Table of Content
- 1. Regional Benches of the Supreme Court
- 2. LASER Cooling of Positronium
- 3. India’s Cultural Diplomacy
- 4. Arsenic and fluoride groundwater contamination
- 5. Equal Opportunity Policy for Transgender Persons
- 6. Precision farming
- 7.Also in News
- 7.1 Portals for a ‘Modernized Media Landscape’
- 7.2 Energy Charter Treaty
- 7.3 Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) Scheme
- 7.4 Grey – zone Warfare
- 7.5 Exercise 'DOSTI-16'
- 7.6 Indian Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus)
- 7.7 Short-Lived Climate Pollutants(SLCPs)
- 7.8 Kala Azar
- 7.9 Personality in News
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Also in News
Posted 24 Feb 2024
9 min read
Portals for a ‘Modernized Media Landscape’
- The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting launched 4 new media-related portals to streamline media-related services under its umbrella.
- The four new portals are
- Press Sewa Portal: for automation of the process for newspaper registration.
- NaViGate Bharat Portal: single platform with an interactive user interface for government videos
- National Register for Local Cable Operators: To streamline regulatory processes in the cable television sector in the future.
- Transparent Empanelment Media Planning and eBilling System for Central Bureau of Communication: to enhance transparency and efficiency in media planning processes.
- Tags :
- Press Seva Portal
- media-related portals
Energy Charter Treaty
- The UK to leave 'Outdated' Fossil Fuel Friendly Treaty ie. The Energy Charter Treaty.
- About Energy Charter Treaty
- It provides a multilateral framework for energy cooperation that is unique under international law.
- It entered into legal force in April 1998.
- It is designed to promote energy security through the operation of more open and competitive energy markets while respecting the principles of sustainable development and sovereignty over energy resources.
- Currently, there are 53 Signatories and Contracting Parties to the Treaty.
- Tags :
- Energy Charter Treaty
- Energy cooperation
Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) Scheme
- State Government of Odisha extends KALIA scheme by 3 years.
- About KALIA Scheme
- Objective: To provide financial assistance to small and marginal farmers (SMF) including sharecroppers, tenant farmers, and landless agricultural households (LAH) in the state.
- Comprehensive welfare solution conceived as a Direct Income Transfer (DIT).
- Excludes medium and large farmers.
- Other benefits: Scholarship for Children of KALIA beneficiaries, Livelihood packages for landless households, etc.
- Synchronized with PM-KISAN to provide annual benefit of ₹10000 to SMF (₹6,000 from PM-KISAN and ₹4,000, from KALIA).
- Tags :
- KALIA Scheme
- Farmer income
Grey – zone Warfare
- At Raisina Dialogue 2024, India’s Chief of Defence Staff talked about Grey-zone warfare.
- Grey – zone warfare
- Involves military actions which are below a particular threshold to invite a response.
- Seeks to exploit operational space between peace and war to change the status quo.
- About Raisina Dialogue
- India’s flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics.
- Hosted by Observer Research Foundation in partnership with Union Ministry of External Affairs.
- Theme of 2024 edition: Chaturanga: Conflict, Contest, Cooperate, Create.
- Tags :
- Grey - zone Warfare
- Raisina Dialogue
Exercise 'DOSTI-16'
- 16th biennial trilateral coast guard exercise between India, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka started.
- Bangladesh is participating as an observer.
- Tags :
- DOSTI-16
Indian Gharial (Gavialis gangeticus)
- Indian Gharial spotted in Greater Kaziranga (Assam) after a gap of 75 years.
- About Indian Gharial
- Distribution: Major population occurs in three tributaries of Ganga River - Chambal and Girwa in India and Rapti-Naryani in Nepal.
- Gharial reserves of India are located in three States – UP, MP, and Rajasthan.
- Habitat: Resides exclusively in river habitats with deep, clear, fast-flowing waters and steep, sandy banks.
- Conservation status: IUCN (Critically Endangered), Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 (Schedule I), and CITES (Appendix I)
- Behavioral Characteristics: Unlike other crocodiles, they feed on warm-blooded species and some are known to scavenge dead animals.
- Tags :
- Indian Gharial
Short-Lived Climate Pollutants(SLCPs)
- Climate and Clean Air Conference 2024 called for international collaboration to phase-out SLCPs.
- Conference is an annual meeting of Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC) which is a partnership of over 160 governments and organisations committed to reducing SLCPs.
- About SLCPs
- They are pollutants that remain in atmosphere for much shorter period than carbon dioxide, with much higher warming potential.
- e.g., Black Carbon, Methane, Tropospheric Ozone, and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
- Major sources: Inefficient combustion of fuel, agricultural sector, waste sector, refrigeration and cooling, etc.
- They are pollutants that remain in atmosphere for much shorter period than carbon dioxide, with much higher warming potential.
- Tags :
- SLCPs
- CCAC
- Black carbon
Kala Azar
- India hit target towards eliminating Kala Azar for the first time in 2023 by reporting less than one case per 10,000 population across all blocks
- About Kala Azar
- It is also known as Visceral Leishmaniasis and is a protozoan parasitic disease.
- Causing agent: infected female phlebotomine sandfly.
- Symptoms: irregular fever, weight loss, enlargement of the spleen and liver, and anaemia.
- The disease is endemic in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
- Areas infected: Brazil, east Africa, and India
- Tags :
- Kala Azar
- Visceral Leishmaniasis
Personality in News
Sant Ravidas
- PM unveiled statue of Sant Ravidas on his 647th birth anniversary.
- About Sant Ravidas
- Was a poet, philosopher, and social reformer during 15th century.
- Prominent bhakti saint of Nirguna Sampradaya in northern India.
- Considered as spiritual Guru of Meera Bai.
- Key contributions
- Worked against system of untouchability.
- His padas, devotional songs, and other writings are mentioned in the Guru Granth Sahib compiled by 5th Sikh’s Guru, Arjan Dev.
- Begumpura city was pioneered by him as a city without any sorrow and full of peace and humanity.
- Values: Compassion, Social justice, Egalitarianism, Humanism, etc.
- Tags :
- Sant Ravidas
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News Today (Feb 24, 2024)