Current Affairs Quiz – August 2025

Notes:
The World Health Organization (WHO) and International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) have classified Hepatitis D virus (HDV) as carcinogenic to humans, alongside Hepatitis B (HBV) and Hepatitis C (HCV). HBV, HCV, and HDV infect over 300 million people globally, causing 1.3 million deaths annually from liver cirrhosis and cancer. HDV affects about 5% of chronic HBV patients, mainly in Asia, Africa, Amazon Basin, and high-risk groups like drug users and haemodialysis patients. Co-infection with HBV raises liver cancer risk 2–6 times; 75% may develop cirrhosis within 15 years. No separate HDV vaccine exists; prevention relies on universal HBV vaccination and testing.

Notes:
Uttar Pradesh (UP) Government has doubled the maintenance allowance for disabled students under the Pre-Matric Scholarship Scheme from ₹2,000 to ₹4,000 per month. This hike will benefit 2,650 disabled students in 28 residential schools across the state. More than 50 lakh students benefit from UP’s scholarship and fee reimbursement programs yearly, including 14–15 lakh from the Scheduled Castes (SC). Students above 40 years are now ineligible for scholarships. Those passing high school from state boards outside UP are excluded, but CBSE and ICSE board students remain eligible. Students of UP campuses run by universities domiciled outside the state are also excluded.

Notes:
Prime Minister dedicated Kartavya Bhawan to the nation. It is designed to meet Green Rating for Integrated Habitat Assessment (GRIHA)-4 green building standards. The building includes solar panels, rainwater harvesting, and other sustainable features. Kartavya Bhawan is part of the Common Central Secretariat buildings to house bureaucracy under the Central Vista Project. GRIHA is a tool to assess building performance against nationally acceptable green benchmarks. It was developed by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI).

Notes:
Recently, the United States deployed its “Dark Eagle” Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) during the Talisman Sabre military drills in Australia. The Dark Eagle hypersonic missile system is developed by the United States. It is designed for strategic attack missions to penetrate anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) defenses and deliver rapid precision strikes. The land-based weapon can hit targets up to 1,700 miles (2,735 km) away.

Notes:
The Ministry of Law and Justice launched the Notary Portal to provide online services under the Notaries Act, 1952 and Notaries Rules, 1956. It connects Notaries appointed by the Central Government with the Government of India for various services. The portal ensures a faceless, paperless, transparent, and efficient system. Currently, modules for eligibility verification and issuance of digitally signed Certificates of Practice to new Notaries are live. As of 31 July 2025, over 34,900 such certificates have been issued across States and Union Territories. This information was shared by Minister of Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal in the Rajya Sabha.

Notes:
India developed the Bharat Forecast System (BharatFS), an advanced weather prediction model. BharatFS improves extreme rainfall forecast accuracy by 30% over earlier models. It was developed by the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune, in collaboration with the National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), Noida, and the India Meteorological Department (IMD). BharatFS is part of the “Make in India” initiative supporting the Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) vision. The system enables localized forecasts useful for disaster management and agriculture at village levels. India is the only country running such a high-resolution global, real-time weather system.

Notes:
India will be the ‘Guest of Honour’ at the 38th Bogota International Book Fair (FILBo) 2026. This will strengthen people-to-people connections between India and Colombia. Indian Ambassador to Colombia Vanlalhuma highlighted the role of literary exchange in building deeper ties. Since 1988, the Colombian Book Chamber and Corferias have organised FILBo as a major Spanish-speaking cultural event. The announcement was attended by Colombia’s Cultural Minister, FILBo Director, Corferias President, and Book Chamber President. Recently, at the 37th FILBo 2025 (April 25–May 11), India’s National Book Trust showcased a collective exhibit of Indian books for the first time.

Notes:
World Sanskrit Day 2025 was celebrated on August 9, coinciding with Shravan Poornima and Raksha Bandhan. The day honoured Sanskrit, also called Devavani or “language of the gods,” one of the world’s oldest and most structured languages. Sanskrit had been the medium for India’s ancient scriptures, philosophies, and scientific works for thousands of years. The day was initiated by the Government of India in 1969. The main purpose was to promote and revive the Sanskrit language.

Notes:
Sikkim recently celebrated Tendong Lho Rum Faat, a nature-worshipping festival of the primitive Lepcha tribe. The Lepchas are indigenous people of eastern Nepal, western Bhutan, Sikkim, and Darjeeling district of West Bengal. They are classified as a Scheduled Tribe in Sikkim and call themselves ‘Rongs’ or ‘Rongkups’. They speak Lepcha language with a script based on Sanskrit. They were originally nature worshipers but later embraced Buddhism.

Notes:
Recent reports suggested Iran may have prepared to test its first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) named Khorramshahr-5. Khorramshahr-5 is reported to have an operational range of 12,000 km and a speed of Mach 16 (about 20,000 km/h). It can carry a heavy warhead weighing about two tons. An ICBM is a long-range missile mainly designed to deliver nuclear weapons over 5,500 km, with some reaching up to 16,000 km.