RBI released Financial Inclusion Index for March 2024

• The value of the Index for March 2024 stands at 64.2 vis-à-vis 60.1 in March 2023

About Financial Inclusion Index:

• It is a comprehensive index incorporating details of banking, investments, insurance, postal as well as the pension sector.
• It captures the extent of financial inclusion across the country.
• Single value index (0 to 100), where 0 is complete exclusion and 100 is full inclusion.
• It includes three broad parameters viz., Access (35%), Usage (45%), and Quality (20%).
• It is published annually in July.

The 25th PM-STIAC meeting was held.

About PM-STIAC

• Constituted in 2018.
• Functions: 
  • It serves as an overarching council to assess the status of various science and technology-related matters, comprehend challenges, formulate interventions, develop a futuristic roadmap, and advise the Prime Minister accordingly
  • It also oversees the implementation of interventions by concerned S&T departments, agencies, and other government ministries.

• Missions approved by the PM-STIAC: Deep Ocean Exploration Mission, AI (Artificial Intelligence) Mission, National Quantum Mission, Electric Vehicle Mission, and AGNIi Mission, etc.

Ministry of Rural Development organized Webinar to boost Jute Craft based livelihoods

About Jute:

• Jute is a Kharif crop
• Jute, a stem or bast fibre, is also known as the golden fibre. 
• Climatic Conditions:
  • It grows well on alluvial soil 
  • High temperature, heavy rainfall and humid climate are required during the time of growth. 
• Producing states:  West Bengal ,  Assam ,  Orissa , Bihar , Uttar Pradesh , Tripura and Meghalaya.
• India is the largest producer of raw jute and jute goods and stands at second place as an exporter after Bangladesh.
• Due to its high cost, it is losing market to synthetic fibres.

New IVF procedure called mitochondrial donation (currently under trial in Australia) offers a cure to Mito.

• Mitochondria is the Powerhouse of the cells producing 90% of the energy needed to sustain life.

About Mito

• Inherited metabolic condition caused by genetic mutation in the DNA. 
• It impairs the ability of mitochondria to convert food and oxygen into energy. 
• Two Kinds (as there are two types of DNA): 
  • Nuclear DNA, inherited from both parents. 
  • DNA of the mitochondria,  passed down through the mother. 

CCPA directs an online travel platform to refund booking amounts to consumers affected by COVID-19 lockdown.

CCPA

• Statutory body: established in 2020 under section 10 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. 
• Objective:  To promote, protect and enforce the rights of consumers as a class. 
• Composition: Chief Commissioner and such number of other Commissioners as may be prescribed.
• Powers and functions: Conduct investigations into violation of consumer rights and institute complaints / prosecution, order recall of unsafe goods and services, etc.

Study by National Centre for Biological Sciences revealed disruption in genetic connectivity of two large herbivores – Gaur and Sambar – due to change in land use patterns and roads in Central Indian Landscape. 

Gaur/Indian Bison (Bos gaurus)

• About:  Grazing animal, lives in groups of about 30 to 40.  
• Habitat: Mostly found in Western Ghats.
• Threat: Poaching, Food scarcity, etc. 
• IUCN Status: Vulnerable
• WPA, 1972:  Schedule I
• CITES: Appendix I

Sambar (Rusa unicolor)

• About: Large deer, predated by Indian Leopard, Bengal Tiger and Dhole. 
  • State animal of Odisha. 
• Habitat: Native to Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. 
• Threat: Habitat Encroachment and hunting. 
• IUCN Status: Vulnerable
• WPA, 1972: Schedule I

Fa.Gu. Halakatti, renowned for his role in revitalizing Vachana Literature was remembered on his birth anniversary.

About Vachana Literature

• “That which is spoken” is the literal meaning of the term “vachanas”.
• Type of Kannada rhythmic composition (also known as Kannada poetry) which originated in the 11^th century and thrived throughout the 12^th century as element of the Sharana movement.
  • Guru Basavanna spearheaded the Sharana movement in Karnataka.
• Madara Chennaiah, an eleventh century cobbler-saint who lived in the time of the Western Chalukyas’ rule, is considered as the “father of Vachana poetry” by certain researchers.

Research indicates that the Carbonate Compensation Depth (CCD) is expanding.

About CCD

• It is defined as the water depth at which the rate of supply of calcium carbonate from the surface is equal to the rate of dissolution.
• In the deep ocean, carbonate particles in bottom sediments are supplied by the die-off of surface plankton that secrete calcium carbonate tests or shells. 
• When these shells fall below a certain water depth (around 4,000 meters), they begin to dissolve as ocean waters become undersaturated with respect to calcium carbonate because of increasing pressure, decreasing temperature and increasing amounts of dissolved CO₂.

Ministry of Coal is taking proactive measures for disposal and repurposing of Fly Ash generated by thermal power plants.

About Fly Ash

• Fly ash is a byproduct from burning pulverized coal in thermal power generating plants. 
• As per the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notification of 2009, the term "fly ash" means and includes, all ash generated such as Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP) ash, dry fly ash, bottom ash, pond ash and mound ash. 
• Its composition includes silicon dioxide (SiO₂), calcium oxide (CaO), and aluminium oxide (Al₂O₃).
• Uses: Manufacture of building materials, replacement of cement, enhancement of soil fertility etc.

Recently, Pakistan completed the long-awaited bridge at Kartarpur Corridor zero line.

About Kartarpur Corridor

• Corridor links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan, the final resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak Dev, with the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur district in India’s Punjab state.
• Followers of Guru Nanak Dev built the Dera Baba Nanak town. 
• Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak is about 1 km from the Indo- Pakistan border and on the east bank of River Ravi while Kartarpur Sahib is located on west bank of River Ravi.