Prime Minister congratulated Major Abhilasha Barak on being conferred the 2025 UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award.

• Major Barak is serving as an Engagement Team Commander and Gender Focal Point within the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).

About Award

• Created in 2016 by the Office of Military Affairs within the Department for Peace Operations (DPO).
• It recognises the dedication and effort of an individual peacekeeper in promoting the principles within the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325.
  • Resolution 1325 urges all actors to increase the participation of women and incorporate gender perspectives in all United Nations peace and security efforts.

SC balances child’s right to know paternity and alleged father’s right to privacy.

• The court has held that DNA tests should not be ordered routinely; however, when paternity is disputed, courts may direct a DNA test.

About Right to Privacy

• The right to privacy in India is a fundamental right protected under Article 21 of the Constitution. (Justice K.S. Puttaswamy Judgment)
• Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 and Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), 1966, legally protect persons against “arbitrary interference” with one’s privacy.
  • India signed and ratified the ICCPR on April 10, 1979, without reservation.

The US attacked surveillance facilities on Queshm Island.

About Queshm Island

• Location:  Southern edge of the Zagros Mountain range, along sides the south coastline (Hormozgan) of the Iranian mainland.
• It is the biggest island in the Persian Gulf near the straits of Hormoz. 
• It is also known as the “island of seven wonders”.

The Russian President has offered India Russia’s fifth-generation stealth aircraft Sukhoi Su-57 and proposed its joint production in India.

About 5th Generation Su-57 

• Key features:
  • Capable of acting as an airborne command centre: including for unmanned aerial vehicles.
  • Stealth Capabilities: Reduces radar, infrared, and visual signatures to evade detection.
  • Supercruise: Sustains supersonic speeds without afterburners, improving range and fuel efficiency.
  • Integrated Avionics: Fuses data from multiple sensors for superior situational awareness.
  • Advanced Networking: Enables secure, resilient, and real-time communication with allied platforms.
• Other 5th Gen Jets: US F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II, China’s Chengdu J-20 and Shenyang J-35, India’s AMCA (Advanced Medium Combat Aircraft) in pipeline.

FSSAI, citing Food Safety and Standards (Packaging) Regulations, 2018, directed to discontinue newspapers for packing food items.

• It warned that printing inks contain harmful chemicals, e.g lead and other heavy metals, which pose long-term health risks.

About FSSAI (HQ: New Delhi) 

• Established: Under Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 as an independent statutory Authority.
• Ministry: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
• Role: Laying down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import.

• It is also responsible for licensing and  Registration of Food Business Operators and Monitoring safety

• Composition: One chairman and 22 members (one-third must be women). 

Studies highlight that concentration of rainfall due to climate change can lead to infiltration excess

About Infiltration excess (a.k.a Hortonian runoff)

• It refers to the condition in hydrology where the rate of rainfall is greater than the rate at which the soil can absorb or infiltrate the water; a property known as infiltrability.
• Different from saturation excess (bottom up): Unlike Infiltration excess (top down)  which is rain dependent, Saturation excess is subsoil dependent.
  • It occurs when the soil is completely filled with water due to subsoil restrictions
• Key Drivers
  • Climate: predominant in semiarid and arid zones where short but high-intensity storms occur.
  • Soil Properties: e.g. texture, initial water content etc.
• Impacts: Erosion of topsoil due to surface runoff causing sheet wash, rills and gully erosion etc. 
   

Pyroprocessing is increasingly being adopted across various industrial sectors. 

About Pyroprocessing 

• It is a way to change a solid material physically or chemically using high temperature.
  • It is a dry process and very energy-intensive.
• Application: 
  • Cement-making: limestone, clay and iron are melted to form clinkers which in turn produce cement 
  • Metallurgy: To extract metals from their ores e.g. calcining (heating limestone to yield lime) 
  • Nuclear power: To reprocess spent nuclear fuel.

125th edition of the French Open, one of the four grand slam tournaments were recently concluded

• Men’s Singles Champion: Alexander Zverev (Germany)
• Women’s Singles Champion: Mirra Andreeva (Russia)

About Grand Slam tournaments 

• They consist of 4 major tournaments played annually in a chronological order. 
  • Australian Open (Hard Court), followed by French Open (Clay Court), Wimbledon (Britain) (grass), and US open (Hard) 
• Shared governance: Managed through a board comprising the four Grand Slam Chairs
• Eligibility: Open for entry to all internationally ranked tennis players with a ranking of 500 or better. 
  • Minors under the age of fourteen (14) are not eligible for entry. 
  • Doubles: Uses the better of a player's individual singles or doubles ranking
  • A player below 500 rank may still be able to compete through wild cards.
• Wild cards players: Players included in a tournament drawn at the sole discretion of the individual Grand Slam event.
  • There is no limit to the total number of wild cards an individual player may receive to compete in Grand Slam Tournaments.
• Prize: On-site prize money based on performance of player.