Daily Current Affairs – 16-02-2025

Tamil Nadu

ISRO’s SpaDeX mission successful

® ISRO successfully launched the Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) mission using the PSLV C60 rocket from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC), Sriharikota . ® The mission involves two satellites: SDX01 ( Chaser ) and SDX02 ( Target ) ® Each weighing around 220 kg . ® The satellites were placed in a 475 km circular orbit. ® The docking process will involve progressively reducing the inter-satellite distance from 20 km to 3 m . ® The mission also includes 24 PS4-Orbital Experiment Module ( POEM-4 ) payloads. ® India is the fourth country in the World to develop space docking technology after Russia, USA and china.

BRICS Youth Council meeting in India

® The Department of Youth Affairs, under the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports , will organise the BRICS Youth Council Entrepreneurship Working Group Meeting in March 2025. ® The theme of the meeting is “ Youth Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Growth ”. ® Around 45 youth representatives from the BRICS countries will attend the meeting.

WHO report on drowning

® According to the first edition of the “Global Status Report on Drowning Prevention 2024” released by the WHO , the global drowning death rate has decreased by 38% since 2000. ® Over 3 lakh deaths were reported in 2021. ® The South-East Asia region of the WHO reported 83,000 (28%) of these deaths. ® Nearly 92% of all drowning deaths are in low and middle-income countries. ® Children under 5 years of age account for 24% of global drowning deaths. ® Those aged 5-14 years account for 19% of global drowning deaths. ® The drowning rate in low and middle-income countries is 3.2 times higher than that of high-income countries. ® Highest drowing death rate in Africa with 5.6% deaths per 1 lakh people.

NASA unveils new Mars helicopter

® NASA has revealed the design of the “Mars Chopper” , the successor to the Ingenuity helicopter . ® The SUV -sized drone is designed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Ames Research Center. ® It features six rotors with six blades each. ® It offers higher lift capacity (up to 5 kg payload ).

Asteroid discovered by Indian student

® Students of Dyal Singh Public School in Karnal, Haryana have discovered and registered 11 near-Earth objects through the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC) of NASA. ® Diksha , a class 11 student and her team “ Aryabhatta ”, have provisionally discovered a main belt asteroid named ‘TD40’ . ® An asteroid will be named after Diksha , a first for any school in Haryana .

Wetland City tag

® The Ramsar Convention ’s independent Advisory Committee on Wetland City Accreditation (WCA) has added 31 new cities to the list of accredited Wetland Cities, taking the total to 74 . ® The accreditation, given under the Ramsar Convention , is valid for 6 years. ® India joined the Ramsar Convention in 1982. ® As of January 2025, India has a total of 85 wetlands protected under this treaty. ® Tamil Nadu (TN) has the highest number of Ramsar Sites in India with 18 Ramsar Sites. ® Two cities from India have been added to the list: 1. Indore (Madhya Pradesh) 2. Udaipur (Rajasthan)

WEF 2025 in Davos

® The 55th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF 2025) was held in Davos, Switzerland. ® The theme was “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age ”. ® India sent its largest ever delegation to the summit, led by Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw . ® The delegation included 5 Union Ministers, 3 Chief Ministers (Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra), and Other state leaders. ® 8 Indian states were represented at the WEF 2025: Kerala, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and West Bengal. World Economic Forum (WEF): ® Headquarters – Cologny, Switzerland ® Established in – 1971

₹3028 crore for disaster mitigation

® A high-level committee (HLC), chaired by Union Minister Amit Shah , has approved ₹3,027.86 crore for disaster mitigation projects . ® ₹2,022.16 crore was approved as catalytic assistance to 49 districts across 12 drought-prone states : Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh . ® ₹186.78 crore was approved for lightning safety projects in 10 states: Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. ® ₹818.9 crore was approved for forest fire risk management in 144 high-priority districts across 19 states : Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Madhya Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Odisha, Tamil Nadu , Telangana, and Uttarakhand.