News Summary: 19 April 2025

📝 India’s Pharma Sector[1]

🚀 Drug and pharmaceutical exports: Touched a record $30 billion in FY259.39% higher than FY24.

👉🏽 Drug formulations and biologicals lead the exports followed by Bulk drugs and drug intermediates.

👉🏽 Top destinations (countries): U.S. (one third) >  U.K > Brazil > France > South Africa.

👉🏽 Top destinations (regions): NAFTA (36.60%) > Europe > Africa > LAC ⇒ Together account for 76% of India’s pharma exports.

📝 India’s First Prototype Fast-Breeder Reactor (PFBR)[2]

🚀 Being developed in Kalpakkam by BHAVINI ⇒ First-of-its-kind nuclear reactor (500 MW) to use plutonium-based mixed oxide as fuel and liquid sodium as coolant.

👉🏽 It will also utilise the spent fuel of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR).

🚀 To be commissioned by September 2026 ⇒ Will mark the 2nd stage of India’s 3-stage nuclear programme.

💡Spent fuel from PFBR will be used to power the thorium-based reactors that form the third stage of the closed fuel cycle.

💡India’s current nuclear power capacity: 8.18 GW ⇒ Target : 100 GW by 2047.

📝 Sarkhej Roza[3]

🚀 A Sufi mosque and tomb complex located in Ahmedabad.

👉🏽 Built by Muhammad Shah II in honour of mid-15th century Sufi saint Shaikh Ahmad Ganj Baksh Khattu.

🚀 Architecture: Blends Hindu, Jain, and Islamic elements.

📝 NISAR mission[4]

🚀 NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR): A joint project between NASA and ISRO to co-develop and launch a dual-frequency synthetic aperture radar on an Earth observation satellite in 2025 ⇒ Expected to be launched in June 2025.

👉🏽 It will be the first radar imaging satellite to use dual frequencies ⇒ Will use remote sensing to observe natural processes such as the retreat of glaciers, changes in vegetation, and movements during earthquakes and volcanic activity.

📝 Miscellaneous[5][6][7][8][9]

🚀 Ras Isa oil port: Red Sea ⇒ in Yemen.  

🚀 Karnataka is conducting a village-level survey to document antiquities First-of-its-kind initiative in India.

🚀 BRICS Land Restoration Partnership: Launched at the 15th meeting of BRICS Agriculture Ministers at Brasilia.

🚀 Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C): Functions under the Ministry of Home Affairs. 

🚀 Sansad Khel Mahakumbh: Inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Lucknow.

Citations

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