Daily Current Affairs 2025  

12/10/2025

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CA-12/10/2025

 
Why in news?
Recently, the Volga River seen a dramatic drop in water levels, worsening pollution, ecological crises, and significant impacts on communities, industries, and biodiversity along the river. 
 
About Volga River

• The Volga River is the longest river in Europe and is widely recognized as Russia's national river, both for its immense geographic scale and its deep cultural significance.
• Flowing entirely within Russia, it stretches approximately 3,530 kilometers (2,194 miles) from its source in the Valdai Hills northwest of Moscow to its mouth in the Caspian Sea, which is the world’s largest inland body of water.
• The Volga basin covers nearly two-fifths of European Russia and is home to about half of the country’s population.

Key Features and Geography

• Major cities along the Volga include Moscow, Kazan, Volgograd, Yaroslavl, Saratov, Samara, Nizhny Novgorod, and Astrakhan.
• Its basin contains some of the world’s largest reservoirs, which support hydroelectric power, irrigation, and navigation.
• The Volga’s delta is the largest inland delta in Europe, supporting rich biodiversity, with unique species such as pelicans, flamingos, and lotuses found only here in Russia.

Climate and Environmental Factors

• The Volga faces severe environmental challenges, including pollution from industrial waste, sewage, fertilizers, pesticides, and a decline in wildlife, particularly endangered sturgeon species.

• Deforestation, drained wetlands, and damming are further disrupting the river’s hydrology, with loss of spring floods and increased droughts rapidly drying up tributaries and floodplains.
• The river freezes for about three months each year along most of its length, impacting ecology and navigation.

 
 
   
Why in news?
Hwasong-20 is North Korea’s latest solid-fueled intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) unveiled during a major military parade in October 2025.
 
Features

• Solid-fuel engine made of carbon fiber composite materials.
• Estimated range of over 15,000 km, capable of reaching entire US mainland and much of Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceania.
• Advanced guidance system combining inertial navigation with GPS or optical sensors.
• Blunt nose cone allowing for multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRVs).
• Can potentially carry several nuclear warheads to strike multiple targets.
• Designed to overcome missile defense systems with multiple warheads.
• Can theoretically target all US territories and much of Asia, Europe, Africa, and Oceania.

 
   
Why in news?

• The Bharat Taxi Initiative is a first-of-its-kind, cooperative-driven, citizen-first national ride-hailing platform set to launch in December 2025. 
• It is promoted by leading cooperative and financial institutions including NCDC, IFFCO, AMUL, KRIBHCO, NAFED, NABARD, NDDB, and NCEL. 

Key points of the Bharat Taxi Initiative

• Cooperative-Driven Model: Bharat Taxi is operated and governed by driver cooperatives, ensuring profit-sharing, fair pricing, and collective decision-making among drivers.
• Objective: To provide an affordable, secure, transparent, and citizen-first alternative to existing commercial ride-hailing giants that prioritizes driver welfare and cooperative ownership.
• Digital Integration: The platform integrates with national digital infrastructure services such as DigiLocker, UMANG, and API Setu for seamless identity verification, license validation, and digital payments.
• Inclusive and Citizen-Centric: The platform supports multilingual user interfaces, accessibility features for differently-abled users, and promotes equal participation including women drivers.
• Transparent Fare System: Uses open-source algorithms for real-time fare calculation to prevent overcharging and surge pricing manipulation.
• Cybersecurity and Data Protection: Adheres to Government of India's data protection laws and cybersecurity standards to ensure user privacy and security.
• Governance and Technical Support: The National e-Governance Division (NeGD) provides governance, programme management expertise, technical advisory, and operational support.

 
 
   
Why in news?

• The app was revamped in 2025 to provide a more user-friendly and impactful experience, incorporating AI-powered chatbot support for real-time assistance and a streamlined signup process.
• The revamped version acts as a comprehensive digital accessibility hub, empowering users through an intuitive interface and enhanced features.

Key points of Sugamya Bharat App

• Launched by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
• Crowdsourced mobile platform to report accessibility barriers in public infrastructure, transport, and ICT.
• Enables users to register geo-tagged complaints with photos about inaccessible facilities.
• Features an accessibility mapping function for rating public places on accessibility.
• Provides a consolidated directory of government schemes, scholarships, benefits, and employment opportunities for persons with disabilities.
• Empowers community participation to improve accessibility and accountability in public spaces.
• Developed with support from SBI Foundation and technical partners like NAB Delhi and Mission Accessibility.

Part of the broader Accessible India Campaign aiming to make India’s public spaces truly inclusive.
 
 
   
 
Why in news?
Researchers found that keratoconus severity before treatment is a key factor in disease progression, even after collagen cross-linking (CXL) treatment. 
 
About Keratoconus

• Keratoconus is a progressive eye condition in which the normally dome-shaped cornea thins and gradually bulges outward into a cone shape.
• This cone-shaped cornea causes irregular astigmatism and myopia, leading to distorted and blurry vision.
• The condition typically begins in the teenage years and progresses during the teens and twenties, but it can vary among individuals.
• The exact cause of keratoconus is unknown, but it is considered multifactorial, involving both genetic and environmental factors.
• Genetic predisposition is evident as family history increases risk, and certain connective tissue disorders (such as Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and osteogenesis imperfecta).
• Environmental factors include persistent eye rubbing, atopy (allergic conditions), asthma, and exposure to ultraviolet light.

Symptoms

• Blurred or distorted vision
• Increased nearsightedness and irregular astigmatism
• Light sensitivity and glare
• Difficulty with night vision
• Vision correction problems with glasses over time

Diagnosis and Treatment

• Diagnosis is primarily by clinical examination and advanced corneal imaging techniques such as corneal topography, which maps the cornea’s shape.
• Treatments are tailored to disease severity:

• Early: Glasses or soft contact lenses
• Moderate: Rigid gas-permeable or scleral lenses
• To halt progression: Corneal collagen cross-linking
• Advanced with scarring or intolerance to lenses: Corneal transplant surgery

 
 
   
About Green sea turtles

• It is a large sea turtle species with adults growing up to 1.5 meters long and weighing between 68 to 190 kg, sometimes more.
• Green sea turtles are mostly herbivorous as adults, feeding primarily on seagrasses and algae.
• Found in tropical and subtropical waters worldwide.
• Distributed throughout the Atlantic, Pacific, Indian Oceans, and Mediterranean Sea.
• Nesting sites are located on beaches of over 140 countries.
• Green sea turtles migrate long distances between feeding grounds and nesting beaches.
• Mature individuals inhabit shallow coastal waters, seagrass meadows, lagoons, and bays.
• Green sea turtles migrate long distances between feeding grounds and nesting beaches.
• Currently listed as Endangered by the IUCN.

 
 
   
Why in news?
The community has achieved a literacy rate of over 72%, a remarkable accomplishment for a group classified as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) by the Indian government. 

About Siddi tribal community

• The Siddi tribal community is an ethnically unique group with African roots, primarily descended from Bantu peoples of East Africa.
• They are present in India and Pakistan, with a substantial population residing mainly in the western and southwestern states of India, such as Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh.
• The Siddis are believed to have arrived in India during the 7th century via Arab traders and later brought by Portuguese and British colonial
• Their African origin is evident in their physical features, and have historically retained distinct cultural traits despite long-standing integration into Indian society.
• The community has a rich cultural heritage characterized by unique traditions, music, and dance forms such as Dhamal and Rasda, which reflect their African roots.
• They primarily speak languages including Konkani, Urdu, and Marathi depending on the region.

The government declared the Siddis as a Scheduled Tribe in 2003 and listed them as a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).
 
 

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