Survey of India (SoI):

• It is the National Survey and Mapping Organization of the country, under the Department of Science and Technology. It is the oldest scientific department of the Government of India and was set up in 1767.
  
• In its assigned role as the nation’s principal mapping agency, SoI bears a special responsibility to ensure that the country’s domain is explored and mapped suitably to provide base maps for expeditious and integrated development.

Ecosystem Respiration

• Ecosystem respiration is the sum of all respiration occurring by the living organisms in a specific ecosystem.

Exercise Poorvi Lehar (XPOL):

• It is a maritime exercise conducted by the Indian Navy along the East Coast, under the operational direction of the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command.
• It aimed at validation of procedures towards assessment of Indian Navy’s preparedness to meet Maritime Security challenges in the region. It witnessed participation of Ships, Submarines, Aircrafts and Special Forces.

Rampage Missile

• Israel recently used the Rampage, an efficient air-to-surface missile, in an attack on an Iranian military base.
• It is a long-range, supersonic, air-to-ground, seekerless, precision strike missile. It was developed by Israel Aerospace Industries and Israeli Military Industries Systems.

Mount Erebus

• Mount Erebus, an active volcano in Antarctica, has been in the news for spewing gold dust worth $6000 every single day.
• It is the most southerly active volcano on Earth. It is situated on Ross Island, Antarctica.
• It’s a stratovolcano, characterized by a conical shape and layers of hardened lava, tephra, and volcanic ash.

Zero Shadow Day

• Zero Shadow Day refers to when the sun is directly overhead at a particular latitude, causing no visible shadow because its rays hit the surface perpendicularly.
• Occurs twice each year, in May and July/August, in regions between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
• The exact moment lasts for a brief part of a second, but the effect can be observed for about a minute to a minute-and-a-half.

Summit of the Future:

• It is a high-level event, bringing world leaders together to forge a new international consensus on how we deliver a better present and safeguard the future.

Blockchain for Impact (BFI) Biome Virtual Network Program:

• Aims to advance cutting-edge biomedical science and innovation, specifically targeting major healthcare challenges in India.
• Features a strong pipeline of biomedical innovations in areas like infectious disease diagnostics, antimicrobial resistance, cell therapy, immuno-oncology, regenerative tissues, and digital health technologies.

Bitcoin halving:

• The halving refers to an alteration in the foundational blockchain technology of Bitcoin, aimed at decreasing the pace of generating new bitcoins.
• Since its creation by the pseudonymous figure Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin has been structured to possess a finite supply of 21 million tokens.
  

Longevity India Initiative:

• It is a project focused on efforts to extend human ‘healthspan’ and tackle ageing-related challenges. It has also started a large-scale clinical study that will involve researchers from multiple IISc departments, clinicians, industry, philanthropists and civil society.

Llama 3

• Meta introduced its most capable Large Language Model (LLM), the Meta Llama 3. Llama or Large Language Model Meta AI is a family of LLMs introduced by Meta AI in February 2023.

 Euvichol-S:

• It is the inactivated oral vaccine to treat It is the third product of the same family of vaccines which are there for cholera in WHO prequalification list.
• It is a simplified formulation of the oral cholera vaccine (OCV) Euvichol-Plus.

Fossils of Vasuki Indicus

• Fossils of Vasuki indicus were discovered in Kutch, Gujarat. “Vasuki” is named after the mythical snake associated with the Hindu god Shiva.
• Lived during the Middle Eocene period, approximately 47 million years ago, in India.
• Vasuki indicus belonged to the now-extinct Madtsoiidae snake family but represents a distinct lineage native to India.

Ethylene oxide

• The Centre for Food Safety in Hong Kong recalled Everest Fish Curry Masala from India alleging the presence of a pesticide called ethylene oxide at levels exceeding permissible limit.
• It is a flammable gas with a somewhat sweet odor. It dissolves easily in water. It appears as a clear colorless gas with an ethereal odor. It is a man-made chemical that is used primarily to make ethylene glycol.

Ringwoodite

• Scientists have made a ground-breaking discovery of a gigantic ocean lying 700 kilometres beneath the Earth’s surface, hidden within a rock called ringwoodite.
• Ringwoodite is a mineral that forms in the Earth’s mantle at high temperatures and pressures. It’s a water-rich mineral that can contain iron and hydrogen.

Lakshmana Tirtha River:

• Due to severe drought conditions and intense heat, the Lakshmana Tirtha River, has now completely dried up.
• It is a tributary of the river Kaveri in Karnataka. It originates in the Brahmagiri hills, Kodagu or Coorg District, Karnataka, and flows eastward. It joins the Kaveri River in the Krishna Raja Sagara Lake.
• Lakshmanatirtha Falls, or the Irupu Falls, is a much-visited fresh water cascade located on the river, bordering Kerala, on the way to Nagerhole National Park.

Incineration

• Incineration is the process of burning hazardous materials at temperatures high enough to destroy contaminants.

Gross Fixed Capital Formation (GFCF):

• It refers to the growth in the size of fixed capital in an economy. Fixed assets/capital are tangible or intangible assets produced as outputs from production processes that are used repeatedly or continuously, for more than one year.

DURGA-2

• The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is reported to be testing a prototype of its DURGA-2 (Directionally Unrestricted Ray Gun Array) system.
• It damages or destroys its target using focused energy by means of lasers, microwaves or particle beams.

GPS spoofing

• Israel reportedly used GPS spoofing against Iran’s missile targeting teams by jamming Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation signals.
• It is also known as GPS simulation, refers to the practice of manipulating or tricking a GPS receiver by broadcasting false GPS signals.

Dragonfly Mission

• NASA confirmed Dragonfly rotorcraft mission to Saturn’s organic compound-rich moon Titan with a budget of $3.35 billion and a launch date set for July 2028.
• It is a “dual quadcopter” designed to fly across the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. It will explore a variety of locations on Saturn’s moon Titan.

Men5CV Vaccine

• Nigeria has taken a historic step in the fight against meningitis, becoming the first country in the world to introduce a new, highly effective vaccine called Men5CV.
• It protects against strains A, C, W, Y and X of the meningococcus bacteria, all of which can cause meningitis and blood poisoning.
• It is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO).

B Virus:

• It is an alphaherpesvirus enzootic in macaques of the genus Macaca. B virus is the only identified old-world-monkey herpesvirus.
• It is also known as herpes B virus or Macacine herpesvirus 1 (McHV-1). It is a type of herpesvirus found in macaque monkeys, particularly rhesus macaques.

Tachyons

• Tachyons are hypothetical subatomic particles proposed to travel faster than the speed of light.
• The term “tachyon” was introduced by physicist Gerald Feinberg in 1967.
• Tachyons are contrasted with “bradyons,” which are particles that travel at speeds less than the speed of light, including familiar particles like protons, electrons, and neutrons.

KAVACH System:

• The KAVACH is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system by the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) in collaboration with the Indian industry.
• It is a state-of-the-art electronic system with Safety Integrity Level-4 (SIL-4) standards. It makes use of high frequency radio communication and operates on the principle of continuous update of movement to prevent collisions

Gaia-BH3

• Astronomers spotted the most massive known stellar black hole in the Milky Way galaxy named Gaia-BH3.
  

Imported Inflation:

• It is a general and sustainable price increase due to an increase in the costs of imported products.
• This price increase concerns the price of raw materials and all imported products or services used by companies in a country. It is also referred to as cost inflation.
  

Combined Maritime Forces (CMF): 

• It is a multi-national naval partnership based in Bahrain which exists to promote security, stability and prosperity across international waters, which encompass some of the world’s most important shipping lanes.
• Its main focus areas are defeating terrorism, preventing piracy, encouraging regional cooperation and promoting a safe maritime environment.
• CMF is commanded by a U.S. Navy Vice Admiral.

 Kerogen: 

• It is the portion of naturally occurring organic matter that is non-extractable using organic solvents i.e. it is insoluble in solvents. It represents about 90% of the organic carbon in sediments.
• It occurs in source rock and may expel hydrocarbons upon thermal cracking. Typical organic constituents of kerogen are algae and woody plant material.

Bumblebees:

• They are large, hairy, social bees belonging to the family Apidae (subfamily Bombinae).
• The family Apidae includes the well-known honey bees and bumble bees, as well as carpenter bees, cuckoo bees, digger bees, stingless bees, and orchid bees.
• According to a new study, bumblebees appear to be quite resistant to common pesticides.

Exercise Dustlik:

• It is an annual joint military exercise between the Indian Army and the Uzbekistan Army. It is conducted alternately in India and Uzbekistan.

Long Period Average Rainfall

• Long Period Average (LPA) refers to the average rainfall recorded over a specific region for a defined time interval (e.g., month or season) averaged over an extended period, typically 30 or 50 years.
• Used as a benchmark in forecasting quantitative rainfall for a region for upcoming months or seasons.
• The India Meteorological Department (IMD) is responsible for monitoring and analyzing rainfall data in India.
• The LPA is based on data collected over a 50-year period and is periodically updated every decade to include new data.

Chagas Disease:

• It is an infectious disease caused by the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi.
• Transmission:
  • It is transmitted to humans through the bite of the infected triatomine bugs, also known as “kissing bugs”, which feed on blood and are active mostly at night. 
  • It can also be transmitted through blood transfusions, organ transplantation, congenital transmission from mother to child, and the consumption of contaminated food or beverages.

Easementary Right:

• The concept of easement has been defined under The Indian Easements Act, 1882. According to it, an easementary right is a right possessed by the owner or occupier of the land on some other land, not his own, the purpose of which is to provide the beneficial enjoyment of the land.

Operation Meghdoot: 1984

• It was the code-name for the Indian Armed Forces operation to capture the Siachen Glacier, a strategically crucial region dominating Northern Ladakh.
• Siachen has been a bone of contention between India and Pakistan ever since the Karachi Agreement of 1949, when the area was left undivided due to the hostile terrain and extremely rough weather.

Precautionary Principle:

• It is an approach to policymaking that legitimizes the adoption of preventative measures to address potential risks to the public or environment associated with certain activities or policies.
• The principle says, “Where there are threats of serious or irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent such environmental degradation.”

Hubble Tension:

• It refers to a discrepancy between the measurements of the rate of expansion of the universe, known as the Hubble constant.
• The Hubble constant, denoted as H0, describes the rate at which galaxies are moving away from each other due to the expansion of the universe.

Pahariya Tribe

• Jharkhand’s Pahariya tribe aims to achieve seed independence by depositing native varieties in community-led banks.
• They live mainly in the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal. There are also scattered groups of them in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Odisha. 
• They practise jhum or shifting cultivation that involves clearing land by burning vegetation for farming for a few years.

Exo-Atmospheric missiles:

• These are also known as anti-ballistic missiles (ABMs). Som of its important features are:
  • These are surface-to-air missiles designed to counter incoming ballistic missiles.
  • They are designed to intercept and destroy any type of ballistic threat during the mid-course or terminal phase of their trajectory.

Shrinkflation:

• It occurs when goods shrink in size but consumers pay the same price. It occurs when manufacturers downsize products to offset higher production costs but keep retail prices same.
• It is basically a form of hidden inflation. Instead of increasing the price of a product, producers reduce the size of the product while maintaining the same price.

Financial Services Institutions Bureau (FSIB):

• Government body under the Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance.
• Primary Role: Identify manpower capabilities and manage talent selection for senior positions in government-owned financial institutions.
• Replaced the Bank Board’s Bureau (BBB), which was deemed incompetent.

Impatiens neo-uncinata:

• It is a new species of Impatiens(family Balsaminaceae). It has been discovered in the Western Ghats and is a rare, wild cousin of the popular garden balsam.

PACE Satellite- NASA:

• The Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite is placed in Sun-synchronous orbit.
• The primary science instrument for PACE is the Ocean Colour Instrument(OCI) which is designed to measure the ocean’s colour across a spectrum from ultraviolet to shortwave infrared.

Doxxing:

• The word “doxxing” is derived from “dropping dox”. It is a form of online harassment involving the publication of personal information about an individual without their consent.

Hydrogel

• Three-dimensional network of hydrophobic polymers, synthesized by crosslinking water-soluble polymers.
• Can retain large quantities of water without altering its structure.
• Exhibits flexibility and swelling properties.
• “Smart” material that adapts its structure based on environmental factors like temperature, pH, and salt or water concentration.

Veeranam Lake

• It serves as a crucial drinking water source for Chennai. It is located in Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu. It was considered one of the longest man-made lakes in the world with a length of 14 km.

Volcanic Vortex Rings

• Mount Etna volcano has been sending up almost perfect rings of smoke into the air which are a rare phenomenon that scientists refer to as volcanic vortex rings.
• It is sometimes referred to simply as Etna, is an active volcano on the east coast of Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.

Queqiao-2:

• It is a relay satellite launched by China to serve as a communications bridge between ground operations on earth and upcoming lunar probe missions on the far side of the moon until at least 2030.

BepiColombo:

• It is an international mission consisting of two spacecraft riding together to Mercury to orbit and study the planet from unique vantage points.
• It is a joint project between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japanese counterpart JAXA.

Doctrine of Harmonious Construction:

• It is an essential rule for interpreting statutes. It states that when there’s a conflict between two or more statutes or between different parts or provisions of a statute, we should interpret them in a way that harmonises them.

World Cybercrime Index:

• It identifies the globe’s major cybercrime hotspots by ranking the most significant sources of cybercrime at a national level.
• It has been developed as a joint partnership between the University of Oxford and UNSW Canberra.

Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS)

• Recently, close to 100 hectares of forest were destroyed in a fire in the Sulthan Bathery forest range under the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (WWS).

Sungrazing Comets:

• Sungrazing comets are a special class of comets that come very close to the sun at their nearest approach, a point called perihelion.
• To be considered a sungrazer, a comet needs to get within about 850,000 miles from the sun at perihelion. Many come even closer, even to within a few thousand miles.

Fractal:

• It is a never-ending pattern which is infinitely complex and self-similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop.

Mange Disease

• The forest department is monitoring an outbreak of mange among a pack of Asiatic wild dogs in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) in the Nilgiris.
• It is a skin disease of animals caused by mite infestations, characterized by inflammation, itching, thickening of the skin and hair loss.

Curative Petition:

• It is the final and last option for the people to acquire justice as mentioned and promised by the Constitution of India. It is a way to ask the court to review and revise their own decision and it is filed after a review petition is dismissed or used.

Invasive Alien Species

• In a bid to manage the teeming population of invasive chital (spotted deer) in Ross Island the Andaman and Nicobar Islands administration recently sought help from the Wildlife Institute of India.

Fiscal Monitor Report:

• It provides an overview of latest public finance developments, updates the medium-term fiscal outlook, and assesses fiscal implications of policies relevant to the global economy. It is prepared twice a year by the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department.
• Its projections are based on the same database used for the World Economic Outlook (WEO) and the Global Financial Stability Report(GFSR).

CDP-SURAKSHA Platform:

• System for Unified Resource Allocation, Knowledge, and Secure Horticulture Assistance (SURAKSHA) is a platform which will allow an instant disbursal of subsidies to horticulture farmers in their bank account by utilising the e-RUPI voucher from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

Wigner Crystal

• Scientists have for the first time successfully visualized the elusive Wigner crystal, a strange kind of matter that is made entirely of electrons.
• A Wigner crystal is the solid phase of electrons, first predicted by Eugene Wigner in 1934. It is one of the first proposed many-body phases stabilized by the electron-electron interaction.

Rhamphicarpa fistulosa

• A new report showed that rice vampireweed (Rhamphicarpa fistulosa) in Africa affected more than 140,000 farm households and caused losses worth $82 million per year to the continent’s economy.
• It is a facultative, parasitic weed that grows on rice which is also known as rice vampireweed. It also affects sorghum and maize and, potentially, other cereal crops.

Higgs Boson:

• The Higgs boson is the fundamental force-carrying particle of the Higgs field, which is responsible for granting fundamental particles their mass.
• This field was first proposed in the mid-sixties by Peter Higgs, for whom the particle is named.
• The particle was finally discovered in 2012, by researchers at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), the most powerful particle accelerator in the world, located at the European particle physics laboratory CERN, Switzerland.

C-Dome

• Israel for the first time deployed its ship-mounted defence system, called the C-Dome.
• It is a naval version of Israel’s Iron Dome air defence system, used to shield against rocket and missile attacks.
  

Predicate Offence:

• A predicate offence is a crime that is a component of a more complex criminal activity, often associated with money laundering or organised crime.

Neptis philyra

• A rare butterfly species named Neptis philyra has been recently discovered for the first time in India in Tale Valley Wildlife Sanctuary.
• Tale Valley Wildlife Sanctuary is located near the Apatani cultural landscape in the Lower Subansiri District of Arunachal Pradesh.

Glycaemic Index:

• It ranks carbohydrate-containing foods based on the blood glucose response, post-prandial or after a meal. The higher the blood sugar reading, the higher will be the GI.
• It shows how quickly each food affects your blood sugar (glucose) level when that food is eaten on its own.
• Foods are ranked on a scale of 0 to 100, with pure glucose (sugar) given a value of 100.

AUKUS:

• It is a trilateral security partnership between the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Australia agreed in 2021.
• It is intended to strengthen the ability of each government to support security and defense interests, building on longstanding and ongoing bilateral ties. 

Flood In Orenburg

• Russia recently declared a “federal emergency” in the southern Orenburg region as the Ural River inundated Orsk, prompting the evacuation of thousands of people.

Suvidha Portal:

• It is developed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure a level playing field upholding the democratic principles of free, fair and transparent elections. 
• It streamlined the process of obtaining and acting upon requests for permissions and facilities from political parties and candidates during the election period.

Funding Winter:

• It refers to a period of market correction in capital inflow, which lowers the probability of startups getting higher valuations in the short to mid-term. Simply put, founders find it difficult to raise funding and achieve sky-high valuations.

Windfall Profit:

• It refers to a sudden increase in profits, typically caused by an unexpected event or circumstance. Such profits are generally well above historical norms and may occur due to factors such as a price spike or supply shortage that are either temporary in nature or longer-lasting.

Lab-grown minibrains:

• These are scientifically known as brain organoids, but often called “minibrains” and serve as miniature, simplified models of full-size human brains.

iPSCs

• Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are adult cells that have been genetically reprogrammed to an embryonic stem cell–like state by being forced to express genes and factors important for maintaining the defining properties of embryonic stem cells. 

Satpula dam:

• Satpula (‘sat’ means seven and ‘pull’ means openings of a bridge) was constructed during the reign of Sultan Muhammad Shah Tughlaq (1325-1351). It was built using Delhi quartz — a stone found in the Aravallis. 
• It was developed as an integral component of defence wall of the fourth city of Delhi, Jahanpanah. The dam served two purposes: Providing a reliable source of water for irrigation, and acting as a defence against possible intruders.

Oceanic Niño Index:

• It is the primary indicator for monitoring the ocean part of the seasonal climate pattern called the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or “ENSO”.
• It tracks the running 3-month average sea surface temperatures in the east-central tropical Pacific between 120°-170°W, near the International Dateline, and whether they are warmer or cooler than average.
• Index values of +0.5 or higher indicate El Niño and values of -0.5 or lower indicate La Niña.

Agnibaan SOrTeD:

• Agnibaan SubOrbital Technological Demonstrator (SOrTeD) is a single-stage launch vehicle powered by AgniKul’s patented Agnilet engine.
• It is the world’s first single piece 3D printed semi-cryogenic rocket engine.
• It will be launched from India’s first private launchpad, ALP-01, located inside the Indian space agency ISRO’s Sriharikota spaceport. 

Sierra Leone

• Sierra Leone’s President recently declared a national emergency on substance abuse to crack down on the rising use of synthetic drugs known as kush.

Arrokoth:

• It is one of thousands of ‘icy worlds” in the Kuiper Belt or the outer zone of the solar system that lies beyond Neptune. In the language of the Powhatan tribe, Arrokoth means “sky”.
• It is the farthest object in space that has been explored by a human space-craft. It was discovered in 2014 using the Hubble Space Telescope.

Phanigiri:

• It is a famous Buddhist site located 110 km away from Hyderabad. It derived its name from the shape of the hillock, which appears to be like a snake hood. The word Phani in Sanskrit means snake and Giri means hillock.
• It is believed to be one of the important Buddhist monasteries strategically located on the ancient trade route (Dakshinapatha) connecting the west and the east coast of the Deccan.

Electroencephalogram (EEG):

• It is a recording of brain activity. It is a test that detects abnormalities in your brain waves, or in the electrical activity of your brain.

Project Akashteer:

• Initiative to automate and digitize air defense control and reporting processes.
• Aims to enhance situational awareness and control, ensuring safety of friendly aircraft and engagement of hostile ones in contested airspace.
• Will monitor low-level airspace over battle areas of the Indian Army and effectively control Ground Based Air Defence Weapon Systems.

Shallowfakes:

• Like deepfake, shallowfake is also an act of morphing people’s pictures and using them for malicious activities. But unlike deepfake, which is created by using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) software, shallowfake can be created by simply using basic editing software.

Sannati Buddhist site:

• It is the ancient Buddhist site on the bank of Bhima river near Kanaganahalli (forming part of Sannati site) in Kalaburagi district, Karnataka. It is also popular among tourists for the Chandrala Parameshwari Temple.

S.A.R.A.H.

• Smart AI Resource Assistant for Health (S.A.R.A.H.) is a digital health promoter prototype with enhanced empathetic response powered by generative artificial intelligence (AI).
• It is launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO). It aims to provide an additional tool for people to realize their rights to health, wherever they are.

Agni Prime Missile

• Agni-Prime Missile: new-generation, nuclear-capable variant of the Agni missile series.
• Features: two-stage, canisterised, with a range of 1,000 to 2,000 km.
• Lighter by at least 50% compared to Agni 3, incorporates new guidance and propulsion systems.
• Mobility: transportable by road and rail, allows for extended storage.
• Quick deployment capabilities, uses a cold launch mechanism, and capable of salvo firing.

Purple-striped jellyfish

• A bloom of venomous mauve stinger or purple-striped jellyfish was reported by marine researchers across the Visakhapatnam coast.
• Appearance: Typically mauve (blue-purple) with a globe-shaped umbrella dotted with orangey-brown warts.
• Habitat: Primarily pelagic (open ocean), adaptable to benthic and temperate coastal environments.
• Distribution: Worldwide in tropical and warm-temperate seas; prevalent in the Indo-Pacific, Atlantic Ocean, and Mediterranean Sea.

PRATUSH Telescope:

• Probing ReionizATion of the Universe using Signal from Hydrogen (PRATUSH) is a radio telescope to be sited on the moon’s far side.
• It is being built by the Raman Research Institute (RRI) in Bengaluru with active collaboration from the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Tidally locked Planet:

• A tidally-locked planet in its orbit around a star keeps the same face towards the star. This happens when the rotation period of the planet around its own axis becomes equal to its revolution period around the star.
• On a tidally locked planet, one side is always facing a star while the other is cloaked in perpetual darkness.

Ring of Fire:

• It is a string of hundreds of volcanoes and earthquake-sites which runs along the Pacific Ocean. It is a semicircle or horse shoe in shape and stretches nearly 40,250 kilometres.
• It traces the meeting points of numerous tectonic plates, including the Eurasian, North American, Juan de Fuca, Cocos, Caribbean, Nazca, Antarctic, Indian, Australian, Philippine and other smaller plates, which all encircle the large Pacific Plate.
• It runs through 15 more countries including the USA, Indonesia, Mexico, Japan, Canada, Guatemala, Russia, Chile, Peru and the Philippines.

myCGHS app:

• It is designed to enhance access to Electronic Health Records, information and resources for Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) beneficiaries.
• It is developed by the technical teams of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) Himachal Pradesh and NIC Health Team.

White Rabbit Collaboration

• CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, recently launched White Rabbit Collaboration.
• It is a technology developed at CERN, in collaboration with institutes and companies, to synchronize devices in the accelerators down to sub-nanoseconds and solve the challenge of establishing a common notion of time across a network.

Khula: 

• ‘Khula’ is a practice within Islamic law that empowers Muslim women to unilaterally seek separation from their husbands. It is expressly mentioned in the Quran. It is designed to safeguard women’s rights and operate within the parameters of Islamic law.
  

Punnett square

• Punnett squares are a way to predict the possible genetic outcomes of the offspring when two individuals with known genotypes are crossed.
• The Punnett Square is named after British geneticist Reginald Punnett.
  

OptiDrop Platform:

• It is an innovative microfluidic chip-based platform that simplifies and reduces the cost of studying single cells. It employs a novel approach that enables precise and cost-effective analysis of single cells encapsulated in droplets.
•  Developed by Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) in Bengaluru .

 Leap Second:

• It is used as a measure to combat the long-term slowdown in the Earth’s rotation which is caused by the constant melting and refreezing of ice caps.
• It is added every now and then to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in order to synchronize a clock worldwide with the Earth’s ever slowing rotation.
  

Swell Waves:

• Swells are long-wavelength surface gravity waves on the seas.
• Generated not by local winds but by distant weather events such as hurricanes or prolonged gale winds.
  

Zero FIR:

• It refers to a First Investigation Report (FIR) that is registered irrespective of the area where the offense is committed. The police in such a case can no longer claim that they have no jurisdiction. It is later transferred to the police station that has the actual jurisdiction so that the investigation can begin.

Digital India Trust Agency:

• The Reserve Bank of India is considering establishing a Digital India Trust Agency (DIGITA) to combat cyber fraud and illegal lending apps.
• It will be responsible for stopping illegal lending apps from popping up. It will enable the verification of these digital lending apps and will maintain a public register of these verified applications.
• Any app which will not carry the “verified” tag of DIGITA, will be considered unauthorised.

 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT):

• It was first introduced in India in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. It is an independent system that consists of two parts, namely, a VVPAT Printer and VVPAT Status Display Unit (VSDU) attached to the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), that allow the voters to verify that their votes are cast as intended.

SCORES

• It is a web-based centralized grievance redress system of SEBI launched in 2011. It enables investors to lodge and follow up on their complaints and track the status of redressal of such complaints online from anywhere.

 Atal Tunnel:

• Atal Tunnel, formerly known as Rohtang Tunnel, is the world’s longest high-altitude tunnel, situated at an elevation of approximately 3,100 meters (10,171 feet) above sea level. 
• It is located in the Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas, in Himachal Pradesh. It passes through Rohtang pass.
• It stretches 9.02 km, connecting Manali to Lahaul and Spiti Valley throughout the year.

 Statins:

• Statins are prescription medications that people take to bring their cholesterol down to normal levels. It works by blocking the action of the liver enzyme that is responsible for producing cholesterol.

Organic Electrochemical Transistor: 

• It is an emerging class of transistor based on organic superconducting materials known for their ability to modulate electrical current in response to small changes in the voltage applied to their gate electrode.

Clean Energy Transitions Programme:

• It is the IEA’s flagship initiative launched in 2017 for accelerating progress toward a global net zero energy system.
  

Hume AI

• New York-based research lab and technology company Hume, has introduced what can be called the ‘first conversational AI with emotional intelligence’.

Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3):

• It is a NASA technology demonstration mission designed to characterize solar sail structures technologies for future small spacecraft to engage in deep space missions requiring long-duration, low-thrust propulsion.

Payment Aggregator (PA):

• A PA (also known as a merchant aggregator) is a third-party service provider that allows merchants to accept payments from customers by integrating them into their websites or apps.
• PAs enable their clients to accept various payment methods such as debit cards, credit cards, cardless EMIs, UPI, bank transfers, e-wallets, and e-mandates.

 Nephrotic Syndrome:

• It is a kidney disorder that causes your body to pass too much protein in your urine.
• It usually results from a problem with your kidneys’ filters (glomeruli).

• Antihistamines are common drugs that can be purchased without a prescription and are used to treat short-lived allergic reactions, like a sneezing fit or an itch.

• Researchers recently found microbes thriving 13 feet beneath the scorched surface of Chile’s Atacama Desert, marking the deepest discovery of microbial life in the region to date.

Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR)

• The CAR is a measure of a bank’s available capital expressed as a percentage of a bank’s risk-weighted credit exposures.
• The Capital Adequacy Ratio, also known as Capital-to-Risk Weighted assets ratio (CRAR), is used to protect depositors and promote the stability and efficiency of financial systems around the world.

Near Field Communication (NFC)

• NFC is a short-range wireless connectivity technology that transmits data through electromagnetic radio fields to enable two devices to communicate with each other.

Crude Oil Benchmarks– asked in UPSC Prelims earlier

• Serve as reference points for various oil blends in the global market, establishing pricing standards
• Major Crude Oil Price Benchmarks:
  • Brent: The most widely used benchmark globally, primarily for oil markets in Europe.
  • West Texas Intermediate (WTI): Predominantly used in the United States for pricing oil.
  • Dubai/Oman: Key benchmarks for pricing physical crude oil delivered from the Middle East Gulf, Russia, US Gulf Coast, Mexico, and other regions to refineries.

Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC):

• The sole global alliance focused exclusively on reducing short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs).
• Established in 2012 under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
• Comprises a voluntary partnership of over 160 entities including governments, intergovernmental organizations, and non-governmental organizations. India became a member in 2019.

Green Washing

• Green washing involves making a product or policy seem more environmentally friendly or less damaging than it is in reality.

Antarctic Circumpolar Current- ACC

• News- Ancient underwater mountain range found in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC).
• Circulates from west to east around Antarctica, linking Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans.
• Only current that encircles the globe completely.
• Approximately 1250 kilometers, the widest ocean current.
• Vital in global ocean circulation and climate regulation, redistributes heat.
• Also known as the West Wind Drift, driven by strong westerly winds.
• Antarctic Convergence: Zone where ACC’s cold waters meet warmer subantarctic waters, leading to nutrient upwelling and high biological productivity.

Andriamamelo Cave

• Unique, prehistoric rock art drawings have been discovered in the Andriamamelo Cave in western Madagascar.
• It is situated in the western Madagascar.
• It is located in karstified limestone of the Paysage Harmonieux Protege de Beanka.
• This is part of an extensive karst region that includes the Parc National de Bemaraha to the south, a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the little-studied Antsingimavo karst area to the north.

Euclid Telescope

• Euclid Telescope: ESA mission launched in July 2023 to study dark matter and dark energy.
• Goals: map dark Universe, observe billions of galaxies, understand Universe’s expansion, test gravity theories.

Fluorochemicals

• Fluorochemicals: Enhance carpet fiber protection against water and oil.
• Function: Lowers surface energy of fibers, reduces liquid penetration.
• Composition: Hydrocarbon backbone with fluorocarbon ends.
• Application: Aligns with outer fiber surface; available in water/surfactant dispensers for carpet industry.