Current Affairs — 25 May 2026

📖 Explanation

Article 44, listed under the Directive Principles of State Policy (Part IV), directs the State to endeavour to secure a Uniform Civil Code for all citizens throughout the territory of India. Directive Principles are not judicially enforceable but are fundamental to governance. Article 21 deals with right to life and personal liberty, while Article 51A lists fundamental duties.

📖 Explanation

The Assam UCC Bill, 2026 exempts Scheduled Tribes from its provisions. Scheduled Tribes constitute about 12.45% of Assam's population as per the 2011 Census. The Bill proposes banning polygamy, fixing the marriage age at 21 for men and 18 for women, and making registration of marriages, divorces, and live-in relationships mandatory. Uttarakhand had passed the first state-level UCC law in February 2024.

📖 Explanation

The RBI approved a record surplus transfer of ₹2.87 lakh crore to the central government, higher than the previous year's ₹2.68 lakh crore. This surplus arises mainly from the RBI's foreign exchange operations, interest on holdings, and other income. The amount the RBI can transfer is determined by the Economic Capital Framework (ECF). The higher dividend helps the Centre manage its fiscal deficit.

📖 Explanation

Wheat procurement is carried out by the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and state agencies at the Minimum Support Price (MSP), which is the price the government guarantees to farmers. The procured grain builds the central buffer stock, which is used to supply the Public Distribution System (PDS) and food-security schemes, and helps manage food inflation. The 2026-27 procurement of 34.2 million tonnes was well above the 29.7 million tonnes bought in the same period of the previous year.

📖 Explanation

The Index of Eight Core Industries covers coal, crude oil, natural gas, refinery products, fertilisers, steel, cement, and electricity. Automobiles are not part of the ICI, though they are tracked separately in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). The ICI constitutes a large share of the IIP weight, so it is a key barometer of overall industrial health. India's ICI grew only 1.7% in April 2026, signalling a slow start to the financial year.

📖 Explanation

The current Ebola outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo strain, a less common strain that has caused fewer outbreaks historically. Existing vaccines that are effective against the Zaire strain — the most common and deadly — have not been confirmed to work against Bundibugyo. A PHEIC is the WHO's highest alert level, declared for extraordinary events that pose a risk to other countries. Ebola spreads through contact with body fluids and has a fatality rate of about 25–50%.

📖 Explanation

The Quad Foreign Ministers met at Hyderabad House in New Delhi on 26 May 2026, hosted by India's External Affairs Minister. The Quad is a grouping of four democracies — India, the United States, Japan and Australia — focused on keeping the Indo-Pacific free, open and rules-based. The meeting discussed maritime security, critical minerals, infrastructure development and disaster relief. It was the first Quad Foreign Ministers' meeting in almost a year.

📖 Explanation

Sovereign Gold Bonds have a maturity period of 8 years from the date of issue. SGBs are government securities denominated in grams of gold; investors pay the issue price in cash and receive the value of gold at redemption. The scheme was introduced to reduce physical gold demand and channel savings into financial assets. The redemption price is based on the average closing gold price of the preceding days as specified by the RBI.

📖 Explanation

India's foreign exchange reserves comprise foreign currency assets, gold, Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) with the IMF, and the reserve tranche position with the IMF. Domestic government securities (such as G-Secs) are not part of foreign exchange reserves — they are domestic instruments. The RBI publishes a Half-Yearly Report on forex reserves, a practice started in February 2004 to improve transparency. Reserves are used to manage the exchange rate and absorb external shocks.

📖 Explanation

The replacement-level TFR is approximately 2.1 children per woman. This accounts for slightly more than 2 to offset infant and child mortality. A TFR below 2.1 means a population will eventually shrink if sustained over generations. Andhra Pradesh's TFR has fallen to around 1.5, well below replacement level, prompting the state government to propose cash incentives of ₹30,000 for a third child and ₹40,000 for a fourth child to encourage larger families.

📖 Explanation

A PMI reading above 50 signals expansion in business activity, while a reading below 50 signals contraction. The PMI is a survey-based indicator compiled by asking purchasing managers whether conditions improved, stayed the same, or worsened compared with the previous month. A 'Flash PMI' is an early estimate released before the final monthly figure. India's HSBC Flash PMI showed factory and services growth slowing in May 2026 due to the West Asia conflict, though activity remained in expansion.

📖 Explanation

Indian Railways planned to procure about 1,00,000 (one lakh) freight wagons through a tender worth approximately ₹40,000 crore, to be executed over 3-4 years at roughly 35,000–40,000 wagons per year. Freight wagons carry bulk goods such as coal, cement, steel, and foodgrain. Expanding the wagon fleet helps the Railways increase its share of national freight, lower logistics costs, and support domestic wagon manufacturers — all part of the government's infrastructure capital expenditure push.

📖 Explanation

NTA conducts the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Undergraduates (NEET-UG), which is the single national entrance test for admission to MBBS, BDS, and AYUSH undergraduate programmes across India. JEE Main is for engineering, CUET is for central university admissions, and CLAT is conducted by the Consortium of NLUs for law admissions (not by NTA). The Supreme Court sought responses from the NTA and the Centre in May 2026 over a paper leak in NEET-UG 2026, citing unlearnt lessons from a similar 2024 controversy.

📖 Explanation

CPEC is a flagship project of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global infrastructure development strategy aimed at connecting Asia, Africa, and Europe. CPEC involves a network of roads, railways, pipelines, and energy projects linking China's Xinjiang region to Pakistan's Gwadar port. It passes through territory India claims in Gilgit-Baltistan, making it a point of concern for India's strategic environment. Chinese President Xi Jinping met Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif in May 2026, calling the friendship 'unbreakable'.

📖 Explanation

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated that the excise duty cut on petrol and diesel would reduce government revenue by about ₹1 lakh crore. Excise duty is a central tax levied on the manufacture of goods, including fuel. The revenue shortfall is partly cushioned by the record RBI dividend of ₹2.87 lakh crore transferred to the Centre. The duty cut is intended to ease the burden of high fuel prices on households, especially amid rising global crude oil prices linked to West Asia tensions.