Government has issued draft Indian Insurance Companies (Foreign Investment) Amendment Rules, 2025.

About Rules

• Issued by: Ministry of Finance (Dept. of Financial Services) under powers of Insurance Act, 1938.
• Change in Foreign Investment Cap : Enable 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in insurance from earlier 74%, subject to parliamentary approval.
• Permitted via: The automatic route, with oversight by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI).
• Aims: To unlock the insurance sector’s potential and bolster its projected 7.1% annual growth.

National e-Governance Division (NeGD) has successfully enabled Pan-India integration of nearly 2000 e-Government services on DigiLocker and e-District platforms.  

• NeGD is a section 8 not-for-profit company created as an Independent Business Division under the he Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY).

About DigiLocker

• Purpose: A flagship MeitY initiative, it ensures 'Digital Empowerment' by providing citizens authentic digital documents.
• Legal Standing: Issued documents are legally at par with originals as per IT (Preservation and Retention of Information by Intermediaries providing Digital Locker facilities) Rules, 2016.
• Benefits: Offers anytime, anywhere access and faster service delivery for citizens. It also reduces administrative overhead for agencies and facilitates secure document exchange with real-time verification.

Educate Girls NGO becomes first Indian organisation to win Ramon Magsaysay Award, in 2025.

About Ramon Magsaysay Award (Established, 1957)

• First Award: 1958. It is Asia’s highest honor, the Asian version of the Nobel Prize.
• Awarded: Annually
• It celebrates the memory and leadership example of the Seventh Philippine president, Ramon Magsaysay. 
• Recognises and honours: individuals and organisations in Asia, regardless of race, creed, gender, or nationality, who have achieved distinction and have helped others generously without aiming for public recognition.

Indian Army has conducted Exercise Yudh Kaushal 3.0 in the Kameng region in Easter Himalayas.

About Exercise Yudh Kaushal

• Major highlight was the operational debut of the newly raised ASHNI platoons, designed to integrate advanced technology with traditional combat skills for decisive battlefield advantage.
• It also marked active participation of the Indian defence industry, reflecting the push for indigenous innovation under the vision of self-reliance.

APK scam has become one of the fastest-growing cybercrime threats in the country today.

About APK Scam

• It is a type of fraud where criminals use social engineering to trick individuals into installing malicious Android Package Kit (APK) files on their mobile phones.
  • Social Engineering techniques include impersonating as trustworthy individuals or entities, such as bank employees or government officials, creating a sense of urgency or fear, etc.
• Subsequent to installation of APK files, fraudsters can carry out unauthorized financial transactions without the victim's consent, leading to significant financial losses.

African Union has endorsed the ‘Correct the Map’ campaign to replace the Mercator map projection with alternatives such as the Equal Earth map.

About Mercator’s Map

• Origin & Purpose: Designed in 1569 by Gerardus Mercator, this projection aimed to solve navigation issues by making rhumb lines appear as straight lines on a flat map.
• Characteristics: It is a conformal map, preserving local shapes and angles, achieved by stretching the north-south scale.
• Distortions: It distorts scale, showing landmasses near the poles as larger and equatorial regions as smaller than reality. E.g., Africa appears roughly as large as Greenland, despite being 14 times bigger.

NHAI signed agreement to implement India’s First Multi-Lane Free Flow (MLFF) Tolling System in Gujarat.

About MLFF

• It is a tolling system that enables transactions through reading of FASTag and Vehicle Registration Number (VRN) by High performance RFID Readers and Cameras.
• Launched by:  Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH).
• Significance: 
  • Barrier-less: No need to stop vehicles.
  • Reduced congestion and travel time leading to enhanced fuel efficiency and lower emissions 
  • Improved toll revenue collection, smarter, faster and more efficient National Highway network.

Union Government has extended the Export Obligation Period for products under Advance Authorisation Scheme to provide relief to textile exporters.

About Advance Authorisation Scheme

• Meaning: It is an export incentive program, which allows duty free import of input, which is physically incorporated in export product (making normal allowance for wastage) without mandatory Quality Control Order (QCO) compliance. 
• It covers manufacturer exporters or merchant exporters tied to supporting manufacturer(s).
• Quantity of inputs allowed for a given product is based on specific norms defined for that export product

Several beaches in Spain were closed due to Blue Dragons.

About Blue Dragons

• About: Blue dragons (Glaucus atlanticus) are tiny (4 cm long) floating sea slugs that live on the ocean surface.
• Occurrence: They are generally found along the warm tropical waters of the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans. 
• Impact on Humans: A sting from a blue dragon can be extremely painful to humans and cause redness, swelling, nausea, and vomiting. However, it cannot lead to death.