News Summary · 4 minutes read
Stay ahead in your UPSC CSE preparation with our daily News Summary. Designed to save time, it highlights key national and international events from leading newspapers and government websites.
Three-Language Formula
- Formally adopted as part of the National Policy on Education, 1968 ⇒ Recommended by the Kothari Commission (1964-66).
- Formula: Regional language or mother tongue + Hindi (non-Hindi states) or another Indian language (Hindi states) + English
- National Education Policy 2020: Retained the three-language formula with some modifications ⇒ The 1968 policy advocated for Hindi and English to be compulsory languages nationwide, while the 2020 policy does not impose any specific language on any State ⇒ allows states, regions, and students to choose languages, provided that at least two of the three languages are native to India.
SpaDeX mission
- ISRO’s Space Docking Experiment ⇒ Involves two satellites: SDX01 (Chaser) and SDX02 (Target) ⇒ To develop and demonstrate the technology needed for spacecraft rendezvous, docking, and undocking.
- Launched on 30 December 2024 using PSLV-C60 ⇒ Satellites were docked for the first time on 16 January 2025 and undocked on 13 March 2025 ⇒ 2nd docking on 20 April 2025.
- India is the 4th country, after the U.S., Russia, and China, to conduct the docking experiment successfully.
Rare earth elements (REEs)
- A group of 17 substances found in the Earth’s crust ⇒ Called “rare” not because they are scarce, but because they are difficult to extract and process in large quantities and make them usable in industrial applications.
- Recently, China imposed export controls on REEs ⇒ Targets 7 REEs: dysprosium, gadolinium, lutetium, samarium, scandium, terbium, and yttrium.
- Dysprosium: Used in hard disks and car motors; Gadolinium: Used in nuclear reactors for shielding and in some medical equipment; Lutetium: Used in PET scanners and petroleum refineries; Samarium: Used in powerful magnets in personal electronics; Scandium: Used in fighter aircraft; Terbium: Used in lighting for personal electronics; Yttrium: Used in cancer treatments and superconductors.
India imposes 12% safeguard duty on steel imports
- Applicable for 200 days, effective from 28 April 2025 ⇒ Primarily aimed at China.
- India’s top steel suppliers in 2024-25: South Korea > China
- India was a net importer of finished steel for the 2nd consecutive year in the 2024-25 ⇒ Shipments reached a 9-year high of 9.5 million metric tons.
- India is the 2nd-biggest crude steel producer ⇒ China is the 1st.
Earth Day
- An annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection ⇒ First held on April 22, 1970 ⇒ Includes a wide range of events coordinated globally through earthday.org ⇒ Was suggested at the UNESCO summit in 1969.
- Theme for 2025 is “Our Power, Our Planet.“
- HM Shri Amit Shah inaugurated the ‘Save Earth Conclave’ in New Delhi on Earth Day 2025 to explore the potential of bamboo to mitigate climate change and drive economic growth.
Aerostatic drone
- An aerial platform that derives its lift from both buoyancy and aerodynamics.
- Features: Energy efficient, silent (do not require constant thrust to stay afloat), and cost-effective, flexibility to equip with both day and night camera or other payloads such as telecommunication relay and anti-drone system ⇒ Can persistently stay afloat for surveillance with an endurance of over 4 hours ⇒ Could be integrated with any ground vehicle or can be installed at any site.
- Applications: Wildlife monitoring, forest surveillance, crowd monitoring, border security and disaster surveillance, etc. ⇒ Can serve as temporary communication relays in remote areas or during emergencies.
- The North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR) recently showcased this technology ⇒ Developed by Airbotix Technologies, Gurgaon, with support from NECTAR ⇒ 1st of its kind in India.
- NECTAR: An autonomous body under the Department of Science and Technology.
Quick Picks
- RBI has permitted banks to allow minors above 10 years to independently open and operate savings/term deposit accounts.
- El-Fasher: Capital of North Darfur (Sudan)
- Natuna Islands: South China Sea (Indonesia)
- Joint Parliamentary Committee on One Nation One Election: 39 members ⇒ Chairperson: P P Chaudhary.
- Baisaran forest area: Pahalgam, Anantnag (J & K) ⇒ Terrorist attack on a tourists.
Categories: Current Affairs, UPSC News Summary
Practice: Daily Current Affairs Quiz ↗️
Read: News Summary ↗️
Subscribe: Telegram Channel ↗️
Join: Telegram Group ↗️