CURRENT AFFAIRS

The Indian Army has received the final batch of three AH-64E Apache attack helicopters, completing its six-helicopter fleet under a 2020 procurement deal. The helicopters will be inducted into the 451 Army Aviation Squadron, based in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, significantly enhancing the Army’s combat aviation capabilities.

The Forest College and Research Institute (FCRI) in Mulugu, Telangana, has recently been compelled to initiate a comprehensive scientific investigation into the devastating dieback disease following the death of thousands of neem trees.

Google has announced Project Suncatcher, a long-term research initiative aimed at deploying solar-powered data centres in outer space, beginning with experimental satellite launches by 2027, as revealed by CEO Sundar Pichai. 

India’s biosecurity preparedness has come under renewed focus following expert assessments warning of rising biological threats driven by rapid advances in biotechnology, increasing capabilities of non-state actors, and structural gaps in India’s existing response systems.

Recently, the Mexican Senate approved tariffs of up to 50% on imports from Asian countries, including India, with which Mexico does not have a free trade agreement (FTA).

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella recently stated that the deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the applications of Agentic AI are accelerating rapidly in India.

India’s energy transition has reached a critical juncture. Despite rapid expansion of renewable energy, challenges such as baseload power deficits, grid instability, and deep decarbonisation requirements have brought nuclear energy back to the centre of policy discourse.

Recently, ISRO stated that India's first solar observatory, Aditya-L1, played a key role in helping scientists understand why the most powerful solar storm in more than two decades, expected to hit Earth in May 2024, was behaving so unusually.

The Government of India has announced that the 2027 Census will be conducted entirely through digital means, marking a historic technological shift in India’s decennial population-counting exercise.