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BIMSTEC Youth Summit

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The first BIMSTEC Youth Summit is being held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, with the theme “Youth as a bridge for intra-BIMSTEC exchange”. The summit aims to foster exchange among young leaders from BIMSTEC nations. Organized by the Ministries of Youth Affairs and External Affairs, in partnership with CII Young Indians, the summit was conceptualized during the 4th BIMSTEC Summit in Nepal.

Cook Islands

The Cook Islands is a self-governing territory in free association with New Zealand, governing itself domestically while relying on New Zealand for defense and foreign affairs. Located in the South Pacific, the Cook Islands comprise 15 islands, featuring volcanic landscapes, coral atolls, and lush scenery. Avarua, on Rarotonga Island, is the political and economic center, while the territory engages independently in international agreements.

Devi Ahilyabai Holkar

The Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) recently hosted a special lecture, 'Devi Ahilya — Empress Renunciate,' to commemorate the 300th birth anniversary of Devi Ahilyabai Holkar. As the ruler of the Holkar dynasty from 1767 to 1795, she established Maheshwar as the capital and developed a thriving textile industry, now famous for Maheshwari sarees. Her legacy also includes rebuilding the Kashi Vishwanath Temple and constructing temples, ghats, and dharmashalas across India.

Payment and Settlement Systems Act

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has tightened norms for imposing penalties and compounding offenses under the Payment and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 (PSS Act). The PSS Act regulates and supervises payment systems in India, including credit/debit card operations and money transfers. The RBI oversees these systems, ensuring their smooth functioning, but the Act excludes stock exchanges and clearing corporations.

TROPEX

The Indian Navy's Theatre Level Operational Readiness Exercise (TROPEX) is a massive biennial maritime exercise that puts combat readiness and joint warfighting capabilities to the test.

Hosted by India, TROPEX spans the Indian Ocean Region, covering key maritime zones. The Indian Navy takes the lead, with significant participation from the Indian Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard, ensuring a unified and robust defence strategy.

bank.in

The Reserve Bank of India has introduced 'bank.in', an exclusive internet domain for registered Indian banks. Starting April 2025, all Indian banks must operate under this domain, ensuring a secure and verified online presence. This move aims to reduce cyber threats by differentiating legitimate banking websites from fraudulent ones, enhancing public trust and preventing phishing and financial fraud.

Olive Ridley turtle

The Olive Ridley turtle is the smallest sea turtle species, weighing up to 45 kg, with a distinctive heart-shaped olive-green shell. They exhibit both solitary and mass nesting behaviours, known as Arribada, which occurs in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic Oceans. Female Olive Ridleys display natal homing, returning to their birth beach to lay eggs, with most nesting annually, although some may skip a year due to environmental factors.

Quantum teleportation

Quantum teleportation is a phenomenon where a particle's state is instantly transferred to a distant particle through quantum entanglement, without physical movement.

This process relies on entanglement, transferring quantum states, not physical matter. It enables secure quantum communication and computing, operating at non-zero temperatures, but requires isolation from environmental interference.

World Pulses Day

The United Nations General Assembly has designated February 10 as World Pulses Day to recognise the importance of pulse crops like chickpeas, dry beans and lentils as a global food. Pulses are the edible seeds of leguminous plants cultivated for both food and feed. In 2025, the theme for World Pulses Day is: “Pulses: Bringing diversity to agrifood systems” while the slogan is: “Love pulses for a healthy diet and planet”.

Hambantota Port

Located in Sri Lanka, Hambantota Port is a strategic deep-water port leased to China for 99 years under a debt swap agreement. It has raised concerns over China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and China's growing influence in the Indian Ocean, impacting India's security interests.

Axiom 4 mission

Ax-4 is the fourth private astronaut mission to the International Space Station (ISS). It is organised by Axiom Space in collaboration with NASA.  The Ax-4 crew will launch aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft to the ISS from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Once docked, the private astronauts plan to spend up to 14 days aboard the ISS. The mission will send the first Indian astronaut to the station as part of a joint effort between NASA and the Indian space agency ISRO.

SANJAY: The Battlefield Surveillance System

It is an automated system which integrates the inputs from all ground and aerial battlefield sensors, processing them to confirm their veracity, preventing duplication and fusing them to produce a Common Surveillance Picture of the battlefield over secured Army Data Network & Satellite Communication Network. It will enhance battlefield transparency and transform the future battlefield through a centralised web application which will provide inputs to command & Army Headquarters, and the Indian Army Decision Support System.

Darién Gap

The Darién Gap is a region of impassable, dense, and often dangerous jungle that spans the border between Panama and Colombia. It is located in the Panamanian Isthmus and serves as a natural barrier for land transportation. The gap is approximately 160 km long and is known for being a perilous route for illegal migrants (Donkey route) who try to make their way to North America.

FATF Grey List

A list of countries that the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) deems to be inadequately addressing money laundering and terrorist financing. Being on this list impacts a country’s financial transactions and trade.Countries like Pakistan have been in focus for continued financial regulation concerns. India is actively monitoring the developments.

Lake Poopó (Bolivia)

A saline lake in Bolivia that has almost completely dried up in recent years due to climate change and poor water management. The near disappearance of Lake Poopó has been in the news, raising concerns about the environmental impacts of drought and human activity.

AUKUS Security Pact

The AUKUS Security Pact is a trilateral defense agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States, formed in 2021. It focuses on enhancing security in the Indo-Pacific region, notably through providing Australia with nuclear-powered submarines and advancing cooperation in cyber, AI, and quantum technologies.

Black Diamond

While presenting the Union Budget 2025, the Union Finance Minister announced that a ‘Makhana Board’ will be set up in Bihar. Often called the 'Black Diamond', makhana is the dried edible seed of the prickly water lily (Euryale ferox). Also known as fox nut, the plant is recognised for its violet and white flowers and large round prickly leaves, often exceeding one meter in diameter.

One District One Product (ODOP) Scheme

ODOP is an initiative to boost economic growth at the district level by promoting and branding one product from each district of the country. The Union Minister of State for Ministry of Food Processing Industries has approved ODOP for 713 districts of 35 States and UTs under Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme.

National Critical Mineral Mission

The mission aims to encourage Indian PSUs and private sector firms to acquire critical mineral assets abroad and enhance trade with resource-rich countries. It also proposes development of stockpile of critical minerals within the country. The mission includes provisions for setting up of mineral processing parks and supporting the recycling of critical minerals. It will also promote research in critical mineral technologies and proposes setting up Centre of Excellence on Critical Minerals.

ASER Report

ASER (Annual Status of Education Report) is a yearly citizen-led survey that measures children's schooling and learning levels in rural India. It tracks enrollment for ages 3-16 and assesses reading and arithmetic for ages 5-16. Conducted annually from 2005 to 2014 across rural districts, it shifted to an alternate-year model in 2016. The 'basic' survey runs in alternate years, while gap years focus on different age groups or new aspects of children's learning.

Bank rate

This is the rate at which central bank (RBI) lends money to other banks or financial institutions. If the bank rate goes up, long-term interest rates also tend to move up, and vice-versa. Thus, it can be said that in case bank rate is hiked, in all likelihood banks will hikes their own lending rates to ensure and they continue to make a profit.

 CRR

CRR means Cash Reserve Ratio. Banks in India are required to hold a certain proportion of their deposits in the form of cash.  However, actually banks don’t hold these as cash with themselves, but deposit with the RBI. This minimum ratio (that is the part of the total deposits to be held as cash) is stipulated by the RBI and is known as the CRR or Cash Reserve Ratio.

Thus, when a bank’s deposits increase by Rs 100, and if the cash reserve ratio is 9%, the banks will have to hold additional Rs 9 with RBI and the bank will be able to use only Rs 91 for investments and lending/credit purpose. Therefore, higher the ratio (i.e. CRR), the lower is the amount that banks will be able to use for lending and investment.

This power of the RBI to reduce the lendable amount by increasing the CRR, makes it an instrument in the hands of a central bank through which it can control the amount that banks lend.  Thus, it is a tool used by RBI to control liquidity in the banking system.

SLR

SLR stands for Statutory Liquidity Ratio. This term is used by bankers and indicates the minimum percentage of deposits that the bank has to maintain in form of gold, cash or other approved securities.  Thus, we can say that it is ratio of cash and some other approved to liabilities (deposits). It regulates the credit growth in India.

Repo rate

Repo (Repurchase) rate is the rate at which the RBI lends shot-term money to the banks. When the repo rate increases borrowing from the RBI becomes more expensive. Therefore, we can say that in case, the RBI wants to make it more expensive for the banks to borrow money, it increases the repo rate. Similarly, if it wants to make it cheaper for banks to borrow money, it reduces the repo rate.

 Reverse repo rate?

Reverse Repo rate is the rate at which banks park their short-term excess liquidity with the RBI. The RBI uses this tool when it feels there is too much money floating in the banking system.  An increase in the reverse repo rate means that the RBI will borrow money from the banks at a higher rate of interest. As a result, banks would prefer to keep their money with the RBI

Thus, we can conclude that Repo Rate signifies the rate at which RBI injects liquidity in the banking system, whereas Reverse repo rate signifies the rate at which the central bank absorbs liquidity from the banks.

Difference between Bank Rate and Repo Rate

While repo rate is a short-term measure, i.e. applicable to short-term loans and used for controlling the amount of money in the market, bank rate is a long-term measure and is governed by the long-term monetary policies of the governing bank concerned.

International Criminal Court

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a permanent international tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and aggression. Established in 2002, the ICC has 125 member states and can investigate crimes committed within member states or referred by the UN Security Council. US President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the ICC over investigations of Israel, a close US ally.

Sheikh Mujibur Rehman

India has strongly condemned the vandalism of Sheikh Mujibur Rehman's historic residence in Bangladesh, emphasizing its significance in the country's freedom struggle. Rehman, the founding father of Bangladesh, led the independence movement and became the country's first President and Prime Minister ¹. India's Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Randhir Jaiswal, stated that the act of vandalism should be “strongly condemned” as it is an attack on Bangladesh's national pride and historical memory.

Question Hour

It is the first hour of every parliamentary sitting, where members ask questions and ministers respond. This is mentioned in the Rules of Procedure of the House. Questions can be directed to ministers and private members (MPs who aren't ministers). Question Hour is not held when the President addresses MPs or the Finance Minister presents the Budget.

SARAT Version 2

Indi’'s Union Minister for Science and Technology has launched SARAT Version 2, a cutting-edge tool designed to boost the efficiency of Indian search-and-rescue agencies. This advanced tool provides improved accuracy, faster response times, and enhanced visualization capabilities, specifically tailored for search-and-rescue operations in the Indian Ocean region.