Current Affairs 01 July 2025

India's external debt rises to $736 billion, 19.1% of GDP, says RBI.

• India’s external debt rose to $736.3 billion, or 19.1 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), at the end of March 2025 from $668.8 billion, or 18.5 per cent of GDP, a year ago.
• External debt is the portion of a country’s debt borrowed from foreign lenders, including sovereign governments, international financial institutions, and private commercial entities.

Bihar announces India’s first e-voting through mobile app.

• Bihar has become the first state in the country to launch e-Voting facilities using mobile applications in municipal bodies elections and by-polls.
• Polling is taking place in Six Nagar Panchayat and 36 different other municipal bodies.
• The facilities are available for those people who are unable to go to polling booths to cast their votes.
• Voters have to install the E-SECBHR app.

New draft of U.S. law cuts remittance tax to 1%.

• The U.S. Senate has released a revised version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, reducing the proposed tax on foreign remittances to 1%.
• Remittances made via bank accounts, debit cards, or credit cards issued in the U.S. have now been exempted from this tax.
• The proposed law originally aimed to impose a tax on all foreign remittances sent from the U.S.

UK launches bold Synthetic Human Genome Project.

• The researchers in the United Kingdom have launched an ambitious initiative — the Synthetic Human Genome Project (SynHG) — which represents a bold leap from reading the human genome to attempting to write it.
• Unlike the HGP, which reads the human genome, SynHG aims to write large segments of human DNA synthetically — a transition from genetic reading to engineering.
• Time period: 5 years.

Centre Releases Model Rules to Boost Agroforestry.

• Centre issues Model Rules to States/UTs to aid Ease of Doing Business in Agroforestry, by streamlining Regulatory Frameworks.
• Upcoming NTMS Portal to host Geo-tagged data of Agroforestry Plantations and facilitate clearing of Farmers’ applications for Harvesting of Trees.
• The Farmer-friendly step to promote Sustainable Agricultural Practices, while balancing Ecological Needs.