Big events of 2025: current affairs for CUET

On 4 June 2025 the government announced that the Population Census-2027 would be held in two phases and include the enumeration of castes, as the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs had decided on 30 April 2025. The reference date is 00:00 hours on 1 March 2027 — or 1 October 2026 for Ladakh and the snow-bound areas of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. The intent notification under the Census Act, 1948 was to be issued on 16 June 2025.

In the early hours of 7 May 2025 the Indian armed forces launched Operation Sindoor, striking nine sites of terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir from where attacks on India had been planned. The government described the strikes as focused, measured and non-escalatory, and said no Pakistani military facility was targeted. They followed the terrorist attack at Pahalgam on 22 April 2025, in which 25 Indians and a Nepali citizen were killed.

The Maha Kumbh Mela at Prayagraj, held from 13 January to 26 February 2025, drew more than 66 crore devotees to bathe at the Triveni Sangam, the meeting of the Ganga, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati — far above the expected 45 crore. Security and crowd management relied on AI-based CCTV cameras and drone surveillance.

At its 56th meeting in New Delhi on 3 September 2025, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the GST Council recommended cutting the GST structure from four slabs (5, 12, 18 and 28 per cent) to two main rates — 5 per cent (merit rate) and 18 per cent (standard rate) — plus a special 40 per cent rate for sin and luxury goods. The new rates took effect on 22 September 2025; tobacco products stayed on the old rates and cess until the compensation-cess loans are repaid.

At its 55th meeting, on 4–6 June 2025, the RBI's Monetary Policy Committee under Governor Sanjay Malhotra cut the policy repo rate by 50 basis points, from 6.00 to 5.50 per cent, with immediate effect — after 25-point cuts in February and April, a total of 100 basis points since February 2025. It changed its stance to neutral, saying monetary policy was left with limited space to support growth. It projected 2025-26 GDP growth at 6.5 per cent and CPI inflation at 3.7 per cent.

Presenting the Union Budget 2025-26 on 1 February 2025, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that no income tax would be payable on income up to ₹12 lakh a year under the new tax regime — ₹12.75 lakh for salaried taxpayers, with the ₹75,000 standard deduction — through lower slab rates and a rebate. The new slabs run from nil up to ₹4 lakh, then 5 per cent for ₹4–8 lakh, rising in steps of 5 points for every ₹4 lakh, to 30 per cent above ₹24 lakh.

On 24 July 2025 in London, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and the UK's Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds signed the India–UK Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), in the presence of the two Prime Ministers. It gives duty-free access in the UK to 99 per cent of India's exports. Bilateral trade stood at nearly US$56 billion, with a goal of doubling it by 2030. A social-security agreement was signed alongside; both came into force on 15 July 2026.

On 11 July 2025, at the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, the 'Maratha Military Landscapes of India' were inscribed as India's 44th World Heritage property. The serial site is twelve forts from the 17th to the 19th century: Salher, Shivneri, Lohgad, Khanderi, Raigad, Rajgad, Pratapgad, Suvarnadurg, Panhala, Vijaydurg and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, and Gingee in Tamil Nadu. They range from hill forts to Khanderi, Suvarnadurg and Sindhudurg, which stand in the sea. Eighteen of the Committee's twenty States Parties backed India's nomination.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi co-chaired the AI Action Summit in Paris with French President Emmanuel Macron, and gave the opening address at its plenary on 11 February 2025. The week-long summit began with Science Days on 6–7 February and ended with a high-level segment for world leaders. It closed with the adoption of a Leaders' Statement, and India announced it would host the next AI summit.

On 30 July 2025 GSLV-F16 launched NISAR, the NASA–ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar, from Sriharikota — the first joint Earth-observation mission of the two agencies, and the first time a GSLV placed a satellite in a Sun-synchronous polar orbit. NISAR is the first Earth-observation satellite to carry radars in two frequency bands: NASA's L-band and ISRO's S-band. It images the Earth's land and ice surfaces every 12 days.

Group Captain Shubhanshu Shukla of ISRO flew as mission pilot on Axiom Mission 4, launched on 25 June 2025 aboard a SpaceX Dragon, and became the first Indian astronaut to travel to the International Space Station. He spent 18 days on the station, carrying out experiments including ones developed by ISRO and the Department of Biotechnology, and returned on 15 July 2025, splashing down in the Pacific off San Diego. The crew included astronauts from the United States, Poland and Hungary.

NASA astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore splashed down off the coast of Florida on 18 March 2025 in a SpaceX Dragon, with Nick Hague and the Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov of Crew-9. Williams and Wilmore had launched on 5 June 2024 on Boeing's Starliner, on its crewed flight test; in August NASA brought Starliner home uncrewed and moved the pair to the station crew for a return on Crew-9. They spent 286 days in space.

Williams made two spacewalks on the mission and now holds the record for total spacewalking time by a woman, 62 hours and 6 minutes.

On 29 January 2025 GSLV-F15 lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, carrying the NVS-02 navigation satellite — the 100th launch from Sriharikota. The rocket placed the satellite in its planned transfer orbit; the later orbit-raising could not be done because valves feeding oxidiser to the satellite's thrusters did not open. NVS-02 belongs to the NavIC regional navigation system.

ISRO's Space Docking Experiment (SpaDeX) docked two small satellites, SDX01 (the chaser) and SDX02 (the target), in orbit on 16 January 2025. India became the fourth country, after the United States, Russia and China, to achieve space docking. The two satellites, of about 220 kg each, had been launched on PSLV-C60 from Sriharikota on 30 December 2024. Docking is needed for the Bharatiya Antariksh Station and for Chandrayaan-4.

On 19 September 2025 Morocco and Sierra Leone became the 60th and 61st parties to the Agreement on Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (the BBNJ, or High Seas Treaty), clearing the threshold for it to enter into force on 17 January 2026. Adopted in June 2023 under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, it provides for protected areas on the high seas and supports the goal of protecting 30 per cent of land and sea by 2030.

On 23 July 2025 the International Court of Justice delivered its advisory opinion on the obligations of states in respect of climate change, finding unanimously that climate treaties impose binding obligations on states to protect the climate system from greenhouse-gas emissions, and that a state in breach may owe reparation. The opinion had been requested by the UN General Assembly in a resolution of 29 March 2023, an initiative led by Vanuatu.

On 10 January 2025 the World Meteorological Organization confirmed, from six international datasets, that 2024 was the warmest year on record. The global average surface temperature was about 1.55°C (±0.13°C) above the 1850–1900 average, which makes 2024 likely the first calendar year more than 1.5°C above it. The WMO noted that one such year does not mean the Paris goal has been missed, since that goal is measured over decades; the past ten years were all in the top ten.

India's men won the Hockey Asia Cup 2025 at Rajgir, Bihar, beating the defending champions South Korea in the final on 7 September. The tournament had opened on National Sports Day, 29 August. The Asia Cup is a direct qualifier: its winner goes straight to the 2026 FIH Men's Hockey World Cup, to be held in Belgium and the Netherlands.

At the FIDE Women's World Cup in Batumi, Georgia, 19-year-old Divya Deshmukh beat Koneru Humpy in the tiebreaks of an all-Indian final on 28 July 2025. She became the first Indian woman to win the event and its youngest winner, and the title made her a grandmaster outright — India's 88th, and its fourth woman grandmaster. Both finalists qualified for the 2026 Candidates Tournament.

On 1 July 2025 the Union Cabinet approved the National Sports Policy 2025, which supersedes the National Sports Policy of 2001. It sets out a roadmap to make India a strong contender at international events, including the 2036 Olympic Games, and rests on five pillars, the first being excellence on the global stage. It was drawn up with central ministries, NITI Aayog, the states, national sports federations, athletes and experts, and was launched as the Khelo Bharat Niti.

India won the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 on 9 March, beating New Zealand by four wickets in the final in Dubai. New Zealand made 251 for 7; India reached 254 for 6 with an over to spare, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja finishing the chase. The spinners Varun Chakaravarthy and Kuldeep Yadav took two wickets each. India had won the trophy before in 2002, shared with Sri Lanka, and in 2013.

India's men's and women's teams won the inaugural Kho Kho World Cup at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, New Delhi, on 19 January 2025; both beat Nepal in their finals. Twenty-three countries took part. Each squad of fifteen was picked from sixty players at a month-long camp at the SAI JLN Stadium that began on 10 December. The next edition is due in England in four years.

On 20 September 2025 the government announced the Dadasaheb Phalke Award for 2023 for Mohanlal, the Malayalam actor, director and producer, for his iconic contribution to Indian cinema. He has acted in more than 360 films and won five National Film Awards. President Droupadi Murmu presented the award at the 71st National Film Awards on 23 September 2025.

In the 17th Vice-Presidential election, held on 9 September 2025 at Parliament House, New Delhi, C. P. Radhakrishnan was declared elected as the fifteenth Vice-President of India. Of 781 eligible electors, 767 voted and 15 ballots were declared invalid. The election followed the resignation of Jagdeep Dhankhar in July 2025. Radhakrishnan took the oath on 12 September and, as Vice-President, is the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.

On 20 May 2025 Heart Lamp, by Banu Mushtaq and translated from Kannada by Deepa Bhasthi, won the International Booker Prize. It is the first book written in Kannada and the first short-story collection to win. Its twelve stories follow the everyday lives of women and girls in southern India. Banu Mushtaq is the second Indian author to win the prize, and Deepa Bhasthi the first Indian translator; the £50,000 is split between the two.

On 25 January 2025 the government announced 139 Padma Awards: 7 Padma Vibhushan, 19 Padma Bhushan and 113 Padma Shri, with 23 women and 13 posthumous awardees. The Padma Vibhushan went to the gastroenterologist Duvvur Nageshwar Reddy, former Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, the Kathak dancer Kumudini Lakhia and the violinist L. Subramaniam, and posthumously to the Malayalam writer M. T. Vasudevan Nair, the folk singer Sharda Sinha and Osamu Suzuki of Japan.

On 2 January 2025 the Sports Ministry announced the National Sports Awards 2024. The Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna went to four: the world chess champion Gukesh D, the hockey player Harmanpreet Singh, the para-athlete Praveen Kumar and the shooter Manu Bhaker. Thirty-two sportspersons received the Arjuna Award, seventeen of them para-athletes, and two got the Arjuna Award (Lifetime): the athlete Sucha Singh and the para-swimmer Murlikant Petkar. Chandigarh University won the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy. The President gave the awards on 17 January 2025.