Daily Current Affairs: 15 & 16 June 2025

Current affairs of 15 & 16 June 2025: FGD Units in Thermal Plants: Panel Recommends Rollback of Mandate; Spartaeus karigiri: New Jumping Spider Found in Karnataka; SCO Summit 2025 Tianjin: Members, Aims and India’s Role, and 11 more topics. Key facts for every exam, with a quiz.

Take the quiz (15 questions)June 2025

In this issue: 14 topics

Government Schemes

NAKSHA Phase 2 Second Batch Training Begins 16 June 2025

Banking & Finance

SEBI Board Meeting Preview: Expected Relaxations on 18 June
Regional Rural Banks (RRBs): 50-Year Journey and Challenges
SEBI ESG Debt Securities Framework Effective 5 June 2025
Jupiter Edge+ RuPay Credit Card Works on UPI
NPCI-IDRBT MoU on Digital Payments Cybersecurity

Economy

Income Tax Bill 2025: Refund Clause Conflict to Be Fixed

International Affairs

SCO Summit 2025 Tianjin: Members, Aims and India’s Role

Agriculture & Rural

Nakshatras and Ritus: Ancient Indian Farming Calendar

Environment & Ecology

FGD Units in Thermal Plants: Panel Recommends Rollback of Mandate
Spartaeus karigiri: New Jumping Spider Found in Karnataka
Eurasian Otter Sighted Again in Kashmir’s Lidder River

Defence & Security

MV Wan Hai 503: Navy Moves Burning Ship Offshore

Reports & Indexes

Global Forest Watch: India Lost 2.31 Million Hectares of Tree Cover

Government Schemes

Polity & Governance

1. NAKSHA Phase 2 Second Batch Training Begins 16 June 2025

The second batch of Phase 2 NAKSHA training started on 16 June 2025 at four Centres of Excellence.
NAKSHA partners: Survey of India, NICSI, MPSeDC and five CoEs.
India's urban population is projected to cross 600 million by 2031.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Banking & Finance

Economy

2. SEBI Board Meeting Preview: Expected Relaxations on 18 June

SEBI's 18 June board meeting was the second under chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey.
A new IGBFPI category for government bond investors was expected.
PSU delisting relief was expected where government holds over 90%.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Banking & Finance

3. Regional Rural Banks (RRBs): 50-Year Journey and Challenges

RRBs began with five banks on October 2, 1975; ownership is Centre 50%, States 15%, sponsors 35%.
'One State, One RRB' was fully implemented by May 1, 2025, leaving 28 RRBs.
RRBs still follow Basel I and depend on sponsor banks for technology.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Banking & Finance

4. SEBI ESG Debt Securities Framework Effective 5 June 2025

SEBI's ESG-labelled bond framework, effective 5 June 2025, requires continuous monitoring and third-party verification.
It targets purpose-washing and adds disclosures, early redemption and quantified negative externalities.
Experts warned of higher compliance costs, especially for mid-sized firms.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Banking & Finance

5. Jupiter Edge+ RuPay Credit Card Works on UPI

Jupiter and Scapia launched UPI-compatible RuPay credit cards with CSB Bank and Federal Bank respectively.
Jupiter's Edge+ CSB Bank RuPay card has no joining or annual fee.
Cashback can exceed Rs 50,000 a year and the card is exclusive to the Jupiter app.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Banking & Finance

6. NPCI-IDRBT MoU on Digital Payments Cybersecurity

NPCI and IDRBT signed an MoU on June 12, 2025 to strengthen cyber resilience in India's digital payments.
It brings specialised training, NPCI-certified security programmes and access to IDRBT's IBCART 3.0 threat intelligence platform.
NPCI was set up by RBI and IBA; IDRBT was established by RBI in 1996.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Economy

Polity & Governance

7. Income Tax Bill 2025: Refund Clause Conflict to Be Fixed

Finance Ministry was likely to amend a conflicting refund provision in the draft Income Tax Bill, 2025.
Section 433 allows refunds on belated returns; Section 263(1)(a)(ix) does not.
The draft Bill was introduced in Parliament on February 13, 2025.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

International Affairs

International Relations

8. SCO Summit 2025 Tianjin: Members, Aims and India’s Role

PM Modi met Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the SCO Summit in Tianjin.
SCO was founded in 2001, has 8 permanent members and is headquartered in Beijing.
The summit theme was 'Upholding the Shanghai Spirit: SCO on the Move'.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Agriculture & Rural

Agriculture & Rural Development

9. Nakshatras and Ritus: Ancient Indian Farming Calendar

Ancient Indian farming followed the sky and seasons, treating agriculture as harmony between human effort and nature.
The Moon's 27 nakshatras were believed to guide planting, watering, harvesting and rest.
Rohini was seen as the most auspicious nakshatra for sowing.
The agricultural year follows six ritus: Vasanta, Grishma, Varsha, Sharad, Hemanta and Shishira.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Environment & Ecology

10. FGD Units in Thermal Plants: Panel Recommends Rollback of Mandate

An expert panel led by Principal Scientific Advisor Ajay Sood recommended rolling back the 2015 FGD mandate for coal plants.
Only 39 of 537 coal-based plants had installed FGD by April 2025.
FGD units remove sulphur dioxide (SO2) from flue gas.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Environment & Ecology

11. Spartaeus karigiri: New Jumping Spider Found in Karnataka

New jumping spider Spartaeus karigiri found near Karigiri (Elephant Hill), Devarayanadurga, Karnataka.
Subfamily Spartaeinae; genera Spartaeus and Sonoita recorded in India for the first time.
Published in the European Journal of Taxonomy on 11 June.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Environment & Ecology

12. Eurasian Otter Sighted Again in Kashmir’s Lidder River

The Eurasian otter was sighted in Kashmir after an absence of roughly 25-30 years.
The sighting was in the Lidder River; the species had been thought extinct in the region.
Locally the otter is called Vuder.
Its presence is seen as an indicator of clean water and healthy aquatic biodiversity.
IUCN status is Near Threatened; it is in Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Defence & Security

13. MV Wan Hai 503: Navy Moves Burning Ship Offshore

MV Wan Hai 503, a Singapore-flagged container vessel, caught fire after an onboard explosion on June 9.
The Indian Navy said it was moved to deeper waters beyond the 1,000-metre sounding line.
It lay about 45 nautical miles off the Kerala coast.
Indian Navy and Coast Guard continued a coordinated response.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Reports & Indexes

Environment & Ecology

14. Global Forest Watch: India Lost 2.31 Million Hectares of Tree Cover

India lost 2.31 million hectares of tree cover from 2001 to 2024, a 7.1% fall from the 2000 level.
Loss of humid primary forest was 348,000 hectares (5.4%) during 2002-2024.
Primary forest loss rose from 17,700 hectares in 2023 to 18,200 hectares in 2024.
The 2001-2024 loss is linked to about 1.29 gigatonnes of CO2 emissions.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Test yourself

15 questions from the news of 15 & 16 June 2025, with answers and explanations.

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Daily Current Affairs: 15 & 16 June 2025

In this issue: 14 topics

Government Schemes

1. NAKSHA Phase 2 Second Batch Training Begins 16 June 2025

Banking & Finance

2. SEBI Board Meeting Preview: Expected Relaxations on 18 June

3. Regional Rural Banks (RRBs): 50-Year Journey and Challenges

4. SEBI ESG Debt Securities Framework Effective 5 June 2025

5. Jupiter Edge+ RuPay Credit Card Works on UPI

6. NPCI-IDRBT MoU on Digital Payments Cybersecurity

Economy

7. Income Tax Bill 2025: Refund Clause Conflict to Be Fixed

International Affairs

8. SCO Summit 2025 Tianjin: Members, Aims and India’s Role

Agriculture & Rural

9. Nakshatras and Ritus: Ancient Indian Farming Calendar

Environment & Ecology

10. FGD Units in Thermal Plants: Panel Recommends Rollback of Mandate

11. Spartaeus karigiri: New Jumping Spider Found in Karnataka

12. Eurasian Otter Sighted Again in Kashmir’s Lidder River

Defence & Security

13. MV Wan Hai 503: Navy Moves Burning Ship Offshore

Reports & Indexes

14. Global Forest Watch: India Lost 2.31 Million Hectares of Tree Cover

Test yourself