Also in News

• 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.

• The UK to leave 'Outdated' Fossil Fuel Friendly Treaty ie.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.

• 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).

• 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.

• 16th biennial trilateral coast guard exercise between India, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka started.
  • Bangladesh is participating as an observer.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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

Sant Ravidas 

• PM unveiled statue of Sant Ravidas on his 647^th 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.