Daily Current Affairs 2025  

15/12/2025

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CA-15/12/2025

• This reform targets the impoverished Rif region, where cannabis has long sustained local economies amid poverty.
• Recent efforts aim to expand legal production to compete globally and transition farmers from the black market.​

• In 2024, King Mohammed VI pardoned over 4,800 imprisoned farmers to integrate them into the legal framework, boosting participation.
• By 2025, the National Agency for the Regulation of Activities Relating to Cannabis (ANRAC) licensed more than 3,371 growers in the Rif, producing nearly 4,200 tons on 5,800 hectares.
• Cooperatives like Biocannat process legal cannabis into CBD oils, lotions, and chocolates sold in pharmacies.​

• The National Agency for the Regulation of Activities Relating to Cannabis (ANRAC), established in 2022, oversees licensing, monitoring, and regulation of all related activities.​
• Cultivation is restricted to three provinces in the Rif region: Al Hoceima, Chefchaouen, and Taounate, with potential expansion based on demand.
• Farmers must be Moroccan citizens, adults residing in designated areas, members of authorized cooperatives, and hold ANRAC-issued licenses valid for 10 years.
• Strict controls apply to seeds, THC levels (limited except for medical products), traceability, and supply chain steps like processing and export.​

• Legal cultivation covers only about 5,800 hectares versus 27,100+ hectares of illicit fields, supporting far fewer of the estimated 400,000 people in the informal trade.
• Farmers cite bureaucratic hurdles, high compliance costs, delayed payments from cooperatives, and better black market prices as barriers to full transition.
• ANRAC balances enforcement against support for growers amid protests over unmet economic promises.​

• The Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill 2025 introduces a major overhaul of India's higher education regulatory system.
• It proposes replacing the UGC, AICTE, and NCTE with a unified Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan (VBSA) commission to streamline governance and align with NEP 2020 goals.

• The VBSA comprises a 12-member apex commission overseeing three specialized councils: Viniyaman Parishad (Regulatory), Gunvatta Parishad (Accreditation), and Manak Parishad (Standards).
• Each council has up to 14 members, including academicians, experts, and state representatives, with appointments by a central search panel.
• This setup promotes a "light but tight" regulation, separating funding (now under the Ministry of Education) from oversight.​

• The bill aims to foster excellence in teaching, research, and innovation through unified standards, outcome-based accreditation, and promotion of Bharatiya knowledge systems.
• It enables foreign universities to operate in India and supports Indian institutions' global campuses while exempting fields like medicine and law.
• Institutions face graded autonomy based on accreditation, with penalties up to Rs 75 lakh or closure for non-compliance.​

• It applies to central/state universities, colleges, technical/teacher education institutions, and those of national eminence, but excludes professional programs under existing regulators.
• The reform seeks atmanirbharta by empowering multidisciplinary institutions, enhancing student mobility via credit transfers, and positioning India as a global education hub.​

• The bill raises FDI limits from 74% to 100% to attract foreign capital, technology, and competition.
• It lowers Net Owned Funds for foreign reinsurers from ₹5,000 crore to ₹1,000 crore, enhancing reinsurance capacity beyond GIC Re.
• Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act (IRDAI) gains disgorgement powers for wrongful gains, one-time intermediary registration, and a higher 5% equity transfer approval threshold.​

• A Policyholders' Education and Protection Fund will use penalties, grants, and donations to educate and safeguard consumers.
• Penalties for non-compliance rise to ₹10 crore, with new rules for unregistered intermediaries. Digital infrastructure secures policyholder data.​

• LIC gains autonomy to open zonal offices without government approval and align overseas operations with host laws.​

• Sahyog portal was launched by Ministry of Home Affairs in October 2024 to streamline content blocking orders issued to online platforms under Section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act, 2000.
• It enables central, state, and UT agencies to send takedown notices for unlawful content directly to intermediaries like WhatsApp and YouTube.

• Platforms under Meta dominated, receiving 78% of orders: WhatsApp (1,392), Facebook (255), and Instagram (169), followed by YouTube (176) and Telegram (123).
• Over 118 intermediaries are onboarded, with orders covering posts, accounts, or links deemed offensive or unlawful.
• A spike occurred during Operation Sindoor in May 2025, targeting thousands of accounts.​

• Orders under Section 79(3)(b) aim to strip safe harbour protections from non-compliant platforms, bypassing Section 69A's stricter safeguards for national security issues.
• Recent IT Rules amendments mandate senior officials for such orders and monthly reviews.
• X Corp challenged it as a "censorship portal," but the Karnataka High Court upheld its use in September 2025; an appeal is pending.​

• Critics argue Sahyog creates a parallel regime evading due process, enabling vague "unlawful content" takedowns without hearings or public disclosure.
• It empowers even local police, raising overreach concerns under Articles 14 and 19 but, Government defends it as an efficient tool for law enforcement coordination.​

• This approach involves merging smaller lenders into larger ones and gradually reducing government ownership toward 51% to enable independent capital raising. The Union Budget 2026-27 may outline policy directions for this reform.​
• The first prong focuses on mergers of the five smallest PSBs—such as Central Bank of India, Indian Overseas Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, UCO Bank, and Punjab & Sind Bank—with mid-sized banks like Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, or Union Bank of India.
• This aims to create fewer, stronger entities (potentially reducing from 12 to 3-4 PSBs) capable of global competition and infrastructure financing, building on prior consolidations from 27 to 12 banks in 2017-2020.
• The second prong entails diluting government stakes through higher FDI limits (up to 49%) and aligned voting rights to attract investors, addressing current constraints where foreign holdings remain low.​

• Reforms seek operational synergies, technology upgrades, better governance, and support for India's economic growth by funding large-scale projects.
• Past mergers faced IT and regional overlap issues, so future ones prioritize complementary footprints.
• Execution is targeted for 2026-2028, post-Finance Ministry, Cabinet, PMO, and SEBI approvals, with SBI likely exempt due to its size.​

• India's exports to Russia in these 300 products total $1.7 billion, while Russia's imports of them reach $37.4 billion globally, creating significant opportunities in complementary sectors.
• India's overall share in Russia's import basket is about 2.3%, highlighting untapped potential. Recent data shows India's exports to Russia below $5 billion against imports over $60 billion.​

Sector	India's Exports to Russia	Russia's Import Demand
Agriculture	$452 million	$3.9 billion ​
Engineering Goods	$90 million	$2.7 billion ​
Chemicals/Plastics	$135 million	$2.06 billion ​
Pharmaceuticals	$546 million	$9.7 billion ​

• Two wetlands in Bihar received Ramsar status: Gokul Jalashay (448 hectares) in Buxar district, an oxbow lake supporting birdlife, fishing, and flood buffering, and Udaipur Jheel (319 hectares) in West Champaran.
• These brought Bihar's total Ramsar sites to five.​
• Khichan in Phalodi and Menar in Udaipur, Rajasthan, were designated.
• Khichan hosts migratory Demoiselle cranes, while Menar emphasizes community-led bird conservation.​

• Additional 2025 additions include Siliserh Lake (Rajasthan), Kopra Jalashay (Chhattisgarh), and Gogabeel Lake (Bihar), pushing the total to 96 sites covering over 1.3 million hectares.
• Earlier in February, four more sites were added, including in Tamil Nadu.​

• Ramsar sites are wetlands designated under the Ramsar Convention for their international ecological importance, focusing on conservation and sustainable use.
• India leads South Asia with the highest number of such sites.
• As of late 2025, the country has around 93 to 96 Ramsar sites, with recent additions in states like Bihar, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh.​
• These sites support biodiversity, including migratory birds, and provide ecosystem services like flood control and water purification.
• Tamil Nadu has the most with 20 sites, followed by others like Uttar Pradesh and Odisha. 

• The Tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) is one of the three living orangutan species, discovered and classified as distinct in 2017.
• It inhabits a small, fragmented area in the Batang Toru ecosystem south of Lake Toba on Sumatra, Indonesia, making it the rarest great ape with fewer than 800 individuals remaining.​

• Males reach about 137 cm in height and 70-90 kg, while females are smaller at 110 cm and 40-50 kg.
• Distinct features include a deeper suborbital fossa and more angled facial profile compared to the Sumatran orangutan.
• They remain exclusively arboreal, avoiding the ground due to predators like Sumatran tigers and clouded leopards.​

• These orangutans live in tropical moist broadleaf forests at 300-1,300 m elevation across roughly 1,000 km².
• Their diet is mainly fruit-based, supplemented by insects and small reptiles. Slow reproduction hinders population recovery.​

• Gonorrhea, caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae, resists nearly all prior antibiotics, earning urgent threat status from WHO and CDC.
• More countries report rising resistant cases, complicating standard treatments like ceftriaxone plus azithromycin. Untreated infections risk infertility, pelvic issues, and sepsis.​

• Gonorrhea is a common sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae.
• It primarily spreads through vaginal, anal, or oral sex and can infect the genitals, rectum, throat, or eyes.​

• Many people with gonorrhea experience no symptoms, especially women, but when present, they typically appear 1-14 days after exposure.
• Men often notice penile discharge (white, yellow, or green), burning during urination, or swollen testicles,
• While women may have vaginal discharge, pelvic pain, or bleeding between periods.​

• Untreated gonorrhea can lead to serious issues like pelvic inflammatory disease in women, infertility in both sexes, or disseminated infection affecting joints and skin.
• It also heightens HIV transmission risk.​

• Gonorrhea is curable with antibiotics, such as a ceftriaxone injection, often combined with others due to rising antimicrobial resistance.
• A follow-up test confirms clearance, and partners need treatment to prevent reinfection.​

• Crafted using indigenous short-staple cotton like hill or red cotton, Ponduru Khadi gained prominence during India's freedom struggle.
• Mahatma Gandhi praised its quality in his publication Young India after receiving a stole during his 1921 visit and sent his son Devdas to study the process.​

• The fabric undergoes a fully manual process, including cleaning cotton with the jawbone of the Valuga fish—a method exclusive to Ponduru—and spinning on single-spindle "Gandhi Charkhas" with 24 spokes.
• This yields fine, high-yarn-count cloth known locally as Patnulu, soft and comfortable for sarees, dhotis, and yardage.​

• The Dandami Maria (also spelled Madia or Madiya), known as Bison Horn Maria or Khalpati Maria, form a subgroup of the Gond tribe primarily residing in the Bastar region of southern Chhattisgarh, India.
• They inhabit dense forests around areas like Dantewada and Jagdalpur, maintaining a traditional lifestyle centered on agriculture, hunting, fishing, and forest produce collection.​

• Their name derives from distinctive bison horn-shaped headgear worn by men during ceremonies, crafted from buffalo horns on bamboo frames, adorned with feathers, ribbons, and cowrie shells.
• Women wear colorful beads, coin necklaces, and glass bangles, while both genders participate in vibrant dances featuring synchronized steps, drums, and low-voiced singing.
• This Bison Horn Maria dance symbolizes harmony with nature and holds cultural prominence, recently highlighted in media and government recognition.​

• The community speaks the Dandami Maria language, a Gondi dialect, and values institutions like the ghotul youth dormitory, which fosters social bonds among unmarried youth.
• They practice barter systems, exchanging honey, liquor, and seeds for essentials, and uphold egalitarian marital norms allowing divorce and remarriage.
• Daily life involves long forest treks for markets, emphasizing resilience and communal ties.​

• Perumbidugu Mutharaiyar II, also known as Suvaran Maran, ruled parts of central Tamil Nadu from around 705 to 745 CE as a prominent king of the Mutharaiyar dynasty.
• He governed regions including Thanjavur, Tiruchirappalli, Pudukkottai, Perambalur, and Thiruvarur, serving as a feudatory of the Pallava dynasty while maintaining significant autonomy.
• His reign emphasized administrative stability, military campaigns, and cultural patronage.​​

• Perumbidugu Mutharaiyar fought in at least 16 battles against the Pandya and Chera forces, allying with Pallava king Nandivarman II and attending his coronation.
• Inscriptions detail victories in places like Kodumbalur, Manalur, and Kannanur, earning titles such as Sree Sathru Kesari (lion to enemies) and Abhimana Theeran (hero of valor).
• His forces, including elephant battalions, never faced defeat, preserving Mutharaiyar influence amid rival dynasties.​

• A patron of Hinduism amid religious revivalism, he supported temple construction, irrigation projects, and Tamil literature, fostering regional identity before Chola ascendancy.
• Poets like Pachilvel Namban and Acharya Aniruddha adorned his court, with venba poems inscribed in temples praising his conquests.
• The Mutharaiyars built cave temples and structural shrines, contributing to early medieval Tamil architecture.​

• BlueBird-6 is a next-generation low-Earth orbit (LEO) communications satellite developed by US-based AST SpaceMobile

• Its enable’s the direct-to-device broadband connectivity from space, bypassing traditional ground infrastructure.​

• The satellite weighs 6.5 tonnes, marking ISRO's heaviest US commercial payload to date.
• It features the largest commercial phased-array antenna in LEO at nearly 2,400 square feet—3.5 times larger than prior BlueBird models with 10 times the data capacity.​

• BlueBird-6 supports global broadband access for underserved regions, including rural Asia, Africa, and North America, by providing low-latency signals directly to mobile devices and up to 10,000 MHz of bandwidth.
• The mission, handled by ISRO's commercial arm NSIL, strengthens Indo-US

• The festival marks the victory of Judah Maccabee and his followers, who reclaimed and purified the Temple in 164 BCE following desecration by Antiochus IV.
• A key miracle involved a small cruse of oil that burned for eight days instead of one, inspiring the holiday's duration and rituals.​

• Hanukkah spans eight nights, beginning on the 25th of Kislev (typically late November to December), with a nine-branched menorah called a hanukkiah lit progressively each evening using the shammash candle.
• Traditional foods like potato latkes and sufganiyot, fried in oil, symbolize the miracle, alongside games like dreidel and gift exchanges.​

• Observed worldwide, Hanukkah emphasizes themes of light triumphing over darkness, religious freedom, and resilience, often publicly displayed by placing menorahs in windows.
• In 2025, it starts around December 14, aligning with winter solstice themes in the northern hemisphere.​

• The Ramappa Temple, also known as Rudreshwara Temple, is a 13th-century architectural masterpiece from the Kakatiya dynasty in Telangana.
• Built around 1213 CE under the patronage of King Ganapati Deva by general Recherla Rudra and architect Ramappa, it honors Lord Shiva as Ramalingeswara.
• In 2021, UNESCO designated it a World Heritage Site for its innovative engineering and artistry.​

• Erected near Ramappa Lake in Palampet village (Mulugu district), the temple reflects Kakatiya style evolved from Chalukyan influences.
• Inscriptions confirm its construction between 1212–1234 CE amid a thriving era of temple-building. It endured invasions, remaining one of the few intact Kakatiya structures.​

• The temple illustrates regional dance forms, Shiva Purana motifs, and Kakatiya cultural motifs on pillars and ceilings.
• Marco Polo reportedly praised it as a "brightest star" among temples.
• Protected by the Kakatiya Heritage Trust, it draws visitors for its blend of art, engineering, and devotion.​

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