Current Affairs | National | International | SSC | UPSC 19th April 2025

 

1. Indian astronaut set for space travel in May 

•  Indian astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla is set to travel to the International Space Station (ISS) next month as part of an Axiom-4 mission, four decades after Rakesh Sharma’s iconic spaceflight onboard Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said on Friday
•  “Group Captain Shukla’s journey is more than just a fight — it’s a signal that India is stepping boldly into a new era of space exploration,” Mr. Singh said, after a review of the work being done by the Department of Space and the Indian Space Research Organisation in New Delhi. 

2. Two Kuno cheetahs to be moved to Gandhi Sagar on April 20

•  Two cheetahs will be moved from Madhya Pradesh’s Kuno National Park to the Gandhi Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary on April 20, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav said on Friday, announcing the release of the big cats into their second home since their reintroduction to the country in 2022. 
•  The decision to shift two cheetahs to Gandhi Sagar in the Mandsaur and Neemuch districts was taken after Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav reviewed the Cheetah Project with Mr. Yadav and State officials in Bhopal. 
•  “The State government is committed to developing Kuno National Park as a model wildlife tourism destination. 
• Alongside Kuno, Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary in Mandsaur district will soon host cheetahs,” Mr. Mohan Yadav said. Gandhi Sagar Division Forest Officer Sanjay Raikhere told The Hindu that two male cheetahs have been identified at Kuno to be brought there.
•  The Hindu had reported in February that the Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary’s preparations to host the cheetahs in a 64 sq.km. enclosure were almost complete, and that the cheetahs would arrive before the peak of summer. 
•  At that time, the plan was to bring six to eight cheetahs from South Africa. However, a senior official said negotiations between officials of the two countries is “taking longer” and that the batch of cheetahs is now expected to be translocated around September 

3. Centre appoints new secretaries in different Ministries and departments. 

• Arvind Shrivastava is appointed Secretary of Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance.
•   Anuradha Thakur will assume charge as Officer on Special Duty in Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. 
•  Samir Kumar Sinha has been appointed as Secretary in Ministry of Civil Aviation. 
•  Santosh Kumar Sarangi, who is currently serving as Director General of Foreign Trade, has been appointed as Secretary in the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. 
•  Nikunja Bihari Dhal has been appointed as Secretary in Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. 
• Vandana Gurnana will take over as Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment.

 Secretary to the Government of India:

•   It is a post and a rank and serves as the administrative head of a ministry or department. 
•  A secretary acts as the chief adviser to the minister on all aspects of policy and administrative affairs.

 4. ‘Sanskriti Ka Paanchva Adhyay’ – a compilation of PM Modi’s Speeches on Culture was launched in New Delhi. 

•  Acharya Mahamandaleshwar Swami Avdheshanand Giri, head of the Juna Akhara, launched the book titled “Sanskriti Ka Paanchva Adhyay”. 
•  Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha Harivansh, while presiding over the event, applauded PM Modi’s efforts in preserving the country’s culture, traditions, spiritual values, and cultural heritage.
•  The foreword of the book is written by Shri Ram Bahadur Rai, and has been compiled by Dr. Prabhat Ojha. 
•  The book has been published by Prabhat Prakashan. 

5. Centre has introduced new rules for measuring radar speed to increase road safety.

•  Under the Legal Metrology (General) Rules 2011, the central government has notified new rules for “Radar equipment for the measurement of speed of vehicles”. 
•  These rules make it mandatory for all radar-based speed measurement equipment to be verified and stamped by Legal Metrology authorities. 
• This will ensure that such devices are accurate, calibrated and legally compliant, thereby enhancing transparency, public trust and enforcement integrity. 
•  The rules will take effect from 1 July 2025. 
•  The rules aim at increasing road safety and fairness in traffic enforcement. 
• The new rules establish a clear technical and regulatory framework aligned with international standards such as OIML R 91 for industries. 
•  Radar devices operate using technologies like Doppler radar, measuring vehicle speed with high precision. 

6. Global recognition of Gita and Natyashastra in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. 

•  This year, the manuscripts of the Bhagavad Gita and Natyashastra are among the 74 new additions to UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register. 
•  UNESCO launched the Memory of the World Programme in 1992. 
•  The central project of the MoW Programme was to create a compendium of documents including manuscripts, oral traditions, audio-visual materials, and library and archive holdings — which are of “world significance and outstanding universal value”. 
•  With the latest additions, the Register now contains 570 entries.
•   Two Indian submissions- the collective works of the Shaivite philosopher Abhinavagupta and the archives of the first summit meeting of the Non Aligned Movement in Belgrade in 1961 were added to the register in 2023.
•   Natyashastra is an ancient Sanskrit treatise on performing arts by Sage Bharata. It consists a comprehensive set of rules that define natya (drama), abhinaya (performance), rasa (aesthetic experience), bhava (emotion), sangita (music). It was compiled around between 500 BCE to 500 CE. 
• Bhagavad Gita by Sage Vyasa is a Sanskrit scripture comprising 700 verses organised in 18 chapters, embedded in the sixth book (Bhishma Parva) of the epic poem Mahabharata. It is essentially a dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna, which takes place just before the beginning of the Mahabharata. 

7. The Central Reserve Police Force is setting up its 11th CoBRA battalion for anti-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir. 

•  This unit will focus on missions in forested and remote areas. 
•  The Jammu region has seen a spike in militant activity recently. 
•  CoBRA is an elite Central Reserve Police Force force trained in jungle and guerrilla warfare. 
•  It was originally formed to fight Naxalite insurgents. 
•  Central Reserve Police Force Director General Gyanendra Pratap Singh made the announcement during the 86th Raising Day event in Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh. 
•  Union Home Minister Amit Shah directed the formation of the new battalion. 
•  In 2023, some CoBRA units were sent to Kashmir for training exercises.
•  However, they were not involved in any real operations. 
•  Currently, regular Central Reserve Police Force units handle anti-terror duties in the valley. 
• They are supported by the Central Reserve Police Force’s Kashmir valley Quick Action Team.

 8. Maharashtra has introduced a new language policy for schools. 

•  Hindi will now be a compulsory third language from Classes I to V. 
•  This applies to both Marathi and English medium schools.
•   The move is in line with the National Education Policy 2020. 
• Until now, only Marathi and English were mandatory from Classes I to IV.
• The new policy aims to promote multilingual learning from an early stage

. 9. The United States informed the World Trade Organisation that its steel and aluminum tariffs are based on national security concerns. 

•  It said these are not safeguard measures, as claimed by India. 
•  India had recently asked the World Trade Organisation for consultations regarding the tariffs. 
•  India argued that the U.S. measures should be treated as safeguards under World Trade Organisation rules. 
•  In its response, the U.S. said the tariffs were imposed under Section 232 of its domestic law. 
•  It stated the purpose was to address risks to national security. 
• The U.S. also referred to the national security exception in the GATT 1994 agreement. 
•  It maintained that safeguard rules do not apply in this case.
• Therefore, it believes there is no basis for consultations under the World Trade Organisation’s Safeguards Agreement. 
•  India, however, accused the U.S. of failing to notify the World Trade Organisation’s Safeguards Committee as required.
•  World Trade Organisation’s Safeguards Committee oversees the implementation of the Agreement on Safeguards. 

10. South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) will become the first coal PSU in India to use paste fill technology for underground mining. 

• SECL has signed a ₹7040 crore agreement with TMC Mineral Resources Private Limited to implement the technology. 
• The project will be carried out in the Singhali underground coal mine in SECL’s Korba region. 
• The mine is expected to produce around 8.4 million tonnes of coal over 25 years using this method. 
• Paste fill technology involves filling mined-out voids with a paste made from fly ash, crushed overburden, cement, water, and binding agents. 
•  This technique prevents land subsidence and enhances the structural stability of underground mines.
•   The method eliminates the need for surface land acquisition and uses industrial waste materials, promoting environmental sustainability. 
•  The Singhali mine, Chhattisgarh, began operations in 1993. 
•  It has an estimated 8.45 million tonnes of extractable G-7 grade non-coking coal remaining. 
•  Mining in Singhali was previously carried out using the Bord and Pillar method with Load Haul Dumpers and Universal Drilling Machines. 
•  Traditional caving methods are not feasible at Singhali due to surface infrastructure such as villages, power lines, and a Public Works Department road. 
•  Paste fill technology allows mining to continue without disrupting the dense infrastructure above the mine. 

11. Revanth Reddy invites Japanese businesses to invest in State; become part of TelanganaRising

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•   Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has invited Japanese businesses to invest in the State and be part of TelanganaRising. 
• The State offers world class infrastructure, skilled talent and clear and consistent policies for supporting investments in several priority sectors like life sciences, global capability centres (GCC), electronics, EV, energy storage, textiles, food processing, 
• AI data centres and logistics. “Let us build something extraordinary – for India, Japan and the world,” the Chief Minister said. 
•  The official TelanganaRising delegation hosted a high-level Investment Roadshow at Hotel Imperial, Tokyo, spotlighting the State’s thriving industrial ecosystem and inviting Japanese businesses to partner in its growth. 
•  The event was attended by over 150 participants from the Japanese business community. “Konnichiwa, Tokyo. Namaskaram.
•   I bring warm greetings from my people in Telangana, India’s youngest and fastest developing State. Japan is called the Land of the Rising Sun. Our State’s vision is TelanganaRising.
•   Today, I am proud to say—Telangana is Rising in the Land of the Rising Sun,” Mr. Reddy said in the address. ‘Invest, thrive’ “Come to Telangana, find China +1 alternative. 
• Invest, thrive, grow and succeed. Hyderabad will feel like home”, the Chief Minister told Japan Inc., at the India-Japan Economic Partnership roadshow 

12. Finance Ministry gets several new appointees in reshuffle of bureaucrats 

• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet on Friday undertook a sweeping reshuffle of senior bureaucratic positions across various Ministries, with the Finance Ministry getting several new appointees. 
•  Arvind Shrivastava will assume the role of Secretary, Department of Revenue, and Vumlunmang Vualnam will take over as Secretary, Department of Expenditure. 
• Mr. Shrivastava, IAS officer from Karnataka batch of 1994, will move to the Finance Ministry from the Prime Minister’s Office, where he was Additional Secretary.
•  He replaces Manoj Govil, who will move to the Cabinet Secretariat. Anuradha Thakur, who is an IAS officer of the 1994 batch of Himachal Pradesh cadre, will assume charge as Officer on Special Duty in the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, in the rank of Secretary to the Government of India. 
•  She will take over as Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs when Ajay Seth superannates on June 30, 2025. 
•  Ms. Thakur was earlier the Additional Secretary in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Rajesh Agarwal, Additional Secretary in the Department of Commerce, has now been made Special Secretary in the same Department. 
• The officer will take over as Secretary, Department of Commerce, after the superannuation of Sunil Barthwal, on September 30, 2025. Samir Kumar Sinha will take charge as the Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation. 
• He holds the position of Additional Secretary and Director General (Acquisition), Department of Defence. 
•  Vandana Gurnana will take over as Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment. She holds the position of Secretary (Coordination), Cabinet Secretariat.
•  Rakesh Kumar Verma, an IAS officer of the 1993 batch from the Punjab cadre, will be Director General, India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management, in the rank of Secretary. 
•  He earlier held the post of Additional Secretary, Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti. 

13. NCERT insists all new school textbooks were ‘named thoughtfully’

•  The new school textbooks have been thoughtfully named to convey rootedness in India’s culture and knowledge systems and the titles are from Indian languages and not specifically Hindi, the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has stated. 
•  It was responding to the row that has erupted over the alleged use of Hindi titles for English books. he NCERT said the chosen titles were not indicative of a linguistic preference but were instead selected for their cultural, linguistic, and pedagogical significance. 
• The English textbook for Classes 1 and 2 is titled Mridang, which has been derived from Mridangam, a widely recognised percussion instrument associated with Carnatic music, it said.
• The Class 3 English textbook is titled Santoor, a name of a musical instrument believed to have Persian origins, while the maths textbook is titled Maths Mela, which is an amalgamation of an English and a Hindi word. 
•  Similarly, the Class 3 Hindi textbook is titled Veena, while the Urdu textbook is titled Sitar. Titles such as Santoor are inspired by elements of India’s musical heritage, which are ubiquitous across the country's various linguistic and cultural traditions, the NCERT said. It added that the titles were reflective of India’s diversity and unity, fostering a joyful and culturally contextualised learning experience for all students. 
• The English textbook for Classes 6 and 7 is Poorvi, while the Class 6 maths textbook is titled Ganita Prakash. Similarly, the arts textbook for Class 6 is titled Kriti-I. 
• The NCERT said Kriti is a Sanskrit common noun for creation or work, while Poorvi is the name of a raga, traditionally sung at dusk. A. Saravanan, DMK spokesperson, had said, “In Tamil, we use the word Kanak, for maths, so it (Ganita Prakash) does not represent us.
• BJP is not the sole repository to ensure that we follow the same culture, same language…” Earlier this week, Kerala’s General Education Minister V. Sivankutty criticised the NCERT for using Hindi titles for English books. In response, the NCERT said the title Ganita Prakash draws from India’s rich mathematical heritage. 
•  “The title has been chosen to attract the curiosity of children about the rich mathematical heritage of the country,” it said. “Having Indian names for mathematics or English language textbooks shall not only promote pride in Indian languages and culture but also generate curiosity about our rich cultural and scientific heritage,” it said. 
•  Certain textbooks are named in English — for instance, the Class 8 English textbook is titled Honeydew, while the Class 9 English textbook is titled Beehive. The Class 10 English textbook is First Flight. 
• The NCERT has introduced new textbooks for Classes 1, 2, 3, and 6 aligned with the National Education Policy, 2020. 

14. No GST on UPI transactions over ₹2,000, Centre clarifies f1ccf8

•  The government on Friday clarified that it is not mulling to levy GST on UPI transactions above ₹2,000. 
• Referring to reports, which said that the government is considering levying Goods and Services Tax (GST) on UPI transactions over ₹2,000, the Finance Ministry said they are completely false, misleading, and without any basis. “Currently, there is no such proposal before the government,” the Ministry said in a statement. 
•  GST is levied on charges, such as the Merchant Discount Rate (MDR), relating to payments made using certain instruments. Effective January 2020, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has removed the MDR on person-to-merchant (P2M) UPI transactions.