Current Affairs One-liners — 20 May 2025

Tue, 20 May 2025

• 'Heart Lamp' by Banu Mushtaq, translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi, was announced as the winner of the International Booker Prize 2025 at London's Tate Modern on 20 May 2025 — the first short story collection to win the prize.
• Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma declared Mizoram a fully literate State at Aizawl on 20 May 2025, making it the first State in India to attain full literacy under ULLAS.
• The combined Index of Eight Core Industries rose 0.5% (provisional) in April 2025 over April 2024, the Commerce Ministry said on 20 May 2025.
• The Department of Consumer Affairs marked World Metrology Day on 20 May 2025, the 150th anniversary of the Metre Convention signed in Paris on 20 May 1875, and announced that India has become the 13th country authorised to issue OIML certificates.
• Union MoS Jayant Chaudhary and Mizoram CM Lalduhoma launched a pilot scheme in Aizawl on 20 May 2025 under which over 26,000 youth from the North East will get an extra ₹1,500 a month for one year over their NAPS apprenticeship stipend.
• Union Food Minister Pralhad Joshi launched the Depot Darpan portal and the Anna Mitra and Anna Sahayata digital platforms on 20 May 2025 to modernise the Public Distribution System.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the 78th session of the World Health Assembly in Geneva via video on 20 May 2025, noting this year's theme 'One World for Health'.
• Astrophysicist Jayant Vishnu Narlikar, founding director of IUCAA Pune and co-developer of the Hoyle–Narlikar theory of gravity, passed away in his sleep at his Pune residence on 20 May 2025, aged 86.
• The Ministry of Earth Sciences, with the Embassies of France and Costa Rica, hosted the 2nd Blue Talks at Prithvi Bhawan, New Delhi on 20 May 2025 ahead of the 3rd UN Ocean Conference in Nice (9–13 June 2025).
• The Ministry of Home Affairs said on 20 May 2025 that nominations for the Padma Awards 2026 can be made online on the Rashtriya Puraskar Portal until 31 July 2025.
• An Indian delegation led by Raksha Rajya Mantri Sanjay Seth took part in the opening of LIMA 2025, the 17th Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition in Malaysia, on 20 May 2025 and inaugurated the India Pavilion.
• KVIC celebrated World Bee Day on 20 May 2025 at its Mumbai office under the banner 'Sweet Revolution Utsav'; the 2025 theme is 'Bee inspired by nature to nourish us all'.
• DPIIT Joint Secretary Sanjiv launched 'CemHack for Green Infra', a first-of-its-kind national hackathon for the cement and construction sector, at the National Council for Cement and Building Materials, Ballabgarh on 20 May 2025.