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February 05, 2026 February 05, 2026 - Current affairs for all the Exams: DRDO Successfully Demonstrates SFDR Technology; India Launches First Cooperative Ride-Hailing Platform ‘Bharat Taxi’

India achieved a major strategic milestone with the successful flight testing of the Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) technology by DRDO. Simultaneously, the Union government is set to transform the mobility sector with the launch of ‘Bharat Taxi,’ the nation’s first cooperative-based ride-hailing service designed to empower drivers.

In a significant boost to India’s indigenous defense capabilities and social enterprise sector, the last 24 hours have seen landmark developments in missile technology and public transport infrastructure.

1. DRDO Successfully Tests SFDR Technology

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully conducted a flight demonstration of the Solid Fuel Ducted Ramjet (SFDR) technology at the Integrated Test Range (ITR) in Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha. The test validated all critical subsystems, including the nozzle-less booster and the fuel flow controller.

  • Strategic Significance: This technology enables the development of long-range Beyond-Visual-Range (BVR) Air-to-Air Missiles. With this success, India joins an elite group of nations possessing advanced ramjet-powered missile capabilities.

  • Performance: The system was boosted to a high Mach number, after which the SFDR propulsion performed as expected, allowing the missile to intercept targets at very long ranges with high maneuverability.

2. Launch of ‘Bharat Taxi’

Union Minister for Home Affairs and Cooperation, Amit Shah, is scheduled to launch Bharat Taxi on February 5, 2026. This is India’s first cooperative-based ride-hailing platform, aimed at challenging the dominance of private aggregators.

  • Driver-Centric Model: Unlike traditional platforms, Bharat Taxi operates on a cooperative model where drivers (referred to as sarathis) are stakeholders in the ownership and decision-making process.

  • Objective: The initiative seeks to ensure better earnings for drivers and more transparent pricing for commuters, leveraging the cooperative spirit to modernize the urban mobility sector.

3. Other Key Developments

  • Diplomacy: The President of Seychelles, Patrick Herminie, begins a five-day state visit to India today (February 5) to strengthen maritime security and bilateral trade.

  • Judiciary: The Supreme Court of India issued a stern caution to Meta and WhatsApp regarding "surveillance capitalism," emphasizing that the privacy of Indian users cannot be compromised for commercial exploitation.

  • Space: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu confirmed that Hope Island will be developed as a dedicated spaceport for private sector missions, further liberalizing India’s space economy.

These developments are crucial for students appearing in competitive exams, particularly in the sections of Science & Technology, Economy, and International Relations.

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