- Recently, NITI Aayog CEO B.V.R. Subrahmanyam informed that India has surpassed Japan to become the world’s fourth-largest economy (nominal GDP), and poised to displace Germany in the next 2.5 to 3 years.
- The IMF projects that India will become the third-largest economy by 2028, with an expected GDP of $5.5 trillion by overtaking Germany.
- Germany’s projected GDP growth: 0% (2025), and 0.9% (2026) (due to ongoing global trade tensions). Read More
Home / Daily Current Affairs / 26-05-2025
Daily Current Affairs – 26 May, 2025
PDF - The Ministry of Home Affairs, in its 2023–24 report, updated India’s coastline length to 11,098.8 km, a significant increase from the previously recorded 7,516.6 km.
- Definition: The coastline paradox states that the length of a coastline depends on the scale at which it is measured. The more detailed the measurement (smaller ruler), the longer the coastline appears.
- Euclidean Geometry: Deals with ideal shapes and straight lines/smooth curves, where length is straightforward.
- Fractal Geometry: Coastlines exhibit fractal-like properties, meaning they display self-similar patterns at different scales. This concept was popularized by Benoît Mandelbrot.
- Hypothetical Infinity: Theoretically, measuring a coastline down to the size of a water molecule would result in its length approaching infinity. Read More
Maths of How India’s Coastline Lengthened without Gaining Land
In Context
Coastline Paradox
- Maldivian Foreign Minister has arrived in New Delhi to lead the Maldivian delegation at the 2nd High Level Core Group (HLCG) meeting.
- Both foreign ministers will review the progress of the India–Maldives comprehensive economic and maritime security partnership.
- The India-Maldives vision document on a comprehensive economic and maritime security partnership was adopted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maldivian President last year. Read More
India-Maldives 2nd High Level Core Group (HLCG) Meeting
Context
About
- India’s outward remittances under the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS) moderated by 6.85 percent year-on-year (YoY) to $29.56 billion in FY25, after reaching an all-time high of $31.73 billion in FY24.
- Outward remittance refers to the transfer of money in foreign currency by a resident of India to a person or entity outside India, for purposes such as education, travel, medical treatment, investment, or gifting. Read More
India’s Outward remittances Decreases under Liberalised Remittance Scheme
Context
What is Outward Remittance?
- India is negotiating trade agreements with the United States and European Union, which are both seeking tariff reductions and greater market access for their agricultural products.
- India’s agriculture exports rose by 6.4% to $51.9 billion in 2024–25, while overall goods exports remained nearly flat.
- However, agriculture imports surged by 17.2% to $38.5 billion, widening the trade gap.
- Over the past decade, exports grew just 20%, while imports jumped 148%, causing the agri-trade surplus to shrink from $27.7 billion in 2013–14 to $13.4 billion in 2024–25. Read More
India’s Farm Trade and Impact of FTAs with US, EU and UK
In News
Status of India’s farm trade
- Tamil Nadu Cabinet approved the Space Industrial Policy, thereby following Karnataka and Gujarat in formulating a State-specific document.
- Aim: To stimulate development and attract investments in the space sector.
- In 2023, the Union government came out with the Indian Space Policy 2023 to provide a framework to support the space ecosystem.
- The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) had suggested to the State government to come out with a document.
- IN-SPACe is created by the Department of Space at the Centre for promoting, authorising and overseeing the activities of Non-Government Entities (NGEs) in the sector. Read More
Tamil Nadu Adopted a Space Sector Policy
Context
About
- A Liberian-flagged cargo ship, MSC ELSA 3, sank 14 nautical miles off the Kerala coast in the Arabian Sea, resulting in a significant oil leak, raising environmental concerns.
- An oil spill is the release of a liquid petroleum hydrocarbon from tankers, offshore platforms, drilling rigs or wells into the environment, especially marine areas.
- Spilled substances: It may be refined petroleum products, such as gasoline and diesel fuel, as well as their by-products — heavier fuels used by large ships such as bunker fuel or oily refuse of any kind. Read More
Oil Spill off Kerala Coast
Context
What is an Oil Spill?
- The Ministry of Earth Sciences has launched the Bharat Forecasting System (BFS).
- Developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, to deliver highly localized weather forecasts with a 6 km resolution—the most advanced globally.
- It allows for more precise prediction of small-scale weather events.
- It is powered by the supercomputer Arka (11.77 petaflops, 33 petabytes).
- The previous supercomputer ‘Pratyush’ used to take up to 10 hours to run the forecasting model.
- It covers the tropical region (30°S to 30°N), including all of India, and surpasses global models from the U.S., UK, and Europe, which operate at 9–14 km resolution. Read More
