National News

Meeting of the Union Council of Ministers – June 2025

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the Union Council of Ministers on 4th June 2025.
• During the meeting, the framework for the government's immediate and long-term strategic agenda was outlined, covering key areas such as national security, water policy, and public communication.

Union Council of Ministers:

Webinar on “Eliminating Plastic Pollution Globally”

• Ahead of World Environment Day, the Department of School Education & Literacy organized a national-level webinar on 4th June 2025 on the theme “Eliminating Plastic Pollution Globally.”

Status of plastic pollution in India:

Article 16 of ICAO

• As per Article 16 of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Convention, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) conducted safety and ramp (SOFA/Ramp) inspections of Turkish Airlines' passenger and cargo flights from 29th May to 2nd June 2025 at Delhi, Hyderabad, Chennai, and Bengaluru.

International Civil Aviation Convention (ICAO):

First International Open-Sea Sailing Mission

• The all-women sailing expedition team of the Indian Armed Forces returned to India on 4th June 2025 after successfully completing an international voyage of 1,800 nautical miles to Seychelles.
• Launched on 7th April 2025, this was the first international open-sea sailing mission undertaken by a women’s team of the Indian Armed Forces.

Crew members:

National Seminar on ‘Strengthening Rural Micro Enterprises’

• The Rural Development Division of NITI Aayog organized a national seminar on ‘Strengthening Rural Micro Enterprises’ on 4th June 2025 at the NITI Aayog headquarters in New Delhi.

NITI Aayog:

National Agriculture-Renewable Energy Summit 2025

• The National Agriculture-Renewable Energy Summit 2025 was held in New Delhi.
• The summit was organized by the National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI), and was attended by Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare and Rural Development.

Major schemes related to agriculture in India:

Launch of ‘Mining Dashboard’

• Union Minister G. Kishan Reddy launched the ‘Mining Dashboard’ on 4th June 2025 to monitor the operational status of auctioned mineral blocks.
• The objective of this dashboard is to accelerate the operations of auctioned mineral blocks and track their progress effectively.

Commencement of Caste-Based Census

• The first phase of the caste-based census in India will begin in October 2026, followed by the second phase starting from 1st March 2027.
• In the first phase, the caste-based census will be conducted in four states, including the hilly regions of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, and Jammu & Kashmir.

Census in India:

State Special News

Agreement Between AWARE Platform and ISRO

• The state of Andhra Pradesh has signed a 5-year agreement with the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SHAR) of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for its AWARE platform.
• Under this agreement, the Real-Time Governance System (RTGS) and ISRO will collaboratively enhance real-time monitoring and alerting in sectors such as agriculture, weather, disaster management, and urban planning using satellite imagery and scientific data.

Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO):\

International News

President of IIAS

• India has been elected as the President of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS). The tenure of this presidency will be from 2025 to 2028.
• India secured this position by defeating Austria with 87 out of 141 votes (61.7%).

International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS):

11th BRICS Parliamentary Forum Held

• The 11th BRICS Parliamentary Forum was held from 3rd to 5th June 2025 in Brasília, the capital of Brazil.
• Parliamentary representatives from BRICS nations, along with partner countries, participated in this three-day forum.
• The Indian parliamentary delegation, led by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, actively participated in the event.

BRICS:

Reports and Indexes

World Wealth Report 2025

• According to the World Wealth Report 2025 by Capgemini Research Institute, India witnessed an 8.8% increase in the wealth of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) in the year 2024.
• By the end of the year, the number of millionaires in India reached 378,810, with their total wealth recorded at USD 1.5 trillion.

Related Facts:

Defense News

Agreement Between GRSE and Kongsberg

• India’s Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Limited (GRSE) has signed an agreement with Norway’s leading maritime technology company Kongsberg for the development of India’s first indigenously built Polar Research Vessel (PRV).

Related Facts:

Environment News

CAQM Mandates Use of CNG or Electric Vehicles in Delhi-NCR

• In view of the severe air pollution in Delhi-NCR, the Commission for Air Quality Management (CAQM) has made it mandatory for aggregators (such as Ola, Uber) and e-commerce companies (such as Zomato, Swiggy, Flipkart, Amazon) to use clean fuel vehicles (CNG or electric) for their delivery and service fleets.

Related facts:

Two New Sites Added to Ramsar List

• India has added two new wetlands of international importance to the Ramsar List — Khichan (Phalodi) and Menar (Udaipur) in Rajasthan.
• With this addition, the total number of Ramsar sites in India has increased to 91.

Ramsar sites:

Important Days

World Environment Day

• World Environment Day is observed every year on 5th June to raise awareness among people about environmental protection and to encourage them to take positive actions for safeguarding the environment.

Related Facts: