Current Affairs 26/08/2025
1. The Registrar General of India (RGI) works under which Ministry?
Answer : Ministry of Home Affairs
Key Responsibilities of RGI:
• Conducting the Census of India (every 10 years), which provides detailed information about the population, including age, gender, literacy, employment, etc.
• Managing the Civil Registration System (CRS), which involves recording births and deaths across the country.
• Overseeing the National Population Register (NPR).
• Providing demographic statistics that help in planning and policy-making at the national and state levels.
2. Which country topped the World Digital Competitiveness Index 2025?
Answer : Singapore
• Singapore was ranked #1 in the 2024 index due to its strong digital infrastructure, tech-savvy workforce, and supportive government policies.
• It was followed by Switzerland and Denmark.
• The United States and South Korea were also in the top 10 but not at the top position.
• The index evaluates countries based on three main factors: Knowledge, Technology, and Future Readiness.
3. Which country will host the 2029 Asian Winter Games?
Answer : Saudi Arabia
• Saudi Arabia was officially awarded the hosting rights in October 2022 by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).
• Trojena is a planned ski and mountain resort being developed in NEOM, a massive smart city project in the northwest of the country.
• This will be the first time the Asian Winter Games will be held in West Asia and in a desert country.
• The event is scheduled for 2029, and Saudi Arabia plans to build artificial snow and climate-controlled environments to support winter sports.
4. Which space agency unveiled the AI system “Surya AI” for solar studies?
Answer : NASA
What is Surya AI?
• Surya AI is a powerful AI foundation model developed to act as a digital twin of the Sun.
• It helps scientists analyze solar activity like solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and sunspots more accurately and faster than traditional models.
• Developed using 15 years of solar data from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).
• Can predict solar flares up to 2 hours in advance – doubling the current early warning time.
5. Which tiger reserve has become India’s second-largest by area?
Answer : Sundarbans
• The National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) approved the addition of 1,044.68 sq km to the Sundarbans Tiger Reserve.
• With this expansion, the total area of the reserve is now approximately 3,629.57 sq km.
• This upgrade makes Sundarbans the second-largest tiger reserve in India.
• It now ranks just below the Nagarjunasagar-Srisailam Tiger Reserve (in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana), which remains the largest at about 3,728 sq km.