NCVET has officially recognized the National Institute of Social Defence (NISD) as an Awarding Body (Dual Category).

• Now, NISD can award, assess and certify the learners. 
• NISD, an autonomous body under the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, is the nodal training and research institute for social defence.

About NCVET

• Genesis: Established on 2018, the NCVET is the regulatory body for the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector.
• Ministry: Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE),
• Key Functions:
  • Recognition and regulation of Awarding Bodies (ABs), Assessment Agencies (AAs), and Skill-related Information Providers.
  • Approval of qualifications based on the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF).

Euclid telescope has captured high-resolution images of 26 million galaxies. 

About Euclid Telescope (2023)

• Name After: Euclid of Alexandria, an ancient Greek mathematician known for his contributions to geometry.
• Space Agency: Euclid is a fully European mission, built and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), with contributions from NASA.
• Size: 1.2 m diameter
• Objectives:
  • Euclid will study the Universe's evolution over the past 10 billion years, revealing how it expanded and formed structures, and providing insights into dark energy, dark matter, and gravity.
  • It will create a 3D map by observing billions of galaxies up to 10 billion light-years away.
• Orbit: Positioned 1.5 million km from Earth at the stable Lagrange Point 2 (L2).

Public Accounts Committee raised concerns over avoidable costs, as six transponders on the GSAT-18 satellite will remain unused until 2027.

About GSAT-18

• Launch: 2016, aboard Ariane-5 VA-231 from French Guiana.
  Orbit: Placed in Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), later moved to Geostationary Orbit.
• Transponders: 48 in total across three frequency bands:
  • Normal C-band
  • Upper Extended C-band
  • Ku-band

Supreme Court in (DAMB v. Bhagwan Devi, 2025) ruled that land acquired for public use under eminent domain cannot be reversed by third-party claims or private agreements.

• Under doctrine of ‘eminent Domain’, the government can acquire private land for public use with just compensation.

Case Background

• 1963: Land acquired for Delhi Agricultural Marketing Board (DAMB) to establish a grain market.
• 1986: Compensation awarded to Bhagwan Deviunder Land Acquisition Act 1894. 
  • Later she claimed part of the land and made a private agreement with DAMB to get some of it back.
  • The SC, quashed the agreement. 

NOTE: Land Acquisition Act 1894 is replaced by The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 (RFCTLARR Act 2013) 

Indiahas developed its first indigenous 1.5 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine 

• It will be installed in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi.
• It is developed through a partnership of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity), Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), etc. 
• Implementing agency: Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research (SAMEER), Mumbai.

About MRI

• It is a non-invasive medical imaging test used to visualize soft tissues.
• They use large magnets and radio waves. No ionizing radiation is produced during an MRI exam, unlike X-rays.
• Images produced by an MRI scan can show organs, bones, muscles and blood vessels.

The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) YuWaah have signed a Statement of Intent (SOI) to empower rural women and youth across India.

About (UNICEF) YuWaah, 2019

• It is a platform where youth-centric action is co-created, especially facilitated by young Indians from diverse backgrounds.
• Objective: Building skills and creating socio-economic and change-making opportunities for young people, with a special focus on women and marginalized groups.
  • It will unlock the potential of India's 350 million young people.
• It fosters Public-Private-Youth Partnerships to drive innovative solutions, creating pathways for learning to earning transition and youth-led climate action.

Japanese mathematician Masaki Kashiwara (78) won the Abel Prize, often called the "Nobel of Mathematics."

•  He was honored for his work in algebraic analysis, representation theory, D-modules, and crystal bases.

About Abel Prize

• Annual award for outstanding mathematicians.
• Named after mathematicians Niels Henrik Abel (1802–29).
  • Abel demonstrated the impossibility of solving the general quintic equation in radicals. 
  • He was also an innovator in the field of elliptic functions (Abelian functions).
• Established in 2002 by the Norwegian Government.
• Managed by the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
• First winner: Jean-Pierre Serre (2003).
• Prize: 7.5 million kroner (~$720,000) and a glass plaque.

NOTE: International Mathematical Union, with UNESCO's support, declared 2000 as World Mathematical Year.

Public Accounts Committee reported on the premature closure of the T-800 carbon fibre project. 

• Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre signed an MoU with NAL (chosen for its T-300 fibre expertise) in 2006 for an import substitute,
  • But delays led to its closure in 2019. 

T-800 Carbon Fibre

• T-800 carbon fibre is crucial for launch vehicles, spacecraft tanks, and Gaganyaan
  • Carbon fibre (graphite fibre), is made of thin carbon strands (5-10 microns thick). 
    • It is lightweight yet very strong with high tensile strength.
• Need for Indigenization: Due to dual-use potential and geopolitical risks, local production is crucial. 
• Major suppliers: Toray (Japan), Formosa (Taiwan), Hyosung (Korea), and Hexcel (USA).