Daily Current Affairs Quiz: December 19, 2025

Notes:
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) informed that CSIR–Central Food Technological Research Institute (CSIR–CFTRI), Mysuru worked on four Grant-in-Aid projects on annatto. Annatto is a natural food colour and flavour from seeds of the achiote tree (Bixa orellana), native to tropical Americas. Nearly 70% of natural food colours come from annatto, giving yellow-orange colour to cheese, butter, yogurt, sausages, smoked fish, ice cream, and baked goods. Colour comes from carotenoid pigments; seeds are ground into powder or paste or extracted as dye. It adds mild peppery, nutty and floral flavour; safe in normal amounts but may cause allergies.

Notes:
BharatNet is an ambitious Government of India project approved in 2011 to provide broadband connectivity to all Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country. It aims to offer open and unrestricted broadband access to telecom operators, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), Cable TV operators, and content providers to enable services such as e-health, e-education, and e-governance in rural areas. Phase I is complete and Phase II is ongoing and aims to connect 1.5 lakh additional Gram Panchayats. Phase III is ongoing and focuses on future-proofing the network by integrating 5G technology.

Notes:
Kavach is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system designed to improve railway operational safety across the Indian Railways network. It was developed by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) of Indian Railways. As of December 2025, the system has been commissioned on over 2,000 km of railway routes, with 7,129 km of Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) laid, 860 telecom towers installed, 767 stations connected, 3,413 km of trackside equipment deployed, and 4,154 locomotives fitted with Kavach. About 40,000 technicians and operators have been trained, reflecting the scale of operational readiness.

Notes:
Indian Coast Guard Ship (ICGS) Sarthak is an Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPV) that made a port call at Chabahar, Iran. It is the 4th of 5 Offshore Patrol Vessel (OPVs) built by Goa Shipyard Limited for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG). Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) are multi-mission platforms for concurrent operations. It was commissioned on 28 October 2021. It functions as a command platform for search and rescue, anti-maritime crime, and marine environment protection duties.

Notes:
Sai Jadhav, at 23, became the first woman officer to graduate from the Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, breaking a 93-year tradition since its opening in 1932. More than 67,000 cadets have graduated from IMA until now; Sai is the first woman to do so. Sai has been commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Territorial Army, the first woman from IMA to join through this route. She will make history again in June 2026 during the IMA parade at Chetwode Building, symbolizing institutional change.