Current Affairs One-liners — All time

Wed, 20 Aug 2025

• The Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile Agni-5 was successfully test-fired from the Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, Odisha, on 20 August 2025 under the Strategic Forces Command.
• The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) reported a net addition of 21.89 lakh members in June 2025 in provisional payroll data released on 20 August 2025, the highest since tracking began in April 2018.
• NDA candidate C.P. Radhakrishnan filed four sets of nomination papers for the Vice-Presidential election before Returning Officer and Rajya Sabha Secretary General P.C. Mody on 20 August 2025.
• The combined Index of Eight Core Industries rose 2.0 per cent (provisional) in July 2025 over July 2024, according to data released on 20 August 2025.
• The plate cutting ceremony of Yard 16404, the fourth of six Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels being built for the Indian Coast Guard at Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders, took place in Mumbai on 20 August 2025.
• The 6th High-Level Meeting between the Indian Coast Guard and the Vietnam Coast Guard was held in Hanoi on 20 August 2025 under the 2015 MoU on Coast Guard Cooperation.

Tue, 19 Aug 2025

• NSA Ajit Doval and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi co-chaired the 24th round of Special Representatives talks on the India–China boundary question in New Delhi on 19 August 2025.
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 19 August 2025 approved a 6-lane access-controlled Capital Region Ring Road (Bhubaneswar Bypass, 110.875 km) in Odisha on Hybrid Annuity Mode at a capital cost of ₹8,307.74 crore.
• The Government exempted all customs duties on raw cotton imports with effect from 19 August 2025 until 30 September 2025, removing an effective 11% import duty to stabilise domestic cotton prices.
• INS Tamal, the Indian Navy's latest stealth frigate, arrived at Souda Bay, Greece on 19 August 2025 during her return passage to India after commissioning in Russia.
• The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs said on 19 August 2025 that Amarnath Yatra 2025, with over 4 lakh devotees, was run as a zero-landfill, plastic-free pilgrimage in line with Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban 2.0.
• The Election Commission of India on 19 August 2025 listed 28 initiatives taken over the past six months, including the ECINET platform, a cap of 1,200 voters per polling station and faster EPIC delivery.
• Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on 19 August 2025 and handed over President Xi Jinping's invitation to the SCO Summit in Tianjin, which the Prime Minister accepted.
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 19 August 2025 approved the Airports Authority of India's proposal for a greenfield airport at Kota-Bundi, Rajasthan, at an estimated cost of ₹1,507 crore.
• The President appointed judicial officer Ramesh Kumari as an Additional Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the Ministry of Law and Justice notified on 19 August 2025.
• Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh presented the 8th National Anubhav Awards to retired government employees at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi on 19 August 2025.
• The 20th meeting (Part-II) of the Central Monitoring Committee on river rejuvenation, chaired by DoWR Secretary Debashree Mukherjee on 19 August 2025, reviewed progress in 15 States and noted Sikkim had no polluted river stretches in the latest CPCB assessment.

Mon, 18 Aug 2025

• Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal introduced the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, 2025 in the Lok Sabha on 18 August 2025, proposing to decriminalise 288 provisions across 16 Central Acts.
• External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in New Delhi on 18 August 2025, the first visit by a Chinese Minister since the leaders met in Kazan in October 2024.
• The PLFS Quarterly Bulletin for April–June 2025, released on 18 August 2025, put the unemployment rate (CWS, age 15+) at 5.4% and was the first in the series to cover both rural and urban areas.
• The 12th edition of the India–Sri Lanka bilateral naval exercise SLINEX-25 concluded at Colombo on 18 August 2025.
• The Rajya Sabha passed the Indian Ports Bill, 2025 on 18 August 2025, completing parliamentary approval of the law that replaces the colonial-era Indian Ports Act, 1908.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin telephoned Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 18 August 2025 and shared his assessment of his meeting with US President Donald Trump in Alaska.
• The Ministry of Labour and Employment said on 18 August 2025 that the portal for the ₹99,446-crore Pradhan Mantri Viksit Bharat Rozgar Yojana, aimed at over 3.5 crore jobs, had gone live.
• Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with astronaut Shubhanshu Shukla in New Delhi on 18 August 2025, discussing his space experience and India's Gaganyaan and space station plans.
• The National Highways Authority of India on 18 August 2025 imposed a ₹20 lakh penalty on the toll collection agency at Bhuni Toll Plaza on the Meerut–Karnal section of NH-709A after its staff assaulted an Army personnel.
• Mumbai Port Trust, with the Inland Waterways Authority of India, organised the 'Tourism Avenues – Waterways to Wonder: Unlocking Cruise Tourism' conference in Mumbai on 18 August 2025.
• The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence seized 119.4 kg of Alprazolam worth about ₹23.88 crore at a clandestine manufacturing facility in Atchuthapuram, Anakapalli district, Andhra Pradesh, the Ministry of Finance said on 18 August 2025.

Sun, 17 Aug 2025

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Delhi section of the Dwarka Expressway and the Alipur–Dichaon Kalan stretch of Urban Extension Road-II, together worth nearly ₹11,000 crore, at Rohini, Delhi on 17 August 2025.
• On 17 August 2025, the Lodha Foundation launched the Lodha Mathematical Sciences Institute (LMSI) in Mumbai, headed by mathematician V. Kumar Murty, with Fields Medallist Manjul Bhargava on its scientific advisory panel.