031.7 ft) per 2020 Nepal-China joint survey; located on Nepal-Tibet border
• Names: ‘Sagarmatha’ (Nepali, ‘Goddess of the Sky’) | ‘Chomolungma’ (Tibetan, ‘Mother Goddess of the World’)
• Named in 1865 by Royal Geographical Society (RGS) after Sir George Everest (former Surveyor General of India)
• Everest Summiteers Summit 2025 held in Kathmandu, Nepal — 175+ national and international climbers participated