• RBI deputy governor has cautioned non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) on peer-to-peer lending.

• About P2P Lending
  • It is the practice of lending money through online services that match lenders with borrowers, cutting out the financial institution as the middleman.
  • Rates and terms are set by each website.
  • Regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
  • All P2Ps are to be registered with the RBI as an NBFC.
  • Challenges:  risk of default, Lack of trust on the P2P platform, etc.

• Crisil assessment report called PRABHAAV (Powering a Resilient & Agile Bharat for the Advancement of Visionary Startups) was launched by Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI).
  • As per this, Rs 17,534 crore invested in 938 startups under FFS.

• About FFS 
  • Established in 2016 with corpus of Rs 10,000 crore to boost Indian startup ecosystem and enable access to domestic capital.
  • Monitoring agency: Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.
  • Operating agency: SIDBI.
  • Provides capital to Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)-registered Alternative Investment Funds, which invests money in startups.

• Olive Ridley Turtles are back on Mangalore beaches.

• About Olive Ridley Turtles
  • Smallest and most abundant of all sea turtles found in world, inhabiting warm waters of Pacific, Atlantic and Indian oceans.
  • Best known for their unique mass nesting called Arribada, where thousands of females come together on same beach to lay eggs.
  • Gahirmatha Marine Sanctuary (Odisha) is known as world’s largest rookery (a colony of breeding animals) of sea turtles.
  • Conservation
    • IUCN status: Vulnerable.
    • Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule 1.
  • Threats: Unsustainable fishing methods, tourism, poaching etc.

• Scientists have discovered a new fungus species, Trichoglossum syamviswanathii, from Thrissur, Kerala. 
  • It is named after renowned scientist Syam Viswanath for his contribution to the field of forestry in India.
• It belongs to the family Geoglossaceae and is characterized by its club-shaped apothecia in dark shades of black or brown.
• Trichoglossum species play a vital role in the decomposition of organic matter and the recycling of nutrients in forest ecosystems.

• SpaceX has recently launched NASA’s PACE satellite to monitor ocean, atmosphere, and climate.
• PACE was placed in a sun-synchronous orbit, which means that it will always be synced to the same position relative to the Sun.

• Objectives
  • Will help in understanding how the ocean and atmosphere exchange carbon dioxide.
  • Will reveal how aerosols might fuel phytoplankton growth in the surface ocean
  • Will contribute to new global measurements of ocean color, cloud properties, and aerosols.

• Kerala is about to launch India's 1st genomics-based infectious diseases test.
• It is developed by the IIT-Bombay-based HaystackAnalytics and NIMS Medicity. 
• The 'infexnTM' is a state-of-the-art targeted next-generation sequencing test.
  • It is designed to detect any bacterial and/or fungal infection along with the detection of relevant antimicrobial resistance genes, within 24 hours.
• The test is a kit-cum-software solution and can be performed within a hospital.

• NASA has started a series of marathon flights in Asia with  DC-8 to improve the models that help forecast and fight air pollution.
  • DC-8 is the world’s biggest flying laboratory.
• DC-8 flies very close to the ground to assess how much pollution is coming from different sources.
• It is accompanied by a smaller NASA Gulfstream jet whose instruments can create three-dimensional maps of pollutants in the air.
• It is under a project named ASIA-AQ, which is a collaboration between NASA and governments in a region

• Aadi Mahotsav 2024 is being organized in New Delhi to showcase rich diversity of India's tribal heritage.
  • It is an annual National Tribal Festival, organized by Tribal Co-Operative Marketing Development Federation of India Ltd. (TRIFED) under Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA).

• About TRIFED
  • Established in 1987 under Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, 1984.
  • Objective: Socio-economic development of tribal people by marketing development of tribal products on which lives of tribals depends.
  • Functioning under administrative control of MoTA.
  • Head-Office located in New Delhi and has a network of 15 Regional Offices located at various places in country.

Chile(Capital:

) 

• Chile records its deadliest wildfire.

• Political Boundaries
  • Country situated along western seaboard of South America.
  • Bounded by Peru and Bolivia (north), Argentina (east), and Pacific Ocean (west).

• Geographical features
  • Major Mountain Range: Andes.
  • Highest peak: Ojos del Salado.
  • Major Rivers: Loa, Biobío, Maipo etc.