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Daily Current Affairs: 12 April 2025

Current affairs of 12 April 2025: China Raises Tariffs on US Goods to 125%: Trade War Notes; Gender and Climate Gaps in India: Beijing Plus 30 Notes; India-Italy Ties: Tajani on Trade, BTIA and IMEC, and 24 more topics. Key facts for every exam, with a quiz.

27 TOPICSDaily CurrentAffairs12 April 2025In focus: China Raises Tariffs on US Goods to 125%:…safalsetu.com

In this issue: 27 topics

National Affairs

  1. Kavach 5.0 Unveiled for Mumbai Suburban Rail Network
  2. PM Modi Launches 44 Varanasi Projects Worth ₹3,880 Crore
  3. Billie Jean King Cup Asia-Oceania: New Zealand’s Fourth Win

Banking & Finance

  1. RBI Draft Gold Loan Rules: Impact on NBFCs and Borrowers
  2. IRDAI Warns Heritage TPA Over Claim Norm Breach
  3. SEBI Chairman Pandey’s Optimal Regulation Reform Plan
  4. RBI Liquidity Boost: ₹40,000 Cr OMO and ₹1.5 Lakh Cr VRR
  5. SEBI Warning on Social Media Securities Fraud and Fake Advisers
  6. Piramal Finance and ICICI Bank Co-Lending for Home Loans

Economy

  1. Equity Mutual Fund Inflows Fall 14.4% in March 2025
  2. IIP Growth at 2.9% in February 2025: Sector Data
  3. Tripling Auto Component Exports to $60 Billion by 2030

International Affairs

  1. China Raises Tariffs on US Goods to 125%: Trade War Notes
  2. India-Italy Ties: Tajani on Trade, BTIA and IMEC
  3. India-EU Ties: Trade, RoDTEP and Areas of Cooperation
  4. Goyal: India Won’t Rush US Trade Deal ‘At Gunpoint’

Agriculture & Rural

  1. Punjab Bans Sale of Hybrid Paddy Seeds: Reasons and Concerns

Science & Technology

  1. Semiconductor Design in India: DLI Scheme Progress and 2030 Goal
  2. AIKosh: Scriptures and Parliament Data for Indian AI
  3. Colossal’s Dire Wolf Pups and the De-Extinction Ethics Debate

Environment & Ecology

  1. Gender and Climate Gaps in India: Beijing Plus 30 Notes
  2. IMO Net-Zero Framework: First Global Shipping Emissions Deal
  3. E-Waste Management in India: EPR, Rules and Challenges
  4. Kancha Gachibowli Forest Row: Development vs Environment
  5. Acid Rain in India: 34-Year IMD-IITM Study Finds Falling Rain pH

Defence & Security

  1. DRDO Tests Gaurav Long-Range Glide Bomb

Awards & Persons

  1. WAVES Summit 2025: Theme Music Contest Winners Named

National Affairs

Banking & Finance

Economy

Economy

12. Tripling Auto Component Exports to $60 Billion by 2030

  • India aims to triple auto component exports to $60 billion within five years.
  • The goal could yield a trade surplus near $25 billion and lift India's global value-chain share from 3% to 8%.
  • It could add 22.5 million jobs, taking direct employment in the sector to 34 million.
  • NITI Aayog suggests a production support scheme covering operating expenditure and tools and dies capex.
Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

International Affairs

Economy

15. India-EU Ties: Trade, RoDTEP and Areas of Cooperation

  • The EU was set up by the Maastricht Treaty, in force from 1 November 1993, and has 27 member states.
  • India's iron and steel exports to the EU rose from USD 6.1 billion (2022-23) to USD 6.64 billion (2023-24).
  • RoDTEP, running since 1 January 2021, refunds embedded taxes to exporters; it replaced MEIS, which clashed with WTO rules.
  • RoDTEP has backed over 10,500 export items with ₹42,000 crore.
Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Agriculture & Rural

Science & Technology

Government Schemes

19. AIKosh: Scriptures and Parliament Data for Indian AI

  • Government plans to add multilingual religious texts, dialects and oral narratives to the AIKosh database to train AI models.
  • MeitY signed an MoU with the Lok Sabha Secretariat to bring parliamentary and governance data into AIKosh.
  • AIKosh had 350+ datasets and nearly 150 AI models by April 9.
  • AIKosh is part of the ₹10,372 crore India AI Mission; ₹200 crore was allotted in Budget 2025-26.
Full notes and 3 MCQs ›
Environment & Ecology

20. Colossal’s Dire Wolf Pups and the De-Extinction Ethics Debate

  • Colossal Biosciences, a US firm led by geneticist George Church, uses CRISPR gene editing to attempt reviving extinct species such as the woolly mammoth.
  • Three edited wolf pups, Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi, were born; they are 99.5% gray wolf DNA but show dire wolf traits.
  • The dire wolf work lacks peer review and critics call the changes cosmetic, not genuine de-extinction.
  • Conservationists fear funding is diverted from thousands of currently threatened species; strict gene-editing rules are urged.
Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Environment & Ecology

Environment & Ecology

23. E-Waste Management in India: EPR, Rules and Challenges

  • India's e-waste rose 151.03% from 2017-18 to 2023-24, from 7,08,445 to 17,78,400 metric tonnes.
  • E-Waste (Management) Rules, 2022 use EPR and now cover 106 EEE items from FY 2023-24, against 21 earlier.
  • The 2024 amendment lets CPCB set EPR certificate prices between 30% and 100% of the applicable environmental compensation.
  • Improper disposal costs over $10 billion a year in pollution damage and over ₹80,000 crore a year in lost metals.
Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Defence & Security

Awards & Persons

Test yourself

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