The growing demand for phosphoric acid in electric vehicle batteries poses a potential threat to India's agriculture sector, which relies heavily on imported fertilizers.

•  It is used in lithium-iron-phosphate (LFP) batteries. 

About Phosphoric Acid (H3PO4)

• Manufactured from rock phosphate ore after grounding and reacting with sulphuric acid.
• Properties: Corrosive, colorless, odorless, and inorganic acid.
• Uses:
  • It’s the key ingredient in di-ammonium phosphate (DAP).
    •  India’s second most consumed fertiliser after urea.
  • Other uses: livestock feeds, phosphate salts, polyphosphates, soaps, waxes, polishes and detergents.
• India imports phosphoric acid mainly from Jordan, Morocco, Senegal, and Tunisia.

Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has suggested reciprocal arrangements with foreign governments for information sharing and enforcement measures to prevent tax evasion in OIDAR services.

• DGGI is apex intelligence organization that collects and disseminates intelligence on GST, Central Excise, etc.
• Operates under the Ministry of Finance.

About OIDAR services

• Services provided through the medium of internet and received by the recipient online without having any physical interface. 
  • E.g., cloud services, digital content, etc.
• If a Foreign Service provider renders OIDAR services to an unregistered recipient located in India, then it is mandatory for them to obtain a registration under GST. 

Left wing extremism has impeded forestry operations in PTR.

About PTR

• Location:  Western part of the Chotanagpur plateau, Jharkhand
• It has geological formation consisting of gneiss and is rich in bauxite and coal.
• It is first sanctuary in world to have a tiger census.
• It is constituted under the Project Tiger (1973). 
• River: It is watershed area for Koel, Burha and Auranga.
• Fauna: Tiger, Elephant ,Leopard, Grey wolf, and Wild dog
• Vegtation: Flora is dominated Tropical Dry Deciduous forest and small patch of tropical Moist Deciduous forests exist too.
  • Key flora: Sal, Butea, Carissa, Capparis and Salvadora

Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has introduced stringent environmental compensation (EC) guidelines to penalise violations of the BWM Rules, 2022.

About BWM Rules, 2022

• The Rules specify standards to manage waste batteries. 
• It covers all types of batteries, viz. Electric Vehicle batteries, portable batteries, automotive batteries and industrial batteries etc.
• It specifies extended producer responsibility (EPR) where producers ensure collection, recycling, and refurbishment of the waste batteries.
• Environmental compensation imposed for non-fulfilment of EPR targets are based on the principle of Polluter Pays Principle.

FTSCs are much more efficient in handling rape cases and those related to Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act according to a report released by India Child Protection.

About FTSCs

• Type: Centrally sponsored scheme, launched in 2019 (extended up to 2026)
• Funding: Centre bears its expenditure from the Nirbhaya Fund
• Implementation: By department of Justice, Ministry of Law and Justice.
• Objective: Ensures swift disposal of rape cases and those coming under the POCSO Act.
  • 755 FTSCs (out of decided 1023) including 410 exclusive POCSO (ePOCSO) Courts are functional in 30 States / UTs.
• Significance:  FTSCs disposed of 83% of the cases in 2022 compared with 10% by the conventional courts. 

ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute have been designated as a center of excellence for seaweed cultivation.

About Seaweed

• It is a common name for various species of marine plants and algae which grow in oceans as well as in rivers, lakes etc.
• Multicellular and macroscopic autotrophs broadly classified into three groups such as  green (Chlorophyta), brown (Phaeophyta), and red (Rhodophyta) seaweeds. 
• Applications:-
  • Nutritional: Also called sea vegetables, it provides:-
    • Minerals: calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium
    • Vitamins: A, B1, B12, C, D, E etc.
  • Health: Anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial & used in cancer treatment. 
  • Manufacturing: Binding agents in toothpaste, fruit jelly, organic cosmetics, skincare items.
  • Agriculture: Enhances crop productivity

Lending firms have utilized AA to facilitate loans worth Rs 42,300 crores.

About AAs: 

• Function:  Helps an individual securely and digitally access and share information from one financial institution they have an account with any other regulated financial institution in AA network.
  • It enables the flow of data between Financial Information Providers and Financial Information Users.
• Regulation: It is a type of RBI regulated entity (with an NBFC-AA license) which needs the consent of individuals for sharing data.
• Significance: 
  • AAs cannot read or resell consumer data.
  • It enables consumers to selectively share & even revoke data once shared.

QNLP has emerged as an field of research with potentially profound implications for large language modeling (LLM).

About QNLP: 

• It is the application of quantum computing to natural language processing (NLP).
  • NLP gives computers ability to interpret, manipulate, and comprehend human language.
• Need for QNLP: Traditional LLMs excel at processing semantic (meaning-related) aspects of natural language but struggle with syntax.
  • Syntax is structural arrangement of words and phrases in a sentence.
• QNLP focuses on grammar (syntax) and meaning (semantics) together, rather than separately as conventional systems do.
• Advantages: Lower energy costs than conventional LLMs,  Requiring fewer parameters than their classical counterparts etc.