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Current Affairs 24th October 2025
1. India Clinch Double Gold in Kabaddi at Asian Youth Games 2025
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Double Gold Medal Sweep: India achieved a complete clean sweep in the Kabaddi event, winning the gold medal in both the Boys' Under-18 and Girls' Under-18 categories, reaffirming the nation's supremacy in its indigenous sport at the youth level.
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Unbeaten Dominance: Both the Indian boys' and girls' teams went undefeated throughout the entire tournament, showcasing consistent high-level performance and tactical superiority from the group stages right through to the finals.
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Contrasting Finals against Iran: While both finals were against Iran, they were won in different fashions: the girls' team recorded a crushing and dominant victory with a score of 75-21, whereas the boys' team won a close, tense battle with a final score of 35-32.
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Girls' Record-Breaking Win: The Indian girls' massive 75-21 victory in the final against Iran was noted as the largest margin of victory in a Youth Games Kabaddi final since 2013, highlighting their exceptional form and power difference over the competition.
2. Raj Kumar Singh accredited as the next Ambassador of India to the Republic of El Salvador
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Concurrent Accreditation: Raj Kumar Singh will serve as the Ambassador to the Republic of El Salvador while concurrently holding his position as the Ambassador of India to the Republic of Guatemala.
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Residence in Guatemala City: As the appointment is a concurrent accreditation, he will operate with residence in Guatemala City, not El Salvador's capital, San Salvador.
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Senior Diplomat: He is an experienced career diplomat, belonging to the 1996 batch of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS).
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Broader Regional Role: This appointment enhances his diplomatic responsibilities in the Central American region, as he is already accredited to both Guatemala and Honduras, with this new role completing a tri-nation regional accreditation.
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Strengthening Bilateral Ties: The accreditation aims to strengthen India's bilateral relations with El Salvador in various areas, including trade, culture, and cooperation, as part of India's increased diplomatic focus on Latin American countries.
3. Max Verstappen wins F1 US Grand Prix
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Dominant Weekend Performance: Max Verstappen secured a "perfect" weekend by winning both the Sprint Race on Saturday and the Grand Prix on Sunday, starting from pole position for both. In the main race, he was largely unchallenged, leading from start to finish.
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Title Race is Reignited: The victory, his third Grand Prix win in the last four races, significantly closed the gap to the championship leaders. Verstappen moved to third place in the Drivers' Championship, now trailing leader Oscar Piastri by 40 points and second-placed Lando Norris by 26 points with five Grand Prix and two Sprint races remaining.
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Pressure on McLaren: Championship leader Oscar Piastri finished a disappointing fifth after a difficult weekend that also included crashing out of the Sprint race with his teammate Lando Norris. Norris finished a strong second in the Grand Prix, cutting his teammate Piastri's lead to just 14 points, which further complicates McLaren's internal title fight and helps Verstappen's cause.
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Record-Breaking US Success: With this win, Verstappen became the first driver to secure seven Grand Prix victories in the United States, further cementing his mastery of the event and the Circuit of the Americas (COTA), where he has now won four out of the last five races.
4. Nirmal Minda Becomes Assocham President, Chaudhry as Sr. VP
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New President: Nirmal Kumar Minda, the Executive Chairman of Uno Minda Group, has taken over as the new President of ASSOCHAM, succeeding Sanjay Nayar.
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New Senior Vice-President: Amitabh Chaudhry, the Managing Director and CEO of Axis Bank, has been appointed as the Senior Vice-President. This appointment is subject to approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
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Minda's Background: Minda is a prominent figure and pioneer in the auto component industry, with over five decades of experience. His leadership is recognized for driving innovation, self-reliance (localization), and strengthening the automotive supply chain in India.
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Strategic Focus Areas: Under Minda's leadership, ASSOCHAM will focus on five key transformative pillars, which he referred to as "Economic Reforms 2.0," aligning with the national goal of Viksit Bharat (Developed India) by 2047.
5. Akkai Padmashali Becomes First Transgender Member of SC-Appointed Committee
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Historic Appointment and Representation: Akkai Padmashali is the first transgender person from the community to be named as a member of a Supreme Court-appointed committee. This marks a significant milestone for representation and ensures that policy recommendations are informed by the lived experiences of transgender persons.
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Committee's Mandate: The panel was constituted by the Supreme Court to formulate a national Equal Opportunity Policy for the protection, integration, and advancement of the rights of transgender persons across the country.
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Core Objective: The committee's primary task is to draft a comprehensive framework (within six months) to address discrimination faced by the transgender community in key areas like education, employment, and access to public spaces, and to propose measures for effective implementation.
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Legal Context: The formation of the committee stems from the Supreme Court's observation of the "grossly apathetic attitude" of Central and State governments towards integrating transgender persons, and aims to ensure the effective implementation of the principles laid down in the landmark NALSA v. Union of India (2014) judgment.
6. Coal India and IIT Madras Signs MoU to build a center for Sustainable Energy
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Core Objective (Net-Zero Alignment): The collaboration's main goal is to accelerate India's low-carbon energy transition and contribute to the national ambition of achieving Net-Zero Emissions by 2070. This positions CIL, the world's largest coal producer, as a key enabler of green energy.
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Redefining Coal's Role: The partnership aims to reimagine coal not just as a traditional fossil fuel, but as a valuable feedstock for clean energy applications, such as for carbon capture and the production of advanced materials like graphenic materials for energy storage.
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Nature of the Centre: It will serve as a Centre of Excellence and a hub for R&D, combining CIL's industrial scale and operational experience with IIT Madras's academic and technological expertise to develop indigenous, scalable, and impactful solutions.
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Human Capital Development: The Centre will focus on capacity building by nurturing the next generation of researchers and engineers. This includes offering Ph.D., postdoctoral, and internship programs to create a skilled workforce capable of leading India's green energy transformation.
7. Sunil Amrith Wins British Academy Prize for “The Burning Earth”
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Prize and Recipient: Indian-origin historian Sunil Amrith won the prestigious 2025 British Academy Book Prize (formerly the Nayef Al-Rodhan Prize). The award, valued at $\textsterling 25,000$, celebrates outstanding non-fiction that enhances public understanding of global issues in the humanities and social sciences.
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The Winning Work: The book, "The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years," offers a global history that is reframed through an ecological lens. It traces the deep interconnectedness of human history and environmental transformation across five centuries and multiple continents.
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Core Theme of the Book: The central argument of "The Burning Earth" is that human progress (e.g., freedom, industrialization, and empire) has been intrinsically linked with environmental destruction and exploitation. The book reveals how phenomena like colonialism, industrialization, and shifting human settlement patterns have fueled the modern climate crisis.
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Key Historical Focus: Amrith's research highlights a wide range of specific historical events to support his thesis, including the ecological impact of the conquest of the Americas, British gold mining in South Africa, the mobilization of natural resources during the World Wars, and the link between environmental harm and human migration.
8. Andrzej Poczobut and Mzia Amaghlobeli Win 2025 Sakharov Prize
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Prize and Honorees: The winners are Andrzej Poczobut (Belarusian-Polish journalist) and Mzia Amaghlobeli (Georgian journalist), who were jointly awarded the 2025 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought by the European Parliament.
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Basis of the Award: They were honored for their courageous defense of human rights, freedom of thought, and democratic values, with the prize recognizing their defiant reporting against authoritarianism and injustice in their respective countries.
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Andrzej Poczobut's Situation: Poczobut is a vocal critic of the Lukashenko regime and a correspondent for the Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza. He is currently serving an eight-year sentence in a Belarusian penal colony on what the European Parliament and human rights groups consider "trumped-up" and politically motivated charges stemming from his coverage of mass protests and criticism of the government.
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Mzia Amaghlobeli's Situation: Amaghlobeli is a prominent Georgian journalist and the co-founder of independent media outlets Batumelebi and Netgazeti. She was imprisoned for two years on charges related to an anti-government protest, with supporters calling her Georgia's first female political prisoner since the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
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Significance: The European Parliament's decision sends a clear message of solidarity with the people of Belarus and Georgia, reinforcing the importance of a free press and the right to dissent.
9. United Nations Day observed on 24th October 2025
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80th Anniversary of the UN Charter: The 2025 observance marks the 80th anniversary of the entry into force of the UN Charter on October 24, 1945. This foundational document officially established the United Nations, making the day a celebration of eight decades of multilateralism.
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Global Theme: The day is marked under the overarching global theme of "Building Our Future Together" (or similar phrasing like "The United Nations at 80: Building our future together"), emphasizing the renewal of the collective commitment to peace, human rights, and sustainable development for the next generation.
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Core Purpose and Objectives: United Nations Day is dedicated to making known to the people of the world the aims and achievements of the UN and gaining support for its work. Its core objectives remain maintaining international peace and security, promoting human rights, upholding international law, and fostering economic and social progress through global cooperation.
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Focus on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): The commemoration heavily features the urgency of achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the 2030 deadline.
10. Renowned singer and actress Raavu Balasaraswathi Devi passed away
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Pioneer of Playback Singing: Raavu Balasaraswathi Devi is revered as the first playback singer in Telugu cinema. Her debut as a playback vocalist was for the song "Thinne Meedha Sinnoda" in the film Bhagya Lakshmi (1943), marking a revolutionary shift in the industry.
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Date and Age of Passing: She passed away on October 15, 2025, at her residence in Hyderabad due to age-related issues.
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Extensive Career and Contribution: Her illustrious career spanned from the 1930s to the 1960s. She worked as both an actress and a singer in Telugu and Tamil films, reportedly singing over 2,000 songs.
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A Star from a Young Age: She was a child prodigy who began her artistic journey at a very young age, acting in films like Sati Anusuya & Bhaktha Dhruva (1936) and lending her voice for the first solo gramophone record by HMV at the age of six.
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Radio Pioneer: Besides her cinema contributions, she was also the first 'light music' singer on All India Radio, further cementing her status as a foundational figure in South Indian music.
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