Ministry of Labour and Employment initiated move to expand PMAY benefits to marginalised workers

• The Ministry has urged all State Governments to include migrant workers, building workers, beedi workers, non-coal mine workers, contract labourers, and other unorganised workers.
• The Ministry has also announced that the Management Information System (MIS) Portal for Building, Construction and Migrant workers is now fully operational.

Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY)

• Aims to Provide Pucca house to All.
• PMAY extended for an additional five years, from the financial year 2024-25 to 2028-29, with the aim of providing two crore additional houses to eligible beneficiaries.

Recently, the impact of El Nino and La Nina on the Indian monsoon is being studied.

• ONI is a vital index to study the dynamics of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

About ONI

• It is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (US agency) primary indicator for monitoring ENSO.
• The ONI is the rolling 3-month average temperature difference in the surface waters of the east-central tropical Pacific, near the International Dateline.
• Index values of +0.5 or higher indicate El Niño. Values of -0.5 or lower indicate La Niña.

VISHANU YUDDH ABHYAS, a mock drill on Pandemic Preparedness conducted under National One Health Mission (NOHM).

• NOHM  emphases on the "One Health" approach, aims to achieve integrated disease control and pandemic preparedness

Vishanu Yuddh Abhyas (Virus War Exercise)

• Purpose: To assess the readiness and response of the National Joint Outbreak Response Team (NJORT) involving experts from human health, animal husbandry, and wildlife sectors.
  • A mock zoonotic disease outbreak scenario was created to simulate a real-world outbreak.
• Stakeholders: Involved multiple national and state agencies including ICMR, AIIMS Jodhpur BSL-3 Lab, state administrations etc.

DGFT (Ministry of Commerce & Industry) authorized the Department of Defence Production (MoD), to be the licensing authority for export of all items falling under Category 6 of SCOMET for military end use.

About SCOMET

• National Export Control List of dual use items munitions and nuclear related items, including software and technology.
• Aligned to all the multilateral export control regimes such as Missile Technology Control Regime, Wassenaar Arrangement, Australia Group, etc.
• Has 9 categories (0 to 8).
• Notified by DGFT under Schedule 2 of ITC (HS) Classification of Export and Import Items.
• Regulated under of Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act, 1992. 
• Policy and procedures under SCOMET are outlined Foreign Trade Policy 2023. 

NTH signed MoU with the Bureau of Energy Efficiency to promote energy efficiency in India.

About NTH

• A premier institution under the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution.
• Established as the Government Test House in 1912.
•  India’s largest multi-location multidisciplinary testing laboratory under the Central Government.
• Deals with testing, calibration and quality evaluation related to industry, commerce, trade etc. as per international and national standards.
• Provides assistance to the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL).
• First Government Body to Certify Drones in India.

Recently, World Bank projected a decline in Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF) in Indian Economy for FY25.

About GFCF

• Also called ‘investment’, it is defined as acquisition of produced assets (including purchases of second-hand assets), including production of such assets by producers for their own use, minus disposals. (OECD)
  • "Produced assets" means only those assets that come into existence as a result of a production process. It, therefore, does not include, for example, the purchase of land and natural resources.
• It includes assets intended for use in production of other goods and services for a period of more than a year.
• E.g., Land improvements (fences, ditches, drains, and so on); plant, machinery, and equipment purchases; construction of roads, railways, etc.

Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE), an attached office of the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, has developed Ocean Eyes mobile application.

• It is a community-engagement approach to data collection in marine biodiversity monitoring.
• It is aligned with the objective of IndOBIS (Indian Ocean Biodiversity Information System).

About IndOBIS

• IndOBIS is the Indian regional node of the global Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS).
• It is being run by CMLRE, Kochi.
• OBIS emanated from the Census of Marine Life (2000-2010).
  • Adopted as a project under IOC-UNESCO’s International Oceanographic Data and Information (IODE) programme in 2009. 
  • Provides free and open access to, and application of, biodiversity and biogeographic data and information on marine life.

Indian Navy's P8I Poseidon Aircraft  is on 1^st ever deployment In Europe to participate in 2024 edition of ‘Exercise Varuna’.

• P8I Poseidon is a maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft developed and produced by United States' Boeing Defense. 
• P8I is a variant of the P-8 Poseidon specially designed for the Indian Navy.

About Exercise Varuna

• It is  bilateral naval exercise between India and France.
• 2024 edition will be conducted in Mediterranean Sea.