Current Affairs Quiz - May 2025

Notes:
The Supreme Court recently dismissed a plea alleging illegal mining in Bandhavgarh National Park, Madhya Pradesh, calling it a frivolous abuse of law and imposed a ₹1 lakh penalty on the petitioner. Bandhavgarh National Park is located in the Umaria district of Madhya Pradesh. It lies across the Vindhya hills, known for their forested terrain and wildlife. It was declared a national park in 1968 and became a Tiger Reserve in 1993 under Project Tiger. The park is famous for its Royal Bengal Tigers.

Notes:
Finalists from 11 cities were selected through regional contests to compete in the WAM! (WAVES Anime & Manga Contest) national finale at WAVES 2025. The World Audio-Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025 is held from May 1 to 4, 2025, at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai, India. WAVES (World Audio-Visual & Entertainment Summit) 2025 promotes India’s talent in Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR). The summit is themed “Create in India, Create for the World” to position India as a global creative powerhouse.

Notes:
Researchers at the Institute of Nano Science and Technology (INST), Mohali, have found a new way to improve green hydrogen production. They created a special heterostructure using Copper Tungsten Oxide and Copper Oxide. This structure uses the Built-In Electric Field (BIEF) effect to boost the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER). The Copper Tungsten Oxide nanoparticles are grown over a Cu(OH)₂ base, forming a p-n heterojunction with an uneven electronic setup. This BIEF helps in better proton adsorption and desorption. Green hydrogen, made from water using clean energy, is a pollution-free fuel of the future.

Notes:
A six-year-old girl in Kerala’s Malappuram district sadly died of rabies even after getting preventive vaccination, highlighting a serious public health concern. Rabies is a fatal zoonotic disease caused by the Rabies virus (RABV), which attacks the nervous system. Rabies virus is an RNA virus from the rhabdovirus family and spreads in two main ways in the body. It can directly enter the peripheral nervous system and reach the brain. Or it can first hide and multiply in muscle tissue, then move into the nervous system through neuromuscular junctions. Once in the brain, it causes severe and deadly inflammation.

Notes:
Kamla Persad-Bissessar has been elected as the next Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago after her party, United National Congress, won the parliamentary elections. This marks a strong comeback for the 73-year-old leader who earlier served as Prime Minister from 2010 to 2015. She remains the only woman ever to have led the Caribbean nation. Trinidad and Tobago is a twin-island country in the Caribbean with its capital at Port of Spain.

Notes:
The Madhya Pradesh government has launched the Tejaswi programme to build entrepreneurial skills and confidence in students. A multilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the School Education Department, State Open School, and partners Udyam Learning Foundation and The Education Alliance. The programme aims to give students knowledge about self-employment and emerging industries. It will train students in vocational skills to help them become self-reliant and handle life challenges. This initiative supports the goals of the National Education Policy 2020, which promotes vocational learning and life skills in school education.

Notes:
Jal Shakti Minister C R Paatil held a review meeting on 30 April with the Wildlife Institute of India to assess the progress of the ‘Jalaj’ project. The ‘Jalaj’ project is a key initiative developed by the Ministry of Jal Shakti to support the rejuvenation of the Ganga River and biodiversity conservation. It involves setting up floating platforms on the Ganga River to promote livelihood activities for local communities. These platforms also raise awareness about conserving the river and its ecosystem. The project blends ecological restoration with sustainable development for Ganga-dependent populations.

Notes:
Less than 1% of doctors in India have registered with the National Medical Register (NMR) eight months after its launch. National Medical Register (NMR) is a centralized digital database that includes all licensed allopathic (MBBS) doctors in India. It was launched in August 2024 under Section 31 of the National Medical Commission (NMC) Act, 2019. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, is the nodal ministry for the NMR. The NMR aims to create a comprehensive registry of all allopathic doctors in India, ensuring transparency and accountability in the medical field. It also enhances public trust, helps in credential verification, and aids in policy planning for healthcare.

Notes:
The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are now working together under the wastepickers component of the National Action for Mechanised Sanitation Ecosystem (NAMASTE) Scheme. UNDP is providing financial support to State Project Management Units (PMUs) to strengthen the scheme’s implementation. The NAMASTE Scheme was jointly launched by Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE) and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) in 2023 to protect the safety and dignity of sanitation workers. Its wastepicker component was launched in 2024 with the goal to digitally profile and register 2.5 lakh wastepickers across India. It also provides health insurance under Ayushman Bharat–Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), and offers skill development training.

Notes:
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) have developed a 3D computational model to study thermoregulation in space. It shows that microgravity consistently increases human core body temperature, which is important for long-duration space missions. Microgravity is a condition of near-weightlessness experienced when objects are in free fall around Earth, not the absence of gravity. In microgravity, normal body functions like heat regulation are altered due to changes in blood flow and metabolism. The IIST model includes sweating, shivering, clothing, and organ heat to simulate real human conditions in space.