Daily Current Affairs: 11 & 12 May 2025

Current affairs of 11 & 12 May 2025: Kadbanwadi Grassland: Falling Indian Grey Wolf Numbers; Vruthi: Kerala’s People-Led Waste Management Campaign; SEBI F&O Reforms: Delta-Based OI, MWPL and Expiry Limits, and 11 more topics. Key facts for every exam, with a quiz.

Take the quiz (15 questions)May 2025

In this issue: 14 topics

National Affairs

Tapti Basin Mega Recharge Project: MP, Maharashtra sign MoU
International Nurses Day 2025 theme: Our Nurses, Our Future

Government Schemes

Rashtriya Karmayogi Jan Seva Programme: DARPG Training in Delhi

Banking & Finance

SEBI F&O Reforms: Delta-Based OI, MWPL and Expiry Limits
India’s Insurance Push: Bima Trinity, IRDAI Reforms and FDI
NRI Financial Compliance Checklist 2025: Banking, MF, Tax
FPI Norms Eased for Corporate Debt: RBI Move
SEBI Cooling-Off Rule for MII Directors Moving to Rivals
Index Options Curbs: SEBI Revises Exposure Limits in 2025

Economy

Morningstar DBRS Lifts India’s Sovereign Rating to BBB

Science & Technology

Rice Pangenome: 144 Varieties Mapped for Climate Resilience
Andaman wild banana sets record for longest infructescence

Environment & Ecology

Kadbanwadi Grassland: Falling Indian Grey Wolf Numbers
Vruthi: Kerala’s People-Led Waste Management Campaign

National Affairs

Government Schemes

1. Tapti Basin Mega Recharge Project: MP, Maharashtra sign MoU

Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra signed an MoU for the Tapti Basin Mega Recharge Project at the Inter-State Control Board meeting in Bhopal.
Project cost is ₹19,244 crore, and the Centre is to fund 90% of it.
Water use totals 31.13 TMC: Madhya Pradesh gets 11.76 TMC and Maharashtra 19.36 TMC.
About 5.78 lakh acres are to benefit; the project needs 3,362 hectares of land in Madhya Pradesh.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Health & Social Issues

2. International Nurses Day 2025 theme: Our Nurses, Our Future

International Nurses Day is observed every year on 12 May.
12 May is the birth anniversary of Florence Nightingale, the pioneer of modern nursing.
The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has celebrated the day since 1965; the 12 May date was chosen in January 1974.
The 2025 theme is 'Our Nurses, Our Future: Caring for nurses strengthens economies.'

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Government Schemes

Polity & Governance

3. Rashtriya Karmayogi Jan Seva Programme: DARPG Training in Delhi

DARPG held a training session under the Rashtriya Karmayogi Jan Seva Programme on 10 May 2025 in New Delhi.
It was organised together with the Capacity Building Commission.
Participants were public officials ranging from Assistant Section Officers to Under Secretaries.
The goal was to raise the competencies of these officials.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Banking & Finance

Economy

4. SEBI F&O Reforms: Delta-Based OI, MWPL and Expiry Limits

SEBI adopted future-equivalent (delta-based) open interest; index options gross limit is ₹10,000 crore, net ₹1,500 crore.
MWPL is the lower of 15% of free-float market cap or 65x average daily delivery value.
F&O expiries are capped at two days a week; new expiries need SEBI approval.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Economy

5. India’s Insurance Push: Bima Trinity, IRDAI Reforms and FDI

India is projected as the 6th largest insurance market by 2032, with a 7.3% CAGR over 2024-2028.
IRDAI merged 78 regulations into 26 and 370 circulars into 12.
Bima Trinity: Bima Sugam, Bima Vistaar and Bima Vahak, toward 'Insurance for All by 2047'.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Economy

6. NRI Financial Compliance Checklist 2025: Banking, MF, Tax

An NPS subscriber who renounces Indian citizenship without an OCI card must inform the NPS Trust; the account is closed.
Resident bank accounts become NRO accounts; NRE accounts are for foreign income and carry tax-free, repatriable interest.
NRO repatriation is capped at $1 million a year; NRE has no cap.
Tax residency needs 182 days in a financial year, or 60 days plus 365 days in the previous 4 years.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Economy

7. FPI Norms Eased for Corporate Debt: RBI Move

RBI eased general-route FPI norms for corporate debt securities.
Short-term investment cap and single-issuer concentration limit were withdrawn.
The changes are effective immediately.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Polity & Governance

8. SEBI Cooling-Off Rule for MII Directors Moving to Rivals

SEBI amended the SECC Regulations 2018 and Depositories and Participants Regulations 2018.
Non-independent directors need a cooling-off period before joining a competing MII.
Public interest directors can join a rival for 3 years only with SEBI's prior approval.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Banking & Finance

9. Index Options Curbs: SEBI Revises Exposure Limits in 2025

A SEBI study found individual investors lost ₹1.89 trillion in FY22-24, mostly on expiry days, while HFTs gained.
Index option lot size was raised from 25 to 75 in October 2023.
SEBI now proposes a gross limit of ₹10,000 crore and a net limit of ₹1,500 crore at end of day.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Economy

10. Morningstar DBRS Lifts India’s Sovereign Rating to BBB

Morningstar DBRS raised India's long-term rating to BBB from BBB (low), stable trend.
Short-term rating rose to R-2 (high) from R-2 (middle).
Average real GDP growth of 8.2% over FY22-FY25 helped.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Science & Technology

Agriculture & Rural Development

11. Rice Pangenome: 144 Varieties Mapped for Climate Resilience

The first rice pangenome combines genomic data from 144 wild and cultivated varieties across Asia.
It adds 3.87 billion base pairs and over 69,000 genes, including 28,907 core and 13,728 wild-rice-specific genes.
HiFi PacBio sequencing was used; Asian cultivated rice traces back to wild Or-IIIa.
India's GM crop approval involves FSSAI, RCGM, SBCC, DLC and GEAC.

Full notes and 3 MCQs ›

Environment & Ecology