Published on August 27, 2025 · 3 minutes read
ISRO conducting IADT-01 for the Gaganyaan on August 24, 2025, at Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota | Photo – ISRO
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ISRO successfully conducts IADT-01 for Gaganyaan mission
- ISRO successfully conducted the first Integrated Air Drop Test (IADT-01) at Sriharikota, marking a crucial step for the Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission.
- Upcoming Trials:
- Test Vehicle Mission (TV-D2) – will test the Crew Escape System (CES) under critical conditions.
- Uncrewed Gaganyaan-1 (G1) Mission – to be launched aboard a human-rated LVM3 rocket, carrying Vyommitra humanoid robot.
- Primarily handled by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.
- ISRO had earlier achieved success with the TV-D1 mission in 2023, setting the stage for the current and upcoming trials.
Fiji Prime Minister visits India, signs multiple agreements
- Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka visited New Delhi from August 24 to 26, 2025.
- An India-Fiji joint statement was issued, acknowledging the strengthening partnership between the two countries in the spirit of Veilomani Dosti.
- Exchanged seven agreements, including those on defence, health, standardization, capacity building, and Big Impact Projects.
- To be commissioned at the Naval Base in Visakhapatnam on 26 August 2025.
- Both belong to Nilgiri class (Project 17A) → feature enhanced stealth capabilities, advanced weaponry, and modern sensor systems.
- Udaygiri is built by Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. in Mumbai, and Himgiri is constructed by Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers in Kolkata.
- Designed in-house by the Navy’s Warship Design Bureau (WDB), Udaygiri is the 100th vessel to be designed.
- Built using nearly 75% indigenous content → giving boost to MSMEs.
Fitch retains ‘BBB-’ rating for India
- India’s ratings are supported by its robust growth and solid external finances.
- India’s high deficits and debt at the general government level, along with its “lagging” structural metrics, including governance indicators and GDP per capita, are points of concern.
- Impact of Trump tariffs: impact on India’s GDP will be modest as exports to the US are only 2% of GDP, but tariff uncertainty can dampen business sentiment, and private investment is expected to stay subdued ⇒ can also hurt India’s competitiveness in comparison to other Asian countries.
Pharma exporters urge GST fix to end inverted duty structure
- Inverted duty structure: a situation where tax on raw materials or inputs is higher than that on finished products ⇒ leads to blocked input tax credits, working capital issues, and refund delays.
- In India’s pharmaceutical sector, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are subject to an 18% GST, while formulations or finished medicines are taxed at 12%, with proposals to reduce this to 5%.
- Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) has appealed to the GST Council to tax both APIs and formulations at the same rate (either 5% or 12%) to end the inverted duty structure.
Atal Pension Yojana (APY) crosses 8.11 crore subscribers
- APY achieved this milestone on 21 August 2025 ⇒ more than 1.17 crore new subscribers enrolled in FY25, of which 55% were women.
- Women made up nearly 48% of total APY subscribers as of FY25.
- APY was launched in 2015 by PM Modi ⇒ aims to provide a guaranteed minimum monthly pension to workers in the unorganized sector after the age of 60.
Miscellaneous
- Super Garuda Shield Exercise: an annual multinational military exercise led by the US and Indonesia, involving over a dozen Indo-Pacific nations ⇒ India participates as an observer nation.
- Typhoon Kajiki has made landfall in Vietnam → originated over the western North Pacific, near the Philippines.
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