Current Affairs including General Knowledge MCQs for CLAT UG, Page 2

Axiom Mission 4 launched on 25 June 2025 from Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The Dragon spacecraft carried Commander Peggy Whitson, Pilot Shubhanshu Shukla of India, and mission specialists Slawosz Uznanski of Poland and Tibor Kapu of Hungary. The spacecraft docked with the International Space Station on 26 June. Shukla became the first Indian to visit the ISS and the second Indian to travel to space. The mission concluded after an 18-day scientific stay. ISRO reported that he completed seven microgravity experiments developed by Indian research institutions. Ax-4 was a commercial international mission, not an indigenous Gaganyaan flight. Its relevance to Gaganyaan lay in operational experience. Training, crew procedures, health monitoring, work in microgravity, and coordination with mission-control teams provide knowledge that cannot be obtained from hardware tests alone. The mission also demonstrates the collaborative character of contemporary spaceflight. The crew, launch provider, station partners, and scientific teams came from several countries and organisations. Such cooperation can distribute expertise and cost, but it also requires common safety standards and precise coordination.

The United Nations designated 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers' Preservation. General Assembly Resolution 77/158 also proclaimed 21 March as the World Day for Glaciers, to be observed annually from 2025. Glaciers form part of the cryosphere, which includes frozen components such as snow, ice sheets, and permafrost. They store freshwater and release meltwater that supports rivers, agriculture, ecosystems, and communities. Rapid retreat can initially increase water flow and flood risk. Over time, the loss of stored ice can reduce dependable dry-season water. Glacier preservation therefore involves both mitigation and adaptation. Cutting greenhouse-gas emissions addresses a major cause of long-term melting. Monitoring, early-warning systems, water planning, and protection from glacial-lake floods help communities manage changes already occurring. The international observance aims to improve awareness, research, data, and cooperation. Glacial systems often cross political boundaries through shared river basins, so information from one country may be important to people living far downstream.

The Union Budget 2025-26 announced a National Manufacturing Mission covering small, medium, and large industries to further Make in India. The mission is intended to provide policy support, execution roadmaps, governance, and monitoring frameworks for central ministries and states. Five focal areas were identified: ease and cost of doing business, a future-ready workforce, a vibrant MSME sector, access to technology, and quality products. The design treats manufacturing capacity as more than factory construction. Skills, standards, finance, technology, regulation, and coordination influence whether firms can compete and join supply chains. The mission also supports clean-technology manufacturing. Official examples include solar photovoltaic cells, electric-vehicle batteries, motors and controllers, electrolysers, wind turbines, high-voltage transmission equipment, and grid-scale batteries. Domestic production of a final product does not necessarily imply high domestic value addition if crucial components remain imported. The mission therefore emphasises building ecosystems rather than assembling isolated products. Its success would depend on implementation across ministries, states, training institutions, and firms of different sizes.

In July 2025, the World Heritage Committee inscribed the Maratha Military Landscapes of India on the UNESCO World Heritage List. It became India's 44th World Heritage property. The serial property contains twelve major fortifications, mostly in Maharashtra, with Gingee Fort in Tamil Nadu. The network includes hill, forest, plateau, coastal, and island forts. Raigad, Shivneri, Sindhudurg, Pratapgad, and Vijaydurg are among its components. The forts were built, adapted, or expanded by the Marathas between the late seventeenth and early nineteenth centuries. Their significance lies not only in individual architecture but in the use of varied terrain as an integrated defence system. Mountain passes, coastlines, trade routes, and territorial control shaped the location and function of different forts. The Committee inscribed the property under criteria (iv) and (vi). A serial property is recognised through connected components whose collective value exceeds an isolated reading of each site. Conservation therefore requires coordination across several locations and authorities.

ISRO's Space Docking Experiment, or SpaDeX, is a technology demonstrator involving two small spacecraft, SDX01 and SDX02. They were launched together by PSLV-C60 on 30 December 2024 but operated as separate spacecraft in low Earth orbit. SDX01 was designated the Chaser and SDX02 the Target. On 16 January 2025, ISRO successfully docked the two spacecraft. The achievement made India the fourth country to demonstrate docking in space. ISRO later demonstrated undocking and power transfer between the satellites. Docking requires spacecraft travelling at orbital speed to approach, align, and connect with high precision. The technology is important when a mission needs multiple launches whose spacecraft must join or cooperate in orbit. ISRO identifies future applications such as in-orbit servicing, sample-return missions, human lunar missions, and the building and operation of the Bharatiya Antariksh Station. SpaDeX was therefore not primarily a mission to place a commercial communication satellite into service. Its central value lay in proving a capability needed for more complex missions.

South Africa held the rotating G20 Presidency during 2025 and hosted the Leaders' Summit in Johannesburg on 22 and 23 November. It was the first African country to preside over the G20 and the first G20 Leaders' Summit held on African soil. The Presidency used the theme "Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability" and sought to place African development and the concerns of the Global South more firmly on the international agenda. Its priorities included inclusive growth, development finance, debt vulnerability, disaster resilience, and a just energy transition. The G20 is a forum for international economic cooperation. It consists of nineteen countries and two regional bodies, the European Union and the African Union. The African Union became a permanent G20 member in 2023 during India's Presidency. Unlike a treaty-based organisation with a standing bureaucracy, the G20 has no permanent secretariat. Its Presidency rotates annually, and the presiding member coordinates the agenda in consultation with other members. This structure gives each Presidency influence over emphasis, but decisions still depend on cooperation among members.