DAILY CURRENT AFFAIRS IAS | UPSC Prelims and Mains Exam – 23rd April 2025

Category: ECONOMY

Context: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India plans to increase the share of the manufacturing sector from 12% to 23% over the next two decades, aiming to create jobs and drive economic growth.

Decoding the context: India is focussing on 14 identified sunrise sectors like semiconductors, renewable energy components, medical devices, batteries and labour intensive industries, including leather and textile, to enhance the share of manufacturing in GDP, she said while speaking at Hoover Institution at Stanford University California.

Learning Corner:

• Sunrise sectors refer to newly emerging industries that show rapid growth potential, driven by technological innovation, increasing consumer demand, policy support, or global trends. These sectors are typically in early stages but are expected to be major contributors to economic growth and employment in the future.

Importance in Indian Context:

• Critical for economic diversification
• Promote Atmanirbhar Bharat (Self-reliant India)
• Attract foreign direct investment (FDI)
• Drive green growth and innovation
• Enable India’s leadership in global value chains (GVCs)

Key Sunrise Sectors (14 Identified by Government)

• Semiconductors: Chip manufacturing, assembly, and testing (e.g., Tata’s Gujarat, Assam plants).
• Renewable Energy Components: Solar panels, wind turbines, green hydrogen
• Medical Devices: Diagnostic equipment, implants, and wearables.
• Batteries: Lithium-ion, advanced chemistry cells for EVs and energy storage.
• Labour-Intensive Industries: Textiles, leather, footwear, and apparel.
• Others: Electronics, electric vehicles (EVs), aerospace, space technology, biotech, agri-tech, drones, and green hydrogen.

Source : The Hindu

Category: GEOGRAPHY

Context: Three people were killed and several residential and commercial structures collapsed after a cloudburst led to torrential rain, wind and hail across Ramban tehsil of Jammu and Kashmir.

Decoding the context: The extreme weather also led to the closure of the Jammu – Srinagar National Highway (NH-44), the only all-weather road connecting the Kashmir Valley to the rest of the country.

Learning Corner:

• A cloudburst is a sudden and very intense rainfall event over a small geographical area, typically less than 20–30 square kilometers, which can result in flash floods, landslides, and heavy destruction, especially in mountainous and hilly regions.
• Rainfall intensity: More than 100 mm (10 cm) per hour.
• Duration: Typically lasts 15 minutes to a few hours.
• Most common in Himalayan and Western Ghats regions.

Scientific Explanation (Causes):

• Formed when warm moist air rapidly rises, cools and condenses at high altitudes.
• Sudden release of water due to condensation of large moisture-laden clouds.
• Often linked with orographic lift – where moist air is forced upwards by mountain slopes.
• Absence of upper-level winds fails to disperse the cloud mass.
• Sometimes associated with localized convection and thunderstorm activity.

Vulnerable Areas in India:

• Himalayan Region: Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand
• North-Eastern Hills: Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh
• Western Ghats: Kerala, Karnataka during monsoon

Impacts:

• Sudden flash floods and mudslides
• Loss of life and property
• Destruction of roads, bridges, and infrastructure
• Disruption of communication and power supply
• Can worsen glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) in high-altitude regions

Key Points:

• Cloudbursts are not classified as cyclonic rainfall, but convectional.
• Forecasting is difficult due to very small area and short duration.
• IMD uses Doppler Radar to monitor and warn of cloudburst-prone conditions.
• Often occurs in monsoon season (July–September).

Source : Times of India

Category: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Context: In a significant advancement in weapon technology, China has successfully detonated a new hydrogen-based explosive device. This breakthrough, developed by the China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), marks a step forward in China’s military capabilities.

Decoding the context: Unlike traditional hydrogen bombs, which rely on nuclear fusion, this device uses a chemical reaction involving magnesium hydride. The result is a powerful fireball capable of producing sustained heat, with no nuclear materials involved.

Learning Corner:

Hydrogen Bomb

• Definition: A thermonuclear weapon that uses nuclear fusion of hydrogen isotopes (deuterium, tritium) to release massive energy, triggered by a fission-based atomic bomb.
• Mechanism: Fission (splitting atomic nuclei) initiates fusion (combining hydrogen nuclei), releasing energy far greater than atomic bombs.
• Key Features:
  • Explosive yield: Megatons (millions of tons of TNT equivalent).
  • Causes widespread destruction via blast, heat, and radioactive fallout.

Non-Nuclear Hydrogen Bomb

• Definition: A novel explosive device using chemical reactions with magnesium hydride (MgH₂) to release hydrogen gas, creating a sustained fireball without nuclear materials.
• Mechanism:
  • Conventional explosive fractures magnesium hydride into micron-scale particles.
  • Thermal decomposition releases hydrogen gas, which ignites with air, producing a fireball >1,000°C lasting over 2 seconds (15x longer than TNT).
  • Self-sustaining combustion loop enhances thermal damage

Source : The Hindu

Category: ECONOMY

Context: As the banking system liquidity moves into surplus and with limited credit offtake at the start of the financial year 2025-26 (FY26), commercial banks parked ₹4.13 trillion with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF). 

Decoding the context: This marked the highest amount banks have parked in the SDF since its introduction in April 2022.

Learning Corner:

• The standing deposit facility is a collateral-free liquidity absorption mechanism implemented by the RBI with the intention of transferring liquidity out of the commercial banking sector and into the RBI. It enables the RBI to take liquidity (deposits) from commercial banks without having to compensate them with government securities.
• Replaces the reverse repo rate as the floor of the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) corridor.

Key Features

• Purpose: Absorbs excess liquidity from the banking system to control inflation and stabilize money supply.
• Rate: Set at 25 basis points below the repo rate (e.g., 6.25% if repo is 6.50%).
• Eligibility: Scheduled commercial banks and small finance banks.
• Operation: Overnight facility; banks deposit funds at the end of the day.
• No Collateral: Unlike reverse repo, SDF does not require government securities.
• Limit: No cap on deposit amount, enhancing flexibility.

Significance

• Strengthens RBI’s monetary policy transmission by efficiently managing liquidity.
• Reduces dependence on government securities for liquidity absorption.
• Supports financial stability amid surplus liquidity scenarios.
• Aligns with global best practices for central bank liquidity management.

Source : Business Standard

Category: GEOGRAPHY

Context: Researchers have discovered a previously unknown proto-microcontinent, the Davis Strait Proto Microcontinent, beneath the Davis strait between Greenland and Canada.

Decoding the context: The Davis Strait proto-microcontinent is not an isolated phenomenon. Similar geological structures have been found elsewhere on the globe, including: 1. Jan Mayen, off Iceland 2. East Tasman Rise, southeast of Tasmania 3. Gulden Draak Knoll, off the western Australian coast.

Learning Corner:

• A proto-microcontinent is a fragment of relatively thick continental lithosphere (crust and upper mantle) separated from a major continent by thinner continental lithosphere, often submerged and incompletely rifted.
• Davis Strait Proto-Microcontinent is a submerged, thick fragment of continental crust discovered beneath the Davis Strait.
• Location: Davis Strait, connecting Labrador Sea and Baffin Bay, between Baffin Island (Canada) and southwestern Greenland.

Geological Significance:

• A submerged microcontinent composed of thick continental crust (approximately 19–24 km thick), surrounded by thinner crust (14–17 km thick). 
• Formed during the Paleogene period (~58 million years ago) due to incomplete rifting between the North American and Greenland plates. 
• Represents a “failed” or “proto” microcontinent, as it did not fully separate from the main continental masses.

Source : Times of India

Q1.With reference to recent advancements in weapon technology, consider the following statements:

1. A hydrogen bomb operates purely through chemical reactions involving hydrogen compounds.
2. China’s newly tested hydrogen-based explosive does not involve nuclear fusion or radiation.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A. 1 only
B. 2 only
C. Both 1 and 2
D. Neither 1 nor 2

Q2.With reference to the Standing Deposit Facility (SDF) introduced by the Reserve Bank of India, consider the following statements:

1. SDF requires banks to deposit government securities with the RBI as collateral.
2. SDF has replaced the reverse repo rate as the floor of the Liquidity Adjustment Facility (LAF) corridor.
3. There is no upper limit on the amount that can be parked under SDF.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
A. 1 and 2 only
B. 2 and 3 only
C. 1 and 3 only
D. 1, 2 and 3

Q3.With reference to the Davis Strait Proto-Microcontinent, consider the following statements:

1. It is a submerged landmass located between Greenland and Canada.
2. It was formed due to the complete rifting of the North American and Greenland plates.
3. Its discovery provides insights into the processes of microcontinent formation.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 and 2 only
   B. 2 and 3 only
   C. 1 and 3 only
   D. 1, 2, and 3

Comment the answers to the above questions in the comment section below!!

ANSWERS FOR ’  Today’s – Daily Practice MCQs’ will be updated along with tomorrow’s Daily Current Affairs

Q.1) – b

Q.2) – b

Q.3) – b