Prediction - April 2023

INDEX
1. GOVERNANCE 4. RECENT ECONOMIC EVENTS

4.1 TRADE IN INR
1.1 LOKPAL
4.2 GUJARAT REFINERIES
1.2 NATIONAL PARTY
4.3 ONDC (OPEN NETWORK FOR DIGITAL
1.3 UNIFIED PORTAL OF THE CENTRAL BUREAU
COMMERCE)
OF NARCOTICS
4.4 DABBA TRADING
1.4 ‘THE TAMIL NADU PROHIBITION OF ONLINE
GAMBLING AND REGULATION OF ONLINE 4.5 CRYPTOCURRENCY REGULATIONS
GAMES ACT, 2022’ 4.6 US EMERGES AS INDIA'S BIGGEST
1.5 PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES TRADING PARTNER
1.6 LOK AYUKTA 4.7 INDIA’S EXPORT HOTSPOTS
1.7 MERCY PLEA 4.8 KERALA’S WATER BUDGET
1.8 CASTE CENSUS 4.9 RUSSIA’S OIL IMPORTS TO INDIA
1.9 NINTH SCHEDULE 4.10 CODE ON SOCIAL SECURITY, 2020
1.10 REMISSION
5. GEOGRAPHICAL EVENTS AND
1.11 NAGALAND: URBAN LOCAL BODY POLLS
ENVIRONMENT
1.12 ASSAM-ARUNACHAL PRADESH BORDER
DISPUTE 5.1 BANDIPUR TIGER RESERVE
1.13 FOREIGN CONTRIBUTION REGULATION 5.2 ERAVIKULAM NATIONAL PARK
ACT 5.3 ICE MEMORY
1.14 NARCOTICS CONTROL BUREAU 5.4 MAJOR PORTS
1.15 NUCLEAR LIABILITY LAW 5.5 OPEN-SOURCE SEEDS MOVEMENT
1.16 NATIONAL MEDICAL DEVICES POLICY, 5.6 TYPE OF COAL
2023 5.7 MADH ISLAND
1.17 NATIONAL HEALTH ACCOUNT 5.8 INTERNATIONAL BIG CATS ALLIANCE
(IBCA)
2. SCHEMES AND PROJECTS IN
5.9 MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS
NEWS EVALUATION
2.1 SWAYATT 5.10 SRIVILLIPUTTUR MEGAMALAI TIGER
2.2 MISSION AMRIT SAROVAR RESERVE
2.3 INDIA SEMICONDUCTOR MISSION 5.11 METRO UNDER THE RIVER
2.4 GENOME INDIA PROJECT 5.12 CENSUS ON WATER BODIES
2.5 VIBRANT VILLAGES PROGRAMME 5.13 NITROGENOUS FERTILISER- UREA
2.6 NATIONAL BEEKEEPING & HONEY MISSION 5.14 ZERO SHADOW DAY
2.7 NATIONAL QUANTUM MISSION 5.15 RISING SEA LEVELS
2.8 NATIONAL RABIES CONTROL 5.16 PREPAREDNESS AND RESILIENCE FOR
PROGRAMME EMERGING THREATS (PRET) INITIATIVE
2.9 SMALL SAVINGS SCHEME 5.17 FOREST FIRES IN UTTARAKHAND: THREAT
TO BIODIVERSITY
2.10 GENOME SEQUENCING AND GENOME
INDIA PROJECT
6. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
2.11 MAHILA SAMMAN SAVINGS CERTIFICATE
SCHEME 6.1 REUSABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE
6.2 BHARAT 6G VISION DOCUMENT
3. INTERNATIONAL EVENTS AND 6.3 LIGO INDIA
CONVENTIONS 6.4 INDIA’S SPACE JOURNEY
3.1 NEW FOREIGN TRADE POLICY 6.5 JUPITER ICY MOONS EXPLORER (JUICE)
3.2 DISPUTED AREAS IN ARUNACHAL MISSION
PRADESH 6.6 NISAR SATELLITE
3.3 OPEC+ COUNTRIES 6.7 MAGNETORESISTANCE
3.4 G7 MINISTERS' MEETING ON CLIMATE, 6.8 JWST: COMPACT GALAXY
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT 6.9 TELEOS2 SATELLITE
3.5 INDIA UAE FOOD SECURITY PARTNERSHIP 6.10 PSLV C55
6.11 WEB 3
6.12 ZERO TRUST
2 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

7. COVID 19 AND DISEASES
7.1 DENGUE VIRUS
7.2 SEPSIS
8. CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL

EVENTS
8.1 PATTANAM
8.2 NATIONAL MISSION ON CULTURAL
MAPPING
8.3 EMPIRE-BUILDERS OF MEDIEVAL INDIA
8.4 BAISAKHI
8.5 UTTARAMERUR INSCRIPTION
8.6 BIHAN MELA
9. DEFENCE IN NEWS
9.1 EXTENDED RANGE ANTI-SUBMARINE
ROCKET
9.2 (ER-ASR)
9.3 FIGHTER JET CONUNDRUM
9.4 INS TARKASH
10. INDICES AND RANKING

10.1 INDIA JUSTICE REPORT 2022
10.2 STATE OF WORLD POPULATION REPORT,
2023
10.3 WORLD BANK’S LOGISTIC PERFORMANCE
INDEX
11. SPECIES IN NEWS

11.1 TIGER POPULATION IN INDIA
11.2 ASIAN ELEPHANTS
12. ALSO IN NEWS

1. GOVERNANCE
1.1. LOKPAL
CONTEXT:
Lokpal disposed of 68% corruption complaints against public servants without any action: Parliamentary
panel report
MORE ON NEWS
 The Lokpal of India, the country’s first anti-corruption body instituted four years ago to investigate
complaints against public functionaries, including the Prime Minister, submitted to a parliamentary
panel that “it has not prosecuted even a single person accused of graft till date.”
LOKPAL
 A Lokpal ("defender of people" or "People's Friend") is an anti-corruption authority or body of
ombudsman who represents the public interest in the Republic of India.
 The Lokpal has jurisdiction over central government to inquire into allegations of corruption against
its public functionaries and for matters connected to corruption.
 The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act was passed in 2013 with amendments in parliament, following the
Jan Lokpal movement led by Anna Hazare in 2010.
 The Lokpal is responsible for enquiring into corruption charges at the national level while the
Lokayukta performs the same function at the state level.
 The age of Lokpal (chairperson or member) on the date of assuming office as the chairperson or a
member should not be less than 45 years.
 The term "Lokpal" was coined by Dr. L.M. Singhvi in 1963. The concept of a constitutional
ombudsman was first proposed in parliament by Law Minister Ashoke Kumar Sen in the early 1960s.
 Out of those eight members four members are judicial members who are or have been a Judge of
the Supreme Court or a Chief Justice of a High Court
 Remaining four members being non-judicial members are people of impeccable integrity and
outstanding ability having special knowledge and expertise of not less than twenty-five years in
the matters relating to anti-corruption policy, public administration, vigilance, finance including
insurance and banking, law and management.
 Minimum fifty per cent of the Members will be from Scheduled Castes / Scheduled Tribe / Other
Backward Classes / Minorities and women.
1.2. NATIONAL PARTY

CONTEXT:
AAP national party now; Trinamool, CPI and NCP lose status
NATIONAL PARTY
 To be granted national status, a political party must fulfil the following criteria:
 The party must secure at least 6% of the total valid votes polled in at least four states in a Lok
Sabha or state assembly election.
 In addition, it must win at least four Lok Sabha seats from any state or states.
 If it does not fulfil the above criterion, it must have won at least 2% of the seats in the Lok Sabha
from a minimum of three states.
 The party must be recognised as a state party in at least four states.
STATE PARTY
 For a party to be recognised as a 'state party' an organisation needs to fulfil any of the following
criteria:
 The party must win at least 6% of the total valid votes polled in an assembly election and win at
least 2 seats.
 The party must bag at least 6% of the valid votes polled and win 1 or more seats in a Lok Sabha
election.

 The party must win at least 3% of the total number of seats or at least 3 seats, whichever is more, in
an assembly election.
 The party must have at least 1 seat for every 25 constituencies from a state in the Lok Sabha or an
equivalent fraction as allocated to the state.
 The party must have won at least 8% of the total valid votes polled in an assembly or a Lok Sabha
election.
 Apart from these key criteria, the party must also fulfil some additional conditions to be recognised
as a state or national party
NATIONAL PARTIES IN INDIA AT PRESENT
 Bharatiya Janata Party
 Indian National Congress
 Communist Party of India (Marxist)
 Aam Aadmi Party
 Bahujan Samaj Party
 National People's Party (NPP)
BENEFITS OF RECOGNITION AS NATIONAL AND STATE PARTIES
 A recognised political party enjoys privileges such as a reserved party symbol, free broadcast time
on Staterun television and radio, consultation in the setting of election dates, and giving input in
setting electoral rules and regulations.
 Candidates put up by registered but unrecognised political parties are allotted election symbols
by the Returning Officers of the constituencies after the last date for withdrawal of candidature as
per availability. Thus, the party cannot use a single poll symbol across the country
1.3. UNIFIED PORTAL OF THE CENTRAL BUREAU OF NARCOTICS

CONTEXT:
The Unified Portal of the Central Bureau of Narcotics was launched.
UNIFIED PORTAL
 The unified portal of Central Bureau of Narcotics will instill the efficiency, transparency and
accountability in department users with twin objective to cater the need of pharma and chemical
industry for synergistic growth of the drugs & pharma sector and boosting economy for “Aatma
Nirbhar Bharat” and ensure availability of the “essential narcotic drugs” and medicines to the
patients & their attendant families.
 The launch of Unified portal of Central Bureau of Narcotics will prove as a stepping stone in ease of
doing business of NDPS and Controlled substances in the country with transparent and better
compliance.
 This portal is calibrated to have database integration & ingestion with other government services
including Bharat Kosh, GST, PAN- NSDL validation, e-Sanchit, and UIDAI facilitating single point
services for obtaining the licenses from CBN.
 The exporter, importer, and manufacturer of Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances, and
Controlled Substances are expected to be benefitted
CENTRAL BUREAU OF NARCOTICS
 Central Bureau of Narcotics is a central government organization dealing with the international
trade of Narcotic Drugs, Psychotropic Substances, and Precursor Chemicals under the ambit of
various United Nations Conventions and the provisions of NDPS Act, 1985.
1.4. ‘THE TAMIL NADU PROHIBITION OF ONLINE GAMBLING AND

REGULATION OF ONLINE GAMES ACT, 2022’
CONTEXT:
Hosting online gambling services in T.N. can result in up to 3 years of jail.

THE TAMIL NADU PROHIBITION OF ONLINE GAMBLING AND REGULATION OF ONLINE GAMES
ACT, 2022
 As per the act those violating the law could now be prosecuted and punished with varying terms
of imprisonment.
 The Act states that any person providing ‘online gambling service’ or ‘online game of chance’
shall be punished with imprisonment that ‘may extend to three years or with fine which may
extend to 10 lakh rupees or with both.’
 The Act seeks to end the highly lucrative online gambling advertisement market by preventing any
person from ‘making or cause to make’ any advertisement (in any means of communication in
Tamil Nadu) that directly or indirectly promotes online gambling or induce any person towards
online gambling and states that such a person shall be punished with imprisonment that may
‘extend to one year or with fine which may extend to ₹•5,00,000 or with both.’
 As per the Act, the person(s) who indulge in online gambling or plays an online game of chance
(rummy and poker) with money or other stakes (such as virtual credits, virtual coins, virtual tokens,
virtual objects or any similar thing that is purchased within, or as part of, an online game) shall be
punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three months or with fines which may
extend to ₹5,000 or with both.’
 The Act proposes to establish the Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Authority.
 The function of the Tamil Nadu Online Gaming Authority will include issuing certificates of
registration to local online games providers and identify ‘online games of chance’.
 It also prevents banks, financial institutions or payment gateway providers from engaging in any
transaction or authorize funds towards payment for ‘any online gambling or any online game of
chance’.
 While ‘local online games provider’ (whose service is hosted in the State) will be able to provide
any service only in ‘accordance with the certificate of registration duly obtained from the
Authority’ and ‘nonlocal online games providers are prohibited from providing any online
gambling service in the State and requires them to ‘geoblock’ their services in the State.
 If any person who is a ‘nonlocal games provider’ (whose service is not hosted in the State) is
convicted, the punishment shall be imprisonment for a minimum of one to three years and a fine
of ₹5,00,000- ₹ 10,00,000.
 Likewise, if any person (nonlocal games provider) is convicted again under the same provision, the
person shall be punished with imprisonment of varying terms and a hefty fine.
1.5. PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES

CONTEXT
Declining trend of national legislation being subjected to expert scrutiny.
PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEE
 Parliamentary Committee means a committee which is appointed or elected by the House or
nominated by the Speaker and which works under the direction of the Speaker and presents its
report to the House or to the Speaker and the Secretariat for which is provided by the Lok Sabha
Secretariat.
 By their nature, Parliamentary Committees are of two kinds: Standing Committees and Ad hoc
Committees.
 Standing Committees are permanent and regular committees which are constituted from time to
time in pursuance of the provisions of an Act of Parliament or Rules of Procedure and Conduct of
Business in Lok Sabha.
 The work of these Committees is of continuous nature.
 The Financial Committees, DRSCs and some other Committees come under the category of
Standing Committees.
 Ad hoc Committees are appointed for a specific purpose and they cease to exist when they finish
the task assigned to them and submit a report.
 The principal Ad hoc Committees are the Select and Joint Committees on Bills. Railway
Convention Committee, Joint Committee on Food Management in Parliament House Complex
etc also come under the category of ad hoc Committees.
 Broadly, the Parliamentary Committees may be classified into the following categories:
(a) Financial Committees

(b) Departmentally Related Standing Committees.
(c) Other Parliamentary Standing Committees; and
(d) Ad hoc Committees.
ROLE OF COMMITTEES
 Committees go into the details of a specific piece of legislation, analyse the impact it may have
on governance indicators, and then make their recommendations.
 The government is required to table an ‘Action Taken’ report for the House to judge the progress
made on the suggestions of the committee.
 Even though committee reports aren’t binding on the government, it helps the legislature ensure
an oversight on the executive.
 Objective assessments are only possible in the confines of a committee room, where partisan
divides dissolve to make way for consensus.
1.6. LOK AYUKTA

CONTEXT:
Division Bench of the Kerala High Court has held that the Lok Ayukta cannot investigate matters
relating to selection of candidates by political parties for contesting elections.
LOK AYUKTA
 The Lokpal and Lokayukta Act 2013, makes it compulsory for each state to appoint Lokayukta
similar to Lokpal at central level for investigation into complaints of corruption against government
officers in public offices
 The Lokayukta is the Indian Parliamentary Ombudsman, executed into power, through and for,
each of the State Governments of India.
 It is brought into effect in a state, after passing the Lokayukta Act in respective state Legislature
and a person of reputable background is nominated to the post.
 The post is created to quickly address grievances against the working integrity and efficiency of
the government or its administration (public servants).
 Once appointed, Lokayukta cannot be dismissed or transferred by the government, and can only
be removed by passing an impeachment motion by the state assembly, making it a powerful
deterrent against corruption and mal-administration of the governing system.
 The Administrative Reform Commission for Redressal of Citizen's Grievances submitted its interim
report to the prime minister in October,1966 with recommendations to set up the Institution of
Lokayukta in each of the States to investigate complaints against administrative actions and to
improve the standard of public administration in India
 Maharashtra was the first state to introduce the institution of Lokayukta through The Lokayukta and
Upa-Lokayuktas Act in 1971.
 The Lokayukta is appointed by the Governor of the State, through nomination by its Chief Minister
(in consensus with Chief justice of the State High Court, Leaders of the Opposition in the Legislative
Assembly and Legislative Council, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly and Chairman of the
Legislative Council).
 Any person who is a judge or a retired Chief Justice or a retired judge of the High Court is eligible
to be appointed as Lokayukta
1.7. MERCY PLEA

CONTEXT:
Inordinate delay in mercy plea decisions benefitting convicts.
MERCY PETITION
 As per the Constitutional framework in India, mercy petition to the President is the last
constitutional resort a convict can take when he is sentenced by the court of law. A convict can
present a mercy petition to the President of India under Article 72 of the Constitution of India.
 Similarly, the power to grant pardon is conferred upon the Governors of States under Article 161 of
the Constitution of India.

ARTICLE 72 PROVIDES:
 The President shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of punishment
or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any offence—
 in all cases where the punishment or sentence is by a Court Martial;
 in all cases where the punishment or sentence is for an offence against any law relating to a
matter to which the executive power of the Union extends;
 in all cases where the sentence is a sentence of death.
 Thus, Article 72 empowers the President to grant pardons, etc., and to suspend, remit or commute
sentences in certain cases.
WHILE ARTICLE 161 PROVIDES:
 The Governor of a State shall have the power to grant pardons, reprieves, respites or remissions of
punishment or to suspend, remit or commute the sentence of any person convicted of any
offence against any law relating to a matter to which the executive power of the State extends.
PROCESS OF MAKING A MERCY PETITION:
 There is no statutory written procedure for dealing with mercy petitions, but in practice, after
extinguishing all the reliefs in the court of law, either the convict in person or his relative on his
behalf may submit a written petition to the President.
 The petitions are received by the President’s secretariat on behalf of the President, which is then
forwarded to the Ministry of Home Affairs for their comments and recommendations.
 A convict under the sentence of death is allowed to make the petition within a period of seven
days after the date on which the Superintendent of jail informs him about the dismissal of the
appeal or special leave to appeal by the Supreme Court.
 The Home Ministry in consultation with the concerned State Government discusses the merits of the
petition. After the consultation, recommendations are made by the Home Minister and then, the
petition is sent back to the President for his decision.
 Even though the President and Governor are the executive heads, but they cannot exercise their
discretion with regard to their powers under Articles 72 and 161. Both the executive heads are
required to act on the advice of the appropriate government–Central and State Government. The
advice of the appropriate Government binds the Head of the state.
 The President can either accept or reject the mercy plea as per the advice by the council of
ministers. However, the Constitution doesn’t provide for a specified time limit to accept/reject the
mercy petition. He can keep the petition in abeyance for an indefinite period if he wishes to.
1.8. CASTE CENSUS

CONTEXT
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has written to Prime Minister asking his government to conduct a
caste census.
CASTE CENSUS
 Caste census means inclusion of caste-wise tabulation of India's population in the Census exercise.
India has counted and published caste data — from 1951 to 2011 — of the Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes only.
 It also publishes data related to religions, languages and socioeconomic status
 The last caste census was conducted in 1931.
 The first census in India began in 1872 and the periodic count in 1881 under British rule. Since then,
the data on caste was always included, though only till 1931.
 The caste count was excluded for the 1941 census reportedly because of administrative and
financial issues with England involved in World War II.
 All caste data are projected on its basis. It became the basis for quota caps under the Mandal
formula. Caste data were collected for the 2011 census but the data were never made public
DEMANDING A CASTE CENSUS
 It arises from the fact that there is no documented data on OBC population in India.
 Political parties batting for the caste census cite the need for caste-wise data to justify the
extension of reservations to various communities.

 On the other hand, there is also a large body of scholarly work, done by sociologists, political
scientists and historians, which bypass the welfare argument to assert that India’s fundamental
mistake in its battle to overcome caste was not doing a caste census.
 According to these scholars, formal blindness to caste in a casteist society results in a denial of the
web of caste-based privileges that continue to funnel opportunities to those at the top of the
caste hierarchy.
 They point out that while the very term ‘caste’ has come to be associated with ‘lower castes’, the
SCs or the OBCs, the upper castes tend to appear “casteless”.
 They argue that in order to abolish caste, it is essential to first abolish caste-derived privileges, and
in order to do that, the state must first map castes and their socio-economic status
privileges/deprivations, which is what a caste census seeks to do.
 It raised a demand to know the strength of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the country.
1.9. NINTH SCHEDULE

CONTEXT:
Chhattisgarh CM writes to PM seeking inclusion of higher quota Bills in Ninth Schedule
NINTH SCHEDULE
 It was the First Amendment in 1951 along with Article 31-B that marked the addition of the Ninth
Schedule to the Constitution.
 This was intended to protect land reform laws from being challenged in courts on the grounds of
violation of fundamental rights
 According to Article 13(2) of the Constitution, the state shall not make any law that will be
inconsistent with the fundamental rights.
 Laws made in contravention of fundamental rights shall be void to the extent of the
contravention.
 Article 31-B gives validation based on “fictional immunity” that laws enacted under it and placed
in the Ninth Schedule are immune to challenge in a court of law even if such a law violated
fundamental rights. The revision was not without challenges.
 In IR Coelho versus State of Tamil Nadu, for instance, various laws placed in the Ninth Schedule
were challenged on the ground that laws violating fundamental rights should be struck down as
“unconstitutional”.
 In its January 2007 verdict on the issue, a nine-judge constitution bench contended:
 The SC upheld the validity of Article 31-B and Parliament’s power to place a particular law in
the Ninth Schedule;
 However, it held that laws placed in the Ninth Schedule were open to judicial scrutiny implying
that such laws could not be entitled to blanket protection;
 In the wake of the Keshwanand Bharti Judgment on April 24, 1973, when it propounded the
“basic structure” doctrine, such laws were open to challenge;
 If the SC has already upheld the validity of any Ninth Schedule Law, it would not be open to
challenge such a law again on the principles declared in the latest judgment delivered on
January 11, 2007;
 It laid down dual test to examine the validity of a law placed in the Ninth Schedule.
 Whether it violates any fundamental right and if yes whether the violation also damages or
destroys the basic structure. If the answer to both the questions is in the affirmative, then only a law
placed in the Ninth Schedule can be declared unconstitutional.
 The court also said that by using the power to amend the Constitution, Parliament cannot alter its
basic or essential features like federal structure, separation of power between the three organs of
the states and judicial review, among other things.
1.10. REMISSION
CONTEXT:
Justice K.M. Joseph asks the Centre and Gujarat that what were the standards applied for the remission
STATUTORY PROVISIONS FOR REMISSION

 Indian laws provide pardoning power sourcing from statuary and constitutional authorities.

 By virtue of article 72 and 161 of the Constitution of India, the President and Governor can grant
pardon, to suspend, remit or commute a sentences passed by the courts.
 In addition to the above constitutional provisions the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973 (Cr. P.C)
provides for Suspension, remission and commutation of sentences.
 Sections 432, 433, 433A, 434 and 435, empower the government to suspend or remit sentence.
 Further, Sections 54 and 55 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) confer power on the appropriate
government to commute sentence of death or sentence of imprisonment for life as provided
therein.
 Section 54 of the Indian Penal Code 1860 empowers the appropriate Government i.e. the Central
Government in the case of an offence committed in the Union Territories, and State Government
in case of an offence committed in the States, to commute i.e. to change a punishment to one of
a different type than the originally awarded the sentence of death to any other punishment
provided under the Code.
 The powers vested under Section 55 can be exercised by the Government on its own initiative with
no application by the accused in question.
 The provisions under sections 54 and 55 of Indian Penal Code have become redundant in view of
the similar provisions contained under Section 432 to 434 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973
which empowers to the appropriate Government (Central or State) to commute or remit or to
suspend the sentence passed by the courts.
CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY PROVISIONS
 The power of the President or Governor to remit sentence awarded by the court is absolute and
cannot be fettered by any statutory provision such as Sections 432, 433, 433A of Criminal
Procedure code, 1973. This power cannot be altered or modified or interfered with in any manner
by any statutory provision or Prison rules.
 The authority of the Government to grant remission or to suspend sentence under Section 432 of
Cr.P.C is independent of the power conferred on the Governor under Article 161 of the
Constitution, no matter both the Government and the Governor have concurrent powers in
regard to suspension, remission and commutation of sentence.
 It seems that superficially the two powers, one constitutional viz., Article 72 and 161 and the other
statutory viz., Section 433A of Cr.P.C. are co- extensive. But two things may be similar but not the
same.
1.11. NAGALAND: URBAN LOCAL BODY POLLS

CONTEXT:
On March 28, the Neiphiu Rioled Nagaland government repealed the Nagaland Municipal Act of 2001.
BACKGROUND
 On March 28, the Neiphiu Rioled Nagaland government repealed the Nagaland Municipal Act of
2001.
 This led to the cancellation of the State Election Commission’s March 9 notification for holding
elections to Nagaland’s 39 urban local bodies (ULBs) with 33% of the seats reserved for women.
 Most of the traditional tribal and urban organisations oppose the 33% reservation of seats for
women as they argue that such reservation would violate the special provisions granted by Article
371A of the Constitution to Nagaland.
 The Naga Mothers’ Association (NMA) said that the State government erred in not listening to or
consulting with women’s organisations before taking the decision to repeal the Municipal Act.
OPPOSITION TO ULB POLLS
 Nagaland is arguably the only State where ULB seats are not reserved for women as mandated by
clause IV of the 74th Amendment to the Constitution of India.
 Most of the traditional tribal and urban organisations oppose the 33% reservation of seats for
women as they argue that such reservation would violate the special provisions granted by Article
371A of the Constitution to Nagaland.
 The Article states that no Act of Parliament would apply to the religious or social practices of the
Nagas, Naga customary law and procedure, administration of civil and criminal justice involving
decisions according to Naga customary law, and ownership and transfer of land and its resources.

The hohos (apex tribal bodies) point out that women have traditionally not been part of decision
making bodies
1.12. ASSAM-ARUNACHAL PRADESH BORDER DISPUTE

CONTEXT
Assam chief minister and Arunachal Pradesh chief minister signed a Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU)
ASSAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH DISPUTE:

 Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, which was earlier a part of undivided Assam, share an 804 km
long boundary.
 People have alleged that residents of one state go to the other side and encroach on the land.
This did not just lead to disputes but also violence. A lawsuit on the issue has been pending in the
Supreme Court since 1989.
 During British rule, there was a law which involved setting boundaries between plains and hills. This
was later known as North East Frontier Tracts (NEFT). However, after independence, the Assam
government was in control of the NEFT. This, in 1954, became the North East Frontier Agency
(NEFA) and in 1972 became Arunachal Pradesh. It is essential to note that Arunachal Pradesh was
a Union Territory in 1972 and gained statehood only in 1987.
 However, a 1951 report claimed that over 3,000 sq km of the area from Arunachal Pradesh had
been transferred to Assam. While Arunachal Pradesh has constantly held that this area was
transferred without the consent of its people, Assam has maintained that the transfer was legally
carried out.
 Several efforts have been made to solve the issue over the years.
 After Arunachal Pradesh became a Union Territory, a tripartite committee was set up to sort the
issue and decided to hold discussions with both sides.
 However, over the years, the issue always came to a halt because neither side agreed on the
same conditions in terms of the boundary and demarcation. Neither of the states could come to a
consensus.
 Eventually, in 1989, Assam filed a case in the Supreme Court stating “encroachment” by
Arunachal Pradesh.
 In July last year, both states signed the Namsai Declaration, where it was agreed to bring down the
number of disputed villages from 123 to 86 and resolve the boundary row by forming 12
committees, each headed by a cabinet minister, that visit disputed areas, take feedback from
residents and submit reports to their respective governments
1.13. FOREIGN CONTRIBUTION REGULATION ACT

CONTEXT:
CBI books environmental lawyer Ritwick Dutta and his NGO for FCRA violation
FOREIGN CONTRIBUTION REGULATION ACT

 The “Foreign Contribution
(Regulation) Act” (FCRA)
regulates foreign donations
and ensures that such
contributions do not adversely
affect internal security.
 First enacted in 1976, it was
amended in 2010 in which a
slew of new measures was
adopted to regulate foreign
donations.
 The FCRA act is implemented
by the Ministry of Home Affairs.

 Under the new rules notified by MHA in 2015, NGOs are required to give an undertaking that the
acceptance of foreign funds is not likely to prejudicially affect the sovereignty and integrity of
India or impact friendly relations with any foreign state and does not disrupt communal harmony.
 The FCRA is applicable to all associations, groups and NGOs which intend to receive foreign
donations. It is mandatory for all such NGOs to register themselves under the FCRA.
 The FCRA requires every person or NGO wishing to receive foreign donations to be registered
under the Act.
 To open a bank account for the receipt of foreign funds in State Bank of India, Delhi is mandatory.
 These funds can be utilised only for the purpose for which they have been received, and as
stipulated in the Act.
 The receivers of foreign funds are also required to file annual returns, and they must not transfer the
funds to another NGO.
 Once granted, FCRA registration is valid for five years.
 NGOs are expected to apply for renewal within six months of the date of expiry of registration. In
case of failure to apply for renewal, the registration is deemed to have expired.
 Registration can be cancelled for a range of reasons including, if “in the opinion of the Central
Government, it is necessary for the public interest to cancel the certificate”.
 Once the registration of an NGO is cancelled, it is not eligible for re-registration for three years.
1.14. NARCOTICS CONTROL BUREAU

CONTEXT:
As the Union government intensifies its crackdown against drugs, cultivation of poppy and cannabis in
area the size of over 89,000 football fields has been destroyed in the past three years.
DRUGS OF ABUSE
Drugs that are abused can be classified into:
 Natural drugs
 Semi-synthetic drugs and
 Synthetic drugs.
Natural drugs come from one of the following three plants:
 Opium poppy (Papaver somniferous)
 Cannabis
 Coca
Opium poppy
 Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) plant produces beautiful red and white flowers which mature
into bolls. Incisions are made on the bolls through a process called lancing and latex oozes out
and sticks to the surface of the boll. On exposure to atmosphere, the latex turns brownish to black,
gummy and resinous and this substance is called the opium or opium gum. Opium is a drug of
abuse.
Cannabis
 Cannabis plant grows wild and is also illegally cultivated. The flowering tops of cannabis are called
ganja. The resin produced by crushing the plant is called hashish or charas. Hashish oil is also
produced through distillation.
Coca
 The leaves of coca plant and the coca paste made from these leaves are stimulating drugs.
 Thus, opium, ganja, hashish, hashish oil, coca leaves and coca paste are natural drugs.
Semi-synthetic drugs
 Semi-synthetic drugs: If the natural drug is treated chemically to either isolate its active ingredient
or to modify it, semi-synthetic drugs are produced. Morphine, codeine, heroin, etc. are semi-
synthetic drugs produced from opium while cocaine is a semi-synthetic drug produced from coca
plant.

Synthetic drugs:
 Synthetic drugs: Synthetic drugs are produced purely through chemical processes.
Amphetamines, ecstasy, diazepam, methaqualone (commonly called mandrax) are some
examples of synthetic drugs
NARCOTICS CONTROL BUREAU
 The Narcotics Control Bureau (abbr. NCB) is an Indian central law
enforcement and intelligence agency under the Ministry of Home Affairs,
Government of India.
 The agency is tasked with combating drug trafficking and the use of illegal
substances under the provisions of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
 Established in 1986, it is responsible for coordination with the Indian state
governments and other central departments, implementation of India's international
obligations with regard to drug trafficking, and assisting international and foreign
drug law enforcement agencies
 The Narcotics Control Bureau was created on 17 March 1986 to enable the full
implementation of The Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 and
fight its violation through the Prevention of Illicit Trafficking in Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances Act, 1988.
 The law was established to fulfill India's treaty obligations under the Single
Convention on Narcotic Drugs, Convention on Psychotropic Substances, and United
Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic
Substances
1.15. NUCLEAR LIABILITY LAW

CONTEXT:
The issues regarding India’s nuclear liability law continue to hold up the more than a decade-old plan
to build six nuclear power reactors in Maharashtra’s Jaitapur
LAW GOVERNING NUCLEAR LIABILITY IN INDIA

 Laws on civil nuclear liability ensure that compensation is available to the victims for nuclear
damage caused by a nuclear incident or disaster and set out who will be liable for those
damages.
 The international nuclear liability regime consists of multiple treaties and was strengthened after
the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident.
 The umbrella Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC) was adopted in 1997 with the
aim of establishing a minimum national compensation amount.
 The amount can further be increased through public funds, (to be made available by the
contracting parties), should the national amount be insufficient to compensate the damage
caused by a nuclear incident.
 Even though India was a signatory to the CSC, Parliament ratified the convention only in 2016.
 To keep in line with the international convention, India enacted the Civil Liability for Nuclear
Damage Act (CLNDA) in 2010, to put in place a speedy compensation mechanism for victims of a
nuclear accident.
 The CLNDA provides for strict and no-fault liability on the operator of the nuclear plant, where it will
be held liable for damage regardless of any fault on its part.
 It also specifies the amount the operator will have to shell out in case of damage caused by an
accident at ₹1,500 crore and requires the operator to cover liability through insurance or other
financial security.
 In case the damage claims exceed ₹1,500 crore, the CLNDA expects the government to step in
and has limited the government liability amount to the rupee equivalent of 300 million Special
Drawing Rights (SDRs) or about ₹2,100 to ₹2,300 crore.

 The Act also specifies the limitations on the amount and time when action for compensation can
be brought against the operator.
 India currently has 22 nuclear reactors with over a dozen more projects planned. All the existing
reactors are operated by the state-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).
CLNDA SUPPLIER LIABILITY
 Section 10 of the annex of the CSC lays down “only” two conditions under which the national law
of a country may provide the operator with the “right of recourse”, where they can extract liability
from the supplier — one, if it is expressly agreed upon in the contract or two, if the nuclear incident
“results from an act or omission done with intent to cause damage”.
 However, India, going beyond these two conditions, for the first time introduced the concept of
supplier liability over and above that of the operator’s in its civil nuclear liability law, the CLNDA.
 The architects of the law recognised that defective parts were partly responsible for historical
incidents such as the Bhopal gas tragedy in 1984 and added the clause on supplier liability.
 So, apart from the contractual right of recourse or when “intent to cause damage” is established,
the CLNDA has a Section 17(b) which states that the operator of the nuclear plant, after paying
their share of compensation for damage in accordance with the Act, shall have the right of
recourse where the “nuclear incident has resulted as a consequence of an act of supplier or his
employee, which includes supply of equipment or material with patent or latent defects or sub-
standard services”.
GOVERNMENT’S STAND
 The central government has maintained that the Indian law is in consonance with the CSC. About
Section 17(b), it said that the provision “permits” but “does not require” an operator to include in
the contract or exercise the right to recourse.
1.16. NATIONAL MEDICAL DEVICES POLICY, 2023

CONTEXT
Cabinet approves the Policy for the Medical Devices Sector
NATIONAL MEDICAL DEVICES POLICY, 2023

Salient Features of National Medical Devices Policy, 2023:
 Vision: Accelerated growth path with a patient-centric approach and to emerge as the global
leader in the manufacturing and innovation of medical devices by achieving 10-12% share in the
expanding global market over the next 25 years. Policy is expected to help the Medical Devices
Sector grow from present $11 Bn to $50 Bn by 2030.
 Mission: Policy lays down a roadmap for accelerated growth of the medical devices sector to
achieve the following missions viz, Access & Universality, Affordability, Quality, Patient Centred &
Quality Care, Preventive & Promotive Health, Security, Research and Innovation and Skilled
manpower.
Strategies to Promote Medical Device Sector:
 Medical devices sector will be facilitated and guided through a set of strategies that will be cover
six broad areas of policy interventions:
 Regulatory Streamlining: In order to enhance ease of doing research and business and further to
balance patient safety with product innovation measures such as creation of a Single Window
Clearance System' for Licensing of Medical Devices coopting all the stakeholder departments /
organizations such as AERB, MeitY, DAHD, etc, enhancing the Role of Indian Standards like BIS and
designing a coherent pricing regulation, will be followed.
 Enabling Infrastructure: The establishment and strengthening of large medical device parks,
clusters equipped with world class common infrastructure facilities in proximity to economic zones
with requisite logistics connectivity as envisioned under the National Industrial Corridor Program
and the proposed National Logistics Policy 2021 under the ambit of PM Gati Shakti, would be
pursued with the State Governments and Industry for better convergence and backward
integration with medical device Industry
 Facilitating R&D and Innovation: The policy envisages to promote Research & Development in
India and complement the Department’s proposed National Policy on R&D and Innovation in the

Pharma- MedTech Sector in India. It also aims at establishing Centres of Excellence in academic
and research institutions, innovation hubs, ‘plug and play’ infrastructures and support to start-ups.
 Attracting Investments in the Sector: Along with resent schemes and interventions like Make in
India, Ayushman Bharat program, Heal-in-India, Start-up mission, the policy encourages private
investments, series of funding from Venture Capitalists, and also Public-Private Partnership(PPP).
 Human Resources Development: In order to have a steady supply of skilled work force across the
value chain such as scientists, regulators, health experts, managers, technicians, etc., the policy
envisages:
 For skilling, reskilling and upskilling of professionals in the medical device sector, we can leverage
the available resources in Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship
 The policy will support dedicated
multidisciplinary courses for medical
devices in existing institutions to
ensure availability of skilled
manpower for futuristic medical
technologies, high-end
manufacturing and research, to
produce future-ready MedTech
human resources and to meet the
evolving needs of the Sector
 To develop partnerships with foreign
academic/industry organizations to
develop medical technologies in
order to be in equal pace with the
world market.
 Brand Positioning and Awareness
Creation: The policy envisages the
creation of a dedicated Export
Promotion Council for the sector
under the Department which will be an enabler to deal with various market access issues:
 Initiate studies and projects for learning from best global practices of manufacturing and skilling
system so as to explore the feasibility of adapting such successful models in India.
 Promote more forums to bring together various stakeholders for sharing knowledge and build
strong networks across the sector.
 The policy is expected to provide the required support and directions to strengthen the medical
devices industry into a competitive, self-reliant, resilient and innovative industry that caters to the
healthcare needs of not only India but also of the world.
 The National Medical Devices Policy, 2023 aims to place the medical devices sector on an
accelerated path of growth with a patient-centric approach to meet the evolving healthcare
needs of patients.
1.17. NATIONAL HEALTH ACCOUNT

CONTEXT:
There has been a consistent increase in government spending, shows the National Health Account
Estimates 2019-20, released recently.
KEY FINDINGS:
 The government spending on
healthcare has been on the rise.
 The money spent by the
government on healthcare as a
percentage of
GDP has increased from 1.13% in
FY 2015 to 1.35% in FY 2020.
 Even this small percentage
increase in the government’s
health kitty has translated into nearly double the money spent on each person.

 The per capita health spend of the government in this period has increased from Rs 1,108 to Rs
2,014.
 The government’s share in the total money spent on healthcare in the country went up by a 12.4
percentage point between FY 2015 and FY 2020, increasing from 29% to 41.4%.
 Money spent by people from their own pocket on healthcare has been going down.
 The report shows that 47.1% of the total spending on healthcare in FY2020 came directly out of
people’s pockets.
 This is a 15.5 percentage point drop from 62.6% of the spend coming out-of-pocket in FY 2015.

2. SCHEMES AND PROJECTS IN NEWS
2.1. MISSION AMRIT SAROVAR
CONTEXT:
40000 water bodies developed under Mission Amrit Sarovar in 11 months
MISSION AMRIT SAROVAR

 With a view to conserve water for the future, the initiative Mission Amrit Sarovar was launched on
24th April 2022.
 The Mission is aimed at developing and rejuvenating 75 water bodies in each district of the country
as a part of celebration of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
 All rural districts will develop having at least 75 Amrit Sarovars totalling about 50,000 Amrit Sarovars
in the country.
 50,000 Amrit Sarovars should be completed by end of Amrit Varsh i.e. 15th August 2023.
 Amrit Sarovar will be constructed on at least 1 acre of land with a water holding capacity of about
10,000 cubic meters.
 If the district is unable to create as many new Amrit Sarovars, then district may take up
rejuvenation of the existing structures for restoring their ecological and productive utility.
 The site of Amrit Sarovars will be approved by special Gram Sabha, which will also name
Panchayat Partinidhi, who will on its behalf supervise development of Amrit Sarovar.
 Every Amrit Sarovar will be surrounded by trees like Neem, Peepal and Banyan etc.
 Every Amrit Sarovar will be a source of generation of livelihoods by using the water for different
purposes like irrigation, fisheries, duckery, cultivation of water chestnut, water tourism and other
activities.
 The Amrit Sarovar will also act as a social gathering point in that locality.
 Every Amrit Sarovar site is a place for flag hoisting on every Independence Day.
 There is no separate financial allocation for Mission Amrit Sarovar.
 Resources for this activity available from Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, XV Finance Commission Grants
(both tied and untied), PMKSY-WDC, PMKSY-HKKP-RRR or similar schemes from the State/ Central
Govt. either individually or in combination may be accessed for this purpose.
2.2. INDIA SEMICONDUCTOR MISSION

CONTEXT:
The United States Department of Commerce and its Indian counterpart have recently concluded a
memorandum of understanding in March 2023
INDIA SEMICONDUCTOR MISSION

 India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) has been setup as an Independent Business Division within
Digital India Corporation.
 ISM has all the administrative and financial powers and is tasked with the responsibility of
catalysing the India Semiconductor ecosystem in manufacturing, packaging and design.
 ISM has an advisory board consisting of some of the leading global experts in the field of
semiconductors.
 ISM is serving as the nodal agency for efficient, coherent and smooth implementation of the
programme for development of semiconductor and manufacturing ecosystem in India.
OBJECTIVES OF ISM ARE AS UNDER:
 Formulate a comprehensive long-term strategy for developing sustainable semiconductors and
display manufacturing facilities and semiconductor design eco-system in the country.
 Facilitate the adoption of secure microelectronics and developing trusted semiconductor supply
chain, including raw materials, specialty chemicals, gases, and manufacturing equipment.
 Enable a multi-fold growth of Indian semiconductor design industry by providing requisite support
in the form of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools, foundry services and other suitable
mechanisms for early-stage startups.

 Promote and facilitate indigenous Intellectual Property (IP) generation.
 Encourage, enable and incentivize Transfer of Technologies (ToT).
 Establish suitable mechanisms to harness economies of scale in Indian semiconductor and display
industry.
 Enable cutting-edge research in semiconductors and display industry
 Enable collaborations and partnership programs with national and international agencies
FOLLOWING FOUR SCHEMES HAVE BEEN INTRODUCED UNDER THE AFORESAID PROGRAMME:
 Modified Scheme for setting up of Semiconductor Fabs in India
 Modified Scheme for setting up of Display Fabs in India
 Modified Scheme for setting up of Compound Semiconductors / Silicon Photonics / Sensors Fab /
Discrete Semiconductors Fab and Semiconductor Assembly, Testing, Marking and Packaging
(ATMP) / OSAT facilities in India
 Semicon India Future Design: Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme
2.3. GENOME INDIA PROJECT

CONTEXT:
The Genome India Project, a Centre backed initiative to sequence 10,000 Indian human genomes and
create a database, is about twothirds through, said Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
GENOME INDIA PROJECT

 Taking inspiration from the Human Genome Project, this year, the Department of Biotechnology
(DBT) initiated the ambitious “Genome India Project” (GIP) on 3rd January 2020.
 The GIP aims to collect 10,000 genetic samples from citizens across India, to build a reference
genome
 This project is led by the Centre for Brain Research at Bengaluru-based Indian Institute of Science,
which acts as the central coordinator between a collaboration of 20 leading institutions, each
collecting samples and conducting its own research.
 This initiative reflects India’s progress in gene therapies and precision medicine, and its movement
towards emerging next-generation medicine which yields the possibilities for greater
customization, safety, and earlier detection. This initiative would help lay the foundation of
personalized healthcare for a very large group of persons on the planet.
2.4. VIBRANT VILLAGES PROGRAMME

CONTEXT
PM urges the youth to visit border villages
VIBRANT VILLAGES PROGRAMME

 It is Centrally Sponsored Scheme- “Vibrant
Villages Programme” (VVP) for the Financial
Years 2022-23 to 2025-26 with financial
allocation of Rs. 4800 Crore.
 Comprehensive development of villages of
blocks on northern border thus improving the
quality of life of people living in identified
border villages.
 This will help in encouraging people to stay in
their native locations in border areas and
reversing the outmigration from these villages
adding to improved security of the border.
 The scheme will provide funds for development
of essential infrastructure and creation of
livelihood opportunities in 19 Districts and 46
Border blocks 4 states and 1 UT along the
northern land border of the country which will
help in achieving inclusive growth and

retaining the populatiion in the border areas. In the first phase 663 Villages will be taken up in the
programme.
 The scheme aids to identify and develop the economic drivers based on local natural human and
other resources of the border villages on northern border and development of growth centres on
“Hub and Spoke Model” through promotion of social entrepreneurship, empowerment of youth
and women through skill development and entrepreneurship, leveraging the tourism potential
through promotioon of local cultural, traditional knowledge and heritage and development of
sustainable eco-agribusinesses on the concept of “One village-One product” through community
based organisations, Cooperatives, SHGs, NGOs etc.
 Vibrant Village Action Plans will be created by the district adminstration with the help of Gram
Panchayats. 100 % saturation of Central and state schemes will be ensured.
 Key outcomes that have been attempted are, connectivity with all weather road, drinking water,
24x7 electricty – Solar and wind energy to be given focuseed attention, mobile and internet
connectivity. Tourist centers, multi-purpose centers and health and wellness Centers.
2.5. NATIONAL BEEKEEPING & HONEY MISSION

CONTEXT:
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare organized a Consultative Workshop
NATIONAL BEEKEEPING & HONEY MISSION

 The mission was announced as part of the AtmaNirbhar Bharat scheme.
 NBHM aims for the overall promotion & development of scientific beekeeping in the country to
achieve the goal of ‘Sweet Revolution’ which is being implemented through National Bee Board
(NBB).
 The main objective of NBHM is to promote holistic growth of beekeeping industry for income &
employment generation for farm and non-farm households, to enhance agriculture/ horticulture
production, developing infrastructural facilities, including setting up of Integrated Beekeeping
Development Centre (IBDC)s/CoE, honey testing labs, bee disease diagnostic labs, custom hiring
centres, Api-therapy centres, nucleus stock, bee breeders, etc. and empowerment of women
through beekeeping.
 Besides, the scheme also aims to create awareness about scientific bee keeping under Mini
Mission-I, post-harvest management of beekeeping, beehive products, including collection,
processing, storage, marketing, value addition, etc. under Mini Mission-II and Research &
Technology generation in beekeeping under Mini Mission-III. Rs 150.00 Crores has been allotted to
NBHM for 2020-21.
2.6. NATIONAL QUANTUM MISSION

CONTEXT:
The Union Cabinet approved the ₹6,003 crore National Quantum Mission (NQM) that will fund research
and development of quantum computing technology and associated applications.
NATIONAL QUANTUM MISSION

 The mission was budgeted for ₹8,000 crore in the Union Budget of 2023.
 The plan involves developing “intermediate scale” quantum computers with 20-50 physical
‘qubits’ in three years, 50-100 physical qubits in five years and 50-1,000 physical qubits in eight
years.
 Just like bits (1 and 0) are the basic units by which computers process information, ‘qubits’ or
‘quantum bits’ are the units of process by quantum computers.
 Other ambitions include developing satellitebased secure quantum communications between
ground stations over a range of 2,000 kilometres within India, long distance secure quantum
communications with other countries, intercity quantum key distribution over 2,000 km as well as
multimode quantum network with quantum memories are also some of the deliverables of the
mission
 The mission will help develop magnetometers with high sensitivity in atomic systems, atomic clocks
for precision timing, communications and navigation.

 Fabrication of quantum materials such as
superconductors, novel semiconductor
structures, and topological materials for
fabrication of quantum devices.
 Four Thematic Hubs (THubs) would be set
up in top academic and National R&D
institutes on the domains of ‘quantum
computing’, ‘quantum communication’,
‘quantum sensing and metrology’ and
‘quantum materials and devices’. The
hubs will focus on the generation of new
knowledge through basic and applied
research as well as promote R&D in areas
that are mandated to them
 Only six countries so far have some
capability in this domain. This mission will
bring India to the forefront along with
them, and India can be a world leader
 India will be the seventh country to have a dedicated quantum mission after the US, Austria,
Finland, France, Canada and China
 the mission would greatly benefit communication, health, financial and energy sectors as well as
drug design, and space applications. It will provide a huge boost to “national priorities” like ‘Digital
India’, ‘Make in India’, ‘Skill India’ and ‘Stand-up India’, ‘Startup India’, ‘Self-reliant India’ and
Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).
 India’s quantum mission has been in the works since 2018, when the Department of Science &
Technology put out a call for proposals on projects related to the field of quantum
computing. QuEST (Quantum-Enabled Science & Technology) falls under the department’s
Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems (ICPS) division.
 In January 2019, the first mission meeting of the QuEST programme was held at the International
Institute of Information Technology (IIIT)-Hyderabad.
 In her 2020 budget speech, Finance Minister had said that India was set to invest Rs 8,000 crore
over the next five years in the National Mission on Quantum Technology or the QuEST programme.
2.7. NATIONAL RABIES CONTROL PROGRAMME

CONTEXT:
According to the World Health Organization, 36% of the world’s and 65% of Southeast asia’s rabies
deaths happen in India.
NATIONAL RABIES CONTROL PROGRAMME

 National Rabies Control Programme was approved during 12th FYP as Central Sector Scheme to
be implemented under the Umbrella of National Health Mission.
OBJECTIVES
 Training of Health Care professionals on appropriate Animal bite management and Rabies Post
Exposure Prophylaxis.
 Advocacy for states to adopt and implement Interdermal route of Post exposure prophylaxis for
Animal bite Victims and Pre exposure prophylaxis for high risk categories.
 Strengthen Human Rabies Surveillance System.
 Strengthening of Regional Laboratories under NRCP for Rabies Diagnosis.
 Creating awareness in the community through Advocacy & Communication and Social
Mobilization.
PROGRAMME COMPONENTS
 The Programme had two components – Human and Animal Components.
 Human Component for roll out in the all States and UTs through nodal agency National Centre for
Disease Control (NCDC), Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India
 Animal Health Component for pilot testing in Haryana and Chennai through nodal agency
Animal Welfare Board of India (AWBI) under the aegis of MoEF&CC, GOI.

THE STRATEGIES OF THE NATIONAL RABIES CONTROL PROGRAM ARE AS FOLLOWS:
 provision of rabies vaccine & rabies immunoglobulin through national free drug initiatives
 training on appropriate animal bite management, prevention and control of rabies, surveillance
and intersectoral coordination
 strengthening surveillance of animal bites and rabies deaths reporting
 creating awareness about rabies prevention
2.8. SMALL SAVINGS SCHEME

CONTEXT:
The returns on five small savings schemes are still significantly lower than what they should have fetched
as per the formula adopted for them.
SMALL SAVINGS SCHEME

 Small Savings Schemes are a set of
savings instruments managed by
the central government with an aim
to encourage citizens to save
regularly irrespective of their age.
 They are popular as they not only
provide returns that are generally
higher than bank fixed deposits but
also come with a sovereign
guarantee and tax benefits.
 Since 2016, the Finance Ministry has
been reviewing the interest rates on
small savings schemes on a
quarterly basis.
 All deposits received under various
small savings schemes are pooled in
the National Small Savings Fund.
The money in the fund is used by
the central government to finance
its fiscal deficit
 They are the major source of
household savings in India and
comprises 12 instruments.
 The depositors get an assured interest on their money.
 The rates on these small savings schemes are calculated on the yields on government securities
(G-secs).
 Small savings have emerged as a key source of financing the government deficit.
 The schemes can be grouped under three heads - Post office deposits, savings certificates and
social security schemes.
 Postal Deposits comprising savings account, recurring deposits, time deposits of varying maturities
and monthly income scheme.
 Savings Certificates: National Small Savings Certificate (NSC) and Kisan Vikas Patra (KVP).
 Social Security Schemes: Sukanya Samriddhi Scheme, Public Provident Fund (PPF) and Senior
Citizens‘ Savings Scheme (SCSS).
2.9. GENOME SEQUENCING AND GENOME INDIA PROJECT

CONTEXT:
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) recently said that the exercise to sequence 10,000 Indian
human genomes and create a database under the Centre-backed Genome India Project is about
two-thirds complete
GENOME SEQUENCING

 The human genome is the entire set of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) residing in the nucleus of
every cell of each human body.
 It carries the complete genetic information responsible for the development and functioning of
the organism.
 The DNA consists of a double-stranded molecule built up by four bases – adenine (A), cytosine
(C), guanine (G) and thymine (T). Every base on one strand pairs with a complementary base on
the other strand (A with T and C with G)
 In all, the genome is made up of approximately 3.05 billion such base pairs.
HUMAN GENOME PROJECT
 In 1990, a group of scientists began to work on determining the whole sequence of the human
genome under the Human Genome Project. The first results of the complete human genome
sequence were given in 2003.
 The Human Genome Project released the latest version of the complete human genome in 2023,
with a 0.3% error margin.
 The process of whole-genome sequencing, made possible by the Human Genome Project, now
facilitates the reading of a person’s individual genome to identify differences from the average
human genome. These differences or mutations can tell us about each human’s susceptibility or
future vulnerability to a disease, their reaction or sensitivity to a particular stimulus, and so on.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GENOME INDIA PROJECT
 India’s 1.3 billion-strong population consists of over 4,600 population groups,many of which are
endogamous. Thus, the Indian population harbours distinct variations, with disease-causing
mutations often amplified within some of these groups.
 Findings from population-based or disease-based human genetics research from other
populations of the world cannot be extrapolated to Indians
 Creating a database of Indian genomes allows researchers to learn about genetic variants unique
to India’s population groups and use that to customise drugs and therapies.
 The Centre’s Department of Biotechnology notes that the project will help “unravel the genetic
underpinnings of chronic diseases currently on the rise in India, (for) example, diabetes,
hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer”.
2.10. MAHILA SAMMAN SAVINGS CERTIFICATE SCHEME

CONTEXT:
Prime Minister on April 29 urged women to enrol for Mahila Samman Saving Certificate (MSSC).
MAHILA SAMMAN SAVINGS CERTIFICATE SCHEME

 Mahila Samman Savings Certificate Scheme was announced in the 2023-24 Union Budget to
commemorate ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
 It is a one-time savings scheme for women.
 Objective is to empower women by increasing their participation in investments.
 It is a significant step towards financial inclusion and empowerment of women including girls.
 The two-year tenure scheme offers an attractive interest rate of 7.5 per cent compounded
quarterly
 It will have flexible investment and partial withdrawal options with a maximum ceiling of Rs two
lakh.
 The scheme is valid for a two-year period up to 31st March 2025.
 The scheme has been made available in all 1.59 lakh post offices from April 01, 2023.
 One can start investing in this scheme with a minimum amount of Rs. 1,000 or any other amount in
multiples of Rs. 100.
 Under this scheme, one can open multiple accounts, but the maximum total investment should be
Rs 2 lakh only.
 And each account opened should have a three-month gap between the opening date of the
existing account and the new account.
 The scheme is exclusively available to women.
 Any woman above 18 years of age can invest in this scheme by herself.

 In the case of minors, the guardian can open the account on behalf of the girl.

3. INTERNATIONAL EVENTS AND CONVENTIONS
3.1. NEW FOREIGN TRADE POLICY
CONTEXT:
Union Commerce, Industry and Textiles Minister Piyush Goyal unveiled a new foreign trade policy
FOREIGN TRADE POLICY

 It moves away from
providing incentives to
exporters, but lowers a few
costs for smaller firms and
promises swifter
clearances, along with a
onetime amnesty scheme
for export obligation
defaults
 The new policy kicks in
from 2023-24 and aims to
almost triple India’s goods
and services exports to $2
trillion by 2030, from an
estimated $760 billion in
2022-23.
 India’s exports were $435 billion in 2015-16 when the previous policy was introduced and have
grown nearly 75% to an estimated -$760 billion in 2022-23
 The new policy will have no sunset date and will be tweaked based on the emerging world trade
scenario and industry feedback. While the policy will be openended, the
 schemes sanctioned under it will be time bound.
 There are no major new schemes, barring a onetime amnesty under the existing Advance
Authorisation and Export Promotion Capital Goods (EPCG) schemes, that allow imports of capital
goods subject to specified export obligations.
 The application fee is being reduced for Advance Authorisation and EPCG schemes for MSMEs,
which will benefit 55% to 60% of these schemes’ beneficiaries
 Opening up a new area of potential exports, thepolicy has included “merchanting trade” within its
ambit. Exporters in India can source goods from another country and send them to a third country
without touching Indian shores. This will also enable exports of restricted goods
3.2. DISPUTED AREAS IN ARUNACHAL PRADESH

CONTEXT:
In its latest attempt to lay claim to areas inside Indian territory, the Chinese government has announced
it will “standardise” the names of 11 places in
Arunachal Pradesh.
CLAIM ON ARUNACHAL PRADESH

 China claims some 90,000 sq km of
Arunachal Pradesh — the entire state — as
its territory.
 It calls the area “Zangnan” in the Chinese
language and makes repeated references
to “South Tibet”. Chinese maps show
Arunachal Pradesh as part of China, and
sometimes parenthetically refer to it as “so-
called Arunachal Pradesh”.
 China makes periodic efforts to underline
this unilateral claim to Indian territory. As part

of this strategy, it has tried to give Chinese names to places in Arunachal Pradesh — it published a
list of six such names in 2017, and another 15 names in 2021.
 India has dismissed the Chinese “invention” of these names.
 In the Eastern Sector, the alignment of the LAC is along the McMahon Line, which takes its name
from Sir Henry McMahon, foreign secretary of British India, who drew the 890-km line as the border
between British India and Tibet at the 1914 Simla Convention Between Great Britain, China, and
Tibet.
 At the 1914 Simla Convention where the McMahon Line was drawn, China was represented by a
plenipotentiary of the Republic of China, which had been declared in 1912 after the Qing dynasty
was overthrown. (The present communist government came to power only in 1949, when the
People’s Republic was proclaimed.)
 The Chinese representative did not consent to the Simla Convention, saying Tibet had no
independent authority to enter into international agreements.
3.3. OPEC+ COUNTRIES

CONTEXT:
Major oil producing countries including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, as well as Russia,
have announced cuts in oil production.
MORE ON NEWS
 Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), at its 48th meeting of the Joint
Ministerial Monitoring Committee, acknowledged the crude oil production cuts announced by
major oil producing countries.
 The OPEC+ countries include the 13 core members of OPEC and 10 other major oil producers. The
new production cuts are in addition to those announced in October 2022.
 OPEC plus countries include Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman,
Russia, South Sudan and Sudan.
 OPEC was formed in 1960 and its 13 current member states hold more than 80% of the world’s
proven oil reserves.
 Another 10 major oil producing countries including Russia have aligned with the group to form an
alliance known as OPEC+.
 OPEC produces about 40% of the world’s crude oil and its members’ exports make up around 60%
of global petroleum trade.
 The group aims to regulate global oil prices by coordinating on reductions or increases in
production.
3.4. G7 MINISTERS' MEETING ON CLIMATE, ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT

CONTEXT: G7:
Climate and Energy Ministers and  The Group of 7 (G7) is an informal group of seven countries
envoys from Group of Seven (G7) - the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan
countries committed to work and the United Kingdom, the heads of which hold an
towards ensuring carbon-free annual summit with European Union and other invitees.
electricity production by 2035 and  Russia joined in 1998, creating the G8, but was excluded in
“accelerating” the phase-out of 2014 for its takeover of Crimea.
coal.  Together the member countries represent 40% of global
GDP and 10% of the world’s population.
G7 MINISTERS MEET:  Unlike other bodies such as NATO, the G7 has no legal
existence, permanent secretariat or official members.
 G7 Ministers commit to move
to carbon-free power by 2035.  The presidency of G7 meetings is held by each of the seven
countries in turn, each year. The country holding the
 It was part of an agreement
presidency is responsible for organising and hosting the
by the countries at the end of
meeting.
a conference in Sapporo,
Japan, ahead of the G7  In 2023, Japan assumes the G7 Presidency. G7 Summit will
summit in Hiroshima. be held in Hiroshima.

 A proposal to have a 2030 deadline for phasing out coal was shot down and the final text gives
leeway for continued investment in gas, on the grounds that it could be a stopgap against energy
shortfalls.
 India was invited as a ‘guest’, in the context of its presidency of the G-20.
 The participants agreed to accelerate solar and wind energy investments to produce 1,000
gigawatt (GW) by 2030 from solar power and 150 GW of wind power from off-shore platforms.
 The G7 nations account for 40% of the world’s economic activity and a quarter of global carbon
emissions. Their actions are critical, but so is their support for less wealthy nations often suffering the
worst effects of climate change while having the fewest resources for mitigating such impacts.
3.5. INDIA UAE FOOD SECURITY PARTNERSHIP

CONTEXT
The India UAE food security partnership stands to benefit from multiple points of convergence.
FOOD SECURITY PARTNERSHIP

 The United Arab Emirates (UAE), whose food security has been built on imports from global
markets, is now focusing on the twin objectives of food access and readiness to confront supply
chain crises.
 India, the world’s second largest food producer, is an essential partner in the UAE’s ambition to
strengthen food security.
 During the I2U2 (India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates and the United States) summit in July last
year, the UAE committed $2 billion in investment towards constructing food parks in India (in
Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat)
 While the signing of a food security corridor on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership
Agreement (CEPA)’s sidelines (with logistics partner DP World) has taken forward India’s envisioned
presence on the global food value chain, beyond the UAE.
 The Dubai Multi Commodities Centre, the UAE’s largest free trade zone, launched Agriota, an
agritrading and commodity platform to link Indian farmers to food companies in the UAE. Agriota
gives millions of Indian farmers the opportunity to directly reach out to the entirety of the UAE’s
food ecosystem (processing companies, traders, wholesalers) and stock their products in Emirati
stores.
 Alongside this initiative, a consortium of UAEbased entities are investing up to $7 billion in mega
food parks, contract farming and the sourcing of agrocommodities in India. The initiative will
include mega food parks, logistics and warehouse hubs, and fruits and vegetable hubs.

4. RECENT ECONOMIC EVENTS
4.1. TRADE IN INR
CONTEXT:
India and Malaysia have agreed to settle trade in the Indian rupees
SETTLEMENT IN INDIAN RUPEE

 Trade between India and Malaysia can now be settled in Indian Rupee (INR) in addition to the
current modes of settlement in other currencies.
 This follows the decision by the Reserve Bank of India in July 2022 to allow the settlement of
international trade in the Indian Rupee (INR).
 This initiative by RBI is aimed at facilitating the growth of global trade and to support the interests
of the global trading community in Indian rupees
 Banks from eighteen countries were allowed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to open Special
Rupee Vostro Accounts (SRVAs) to settle payments in Indian rupees. Malaysia was one of the
eighteen countries that figured in the statement
 This mechanism will allow the Indian and Malaysian traders to invoice the trade in Indian rupee
and therefore achieve better pricing for goods and services traded.
 This mechanism is expected to also benefit the traders on both sides as they can directly trade in
Indian Rupee and therefore save on currency conversion spreads
 India-Malaysia bilateral trade touched $19.4 billion during 2021-22 this announcement is expected
to help bilateral trade to overcome currency-related obstacles.
 Malaysia is the third largest trading partner of India in the ASEAN region, after Singapore and
Indonesia that account for $30.1 billion and $26.1 billion bilateral trade with India respectively.
4.2. GUJARAT REFINERIES

CONTEXT:
Gujarat refineries form lion’s share of India’s surging fuel exports
REFINERIES EXPORT
 Refineries in Gujarat are at the centre of
this sudden fuel export boom. The State
exported ₹4.9 lakh crore worth of
petroleum products in FY23.
 In contrast, Karnataka, the second
biggest exporter of the commodity, sent
out only ₹0.44 lakh crore worth of
petroleum oils, which is more than 10
times less than Gujarat.
 Overall, Gujarat exported 77% of India’s
petroleum oils in FY23. Export of
petroleum oils formed over 65% of
Gujarat’s total exports in FY23.
 In no other State except Himachal
Pradesh did a single product dominate
exports to this extent.
 Exports of medicaments formed 79% of
Himachal Pradesh’s total exports.
Moreover, the export of petroleum oils
formed over 21.7% of Gujarat’s GSDP in
FY23, the highest share among all the
States.
 Goa was a distant second with the export of medicaments forming 4.9% of its GSDP that year. No
other State crossed the 4% mark

 In the last five years, the export of petrol and highspeed diesel by public sector units in India to
countries other than Nepal and Bhutan almost doubled from 3,353 TMT to 6,376 TMT (thousand
metric tonnes).
 Petroleum products were the most exported
commodities from India to the Netherlands, China,
Singapore, the U.K., the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Brazil,
Indonesia, Turkey and South Africa in FY23 (April
2022 to January 2023).
 The Netherlands imported $8,890 million worth of
petroleum products from India — the highest by
any country in that period. This was a 186% increase
from the country’s imports five years ago.
4.3. ONDC (OPEN NETWORK FOR DIGITAL COMMERCE)

CONTEXT:
ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce) is the next big thing and it will lead to democratisation of
e-commerce in India, said Nandan Nilekani, the founding chairman of the Unique Identification
Authority of India (UIDAI) and non-executive chairman of Infosys.
OPEN NETWORK FOR DIGITAL COMMERCE

 Open Network for Digital Commerce, abbreviated ONDC, is a private non-profit Section 8
company established by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) of
Government of India to develop open e-commerce.
 It was incorporated on 31 December 2021 with initial investment from Quality Council of India and
Protean eGov Technologies Limited (formerly NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Limited).
 ONDC is not an application, an intermediary, or software, but a set of specifications designed to
foster open interchange and connections between shoppers, technology platforms, and retailers
 Designed to keep check on Big Tech companies from violating Consumer Protection (E-
Commerce) (Amendment) Rules, 2021 due to concentration of market power by integrating them
into an open-source decentralised network where data portability will break data silos while data
interoperability will allow innovation
 The ONDC will standardise operations like cataloguing, inventory management, order
management and order fulfilment, hence making it simpler and easier for small businesses to be
discoverable over network and conduct business.

4.4. DABBA TRADING
CONTEXT:
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) issued a string of notices naming entities involved in ‘dabba
trading’.
DABBA (BOX) TRADING

 Dabba (box) trading refers to informal trading
that takes place outside the purview of the
stock exchanges.
 Traders bet on stock price movements without
incurring a real transaction to take physical
ownership of a particular stock as is done in an
exchange.
 It is gambling centred around stock price
movements.
 For example, an investor places a bet on a
stock at a price point, say ₹1,000. If the price
point rose to ₹1,500, he/she would make a
gain of ₹500. However, if the price point falls to
₹900, the investor would have to pay the
difference to the dabba broker
 Since there are no proper records of income or
gain, it helps dabba traders escape taxation.
They would not have to pay the Commodity
Transaction Tax (CTT) or the Securities
Transaction Tax (STT) on their transactions.
 ‘Dabba trading’ is recognised as an offence
under Section 23(1) of the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act (SCRA), 1956 and upon conviction,
can invite imprisonment for a term extending up to 10 years or a fine up to ₹25 crore, or both.
4.5. CRYPTOCURRENCY REGULATIONS

CONTEXT
Union Finance Minister has said issues related to crypto assets required immediate attention
REGULATIONS:
 In 2017, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued a warning that virtual currencies/cryptocurrencies
are not a legal tender in India.

 In 2019, RBI issued that trading, mining, holding or transferring/use of cryptocurrencies is subject to
punishment in India with a financial penalty or/and imprisonment up to 10 years.
 In 2020, the Supreme Court of India removed the ban on cryptocurrencies imposed by RBI.
 In 2022, the Government of India clearly mentioned in the Union budget 2022-23 that-the transfer
of any virtual currency/cryptocurrency asset will be subject to 30% tax deduction.
 In July 2022, The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recommended a ban on cryptocurrencies citing
‘destabilising effects’ for the country’s monetary and fiscal health.
 The Union Budget 2022-2023 also proposed to introduce a digital currency in the coming financial
year.
 At the moment, there is no legislature that covers cryptocurrencies in India, however, owning
cryptocurrencies is still not illegal.
 In March 2023, In a gazette notification, the Finance Ministry said the anti-money laundering
legislation has been applied to crypto trading, safekeeping and related financial services.
 After this, Indian crypto exchanges will have to report suspicious activity to the Financial
Intelligence Unit India (FIU-IND).
 The move is in line with the global trend of requiring digital-asset platforms to follow anti-money
laundering standards similar to those followed by other regulated entities like banks or stock
brokers.
 Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman told Parliament that India was discussing with the G-20
member countries the need to develop a standard operating protocol for regulating crypto
assets.
4.6. US EMERGES AS INDIA'S BIGGEST TRADING PARTNER

CONTEXT:
The US has emerged as India's biggest trading partner in 2022-23 on account of increasing economic
ties between the two countries.
TRADE WITH UNITED STATES:

 According to the
provisional data of the
commerce ministry, the
bilateral trade between
India and the US has
increased by 7.65 per cent
to USD 128.55 in 2022-23 as
against USD 119.5 billion in
2021-22. It was USD 80.51
billion in 2020-21.
 Exports to the US rose by
2.81 per cent to USD 78.31
billion in 2022-23 as against
USD 76.18 billion in 2021-22,
while imports grew by
about 16 per cent to USD
50.24 billion
 Major export items from India to the US include petroleum, polished diamonds, pharmaceutical
products, jewellery, light oils and petroleum, frozen shrimp, made ups etc. whereas major imports
from the US include petroleum, rough diamonds, liquified natural gas, gold, coal, waste and scrap,
almonds etc,
 America is one of the few countries with which India has a trade surplus.
 In 2022-23, India had a trade surplus of USD 28 billion with the US.
Trade with China:
 On the other hand, during 2022-23, India's two-way commerce with China declined by about 1.5
per cent to USD 113.83 billion as against USD 115.42 billion in 2021-22.
 Exports to China dipped by about 28 per cent to USD 15.32 billion in 2022-23, while imports rose by
4.16 per cent to USD 98.51 billion in the last fiscal. Trade gap widened to USD 83.2 billion in the last
fiscal as against USD 72.91 billion in 2021-22.

 The data showed that China was India's top trading partner since 2013-14 till 2017-18 and also in
2020-21. Before China, the UAE was the country's largest trading partner.
 In 2022-23, the UAE with USD 76.16 billion, was the third largest trading partner of India. It was
followed by Saudi Arabia (USD 52.72 billion), and Singapore (USD 35.55 billion).
4.7. INDIA’S EXPORT HOTSPOTS

CONTEXT:
Mapping India’s export hotspots
EXPORT HOTSPOTS
 Jamnagar in Gujarat is the top
exporting district in India. It formed
about 24% of India’s exports in value
terms in FY23 (till January).
 Surat in Gujarat and Mumbai Suburban
in Maharashtra feature second and
third by a distance, forming only
about 4.5% of the country’s exports in
the period.
 The other districts in the top 10 are
Dakshina Kannada (Karnataka),
Devbhumi Dwarka, Bharuch and
Kachchh (Gujarat), Mumbai
(Maharashtra), Kancheepuram (Tamil
Nadu) and Gautam Buddha Nagar
(Uttar Pradesh).
 Jamnagar’s dominance can be
attributed to the fact that it formed a
lion’s share of India’s surging petroleum
exports, while Kancheepuram’s most
exported commodity was smartphones
 Gautam Buddha Nagar in Uttar Pradesh
exported smartphones the most; Raipur
in Chhattisgarh exported parboiled rice
the most; and Mumbai Suburban in
Maharashtra exported diamond the
most.
 Jamnagar, Gujarat’s top exporting
district, exported petroleum products
the most. And Jamnagar’s petroleum
products export formed 67% of India’s
total exports for that commodity.
 Surat’s precious stones and jewellery exports formed 36% of India’s total exports for that
commodity.
 Gautam Buddha Nagar’s smartphone exports formed 26% of India’s exports.
4.8. KERALA’S WATER BUDGET

CONTEXT:
Kerala became the first state to adopt a water budget.
WATER BUDGET
 Kerala became the first state to adopt a water budget as a solution to water scarcity during
summer months to ensure equitable water distribution.
 The budget looks into the availability and consumption of water, which can help the state
manage the resource effectively, according to experts.
 The move will also create awareness regarding proper water use and avoiding wastage

 The first phase of the project would cover 94 Gram Panchayats and 15 Block Panchayats, where
water shortage has been noted.
 The budget gives data about water availability in a particular place and consumption based on
the population in the region.
 To manage a resource, it is necessary to determine its quantity — this is the basic principle of
management of any resource
 The budget was prepared by the Centre for Water Resources Development and Management
institute, along with the state water department.
 According to water experts, the initiative will help improve the demand and supply system.
 The budget is also timely, as the temperatures in the state have been increasing significantly
 The government will also ensure the participation of local self-governing institutions through the
budget so that rainwater can be distributed equitably for agriculture and irrigation.
4.9. RUSSIA’S OIL IMPORTS TO INDIA

CONTEXT:
Russia’s oil imports to India rises further
OIL IMPORTS TO INDIA

 In February 2023, Russia surpassed Saudi Arabia to become the second biggest exporter of crude
oil to India in FY23. Iraq continued to retain the top spot, though the gap is closing fast.
 In the four month
period between
November 2022 and
February 2023, Russia
took over the top spot,
while the shares of
Saudi Arabia and Iraq
in India’s oil imports
are fast decreasing
 India and China have
not agreed to abide
by the price cap, but
the West had hoped
the threat of sanctions
might deter traders
from helping those
countries buy oil
above the cap.
 India –accounts for
more than 70% of the
seaborne supplies of
the grade so far this
month and China for
about 20%.
 Average discounts for
Urals were at $13 per
barrel in Indian ports and $9 to ICE Brent in Chinese ports.
 India and Russia agreed to address trade deficit and market access issues as New Delhi sought to
narrow its trade imbalance with Russia.
 Meanwhile, Russia's richest people added $152 billion to their wealth over the past year, buoyed
by high prices for natural resources and rebounding from the huge loss of fortunes they
experienced just after the Ukraine war began, Forbes Russia said. Also, recently Pakistan placed its
first order for discounted Russian crude oil.
LAUNDROMAT COUNTRIES:
 India leads five countries named as the “Laundromat” countries that buy Russian oil and sell
processed products to European countries, thus sidestepping European sanctions against Russia.
 The five countries are India, China, Turkey, the UAE and Singapore.

 From less than 1% of its total oil intake pre-February 2022, India imported about a third or 35% of its
oil imports from Russia in March 2023, buying about 1.6 million barrels per day from Russia over the
past year.
4.10. CODE ON SOCIAL SECURITY, 2020

CONTEXT
Code on Social Security for platform-based gig workers
CODE ON SOCIAL SECURITY, 2020

 Social security schemes: Under the Code, the central government may notify various social
security schemes for the benefit of workers. These include an Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF)
Scheme, an Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS), and an Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance
(EDLI) Scheme. These may provide for a provident fund, a pension fund, and an insurance
scheme, respectively.
 The government may also notify: (i) an Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Scheme to provide
sickness, maternity, and other benefits, (ii) gratuity to workers on completing five years of
employment (or less than five years in certain cases such as for journalists and fixed term workers),
(iii) maternity benefits to women employees, (iv) cess for welfare of building and construction
workers, and (v) compensation to employees and their dependants in the case of occupational
injury or disease.
 In addition, the central or state government may notify specific schemes for gig workers, platform
workers, and unorganised workers to provide various benefits, such as life and disability cover. Gig
workers refer to workers outside of the traditional employer-employee relationship (e.g.,
freelancers).
 Platform workers are workers who access other organisations or individuals using online platforms
and earn money by providing them with specific services. Unorganised workers include home-
based and self-employed workers. It also provides for social security funds for unorganised
workers, and gig and platform workers.
 Coverage and registration: The Code specifies different applicability thresholds for the schemes.
For example, the EPF Scheme will apply to establishments with 20 or more employees. The ESI
Scheme will apply to certain establishments with 10 or more employees, and to all establishments
which carry out hazardous or life-threatening work notified by the central government. These
thresholds may be amended by the central government. All eligible establishments are required
to register under the Code, unless they are already registered under any other labour law.
 Contributions: The EPF, EPS, EDLI, and ESI Schemes will be financed through a combination of
contributions from the employer and employee.
 For the purpose of schemes for gig and platform workers, the Bill specifies a list of aggregators
including ride sharing services and food delivery services. Any contribution from an aggregator
may be at a rate notified by the government falling between 1-2% of the annual turnover of the
aggregator, subject to a cap of 5% of the amount paid or payable by an aggregator to the gig
and platform workers.
 Social security organisations: The Code provides for the establishment of several bodies to
administer the social security schemes. These include: (i) a Central Board of Trustees, headed by
the Central Provident Fund Commissioner, to administer the EPF, EPS and EDLI Schemes, (ii) an
Employees State Insurance Corporation, headed by a Chairperson appointed by the central
government, to administer the ESI Scheme, (iii) National and State Social Security Boards, headed
by the central and state Ministers for Labour and Employment, respectively, to administer schemes
for unorganised workers (with the National Board also responsible for gig and platform workers),
and (iv) state-level Building Workers’ Welfare Boards, headed by a Chairperson nominated by the
state government, to administer schemes for building workers.
 Inspections and appeals: The appropriate government may appoint Inspector-cum-facilitators to
inspect establishments covered by the Code, and advise employers and employees on
compliance with the Code. Administrative authorities may be appointed under the various
schemes to hear appeals under the Code. For instance, the appropriate government may notify
an appellate authority to hear appeals against the order of the Inspector-cum-facilitator for non-
payment of maternity benefits. The Code also specifies judicial bodies which may hear appeals
from the orders of the administrative authorities.

5. GEOGRAPHICAL EVENTS AND
ENVIRONMENT
5.1. BANDIPUR TIGER RESERVE
CONTEXT:
Bandipur completes 50 years as Project Tiger Reserve
BANDIPUR TIGER RESERVE

 Bandipur completed 50
years as a Project Tiger
Reserve as it was on
April 1, 1973, that the
then Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi launched
the flagship
conservation
programme to arrest the
big cat’s dwindling
population.
 But much before the
Wildlife Conservation
Act, 1972, was passed,
the erstwhile rulers of
Mysuru had realised the imperatives of conserving the flora and fauna and the Mysore Game and
Fish Preservation Act was passed in 1901.
 Project Tiger was launched in 1973, Bandipur was among the first nine reserves to be brought
under the flagship programme and it included most areas that were already a protected area as
Venugopal Wildlife Park.
 The Gazetteer notes that the boundary extended from Moyar river forming the southern border
towards the Nilgiris, and northwards, it stretched till Gundlupet including the 1,450mhigh Himavad
Gopalswamy Betta. The park was named after Venugopala the deity at the temple atop the hill.
 It was upgraded to a national park and renamed as Bandipur and the adjacent reserve forests
were included under it to extend its area to 874.20 sq km.
 At present, it has an area of 912.04 sq km while the adjoining Nugu Wildlife Sanctuary too has been
incorporated under Bandipur, which is recognised as among the prime tiger habitats in the world.
 The Bandipur Tiger Reserve is an important component of the country’s first biosphere reserve –
Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve and the landscape spanning Bandipur, Nagarahole, Mudumalai, and
Wayanad complex is home not only to the highest number of tigers in the country – about 724 -
but is also to the largest Asian Elephant population.
5.2. ERAVIKULAM NATIONAL PARK

CONTEXT:
Eravikulam National Park gets a fernarium
MORE ON NEWS:
According to officials, this is the first time such a fern
collection is being set up in the hill station
ERAVIKULAM NATIONAL PARK

 Eravikulam National Park is a 97 km2 national park
located along the Western Ghats in the Idukki and
Ernakulam districts of Kerala in India.
 It is the first national park in Kerala. It was established
in 1978.

 Anamudi, 2,695 meters, the highest peak in South India is inside this park. Many perennial streams
criss-cross the park.
 They merge to form tributaries of the Periyar river in the west and of the Cauvery River in the east.
 The National Park is bordered by the dense Pooyamkutty and Idamalayar forests to the north-west.
Lakkom Water falls is in this region.
 The park protects the Western Ghats' biggest and least damaged length of unique Montane
Shola-Grassland vegetation.
 The park is close to the Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary, Pampadum Shola National Park, Anamudi
Shola National Park, Kurinjimala Sanctuary, and Anamalai Tiger Reserve, which are all nearby.
 The park holds the largest viable population of the endangered Nilgiri Tahr (Nilgiritragus hylocrius).
 It has other little known fauna such as Nilgiri Marten, Ruddy Mongoose, Small Clawed Otter, Dusky
Striped Squirrel, etc.
5.3. ICE MEMORY

CONTEXT:
Arctic scientists are set to start drilling to save samples of ancient ice for analysis before the frozen layers
melt away due to climate change, mission organisers said
ICE MEMORY
 Italian, French and Norwegian researchers have set up camp in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago in
what they called a race against time to preserve crucial ice records for analyzing past
environmental conditions.
 They will extract ice in a series of tubes from 125 metres below the surface, containing frozen
geochemical traces dating back three centuries.
 Analysis of chemicals in deep “ice cores” provides scientists with valuable data about past
environmental conditions.
 Ice scientists “are seeing their primary material disappear forever from the surface of the planet”
 Human caused carbon emissions have warmed the planet by 1.1 degrees Celsius since the 19th
century.
 Studies indicate that the Arctic is warming between two and four times faster than the global
average.
 One set of ice tubes will be used for immediate analysis while a second set will be sent to
Antarctica for storage in an “ice memory sanctuary” under the snow, where the samples will be
preserved for future generations.
 The eight specialists have set up camp at an altitude of 1,100 metres on the crevasse ridden
Holtedahlfonna ice field and plan to start drilling
5.4. MAJOR PORTS

CONTEXT:
Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW)
have set new records by exceeding cargo handling
targets for FY 2022-23 with 10.4% YoY growth.
MORE ON NEWS
 The handling of 795 MMT of cargo marks a historic
achievement for the nation's Major ports.
MAJOR PORTS
 India has a coastline spanning 7516.6 kilometres,
forming one of the biggest peninsulas in the world.
According to the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and
Waterways, around 95 per cent of India's trading
by volume and 68 per cent by value is done
through maritime transport.
 It is serviced by 13 major ports (12 Government-

owned and one private) and 187 notified minor and intermediate ports.
 Port Blair which was notified as major port in 2010 was removed of its status recently.
 The total 200 major and non-major ports are present in the following States: Maharashtra (53);
Gujarat (40); Kerala (20); Tamil Nadu (15); Karnataka (10) and others (63).
 Government of India plans to modernise these ports and associated infrastructure through the
2015 established Sagarmala project, and National Maritime Development Programme
 All except Kamarajar Port Limited are government administered, but private sector participation in
ports has increased.
5.5. OPEN-SOURCE SEEDS MOVEMENT

CONTEXT:
With the emergence of the global IPR regime over plant varieties, there was a dire need to ‘open
source’ seeds.
PLANT BREEDERS’ RIGHTS AND PATENTS

 The advent of hybrid seeds, scientific plant breeding, and some other factors conferred
developers of new varieties with the so called plant breeders’ rights (PBR) and patents, particularly
in the U.S.
 In this regime, rights holders could demand royalty on seeds and legally enforce IPR. In some
national IPR regimes, rights holders can also restrict the unauthorised use of seeds to develop new
varieties.
 In 1994, the establishment of the World Trade Organization cast a global IPR regime over plant
varieties. The Trade Related IPR Agreement (TRIPS) required countries to provide at least one form
of intellectual property (IP) protection.
 This consolidation of rights in the seeds sector raised concerns about the freedom to innovate.
Unlike the Green Revolution, which was spearheaded by public sector institutions, the genetic
revolution in agriculture was led by the private sector, with seeds mostly availed as hybrids or
protected by strong IPR
OPEN SOURCE SEEDS
 In 2002, Boru Douthwaite and I (independently) proposed an opensource model for seeds and
plant varieties and scholars and civilsociety members built on it. The German NGO Agrecol
followed with a similiar initiative in Europe.
 In Agrecol’s model, the user agrees inter alia to not patent seeds bought under the opensource
licence. In the U.S., the open source seeds initiative opted for a pledge based model for sharing
seeds.
 In India, the Centre for Sustainable Agriculture (CSA), Hyderabad, developed a model that
included an agreement between CSA and the recipient of the seed/germplasm.
 It is trying to use this approach through three farmer producer organisations engaged in seed
production. Under India’s Plant Variety Protection and Farmers’ Rights Act 2001, farmers can
register ‘farmer varieties’ if they meet certain conditions, and have the right to reuse, replant, and
exchange seeds. However, they can’t breed and trade in varieties protected under the Act for
commercial purposes.
 One potential application of the opensource approach is to use it in farmerled seed conservation
and distribution systems.
5.6. TYPE OF COAL

CONTEXT:
Stalin opposes lignite block auction in T.N.
TYPE OF COAL
 Anthracite: It has the highest heating value of all the other coal types as it contains about 86–97%
carbon. It is found in smaller quantity in regions of Jammu and Kashmir.

 Bituminous: The carbon content in
bituminous coal is 45–86%. It is a
medium grade of coal having high
heating capacity. It is the most
commonly used type of coal for
electricity generation in India. Most of
bituminous coal is found in Jharkhand,
Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh,
and Madhya Pradesh
 Subbituminous: It is black in colour,
dull (not shiny) and has a higher
heating value than lignite.
 lignite: The carbon content in lignite
coal is about 25–35% and has a low
energy content among all the coal
types known. Lignite has a high
moisture content which contributes to
its low heating value. It is found in the
regions of Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and Jammu & Kashmir.
 Peat is formed from decaying vegetation, and is considered to be the precursor of coal. Peat is an
important industrial fuel in some regions, including Ireland and Finland. When dehydrated, peat
becomes an effective absorbent for fuel and oil spills on both land and water.
5.7. MADH ISLAND

CONTEXT:
NGT revokes stay on demolition of five studios in Madh Island
Madh Island
 Madh Island is a group of several quaint fishing villages and farmlands in northern Mumbai.
 The area is bounded by the Arabian Sea to the west, and the Malad creek on the east.
 There are few beaches like Erangal Beach, Dana Pani Beach, Silver Beach, Aksa Beach.
 The area is a rural area inhabited primarily by Kolis, Marathi, East Indians, Roman Catholics in Madh
village as well as by people from other communities.
 Madh Fort is a small fort in northern Mumbai, India situated at Madh Island.
 It was built by the Portuguese in Portuguese occupied India.
 They lost it during the war against Maratha empire when the Maratha Empire captured it in
February 1739.
 The fort was built by the Portuguese, as a watchtower in the 17th century. It offers a strategic view
of the coastline and guards the Marve Creek.
 Its external façade is intact but internally it is dilapidated.
 It is under control of the Indian Air Force as it is located close to an Indian Air Force base and
permission is needed for accessing it.
 Madh Fort is not open to the public, and it is surrounded by local fishermen communities.
5.8. INTERNATIONAL BIG CATS ALLIANCE (IBCA).

CONTEXT
PM Modi Launches International Big Cats Alliance To Mark 50 Years Of Project Tiger
INTERNATIONAL BIG CATS ALLIANCE

 International Big Cats Alliance is being launched which will focus on the protection and
conservation of seven major big cats of the world, viz. Tiger, Lion, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Puma,
Jaguar and Cheetah, with a membership of the range of countries harbouring these species.
 The IBCA will provide assured support over five years with guaranteed funding of over Rs 800 crore.
 The group will work towards the protection of the seven big cats — tiger, lion, leopard, snow
leopard, puma, jaguar and cheetah.

 Membership to the alliance will be open to 97 “range” countries, which contain the natural
habitat of these big cats, as well as other interested nations, international organisations, etc.
 The IBCA will engage in advocacy, partnership, knowledge e-portal, capacity building, eco-
tourism, partnerships between expert groups and finance tapping.
 The main objective of the alliance is to rehabilitate the big cats.
 The alliance will disseminate information on benchmarked practices, capacity building, resources
repository, research and development, and awareness creation.
5.9. MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATION

CONTEXT:
All the five tiger reserves in Tamil Nadu are well managed as per the National Tiger Conservation
Authority’s (NTCA) fifth cycle of the Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) for 2022.
MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVENESS EVALUATION

 The MEE exercise was
carried out based on the
framework by the
International Union for
Conservation of Nature
(IUCN) through six
assessment elements –
context, planning, input,
process, output and
outcomes.
 Protected area (PA)
management
effectiveness evaluation
(MEE) is defined as the assessment of how well PAs are being managed- primarily, whether they
are protecting their values and achieving the goals and objectives agreed upon.
 Assessment of protected area management effectiveness has emerged as a key tool for PA
managers and it is well recognized by the government over the past 1.5 decades. The term
‘management effectiveness’ reflects following three main themes of PA management:
 Design issues relating to both individual sites and PA systems
 The adequacy and appropriateness of management systems and processes
 Delivery of the objectives of PAs, including conservation of values
 MEE is a very important document that provides valuable guidance on various aspects of wildlife
and protected area.
 A new framework for MEE of Marine Protected Areas has been also jointly prepared by WII and
MoEF&CC and it will be very useful document to implement.
 The Environment Minister also launched the Management Effectiveness Evaluation of Indian Zoos
(MEE-ZOO) framework which proposes guidelines, criteria and indicators for evaluation of zoos of
the country through Management Effectiveness Evaluation Process (MEE-ZOO) in a manner which
is discrete, holistic and independent.
 The assessment criteria and indicators look beyond the traditional concepts, include issues of
animal welfare, husbandry and sustainability of resources and finance.
 The MEE-ZOO exercise is moving towards developing highest standards in Zoos across India and
adhering to core values of accountability, transparency, innovation, use of technology,
collaboration and integrity to achieve the mandate of conservation of endangered species.
5.10. SRIVILLIPUTTUR MEGAMALAI TIGER RESERVE

CONTEXT
The ‘Status of Tigers 2022’ report released said local extinction of tiger populations was observed in
Kanniyakumari and Srivilliputtur.
SRIVILLIPUTTUR MEGAMALAI TIGER RESERVE

 It is India's 51st tiger reserve and 5th tiger
reserve of Tamil Nadu. It is formed of combining
two wildlife sanctuaries namely Grizzled Squirrel
Wildlife Sanctuary and Megamalai Wildlife
Sanctuary.
 On 8th Feb 2021, the Ministry of Environment,
Forest and Climate Change gave notification
of this new tiger reserve
 It is mainly formed for connecting adjacent wild
life sanctuaries such as Periya sanctuary,
Srivilliputhur Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary,
Anamalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Kalakkad
Mundanthurai Tiger Reserve, and Thenmala
reserve forests which are being unconnected.
 It will act as a connecting bridge of all
adjacent sanctuaries and also to make it as a
contiguous corridor where big cats can thrive.
These two sanctuaries (Megamalai Tiger
Reserve and Grizzled Squirrel Wildlife Sanctuary)
are acting as a buffer zones for all the above-mentioned sanctuaries until now
 It also gives protection to the Vaigai river which originates from Megamalai which gives protection
from land encroaches and starts to flow again as a perennial river. Thus this new tiger reserve will
help in transformation of Vaigai river to perennial river from non-perennial river
5.11. METRO UNDER THE RIVER

CONTEXT:
Trial runs are underway on East-west corridor of Kolkata Metro
THE EAST-WEST CORRIDOR

 The 16.55-km East-West corridor is the
second line of the Kolkata Metro
network.
 When completed it will connect the IT
hub of Salt Lake Sector V on Kolkata’s
eastern flank to the western suburb of
Howrah.
 The line, called the Green Line, will link
Howrah station to Sealdah station,
which is the hub of Kolkata’s suburban
railway network.
 Of the total 16.55 km-long East-West
stretch, 520 meters is under the Hooghly
riverbed.
 The western portion of the East-West
Corridor is underground. There are 12
stations on the entire route, including
the country’s deepest Howrah station
at the depth of 33 metres.
 The train will run 100 meters beneath the river waters and it will take 45 seconds to cross the tunnel.
5.12. CENSUS ON WATER BODIES

CONTEXT:
Jal Shakti Ministry Releases Report Enumerating Over 24 Lakh Water Bodies
WATER BODY CENSUS

 Ministry of Jal Shakti has conducted the first-ever census of water bodies across the nation.

 The census provides a comprehensive inventory of India's water resources, including natural and
man-made water bodies like ponds, tanks, lakes, and more, and to collect data on the
encroachment of water bodies.
 The Census also highlighted disparities between rural and urban areas and varying levels of
encroachment and revealed crucial insights into the country's water resources.
 The census was launched under the centrally sponsored scheme, “Irrigation Census” in
convergence with the 6th Minor Irrigation Census in order to have a comprehensive national
database of all water bodies.
 The information on all important aspects of the water bodies including their type, condition, status
of encroachments, use, storage capacity, status of filling up of storage, etc was collected.
 It covered all the water bodies located in rural as well as urban areas that are in-use or not in-use.
 The census also took into account all type of uses of water bodies like irrigation, industry,
pisciculture, domestic/ drinking, recreation, religious, ground water recharge etc. Census has been
successfully completed and the All India and State-wise reports have been published.
The key features/findings of the Census are as follows:
 24,24,540 water bodies have been enumerated in the country, out of which 97.1% (23,55,055) are
in rural areas and only 2.9% (69,485) are in urban areas.
 Top 05 States in terms of number of water bodies are West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh,
Odisha and Assam which constitute around 63% of the total water bodies in the country.
 Top 05 States in terms of number of water bodies in urban areas are West Bengal, Tamil Nadu,
Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Tripura, whereas in rural areas, top 05 States are West Bengal, Uttar
Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Assam.
 59.5% of water bodies are ponds, followed by tanks (15.7%), reservoirs (12.1%), Water conservation
schemes/percolation tanks/check dams (9.3%), lakes (0.9%) and others (2.5%).
 55.2% of water bodies are owned by private entities whereas 44.8% of water bodies are in the
domain of public ownership.
 Out of all public owned water bodies, maximum water bodies are owned by Panchayats,
followed by State Irrigation/State WRD.
 Out of all private owned water bodies, maximum water bodies are in hands of Individual
owner/farmer followed by group of individuals and other private bodies.
 Top 05 States which lead in the private owned water bodies are West Bengal, Assam, Andhra
Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand.
 Out of all 'in use' water bodies, major water bodies are reported to be used in pisciculture followed
by Irrigation.
 Top 05 States wherein major use of water bodies is in pisciculture are West Bengal, Assam, Odisha,
Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh;
 Top 05 States wherein major use of water bodies is in irrigation are Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh,
Telangana, West Bengal and Gujarat.
 78% water bodies are man-made water bodies whereas 22% are natural water bodies. 1.6%
(38,496) water bodies out of all the enumerated water bodies are reported to be encroached out
of which 95.4% are in rural areas and remaining 4.6% in urban areas.
 The information on water spread area was
reported in respect of 23,37,638 water bodies.
Out of these water bodies, 72.4% have water
spread area less than 0.5 hectare, 13.4% have
water spread area between 0.5-1 hectare,
11.1% have water spread area between 1-5
hectares and remaining 3.1% of water bodies
have water spread area more than 5
hectares.
ENCROACHMENT OF WATER BODIES
 The census found that 1.6% of enumerated
water bodies — 38,496 out of 24,24,540 — had
been encroached upon. More than 95% of
these were in rural areas — which is logical
because more than 97% of the water bodies
covered by the census were in the rural areas.

In almost 63% of encroached water bodies, less than a quarter of the area was under
encroachment; in about 12% water bodies, more than three-quarters of the area was under
encroachment.
 Uttar Pradesh accounted for almost 40% (15,301) of water bodies under encroachment, followed
by Tamil Nadu (8,366) and Andhra Pradesh (3,920). No encroachment was reported from West
Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh.
5.13. NITROGENOUS FERTILISER- UREA

CONTEXT:
Sales of urea crossed a record 35.7 million tonnes (mt) in the fiscal year ended March 31,
2023.
FAILURE OF NBS
 Under NBS, the government fixed a per-kg subsidy for each fertiliser nutrient: Nitrogen (N),
phosphorus (P), potash (K) and sulphur (S). This was as against the earlier product-specific subsidy
regime.
 Linking subsidy to nutrient content was intended to promote balanced fertilisation by discouraging
farmers from applying too much urea, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash
(MOP).
 These are fertilisers with high content of a single nutrient: Urea (46% N), DAP (46% P plus 18% N) and
MOP (60% K).
 NBS was expected to induce product innovation, besides more use of complex fertilisers (having
lower concentrations of N, P, K and S in different proportions) and SSP (containing only 16% P but
also 11% S).
 However, the data reveals worsening of nutrient imbalance, with urea consumption rising by over
a third since 2009-10
COST OF IMBALANCED FERTILISATION
 Fertilisers are essentially food for crops. They, like humans, need nutrients – primary (N, P, K),
secondary (S, calcium, magnesium) and micro (iron, zinc, copper, manganese, boron,
molybdenum) – for plant growth and grain yield.
 Over time, though, crop yield response to fertiliser use has more than halved: 1 kg of NPK nutrients
yielded 12.1 kg of cereal grains in India during the 1960s, but only 5 kg during the 2010s
 The underlying reason has been the disproportionate application of N by farmers.
 when Indian farmers are applying 100 kg of N, hardly 35 kg is now being utilised, with the balance
65 kg unavailable to the plant. Some of the unutilised N may convert into organic form and
become part of the soil nitrogen pool.
 This soil organic nitrogen may then undergo mineralisation (reconvert into inorganic ammonium
form) and become available to the subsequent crops. The remaining unutilised N, however,
escapes from the soil-plant system through hydrolysis (breakdown of urea into ammonia gas and
its release into the atmosphere) and nitrification (below-the-ground leaching after conversion into
nitrate).
 There are two approaches to cut urea consumption. The first is raising prices.
 a second approach is to improve Nitrogen USE Efficiency
5.14. ZERO SHADOW DAY

CONTEXT:
Bengaluru experienced a ‘Zero Shadow Day’, when vertical
objects appear to cast no shadow
ZERO SHADOW DAY

 For every point on Earth between the Tropic of Cancer and
the Tropic of Capricorn, there are two Zero Shadow Days a
year.
 The Zero Shadow Day is restricted to locations between the
tropics, and so places north of Ranchi in India are out of it.

 One falls during the Uttarayan when the Sun moves northwards, and the other is during
Dakshinayan when the Sun moves southwards.
 Uttarayan (movement of the Sun from south to north from winter solstice to summer solstice) and
Dakshinayan (back from north to south) happen because Earth’s rotation axis is tilted at an angle
of roughly 23.5° to the axis of revolution around the Sun.
 The Sun’s location moves from 23.5°N to 23.5°S of Earth’s equator and back.
 All places whose latitude equals the angle between the Sun’s location and the equator on that
day experience zero shadow day, with the shadow beneath an object at local noon.
5.15. RISING SEA LEVELS

CONTEXT
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has found in a new report that the world’s sea level is
rising at an unprecedented rate
STATE OF THE GLOBAL CLIMATE 2022

 The report, entitled ‘State of the Global Climate 2022’, was published.
 Along with accelerating sea-level rise, it focused on a consistent rise in global temperatures,
record-breaking increases in the
concentration of greenhouse
gases as well as glacier loss,
sustained drought-like conditions
in East Africa, record rainfall in
Pakistan, and unprecedented
heatwaves that struck Europe
and China in 2022.
 The rate of global mean sea-level
[GSML] rise has doubled between
the first decade of the satellite
record and the last
 According to the WMO report,
the sea level has been rising in
the three decades for which
satellite altimeter data is
available (1993-2022). But while
the rate of sea-level rise was 2.27
mm/year in 1993-2002, it shot up
to 4.62 mm/year in 2013-2022.
 The WMO report points to the
following factors as being
responsible for a rising GSML:
“ocean warming, ice loss from
glaciers and ice sheets, and
changes in land water
storage”.
 The report also says that the
earth’s ice cover, known as
the cryosphere, has thinned.
The cryosphere includes the
Arctic and Antarctic regions
(called “sea ice”), glaciers, the
ice sheets of Greenland and
Antarctica (area of ice on land covering more than 50,000 km 2), seasonal snow cover, and
permafrost (mass of land that remains below 0º C for at least two straight years).
5.16. PREPAREDNESS AND RESILIENCE FOR EMERGING THREATS (PRET)

INITIATIVE
CONTEXT:

The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a new initiative to be better prepared for future
outbreaks of a similar scale and devastation as the COVID-19 pandemic.
PREPAREDNESS AND RESILIENCE FOR EMERGING THREATS

 The Preparedness and Resilience for
Emerging Threats (PRET) Initiative is aimed
at providing “guidance on integrated
planning for responding to any respiratory
pathogen such as influenza or
coronaviruses”.
 While the current focus of PRET will be on
respiratory viruses — in the backdrop of the
SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, possible threat of an
avian influenza outbreak — work is already
underway to assess what should be the
next group of pathogens to be mitigated
under this initiative.
 The initiative was announced at the Global
Meeting for Future Respiratory Pathogen
Pandemics held on April 2023 in Geneva,
Switzerland.
 The PRET monitoring framework, which is
expected to be outlined soon, lists a host of actions which countries will be expected to work on
with progress being achieved by December 2025.
 The three-pronged approach includes updating preparedness plans that affirm priority actions,
increase connectivity among stakeholders in pandemic preparedness planning through
systematic coordination and cooperation and dedicate sustained investments, financing and
monitoring of pandemic preparedness with a special focus on bridging the lacunes highlighted
during the COVID-19 pandemic.
5.17. FOREST FIRES IN UTTARAKHAND: THREAT TO BIODIVERSITY

CONTEXT
Forest fires are becoming more frequent and fierce in Uttarakhand.
THREAT TO BIODIVERSITY
 Uttarakhand is home to at least 102 species of mammals, 70 reptiles, 19 amphibians, and 124
species of fish. The state also boasts of 600 species of birds.
 The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies 55 of the bird species as
“threatened”, of which six are critically endangered and four are endangered
 Several mammalian fauna found in the state are also classified as endangered. The list includes
the Asian elephant, tiger, Alpine musk deer, Himalayan musk deer, leopard, snow leopard, blue
sheep, Himalayan Thar, leopard cat, Himalayan black bear, sloth bear and pangolin.
 With 7,000 species of plants, Uttarakhand contributes 31 per cent of the country’s floral diversity. As
many as 119 flowering plants are endemic to the state.
 Forest fires can meddle with the life cycle of species and push many of the threatened and
endemic species closer to extinction.
 For instance, by destroying the leaves and foliage, a forest fire can significantly reduce the
photosynthetic activity of surviving trees and thereby affect their growth.
 It can also damage the seed bank, both above and below the ground, and wipe out the
seedlings and saplings growing on the forest floor. Species that are sparsely distributed and have
small or patchy populations suffer the worst impacts as they lose their habitat, territories, shelter
and food.
 The loss of keystone organisms in forest ecosystems, such as invertebrates, pollinators, and
decomposers, can significantly slow the recovery rate of the forest.
 Forest fires can also interfere with the reproduction and propagation of certain plants and animals.
Such recurrent events can be deadly to the species that are native or endemic to the region.

6. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
6.1. REUSABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE
CONTEXT:
Indian Space Research Organisation and its partners successfully demonstrated a precise landing
experiment for a Reusable Launch Vehicle at the Aeronautical Test Range (ATR), Chitradurga,
Karnataka
REUSABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE

 The Reusable Launch Vehicle
Autonomous Landing Mission (RLV
LEX) test was the second of five
tests that are a part of ISRO’s
efforts to develop RLVs, or space
planes/shuttles, which can travel
to low earth orbits to deliver
payloads and return to earth for
use again.
 According to ISRO, the series of
experiments with the winged RLV-
TD are part of efforts at
“developing essential
technologies for a fully reusable
launch vehicle to enable low-cost
access to space”.
 The RLV-TD will be used to
develop technologies like
hypersonic flight (HEX),
autonomous landing (LEX), return flight experiment (REX), powered cruise flight, and Scramjet
Propulsion Experiment (SPEX).
 ISRO’s RLV-TD looks like an aircraft. It consists of a fuselage, a nose cap, double delta wings, and
twin vertical tails.
 The 2016 experiment involved sending a winged spacecraft on a rocket powered by a
conventional solid booster (HS9) engine used by ISRO into space.
 The spacecraft traveled at a speed of Mach 5 (five times the speed of sound) when re-entering
the earth’s orbit and traveled a distance of 450 km before splashdown in the Bay of Bengal.
 The RLV LEX test involved a Chinook Helicopter of the Indian Air Force lifting the RLV LEX to a height
of 4.5 km and releasing the RLV, based on a command from Mission Management Computer.
 After midair release, the RLV carried out an autonomous landing “under the exact conditions of a
Space Re-entry vehicle’s landing — high speed, unmanned, precise landing from the same return
path — as if the vehicle arrived from space
 According to ISRO, the first test with RLV-TD (HEX1) involved the vehicle landing on a hypothetical
runway over the Bay of Bengal while the LEX experiment involved a precise landing on a runway.
 The LEX mission achieved the final approach phase that coincided with the re-entry return flight
path exhibiting an autonomous, high speed (350 km per hour) landing
 Three more experiments — return flight experiment (REX), powered cruise flight, and Scramjet
Propulsion Experiment (SPEX) — have to be conducted.
6.2. BHARAT 6G VISION DOCUMENT

CONTEXT:
On March 22, Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled the Bharat 6G Vision Document, a starting point
for policymakers and the industry to gear up for the next generation of telecommunication.

4G TECHNOLOGY
 4G is the abbreviated form of fourth-generation wireless connectivity that replaced 3G (third-
generation wireless) connectivity.
 The bandwidth speeds and network capacity increases with each generation of wireless cellular
technology.
 For example. 3G offered a peak speed of 14 Mbps whereas 4G delivered speeds of up to 100
Mbps.
 4Gdownload speeds allowed users to stream high-definition video and audio.
 Moreover, this network technology also enabled wireless broadband that allowed users to get
internet connectivity without the need for a fixed, wired connection from an internet service
provider ( ISP).
 A 4Gconnection uses an antenna to transmit radio frequencies that enable mobile devices to
connect to mobile networks.
5G DIFFERENT FROM 4G
 5G is the fifth generation of cellular networks which is up to100 times faster than 4G and is
expected to create opportunities for people and businesses.
 5G network technology adds more capacity (space) which offers moreroom for all the to devices
get higher data speeds.
 The 5G network is designed to connect not onlysmartphones but various other types of devices as
well.
 The network is capable of handling intense processing tasks like --- AR-filters or games which are
usually done by phones that affect the devices’ performance and battery.
 The 5G network will also help in developing new types of battery-powered devices, like lightweight
AR glasses and coordinated fleets of connected delivery drones.
 5G network can also function as multiple separate networks at the same time by using the network
slicing technology where slices of the network can be designed for a specificpurpose and can act
as an independent network.
6G technology
 6G technology is even more advanced than the 5Gtechnology that claims to deliver a speed of
1Tbps or 8,000Gbps.
 For example, users can download 142 hours of Netflix’s high-quality video every second with the
6G network. This network uses a different spectrum than 5G which allows it to have multiple use
cases for a variety of industrial sectors toenhance their efficiency.
 6G is expected to be 100 times faster than 5G and is likely tooffer enhanced reliability and wider
network coverage.
 Additionally, 6G may also connect ten times more devicesper square kilometre as the number of
connected devices increases in the upcoming years.
 Moreover, 4G networks offered a latency of about 50milliseconds (ms) whereas 5G networks had
ten times lowerlatency than 4G -- 5ms.
 In the case of 6G, latency is expectedto come down to a range between 1millisecond
to1microsecond which will allow huge data transmissions in less than a second.
6.3. LIGO INDIA

CONTEXT:
Gravitational wave detection facility to be setup in Maharashtra
LIGO INDIA
 LIGO is an international network of laboratories that detect the ripples in spacetime produced by
the movement of large celestial objects like stars and planets.
 These ripples were first postulated in Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity that encapsulates
our current understanding of how gravitation works.
 LIGO-India will be located in Hingoli district of Maharashtra, about 450 km east of Mumbai, and is
scheduled to begin scientific runs from 2030

 It is to measure these tiny effects of gravitational waves that scientists have set up the Laser
Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO), one of the most complex pieces of
scientific equipment ever built.
 The observatory comprises two 4-km-long vacuum chambers, built perpendicular to each other.
Highly reflective mirrors are placed at the end of the vacuum chambers.
 It is envisaged as a collaborative project between a consortium of Indian research institutions and
the LIGO Laboratory in the USA, along with its international partners.
 It will be built by the Department of Atomic Energy and the Department of Science and
Technology, with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Science Foundation,
the US, along with several national and international research and academic institutions.
 LIGO-India is a collaboration between the LIGO Laboratory (operated by Caltech and MIT in the
US) and three Institutes in India: the Raja Ramanna Center for Advanced Technology (RRCAT, in
Indore), the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR in Ahmedabad), and the Inter-University Centre for
Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA, in Pune).
Gravitational waves
 General Relativity also predicted that moving objects would generate gravitational waves in
spacetime, just like a moving boat produces ripples in water.
 Because these are ripples in spacetime itself, gravitational waves have the effect of causing a
temporary deformation in a body when it comes in contact. Since the spacetime itself elongates
or contracts during the propagation of the gravitational wave, everything lying in that spacetime
also goes through the same experience.
 This effect is similar to a ball being slightly squeezed along any of its diameters.. When a
gravitational wave passes the Earth, for example, the Earth gets similarly squeezed in one
direction, and bulges in the perpendicular direction.
 Because gravity is the weakest of all natural forces, the deforming effect of gravitational waves is
extremely tiny, the reason why it could not be experimentally verified for 100 years even though
many other predictions of General Relativity were tested repeatedly during this period.
6.4. INDIA’S SPACE JOURNEY

CONTEXT:
Beginning of Second Space Age.
SPACE JOURNEY
 India made a modest entry into the First Space Age in the 1960s. The first sounding rocket, a U.S.
supplied Nike Apache, was launched at Thumba (Kerala) in 1963 and in 1969, the Indian Space
Research Organisation (ISRO) was set up.
 Its first major project was Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) that involved leasing a
U.S. satellite in 1975-76 for educational outreach across 2,400 villages covering five million people.
 This led to the INSAT series in the 1980s, followed by GSAT,that provided the backbone for the
country’s telecommunication and broadcasting infrastructure.
 The field of satellite aided navigation emerged later. It began with GAGAN, a joint project
between ISRO and the Airports Authority of India, to augment Global Positioning System (GPS)
coverage of the region, to improve air traffic management over Indian airspace.
 This has now been expanded to a regional navigation satellite system called Navigation with
Indian Constellation (NavIC).
 Development of satellite launch capabilities began with the SLV1 in the 1980s, it took a decade
before ISRO developed the PSLV series that has become its workhorse with over 50 successful
launches.
 The origins of the Second Space Age can be traced to the Internet. In India, the process began
accelerating as the 1990s saw the emergence of private TV channels, together with cable TV
followed by direct to home transmissions
6.5. JUPITER ICY MOONS EXPLORER (JUICE) MISSION

CONTEXT:
European Space Agency set to launch Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (Juice)

JUPITER ICY MOONS EXPLORER
 ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, will make detailed observations of the giant gas planet and
its three large ocean-bearing moons – Ganymede, Callisto and Europa – with a suite of remote
sensing, geophysical and in situ instruments.
 The mission will characterise these moons as both planetary objects and possible habitats, explore
Jupiter’s complex environment in depth, and study the wider Jupiter system as an archetype for
gas giants across the Universe.
 The mission will study three of Jupiter's Galilean moons: Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa, all of
which are thought to have significant bodies of liquid water beneath their surfaces, making
them potentially habitable environments.
 The mission is not focused on volcanically active Io, a non-icy moon.
 The spacecraft is scheduled to launch on 13 April 2023 and will reach Jupiter in July 2031 after
four gravity assists and eight years of travel
 The JUICE orbiter will perform detailed investigations on Ganymede and evaluate its potential to
support life. Investigations of Europa and Callisto will complete a comparative picture of
these Galilean moons
 For Europa, the focus is on the chemistry essential to life, including organic molecules, and on
understanding the formation of surface features and the composition of the non-water-ice
material.
 Furthermore, JUICE will provide the first subsurface sounding of the moon, including the first
determination of the minimal thickness of the icy crust over the most recently active regions.
 Juice will also analyse the chemistry, structure, dynamics, weather, and climate of Jupiter and its
ever-changing atmosphere.
 However, Juice isn’t equipped to detect life.
 What it is capable of is finding out whether there could be places where the necessary conditions,
such as water, biological essential elements, energy, and stability, to sustain life are present.
 Only two other spacecraft have ever examined Jupiter: the Galileo probe, which orbited the gas
giant between 1995 and 2003, and Juno, which has been circling the planet since 2016.
6.6. NISAR SATELLITE

CONTEXT
NISAR satellite to map Himalayas’ seismic zones
BACKGROUND
 NISAR, jointly developed the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the U.S. will map the most earthquake prone
regions in the Himalayas with unprecedented regularity.
 The data this will generate can potentially give advance warning of land subsidence, as recently
observed in Joshimath, Uttarakhand, as well point to places that are at greatest risk from
earthquakes.
 The NISAR satellite will use two frequency bands: the Lband and Sband to image the seismically
active Himalayan region that will, every 12 days, create a “deformation map”
 Scientists from the Geological Survey of India in 2021 published a “strain map” of the Himalayas
based on data from 1,252 GPS stations along the Himalayas.
 It identified regions that had the greatest odds of generating earthquakes of magnitude above 8
and their extent.
NASA-ISRO SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR
 The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission is a joint project between NASA and ISRO
to co-develop and launch a dual-frequency synthetic aperture radar on an Earth observation
satellite.
 The satellite will be the first radar imaging satellite to use dual frequencies. It will be used for
remote sensing, to observe and understand natural processes on Earth
 It is designed to observe and measure some of the planet's most complex natural processes,
including ecosystem disturbances, ice-sheet collapse, and natural hazards such as earthquakes,
tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides.
 The mission is a partnership between NASA and ISRO.

 Under the terms of the agreement, NASA will provide the mission's L-band synthetic aperture radar
(SAR), a high-rate telecommunication subsystem for scientific data GPS receivers, a solid-state
recorder, and a payload data subsystem.
 ISRO will provide the satellite bus, an S-band synthetic aperture radar, the launch vehicle, and
associated launch services
6.7. MAGNETORESISTANCE
CONTEXT:
Graphene displays an anomalous giant magnetoresistance (GMR) at room temperature.
GIANT MAGNETORESISTANCE
 When a conductor is sandwiched between two ferromagnetic materials (commonly, metals
attracted to magnets, like iron). When the materials are magnetised in the same direction, the
electrical resistance in the conductor is low. When the directions are opposite each other, the
resistance increases. This is GMR
 The magnetoresistance observed in the graphene-based device was “almost 100-times higher
than that observed in other known semimetals in this magnetic field range,”
 The effect is due to the way electrons in the conductor scatter off electrons in the ferromagnets
depending on the orientation of the latter’s spin, which is affected by the direction of the
magnetic field.
 Conventional GMR devices are cooled to low temperatures to suppress the kinetic energy of their
constituent particles, keeping them from deflecting the electrons moving past them.
 GMR is the result of the electrical resistance of a conductor being affected by magnetic fields in
adjacent materials.
 It is used in hard disk drives and magnetoresistive RAM in computers, biosensors, automotive
sensors, microelectromechanical systems, and medical imagers.
 GMR-based devices are particularly used to sense magnetic fields. The new study has found that a
graphene-based device, unlike conventional counterparts, wouldn’t need to be cooled to a very
low temperature to sense these fields
6.8. JWST: COMPACT GALAXY

CONTEXT:
JWST near infrared imaging reveals a compact galaxy
BACKGROUND
 New James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) imaging
and spectroscopy observations have revealed a
gravitationally lensed galaxy at redshift 9.5 —
corresponding to 510 million years after the Big Bang.
 The researchers report (Science) nearinfrared imaging
from the JWST of a distant galaxy magnified by
gravitational lensing.
 They obtained spectral information with strong nebular
emission lines that reveal some of the galaxy’s physical
properties. The galaxy has an abundance of oxygen
and hydrogen.
JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE
 The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space
telescope currently conducting infrared astronomy.
 As the largest optical telescope in space, it is equipped
with high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments,
allowing it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for
the Hubble Space Telescope.
 This enables investigations across many fields

of astronomy and cosmology, such as observation of the first stars, the formation of the first
galaxies, and detailed atmospheric characterization of potentially habitable exoplanets.
 The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) led Webb's design and
development and partnered with two main agencies: the European Space Agency (ESA) and
the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
 The James Webb Space Telescope was launched on 25 December 2021 on an Ariane 5 rocket
from Kourou, French Guiana, and arrived at the Sun–Earth L2 Lagrange point in January 2022.
 Webb is designed primarily for near-infrared astronomy, but can also see orange and red visible
light, as well as the mid-infrared region, depending on the instrument being used.
6.9. TELEOS2 SATELLITE

CONTEXT
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will launch Singapore’s TeLEOS2 satellite from the Satish
Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota.
TeLEOS-2
 The launch will be carried out by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV.
 TeLEOS-2 is an Earth Observation Satellite by ST Engineering
 In 2015, ISRO launched TeLEOS-1, the first Singapore commercial Earth Observation Satellite.
 TeLEOS 2—a 750kg earth observation satellite that has synthetic aperture radar capable of
providing data in 1-metre resolution.
 It will be equipped with a 500 Giga Bytes onboard recorder for recording the data captured and
a high speed 800 Mbps down link.
6.10. PSLV C55

CONTEXT
ISRO launches PSLVC55 with two Singapore satellites
POLAR SATELLITE LAUNCH VEHICLE (PSLVC55)

 The Indian Space Research Organisation’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLVC55) carrying two
Singapore satellites, TeLEOS2 as primary satellite and Lumelite4 as co passenger, took off• from
the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota
 According to details provided by ISRO, PSLVC55 was a “dedicated commercial PSLV mission of
New Space India Limited (NSIL), for an international satellite customer from Singapore”.
 TeLEOS2 carries a Synthetic Aperture Radar payload while Lumelite4 is a technology demonstration
nanosatellite.
 This is the 57th flight of PSLV and 16th mission using the PSLV Core Alone configuration (PSLVCA)
 The TeLEOS2 was developed under a partnership between DSTA (representing the Government of
Singapore) and ST Engineering, a Singapore firm.
 Once deployed and operational, it will be used to support the satellite imagery requirements of
various agencies of Singapore. TeLEOS2 will be able to provide all weather day and night
coverage, and capable of imaging at 1 metre full polarimetric resolution
 Lumelite4 was codeveloped by the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) of Agency for Science,
Technology and Research (A*STAR) and Satellite Technology and Research Centre (STAR) of the
National University of Singapore.
 It is an advanced 12U satellite developed for the technological demonstration of the High
Performance Space borne VHF Data Exchange System (VDES). Using the VDES communication
payload developed by I2R and STAR’s scalable satellite bus platform, it aims to augment
Singapore’s enavigation maritime safety and benefit the global shipping community.
 Incidentally, PSLVC55 mission will carry out inorbit scientific experiments by using the spent PS4
stage as an orbital platform.
 This is the third time that PS4 will be used after satellite separations as a platform for experiments.
 There will be nonseparable payloads mounted on MSA (multi satellite adapter).
 Payloads will be “powered on” by a command after all satellites are separated.

 The platform will have solar panels mounted around the PS4 tank which will be deployed after
confirmation of the stage achieving stabilisation.
 The deployment of the solar panels will be through a ground command. The platform will ensure
that the deployed solar panel points towards the sun optimally using appropriate sunpointing
mode, which will increase the power generation capability of the platform.
 The power will be provided to payloads and avionic packages based on their requirements
6.11. WEB 3
CONTEXT:
Third generation web is biased towards the gaming and cryptocurrency industry.
WEB 3 AND WEB 3.0

 Web3 is decentralised, privacy-oriented, blockchain-driven and crypto-asset friendly; while Web
3.0 upholds the property of the ‘semantic web,’ which is powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The
real point about the semantic web is its ability to recombine information available on different
websites to generate new content and knowledge resources that are more authentic and
creative.
 Of the two variants, Web3 seeks to radically transform the manner in which data is generated,
monetised, shared and circulated. Further, it advocates decentralised data storage systems with
the objective of unshackling the oligopolistic grip of technology behemoths over data.
 Web3 has file-sharing systems such as the Inter-Planetary File System which are cryptographically
protected, more secure and capable of functioning off Internet and off blockchains. In this
manner, Web3 seeks to overcome the data storage barriers of blockchains.
 Web3 seeks to replace micro-economic organisations with decentralised autonomous
organisations (DAOs). At a more macro level, it seeks to create a distributed economic system,
where special classes of native digital tokens and cryptocurrencies would form the media of
monetary circulation.
 In general, Web3 platforms would serve to raise the efficiency of peer-to-peer transactions.
 Web3 systems also seek to generate fungible digital assets to reward local providers of data
storage capacity for their services. Asset tokens that are native to the new-gen web have the
potential to function as capital mobilisation tools for Web3 projects. Likewise, stakeholders of DAOs
can utilise tokens to exercise their voting rights. The NFTs of Web3 are more dynamic as they seek
to incorporate improvements brought in by incremental innovations.
6.12. ZERO TRUST

CONTEXT:
‘Zero trust’ to be key to data security in India
ZERO TRUST
 ‘Zero trust’ architecture will be
the cornerstone of data
security in 2023, especially as
India remains one of the most
vulnerable countries to cyber
threats and data loss incidents
 In simple terms, zero trust is a
security framework requiring all
users in and outside an
organisation’s network to be
security checked,
authenticated, authorised,
and validated before being granted physical or virtual access to an enterprise, its systems,
applications and data pool.
 Triple A pillars: authorisation, authentication and accounting
 piecemeal approach to implementing zero trust as it risked creating gaps in the data pipeline that
would make zero trust less ironclad.

7. COVID 19 AND DISEASES
7.1. DENGUE VIRUS
CONTEXT:
Prior infections driving dengue virus evolution in India
DENGUE
EVOLUTION AND VACCINE EFFICACY
 Dengue is a mosquito-borne viral infection,

found in tropical and sub-tropical climates
worldwide, mostly in urban and semi-urban
areas.
 The virus responsible for causing dengue, is
called dengue virus (DENV).
 There are four DENV serotypes, meaning
that it is possible to be infected four times.
 Dengue is transmitted by several species of
mosquitoes within the genus Aedes.
 Symptoms include fever, headache,
muscle, and joint pain, and a
characteristic skin rash that is similar to
measles. There is a drop in platelets.
 There are four types of dengue strains, and type II and IV are considered to be more severe and
normally require hospitalization.
 The Aedes mosquito breeds in clean stagnant water.
 There is no specific medicine to treat dengue.
 Developing an effective vaccine against dengue is tricky because it is caused by four closely
related viruses—DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3 and DEN-4—called serotypes. Each one interacts differently
with antibodies in human blood.
 A person infected with DEN-1 is then protected against it for life, but not against the other three
serotypes.
7.2. SEPSIS
CONTEXT
In 2017, around 48.9 million people were affected, and 11 million died from sepsis worldwide.
SEPSIS
 Bacterial, fungal and viral infections can lead to sepsis and septic shock. The condition can occur
from infections acquired while an individual is hospitalised, however, it can also occur from
infections acquired in the community.
 There are common causes of sepsis. These include infections of the respiratory system (pneumonia
for example), genitourinary system (such as urinary tract and or kidney infections), gastrointestinal
infections, and in the healthcare setting, indwelling catheter sites. Infections of the central nervous
system (meningitis) as well as skin and soft tissue (surgical site, wounds or burns) are also common
causes of sepsis.
 The most common infection in septic patients worldwide is pneumonia caused mainly by bacterial
pathogens.
 Any patient with an infection can develop sepsis. But babies up to one month old and people
older than 65 years have a higher risk of developing the condition.
 The risk of sepsis is also high among people with weakened immune systems such as those with HIV
or patients undergoing chemotherapy. Prolonged hospital stays or admission to an intensive care
unit (ICU) can also increase the risk of sepsis.

 Other risk factors include chronic diseases such as diabetes, kidney disease or chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease, patients with medical devices inserted into the body and having history of
prolonged use of antibiotics.
SYMPTOMS OF SEPSIS AND SEPTIC SHOCK
 Symptoms of sepsis are not specific. These may include one or more of these:
 Fever
 Tachycardia (elevated heart rate)
 Tachypnea (rapid breathing)
 Altered mental state (confusion)
 Lethargy especially in children
 Septic shock is a progression of sepsis. It’s characterised by hypotension (low blood pressure),
hypovolaemia (loss of bodily fluids such as water and blood) and organ dysfunction.
 Patients typically present with extreme confusion or loss of consciousness.

8. CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL EVENTS
8.1. PATTANAM
CONTEXT:
The ironage and post ironage site in Kerala
PATTANAM
 Pattanam in central Kerala lies the only multicultural archaeological site on the south western
coast of the Indian subcontinent.
 Often referred to as the ‘first emporium’ of the Indian Ocean, Muziris — of which Pattanam is part
— is an example of the Greco Roman classical age coming into direct contact with an ancient
South Indian civilisation
 There is no evidence that institutionalised religion existed in ancient Pattanam. There was certainly
no indication of the graded inequality embodied in the caste system that has characterised
contemporary Kerala and most of the rest of India.
 The technological, metallurgical, literary, and artistic advances of this phase bear witness to
rigorous cultural and commercial exchanges.
 The Pattanam excavations have unearthed over 45 lakh sherds (ceramic fragments); these
include approximately 1.4 lakh belonging to the littoral regions of the Mediterranean, the River
Nile, the Red Sea, the western and eastern Indian Oceans, and the South China Sea. Recent
findings include the seal of a sphinx, native to the ancient Greek city of Thebes.
 This wide span of locations confirms the existence of a thriving urban centre from the 5th century
B.C. till the 5th century A.D., with its peak phase from 100 B.C. to A.D. 300
 Pattanam has not chosen to delight archaeologists with idols of gods and goddesses, or the
remains of grandiose places of worship.
 This ironage and post ironage site was also bereft of sophisticated weaponry.
 This is in sharp contrast with some Pattanam contemporary sites such as Berenike in Egypt and Khor
Rori in Oman.
8.2. NATIONAL MISSION ON CULTURAL MAPPING

CONTEXT:
In a bid to harness the unique cultural heritage of rural India, the government has identified and
documented distinctive features of more than one lakh villages across the country.
NATIONAL MISSION ON CULTURAL MAPPING

 Ministry of Culture is creating a consolidated database of information about cultural assets and
resources for example a well mapped cultural inventory on a single platform for essential planning,
sustainable economic development and for preserving the rich cultural heritage of India,
particularly the endangered art forms.
 This data will be used to streamline and rationalize various financial grant schemes being
implemented by the Ministry for artistes and cultural organizations to ensure effectiveness,
transparency and value for money.
 The components of Cultural Industries/ assets can be viewed in terms of various art forms, cultural
practices, wisdom traditions, individual artistes, artistes’ communities and groups, cultural
organizations and spaces for performance and display. Culture Industries also include community
festivals and events, heritage properties, geographic landscapes and historical landmarks etc.
 The process will involve identification and map the cultural assets and art repositories of the nation
i.e. art expressions, crafts and skills, wisdom tradition and other cultural practices whether oral,
aural, visual or kinetic. Information about the ritual, social and economic status of artistes and
craftsmen within the community is also of relevance and is to be noted during the cultural
mapping.
CULTURAL ASSET MAPPING
 In this cultural asset mapping, villages have been broadly divided into seveneight categories
based on whether they are important ecologically, developmentally or scholastically, if they

produce a famous textile or product, and if they are connected to some historical or mythological
events such as the Independence struggle or epics like the Mahabharata.
 The ecological category, for example, includes the Bishnoi village near Jodhpur in Rajasthan,
which is a case study for living in harmony with nature, and Uttarakhand’s Raini village, which is
famous for the Chipko movement. There are also villages that have developmental importance
like Modhera in Gujarat, which is the fi•rst solarpowered village in India. Suketi in Himachal
Pradesh, Asia’s oldest fossil park, and Pandrethan in Kashmir, the village of Shaivite mystic Lal Ded,
are also classifi•ed for their historical importance.
 The entire exercise has been carried out under the Mera Gaon Meri Dharohar (My Village My
Heritage) programme of the National Mission for Cultural Mapping (NMCM).
 The Indira Gandhi National Centre for Arts (IGNCA) said it has undertaken the cultural asset
mapping of these villages through fi•eld surveys.
 “Detailed field surveys were carried out by joint teams of the Culture Ministry and the Common
Services Centres (CSC), under the Ministry of Electronics and IT MEITY) to create the dossiers
 The IGNCA plans to cover all the 6.5 lakh villages in the country.
8.3. EMPIRE-BUILDERS OF MEDIEVAL INDIA

CONTEXT:
Removal of a chapter on the Mughals from the history textbooks for Class 12 students
MUGHAL KINGS
 It all started with Babur when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi in the First Battle of Panipat in 1526, and
went on to capture all of North India in his brief reign of four years.
 Babur’s victory was to usher in a prolonged period of political stability for the next nearly 200 years.
 His grandson Akbar ruled for almost 50 years, as did Akbar’s great grandson Aurangzeb, while his
son Jahangir and Shah Jahan ruled for over 20 years each, making sure there was consistency in
state policy and the development of the empire was unimpeded.
 Their influence gradually reduced from 1707 onwards, and the last Mughal, Bahadur Shah Zafar,
was only a symbolic leader of the Revolt of 1857.
 This was a throwback to the golden era of the Great Mughals; the latter Mughals, post1707, had
done nothing to earn that kind of trust.
 Aurangzeb’s prolonged battles in the Deccan had enfeebled the state’s finances, and his
successors were unable to replenish the treasury.
 To augment resources, Aurangzeb had imposed jizyah, a tax solely on nonMuslims, which proved
detrimental in the long run.
 Once Aurangzeb passed away in 1707, his successors proved incapable of ruling over a huge,
unwieldy empire.
 It all came to a sad end with the banishment of Zafar to Rangoon after the 1857 revolt
8.4. BAISAKHI
CONTEXT:
Baisakhi celebrated on month of Baisakh
BAISAKHI
 Baisakhi marks the first day of the month of Baisakh and is traditionally celebrated on the thirteenth
or fourteenth of April.
 It synchronises with the celebration of spring harvest in north India.
 In many parts of India, it is also the date of the Indian solar new year.
 It corresponds to other festivals celebrating the traditional solar new year like Pohela, Boisakh,
Bohag, Bhihu, Vishu and Tamil Puthandu.
 Baisakhi is culturally linked to the harvesting of the crops. The farmer celebrates an intimate
connection with his land, with which he shares a deep bond.
 Baisakhi is of tremendous cultural, religious social and spiritual significance at myriad levels. It
demonstrates the cultural heritage of the people of Punjab and its rich folklore.

 Baisakhi holds special significance for the Sikhs, historically it marks the birth of the Khalsa order by
Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Guru of the Sikhs on April 13, 1699.
 After the execution of Guru Tegh Bahadur for refusing to convert to Islam under the order of the
Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, Guru Gobind Singh became the tenth Guru of the Sikhs.
 To commemorate the occasion people pay their obeisance in Gurdwaras, partaking the
sacramental karha prashad and langar (community kitchen). The festival of Baisakhi carries
forward the robust resilient spirit and vitality of Punjabiyat.
8.5. UTTARAMERUR INSCRIPTION

CONTEXT:
Prime Minister referred to the Uttaramerur inscription in Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, while discussing
India’s democratic history.
UTTARAMERUR INSCRIPTION:
 Uttaramerur has multiple inscriptions spanning centuries, the most famous one is from the reign of
Parantaka I (907-953 AD).
 The famous inscription from Parantaka I’s reign is found on the walls of the Vaikunda Perumal
Temple.
 These provide a detailed description about the Uttaramerur:
village’s self-governance and have been cited by  Uttaramerur lies in present-day
historians and political leaders alike as evidence of Kanchipuram district, approximately
India’s history of democratic functioning. 90 km southeast of Chennai, Tamil
 The inscription gives details of the functioning of the Nadu.
local sabha, i.e. the village assembly.  It is known for its historic temples built
 A sabha was an assembly exclusively of brahmans during Pallava and Chola rule.
and had specialised committees tasked with
different things.
 The Uttaramerur inscription details how members were selected, the required qualifications, their
roles and responsibilities, and even the circumstances in which they could be removed.
APPOINTING REPRESENTATIVES TO THE SABHA:
 Describing how the sabha shall be constituted, the inscription says, “There will be 30 wards.
Everyone living in these 30 wards would assemble and select one representative for the village
assembly.”
QUALIFICATIONS OF MEMBERS:
 It then goes on to describe what the qualifications for such a representative must be.
 These include ownership of a certain amount of land, having a house, being between the age of
35 and 70 and “knowing mantras and Brahmanas” (from the Vedic corpus).
 An exception can be made on land ownership if the person has learnt at least “one Veda and
four Bhashyas”.
 One must also be “well-versed in business” and “virtuous”.
DISQUALIFICATION OF MEMBERS:
 The inscription then lists a number of
factors which disqualify someone
and their family (all the relations are
systematically listed) from
consideration.
 These include, “not having submitted
accounts” while previously serving in
a committee, committing any of the
first four of the five ‘great sins’ (killing
a brahman, drinking alcohol, theft
and adultery), being associated with
outcastes, and eating ‘forbidden’
dishes.

 All those eligible and willing would write their names on palm leaf tickets following which, the
representative would be chosen on the basis of an elaborate draw of lots, conducted by priests in
the inner hall of the building where the assembly meets.
DETAILING RESPONSIBILITIES:
 The inscription describes a number of important committees within the sabha with their own distinct
functions.
 These include, the garden committee, the tank committee, the annual committee (an executive
committee which required prior experience and knowledge to be a part of), the committee for
supervision of justice (for supervising appointments and wrong doing), the gold committee (in
charge of all the gold in the village temple) and the five-fold committee (its role is unclear in the
inscription).
 These committee assignments would last for 360 days after which the members would have to
retire.
 Anyone in the committee who was implicated in any wrongdoing, such as forgery or having
ridden an donkey (i.e. being punished for a crime), was removed instantly.
 Also, the inscription emphasises upon the keeping of accounts - any discrepancy can also
disqualify members of the sabha.
IS THIS AN EXAMPLE OF A DEMOCRACY?
 While the Uttaramerur inscription gives details of local self-governance, it is far from a truly
democratic system.
 Not only does it restrict sabha membership to a tiny subsection of land-owning brahmans, it also
does not have true elections.
 This does not mean that this inscription should not be cited as a precedent for democratic
functioning.
 The present idea of democracy is a fairly recent phenomenon (the US gave universal adult
franchise to its population in 1965).
 What the Uttaramerur inscription details is a system of local self-government, outside the direct
authority of the king.
 Furthermore, for all intents and purposes, the inscription is like a constitution it describes both the
responsibilities of members of the sabha as well as the limitations to the authority of these
members.
 If the rule of law (rather than rule by personal diktat) is an essential component of a democracy,
the Uttaramerur inscription describes a system of government which follows just that.
8.6. BIHAN MELA

CONTEXT:
A seed festival aims to help tribal Kondh farmers in Odisha.
BIHAN MELA
 It is known as the seed festival and the event is participated by the farmers.
 Preparations begin as soon as farmers have harvested Kharif crops, which include both hybrid and
indigenous varieties of paddy, millets, maize and sorghum.
 Women are at the helm of this festival and carefully collect seeds of the indigenous varieties and
store them in earthen pots.
 On a designated day in December, they decorate the pots with red and white motifs, place them
in a bamboo basket and carry it on their head to the village where the fair is being organised.
 This was introduced to help farmers return to their traditional ways of farming like mixed cropping

9. DEFENCE IN NEWS
9.1. EXTENDED RANGE ANTI-SUBMARINE ROCKET (ER-ASR)
CONTEXT:
Anti-submarine rockets developed by 2 Pune labs successfully tested from INS Chennai
ER-ASR
 The ER-ASR was designed and developed by Pune-based Armament Research and Development
Establishment (ARDE) and High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL).
 It is designed to intercept submarines at specific depths.
 The rocket system will be deployed in anti-submarine operations and will be fired from an
indigenised rocket launcher mounted onboard various Indian naval ships.
 ER-ASR can be fired in single or in salvo mode depending on the tactical mission requirements.
 DRDO officials said the maiden successful test from the ship is a step towards enhancing the
capability of the Indian Navy in anti-submarine warfare and towards achieving ‘Atma Nirbharta’
in defence.
 DRDO officials said that ER-ASR has been designed to replace the existing Russian origin RGB
rockets which are already fitted in ships.
 While the RGB has a range of five kilometers, the ER-ASR can achieve a range over eight
kilometers.
9.2. FIGHTER JET CONUNDRUM

CONTEXT
The Indian Air Force is trying to keep up its strength of fighter squadrons as its fleet struggles with the
gradual phase out of existing jets as well as delays in the order
MORE ON NEWS
 Against the sanctioned strength of 42 fighter squadrons, the IAF today is at 31 squadrons. The bulk
of the heft to arrest the drawdown and ensure that the number doesn’t fall below 29 squadrons
rests on the 83 Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)— MK1A, LCAMK2 and MRFA.
 India has an ambitious plan lined up for the acquisition of over 500 fighter jets, a bulk of them to
be indigenously designed and manufactured, with a majority of them being for the IAF. However,
these are at various stages of development and procurement.
 The LCA which is the fulcrum of the indigenous jet development programme, originally intended
as a Mig21 replacement, has seen a series of delays and has now come back on track.
 In addition to the LCAMK1A, an even more capable and a larger LCAMK2, which received
sanction from the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) in September 2022 at a total cost of
₹9000 crore, is expected to
be ready for production by
2027
 The LCAMK2 will be similar
to the Mirage2000 in terms
of capability and will be an
important fillip as several
jets currently in service
begin going out. There is
also a Twin Engine Deck
Based Fighter (TEDBF) on
the drawing board for the
Navy’s aircraft carriers.

9.3. INS TARKASH
CONTEXT:
INS Tarkash, an Indian naval ship, reached Port Sudan to evacuate stranded Indians.
EVACUATION FROM SUNDAN

 INS Tarkash is the third ship to join the evacuation, which is being supported also by INS Sumedha
and INS Teg.
 The ships are being used to ferry stranded Indians from Port Sudan to the Saudi port of Jeddah
from where they are being flown to India.
 INS Sumedha brought 278 Indian nationals. It’s the same INS Sumedha which has gone back and
redocked.
 Two sorties of C130J brought in 121 and 135 passengers, respectively.
 Another batch of 297 Indians have sailed out on INS Teg and there were two more sorties of C130J
to evacuate 264 Indians
INS TARKASH:
 It is a state-of-the-art stealth frigate of the Indian Navy equipped with a versatile range of
weapons.
 Tarkash belongs to the Talwar class of guided missile frigates. These are modified Krivak III class
frigates built by Russia.
 It was built by the Yantar shipyard in Kaliningrad, Russia.
 It was commissioned into Indian Navy service on 9 November 2012 at Kaliningrad and joined the
Western Naval Command on 27 December 2012.

10. INDICES AND RANKING
10.1. INDIA JUSTICE REPORT 2022
CONTEXT:
Karnataka tops among 18 large States in delivery of justice.
KEY FINDINGS
 In India Justice Report (IJR) 2022 the State of Karnataka has achieved the top rank among the 18
large and mid-sized States with populations over one crore, as per the justice delivery namely
Police, Judiciary, Prisons, and Legal Aid.
 The State of Tamil Nadu has ranked in second position and Telangana in Third. The State of Uttar
Pradesh is at rank 18 which is the lowest.
 This report is based on overall data of 4 pillars of justice delivery namely Police, Judiciary, Prisons,
and Legal Aid.
 The State of Gujarat has got the fourth position and Andhra Pradesh is at slot five as per the report
which was released on April 4 in New Delhi.
 The list of Seven Small States with a population less than one crore each, was topped by Sikkim
which was ranked second in 2020. Sikkim has been followed by Arunachal Pradesh which was at
rank 5 in 2020 [2020 and Tripura is at rank three]. Tripura was at the rank one in 2020.
 In this list, the State of Goa is at rank Seven which is the lowest.
 The India Justice Report (IJR) was initiated by Tata Trusts in 2019, and this is the third edition.
 The foundation’s partners include the Centre for Social Justice, Common Cause, Commonwealth
Human Rights Initiative, DAKSH, TISS-Prayas, Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy and How India Lives, IJR’s
data partner.
 This report is based on 24-
month quantitative research.
The IJR 2022, like the
previous two, has tracked
the performance of States in
capacitating their Justice
delivery structures to
effectively deliver
mandated services.
 Each pillar was analysed
through the prism of
budgets, human resources,
workload, diversity,
infrastructure, and trends
against the state’s own
declared standards and
benchmarks.
 This third IJR also separately assesses the capacity of the 25 State Human Rights Commissions in the
country.
10.2. STATE OF WORLD POPULATION REPORT, 2023

CONTEXT:
India is set to overtake China to become the world’s most populous country by the middle of 2023,
according to data released by the United Nations.
KEY FINDINGS:
 India’s population is pegged to reach 142.86 crore against China’s 142.57 crore.
 This shows India will have 29 lakh more people than its Asian neighbour.
 The United States is a distant third, with an estimated population of 34 crore, the data by the State
of World Population Report, 2023 of the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) showed.
 The world’s population hit the 800crore mark in November 2022.

 Just eight countries will account for half the projected growth in global population by 2050 — the
Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and the
United Republic of Tanzania — while two thirds of people now live in a country where lifetime
fertility corresponds with zero growth.
 Central and Southern Asia is expected to become the most populous region in the world by 2037.
 Earlier UN reports had said that the population growth in South Asia will begin to decline before
2100. The latest UN projections suggest that the global population could grow to around 8.5 billion
in 2030, 9.7 billion in 2050 and 10.4 billion in 2100.
 Countries of sub-Saharan Africa are expected to continue growing through 2100 and to
contribute more than half of the global population increase anticipated through 2050.
 South Asia clocks some of the highest emigration trends, according to the report, with India seeing
an estimated net outflow of 3.5 million between 2010 and 2021. Pakistan has the highest net flow
of migrants of 16.5 million during the same period.
 The 2023 report finds that life expectancy among men now stands at 71 years while among
women it stands at 76 years.
 However, the
fertility rate in
India has
been steadily
dropping. The
National
Family Health
5 Survey
(2019-21)
found that
India attained
a Total Fertility Rate of 2.0 for the first time, less than the replacement level of 2.1, falling from 2.2 in
NFHS 4 (2015-16). Experts say that India’s large population is a result of the “population
momentum” from earlier decades, and that the country’s population is likely to start its decline
closer to 2050.
10.3. WORLD BANK’S LOGISTIC PERFORMANCE INDEX

CONTEXT
India jumps 6 places on World Bank’s Logistic Performance Index .
MORE ON NEWS
 India has climbed six places on the World Bank’s Logistic Performance Index (LPI) 2023, now
ranking 38th in the 139 countries index, as a result of significant investments in both soft and hard
infrastructure as well as technology.
 India was ranked 44th on the index in 2018 and has now climbed to 38th in the 2023 listing. India’s
performance has drastically improved from 2014, when it was ranked 54th on the LPI.
 According to the report, India’s rank moved up five places in infrastructure score from 52nd in 2018
to 47th in 2023. It climbed to 22nd spot for international shipments in 2023 from 44th in 2018 and
moved four places up to 48th in logistics competence and equality.
 According to the report, the average dwell time for containers between May and October 2022
was three days for India and Singapore, much better than some of the industrialised countries. The
dwell time for the US was seven days and for Germany it was 10 days.
MEASURES TAKEN
 PM Gati Shakti initiative, a National Master Plan for multimodal connectivity, in October 2021 to
reduce logistics cost and boost the economy by 2024-2
 In 2022, the prime minister had launched the National Logistics Policy (NLP) to ensure quick last-
mile delivery, end transport-related challenges, save time and money of the manufacturing sector
and ensure desired speed in the logistics sector.
 NICDC Logistics Data Services Limited applies radio frequency identification tags to containers
and offers consignees end-to-end tracking of their supply chain

11. SPECIES IN NEWS
11.1. TIGER POPULATION IN INDIA
CONTEXT:
India has at least 3,167 tigers, according
to estimates from the latest tiger census
KEY FINDINGS
 India has at least 3,167 tigers,
according to estimates from the
latest tiger census
 There were 2,967 tigers recorded in
2018, and 2,226 in 2014
 The tiger population has grown the
most in the Shivalik hills and the
Gangetic flood plains, followed by
central India, the northeastern hills,
the Brahmaputra flood plains, and
the Sundarbans.
 There was a decline in the Western
Ghats numbers, though “major
populations” were said to be stable.
11.2. ASIAN ELEPHANTS

CONTEXT
Over 64% of elephant habitat lost across Asia since 1700
KEY FINDINGS
 Habitats suitable for Asian elephants across Asia have decreased by over 64% - quating to 3.3
million square kilometres of land - since 1700, estimates a study (Scientific Reports).
 Researchers estimated the change in the fragmentation and spread of Asian elephant
ecosystems in 13 countries.
 They suggest that China, India, Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, and Sumatra have each lost more
than half of their suitable elephant habitat range, with the greatest declines in China (around 94%)
and India (around 86%).
ASIAN ELEPHANTS
 There are three subspecies of Asian
elephant which are the Indian, Sumatran
and Sri Lankan.
 The Indian subspecies has the widest
range and accounts for the majority of the
remaining elephants on the continent.
 Compared to the African bush elephant,
the Asiatic Elephant is smaller by
comparison with convex back. Its small
ears have a laterally folded dorsal border.
 The tusks are usually absent in females, but
more prominent in males.
 Global Population: Estimated 20,000 to
40,000.
 IUCN Red List: Endangered.
 Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule I.
 CITES: Appendix I

12. ALSO IN NEWS
 The Central Information Commission is a statutory body,
 Set up under the Right to Information Act in 2005 under the
Government of India to act upon complaints from those individuals
who have not been able to submit information requests to a Central
Public Information Officer or State Public Information Officer due to
either the officer not have been appointed, or because the
CENTRAL respective Central Assistant Public Information Officer or State
INFORMATION Assistant Public Information Officer refused to receive the application
COMMISSION for information under the Right to Information Act.
 The commission includes one chief information commissioner and not
more than ten information commissioners who are appointed by the
President of India on the recommendation of a committee consisting
of the Prime Minister as Chairperson, the Leader of Opposition in the
Lok Sabha and a Union Cabinet Minister to be nominated by the
Prime Minister.
 The Lokayukta is the Indian Parliamentary Ombudsman, executed
into power, through and for, each of the State Governments of India.
 It is brought into effect in a state, after passing the Lokayukta Act in
respective state Legislature
 The post is created to quickly address grievances against the
working integrity and efficiency of the government or its
administration (public servants).
 Once appointed, Lokayukta cannot be dismissed or transferred by
the government, and can only be removed by passing an
impeachment motion by the state assembly, making it a powerful
deterrent against corruption and mal-administration of the governing
system
 The Administrative Reform Commission for Redressal of Citizen's
LOKAYUKTA Grievances submitted its interim report to the prime minister in
October,1966 with recommendations to set up the Institution of
Lokayukta in each of the States to investigate complaints against
administrative actions and to improve the standard of public
administration in India
 Maharashtra was the first state to introduce the institution of
Lokayukta through The Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayuktas Act in 1971.
 The Lokayukta is appointed by the Governor of the State, through
nomination by its Chief Minister (in consensus with Chief justice of the
State High Court, Leaders of the Opposition in the Legislative
Assembly and Legislative Council, Speaker of the Legislative
Assembly and Chairman of the Legislative Council)
 Any person who is a judge or a retired Chief Justice or a retired judge
of the High Court is eligible to be appointed as Lokayukta
 The North Atlantic Treaty also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an
intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28
European and two North American.
NORTH ATLANTIC
 NATO is a collective security system:
TREATY
 its independent member states agree to defend each other against
ORGANIZATION
attacks by third parties
 NATO's main headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium, while
NATO's military headquarters are near Mons, Belgium.
 CERTin may be exempted from giving information under RTI Act
 The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN or ICERT) is
CERTIN an office within the Ministry of Electronics and Information
Technology of the Government of India.
 It is the nodal agency to deal with cyber security threats like hacking

and phishing.
 It strengthens security-related defence of the Indian Internet domain.
 CERT-IN was formed in 2004 by the Government of India under
Information Technology Act, 2000 Section (70B) under the Ministry of
Communications and Information Technology.
 Agency to perform the following functions in the area of cyber
security:
 Collection, analysis and dissemination of information on cyber
incidents.
 Forecast and alerts of cyber security incidents
 Emergency measures for handling cyber security incidents
 Coordination of cyber incident response activities.
 Issue guidelines, advisories, vulnerability notes and whitepapers
relating to information
 security practices, procedures, prevention, response and reporting of
cyber incidents.
 Such other functions relating to cyber security as may be prescribed.
 The three largest producers of lithium are Australia, Chile and China.
 The demand for lithium is expected to reach 1.5 million tonnes of
lithium carbonate equivalent by 2025 and over 3 million tonnes by
2030.
 Australia alone produces 52% of the world’s lithium. Unlike Chile,
LITHIUM
where lithium is extracted from brines, Australian lithium comes from
PRODUCING hard-rock mines for the mineral spodumene.
COUNTRIES
 China, the third-largest producer, has a strong foothold in the lithium
supply chain
 Australia is the world’s biggest exporter of lithium with most of it going
to China, which dominates the
 Lithiumion battery production market.
 CAD narrows to 2.2% of GDP in third quarter of FY23
 The current account deficit is a measurement of a country’s trade
where the value of the goods and services it imports exceeds the
value of the products it exports.
 The current account includes net income, such as interest and
dividends, and transfers, such as foreign aid, although these
CURRENT components make up only a small percentage of the total current
ACCOUNT DEFICIT account.
 The current account represents a country’s foreign transactions and,
like the capital account, is a component of a country’s balance of
payments (BOP).
 It includes export and import of goods and services i.e. visible and
invisible trade. This type of transaction changes (increase or
decreases) the current level of consumption of the country.
 A new genus and species of bagworm moth Capulopsyche
keralensis has been discovered from the coffee plantations of Kerala.
 The genus and species
was named
Capulopsyche keralensis.
Capulo means coffee and
NEW BAGWORM psyche means moth or
MOTH SPECIES butterfly. The name
therefore translates as
‘Coffee moth of Kerala’ as
it was found from coffee
plantations of Nariyampara and Nelliampathy
 Capulopsyche keralensis belongs to the moth family psychidae,
which consists of very small moths.

 It is characterised by case-building behaviour of larvae and a high
degree of sexual dimorphism. Females of many psychid species
never develop into a moth and retain larval appearance.
 This is the first genus and species of subfamily Taleporiinae reported
from India. The subfamily Taleporiinae is characterised by extreme
sexual dimorphism.
 The females are pale yellowish, wingless, with short legs and
antennae.
 The male moth is a small-sized brownish black moth with a wingspan
8–8.4 mm and body length of 2.9 mm
 Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries
to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each
year.
 The French National Day is the anniversary of the Storming of the
Bastille on 14 July 1789,a major event of the French Revolution, as well
as the Fête de la Fédération that celebrated the unity of the French
people on 14 July 1790.
 Celebrations are held throughout France. One that has been
BASTILLE DAY reported as "the oldest and largest military parade in Europe" is held
on 14 July on the Champs-Élysées in Paris in front of the President of
the Republic, along with other French officials and foreign guests
 In 1789, tensions rose in France between reformist and conservative
factions as the country struggled to resolve an economic crisis.
 In May, the Estates General legislative assembly was revived, but
members of the Third Estate broke ranks, declaring themselves to be
the National Assembly of the country, and on 20 June, vowed to
write a constitution for the kingdom.
 Pashmina is considered the finest craftsmanship in the world which
transforms the exceptionally warm and delicate Cashmere threads
to opulent accessories. The fleece of Changthangi Goat is known as
Pashm which is an Urdu word & has origins in Farsi.
 This goat is exotic and is only found there, 15000 feet above sea level
in Ladakh - Jammu and Kashmir, making the art of Pashmina even
rarer and revered all over the world. Pashmina has fascinated kings,
PASHMINA SHAWL royals, and people all over the world by its magical allure and a
traditional grace.
 The growth of this fine and ultra-smooth wool is an adaptive response
to the harsh terrain where winter temperature falls to -40 degrees.
 Raw Cashmere has a unique sheen, and fine fibres are as thin as 12-
16 microns in diameter.
 Note that the human hair has an average diameter of 50 microns,
and this makes Cashmere about 1/4th of a human hair
 Heat wave is considered if maximum temperature of a station
reaches at least 40°C or more for Plains and at least 30°C or more for
Hilly regions.
 a) Based on Departure from Normal Heat Wave: Departure from
normal is 4.50°C to 6.40°C Severe Heat Wave: Departure from normal
is >6.40degree C
 b) Based on Actual Maximum Temperature Heat Wave: When actual
maximum temperature ≥ 450°C Severe Heat Wave: When actual
HEAT WAVE
maximum temperature ≥47
 c) If above criteria met at least in 2 stations in a Meteorological sub-
division for at least two consecutive days and it declared on the
second day.
 Heat Wave for coastal stations in India
 When maximum temperature departure is 4.50°C or more from
normal, Heat Wave may be described provided actual maximum
temperature is 370°C or more. The peak month of the heat wave

over India is May.
 Equatorial Guinea and Tanzania reported outbreaks of Marburg virus

disease (MVD), the first ever outbreak of the disease in these
countries
 Marburg virus (MARV) is a hemorrhagic fever virus of the Filoviridae
family of viruses and a member of the species Marburg marburgvirus,
genus arburgvirus.
 It causes Marburg virus disease in primates, a form of viral
hemorrhagic fever.
MARBURG VIRUS
 The virus can be transmitted by exposure to one species of fruit bats
or it can be transmitted between people via body fluids through
unprotected sex and broken skin.
 The disease can cause haemorrhage, fever, and other symptoms
similar to Ebola, which belongs to the same family of viruses.
 According to the WHO, there are no approved vaccines or antiviral
treatment for Marburg, but early, professional treatment of symptoms
like dehydration considerably increases survival chances
 Current annual estimates of kalaazar are about 1,00,000, with more
than 95% of cases reported to WHO from India and other tropical
countries.
 Kalaazar is a vector
borne (sandfly)
neglected tropical
disease caused by
the protozoan
parasites of the
genus leishmania
that afflicts the
world’s poorest
KALA-AZAR populations in over
90 countries.
 most importantly
coinfection with
HIV, which leads to
an
immunocompromised state.
 The four States endemic for kalaazar in India are: Bihar (33 districts),
Jharkhand (4 districts), West Bengal (11 districts), and Uttar Pradesh
(six districts).
 The current treatment regimens against kalaazar use formulations
that are toxic and induce high levels of drugresistance.
 A rare disease is a debilitating lifelong disease or disorder that occurs
infrequently in the human population. Examples include diseases in
India like Haemophilia, Thalassemia, Sickle-cell Anaemia, Cystic
Fibrosis, and others.
 While the WHO defines rare disease as one with a prevalence of 1 or
less, per 1000 population
RARE DISEASE  A rare disease is any disease that affects a small percentage of the
population such as fewer than 200,000 people across a broad range
of possible disorders.
 These rare diseases are majorly thought to be genetic and are
passed on from one generation to the next.
 In India, Haemophilia, Thalassemia, Sickle cell anaemia and Primary
Immuno Deficiency in children, auto-immune diseases, Lysosomal

storage disorders such as Pompe disease and Gaucher’s disease are
in the rare diseases list.
 ECGC Limited (Formerly Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of
India Limited) is a government owned export credit agency of India.
 It is under the ownership of Ministry of Commerce and Industry,
Government of India, and is headquartered in Mumbai,
Maharashtra.
EXPORT CREDIT  It provides export credit insurance support to Indian exporters and
GUARANTEE banks.
CORPORATION OF  Its topmost official is designated as Chairman and Managing
INDIA Director, who is a central government civil servant under ITS cadre.
 Government of India had initially set up Export Risks Insurance
Corporation (ERIC) in July 1957.
 It was transformed into Export Credit and Guarantee Corporation
Limited (ECGC) in 1964 and to Export Credit Guarantee Corporation
of India in 1983.
 The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), is an autonomous
organisation of the Government of India, involved in India's global
cultural relations, through cultural exchange with other countries and
their people.
 It was founded on 9 April 1950 by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the first
Education Minister of independent India.
INDIAN COUNCIL  The Council addresses its mandate of cultural diplomacy through a
FOR CULTURAL broad range of activities.
RELATIONS  In addition to organising cultural festivals in India and overseas, the
ICCR financially supports a number of cultural institutions across India,
and sponsors individual performers in dance, music, photography,
theatre, and the visual arts.
 It also administers the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International
Understanding, established by the Government of India in 1965,
whose last award was in 2009
 Tribal Co-operative Marketing Development Federation of India
(TRIFED) is a national level cooperative body under the administrative
control of Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Government of India.
 It was established under the Multi-state co-operative societies act
1984 under the former Ministry of Welfare.
 Later it came under the control of Ministry of Tribal affairs.
 In order to empower the downtrodden tribal community, it started
the procurement of tribal art and craft items firstly in 1999 through its
retail outlet called Tribes India
TRIBAL  TRIFED was formed with the main objective of institutionalising the
CO-OPERATIVE trade of Minor forest products (MFP) and to provide the tribals of
MARKETING India a fair price for the surplus agricultural products produced by
them.
DEVELOPMENT
 In order to support tribal art and craft it organises the tribal art and
FEDERATION OF
craft exhibition called "Aadi Mahotsav"; where tribal craft products
INDIA
from all over the country are exhibited and bought by the art lovers
 In the backdrop of "Van Dhan Yojna"; TRIFED along with the Ministry
of Tribal Affairs and Ministry of Food Processing Industries launched
the TRIFOOD project in August 2020. The scheme envisaged setting
up of tertiary value addition units
 TRIFED with the support from Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium
Enterprises launched the "Tech for Tribal" scheme in March 2020. It
aims to impart the training to tribal forest product gatherers through a
30 day course developed by the higher educational institutions like
IITs.

 The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is an
organization enabling the co-operation of leading oil-producing
countries, in order to collectively influence the global market and
maximise profit.
 Founded on 14 September 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members
(Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela), it has, since 1965,
been headquartered in Vienna, Austria
DORGANIZATION  As of September 2018, the 13 member countries accounted for an
OF THE PETROLEUM estimated 44 percent of global oil production and 81.5 percent of
EXPORTING the world's proven oil reserves, giving OPEC a major influence on
COUNTRIES global oil prices
 Current OPEC members are Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea,
Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo,
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
 Meanwhile, Ecuador, Indonesia and Qatar are former OPEC
members.
 A larger group called OPEC+ was formed in late 2016 to have more
control on the global crude oil market.
 A recent Right to Information (RTI) response from the National
Medical Commission (NMC) said that 64 MBBS and 55 postgraduate
medical students died by suicide in the past five years.
 Additionally, 1,166 students dropped out of medical colleges. Of
these, 160 were studying MBBS and 1,006 were pursuing
postgraduate courses
 According to a study, 358 suicide deaths among medical students
(125), residents (105) and physicians (128) had been reported
between 2010 and 2019
 Seven out of 10 suicides took place before the age of 30, said the
study titled “Suicide deaths among medical students, residents and
MEDICAL STUDENTS
physicians in India spanning a decade (20102019): an exploratory
UNDER STRESS study using online news portals and Google database”.
 Woman residents and physicians were younger than the male victims
at the time of suicide. Anaesthesiology (22.4%) followed by
obstetricsgynaecology (16.0%) had the highest suicide deaths.
 Academic stress among medical students (45.2%) and residents
(23.1%), and marital discord among physicians (26.7%) were the most
noticeable reasons for suicide. Mental illhealth was the next
mostcommon reason in medical students (24%) and physicians
(20%), while harassment (20.5%) was a cause for residents.
 Up to 26% had exhibited suicide warning signs and only 13% had
ever sougt psychiatric help before ending their lives.
 India’s net direct tax
collections have risen 17.6% in
2022-23 to touch ₹16.61 lakh
crore, exceeding the Revised
Estimates target for the year
by 0.7%, as per provisional
data released by the Finance
NET DIRECT TAX Ministry
 The contribution of corporate
tax collections in the gross
direct tax kitty was ₹10.04 lakh
crore, just a tad higher than
the ₹9.61 lakh crore paid by taxpayers as personal income tax and
Securities Transaction Tax (STT).

 Estuaries and their surrounding wetlands are bodies of water usually
found where rivers meet the sea. Estuaries are home to unique plant
and animal communities that have adapted to brackish water—a
mixture of fresh water draining from the land and salty seawater.
 Estuaries are among the most productive ecosystems in the world.
ESTUARIES Many animals rely on estuaries for food, places to breed, and
migration stopovers.
 Estuaries form a transition zone (ecotone) between river
environments and maritime environments.
 Examples of estuaries are river mouths, coastal bays, tidal marshes,
lagoons and deltas.
 It is the act of abstaining from participation in an official action such
as a legal proceeding due to a conflict of interest of the presiding
court official or administrative officer.
 There is no specific legislation in India to direct a judge’s recusal.
 Even though there are no specific laws regarding the same, there has
been customary practice. This is based on a probable existing bias,
JUDGE RECUSAL
where judges are expected to recuse.
 In Ranjit Thakur v Union of India (1987), the SC held that the test of the
likelihood of bias is the reasonableness of the apprehension in the
mind of the party.
 The judge needs to look at the mind of the party before him, and
decide that he is biased or not.
 The Union Cabinet in July 2020 has approved a new pan India
Central Sector Scheme called Agriculture Infrastructure Fund
(National Agriculture Infra Financing Facility). The scheme shall
provide a medium - long term debt financing facility for investment in
viable projects for post-harvest management Infrastructure and
community farming assets through interest subvention and financial
support.
AGRICULTURE
 The duration of the Scheme shall be from FY2020 to FY2032 (10 years).
INFRASTRUCTURE
 It gives 3% interest subvention, credit guarantee support through
FUND
CGTMSE for loan of up to Rs.2 crore and facility of convergence with
other Central and State Govt. Scheme
 AIF is providing all around financial support to the farmers, Agri-
entrepreneurs, farmer groups like Farmer Producer Organisations
(FPOs), Self Help Groups (SHGs), Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) etc. and
many others to create post-harvest management infrastructure and
build community farming asset throughout the country.
 The exercise will see intense air manoeuvres aimed at improving
interoperability, a defence source said.
 The Indian Air Force (IAF) is set to field its frontline fighters SU30MKI,
Rafale and the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft along with force
multipliers, while the U.S. Air Force is expected to bring in F15 fighter
jets.
COPE INDIA  The Japanese Air Self Defence Force (JASDF) participated in Cope
EXERCISE India as an observer for the first time in December 2018 based on the
Agreement of Defence Ministerial Meeting on August 20, 2018.
 The India-U.S. bilateral Malabar naval exercise became trilateral
with the addition of Japan in 2015 and further brought in all
the Quad partners together with the inclusion of Australia in 2020.
 India and Japan held the maiden air exercise Veer Guardian hosted
by the JASDF.
 Dial-up Internet access is a form of Internet access that uses the
facilities of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish
DIAL-UP INTERNET
a connection to an Internet service provider (ISP) by dialing a
ACCESS
telephone number on a conventional telephone line. Dial-up
connections use modems to decode audio signals into data to send

to a router or computer, and to encode signals from the latter two
devices to send to another modem at the ISP.
 The last dialup Internet connection was switched off• in India in
March 2021, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has
said, as it moved to repeal a decades old regulation dictating the
quality of service of the early Web access technology.
 Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson’s, is a chronic
degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly
affects the motor system.
 The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens,
non-motor symptoms become more common.
 Early symptoms are tremor, rigidity, slowness of movement, and
difficulty with walking.
 Cognitive and behavioral problems may occur with depression,
PARKINSON'S anxiety, and apathy.
DISEASE  Parkinson's disease dementia becomes common in the advanced
stages of the disease.
 The cause of PD is unknown, but a combination of genetic and
environmental factors is believed to play a role
 No cure for PD is known; treatment aims to reduce the effects of the
symptoms
 The disease is named after English doctor James Parkinson, who
published the first detailed description in An Essay on the Shaking
Palsy, in 1817.
 The term polycrisis was first used in the 1990s by French theorist of
complexity Edgar Morin.
 When multiple crises in multiple global systems become causally
entangled in ways that significantly degrade humanity’s prospects.
 These interacting crises produce harms greater than the sum of those
POLYCRISIS the crises would produce in isolation, were their host systems not so
deeply interconnected.
 The ‘polycrisis’ was first used by former European Commission
president Jean-Claude Juncker to describe Europe’s combustible
situation in 2016 which combined indebtedness with Brexit, climate
change and a refugee crisis
 The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is an agency of the
Ministry of Earth Sciences of the Government of India.
 It is the principal agency responsible for meteorological observations,
weather forecasting and seismology.
 IMD is headquartered in Delhi and operates hundreds of observation
stations across India and Antarctica. Regional offices are at Chennai,
Mumbai, Kolkata, Nagpur, Guwahati and New Delhi.
 IMD is also one of the six Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres
INDIA of the World Meteorological Organisation.
METEOROLOGICAL  It has the responsibility for forecasting, naming and distribution of
DEPARTMENT warnings for tropical cyclones in the Northern Indian Ocean region,
including the Malacca Straits, the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea
and the Persian Gulf.
 The IMD is headed by the Director General of Meteorology
 IMD collaborates with other agencies such as the Indian Institute of
Tropical Meteorology, National Centre for Medium Range Weather
Forecasting and the National Institute of Ocean Technology.
 IMD also operates seismic monitoring centres at key locations for
earthquake monitoring and measurements

 Nathu La is a mountain pass in the Dongkya
Range of the Himalayas between China's
Yadong County in Tibet, and the Indian
states of Sikkim and West Bengal in Bengal,
South Asia.
NATHU LA  The pass, at 4,310 m (14,140 ft), connects
the towns of Kalimpong and Gangtok to
the villages and towns of the lower Chumbi
Valley.
WORLD BANK
LOWERS INDIA’S
GROWTH
 Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (or Kudankulam NPP or KKNPP) is

the largest nuclear power station in India, situated in Kudankulam in
KUDANKULAM the Tirunelveli district of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
NUCLEAR POWER  KKNPP is scheduled to have six VVER-1000 reactors built in
PLANT collaboration with Atomstroyexport, the Russian state company and
Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), with an installed
capacity of 6,000 MW of electricity.
 Parambikulam Tiger Reserve, which also includes the erstwhile
Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary, is a 643.66 square kilometres (248.5
sq mi) protected area lying in Palakkad district and Thrissur district of
Kerala state, South India.
 It is in the Sungam range of hills between the Anaimalai Hills and
PARAMBIKULAM Nelliampathy Hills.
TIGER RESERVE
 Parambikulam Wildlife Sanctuary was declared as part of the
Parambikulam Tiger Reserve on 19 February 2010.
 The Tiger Reserve is the home of four different tribes of indigenous
peoples including the Kadar, Malasar, Muduvar and Mala Malasar
settled in six colonies
 The Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS),
under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), has just launched two
fresh modern deep sea ‘Slocum’ gliders in the Bay of Bengal, one
programmed towards the north and other towards the south to study
the physical and biogeochemical parameters of the sea and get an
insight into the climate change.
 The gliders are equipped with sensors to track temperature, salinity,
chlorophyll, dissolved oxygen, PAR – photosynthetic active radiation
— in the sea water among others.
‘SLOCUM’ GLIDERS
 The gliders have been deployed from the Ocean Research Vehicle
‘Sagar Manjusha’ of the National Institute of Ocean Technology
(NIOT) off•the Chennai coast outside of the EEZ exclusive economic
zone boundary.
 These gliders can go underwater up to a depth of about 1,000 metres
and will surface four to five times a day, continuously giving data for
the satellite to pick up and relay the same to the newly established
‘National Glider Operations Facility’ at INCOIS in Pragati Nagar,
Hyderabad.

 This is 2nd such water conference, the first being held in 1977 in Mar
de Plata, Argentina
 UN Headquarters in New York
 Theme: “Our watershed moment: uniting the world for water”
 It is hosted by USA, Tajikistan, and the Netherlands
 The World Water Conference that was convened by the United
Nations was the first UN conference on freshwater in almost 50 years.
 It was held in the context of serious environmental issues — flooding,
drought, a severity of climate change and a looming food crisis.
 The conference also marked a midterm review of the Water Action
Decade 2018-2028 (to advance the water agenda by energising
UN WORLD WATER existing programmes and projects, and inspiring water action to
CONFERENCE achieve the 2030 Agenda, in particular Sustainable Development
Goal 6 (SDG 6), which envisages the sustainable management of
water and sanitation for all.
 The central outcome of the conference was the international Water
Action Agenda, to which governments, multilateral institutions,
businesses, and nongovernmental organizations submitted over 670
commitments to address water security issues. Nearly 164
governments and 75 multilateral organisations have made
commitments.
 While the commitments embodied in the Water Action Agenda are
voluntary and, therefore, legally nonbinding, the voluntary
commitments are expected to inspire the collective political will,
which is needed to address the many water challenges.
 Kumluca is a town and
district of Antalya
Province on the
Mediterranean coast
of Turkey, part of the
Turkish Riviera. Kumluca
COAST OF is located 90 km (56 mi)
KUMLUCA west of the city of
Antalya, on the Teke
Peninsula, (between the bays of Antalya and Fethiye).
 Its neighbour towns are Korkuteli, Elmalı, Finike, Kemer and Antalya
 The town of Kumluca, formerly the village of Sarıkavak, is named for
its sandy soil (kum meaning sand in Turkish), good for growing
watermelons
 Article 200 deals with the Governor's powers in relation to providing
assent to bills passed by the State legislature, as well as other powers
of the Governor, such as reserving the bill for consideration by the
President.
 Article 201 gives powers to the Governor of the state to reserve a Bill
passed by the state legislature, for the consideration of the President.
KUDANKULAM  Three Types of Veto Power: Absolute veto, Suspensive veto and
NUCLEAR POWER Pocket veto.
PLANT  Absolute Veto: It refers to the power of the President to withhold his
assent to a bill passed by the Parliament. The bill then ends and does
not become an act.
 Suspensive Veto: The President uses a suspensive veto when he
returns the bill to the Indian Parliament for its reconsideration.
 Pocket Veto: The bill is kept pending by the President for an indefinite
period when he exercises his pocket veto.

 Social media platforms
and other intermediaries
on the Internet are now
required to make sure that
“fake news” articles about
the Union government,
deemed and declared as
‘FAKE NEWS’ such by its Press
Information Bureau (PIB),
are taken down from their
platforms when they are alerted to such posts.
 The changes were notified through the Information Technology
(Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Amendment
Rules, 2023, amending the IT Rules, 2021.
 As many as 269 districts in 27 States have started distributing fortified
rice under the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), achieving a
100% target set for Phase II by March 2023 in the Rice Fortification
Programme
 Fortification is the process of adding Fortified Rice Kernels (FRK),
containing FSSAI prescribed micronutrients (Iron, Folic Acid, Vitamin
B12) to normal Rice (Custom Milled Rice) in the ratio of 1:100 (Mixing 1
Kg of FRK with 100 Kg custom milled rice).
 Fortified rice is nearly identical to traditional rice in aroma, taste, and
texture. This process is done in the rice mills at the time of milling of
rice.
FORTIFICATION OF  The Department has also developed Standard Operating Procedure
(SoP) for adherence of Quality Assurance (QA) & Quality Control
RICE
(QC) protocols on production and distribution of fortified rice/ FRKs.
 FSSAI the regulatory/licensing authority for food fortification, has
drafted Standards for FRK, Pre-mix and provided the direction to all
the stakeholders for operationalization of draft standards with
immediate effect. Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has also notified
the standards for FRK, Pre-Mix (vitamins and minerals), Machineries
(Blenders, Extruders and other allied machineries etc.)
 Fortification of rice is found to be a cost-effective and
complementary strategy to increase vitamin and mineral content in
diets with low turnaround time (TAT) and a step towards nutritional
security and helps in fighting anaemia and malnutrition in the
country.
 The Amazon rainforest, also called
Amazon jungle or Amazonia, is a moist
broadleaf tropical rainforest in the
Amazon biome that covers most of the
Amazon basin of South America.
 This basin encompasses 7,000,000 km2
AMAZON (2,700,000 sq mi), of which 5,500,000 km2
RAINFOREST (2,100,000 sq mi) are covered by the
rainforest.
 This region includes territory belonging to
nine nations and 3,344 formally acknowledged indigenous territories.
 The majority of the forest, 60%, is in Brazil, followed by Peru with 13%,
Colombia with 10%, and with minor amounts in Bolivia, Ecuador,
French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela.
 India’s new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) has adopted a fresh approach
to the import of secondhand goods, making it possible to reexport
NEW FOREIGN old items after repairing them in the country.
TRADE POLICY  It also paves the way for the import of used electronics and IT goods,
albeit with certain restrictions. The import policy for secondhand
goods in the

 FTP 2023 outlines a new category of unrestricted imports for goods
brought into the country for the purpose of repair, refurbishing,
reconditioning or reengineering, with an intent to reexport them.
 Such imports will be conditional upon importers ensuring that any
waste generated during the repair or refurbishing process is treated
as per domestic laws and environmental, safety and health norms.
 Backed by more than 100 countries (it does not include India), the
proposed IFA is meant to create legally binding provisions aimed at
facilitating investment flows.
 The legal obligations inter alia will require states to augment
regulatory transparency and predictability of investment measures.
INVESTMENT This agreement will be very different from investment protection
FACILITATION agreements such as bilateral investment treaties (BITs) that allow
AGREEMENT foreign investors to bring claims against the host state for alleged
treaty breaches. This is known as investorstate dispute settlement
(ISDS).
 Presumably, one of the reasons India is not a party to IFA negotiations
is the apprehension that foreign investors could use a future IFA to
bring claims under the existing BITs.
 Uttarakhand became the first State in the country to legalise
cannabis cultivation in 2017.
 Controlled cultivation is being done in some districts of Gujarat,
Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
 Similarly, controlled cultivation of cannabis has been permitted in
several countries such as Uruguay, Canada, the U.S., Austria, and
CULTIVATION OF Belgium
CANNABIS
 The central law that deals with cannabis (weed or marijuana) in India
is the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, of 1985.
 The NDPS Act prohibits the sale and production of cannabis resin and
flowers, but the use of leaves and seeds of the cannabis plant is
permitted
 The states have the power to regulate and form the state rules for it.
 The West Bank is a landlocked
territory near the coast of the
Mediterranean in Western Asia that
forms the main bulk of the Palestinian
territories.
 It is bordered by Jordan and the
Dead Sea to the east and by Israel
WEST BANK (see Green Line) to the south, west,
and north
 It was captured by Jordan after
the Arab-Israeli War (1948) but Israel
snatched it back during the Six-Day
War of 1967 and has occupied it ever
since.
 The West Bank is sandwiched between Israel and Jordan.
 The Gaza Strip or simply Gaza, is a
Palestinian exclave on the eastern coast
of the Mediterranean Sea.
 The smaller of the two Palestinian
territories, it borders Egypt on the
southwest for 11 km (6.8 mi) and Israel on
GAZA STRIP
the east and north along a 51 km (32 mi)
border.
 Together, the Gaza Strip and the West
Bank make up the State of Palestine,
while being under Israeli military
occupation since 1967

 The date for implementation of track and trace system for exports of
drug formulations with respect to maintaining the parent-child
relationship in packaging levels and its uploading on central portal
has been extended up to August 1 this year for both SSI and non-SSI
manufactured drugs
TRACK AND TRACE
 The manufacturer or the exporter of drug formulations would have to
SYSTEM FOR
print the barcode as per global standard at different packaging
EXPORTS levels — primary, secondary and tertiary — to facilitate tracking and
tracing of their products.
 Barcode helps in tracking and tracing origin of drugs, which minimises
the chances of genuine medicines being considered spurious, sub-
standard or counterfeit.
 Offshore wind power or offshore wind energy is the generation of
electricity through wind farms in bodies of water, usually at sea.
 There are higher wind speeds offshore than on land, so offshore farms
generate more electricity per amount of capacity installed
 As of 2020, the total worldwide offshore wind power nameplate
capacity was 35.3 gigawatt (GW). [United Kingdom (29%), China
(28%) and Germany (22%) account for more than 75% of the global
installed capacity.
 The 1.2 GW Hornsea Project One in the United Kingdom was the
world's largest offshore wind farm
 India is blessed with a coastline of about 7600 km surrounded by
water on three sides and has good prospects of harnessing offshore
OFFSHORE WIND wind energy.
POWER  Considering this, the Government had notified the “Nationaloffshore
wind energy policy”as per the Gazette Notification dated 6th
October 2015.
 As per the policy, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy will act as
the nodal Ministry for development of Offshore Wind Energy in India
 National Institute of Wind Energy (NIWE), Chennai will be the nodal
agency to carryout resource assessment; surveys and studies in EEZ
demarcate blocks and facilitate developers for setting up offshore
wind energy farms.
 Based on the preliminary assessment from satellite data and data
available from other sources eight zones each in Gujarat and Tamil
Nadu have been identified as potential offshore zones for
exploitation of offshore wind energy.
 360-degree appraisal/multi source feedback system introduced by
the Centre in 2016 for appraising the performance of the all India
service officers, in State government service, for empanelment so
that they could apply for vacancies that arise under the Government
of India (GoI).
 A 360-degree performance appraisal, also known as 360-degree
feedback or multi-rater feedback, is when employers evaluate
360 DEGREE employee performance from as many sources as possible, instead of
APPRAISAL only one-on-one feedback from a direct manager.
 Once all the feedback is collected, it is used to measure employee
strengths, weaknesses and skills and can provide a well-rounded
performance review. If the 360-degree performance appraisal is well
designed, it can boost team performance, promote self-awareness
and create transparent communication
 Currently the performance of civil servants is assessed through Annual
Confidential Report (ACR) prepared by superior authority
 Ramakrishna Math is the administrative legal organization of the
Ramakrishna Order, considered part of the Hindu reform movements.
RAMAKRISHNA
 It was set up by sanyasin disciples of Ramakrishna Paramhansa
MATH
headed by Swami Vivekananda at Baranagar Math in Baranagar, a
place near Calcutta (now Kolkata), in 1886.India.

 The headquarters of Ramakrishna Math and its twin organisation,
Ramakrishna Mission is at Belur Math (in West Bengal, India).
 After the passing away of their Master Sri Ramakrishna in 1886 the
young disciples under the leadership of Swami Vivekananda
organized themselves into a new monastic order.
 This monastery, known as Belur Math, serves as the Mother House for
all the monks of Ramakrishna Order who live in the various branch
centres of Ramakrishna Math and/or the related Ramakrishna Mission
in different parts of India and the world.
 The Sukhoi Su-30MKI is a twinjet multirole air superiority fighter
developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence by India's
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force (IAF).
 A variant of the Sukhoi Su-30, it is a heavy, all-weather, long-range
fighter
 India signed a MoU with Russia in October 2000, to start the licence
SUKHOI SU-30MKI
production of Su-30MKIs at HAL’s plant.
 The aircraft has a length of 21.9m, wingspan of 14.7m and a height of
6.4m. The maximum take-off weight of Su-30MKI is 38,800kg.
 The Su-30MKI fleet of IAF was fitted with air-launched version of
BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles and was successfully tested in
November 2017.
 The most common isotopes in natural uranium are uranium-238
(which has 146 neutrons and accounts for over 99% of uranium on
Earth) and uranium-235 (which has 143 neutrons).
 Uranium has the highest atomic weight of the primordially occurring
elements. Its density is about 70% higher than that of lead, and slightly
lower than that of gold or tungsten.
 It occurs naturally in low concentrations of a few parts per million in
soil, rock and water, and is commercially extracted from uranium-
bearing minerals such as uraninite
URANIUM ISOTOPE  Many contemporary uses of uranium exploit its unique nuclear
properties. Uranium-235 is the only naturally occurring fissile isotope,
which makes it widely used in nuclear power plants and nuclear
weapons.
 However, because of the tiny concentrations found in nature,
uranium needs to undergo enrichment so that enough uranium-235 is
present.
 Physicists in Japan discovered a previously unknown isotope of
uranium, with atomic number 92 and mass number 241, i.e.
uranium241.
 Nelapattu Bird Sanctuary is a bird sanctuary in Tirupati district, Andhra
Pradesh, India, near the village of Nelapattu.
 It has an area of 458.92 hectares. It is an important breeding site for
NELAPATTU BIRD spot-billed pelicans (Pelecanus philippensis).
SANCTUARY
 Nelapattu has two major plant communities, Barringtonia swamp
forests and southern dry evergreen scrub.
 The Barringtonia swamp forests are found in the 83-ha Nelapattu tank
 The spot-billed pelican (Pelecanus philippensis) or gray pelican is a
member of the pelican family.
 It breeds in southern Asia from southern Iran across India east to
Indonesia.
 It is a bird of large inland and coastal waters, especially large lakes.
SPOT-BILLED
PELICAN  At a distance they are difficult to differentiate from other pelicans in
the region although it is smaller but at close range the spots on the
upper mandible, the lack of bright colours and the greyer plumage
are distinctive.
 In some areas these birds nest in large colonies close to human
habitations.

 The spot-billed pelican is a rather large water bird, often the largest or
one of the largest native birds in the southern stretches of its range,
albeit it is fairly small for a pelican
 Wetlands of global importance are called Ramsar sites, after the city
in Iran where the Treaty on Wetlands was signed.
 India has 75 Ramsar sites, of which 14 are in Tamil Nadu, including
three added last year: the Karikili bird sanctuary, the Pallikaranai
Marsh Reserve Forest and the Pichavaram mangrove. The spotbilled
pelican is seen in all these places.
 A header, also known as
sender ID, is a unique
combination of
characters or numbers
representing the brand or
company name of the
message sender
 Headers are used by
banks, marketing
SENDER IDS
companies, utility
providers and even
government offices to
send bulk messages (SMS)
to consumers and
customers.
 An investigation by the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre
(I4C) under the Ministry found that the headers were hosted from
China.
 Zojila tunnel, Asia’s longest bidirectional tunnel, in the Sonmarg area
of Ganderbal.
 The tunnel, through the Zojila Pass at an altitude of 11,575 feet on the
ZOJILA TUNNEL
SrinagarLeh highway, is expected to cut travel time between the
Kashmir Valley and Ladakh to just 40 minutes from the current four
hours
 Launched in April, 2015.
 The scheme’s objective is to refinance collateral-free loans given by
the lenders to small borrowers.
 Banks and MFIs can draw refinance under the MUDRA Scheme after
becoming member-lending institutions of MUDRA.
 Mudra Loans are available for non-agricultural activities upto Rs. 10
PRADHAN MANTRI lakh and activities allied to agriculture such as Dairy, Poultry, Bee
MUDRA YOJANA Keeping etc, are also covered.
(PMMY) SCHEME  Mudra’s unique features include a Mudra Card which permits access
to Working Capital through ATMs and Card Machines.
 There are three types of loans under PMMY:
 Shishu (up to Rs.50,000).
 Kishore (from Rs.50,001 to Rs.5 lakh).
 Tarun (from Rs.500,001 to Rs.10,00,000).
 The Jagannath Temple is an important Hindu temple dedicated to
Jagannath, a form of Vishnu – one of the trinity of supreme divinity in
Hinduism. Puri is in the state of Odisha, on the eastern coast of India.
The present temple was rebuilt from the tenth century onwards
 The temple was rebuilt by the Ganga dynasty king Anantavarman
JAGANNATH
Chodaganga in the 10th century CE, as suggested by the
TEMPLE Kendupatna copper-plate inscription of his descendant
Narasimhadeva II.
 the image of Jagannath (which gave its name to the English term
'juggernaut') is made of wood and is ceremoniously replaced every
twelve or 19 years by an exact replica.

 It is one of the Char Dham pilgrimage sites.
 Architecture Type: Kalinga
 The IndianAmerican statistician Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao has
been awarded the 2023 International Prize in Statistics — the
equivalent of the Nobel Prize for statistics.
 It is awarded once every two years to an individual or team “for
major achievements using statistics to advance science, technology
and human welfare”.
 Professor Rao’s groundbreaking paper, “Information and accuracy
INTERNATIONAL attainable in the estimation of statistical parameters”, was published
in 1945.
PRIZE IN STATISTICS  One of Professor Rao’s papers in 1948 offered a novel generic
approach to testing hypotheses, now widely known as the “Rao
score test”. This and two other tests, developed by Jerzy Neyman, E.S.
Pearson and Abraham Wald, are sometimes called “the holy trinity”
of this branch of statistics.
 Professor Rao also contributed to orthogonal arrays, a concept in
combinatorics used to design experiments whose results are
qualitatively good, as early as 1949.
 The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the
Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the
vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire.
 The chief institutions of the organisation are the Commonwealth
Secretariat, which focuses on intergovernmental aspects, and the
Commonwealth Foundation, which focuses on non-governmental
relations among member states
COMMONWEALTH  The current Commonwealth of Nations was formally constituted by
OF NATIONS the London Declaration in 1949, which modernised the community
and established the member states as "free and equal".
 Member states have no legal obligations to one another but are
connected through their use of the English language and historical
ties. The Commonwealth Charter defines their shared values of
democracy, human rights, and the rule of law, as promoted by the
quadrennial Commonwealth Games.
 Headquarters: London, United Kingdom
 According to Article 200, when a Bill, passed by the Legislature of a
State, is presented to the Governor, he has four options
 He assents to the Bill
 He withholds assent
 He reserves the Bill for the consideration of the President
 He returns the Bill to the Legislature for reconsideration.
 The first proviso says that as soon as the Bill is presented to him, he
may return the Bill to the Legislature (if it is not a Money Bill) together
with a message requesting the Legislature to reconsider the Bill.
 He can suggest desirability of introducing such amendments or
ARTICLE 200 changes as he thinks appropriate. If, on such reconsideration, the Bill
is passed again, with or without amendments, and is presented to the
Governor for assent, he has to accord his assent.
 The second proviso says that if the Bill presented to him derogates, in
the opinion of Governor, from the powers of the High Court so as to
endanger the position which the High court is designed to fill by the
Constitution, he is bound to reserve the Bill for the consideration of
the President.
 Article 200 of the Constitution that does not prescribe a timeline for
the Governor to provide assent to Bills sent by a State Legislative
Assembly.

 Country’s firstofitskind post office building, to accommodate the
Ulsoor Bazaar post office, 3D printing technology is being employed
to construct the building.
 3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-
dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model
 It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is
deposited, joined or solidified under computer control, with material
being added together (such as plastics, liquids or powder grains
being fused), typically layer by layer
 One of the key advantages of 3D printing is the ability to produce
3D PRINTING
very complex shapes or geometries that would be otherwise
infeasible to construct by hand, including hollow parts or parts with
internal truss structures to reduce weight.
 Some of these benefits include enabling faster prototyping, reducing
manufacturing costs, increasing product customization, and
improving product quality
 4D printing is an additive manufacturing process in which the printed
object changes shape with time, temperature, or some other type of
stimulation. 4D printing allows for the creation of dynamic structures
with adjustable shapes, properties or functionality.
 Project Tiger is a tiger conservation programme launched in
November 1973 by the Government of India during Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi's tenure. The project aims at ensuring a viable
population of the Bengal tiger in its natural habitats, protecting it from
extinction
 In a testimony to the success of Project Tiger, in 2022, 54th tiger
reserve in India was declared in Ranipur Wildlife Sanctuary, Uttar
Pradesh, being the State’s fourth tiger reserve.
 Project Tiger was administered by the National Tiger Conservation
Authority
 The various tiger reserves were created in the country based on the
'core-buffer' strategy:
PROJECT TIGER
 Core area: the core areas are free of all human activities. It has the
legal status of a national park or wildlife sanctuary. It is kept free of
biotic disturbances and forestry operations like a collection of minor
forest produce, grazing, and other human disturbances are not
allowed within.
 Buffer areas: the buffer areas are subjected to 'conservation-oriented
land use'. They comprise forest and non-forest land. It is a multi-
purpose use area with twin objectives of providing habitat
supplement to spillover population of wild animals from the core
conservation unit and providing site-specific co-developmental
inputs to surrounding villages for relieving their impact on the core
area.
 According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), fairly
widespread rains along with stormy winds between 40-50 kilometers
per hour lashed several parts of the major wheat growing States in
the country during March, under the influence of consecutive
western disturbances.
 Rain spells accompanied by winds are not considered to be a good
WHEAT AND sign for the crop’s health if they are close to the ripening and
WESTERN harvesting stage, especially if there are instances of water logging in
DISTURBANCES the fields
 Unfortunately, there have been instances of crop flattening in fields,
besides water logging, which could be detrimental for the
readytoharvest wheat crop.
 Wheat, a key rabi (winter) crop is sown between late October till
December; it nears the ripening stage in the month of midMarch,
and harvesting of the early sown varieties usually commences by the

end of March itself.
 The IMD data suggests that between March 1 and April 9, large
excess rains (40% more rain than normal) were received in several
States.
 India is likely to get “belownormal” monsoon rainfall in 2023, with an
BELOW-NORMAL increasing likelihood of ElNino, which typically brings dry weather to
MONSOON Asia
RAINFALL  India defines normal rainfall as between 96% and 104% of the 50year
average of 88 centimetres for the fourmonth season beginning June.
 Guru Tegh Bahadur was the ninth of ten Gurus who founded the Sikh
religion
 Guru Tegh Bahadur was executed on the orders of Aurangzeb, the
sixth Mughal emperor, in Delhi, India
 His martyrdom is remembered as the Shaheedi Divas of Guru Tegh
GURU TEGH
Bahadur every year on 24 November
BAHADUR
 Guru Tegh Bahadur was the youngest son of Guru Hargobind, the
sixth guru
 Guru Tegh Bahadur contributed many hymns to Granth Sahib
including the Shloks, or couplets near the end of the Guru Granth
Sahib
 Since 2019, India
has been under the
influence of the
converse La Nina
and therefore
getting substantial
rainfall
 IMD predicts
IMD PREDICTS ‘normal’ monsoon
‘NORMAL’ as El Nino effect
MONSOON looms large this
year
 The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) is defined by the difference in sea

surface temperature between two areas (or poles, hence a dipole) –
a western pole in the Arabian Sea (western Indian Ocean) and an
eastern pole in the eastern Indian Ocean south of Indonesia.
 The IOD affects the climate of Australia and other countries that
surround the Indian Ocean Basin, and is a significant contributor to
rainfall variability in this region.
INDIAN OCEAN  The IOD involves an aperiodic oscillation of sea-surface temperatures
DIPOLE (SST), between "positive", "neutral" and "negative" phases. A positive
phase sees greater-than-average sea-surface temperatures and
greater precipitation in the western Indian Ocean region, with a
corresponding cooling of waters in the eastern Indian Ocean—which
tends to cause droughts in adjacent land areas of Indonesia and
Australia. The negative phase of the IOD brings about the opposite
conditions, with warmer water and greater precipitation in the
eastern Indian Ocean, and cooler and drier conditions in the west.

 The IOD also affects the
strength of monsoons over the
Indian subcontinent. A
significant positive IOD
occurred in 1997–98, with
another in 2006. The IOD is one
aspect of the general cycle of
global climate, interacting with
similar phenomena like the El
Niño-Southern Oscillation
(ENSO) in the Pacific Ocean.
 The IOD phenomenon was first
identified by climate
researchers in 1999
 A technical textile is a textile product manufactured for non-
aesthetic purposes, where function is the primary criterion.
 Technical textiles include textiles for automotive applications,
medical textiles (e.g., implants), geotextiles (reinforcement of
embankments), agrotextiles (textiles for crop protection), and
protective clothing (e.g., heat and radiation protection for fire fighter
clothing, molten metal protection for welders, stab protection and
bulletproof vests, and spacesuits).
 Techtextil specifies 12 application areas: Agrotech, Buildtech,
TECHNICAL TEXTILE
Clothtech, Geotech, Hometech, Indutech, Medtech, Mobiltech,
Oekotech, Packtech, Protech, and Sporttech, Architech
(Architectural textile), Military textiles, Autotech (Automobile textiles),
Smartech (Smart Textiles), Wearable computers
 Technical textiles have been slowly but steadily gaining ground due
to one or more of the reasons such as: functional requirement, health
& safety; cost effectiveness; durability; high strength; light weight;
versatility; customization; user friendliness; eco friendliness; logistical
convenience etc.
 It turns out that roughly
68% of the universe is
dark energy. Dark
matter makes up about
DARK MATTER AND 27%. The rest - everything
DARK ENERGY on Earth, everything ever
observed with all of our
instruments, all normal
matter - adds up to less
than 5% of the universe
 The IAEA Incident and Trafficking Database (ITDB) is a component of

the IAEA information management systems and supports the
INCIDENT AND implementation of the IAEA Nuclear Security Plan.
TRAFFICKING  The ITDB contains authoritative information, voluntarily reported by
DATABASE participating States through their officially nominated Points of
Contact (PoC). This information is disseminated through the IAEA to
(ITDB)
participating States
 and relevant international organizations.
 The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world's largest and highest-
energy particle collider.
 It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research
(CERN) between 1998 and 2008 in collaboration with over 10,000
LARGE HADRON
scientists and hundreds of universities and laboratories, as well as
COLLIDER more than 100 countries.
 It lies in a tunnel 27 kilometres (17 mi) in circumference and as deep
as 175 metres (574 ft) beneath the France–Switzerland border near
Geneva.

 The LHC consists of a 27-kilometre ring of superconducting magnets
with a number of accelerating structures to boost the energy of the
particles along the way.
 Many physicists hope that the Large Hadron Collider will help answer
some of the fundamental open questions in physics, which concern
the basic laws governing the interactions and forces among the
elementary objects, the deep structure of space and time, and in
particular the interrelation between quantum mechanics and
general relativity
 The Vande Bharat Express, formerly known as Train 18,is an electric
multiple-unit train operated by Indian Railways.
 It was designed by RDSO and manufactured by the Integral Coach
VANDE BHARAT Factory (ICF), located in Chennai.
EXPRESS  Due to the railway track speed capacity and traffic constraints, the
operating speed of the train is limited to 160 km/h (99 mph) on the
Delhi-Bhopal route and 110–130 km/h (68-81 mph) on other routes
due to safety concerns
 In a first for the country, Kolkata Metro touched a milestone on
Wednesday by running through the tunnel under Hooghly river.
 The tunnel -- the Indian version of Eurostar's London-Paris corridor -- is
13 metre below the riverbed and 33 metre below ground level.
 It reportedly has four stations- Esplanade, Mahakaran, Howrah, and
Howrah Maidan, and will take 45 seconds to cross the tunnel.
KOLKATA METRO  The 520-metre tunnel is part of the East West Metro Corridor of
Kolkata -- from the IT hub of Salt Lake Sector V in the east to Howrah
Maidan in the west across the river.
 The construction of the tunnel from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade
had to face several challenges as it passes through very congested
areas along the Brabourne Road in the Burrabazar area, with several
century-old houses there had to shift residents to hotels during
underground work there.
 The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) appoints several
top posts within the Government of India.
 The committee is composed of the Prime Minister of India (ex-officio
Chairman) and the Minister of Home Affairs.
 Originally the Minister-in-charge of the concerned Ministry was also
APPOINTMENTS part of the committee but since July 2016, those ministers are
COMMITTEE OF THE excluded from this committee
CABINET  This Committee decides on all important empanelments and shift of
officers serving on Central deputation.
 In addition, all appointments by promotion that require ACC
approval are processed through the E.O. Division. For this purpose,
the Establishment Officer functions as the Secretary to the
Appointments Committee of the Cabinet.
 Being described as the Aadhaar for land, Unique Land Parcel
Identification Number (ULPIN) is a 14-digits alphanumeric unique ID
for each and every land parcel in India.
UNIQUE LAND  Ultimately ULPIN will be used as single source of truth for land records
PARCEL in near future as it is designed to uniquely identify every surveyed
IDENTIFICATION land parcel in india based on the Textual records of rights (RoR)
NUMBER along with its corresponding geo coordinates.
 This ULPIN project concept was taken from Bhudhaar project in
Andhra Pradesh and announced in October 2020 with a plan to
assign ULPIN to all land parcels in India by March 2022.

 The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is the regulatory
body for securities and commodity market in India under the
ownership of Ministry of Finance within the Government of India.
 It was established on 12 April 1988 as an executive body and was
given statutory powers on 30 January 1992 through the SEBI Act, 1992.
 Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was first established in
1988 as a non-statutory body for regulating the securities market. It
became an autonomous body on 30 January 1992 and was
SECURITIES AND accorded statutory powers with the passing of the SEBI Act 1992 by
the Indian Parliament.
EXCHANGE BOARD
OF INDIA  SEBI has been vested with the following powers:
 to approve by−laws of Securities exchanges.
 to require the Securities exchange to amend their by−laws.
 inspect the books of accounts and call for periodical returns from
recognised Securities exchanges.
 inspect the books of accounts of financial intermediaries.
 compel certain companies to list their shares in one or more Securities
exchanges.
 registration of Brokers and sub-brokers.
 The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar
massacre, took place on 13 April 1919.
 A large peaceful crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in
Amritsar, Punjab, British India, to protest against the Rowlatt Act and
arrest of pro-independence activists Saifuddin Kitchlew and
Satyapal.
 In response to the public gathering, the temporary brigadier general,
R. E. H. Dyer, surrounded the protesters with his Gurkha, Baloch,
Rajput and Sikh troops
 After blocking the exit with his troops, he ordered them to shoot at
the crowd, continuing to fire even as the protestors tried to flee. The
troops kept on firing until their ammunition was exhausted.
JALLIANWALA  Rabindranath Tagore received the news of the massacre by 22 May
BAGH MASSACRE 1919. He tried to arrange a protest meeting in Calcutta and finally
decided to renounce his British knighthood as "a symbolic act of
protest"
 On 14 October 1919, after orders issued by the Secretary of State for
India, Edwin Montagu, the Government of India announced the
formation of a committee of inquiry into the events in Punjab.
 Referred to as the Disorders Inquiry Committee, it was later more
widely known as the Hunter Commission
 On 13 March 1940, at Caxton Hall in London, Udham Singh, an Indian
independence activist from Sunam who had witnessed the events in
Amritsar and had himself been wounded, shot and killed Michael
O'Dwyer, the Lieutenant-Governor of Punjab at the time of the
massacre
 Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary is a 30-
hectare (74-acre) protected area
located in the Madurantakam taluk of
the Chengalpattu District in the state of
Tamil Nadu, India. The sanctuary is about
75 kilometres (47 mi) from
VEDANTHANGAL ChennaiVedanthangal is home to
BIRD SANCTUARY migratory birds such as pintail, garganey,
grey wagtail, blue-winged teal, common
sandpiper and the like.
 It has been designated as a protected
Ramsar site since 2022
 In the government order dated 8 July

1988, the area was declared as the 'Vedanthangal Lake Bird
Sanctuary', under the Wildlife Protection Act of 1972.
 The area receives an average annual rainfall of 1400 mm, mostly
from the north-east monsoon
 Koonthankulam Bird Sanctuary or Kunthankulam is a 1.2933 km2
(0.4993 sq mi) protected area declared as a sanctuary in 1994
 It adjoins the tiny village of Koonthankulam in Nanguneri Taluk of
Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu, India
 It is an Important Bird Area and has been designated as a protected
Ramsar site since 2021
 Pulicat Lake Bird Sanctuary is a sanctuary for birds, 759 km2 in area,
KARAIVETTI BIRD located in the Tirupati district of Andhra Pradesh and a protected
area of the Thiruvallur District of Tamil Nadu, India. Pulicat Lake is the
SANCTUARY,
second largest brackish-water eco-system in India after Chilka lake in
KOONTHANKULAM Orissa.
BIRD
 The sanctuary's international name is Pulicat Lake Wildlife Sanctuary
SANCTUARY,PULIC
 The sanctuary has many greater flamingos.
AT LAKE BIRD
 The Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary is a 4.537-square-kilometre (1.752 sq mi)
SANCTUARY
protected area located in the Ariyalur District of the state of Tamil
Nadu, India. The sanctuary is about 25 kilometres (16 mi) from
Thanjavur.
 Karaivetti Bird Sanctuary is home to migratory birds such as Bar-
headed goose, Northern pintail, White Stork, Northern shoveler,
Garganey, Blue-winged teal, Osprey and common sandpiper
 The sanctuary is a large irrigation tank located in the northern alluvial
plains of the Kaveri river.
 A stretch of the beach at Bheemili near Visakhapatnam glows due to
a natural phenomenon called bioluminescence.
 Bioluminescence occurs due to the presence of singlecelled
organisms called dinoflagellates that produce light when they are
disturbed.
 While bioluminescence on the beach is a natural phenomenon, it is
BIOLUMINESCENCE being reported on large stretches of this beach for the first time.
 Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by living
organisms. It is a form of chemiluminescence.
 Bioluminescence occurs widely in marine vertebrates and
invertebrates, as well as in some fungi, microorganisms including
some bioluminescent bacteria, and terrestrial arthropods such as
fireflies.
 ASEAN officially the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations, is a
political and economic union of 10
member states in Southeast Asia,
which promotes intergovernmental
cooperation and facilitates
economic, political, security,
military, educational, and
ASEAN sociocultural integration between
its members and countries in the
Asia-Pacific.
 ASEAN itself was created on 8
August 1967, when the foreign
ministers of five countries: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, and Thailand, signed the ASEAN Declaration
 In 2006, ASEAN was given observer status at the United Nations
General Assembly.

 Millets And OtHer Ancient Grains International ReSearcH Initiative.
MAHARISHI  This International Initiative will focus on Research and Awareness wi
INITIATIVE agro-biodiversity, food security, and nutrition aligning with the
International Year of Millets 2023.
 Bohag Bihu or Rongali Bihu is a traditional ethnic festival celebrated in
the Northeastern Indian state of Assam and other parts of
Northeastern India by the indigenous ethnic groups of Assam, and
marks the beginning of the Assamese New Year.
 The festival is of mostly aboriginal origin comprising Tibeto-Burman
BOHAG BIHU and Tai elements.
 It usually falls in the 2nd week of April, historically signifying the time of
harvest. Every year it falls on the 14th day of April
 Rongali Utsav is a festival organised in Guwahati every year
 The festival showcases tribal culture of Assam to the world
 Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956) was an
Indian jurist, economist, social reformer and political leader who
headed the committee drafting the Constitution of India from the
Constituent Assembly debates, served as Law and Justice minister in
the first cabinet of Jawaharlal Nehru, and inspired the Dalit Buddhist
movement after renouncing Hinduism.
 In 1990, the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, was
posthumously conferred on Ambedkar.
 He also began a struggle for the right to enter Hindu temples. He led
a satyagraha in Mahad to fight for the right of the untouchable
community to draw water from the main water tank of the town
 In 1930, Ambedkar launched the Kalaram Temple movement after
three months of preparation. About 15,000 volunteers assembled at
Kalaram Temple satygraha making one of the greatest processions of
BHIMRAO RAMJI Nashik.
AMBEDKAR  On 25 September 1932, the agreement, known as the Poona Pact
was signed between Ambedkar (on behalf of the depressed classes
among Hindus) and Madan Mohan Malaviya (on behalf of the other
Hindus). The agreement gave reserved seats for the depressed
classes in the Provisional legislatures within the general electorate.
 In 1936, Ambedkar founded the Independent Labour Party, which
contested the 1937 Bombay election to the Central Legislative
Assembly for the 13 reserved and 4 general seats, and secured 11
and 3 seats respectively
 Ambedkar published his book Annihilation of Caste on 15 May 1936
 Upon India's independence on 15 August 1947, the new prime
minister Jawaharlal Nehru invited Ambedkar to serve as the Dominion
of India's Law Minister; two weeks later, he was appointed Chairman
of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution for the future Republic
of India.
 The All India Institutes of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) is a group of
autonomous government public medical universities of higher
education under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare , Government of India.
 These institutes have been declared by an Act of Parliament as
Institutes of National Importance. AIIMS New Delhi, the forerunner
ALL INDIA institute, was established in 1956. Since then, 24 more institutes were
INSTITUTES OF announced.
MEDICAL SCIENCES  As of January 2023, twenty institutes are operating and four more are
expected to become operational until 2025.
 Proposals were made for six more AIIMS. It is considered as pioneer
health institution of South Asia.
 The first AIIMS was established in 1956 under the All India Institute of
Medical Sciences Act, 1956.

 Originally proposed by the then Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal
Nehru for establishment in Calcutta, it was established in New Delhi
 The Char Dham (meaning: four abodes) is a set of four pilgrimage
sites in India
 The four Dhams are,
Badrinath, Dwarka, Puri and
Rameswaram
 The Char Dham as defined by
Adi Shankaracharya consists of
four Hindu pilgrimage sites
 Another small circuit in
Uttarakhand of four pilgrimage
sites-Yamunotri, Gangotri,
Kedarnath, and Badrinath is
referred to as Chota Char
Dham which is locally popular
in North India.
 Brief about Chardham
Temples:-
CHAR DHAM  Yamunotri:- The first shrine of
Chota Chardham, this temple
is dedicated to the River
Yamuna (Hindu Goddess,
daughter of Sun God). It is
situated in the Gharwal region
of Uttarakhand State.
 Gangotri:- The temple is
devoted to Goddess Ganges
(the most sacred river in India).
It is the second shrine of the
Char Dham circuit.
 Kedarnath:- This temple is devoted to God Shiva in the form of
Kedarnath (Lord of Kedar). This is one of the 12 main Jyotirlinga in
India. This is the third shrine of the Char Dham circuit.
 Badrinath: - This temple is dedicated to Bhagwan Vishnu in the form
of Badrinath (Lord of Badri). It is also the part of the main Char Dham
Circuit in India and the fourth shrine of the Chardham circuit.
 The Inter-operable Criminal Justice System (ICJS), conceptualised by
the e-Committee, Supreme Court of India and implemented as a
project under the Ministry of Home Affairs, seeks to enable seamless
transfer of data and information among different pillars of the
criminal justice system, like courts, police, jails and forensic science
laboratories, from one platform.
 The ICJS system would be made available through a dedicated and
secure cloud-based infrastructure with high-speed connectivity.
 National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) is responsible for the
implementation of the project in association with National Informatics
INTER-OPERABLE Centre (NIC).
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
 The project will be implemented in collaboration with the States and
SYSTEM Union Territories
 The necessity of implementation of Interoperable Criminal Justice
System (ICJS) was initiated during 2013.
 The scope of the project mainly focused on integration of Crime and
Criminal Tracking Networks and Systems (CCTNS) with e-Courts, e-
Prisons, Forensic Labs, Fingerprints and Prosecution, the pillars of
Criminal Justice System.
 Broadly, the project aims to provide search and visual analytics over
various data sets and capacity to achieve “one data once entry”
across all the pillars.

 Appointment of the Prime Minister (Article 75), the Attorney General
for India (Article 76), the Chairman and other members of the
Finance Commission (Article 280), the Chairman and other members
of the Public Service Commission (Article 316) and a Special Officer
for Linguistic Minorities (Article 350B).
 Article 324 provides that the President will appoint the CEC and ECs
‘subject to any law made in that behalf by Parliament’.
 Appointment of the judges of Supreme Court and the High Court
APPOINTMENT BY (Articles 124 and 217), the CAG (Article 148) and for appointment of
PRESIDENT the Governor (Article 155).
 Articles 338, 338A and 338B authorising the President for appointing
Chairman and members of the National Commissions for SCs, STs and
BCs.
 However, the original Article, Article 338, had stated that ‘there shall
be a Special Officer for
 the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to be
 appointed by the President’.
 The ‘Bharat Gaurav Tourist train’
is being operated under the
‘Dekho Apna Desh’ initiative,
which is aimed at promoting
domestic tourism, and is a joint
collaboration between the
Ministries of Tourism and
Railways.
AMBEDKAR  The eight day tour will include
CIRCUIT visits to places associated with
the life of Dr. Ambedkar like
New Delhi, Mhow, Nagpur
 And the sacred Buddhist sites of
Sanchi, Sarnath, Gaya, Rajgir,
and Nalanda.
 “The Bharat Gaurav Tourist train
aims to give glimpses of life of Bharat Ratna Baba Saheb Ambedkar
to all the passengers”
 Chābahār is a city in the Central District of Chabahar County, Sistan
and Baluchestan province, Iran,
and serves as capital of the
county.
 It is a free port (free-trade zone)
situated on the coast of the Gulf
of Oman, and is Iran's
southernmost city.
CHABAHAR
 The sister port city of Gwadar in
Balochistan, Pakistan, is located
about 170 kilometres (110 mi) to
the east of Chabahar.
 The city is situated on the
Makran Coast of the Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan, and
is officially designated as a "Free Trade and Industrial Zone" by the
Iranian government.
 Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and launched the
Animal Pandemic Preparedness Initiative and World Bank-funded
ANIMAL Animal Health System Support for One Health to enhance India's
PANDEMIC preparedness and response to potential animal pandemics, in line
PREPAREDNESS with the One Health approach.
INITIATIVES  This initiative aims to enhance India's preparedness and response to
animal pandemics, with a focus on zoonotic diseases that pose a
threat to both animal and human health.

 This initiative will help to improve veterinary services and
infrastructure, disease surveillance capabilities, early detection and
response, build the capacity of animal health professionals, and
awareness among farmers through community outreach.
 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) is the collective name of central
police organisations in India under the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
 These are technically paramilitary forces formerly known as Central
Para-Military Forces (CPMF).
 Since 2011, India adopted the term "central armed police forces" to
CENTRAL ARMED drop the word "paramilitary". These forces are responsible for internal
POLICE FORCES security and guarding the borders.
 CAPF is further classified into three: Border Guarding Forces—Assam
Rifles (AR), Border Security Force (BSF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police
(ITBP), and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB); Forces for Internal Security—
Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Central Reserve Police
Force (CRPF); and Special Task Force—National Security Guard (NSG)
 . The Yuan Wang-class of tracking ships are used for tracking and
support of satellite and intercontinental ballistic missiles by the
People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force of the People's
Republic of China (PRC).
 This class is not a single design, but instead is a group of different
YUAN WANG designs under the same series that share the same name
 Yuan Wang 5 is the third generation tracking ship of Yuan Wang
series, and entered service on 29 September 2007.
 Loaded with electronic tracking gear, the Yuan Wang 5 has been
called a "spy ship".
 The construction of a military facility on Coco Islands in Myanmar and
a proposed remote satellite receiving ground station system in Sri
Lanka, both coming up with Chinese help, have raised concern in
India of possible surveillance across the region.
CHINESE DUALUSE
 Recent satellite images show the construction of a military facility on
FACILITIES IN Coco Islands, located very close to the Andaman and Nicobar island
MYANMAR AND chain.
 In the second case, China has proposed setting up a remote satellite
SRI LANKA receiving ground station system through a collaborative effort
between the Aerospace Information Research Institute, under the
Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the University of Ruhuna in
southern Sri Lanka.
 Constitution Bench formed in samesex marriage case
 Constitution bench is the name given to the benches of the Supreme
Court of India which consist of at least five judges of the court which
sit to decide any case “involving a substantial question of law as to
the interpretation” of the Constitution of India or "for the purpose of
hearing any reference" made by the President of India under Article
143.
 This provision has been mandated by Article 145 (3) of the
Constitution of India.
CONSTITUTION
 Also, matters related to the Amendment of an Act of the Indian
BENCH
Parliament are referred to the Constitution Bench by the Supreme
Court under the same act.
 The Chief Justice of India has the power to constitute a Constitution
Bench and refer cases to it.
 Constitution benches have decided many of India's best-known and
most important Supreme Court cases: A. K. Gopalan v. State of
Madras, Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (basic structure
doctrine), Ashoka Kumar Thakur v. Union of India (OBC reservations),
etc.

 T cell, also called T lymphocyte, type of leukocyte (white blood cell)
that is an essential part of the immune system. T cells are one of two
primary types of lymphocytes—B cells being the second type—that
determine the specificity of immune response to antigens (foreign
substances) in the body.
 T cells originate in the bone marrow and mature in the thymus. In the
T CELL IMMUNITY
thymus, T cells multiply and differentiate into helper, regulatory, or
cytotoxic T cells or become memory T cells.
 T cells are a part of the immune system that focuses on specific
foreign particles. Rather than generically attack any antigens, T cells
circulate until they encounter their specific antigen. As such, T cells
play a critical part in immunity to foreign substances.
 The Confederation of Real Estate Developers' Associations of India
(CREDAI) is the apex body of private Real Estate developers in India,
established in 1999, with a vision of transforming the landscape of
Indian Real Estate industry and a mandate to pursue the cause of
CONFEDERATION Housing and Habitat.
OF REAL ESTATE  CREDAI represents 13000+ Developers across 217 city chapters in 21
DEVELOPERS' states and plays an important role in policy formulation by
ASSOCIATIONS OF representing the views of its members to various Ministries at regular
INDIA intervals.
 CREDAI strives to make the Real Estate industry organized and
progressive by working closely with all stakeholders: Government
representatives, policy makers, investors, finance companies,
consumers, and real estate professionals.
 West Bengal directs closure of schools, colleges for a week due to
'severe' heatwave.
 A Heat Wave is a period of abnormally high temperatures, more than
the normal maximum temperature that occurs during the summer
season in the North-Western parts of India.
 Heat Waves typically occur between March and June, and in some
rare cases even extend till July.
 The extreme temperatures and resultant atmospheric conditions
adversely affect people living in these regions as they cause
physiological stress, sometimes resulting in death.
 As per the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) guidelines, Heat
HEAT WAVE Wave need not be considered till maximum temperature of a station
reaches atleast 40°C for Plains and atleast 30°C for Hilly regions.
 HEALTH IMPACTS OF HEAT WAVES:
 The health impacts of Heat Waves typically involve dehydration, heat
cramps, heat exhaustion and/or heat stroke. The signs and symptoms
are as follows:
 Heat Cramps: Ederna (swelling) and Syncope (Fainting) generally
accompanied by fever below 39°C i.e.102°F.
 Heat Exhaustion: Fatigue, weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea,
vomiting, muscle cramps and sweating.
 Heat Stoke: Body temperatures of 40°C i.e. 104°F or more along with
delirium, seizures or coma. This is a potential fatal condition
 Finland's next-generation Olkiluoto 3 nuclear reactor, the largest in
Europe, has gone into regular production after months of delays.
 Olkiluoto 3, now producing around 14 per cent of the country's
electricity, is expected to remain operational for "at least the next 60
OLKILUOTO 3 years"
NUCLEAR REACTOR  More than 50 per cent of Finnish electricity was being produced from
nuclear power, according to Finland's transmission system operator
Fingrid.
 Recently, Germany has officially ended decades of atomic energy
use by turning off its last three nuclear reactors.

 The researchers from Central University of Odisha (CUO) and
Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have found a rare freshwater fish in
the Koraput district in Odisha.
 The cyprinid fish species which can be consumed have been seen so
far in Kolab river (Sabari River), one of the major tributaries of
Godavari.
 Fishes of genus Garra are characterised by the presence of a gular
disc developed from tissues of the gular region that exhibit variation
GARRA LAISHRAMI in the size, shape, and arrangement of the snout tubercles.
 The maximum length of the fish is 76 mm to 95.5 mm.
 The species is edible and local people consume it. Besides, the fish is
usually found under rocks, stones and boulders of torrential streams
and rivers.
 These groups of fishes are generally distributed from Borneo, southern
China and southern Asia through Middle East Asia, Arabian Peninsula
and East Africa to West Africa.
 Chhattisgarh forest department has carried out a successful
translocation of four sub-adult wild buffaloes from Assam to
Chattisgarh’s Barnawapara wildlife sanctuary in Mahasamund district
after Chhattisgarh High Court cleared the hurdles as part of the
state's ongoing efforts to protect and conserve the state animal.
 The Chhattisgarh government had declared wild buffaloes as state
animals in 2001.
 The Barnawapara Wildlife Sanctuary is located in Mahasamund
district, Chattisgarh.
BARNAWAPARA  The sanctuary contains major vegetation of Teak, Sal and Mixed
WILDLIFE forest.
SANCTUAR  Wildlife like leopard, gaur, bear, sambar, chital, nilgai, kotari,
chausingha, wild boar, wild dog, striped hyena, fox, wolf and mouse
antelope are found in the sanctuary.
 The Jonk River flows through the sanctuary, which is a tributary of the
Mahanadi river.
 With less than 4000 wild buffaloes estimated to be remaining in the
wild, the species is classified as Endangered in the IUCN Red List of
Threatened Species.
 Indian Wild Buffalo is protected under Schedule 1 of Wild Life
(Protection) Act, 1972.
 At least 56 civilians have been
killed and 595 people have been
wounded in Khartoum, the capital
of Sudan, since fierce fighting
broke out between the country’s
army and paramilitary forces,
according to the Sudanese
Doctors Union.
 Clashes erupted after weeks of
heightened tensions between the
Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group led by Mohamed
SUDAN CRISIS Hamdan Dagalo - also known as Hemedti and the military, headed
by Lt Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan. The two generals disagree over
the proposed transition to civilian rule in Sudan.
 Burhan and Dagalo disagree over how the 10,000-strong RSF should
be integrated into the army, and which authority should oversee that
process. Also, Dagalo wanted to delay the integration for 10 years
but the army said it would take place in the next two years.
 Sudan (third largest country) in Africa by size has seen repeated pro-
democracy protests since the 2021 coup.
 But the battle between the army and RSF has likely made Sudan’s
transition to democracy more difficult.

 There are some water currents in the ocean that, driven by winds and
the Coriolis force, form loops.
 These are called gyres.
 The North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG) is one such, located just
north of the equator in the Pacific Ocean.
 It consists of the Kuroshio, North Pacific, California, and North
Equatorial currents and moves in a clockwise direction.
NORTH PACIFIC  These currents flow adjacent to 51 Pacific Rim countries. Any trash
SUBTROPICAL GYRE that enters one of these currents, from any of these countries, could
become part of the gyre. Inside this gyre, just north of Hawai’i, lies a
& THE GREAT
long east west strip where some of the debris in these currents has
PACIFIC GARBAGE
collected over the years.
PATCH
 The eastern part of this is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. It is, per
one estimate, 1.6 million sq. km big and more than 50 years old.
 It contains an estimated 45,000-1,29,000 metric tonnes of plastic,
predominantly in the form of microplastics. The numerical density of
plastics here is around four particles per cubic metre.
 Masswise, however, heavier, more visible objects that haven’t yet
broken down into smaller particles accounted for 92% of the plastics
in 2018.
 In the first ever census of mangrove pitta birds carried out in two
coastal districts of Odisha, 179 such birds were sighted.
 Mangrove pitta birds are a nearly threatened species found in a few
pockets of eastern India, including Bhitarkanika in Odisha and the
Sundarbans in West Bengal.
 The first census of mangrove pitta (Pitta megharencha) birds was
focused on the mangrove patches all along the coasts of
MANGROVE PITTA Kendrapara and Jagatsingpur districts.
 “The mangrove pitta is found in coastal mangrove forests of India,
BIRDS foraging on the ground and resting on the trees
 Information had been collected on the distribution, habitat and
breeding of the birds along the coastal mangroves.
 The census was carried out by point count method, either by walking
in the forest or using country boats in the creeks.
 A total of 179 individual mangrove pitta birds were counted. The
highest concentration of the birds has been found in the mangroves
near the Mahipura river mouth inside the Bhitarkanika National Park
 Fighting between the Army and paramilitary
forces led by rival Generals raged for a third
day
 Khartoum is the capital of Sudan.
KHARTOUM  It is located at the confluence of the White
Nile, flowing north from Lake Victoria, and
the Blue Nile, flowing west from Lake Tana in
Ethiopia.
 The Taiwan Strait is a 180-kilometer (110 mi;

97 nmi)-wide strait separating the island of
Taiwan and continental Asia.
 The strait is part of the South China Sea
and connects to the East China Sea to the
TAIWAN STRAIT north. The narrowest part is 130 km (81 mi;
70 nmi) wide.
 Former names of the Taiwan Strait include
the Formosa Strait or Strait of Formosa, from
a dated name for Taiwan

 Starship is a super heavy-lift launch vehicle under development by
SpaceX. Standing at 119 m (390 ft) tall, it is the tallest and most
powerful launch vehicle ever built, and the first intended to be fully
reusable
 The Starship launch vehicle is made up of the first-stage Super Heavy
booster and the Starship second stage. The second stage functions
STARSHIP
as a self-contained spacecraft for carrying crew or cargo once in
orbit.
 Both rocket stages are powered by Raptor engines, which burn liquid
oxygen and liquid methane propellants in a highly efficient full-flow
staged combustion power cycle. After completing their flight, both
rocket stages will be recovered
 It is a term generally used in Inflation. It refers to the impact of an
increase in the price level (i.e. previous year’s inflation) over the
corresponding rise in price levels in the current year (i.e., current
inflation). If the inflation rate was low in the corresponding period of
BASE EFFECT the last year, then even a small increase in the price index will give a
high rate of inflation in the current year
 Similarly, if there is a rise in the price index in the corresponding period
of last year and recorded high inflation, then an absolute increase in
the price index will show a lower inflation rate in the present year.
 World Trade Organization (WTO) panel said India had violated global
trading rules in a dispute with the European Union (EU), Japan and
WTO PANEL Taiwan over import duties on IT products. In 2019, the EU challenged
RULES AGAINST India’s introduction of import duties of between 7.5% and 20% for a
wide range of IT products, such as mobile phones and components,
INDIA IN IT as well as integrated circuits, saying they exceeded the maximum
rate.
TARIFFS
 Japan and Taiwan filed similar complaints that same year. The EU is
India’s thirdlargest trading partner, as per the European Commission.
 The Special Marriage Act, 1954 is an Act of the Parliament of India
with provision for civil marriage (or "registered marriage") for people
of India and all Indian nationals in foreign countries, irrelevant of the
religion or faith followed by either party.
 The Act originated from a piece of legislation proposed during the
late 19th century. Marriages solemnized under Special Marriage Act
are not governed by personal laws.
 Allows people from two different religious backgrounds to come
together in the bond of marriage.
 Lays down the procedure for both solemnization and registration of
marriage, where either of the husband or wife or both are not Hindus,
SPECIAL MARRIAGE Buddhists, Jains, or Sikhs.
ACT  Being a secular Act, it plays a key role in liberating individuals from
traditional requirements of marriage.
 The minimum age to get married under the SMA is 21 years for males
and 18 years for females.
 The parties to the marriage are required to give a notice to a
“Marriage Officer” of the district in which at least one of the parties
has resided for at least 30 days immediately preceding the notice.
 Before the marriage is solemnized, the parties and three witnesses are
required to sign a declaration form before the Marriage Officer.
 Once the declaration is accepted, the parties will be given a
“Certificate of marriage” which is essentially proof of the marriage.
 About 11,300 dancers and drummers had assembled for the “largest
Bihu performance at a single venue
BIHU  Bihu is a set of three important non-religious festivals unique to the
Indian state of Assam – 'Rongali' or 'Bohag Bihu' observed in April,
'Kongali' or 'Kati Bihu' observed in October, and 'Bhogali' or 'Magh

Bihu' observed in January.
 The festivals present an admixture of Tibeto-Burman, Austroasiatic
and Indo-Aryan traditions entwined so intricately that it is impossible
to separate them
 The first reference of Bihu can be found in the copperplate inscription
of the Chutia king Lakshminarayan. The inscription was found in
Ghilamara region of Lakhimpur district in the year 1935
 Performed in a group, the Bihu dancers are usually young men and
women, and the dancing style is characterized by brisk steps, and
rapid hand movements. The traditional costume of dancers is colorful
and centered round the red color theme, signifying joy and vigour.
 Assam state has made a Guinness world record for performing the
largest Bihu dance in one single venue on April 14, 2023. The event
took place at Indira Gandhi Athletic Stadium, Guwahati Assam. A
group of 11000 Bihu dancers and drummers participated to make this
historical achievement
 Heat stress is primarily caused by exposure to high ambient
temperatures and relative humidity, which limit the capacity of
livestock
 In most cases, the impact of heat stress is reduced productivity and
animal welfare
 leading to declines in growth rates and production of milk or eggs.
THERMAL STRESS:  Heat stress also affects livestock production through changes to
fertility and susceptibility to disease
LIVESTOCK  heat stress may depress immune function and the effectiveness of
FARMING some vaccines
 The impacts of heat stress on livestock can be both immediate and
long-lasting, and can also affect offspring exposed to heat stress in
utero.
 Heat stress, and other stressors such as feed withdrawal can also
cause the dissemination of enteric pathogens such as Salmonella,
Escherichia coli
 The warring parties in control of parts of Yemen had signed the
Stockholm Agreement in December 2018 whereby they had
committed to freeing conflict related detainees.
 The agreement brokered by the United Nations had three main
components — the Hudayah agreement, the prisoner exchange
agreement, and the Taïz agreement.
STOCKHOLM  The Hudayah agreement included a ceasefire in the city of
Hodeidah and other clauses like no military reinforcements in the city
AGREEMENT
and strengthened UN presence
 In November 2018, hundreds of people were killed in clashes in
Hodeidah, an important port in Yemen, when government loyalists
supported by a Saudiled coalition launched an attack to oust the
Iranbacked Houthi rebels from the Red Sea city. The Taïz agreement
includes the formation of a joint committee with participation from
civil society and the UN.
 Annapurna is a mountain situated
in the Annapurna mountain range
of Gandaki Province, north-central
Nepal.
 It is the tenth highest mountain in
MT. ANNAPURNA the world at 8,091 metres (26,545
ft) above sea level and is well
known for the difficulty and
danger involved in its ascent.

 The vaccine, R21 / Matrix-M, is developed by the University of Oxford
and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
 Malaria vaccine development has long been hampered by the
parasite’s complex structure and lifecycle. Contrary to other
OXFORD’S attempts on this front, Oxford’s R21 vaccine appears to be effective.
MALARIA VACCINE  The vaccine was up to 80 per cent successful in the clinical trials
conducted in Burkina Faso when administered in three initial doses,
followed by a booster shot a year later.
 The WHO has set a target of reducing malaria cases and deaths by at
least 90 per cent by 2030..
 Attempted suicide was a punishable offence under Section 309 of
the Indian Penal Code until the passing of the Mental Healthcare Act
in 2018, which in effect decriminalised suicide by creating a massive
exception to Section 309.
 Section 115 of the act presumes that a person who has attempted
suicide is under severe stress. Instead of punishment, the act urges
SECTION 309 governments to provide mental health support and rehabilitation.
 However, Section 115 of the Mental Healthcare Act has technically
not repealed Section 309. A repeal requires a parliamentary
amendment that omits attempted suicide from the Penal Code.
 Instead, Section 115 is an intermediary fix that waters down Section
309

 Charge sheet refers to a formal police record showing the names of
each person brought into custody, the nature of the accusations,
and the identity of the accusers.
 It is also known as four-part charging instrument containing:
 Information about the accused and the witnesses;
 the charges and specifications;
 the preferring of charges and their referral to a summary;
CHARGESHEET  For the trial record.
 A charge sheet is distinct from the First Information Report (FIR), which
is the core document that describes a crime that has been
committed.
 It usually refers to one or more FIRs and charges an individual or
organization for (some or all of) the crimes specified in those FIR(s).
 Once the charge sheet has been submitted to a court of law,
prosecution proceedings against the accused begin in the judicial
system.
 The Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) is on a mission to dispel
myths associated with bats and create awareness about their
diversity, ecosystem functions, and threats faced by them
 Without bats, the Earth would be a very different and much poorer
place. More than 1,300 species of bats around the world are playing
ecological roles that are vital to the health of natural ecosystems and
ECONOMIC AND human economies.
ENVIRONMENTAL  The economic benefits obtained from bats include biological pest
control, plant pollination, seed dispersal, guano mining, bush meat
BENEFITS THAT BATS and medicine, aesthetic and bat watching tourism, and education
and research
 Bats are often considered “keystone species” that are essential to
some tropical and desert ecosystems. Without bats’ pollination and
seed-dispersing services, local ecosystems could gradually collapse
as plants fail to provide food and cover for wildlife species near the
base of the food chain.

 The Jammu and Kashmir Public Safety Act, 1978 (PSA) is a preventive
detention law under which a person is taken into custody to prevent
them from acting harmfully against "the security of the state or the
maintenance of the public order" in the Indian state of Jammu and
Kashmir (now a union territory).
 Whereas PSA applies only to Jammu and Kashmir, it is very similar to
the National Security Act that is used by the central and other state
governments of India for preventive detention.
 It was introduced by the then-Chief Minister, Sheikh Abdullah, in 1978
to ostensibly stop the smuggling of timber.
 The Public Safety Act has its roots in the Defence of India Act of 1915,
passed during British rule,and later in the 1946 Public Security Act
which was used by the British to repress the Quit Kashmir Movement
JAMMU AND  Public Safety Act allows administrative detention of:
KASHMIR PUBLIC
 3 months - 1 year, where "any person is acting in any manner
SAFETY ACT, 1978 prejudicial to the maintenance of public order"
 6 months - 2 years, in the "case of persons acting in any manner
prejudicial to the security of the State"
 12 months, in the case of the persons indulging in smuggling of timber
 All detention orders, along with the grounds of the orders and
representations (if any) must be placed before a non-judicial
advisory board within 4 weeks of the detention.
 The advisory board is then required to review the detention order,
representation and any information necessary and submit its report to
the State Government within 8 weeks of the detention.
 However, the person detained is not entitled to any legal counsel,
since PSA explicitly bars detainees from being represented by legal
counsel before the advisory board.
 YZ Ceti b is a rocky, earthsized exoplanet rotating around a small red
dwarf star, YZ Ceti, barely 12 lightyears from Earth
 Astronomers have detected a repeating radio signal from this
exoplanet, suggesting the presence of a magnetic field — one of the
prerequisites for a habitable planet — around it.
 This is important because the survival of a planet’s atmosphere may
well depend on its having, or not having, a strong magnetic field,
YZ CETI B
since the field protects its atmosphere from being eroded by the
charged particles from its star.
 Astronomers deduced that the radio signals detected were a result
of the interaction between the planet’s magnetic field and the star.
 Such signals can only be produced if the exoplanet orbits very close
to its parent star and has its own magnetic field to influence the
stellar wind and generate the signals.
 Abhilekh Patal Portal for Access to Archives and Learning is an
initiative of NAI to make its rich treasure of Indian Archival Records
ABHILEKH PATAL available to one and all at the click of a button.
PORTAL
 Abhilekh Patal contains the reference media of more than 2.7 million
files held by the National Archives of India.
 Kyiv receives Patriot missiles made by U.S.
 The Patriot, which stands for Phased Array Tracking Radar for
Intercept on Target, is a theater-wide surface-to-air missile defense
system.
PATRIOT MISSILES  It has been built by Raytheon Technologies Corp and is considered
one of the most advanced air defense systems in the U.S. arsenal.
 The system was first used in combat during the 1991 Gulf War, with
batteries protecting Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Israel, and later used
during the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

 Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the first Global Buddhist
Summit in New Delhi
 The Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the International Buddhist
Confederation will host the two-day Summit. The theme of the Summit
is Responses to Contemporary Challenges: Philosophy to Praxis
GLOBAL BUDDHIST
SUMMIT  The Summit is an effort towards engaging the global Buddhist
Dhamma leadership and scholars on matters of Buddhist and
universal concerns, and to come up with policy inputs to address
them collectively. The discussion in the Summit will explore how the
Buddha Dhamma's fundamental values can provide inspiration and
guidance in contemporary settings
 A Statewide network of 726 artificial intelligence-enabled surveillance
cameras went live to bolster the government’s efforts to minimise
fatalities due to road accidents and check traffic rule violations.
AI-ENABLED
 The installations include 675 cameras which will detect offences such
CAMERAS
as failure to wear helmets and seat belts and instances of hit-and-run,
25 to spot unauthorised parking, 18 to capture visuals of vehicles
jumping traffic signals, and eight to monitor speeding.
 Dubbed PSLV Orbital Experimental Module, Poem is the spent fourth
stage of the launch vehicle that would be used as an orbital platform
to carry out scientific experiments through non-separating payloads.
 PSLV is a four-stage rocket, and while the first three stages are
jettisoned into the ocean after they push the mission to desired orbit,
PSLV ORBITAL the four-stage remains in orbit and becomes space junk.
EXPERIMENTAL  Isro is now repurposing this fourth stage to use an experimental
MODULE platform.
 The fourth stage or the orbital experimental platform, Poem, is
powered by solar panels and is fitted with its own Navigation
Guidance and Control (NGC) system, which helps in attitude
stabilization.

 The sloth bear (Melursus ursinus), also known as the Indian bear, is a
myrmecophagous bear species native to the Indian subcontinent.
 It feeds on fruits, ants and termites.
 It is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, mainly because of
habitat loss and degradation.
 It is the only species in the genus Melursus.
 It has also been called "labiated bear" because of its long lower lip
and palate used for sucking up insects
 It is lankier than brown and Asian black bears. It shares features of
insectivorous mammals
 The sloth bear is the most widespread bear species in India, where it
SLOTH BEAR mostly occurs in areas with forest cover, low hills bordering the outer
range of the Himalayas from Punjab to Arunachal Pradesh.
 It is absent in the high mountains of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu
and Kashmir, the northwestern deserts of Rajasthan, and a broad
unforested swath in the south, where Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary is
located.
 Sloth bear occurs in protected areas such as Shoolpaneshwar,
Ratanmahal, Jessore, and Balaram Ambaji Sanctuaries.
 In Nepal, it is restricted to the Terai.
 The sloth bear's global range includes India, the Terai of Nepal,
temperate climatic zones of Bhutan and Sri Lanka.
 It is regionally extinct in Bangladesh

 Shankaracharya Temple or Jyeshteshwara Temple is a Hindu temple
situated on top of the Shankaracharya Hill on the Zabarwan Range in
Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is dedicated to Lord Shiva.
 The temple is at a height of 1,000 feet (300 m) above the valley floor
SHANKARACHARY and overlooks the city of Srinagar.
A TEMPLE  On festivals such as Herath, as Maha Shivratri is known as in the
region, the temple is visited by Kashmiri Hindus.
 The temple and adjacent land is a monument of national
importance, centrally protected under the Archaeological Survey of
India
 A multinational air exercise hosted by the Greece Air Force
 The exercise will be conducted at the Andravida Air Base in Greece
and the IAF will be participating with four Su30 MKI and two C17
aircraft.
INIOCHOS23
 The objective of the exercise is to enhance international
cooperation, synergy and interoperability amongst the participating
Air Forces

 The Health Ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Housing and
Urban Affairs, has asked States and Union Territories to develop 100
food streets in 100 districts across the country.
100 ‘EAT RIGHT’  The aim of this project is to encourage safe and healthy practices to
FOOD STREETS reduce foodborne illnesses and improve overall health outcomes
 Financial assistance of ₹1 crore per food street/district will be given to
States and Union Territories. The project envisages 100 such food
streets in 100 districts across the country.
 2.7 Million Zerodose children
ZERODOSE  They are those who have not received a single routine vaccine.
 The unvaccinated population can pose a risk in the future because
CHILDREN
of their lower immunity levels, according to a UNICEF report.
 The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS) has ordered all major
airports in the country to upgrade baggage Xray machines by end of
2023 so that passengers won’t have to remove electronic devices
during screening of handbags.
XRAY  The BCAS has made adoption of CTX, an XRay baggage inspection
system based on computed tomography (CT), mandatory for all
MACHINES TO airports with over 50 lakh annual passenger traffic by December 31.
Nearly 25 airports fall in this category.
FASTTRACK
 While Xray machines used at airports produce a 2D image, newer
BAGGAGE CHECK technologies produce a 3D image and have better automated
detection of explosives.
 The BCAS has also made deployment of full body scanners
mandatory at airports with more than one crore passengers per
annum. This will do away with strip searches.

GOLD INVESTMENT
 Project Cheetah is the world’s first inter-continental large wild

carnivore translocation project.
 Under the movement, eight spotted cats are released in Kuno
National Park Namibia in relevance to an MoU signed earlier this
year.
 Out of the eight Cheetahs, there are five female and three male
Cheetahs and a second batch of twelve African cheetahs from
South Africa were introduced in Jan, 2023.
 India declared Cheetah extinct in 1952. Project Cheeta aims to
PROJECT CHEETAH
introduce Cheeta back to India and to establish a free-ranging
population of cheetahs in India
 India’s Cheetah Action Plan 2021 claimed that the 748 sq km Kuno
National Park could hold 21 cheetahs. However African cheetahs in
unfenced reserves, usually occur at less than 1 animal per 100 sq km.
 According to a group of Namibian researchers Project Cheetah
overestimated the carrying capacity of Kuno National Park and did
not factor in the unique spatial requirement of the species before
flying in 20 spotted cats from Africa.
 The project, to come up in partnership with the Royal Botanic
Gardens in Kew, London, will be spread across 138 hectares and will
include a native species garden, butterfly garden and Japanese
garden, among other initiatives.
 The Tamil Nadu Government is planning to set up a botanical garden
BOTANICAL
at Kadambur Village in the state’s Chengalpattu district at a cost of
GARDEN IN
Rs 300 crore.
CHENGALPATTU
 The project will be implemented over five years and will include a
native species garden, arboretums and bambusetums (bamboo
garden), healing garden with medicinal plants, herb garden, rose
garden, butterfly garden, Japanese garden, besides incorporating
the landscape of ancient Tamil Nadu, among other initiatives.
 Food Safety Compliance System (FoSCoS) is an enhanced version of
Food Licensing and Registration System (FLRS) which was launched in
2012 for issuance of Pan-India FSSAI Licenses and Registration.
 FoSCoS is conceptualized as the umbrella system which is integrated
with FSSAI’s other existing IT platforms such as Food Safety
FOOD SAFETY Compliance through Regular Inspection and Sampling (FoSCoRIS),
COMPLIANCE Food Safety Connect-Complaints Management System, Online
SYSTEM Annual Return platform, Food Import Clearing System (FICS), Indian
Food Laboratory Network (InFoLNet), Audit Management System
(AMS), adjudications and penalties, Food Safety Training and
Certification (FoSTaC), Food Safety Mitra (FSM) etc.
 These integrations will be done one by one in future until FoSCoS
evolves from a licensing platform to a unified compliance platform.

FosCos has a robust architecture capable of future extensions and
enhancements.
 FoSCoS shall also be integrated with other platforms of Government of
India such as GST, PAN, MCA etc. further ease out the processes for
businesses and also ensure a 360 degree profiling of businesses.
 The Rushikulya River is one of the major rivers in the state of Odisha
and covers entire catchment area in the districts of Kandhamal and
Ganjam of Odisha.
 The Rushikulya originates at an elevation of about 1000 metres from
Daringbadi hills of the Eastern Ghats range. The place from where the
RUSHIKULYA RIVER river originates, Daringbadi is called the ' Kashmir of Odisha '
 In 1993, biologists from the Odisha Forest Department and the Wildlife
Institute of India learned that large scale nesting of olive ridley sea
turtles was taking place near the mouth of the Rushikulya River. This
area is the location of one of the largest mass nesting (arribada) sites
of olive ridley sea turtles in India.
 Changlang in Arunachal Pradesh, India’s easternmost district,
received the Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Public
Administration for its innovative New Age Learning Centre (NALC).
 NALC is a flexible, futuristic, leisure learning spacecumlibrary set up in
CHANGLANG
a part of the Miao subdivisional office to enable people from all age
groups to learn and improve every aspect of their personality.
 The space is designed according to the comfort, needs, and
demands of the users.
 The Hakki Pikki is a tribe that lives in several states in west and south
India, especially near forest areas.
 Hakki Pikkis (Hakki in Kannada means ‘bird’ and Pikki means
‘catchers’) are a semi-nomadic tribe, traditionally of bird catchers
and hunters.
 According to the 2011 census, the Hakki Pikki population in Karnataka
is 11,892, and they live majorly in Davangere, Mysuru, Kolar, Hassan
and Shivmogga districts.
 In different regions, they are known by different names, such as Mel-
Shikari in northern Karnataka and Maharashtra.
 Hakki Pikki people are believed to hail originally from the bordering
HAKKI PIKKI districts of Gujarat and Rajasthan.
 Traditionally, Hakki Pikkis lived in forest areas, leading a nomadic life
for nine months a year and coming back to their permanent camps
for three
 The community is known as the ‘bird catcher,’ which is their
traditional occupation.
 The population is predominantly found in the Shivamogga,
Davanagere and Mysuru districts of Karnataka.
 Their mother tongue was designated as 'Vaagri' by scholars.
 UNESCO has listed 'Vaagri' as one of the endangered languages.
 They have traditional medical knowledge that is in demand in several
African countries.
 Vandalur zoo gets a new lion from
Bannerghatta park
 Bannerghatta National Park is a national
park in India, located near Bangalore,
Karnataka. It was founded in 1970 and
BANNERGHATTA
declared as a national park in 1974.
NATIONAL PARK
 In 2002, a small portion of the park became
a zoological garden, the Bannerghatta
Biological Park
 The park is part of a wildlife corridor for
elephants which connects the BR Hills and

the Sathyamangalam forest. The park is contiguous with Talli reserve
forest in the southeast and Bilikal forest in the south
 Pushkaram is an Indian festival dedicated to worshiping of rivers. It is

also known as Pushkaralu (in Telugu), Pushkara (in Kannada) or
Pushkar.
 It is celebrated at shrines along the banks of 12 major sacred rivers in
India, in the form of ancestor worship, spiritual discourses, devotional
PUSHKARAM music and cultural programmes.
 The celebration happens annually, once in 12 years along each river.
 Each river is associated with a zodiac sign, and the river for each
year's festival is based on which sign Jupiter is in at the time. Due to
regional variations, some of the zodiac signs are associated with
multiple rivers.
‘CHHOT’ BOAT
 Elephant seals sleep for two hours a day during short dives
 Elephant seals are very
large, oceangoing earless
seals in the genus
Mirounga.
 Both species, the northern
elephant seal (M.
angustirostris) and the
southern elephant seal (M.
leonina), were hunted to
the brink of extinction for oil
by the end of the 19th
ELEPHANT SEALS century, but their numbers
have since recovered.
 They are the largest extant
carnivorans, weighing up to
5,000 kilograms (11,000 lb).
 The northern elephant seal, somewhat smaller than its southern
relative, ranges over the Pacific coast of the U.S., Canada and
Mexico.
 The southern elephant seal is found in the Southern Hemisphere on
islands such as South Georgia and Macquarie Island, and on the
coasts of New Zealand, Tasmania, South Africa, and Argentina in the
Peninsula Valdés.
 Manas National Park is a national park, UNESCO Natural World
Heritage Site, Project Tiger reserve, biosphere reserve and an
elephant reserve in Assam, India.
MANAS NATIONAL
 Located in the Himalayan foothills, it is contiguous with Royal Manas
PARK
National Park in Bhutan.
 The park is known for its rare and endangered endemic wildlife such
as the Assam roofed turtle, hispid hare, golden langur and pygmy

hog. Manas is famous for its
population of the wild water
buffalo.
 The name of the park is
originated from the Manas
River. The Manas river is a major
tributary of Brahmaputra River,
which passes through the heart
of the national park.
 Sand and dust storms are common meteorological hazards in arid

and semi-arid regions.
 They are usually caused by thunderstorms – or strong pressure
gradients associated with cyclones – which increase wind speed
over a wide area.
 These strong winds lift large amounts of sand and dust from bare, dry
soils into the atmosphere, transporting them hundreds to thousands of
kilometres away.
 Some 40% of aerosols in the troposphere (the lowest layer of Earth’s
atmosphere) are dust particles from wind erosion.
 The main sources of these mineral dusts are the arid regions of
Northern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Central Asia and China.
SAND AND DUST  Comparatively, Australia, America and South Africa make minor, but
STORMS still important, contributions.
 Once released from the surface, dust particles are raised to higher
levels of the troposphere by turbulent mixing and convective
updrafts.
 They can then be transported by winds for lengths of time,
depending on their size and meteorological conditions, before being
pulled back down to the surface again.
 As larger particles sediment more quickly than smaller ones, there is a
shift toward smaller particle sizes during transport. Dust is also washed
out of the atmosphere by precipitation.
 The average lifetime of dust particles in the atmosphere ranges from
a few hours for particles with a diameter larger than 10 μm, to more
than 10 days for the sub-micrometric ones.
 Kochi Water Metro is an integrated ferry transport project in Greater
Kochi region proposed by Kochi Metro Rail Limited.
 It is the first of its kind transport system in India and South Asia, that will
connect Kochi’s 10 island communities with the mainland through a
KOCHI WATER fleet of 78 battery-operated electric hybrid boats plying along 38
METRO terminals and 16 routes spanning 76 kilometers.
 It also serves as a feeder service to suburbs along the rivers where
transport accesibility is limited. The project obtained the final
environment clearance in October 2019 and its first route between
Vytilla and InfoPark was inaugurated in February 2021.
 Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone for India’s
first Digital Science Park.
 The park will facilitate industry and business units as well as
technology startups from the domains of Artificial Intelligence (AI),
robotics, electronics, smart hardware, sustainable and smart
DIGITAL SCIENCE materials in the initial phase.
PARK  An amount of ₹•200 crore has been allotted by Kerala and the
remaining amount will be generated from other sources including
industry partners.
 The park will be equipped with highend research labs and facilities
which will include clean rooms, material characterization facility,
integrated sensor labs, energy labs, motor and drives labs, RF and

wireless testing labs, unconventional computing centre, highend
data centre, robotics labs, electronic design centre, software
development labs, informatics and computing labs, and Blockchain
and cybersecurity labs.
 It will also have a Centre for Artificial Intelligence.
 One of the most important projects is the development of Matarbari
Deep Sea Port (DSP) on the
southeastern coast of
Bangladesh. It is being
constructed with Japanese
assistance and is scheduled
to be operational in 2027.
 Matarbari sea port was
MATARBARI DEEP originally built for Matarbari
SEA PORT coal-fired power plant then
the government decided to
turn it into a deep sea port.
 MV Venus Triumph, a 120
metres long general cargo ship, became the first foreign ship to dock
at the port.
 As per the original plan, the channel was supposed to be 3 km-long,
250 metres wide and 15 metres deep.
 Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalvaru & Ors. v. State of Kerala & Anr.
(Writ Petition (Civil) 135 of 1970), also known as the Kesavananda
Bharati judgement, was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of
India that outlined the basic structure doctrine of the Indian
Constitution.
 The case is also known as the Fundamental Rights Case. The court in
a 7-6 decision asserted its right to strike down amendments to the
constitution that were in violation of the fundamental architecture of
the constitution
 Some of the features of the Constitution termed as "basic" are listed
below:
 Supremacy of the Constitution
 Rule of law
 The principle of separation of powers
 The objectives specified in the preamble to the Constitution of India
 Judicial review
 Articles 32 and 226
KESAVANANDA
 Federalism (including financial liberty of states under Articles 282 and
BHARATI V. STATE
293)
OF KERALA
 Secularism
 The sovereign, democratic, republican structure
 Freedom and dignity of the individual
 Unity and integrity of the nation
 The principle of equality, not every feature of equality, but the
quintessence of equal justice;
 The "essence" of other fundamental rights in Part III
 The concept of social and economic justice — to build a welfare
state: Part IV of the Constitution
 The balance between fundamental rights and directive principles
 The parliamentary system of government
 The principle of free and fair elections
 Limitations upon the amending power conferred by Article 368
 Independence of the judiciary
 Effective access to justice
 Powers of the Supreme Court of India under Articles 32, 136, 141, 142

 Legislation seeking to nullify the awards made in exercise of the
judicial power of the state by arbitration tribunals constituted under
an act
 A Ponzi is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier
investors with funds from more recent investors.
 Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads
victims to believe that profits are coming from legitimate business
activity (e.g., product sales or successful investments), and they
PONZI SCHEME
remain unaware that other investors are the source of funds.
 A Ponzi scheme can maintain the illusion of a sustainable business as
long as new investors contribute new funds, and as long as most of
the investors do not demand full repayment and still believe in the
non-existent assets they are purported to own.
 A heat dome is a type of high-pressure system that forms over a
large area in the atmosphere, and causes extremely hot and dry
weather conditions.
 The system traps hot air and prevents it from flowing to rise and cool.
 This air then becomes compressed and heats up, leading to a
dome-shaped area of hot air that can persist for several days or even
weeks.
 Heat domes can cause dangerous heat waves causing the
temperatures to shoot up. In addition to temperatures which are
highly unfavourable for humans, they can also lead to drought
conditions and wildfire as the hot and dry weather can quickly dry
out vegetation and make it more susceptible to catching fire.
HEAT DOME  Due to climate change, heat domes have not only become more
frequent but also a lot more intense. The rising temperatures and
changes in weather patterns are creating conditions that are
assisting their formation.
 While many people use ‘heat domes’ and ‘heat waves’
interchangeably, heat domes are just one of the atmospheric
conditions that can contribute to the formation of a heat wave.
 A heat wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot weather, often
accompanied by high humidity. Heat waves can occur for a variety
of reasons, including the presence of a heat dome. Heat waves can
also occur without the presence of a heat dome, such as when
warm, humid air masses from the tropics move to an area and
stagnate for an extended period.
 There was a triumphal note as media across the country reported the
rejection of Johnson & Johnson’s claim for a secondary patent on its
tuberculosis drug bedaquiline.
 It is a medicine that is taken orally, has fewer of the lethal side effects
of the older line of drugs and is desperately sought by patients. As a
BEDAQUILINE
country that is burdened with the largest number of TB cases, and
carries an additional load of more than a quarter of the world’s drug-
resistant cases, India badly needs access to generics medicines that
are inexpensive and available in sufficient quantities. Bedaquiline, a
patented medicine made by J&J-owned Janssen Pharmaceuticals
 Operation Kaveri gets under way to bring back our citizens stranded
in Sudan. About 500 Indians have reached Port Sudan.
 India had earlier stationed two C130J heavylift aircraft in Jeddah and
sent INS Sumedha to Port Said for the operation.
OPERATION KAVERI  The political crisis in Sudan turned into a countrywide armed
conflict after a disagreement between the paramilitary Rapid
Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) over
the Security Sector Reform (SSR) spiralled into an armed
confrontation between the commanders of the two wings.

 Rising Demand for fuel and other petroleum products amid flagging
domestic crude oil output
has resulted in India’s
reliance on imported crude
increasing to a record 87.3
per cent of domestic
consumption in 2022-23, up
from 85.5 per cent in 2021-
IMPORTED CRUDE 22, according to data
OIL AT RECORD released by the oil
HIGH OF 87.3% ministry’s Petroleum
Planning & Analysis Cell
(PPAC).
 India’s oil import
dependency was 84.4 per
cent in 2020-21, 85 per cent in 2019-20, and 83.8 per cent in 2018-19.
 With refining capacity of a little over 250 million tonnes per annum,
India — the world’s third-largest consumer of crude oil and also one
of its top importers – is a net exporter of petroleum products.
 Malaria is all set to become a notifiable disease across India
 Currently malaria is a notifiable disease in 33 States and Union
Territories in India.
 Malaria is a potentially life-threatening disease caused by parasites
(plasmodium vivax, plasmodium falciparum, plasmodium malariae
and plasmodium ovale) that are transmitted through the bite of
infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.
 A notifiable disease is any disease that is required by law to be
NOTIFIABLE reported to government authorities.
DISEASE  This will allow authorities to gather information to monitor the disease,
and provides early warning of possible outbreaks.
 The process will also help the government to keep track and
formulate a plan for elimination and control. In less infectious
conditions, it improves information about the burden and distribution
of disease.
 The Centre has notified several diseases such as cholera, diphtheria,
encephalitis, leprosy, meningitis, pertussis (whooping cough), plague,
tuberculosis, AIDS, hepatitis, measles among others.
 Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP) which aims to develop
infrastructure and open up villages to tourists along the China border
will be integrated with the Prime Minister Gati Shakti mega project.
 The digital platform of Gati Shakti brings 16 Ministries including
Railways and Roadways together for integrated planning and
coordinated implementation of infrastructure connectivity projects
and allows government departments to break operational silos.
 Vibrant Villages Programme was first announced in the 2022 Budget.
The programme’s targets are to provide comprehensive
development of villages on the border with China and improvement
VIBRANT VILLAGES in the quality of life of people living in identified border villages. The
PROGRAMME development in these villages will help prevent migration, and thus
also boost security.
 Under this centrally sponsored scheme, 2,967 villages in 46 blocks of
19 districts have been identified for comprehensive development.
 These villages abut the border in the states of Arunachal Pradesh,
Sikkim, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of
Ladakh. In the first phase, around 662 villages have been identified
for priority coverage.
 Under the programme, the government has allocated Rs 4,800 crore
for infrastructure development and to provide livelihood opportunities
in the border areas

 The aims of the scheme are to identify and develop the economic
drivers based on local, natural, human and other resources of the
border villages
 Development of growth centres on the “Hub and Spoke Model”
through promotion of social entrepreneurship, empowerment of
youth and women through skill development is also one of the
objectives of VVP.
 Moreover, the programme also intends to leverage tourism potential
 Development of sustainable eco-agribusinesses on the concept of
“One village-One product” through community-based organisations,
cooperatives, SHGs, NGOs etc is also aimed at.
 The district administration will prepare action plans with the help of
Gram Panchayats for the identified villages to ensure 100 per cent
saturation of Central and state schemes.
 The scheme envisages that drinking water, 24×7 electricity,
connectivity with all weather roads, cooking gas, mobile and internet
connectivity be made available in the border areas. Special
attention will be given to solar and wind energy, tourist centres, multi-
purpose centres and health infrastructure and wellness centres.
 The Wagner group is a Russian paramilitary organisation headed by
Yevgeny Prigozhin. Though it has been reportedly engaged in
counter-militancy operations in Africa, its involvement is believed to
have a more extensive scope covering political, economic and
military fields. There have also been reports of the group supplying
arms and weapons, and training regional forces in fighting jihadist
WAGNER GROUP threats. Despite its involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war, the Wagner
group’s presence in Africa has continued. By siding with the domestic
actors in a civil war situation, the group’s actions have impacted the
democratic process in Africa.
 Additionally, the West has been raising concerns over human rights
violations and abuse of civilians related to the Wagner group’s
presence in Africa.
 The Emirates Mars Mission is a United Arab Emirates Space Agency
uncrewed space exploration mission to Mars.
 The Hope probe was launched on 19 July 2020, and went into orbit
EMIRATES MARS around Mars on 9 February 2021.
MISSION  The mission design, development, and operations are led by the
Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).
 the Hope satellite is the first planetary science mission led by an
Arab-Islamic country.
 The Prime Minister's Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency
Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) was created on 27 March 2020,
following the COVID-19 pandemic in India.
 Although it is named for the Prime Minister of India, and uses the State
Emblem of India, it is a private fund, used at the discretion of the
Prime Minister and the Fund's trustees, and does not form a part of
the Government of India's accounts
 the Government of India has stated that the Prime Minister of India is
the chairman of the fund, and that trustees include the Minister of
PM CARES FUND Defence, the Minister of Home Affairs, the Minister of Finance and
several corporate leaders and industrialists
 The total amount of funds donated and the names of donors have
not been publicly disclosed, and the fund is privately audited. It is not
subject to audits by India's Comptroller and Auditor General
 Government of India has denied access to documentation involving
the fund under India's transparency law, the Right to Information Act,
arguing that it is not a government fund and consequently not liable
to disclose either earnings or spendings.
 PM CARES Fund has been registered as a Public Charitable Trust.

 India as the Chair of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in
2023 will host the SCO Defence Ministers’ Meeting on 28 April 2023 in
New Delhi.
 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental
organization established in 2001. The SCO membership includes
Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and
Uzbekistan besides India.
 Apart from the member states, two observer countries Belarus and
Iran will also be participating in the SCO Defence Ministers Meeting
on 28 April 2023.
 The Defence Ministers will discuss amongst other issues matters
INDIA TO HOST
concerning regional peace and security, counter terrorism efforts
SCO DEFENCE within SCO and an effective multilateralism.
MINISTERS’
 The theme of India’s Chairmanship of SCO in 2023 is ‘SECURE-SCO’.
MEETING
 India attaches special importance to SCO in promoting multilateral,
political, security, economic and people-to-people interactions in the
region.
 The ongoing engagement with SCO has helped India promote its
relations with the countries in the region with which India has shared
civilizational linkages, and is considered India’s extended
neighbourhood.
 SCO pursues its policy based on the principles of sovereignty and
territorial integrity of nations, non-interference in internal affairs,
equality of all member States and mutual understanding and respect
for opinions of each of them.

 Thirunelli Temple (also Tirunelli) is an ancient temple dedicated to
Lord Maha Vishnu on the side of Brahmagiri hill in Kerala, India, near
the border with Karnataka state.
 The temple is at an altitude of about 900m in north Wayanad in a
valley surrounded by mountains and beautiful forests. It is 32 km away
from Manathavady.
 The 15th-century structure is built in the typical Kerala style, with tiled
NOTIFIABLE
roofs.
DISEASE
 A local ruler began building a stone structure, but he was interrupted
by a war, and a few pillars stand in solitude in memory of the
attempt.
 An impressive structure from that period is an aqueduct, bringing
water from the hill streams to the temple.
 Thirunelli Temple is the only temple in the world where devotees can
perform all the rituals related to one’s life, starting from birth to death
and life after death. Panchatheertham is the temple's holy pond.
 There has been a consistent decline in ‘out-of-pocket’ expenditure,
as a share of the total health expenditure, the government’s share
has steadily increased, according to the National Health Accounts
Estimates 2019-20 released
 According to the data, the government health expenditure, as a
OUT-OF-POCKET
share of the total health expenditure, increased from 29 per cent in
HEALTH SPEND
2014-15 to 41.4 per cent in 2019-20. On the other hand, the ‘out-of-
FALLS pocket’ share fell from 62.6 per cent in 2014-15 to 47.1 per cent in
2019-20; it was 48.2 per cent in 2018-19, 48.8 per cent in 2017-18.
 Overall, the government health expenditure increased from 1.13 per
cent of the GDP in 2014-15 to 1.35 per cent in 2019-20. The
government plans to increase this to 2.5 per cent of the GDP by 2025.

 While today’s classical computers store information as binary 0 and 1
states, quantum computers draw on the fundamental laws of nature
to carry out calculations using quantum bits.
 Unlike a bit that has to be a 0 or a 1, a qubit can be in a combination
of states, which allows for exponentially larger calculations and gives
them the potential to solve complex problems which even the most
QUANTUM powerful classical supercomputers are not capable of.
COMPUTING  .The Government in its 2021 budget allocated INR 8000 Crore towards
the National Mission on quantum technologies and applications to
spur developments in quantum computing, cryptography,
communications, and material science.
 In December 2021, the Indian Army set up a quantum computing
laboratory and an AI centre at a military engineering institute at
Mhow, Madhya Pradesh
 The Kochi Water Metro is a project being implemented by Kochi
Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRL) with the assistance of a
German funding agency, Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau.
 The water metro will operate on water bodies like any other ferry or
traditional boat service, but with modern facilities, enhanced safety
and security measures
 The water metro boat service will operate in the backwaters of Kochi,
KOCHI WATER connecting 10 nearby islands with the mainland of Kochi, the
commercial hub of Kerala. The project is envisaged with 38 jetties,
METRO
and 78 boats, covering a distance of 76 km. The non-polluting,
battery-powered boats are noise-free and produce low waves, unlike
traditional ferries.
 The Kochi Water Metro project has been conceived as part of the
Kochi Metro Rail service. In 2016, the cost of the water metro had
been pegged at Rs 747 crore, but the estimate has been revised to
Rs 1136 crore. Boats have been constructed by Cochin Shipyard
Limited.
 The Supreme Court, modified its judgment to have mandatory eco-
sensitive zones (ESZ) of a minimum one kilometre around protected
forests, national parks and wildlife sanctuaries across the country.
 A Bench led by Justice B.R. Gavai reasoned that ESZ cannot be
uniform across the country and has to be “protected area-specific”.
 On June 3, 2022, the apex court had ordered the 1-km buffer zone
for protected areas to act as a “shock absorber”.
 However, the Centre and several States, including Kerala, had
returned to the apex court seeking modification of the June 2022
judgment, saying the judicial direction affected hundreds of villages
in the peripheries of forests.
 Eco-Sensitive Zones
ECO-SENSITIVE  As per the National Wildlife Action Plan (2002-2016), issued by the
Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, land
ZONES
within 10 km of the boundaries of national parks and wildlife
sanctuaries is to be notified as eco-fragile zones or Eco-Sensitive
Zones (ESZ).
 While the 10-km rule is implemented as a general principle, the extent
of its application can vary.
 Areas beyond 10 km can also be notified by the Union government
as ESZs if they hold larger ecologically important “sensitive corridors.
 According to the guidelines issued by the Environment Ministry in
2011, ESZs are created as “shock absorbers” for the protected areas,
to minimize the negative impact on the “fragile ecosystems” by
certain human activities taking place nearby.
 Furthermore, these areas are meant to act as transition zone from
areas requiring higher protection to those requiring lesser protection.

 The World Health Organisation has issued another alert for an India-
manufactured, contaminated cough syrup sold in the Marshall
Islands and Micronesia.
 This is the third such alert within seven months for contaminated
cough syrups produced in India, with the previous cases having been
DIETHYLENE
identified in the Gambia and Uzbekistan.
GLYCOL AND
 The alert says that the syrup Guaifenesin—used to relieve chest
ETHYLENE GLYCOL
congestion and cough—was found to contain “unacceptable
CONTAMINATION amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol” by the quality
control labs of the Therapeutic Goods Administration of Australia.
 These are the same contaminants that were found in syrups allegedly
linked to the deaths of 70 children in the Gambia and 18 children in
Uzbekistan due to acute kidney injury.
 Jim Corbett National Park
is a national park in India
located in the Nainital
district of Uttarakhand
state. The first national
park in India
 The park was the first to
come under the Project
Tiger initiative
 Corbett National Park
IM CORBETT comprises 520.8 km2 (201.1 sq mi) area of hills, riverine belts, marshy
NATIONAL PARK depressions, grasslands and a large lake.
 The park has sub-Himalayan belt geographical and ecological
characteristics.
 Dense moist deciduous forest mainly consists of sal, haldu, peepal,
rohini and mango trees
 Corbett National Park is one of the thirteen protected areas covered
by the World Wide Fund for Nature under their Terai Arc Landscape
Program.
 The park encompasses the Patli Dun valley formed by the Ramganga
river.
 Fraternity means a sense of common brotherhood of all Indians — if
Indians being one people. It is the principle which gives unity and
solidarity to social life.
 without fraternity, equality and liberty will be no deeper than coats of
paint’
FRATERNITY
 Article 51A, on Fundamental Duties, added to by the 42nd
Amendment in 1977 and further amended by 86th Amendment in
2010, evaded it except by Article 51A(e) generally that referred to
the duty of every citizen ‘to promote harmony and the spirit of
common brotherhood amongst all the people of India’
 Union Finance Ministry, in a gazette notification, extended these
activities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) Act
of 2002: exchange between virtual digital assets and fiat currencies;
exchange between one or more forms of virtual digital assets; transfer
of virtual digital assets; safekeeping or administration of virtual digital
assets or instruments enabling control over virtual digital assets; and
VIRTUAL DIGITAL participation in and provision of financial services related to an
ASSETS issuer’s offer and sale of a virtual digital asset.
REGULATION  This means virtual digital assets platforms carrying out the said
activities will now have to register as a reporting entity with the
Financial Intelligence Unit-India.
 The unit is the national agency to strengthen India’s efforts against
money laundering and terror financing. Reporting entity platforms
such as CoinSwitch are now mandated to implement know your
customer, record and monitor all transactions, and report to the

Financial Intelligence Unit-India as and when any suspicious activity
is detected.
 Extending them to virtual digital assets provides virtual digital assets
platforms with a framework to diligently monitor and take actions
against malpractices.
 African swine fever virus (ASFV) is a large, double-stranded DNA virus
in the Asfarviridae family.
 It is the causative agent of African swine fever (ASF).
 The virus causes a hemorrhagic fever with high mortality rates in
domestic pigs; some isolates can cause death of animals as quickly
as a week after infection.
 It persistently infects its natural hosts, warthogs, bushpigs, and soft
ticks of the genus Ornithodoros, which likely act as a vector, with no
disease signs.
AFRICAN SWINE  It does not cause disease in humans.
FEVER VIRUS  ASF continues to spread worldwide, threatening pig health and
welfare. The disease has reached multiple countries across Asia, the
Caribbean, Europe, and the Pacific, affecting both domestic and
wild pigs.
 The disease was first described after European settlers brought pigs
into areas endemic with ASFV, and as such, is an example of an
emerging infectious disease.
 ASFV replicates in the cytoplasm of infected cells.
 It is the only virus with a double-stranded DNA genome known to be
transmitted by arthropods.
 A marketing tactic used by companies to deceive consumers into
believing that they are working towards achieving sustainable use
and conservation of food systems and water bodies.
BLUEWASHING
 An oil and gas company claiming to be a leader in protecting the
ocean, while continuing to engage in deep-sea oil drilling and other
activities that harm marine ecosystems.
 A bio-jet fuel, also known as sustainable aviation fuel (SAF),
produced using home-grown technology from cooking oil and seeds
of oil-bearing plants will likely be certified internationally this year. An
international certification would allow the SAF to be used in
commercial flights in India.
 The Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP), a laboratory of the Council of
Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), has tied up with Boeing,
Indigo, Spicejet and the three Tata Airlines — Air India, Vistara and Air
BIO-JET FUEL Asia India — to support the production of SAF.
 Using SAF results in a reduction in carbon emissions compared to the
traditional jet fuel it replaces over the lifecycle of the fuel. Some
typical feedstocks used are cooking oil and other non-palm waste
oils from animals or plants; solid waste from homes and businesses,
such as packaging, paper, textiles, and food scraps that would
otherwise go to landfill or incineration. Other potential sources
include forestry waste, such as waste wood, and energy crops,
including fast growing plants and algae.
 Since the stand-off began in
May 2020, the two sides have so
far held 18 rounds of talks with
disengagement undertaken
INDIA-CHINA from both sides of Pangong Tso
BORDER ISSUES in February 2021, from Patrolling
Point (PP) 17 in the Gogra-Hot
Springs area in August and PP15
in early November, in addition to Galwan in 2020 after the violent
clash.
 While India maintains that friction points at Demchok and Depsang

remain, China has refused to accept them, terming them as legacy
issues predating the 2020 standoff.
 The National Manufacturing Innovation Survey (NMIS) 2021-22 is a

joint study by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and
the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) to
NATIONAL evaluate the innovation performance of manufacturing firms in the
MANUFACTURING India.
INNOVATION  The NMIS 2021-22 study was conducted as a 2-pronged survey that
SURVEY (NMIS) examined the innovation processes, outcomes, and barriers in
2021-22 manufacturing firms and also studied the innovation ecosystem that
affects innovation outcomes in these firms.
 This study is a follow-up of DST’s first National Innovation Survey held in
2011.
 South Indian Liberal Federation
 The coming together of P. Theagaraya Chetty and T.M. Nair, thanks
to the efforts of C. Natesa Mudaliar, was crucial in the formation of
the Justice Party as the South Indian Liberal Federation in 1916. The
two, who were among the founders of the party, had strong
differences, especially when they served in Madras Corporation.
 Madras Labour Union
 India’s first union, Madras Labour Union, came into existence on April
27, 1918, by organising the workers of the Buckingham and Carnatic
Mills. B.P. Wadia, a theosophist, who had no association with the
workers till then, became its president.
 G. Selvapathi Chettiar and G. Ramanjulu Naidu played a crucial role
in its formation
 Kula Kalvi Thittam
HISTORY  When the government moved a resolution in the Assembly on July 29,
OFTAMILNADU 1953, on the Modified Scheme of Elementary Education, infamously
known as Kula Kalvi Thittam, the CPI moved an amendment that the
scheme be dropped. The House voted 138 Ayes and 138 Noes,
prompting the Speaker to vote in favour of the government.
 Swaraj Party
 S. Satyamurti was the prominent figure of the Swaraj Party in Madras
Presidency. The party was formed in 1923 by Congressmen who
disagreed with Mahatma Gandhi’s position of boycotting the
legislatures. Satyamurthi entered the Assembly in 1923 and played a
key role in the Congress coming to power in 1937
 Sevappa Nayak
 Sevappa Nayak, the first Nayak ruler of Thanjavur, ruled the region in
the mid16th Century. Considered a patron of many temples, he is
believed to have built the Subramanya shrine in the Brihadeeswara
Temple (Big Temple). The shrine is known for its intricate architecture
and designs.
 Sudan’s eruption into conflict has left international consumer goods
makers racing to shore up supplies of gum arabic, one of the
country’s most sought-after products and a key ingredient in
everything from fizzy drinks to candy and cosmetics.
 About 70% of the world’s supply of gum arabic, for which there are
few substitutes, comes from the acacia trees in the Sahel region that
runs through Africa’s third-largest country, which is being torn apart
GUM ARABIC by fighting between the army and a paramilitary force.
 Gum arabic is a natural gum originally consisting of the hardened
sap of the Acacia tree.
 The gum is harvested commercially from wild trees, mostly in Sudan
(80%) and throughout the Sahel, from Senegal to Somalia.
 The name "gum Arabic" was used in the Middle East at least as early
as the 9th century.

 The new rating system would have 3, 4 and 5 star water fixtures based
on their water efficiency and this rating system would come under
STAR RATING
one umbrella called Bharat Tap
SYSTEM FOR WATER
 Data derived from this initiative showed that on average over 30% of
TAPS, SANITARY
water can be saved. However, there was not enough data available
FIXTURES to consumers to assist them in making informed decisions when
purchasing sanitary fixtures.
 Hate speech is defined as any form of communication, whether
spoken, written, or physical, that criticizes or discriminates against a
person or a group based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race,
colour, descent, gender, or other identity factors.
 Provisions related to hate speech
 Section 153A IPC penalises ‘promotion of enmity between different
groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence,
language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of
HATE SPEECH harmony’.
 Section 153B IPC penalises ‘imputations, and assertions prejudicial to
national integration.
 Section 295A IPC penalises ‘deliberate and malicious acts, intended
to outrage the religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or
religious beliefs.
 Section 505(1) and (2) IPC penalises the publication or circulation of
any statement, rumour or report causing public mischief and enmity,
hatred or ill-will between classes
 The Anji Khad bridge is a cable-stayed bridge connecting Katra and
Reasi section of Jammu–Baramulla line in the Jammu Division of
Jammu and Kashmir, India.
 After an earlier arch bridge design proposal similar to that of the
Chenab Bridge was rejected and a new cable-stayed design was
ANJI KHAD BRIDGE
approved, it became India's first cable-stayed railway bridge. It is
built by Hindustan Construction Company.
 The bridge is a part of a 326-km rail line connecting Udhampur to
Baramulla via Srinagar, a crucial connector between Kashmir and
rest of India via railways
 e-Sewa Kendras have been created in the High Courts and in one
District Court in each State on a pilot basis.
 It enables litigants to obtain information with respect to case status
E-SEWA KENDRAS and to obtain copies of judgments and orders.
 These centres also extend assistance in e-filing of cases. These
Kendras represent a significant step for the common man and his
right to access to justice.
 A personal FM transmitter is a low-power FM radio transmitter that
broadcasts a signal from a portable audio device (such as an MP3
player) to a standard FM radio.
 Most of these transmitters plug into the device's headphone jack and
then broadcast the signal over an FM broadcast band frequency, so
that it can be picked up by any nearby radio.
 This allows portable audio devices to make use of the louder or better
sound quality of a home audio system or car stereo without requiring
FM TRANSMITTERS a wired connection.
 They are often used in cars but may also be in fixed locations such as
broadcasting from a computer sound card throughout a building.
 Being low-powered, most transmitters typically have a short range of
100–300 feet (30–91 metres), depending on the quality of the
receiver, obstructions and elevation.
 Typically they broadcast on any FM frequency from 87.5 to 108.0 MHz
in most of the world

 Purana Qila (lit. 'Old Fort') is one of the oldest and ancient forts in
Delhi, India. However, the exact time period of foundation of the
original structure is in antiquity and is unknown, though it was re-built
under the reign of the second Mughal Emperor Humayun and Sur
Emperor Sher Shah Suri.
 Excavations point to traces from the 3rd century BC, the pre-Mauryan
PURANA QILA period.
 It is thought by many to be located on the site of the ancient city of
Indraprastha.
 It is now located near the expansive Pragati Maidan exhibition
ground and is separated from the Dhyanchand Stadium by the
Mathura Road, Delhi.
100th MANN KI
BAAT
 1st tiger sighted in 110 years

 Kalesar National Park (13,000 acres (53 km2)) and adjacent Kalesar
Wildlife Sanctuary (13,209 acres (53.45 km2) are protected areas in
Yamunanagar district of
Haryana state in India, 122
kilometres (76 mi) from
Chandigarh.
 Kalesar National Park was
established in 2003. Kalesar
KALESAR National Park and Kalesar
NATIONAL PARK Wildlife Sanctuary are
contiguous to Simbalbara
National Park in Himachal
Pradesh and Rajaji National
Park in Uttarakhand.
 Kalesar is a popular
destination for leopards,
panthers, elephants, red jungle fowl and bird-watching.
 This forested area in the Shivalik foothills is covered primarily with sal
with smattering of Semul, Amaltas and Bahera trees as well
 A lunar spacecraft developed by the Japanese firm, ispace, appears
JAPANESE
to have crashlanded.
SPACECRAFT
 Mission control lost contact with the 2.3metretall lander when it was
CRASH
around 90 metres above the Moon’s surface.
LANDS ON  The craft picked up speed as it descended, and it could have run

SURFACE OF THE out of fuel prematurely. The lander was carrying the UAE’s Rashid
MOON rover, which was to investigate the geological properties of the
Moon’s surface.
 Tensions have been rising again between the two countries over the
disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, where Russian peacekeepers
were deployed in 2020 to end a war, the second that Armenia and
Azerbaijan have fought over the enclave since the 1991 collapse of
NAGORNO- the Soviet Union.
KARABAKH
 The mountain region is internationally recognised as part of
REGION Azerbaijan but populated mainly by ethnic Armenians.
 Azerbaijan set up a new checkpoint on the road to Karabakh, the
Lachin corridor, in a move that Armenia that called a gross violation
of a 2020 ceasefire.
 Outbreak of the highly
pathogenic avian
influenza H5N1 killing
millions of birds. The
virus, which is known to
cause severe disease
and death in birds, has
H5N1 also been detected in
mammalian species
and also in humans.
This has put health
authorities on high alert
regarding the
implications of the
large outbreak on public health

Prediction - April 2023

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INDEX

1. GOVERNANCE 4. RECENT ECONOMIC EVENTS

2 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

8. CULTURAL AND HISTORICAL

10. INDICES AND RANKING

11. SPECIES IN NEWS

12. ALSO IN NEWS

3 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

1.2. NATIONAL PARTY

4 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

1.3. UNIFIED PORTAL OF THE CENTRAL BUREAU OF NARCOTICS

1.4. ‘THE TAMIL NADU PROHIBITION OF ONLINE GAMBLING AND

Hosting online gambling services in T.N. can result in up to 3 years of jail.

5 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

1.5. PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES

6 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

1.6. LOK AYUKTA

1.7. MERCY PLEA

7 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

1.8. CASTE CENSUS

8 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

1.9. NINTH SCHEDULE

STATUTORY PROVISIONS FOR REMISSION

9 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

1.11. NAGALAND: URBAN LOCAL BODY POLLS

10 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

1.12. ASSAM-ARUNACHAL PRADESH BORDER DISPUTE

ASSAM AND ARUNACHAL PRADESH DISPUTE:

1.13. FOREIGN CONTRIBUTION REGULATION ACT

FOREIGN CONTRIBUTION REGULATION ACT

11 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

1.14. NARCOTICS CONTROL BUREAU

12 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

1.15. NUCLEAR LIABILITY LAW

LAW GOVERNING NUCLEAR LIABILITY IN INDIA

13 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

1.16. NATIONAL MEDICAL DEVICES POLICY, 2023

NATIONAL MEDICAL DEVICES POLICY, 2023

14 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

1.17. NATIONAL HEALTH ACCOUNT

15 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

16 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

MISSION AMRIT SAROVAR

2.2. INDIA SEMICONDUCTOR MISSION

INDIA SEMICONDUCTOR MISSION

17 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

2.3. GENOME INDIA PROJECT

GENOME INDIA PROJECT

2.4. VIBRANT VILLAGES PROGRAMME

VIBRANT VILLAGES PROGRAMME

18 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

2.5. NATIONAL BEEKEEPING & HONEY MISSION

NATIONAL BEEKEEPING & HONEY MISSION

2.6. NATIONAL QUANTUM MISSION

NATIONAL QUANTUM MISSION

19 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

2.7. NATIONAL RABIES CONTROL PROGRAMME

NATIONAL RABIES CONTROL PROGRAMME

20 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023

2.8. SMALL SAVINGS SCHEME

SMALL SAVINGS SCHEME

2.9. GENOME SEQUENCING AND GENOME INDIA PROJECT

21 PREDICTION - APRIL 2023