Zimbabwean former swimmer Kirsty Coventry becomes the first female president of the IOC.

• IOC is a not-for-profit independent body overseeing the Olympic movement.

About IOC

•  Headquarters: Lausanne (the Olympic Capital), Switzerland.
• Genesis: Founded at the first Olympic Congress in Paris (1894).
• Vision: To Build a Better World through Sport
• Funding:  Entirely privately funded and distributes 90%of its revenues for the development of sports and athletes at all levels.
• Function:
  • Decides Olympic sport inclusions and host city selections.
  • Facilitates collaboration among Olympic stakeholders, including athletes, National Olympic Committees (NOCs), and sports federations.
    • Indian Olympic Association (IOA) serves as India’s NOC.

Kilauea volcano of Hawaii, US is active again. 

Kilauea volcano 

• Location: Situated inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, neighbouring Mauna Loa (the largest active volcano on Earth).
  • Mauna Loa and Kīlauea are two of the most active shield volcanoes on Earth. 
  • Kilauea has independent magma system from Mauna Loa.
• Activity 
  •  Eruptions occur from the rift zones and summit caldera.
  • Has erupted frequently since 1780 CE, except for a quiet phase (1924-1952).
  • The 2018 eruption (lasted from 1983-2018) involved an outpouring of more than one cubic kilometer of basalt. 

Prime Minister, greeted everyone on the occasion of Navroz.

About Navroz

• Nowruz, meaning “new day” in Persian, is an ancient festival marking spring’s arrival and the triumph of light over darkness. 
• Dating back over 3,000 years to Zoroastrianism, it falls on the vernal equinox (usually March 20 or 21). 
• Celebrated in the Balkans, the Black Sea Basin, the Caucasus, Central Asia, the Middle East and other regions. 
• Promotes values of peace and solidarity between generations and within families as well as reconciliation and neighborliness.
• It is inscribed on Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of the UN. 

ULIP has achieved a major milestone, recording over 100 crore Application Programming Interface (API) transactions.

About ULIP

• Launched under National Logistics Policy in 2022, it aims to create an integrated, efficient, and technology-enabled logistics sector.
• It is a digital gateway that allows industry players to access logistics-related datasets from various Government systems through API-based integration.
• Conceptualized by NITI Aayog.
• The platform is maintained by NICDC Logistics Data Services Ltd. (NLDSL).
  • NLDSL is a joint venture between Government of India represented by National Industrial Corridor Development and Implementation Trust (NICDIT) and Japanese IT major NEC Corporation.

Forest Declaration Assessment Special Report ‘Transforming Forest Finance’ highlighted that REDD+ has not delivered the scale of forest finance needed. 

About REDD and REDD+

• REDD+ is a climate change mitigation solution developed by the UNFCCC parties under the Warsaw Framework 2013.
• REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) focuses on reducing deforestation in developing countries.
  • REDD+ expands this by including additional forest-related activities like sustainable forest management and enhancing forest carbon stocks.
• Under REDD+, developing countries receive results-based payments for reducing deforestation, incentivizing their climate protection efforts. 

Ministry of Culture implements a Central Sector Scheme - Financial Assistance for Promotion of Art and Culture.

• Scheme aims to provide financial assistance to eligible cultural organizations working in the field of art and culture across the country.
• Scheme Components: 
  • Financial Assistance to Cultural organizations with National Presence
  • Cultural Function & Production Grant (CFPG)
  • Financial Assistance for the Preservation & Development of Cultural Heritage of the Himalayas
  • Financial Assistance for the Preservation & Development of Buddhist/Tibetan Organization
  • Financial Assistance for Building Grants including Studio Theatres
  • Financial Assistance for Allied Cultural Activities
  • Intangible Cultural Heritage
  • Domestic Festivals and Fairs

As many as 465 GPS interference and spoofing incidents have been reported in Indian border region, between November 2023 and February 2025. 

About GPS spoofing

• It is a malicious technique that manipulates the signals transmitted by GPS.
• Spoofing provides false location or time information to GPS receivers, potentially causing undesirable effects on navigational systems, devices, and satellite-based applications.
  • Accurate GPS data is crucial to the performance of modern avionic systems, including flight computers, autopilots, and collision-avoidance systems.
• GPS spoofing typically involves using a signal generator or other sophisticated equipment to transmit counterfeit GPS signals that are stronger than the genuine satellite signals.

World Happiness Report 2025 was published by Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, in partnership with Gallup, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network and an independent editorial board.

About the Report

• Global Happiness Ranking is based on single question derived from the Cantril Self-Anchoring Striving Scale (Cantril Ladder).
  • Top of the ladder represents best possible life while at the bottom represents worst possible life.
• Parameters: GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy at birth, freedom to make life choices, generosity, and perceptions of corruption.
• Finland ranks first, followed by Denmark and Iceland while India is ranked 118^thout of 147 countries.