01 May2026 - "Daily Current Affairs" Updates

GS Paper 1 – Geography

🌍 Kyrgyzstan

🌍 Why in News

• India’s Defence Minister recently attended the SCO Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Bishkek.

🌍 Location

• A landlocked and mountainous country in Central Asia.

• Often called the “Switzerland of Central Asia” due to its rugged terrain and

scenic beauty.

🌍 Borders

• Shares boundaries with Kazakhstan (north), Uzbekistan (west), Tajikistan

(south), and China (east).

🌍 Capital

• Bishkek

🌍 Climate

• Experiences a continental climate.

• Climate varies significantly with altitude.

• Winters are extremely cold, while summers are warm and sunny.

🌍 Physical Features

• Highest Peak: Victory Peak (≈ 7,439 m)

• Major Rivers: Syr Darya, Naryn, Chu

• Major Lake: Issyk-Kul – second-largest saline lake globally

GS Paper 2 – Governance

🏛 E-PRAAPTI Portal

📰 Why in News

• The Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is set to launch the E-PRAAPTI portal to improve access to inoperative EPF accounts.

📌 Definition & Full Form

• E-PRAAPTI stands for EPF Aadhaar-Based Access Portal for Tracking Inoperative

Accounts.

• It is a dedicated digital platform developed by EPFO.

🎯 Purpose

• Helps users identify and track inactive EPF accounts.

• Enables linking of such accounts with UAN and facilitates their reactivation.

🧾 Inoperative Account Concept

• An EPF account is treated as inactive if no contributions are made for 36

consecutive months after leaving a job.

• It may also become inactive if an account from a previous employer is not

linked to the active UAN.

🔢 Unique Account Number (UAN) System

• EPFO introduced a 12-digit UAN in 2014 for every employee.

• The portal uses Aadhaar-based authentication for secure access.

• Allows users to retrieve old EPF accounts not linked to UAN.

• Also enables profile updates and account linking/activation.

GS Paper 3 – Science & Technology (Defence)

🛰 Naval Anti-Ship Missile (Short Range)

📰 Why in News

• DRDO and the Indian Navy successfully conducted the first salvo launch of the

Naval Anti-Ship Missile (Short Range) off the Odisha coast in the Bay of Bengal.

⚙ Nature & Role

• India’s first indigenously developed anti-ship missile designed for helicopter-

based launch.

🎯 Replacement Objective

• Developed to replace the ageing Sea Eagle missile (British origin) used on Sea

King helicopters.

🏭 Development

• Developed by Research Centre Imarat (Hyderabad) under DRDO.

• Built with collaboration across multiple DRDO laboratories.

🚀 Propulsion

• Uses a solid-fuel booster.

• Equipped with a long-burn sustainer for extended flight duration.

📏 Range

• Operational range of approximately 55 km.