Current Affairs 29 November 2025
India’s Earthquake Vulnerability:
- 61% of India’s land now lies in moderate to high hazard zones (earlier: 59%).
- 75% of India’s population is now in seismically active regions.
- Implications of New Map: Nudges to retrofitting in high-risk regions, halting expansion on soft sediments or near active faults, enforcing uniform building standards in Himalayan states, etc.
- Government strategies:
- National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) & State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA): NDMA is responsible for setting disaster management policies and SDMAs are in charge of creating and implementing disaster plans
- National Seismological Network: Monitors earthquake activities and conducts research on developing earthquake early warning systems.
Cyclone Ditwah
- It is a tropical cyclone that brought heavy rains to Sri Lanka and Southern India.
- The name “Ditwah” was contributed by Yemen.
- World Meteorological Organisation uses the term ‘Tropical Cyclone’ to when winds exceed ‘Gale Force’ (minimum 63 kph)
- Cyclones are atmospheric disturbances around a low-pressure area distinguished by swift and often destructive air circulation.
- The air circulates inward in an anticlockwise direction in the Northern hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern hemisphere.
Assam Agitation (Assam Movement)
- About: The Assam Agitation, driven by fears of losing indigenous Assamese cultural, linguistic, and political identity, focused on identifying and expelling illegal immigrants, mainly from Bangladesh.
- It was led by the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) and focused on the Three Ds: detecting immigrants who arrived after 1951, deleting their names from voter rolls, and deporting them from India.
- Outcome: The unrest eventually led to the Assam Accord of 1985, signed by the Centre, the state government, and movement leaders. The key clauses of the Assam Accord were:
- It officially set 25th March, 1971, as the cut-off date for detecting illegal foreigners.
- Anyone who entered Assam between 1st January, 1966, and 24th March, 1971, would be detected as a foreigner and would have their name deleted from the voter list for 10 years, after which their citizenship rights would be restored.
- Anyone who entered on or after 25th March, 1971, would be detected and deported.