Daily Current Affairs (DCA) 27 August, 2025

Daily Current Affairs Quiz
27 August, 2025

National Affairs

1. Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Reforms

Source: TH

Context:

Early childhood care and education (ECCE) has emerged as a national priority under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision for a “Viksit Bharat.” Recognising that 85% of brain development occurs before the age of six (NEP 2020), the government has transformed Anganwadi Centres into hubs for holistic learning and parental engagement through key initiatives like Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi and Navchetna.

Key Initiatives:

Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi

• Objective: Transform Anganwadi Centres from mere nutrition hubs into vibrant early learning spaces.
• Features:
  • Systematic training of Anganwadi workers in activity-based and play-oriented learning.
  • Enhanced budget allocations for teaching-learning materials.
  • Monthly ECCE days institutionalised for structured child engagement.
  • 5+1 weekly plan under Aadharshila (National ECCE Curriculum):
    • 30 minutes free play daily.
    • Structured activities for language, creativity, motor skills, and social-emotional learning.
    • Outdoor play and value-based interactions post-lunch.
• Outcome: Parents increasingly see Anganwadis as “first schools” rather than just nutrition centres.

Aadharshila – National Curriculum for ECCE (3-6 years)

• Developed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
• Aims to provide a structured, play-based, and activity-oriented curriculum for preschool education.
• Focuses on foundational literacy, numeracy, socio-emotional skills, motor development, and values.
• Designed for Anganwadis, preschools, and private early learning centres across India.

Navchetna – National Framework for Early Childhood Stimulation (0-3 years)

• Developed by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) under the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
• Focuses on early brain development, caregiving practices, and stimulation-based learning during the critical first 1,000 days of life.
• Provides guidelines for parents, caregivers, Anganwadi workers, and health professionals.
• Covers areas like nutrition, health, emotional bonding, sensory stimulation, language exposure, and motor skill development.

2. National Cooperative Policy, 2025

Context:

The National Cooperative Policy, 2025, launched by Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah in July, has triggered a strong backlash from Kerala, a State with a deep-rooted cooperative movement. The policy has intensified Centre-State tensions over cooperative federalism and the constitutional division of powers.

What is it?

• A forward-looking, result-oriented policy to institutionalise, expand, and modernise India’s cooperative sector.
• Aims to make cooperatives key drivers of social equity, rural empowerment, and economic sustainability.

Objectives:

• Triple the cooperative sector’s share in GDP by 2034.
• Ensure participation of 50 crore members across India.
• Establish at least one cooperative in every village.
• Enhance transparency, financial sustainability, and digital adoption.
• Empower rural women, tribals, Dalits, and youth.
• Build a self-reliant, employment-rich cooperative ecosystem by 2047.

Read more>>

3. Adi Karmayogi Initiative

Source: TH

Context:

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs has launched the Adi Karmayogi initiative to build a cadre of 20 lakh “change leaders” in tribal villages under the Dharti Aba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyaan for last-mile delivery of welfare schemes.

Key Highlights:

• Objective:
  • To motivate and empower officials, volunteers, and community leaders to improve governance in tribal areas through a participatory approach.
  • Focus on self-driven solutions rather than dependency on external interventions.
• Training Approach:
  • Activities include:
    • Lighting the candle exercise: Encourages proactive problem-solving (“bring the light”).
    • Fish-bowl exercise: Enhances interaction and understanding among participants.
    • Village scenario role-play: Simulates real-life problem-solving in villages.
    • Cognitive group tasks & knot-tying exercises: Build teamwork and creative thinking.
• Village Vision 2030:
  • Each of the 1 lakh target villages will prepare a “Village Vision” document to set development goals.
  • These will be displayed as public murals to act as aspirational blueprints.
• Infrastructure Support:
  • Establishment of 1 lakh Adi Seva Kendras as single-window service centres for welfare scheme access to ensure 100% saturation.
• Implementation Status:
  • Phase 1 underway in 324 districts.
  • Regional training for State-level trainers ongoing; district and block-level training to follow.

5. SAMARTH Panchayat Portal

Context:

The Centre is set to launch SAMARTH Panchayat, a dedicated digital platform to track and manage tax and non-tax revenues of Panchayats, aiming to bring transparency, efficiency, and self-reliance to local governance.

Source: Mint

Key Highlights:

• Purpose of SAMARTH Panchayat:
  • Digitizes Own Source of Revenue (OSR) collection of Panchayats.
  • Facilitates generation of tax and non-tax demands, maintenance of tax registers, online tracking of revenue, and asset management.
  • Provides online payment facility for citizens.
• Pilot States:
  • Successfully tested in Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
• Current Challenges in Panchayat Financing:
  • 42% of Gram Panchayats collect less than ₹1 lakh annually.
  • 11 states/UTs still lack OSR rules (including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Sikkim, Manipur, and UTs like Ladakh, Lakshadweep).
  • No centralized database currently exists for granular Panchayat revenue data.
• Expected Benefits:
  • Creation of first-ever comprehensive database on Panchayat revenues.
  • Improved policy framing for state and central governments.
  • Encouragement to states to formulate OSR rules.
  • Enhances financial self-reliance of Panchayats and supports Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
• Concerns Raised:
  • Transparency may lead to greater monitoring, potentially delaying project execution at the grassroots level.
• Significance of OSR:
  • Panchayats levy local taxes, duties, tolls, and fees but heavily depend on grants from Centre and states. OSR (local taxes, fees, user charges) reduces dependence on grants from Centre and States.
  • Empowers Panchayats to plan and execute development projects as per local needs.

6. National Designated Authority (NDA) for Carbon Emissions Trading

Source: TH

Context:

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has set up a National Designated Authority (NDA) as mandated under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement (2015) to facilitate a carbon emissions trading mechanism.

Key Highlights:

• Mandate: Required under Article 6 of the Paris Agreement, which provides the framework for an international carbon market.
• Approval at COP29: Article 6 operational rules were finalised at the 29th Climate COP in Baku, Azerbaijan (Nov 2024).
• Composition:
  • 21-member committee.
  • Headed by Secretary, Environment Ministry.
  • Includes officials from External Affairs, Steel, Renewable Energy Ministries, and NITI Aayog.
• Functions of NDA:
  • Recommend activities for trading of emission reduction units (ERUs).
  • Modify project lists in line with national sustainability goals and priorities.
  • Evaluate, approve, and authorise carbon trading projects.
  • Facilitate use of ERUs towards achieving India’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

Carbon Emissions Trading

Carbon emission trading, also known as cap-and-trade, is a market-based mechanism to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It allows countries, companies, or entities to buy and sell emission allowances or credits within a regulated framework.

Banking/Finance

1. Framework to Simplify Transfer of Unclaimed Shares and Dividends

Source: BS

Context:

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) are jointly developing a framework to streamline the transfer and claim process for unclaimed shares and dividends.

Key Highlights:

• Objective: Harmonise shareholder identification requirements, simplify transmission of shares, and ensure uniformity across companies.
• Current Rule:
  • If a dividend remains unpaid/unclaimed for 30 days, it must be moved to an unpaid dividend account. This is mandated by Section 124 of the Companies Act, 2013.
  • If unclaimed for seven consecutive years, both the amount and the associated shares are transferred to the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF).
• Challenges: Varied verification processes by companies (e.g., affidavits, document requirements) create hurdles for investors.
• MCA’s Stand: Urged companies to run outreach campaigns to locate missing shareholders.
• SEBI’s Initiatives:
  • Mitra: A searchable database for unclaimed/inactive mutual fund folios.
  • Digilocker Integration: Allows investors to fetch and store mutual fund and demat account statements.
  • Awareness Drives: Conducted nomination campaigns to ensure smoother investor identification.

Significance:

A unified framework will make the recovery of unclaimed financial assets easier, reduce investor grievances, and boost trust in capital markets.

2. RBI’s FREE-AI Framework

Source: The Economic Times

Context:

A recent report by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) introduced a comprehensive framework, termed FREE-AI (Framework for Responsible and Ethical Enablement of Artificial Intelligence), to govern AI usage in the financial sector.

What Is the RBI’s FREE-AI Framework?

The FREE-AI Framework (Framework for Responsible and Ethical Enablement of Artificial Intelligence) is a strategic initiative by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), introduced in August 2025. It aims to guide the ethical, transparent, and inclusive deployment of AI across India’s financial sector.

Core Principles (“Seven Sutras”):

The framework is built upon seven foundational principles meant to balance innovation with ethical safeguards:

1. Trust Is the Foundation – AI systems must be reliable, transparent, and deserving of public confidence.
2. People First – Human judgment and citizen welfare must remain central in AI decisions.
3. Innovation over Restraint – Enable responsible innovation rather than restrict it.
4. Fairness & Equity – AI must operate without bias and deliver inclusive outcomes.
5. Accountability – Clear responsibility lies with those deploying AI systems.
6. Understandable by Design – AI decisions must be interpretable and traceable.
7. Safety, Resilience & Sustainability – AI should be secure, adaptable, and environmentally conscious.

Six Strategic Pillars with Actionable Recommendations

To support these principles, the framework lays out 26 actionable measures under six categories:

A. Innovation Enablement

• Infrastructure: Build shared data systems, AI sandboxes, and enable indigenous model development.
• Policy: Offer adaptive regulation, periodic reviews, and risk-based compliance.
• Capacity: Train leadership and professionals on ethical AI practices.

B. Risk Mitigation

• Governance: Mandate policies like board-level oversight, AI inventory, and product approval pathways.
• Protection: Emphasise customer protection, cybersecurity, red-teaming, and AI-incidents reporting.
• Assurance: Introduce audit frameworks, disclosures, and usable toolkits for AI governance.

3. Malaysia Launches Ryt Bank: First AI-Powered Digital Bank

Context:

Malaysia has launched Ryt Bank, the country’s and world’s first AI-powered digital bank, developed by YTL Group in collaboration with Sea Limited, ahead of its Independence Day (Merdeka).

Key Highlights:

• AI Core: Powered by Ryt AI, a conversational banking assistant built on ILMU, Malaysia’s first homegrown large language model (LLM).
• Multilingual Support: Supports Bahasa Malaysia and English from launch, with Mandarin to be added by September 2025.
• Smart Banking Features:
  • Savings: Offers up to 4% p.a. daily interest on deposits up to RM 20,000 with no lock-in period.
  • Credit: Ryt PayLater provides instant, no-document credit (~RM1,499) with 0% interest if repaid within one month, plus cashback rewards.
• Ryt Card: A Visa-powered card enabling debit/credit.

4. PhonePe Launches Affordable Home Insurance Product in India

Source: BS

Context:

On August 25, 2025, PhonePe announced the launch of its home insurance product line, aimed at providing a simple, affordable, and fully digital solution for homeowners to protect their properties.

Key Highlights:

• Low-Cost Premiums: Starting at ₹181 per year (including GST).
• Flexible Coverage: Ranges from ₹10 lakhs to ₹12.5 crores, covering both structure and contents (furniture, appliances, valuables, etc.).
• Risk Coverage: Protection against 20+ risks including fire, floods, earthquakes, riots, and theft.
• Accessibility:
  • Available to all homeowners, regardless of whether they have a home loan.
  • Accepted by all banks and lending institutions for home loan requirements.
• Digital Convenience:
  • Instant policy issuance with zero paperwork and no inspection.
  • Complete end-to-end digital process via the PhonePe app.

Agriculture

1. SAMARTH Mission (Sustainable Agrarian Mission on Use of Agri Residue in Thermal Power Plants)

Source: BS

Context:

India is promoting biomass co-firing in coal-fired thermal power plants to tackle rural distress, air pollution, and the transition to cleaner energy. The initiative is driven under the Ministry of Power’s SAMARTH Mission (Sustainable Agrarian Mission on Use of Agri Residue in Thermal Power Plants).

About:

• Launched: 2021
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Power, Government of India
• SAMARTH is a National Mission launched by the Ministry of Power to promote the use of agri-residue (biomass) in coal-based thermal power plants.
• It aims to reduce stubble burning, decrease carbon emissions, and provide additional income to farmers by utilizing agricultural waste.

Objectives:

• Utilize agri-residue/biomass for co-firing in thermal power plants.
• Reduce air pollution caused by stubble burning.
• Lower carbon footprint of coal-based power generation.
• Create a biomass market, encouraging farmers and entrepreneurs.

Key Features:

• Implementation Mechanism:
  • Steering Committee: Chaired by the Secretary, Ministry of Power, to monitor and resolve inter-ministerial issues.
  • Market Development: Long-term and short-term tenders for biomass supply.
• Training & Awareness Programs for farmers and pellet manufacturers conducted in Haryana, Punjab, and other states.

Significance:

• Social: Mitigates air pollution in northern India by reducing stubble burning.
• Environmental: Helps India meet its clean energy and emission reduction targets.
• Economic: Provides supplementary income to farmers and fosters a biomass-based industry.

Facts To Remember

1. Launch of Maruti Suzuki’s First Made-in-India Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV) – e Vitara

Maruti Suzuki has commenced production of its first Battery Electric Vehicle (BEV), e Vitara, at its Suzuki Motor Gujarat Private Ltd. plant. The first batch will be exported to Europe in August 2025, marking India’s entry into mass-scale electric vehicle exports.

2. Three Indians take silver; Koyel scripts youth record

India’s elite lifters could not rise to expectations as Raja Muthupandi (65kg, men), Sneha Soren (53kg, women) and Bindyarani Devi (58kg, women) finished second best in the Commonwealth weightlifting championships at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex, Naranpura.

3. Sift hits the bull’s eye as India continues gold rush at Asians

World record holder and Asian Games champion Sift Kaur Samra beat Yang Yujie of China by 0.4 point to cinch the gold, after topping qualification with 589, in the rifle 3-position event in the 16th Asian shooting championship in Shymkent, Kazakhstan.

4. Nabfid & Nabard Plan Overseas Fundraising by FY26

The National Bank for Financing Infrastructure and Development (Nabfid) and the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) are preparing to tap international debt markets for the first time by FY26 to diversify funding sources and meet long-term financing needs.