Central and State governments are issuing orders to block online content through Sahyog portal.

About Sahyog portal

• Mission: To create an effective framework and ecosystem for the prevention, detection, investigation, and prosecution of Cybercrime in the country.
• Ministry: Ministry of Home Affairs
• It has been developed to automate the process of sending notices to intermediaries by the Appropriate Government or its agency under IT Act, 2000.
• It facilitates the removal or disabling of access to any information, data or communication link being used to commit an unlawful act.
• It brings together all Authorized Agencies of the country and all the intermediaries on one platform.

India’s tobacco exports have doubled over the last 4 years.

Tobacco

• India’s Status: Second largest producer (after China) as well as second largest exporter (after Brazil). 
• Major Producing States: Gujarat (45% of total cultivated area, 30% production), Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, UP and Bihar. 
• Favourable Conditions: 
  • Temperature: Between 20° to 27°C is required.
  • Rainfall: When grown as a rainfed crop then requires at least about 500 mm of well-distributed rainfall during the crop growing season. (Usually not grown in the area if rainfall exceeds 1200 mm).
  • Soil: sandy or sandy loam soil. Cigarette-tobacco growing areas of Andhra Pradesh are an exception in that the crop is grown on heavy black soil.

Ministry of Finance has notified the Customs (Administration of Rules of Origin under Trade Agreements)

Amendment Rules, 2025. It amended 2020 Rules. 

• Rules have been notified in accordance with the Customs Act, 1962.

About New Rule 

• An importer will now be required to submit ‘proof of origin’ as against ‘certificate of origin’ to preferential rate of duty in terms of a trade agreement.
  • It will help in certifying that goods in a shipment are wholly obtained, produced, manufactured, or processed in a particular country.
• Benefits of Changes 
  • Indian customs authorities now have greater flexibility to demand additional evidence beyond just a certificate.
  • Tighten scrutiny on imports, particularly those from China that are routed through the ASEAN, Sri Lanka UAE to evade higher tariffs and trade restrictions.

Madras high court granted an interim stay, restraining National Board of Accreditation (NBA) from publishing the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) ranking for 2025.

• NIRF aim to bring transparency and accountability to the higher education system by providing a comprehensive and standardised framework for ranking institutions.

About National Board of Accreditation

• Genesis: Established in the year 1994, under Section 10 (u) of AICTE Act, 1987.
  •  In 2010, the NBA was made an autonomous institution.
• Mandate: To assess the qualitative competence of programs offered by Technical Institutions from Diploma to Post graduate level in Engineering & Technology, Management, etc.
  • NBA accredits programs and not the institutions.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia plan to withdraw from the Ottawa convention owing to military threat from Russia.

About Ottawa Convention 

• Official Name: Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction
• Objective: Puts obligations on State parties to not use, develop, stockpile anti-personnel mines under any circumstances. 
  • Further obligates them to destroy such mines. 
• Adopted at Oslo (1997), signed at Ottawa, opened for signature from 1997-1999, enforced in 1999. 
• Signatories: 133, India not a signatory.
• Depositary: Secretary-General of the United Nations.

The 10th edition of the Raisina Dialogue was recently held in New Delhi. 

Raisina Dialogue 2025

• Hosted by: Observer Research Foundation with the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India.
• About: India’s annual flagship conference on geopolitics and geo-economics, committed to addressing the most challenging issues facing the international community.
• Participation: Representatives from about 125 countries including Ministers, Heads of State and Governments, Academicians, Think Tanks, Youth, etc. 
• Theme (2025): "Kālachakra - People, Peace and Planet”.  
  • Discussions focussed on six thematic pillars like Green Trilemma, Digital Planet, etc. 

Researchers in Sweden have reported a new type of magnetism, called altermagnetism. 

About Altermagnetism

• Meaning: It combines the favorable properties of ferromagnets and antiferromagnets in one material, setting them apart from ferromagnets and antiferromagnets. 
  • Conventional magnets like iron, nickel etc., rely on aligned spins to deliver the push-and-pull force, while antiferromagnets cancel these forces. 
• Altermagnets embody dual nature with zero net magnetization (antiferromagnets) and non-relativistic spin splitting (ferromagnets).
• Applications: Increase memory device operation speeds, enhance the efficiency and performance of electronic systems, etc.

Recently, the anniversary of the Muzhara movement was observed on March 19.

• Commemorated annually to observe the violent confrontation between Muzhara and the authorities. 

About Muzhara Movement

• Genesis: Originated in the erstwhile princely state of Patiala, gaining momentum around 1930s. 
  • Had roots in the Praja Mandal movement of 1920s.
• Background: Tenant farmers (Muzharas) of pre-Partition Punjab demanded land ownership rights from  the biswedari system (rules regarding land tenancy).
  • Biswedar (landlord) had share in the land cultivated by the muzharas, who further paid to British causing exploitation of the peasant. 
• Notable Leaders: Buta Singh, Kirpal Singh, etc.