Experts believe that the presence of anticyclone over the sea is causing a rise in temperature in Mumbai.

What is an Anticyclone?

• Opposite to a cyclone, it is an area of sinking air (diverging air) which results in high pressure.

Characteristics:

• Small pressure gradients (compared to cyclones) make the winds gentle, leading to settled and calm conditions, lasting many days or weeks.
• As the air sinks, it warms up, leading to warm and dry weather.
• The slowly developing mid-tropospheric anticyclone is the main component of the heat wave over India.
• Wind Direction: Northern Hemisphere-Clockwise direction; Southern Hemisphere-Anticlockwise direction.

Antarctica’s only known native insect species Flightless Antarctic midge (Belgica antarctica) was in the news recently.

• It is also known as an extremophile insect for its ability to survive in extreme weather conditions.

2-Stage Survival strategies adopted by insect (during two-year life cycle)

• Quiescence (in year one), an immediate form of dormancy for swift transition. 
• Obligate diapause (in year two), a scheduled dormancy by accumulating energy.

Other types of dormancies: 

• Hibernation: Long-term winter dormancy with reduced metabolism (e.g., bears, ground squirrels).
• Aestivation: Summer dormancy to escape heat/drought (e.g., lungfish, snails).
• Brumation: Cold-induced dormancy in reptiles (e.g., snakes, turtles).

Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship launched the ‘AI for Entrepreneurship’ micro-learning module.

‘AI for Entrepreneurship’ Micro-learning Module

• Launched in collaboration with National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and Intel India
• Purpose: To simplify AI concepts and encourage entrepreneurial thinking among young innovators across India.
• Target: To empower 1 lakh youth by 2025 by equipping them with essential skills to thrive in a technology-driven economy.

TrailGuard AI has aided in reducing poaching in Simlipal Tiger Reserve in Odisha. 

About TrailGuard AI

• It is an end-to-end, camera-based alert system designed for enhancing wildlife conservation and promoting human-wildlife coexistence in remote areas.
• Advantages
  • Autonomous detection of target objects. E.g. poachers, wildlife entering agricultural lands etc.
  • Real-time alert transmission: via GSM, Long-Range Radio, or satellite, promoting rapid-response.
  • Its small size prevents vandalism and theft

Simlipal Tiger Reserve

• Declared as a biosphere reserve in 1994. UNESCO added it to the list of Biosphere Reserves in 2009. 
• Prominent Rivers: Salandi, Kahairi and Deo.

A rare pair of the White-winged duck was spotted in the Dihing Patkai National Park (Assam).

About White-winged Duck (Asarcornis scutulata)

• Nature: Elusive forest-dwelling duck found in lowland evergreen forests and wetlands.
• Location: Endemic to the Indo-Malayan biogeographical realm.
• Phenotype: Well-known for its conspicuous white patches on the wings and distinctive ghostly calls.
• Others: it’s a State bird of Assam and called ‘Deo Hanh’ (spirit duck) in Assamese.
• Protection: Schedule I under Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972; White-winged Duck Conservation Strategy and Action Plan 2022, formulated by the Assam government and Wildlife Trust of India; IUCN Red List: Critically Endangered.

Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation exploring relevance of Copenhagen Framework on Citizen Data and its integration with India’s statistical system. 

About the Framework

• Need: Citizen data, encompassing citizen-generated data, community-driven data, and citizen science data, typically fall outside of official statistics, despite being part of the national data ecosystem. 
• Genesis: Developed by UN Statistics Division (UNSD) in 2023. 
• Key provisions:
  • Defines the possible types of citizen data and offers a common understanding of relevant concepts and their definitions as a solid foundation for citizen data.
  • Provides a scope that helps conceptualize and agree on the different ways citizens can play a role in data.

RBI announced that transactions between a Primary Member (PM; e.g., bank that has direct access to government securities markets) and its Gilt Account Holder (GAH) can now be matched on NDS-OM.

• GAH: A client (like mutual funds) who holds government securities through a PM instead of directly with the RBI.

About NDS-OM

• Type: It is a screen based electronic anonymous order matching system for secondary market trading in Government securities.
• Owned by: The RBI.
• Members: Banks, Primary Dealers, Insurance Companies, Mutual Funds etc.
• Tradable Instruments: All central government securities, state government securities and treasury bills are tradable on the NDS-OM 

Wet testing of the 4th Generation deep-ocean human scientific submersible ‘Matsya-6000’ successfully completed.

About Samudrayaan Project

• Launched under the Deep Ocean Mission (DOM) of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
  • DOM is a Central Sector Scheme to support Blue Economy Initiatives like Deep Ocean Survey and Exploration, Deep Sea Mining etc.
• Aim: Sending three personnel to 6000-metre depth in a vehicle called ‘MATSYA 6000’ for the exploration of deep sea resources like minerals. 
• Tenure: 5 years (2020-2021 to 2025-2026)