17^th edition of India- Mongolia Joint Military Exercise Nomadic Elephant is to be conducted in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. 

• Conducted annually and alternatively in India and Mongolia. 
• Last edition was conducted at Umroi, Meghalaya. 
• Aims to enhance interoperability between the two forces, employing joint task force in semi conventional operations in semi urban/ mountainous terrain under United Nations mandate.

Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare launched the Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan (VKSA-2025) at the ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (ICAR-CIFA), Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

• He also released a novel fish vaccine – CIFA Argu VAX–I, developed by ICAR-CIFA, targeting parasitic infections in fish.

About Viksit Krishi Sankalp Abhiyan

• Goal: Reach over 1.5 crore farmers across India through technology dissemination, capacity building, and grassroots engagement. 
• Lab to Land: Teams consisting of scientists, experts, officials, and progressive farmers will travel across 700+ districts and reach millions of farmers across villages, providing information about modern agriculture to farmers. 

Recently, CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) arrested alleged members of a transnational cybercrime syndicate under Operation Chakra- V. 

About Operation Chakra-V

• It aims to curb transnational Organized Cybercrime/ Digital Arrests. 
  • Digital arrest is a scam to extort money from victims using fear, deceit, and intimidation where fraudsters impersonate law enforcement officials, using threats of arrest, frozen bank accounts, and passport cancellations, etc. 
• Other measures to curb cybercrime: Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre’ (I4C), Cyber Surakshit Bharat, Cyber Swachhta Kendra, Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), etc. 

Recently, Prime Minister chaired the PRAGATI meeting to review various projects. 

About PRAGATI

• Genesis: 2015 as a unique a multi-purpose, multi-modal platform 
• Aim: Addressing common man’s grievances, simultaneously monitoring and reviewing important programmes and projects of the Government of India as well as projects flagged by State Governments.
• Three-Tier System: PMO, Union Government Secretaries, and Chief Secretaries of the States.
• Key Features:Tackles bottlenecks in projects caused by interdependencies across government bodies, maintains decisions for follow up and continuous review. 
• Achievements: By June 2023, the platform had reviewed 340 projects valued at ₹17.05 lakh crore ($205 billion).

China launched Tianwen-2 probe to return samples from an asteroid, 2016HO3.

• Earlier, Tianwen-1 probe consisting of an orbiter, a lander and a rover (Zhurong) landed on mars’ surface in 2021. 
• Tianwen-3, scheduled for (launch) around 2028, aims to collect and bring samples back to Earth from Mars while Tianwen-4 aims to explore Jupiter around 2030. 

About Tianwen-2 probe

• Launch Vehicle: Long March 3-B rocket. 
• Aim: Collect samples from the asteroid 2016HO3 and explore the main-belt comet 311P, which lies even further from the Earth than Mars.
• Duration: End of 2027. 

The Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT) has commissioned translation of Thirukkural into four medium and minor Dravidian languages i.e. Kurukh, Gondi, Malto and Brahui.

About Thirukkural

• Written by:  Thiruvalluvar.
• Period : Between 2nd century BCE and 5th century CE.
• The text of Tirukkural is divided into three major sections- Aram (Virtue), Porul (government and society), and Inbam (Love).
• It is a collection of 1,330 couplets (kurals).

Centre’s notification of 34 biostimulants to spur manufacturing.

About Biostimulants

• Biostimulants are natural or biologically derived substances that enhance plant/crops growth, nutrient absorption, and stress tolerance. 
  • E.g.: Sea weed (Saragassum, Ulva etc), Humic and Fulvic acid etc
• They are registered under Fertilizer Control Order (FCO) 1985.

Diu became the first district in India to meet the entire power demand with solar energy with the implementation of PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana.

About PM-Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana

• Type: Central Sector Scheme.
• Ministry: The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE).
• Under the scheme,
  • Households will be provided with a subsidy to install solar panels on their roofs.
  • The subsidy will cover up to 40% of the cost of the solar panels.
  • It is expected to benefit 1 crore households across India.
  • It will create more than 3 lakh skilled manpower, through fresh skilling, and up-skilling.