Current Affairs Quiz - May 2025

Notes:
India has once again been placed on the ‘priority watch’ list in the Special 301 Report by the United States Trade Representative (USTR). It is an annual review published under the Trade Act of 1974. It identifies countries that do not provide adequate and effective protection of intellectual property rights (IPRs) or fair access to US rights holders. The report has been released every year since 1989. It classifies countries as “priority foreign country”, “priority watch list”, or “watch list”. Countries on the priority watch list, like India, have serious IPR issues needing greater US attention.

Notes:
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recently conducted multiple raids under Operation Hawk to crack down on cybercrime involving Online Child Sexual Exploitation (OCSE) with global links. The action followed inputs from United States (US) authorities and led to the arrest of two individuals from Mangalore and Delhi.The CBI’s International Operations Division registered cases under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.This comes as part of CBI’s broader efforts under earlier operations like Operation CARBON (2021) and Operation Megh Chakra (2022)

Notes:
The 28th National Conference on e-Governance (NCeG) will take place on June 9-10 in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The theme of the two-day conference is ‘Viksit Bharat: Civil Service and Digital Transformation.’ It will include six plenary sessions and six breakout sessions. The event is jointly organised by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG) and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), with Andhra Pradesh’s collaboration. The conference will discuss strategies to enhance public service quality and promote “minimum government, maximum governance.” National e-Gov Awards (NAeG) 2025 will be conferred, and notable leaders will participate, including Andhra Pradesh’s Chief Minister.

Notes:
Bodofa Upendranath Brahma was a respected leader of the Bodo community who championed non-violent struggle for tribal identity, rights and cultural preservation. On May 1, 2025, the Government of India (GoI) unveiled his 9-feet-high statue in New Delhi, marking his 35th death anniversary. Union Home Minister (UHM) Amit Shah presided over the unveiling and announced the naming of a major road and rotary after him. This tribute underscores the Government of India’s commitment to tribal empowerment and peacebuilding in India’s North East.

Notes:
Recently, all political parties in Punjab united and firmly opposed releasing any extra water to Haryana from the Bhakra Dam, showing strong regional consensus. The Bhakra Dam is a concrete gravity dam built across the Sutlej River, located near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. It stands near Bhakra village in Bilaspur district of Himachal Pradesh. It is the world’s highest straight gravity dam with a height of 207.26 meters. It is Asia’s second tallest dam after the 261-meter-high Tehri Dam in Uttarakhand. The dam is 518.25 meters long and about 9.1 meters wide at its crest.

Notes:
Tissue-cultured teak is being promoted in India as a high-yield, fast-return solution to enhance timber cultivation and trade, sparking discussions on its economic and ecological impact. Teak (Tectona grandis) is renowned for its strength, durability, and resistance to pests and water, earning it the title “king of timbers.” It is a valuable tropical hardwood used in shipbuilding, furniture, and flooring. India holds 35% of the world’s planted teak forests, with Asia contributing over 95% of global teak resources. Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra have the largest areas of native teak forests, according to the FAO Global Teak Resources and Market Assessment 2022. Teak is native to South and Southeast Asia and grows mainly in moist deciduous forests.

Notes:
A research team from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has made the first-ever experimental observation of a two-dimensional layered altermagnet at room temperature. Altermagnets are a new class of antiferromagnetic materials that show momentum-dependent spin splitting without needing spin–orbit coupling (SOC) or overall magnetization. This spin splitting is caused by exchange interactions between magnetic sublattices connected by crystal symmetry, known as C-paired spin-valley locking (SVL). Altermagnets combine the stable spin properties of antiferromagnets with spin-split energy bands, making them promising for next-generation spintronic devices.

Notes:
Scientists are closely watching the Axial Seamount as it is expected to erupt for the first time in ten years. Axial Seamount is an underwater shield volcano located about 300 miles off the coast of Oregon, United States, in the Pacific Ocean. It has a large caldera at its summit and rises to a depth of 1,400 meters below sea level. The volcano was formed by a hot spot, where molten material from Earth’s mantle rises into the crust. It lies on the Juan de Fuca Ridge, the tectonic boundary between the Pacific and Juan de Fuca plates. It features hydrothermal vents, which are underwater hot springs that release mineral-rich plumes heated by magma.

Notes:
Indian Naval Ship (INS) Sharda arrived at Maafilaafushi Atoll in the Maldives for a Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise from May 4 to 10, 2025. The exercise is being held in partnership with the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF). It aims to improve coordination in disaster response, search and rescue, medical aid, and joint drills. This initiative strengthens the India-Maldives defence partnership. It aligns with India’s MAHASAGAR vision, which stands for Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth across Regions. The exercise includes training and outreach to enhance regional preparedness.

Notes:
Recently, the US President instructed his administration to rebuild and expand Alcatraz, the notorious prison that has been closed for over 60 years on an isolated island off California’s coast. Alcatraz Island, also known as “The Rock,” is a rocky landmass in San Francisco Bay, United States. In 1849, the island was sold to the U.S. government and became home to the first California lighthouse in 1854. By 1859, the first permanent army troops were stationed there, and in 1861, it became a military prison. In 1934, Alcatraz became a federal prison, housing some of the most dangerous criminals. The prison had the capacity to hold over 330 prisoners, but typically housed around 260 at a time. Known as the most inescapable prison in the United States, it operated as a maximum-security facility until 1963.