Current Affairs 12 June 2025

Bengaluru surpasses Mumbai to become India's "Leopard Capital".

• Estimated 80–85 leopards inhabit the forests and scrublands surrounding the city.
• Recent survey by Holématthi Nature Foundation (HNF), led by Dr. Sanjay Gubbi, confirmed this.
• Bengaluru is now home to the highest number of free-ranging wild leopards near a major urban area.
• The city’s unique ecological value highlights the importance of ongoing conservation efforts.

Punjab sees a 20% rise in cotton cultivation with crop diversification efforts.

• Punjab sees a 20% rise in cotton cultivation in 2025.
• Cotton acreage grows from 2.49 lakh acres to 2.98 lakh acres.
• Over 49,000 additional acres now dedicated to cotton farming.
• Key districts: Fazilka, Mansa, Bathinda, and Sri Muktsar Sahib.
• Government support through seed subsidies and digital registration drives.

Calcutta High Court permits 15-year-old to take stepfather’s surname.

• Calcutta High Court allows a 15-year-old to adopt stepfather’s surname.
• Court acknowledges the evolving nature of modern families.
• KMC objections overruled, but biological father’s name remains unchanged on birth certificate.
• Decision upholds rights of custodial parents and shows judicial flexibility.

Greta Thunberg being deported after Gaza-bound ship seized.

• Israel detained the British-flagged aid ship Madleen, backed by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), and deported Greta Thunberg for attempting to breach the Gaza blockade.
• Madleen is a humanitarian ship carrying relief aid to Gaza amidst the ongoing Israeli blockade.
• Organised By: Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), a global civil society network advocating against the Israeli blockade.

May was world’s second-hottest on record, EU scientists say.

• The world experienced its second-warmest May since records began, a month in which climate change fuelled a record-breaking heatwave in Greenland.
• Global surface temperatures last month averaged 1.4 degrees Celsius higher than in the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period, when humans began burning fossil fuels on an industrial scale.
• The main cause of climate change is greenhouse gas emissions.