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DAILY DOSE 1^st FEB – 2025 CURRENT AFFAIRS

1) Niger is African region’s first nation to eliminate onchocerciasis.

Niger is the first nation in Africa and the fifth globally to have stopped the spread of the parasite Onchocerca volvulus.
The four other nations that have achieved this are Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, and Colombia.
All of these nations are located in the Americas.
Onchocerciasis is the second most prevalent infectious cause of blindness globally, after trachoma.

2) In the week ending January 24, India’s foreign exchange reserves increased by $5.57 billion to $629.55 billion.

The foreign exchange reserves in the week that ended on January 17 were at 623.98 billion, down 1.8 billion dollars from the previous week.
The main cause of the increase was a rise in Foreign Currency Assets (FCA), which makes up a large portion of the reserves.
Over the course of the week, the FCA increased by 4.75 billion dollars to surpass 537.89 billion dollars.

3) Shubhanshu Shukla will become the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station on NASA’s Axiom Mission 4.

Indian astronaut Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla will be the pilot of the upcoming Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
On January 30, 2025, NASA and its international partners announced that they had approved the crew for the mission.
Group Captain Shukla will become the first Indian astronaut to go to the ISS and the first Indian to go to space in the last 40 years.
He is also one of the four astronaut-designates selected for India’s Gaganyaan mission.

4) In the fiscal year 2025, it is estimated that India’s real GDP will increase by 6.4%.

According to the Economic Survey, India’s growth in the fiscal year 2026 is projected to be between 6.3 and 6.8 percent.
According to survey, India’s GDP increased by 6.7% in the first quarter and 5.4% in the second quarter of the fiscal year 2025 at constant prices (2011–12).
During the first half of the current fiscal year, real GDP grew by 6%.

With this, the number of total Ramsar sites has increased to 89.
Ahead of World Wetlands Day (2 February 2025), the government announced that four sites have been included in the list of Ramsar sites in the country.
These sites are Sakkarakottai Bird Sanctuary and Therthangal Bird Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu, Khecheopalri Wetland in Sikkim, and Udhwa Lake in Jharkhand.
India is still the country having maximum number of Ramsar sites in Asia and third in the world.

In a landmark move to foster winter sports in India, the participation of the Indian contingent at the 9th Asian Winter Games (AWG) 2025, scheduled from 7th to 14th February in Harbin, China, has been approved by the Government of India.
The government has approved the participation of an 88-member Indian contingent, comprising 59 athletes and 29 team officials.
For the first time, full financial support is being provided to athletes competing in Alpine Skiing, Cross Country Skiing, Figure Skating, Short Track Speed Skating, and Speed Skating (Long Track) under the Assistance to National Sports Federations (ANSF) Scheme.

7) Retail inflation declined from 5.4% in FY24 to 4.9% in FY25.

Various government initiatives and monetary policy measures have helped in reducing retail inflation in India from 5.4% in FY24 to 4.9% in FY25 (April-December).
On January 31, this was stated in the Economic Survey 24-25 presented in the Parliament by Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman.
The survey said the decline in retail inflation is mainly due to a 0.9 percentage point reduction in core inflation between FY2024 and FY2025 (April-December), driven mainly by moderation in core services inflation and fuel price inflation.
The survey said that India’s food inflation rate remained stable, led by some food items like vegetables and pulses.

8) According to the Economic Survey 2024-25, government capital expenditure on key infrastructure sectors grew by 38.8% between FY20 and FY25.

The Union Government’s capital expenditure on key infrastructure sectors grew by 38.8% from 2019-20 to 2023-24.
In 2024-25, capital expenditure gained momentum between July and November 2024.
On January 31, this was stated in the Economic Survey 24-25 presented in the Parliament by Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman.
The power sector network continued to expand, with installed capacity rising by 7.2% to 456.7 GW by November 2024.

9) As per Economic Survey 2024-25, average growth of agriculture sector in India has been 5 per cent annually from FY17 to FY23.

The growth rate of India’s agriculture sector was 3.5 per cent in the 2nd quarter of the 2024-25 fiscal year.
Gross Value Added (GVA) of agriculture and related sectors have increased from 24.38 per cent in FY15 to 30.23 per cent by FY23.
Agriculture growth at around 5 per cent with a 20 per cent contribution to overall GVA will contribute 1 per cent growth to GVA.

10) In the Economic Survey 2024-25, Service Sector has been termed ‘Old War Horse’.

The contribution of services sector to total GVA at current prices has grown from 50.6% in FY14 to nearly 55% in FY25.
The service sector growth has been above 6% in each year in the last decade. This growth is measured by YoY change in the real GVA by services.
The exception has been FY21 that was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Before the pre-pandemic year, average services growth rate was 8%.