Current Affairs for 16 October 2025
Status of Elephants in India
SAIEE is India’s first DNA-based count of elephants conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India, under the aegis of Project Elephant Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
It estimates total Asian Elephant population at 22,446 and India harbours the largest wild population – approximately 60% of global total.
Currently, wild elephants persist mainly in four forested hill regions— Himalayan foothills, Northeastern states, East-central India, and Western/Eastern Ghats—with a small feral population in Andaman Islands;
Western Ghats hosts the largest population of wild elephants followed by North Eastern Hills and Brahmaputra Flood Plains.
Among states, Karnataka supports highest population, followed by Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
2025 Global Hunger Index report
- Global hunger has seen little reduction since 2016, and stalled progress is pushing the 2030 target of zero hunger out of reach.
- India is ranked 102nd among the 123 countries assessed with a GHI score of 25.8 which is classified as serious.
- Factors behind hunger crisis: Conflict (primary driver), climate change and environmental shocks destroying food systems, economic fragility including inflation and currency depreciation, reduced humanitarian official development assistance, income inequality etc.
- GHI is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels.
IUCN World Conservation Congress released update to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2025
Four species that have been uplisted include:
- Indian Courser, Indian Roller and Rufous-tailed Lark uplisted to Near Threatened;
- Long-billed Grasshopper-warbler uplisted to Endangered.
- All these four species depend upon open natural ecosystems, which include habitats like grasslands, semi-arid landscapes, desert, croplands, hilly scrublands, and fallow lands.
- Threats to these ecosystems: Expansion of power infrastructure, intensification of agriculture, introduction of invasive species, and conversion of grasslands into woodlands through afforestation.
Nile River
About Nile River
- Longest River in the World.
- Runs across 11 African Countries.
- Egypt, Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and South Sudan.
- Originates after the Blue and White Nile rivers meet in Khartoum, Sudan to form the River Nile, which flows northwards through Egypt to the Mediterranean Sea.
- White Nile begins at Lake Victoria and flows through Uganda and South Sudan, while the Blue Nile begins at Lake Tana in Ethiopia
National Security Guard : NSG
About NSG
- NSG is Federal Contingency World Class Zero Error Force to deal with anti-terrorist activities in all its manifestation.
- NSG was modelled on the pattern of the SAS of the UK and GSG-9 of Germany.
- It is a task-oriented Force and has two complementary elements in the form of the Special Action Group (SAG) and the Special Ranger Groups (SRG).
- Established: 1986 through National Security Guard Act, 1986.
- Ministry: Ministry of Home Affairs.
World Economic Outlook 2025
IMF projected India’s GDP growth rate for 2025-26 to 6.6% (6.4% earlier) and 6.2% for 2026-27 in its WEO.
Global growth is projected to slow from 3.3% in 2024 to 3.2% in 2025 and 3.1% in 2026.
About World Economic Outlook
- Published by: International Monetary Fund (IMF)
- Purpose: It presents analyses and projections of the world economy in the near and medium term.
- It is usually published twice a year with updates in between.
Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH)
About Codex Committee on Spices and Culinary Herbs (CCSCH)
- It is one of the subsidiary bodies under Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC) for spices and culinary herbs to elaborate standards in harmonization with worldwide standards.
- CAC or Food Code is a collection of standards, guidelines and codes of practice to protect consumer health and promote fair practices in food trade.
- Part of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme.
- Established in July 2013 by the CAC at its 36th meeting held at Rome.
- India is the host country and Spices Board, Kochi act as the secretariat for CCSCH.
Google Artificial Intelligence Hub : 2025
- Google Announces USD 15 Billion Artificial Intelligence (AI) Hub in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
- This Gigawatt-Scale Hub constitutes Google’s largest-ever investment in India and its largest AI hub centre located outside the United States.
- The investment spanning over five years (2026–2030) aligns with the Viksit Bharat Vision and would help meet the goals of India AI Mission.
- Purpose-built Data Centre Campus: Bringing together advanced AI infrastructure, data centre capacity, large-scale renewable energy sources, and fibre-optic network, in one place.
- Construction of New International Subsea Gateway: Including multiple international subsea cables to land in Visakhapatnam (India’s Eastern Coast).
