GS Paper - III
The Nobel Prize for Medicine this year has been awarded to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun. The American scientists were honoured for “the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation”.
GS Paper - III
Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated DefConnect 4.0 on 7 October 2024, in Delhi. It was hosted by Innovations for Defence Excellence - Defence Innovation Organisation (iDEX-DIO) under the Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence, at the Manekshaw Centre, Delhi Cantonment.
The West Asia crisis that began with the terrorist attacks by Hamas on 7 October 2023 has now continued for a year. Israel’s ground operations and aerial bombardment in Gaza and Lebanon have, by conservative estimates, killed more than 41,000 people. Gaza is all but flattened, but Hamas is believed to be still holding 97 of the original 251 hostages.
GS Paper - III
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) published a draft notification, proposing to notify 3,328 square kilometres around the Gir forest in Gujarat as an Eco-Sensitive Zone (ESZ). However, a revised draft reduced the scope of the protected area to 2,061 sq km. Forest officers said the reduction was needed to accommodate the basic needs of people living around the forest. Many commercial and infrastructure-building activities are prohibited inside ESZs.
GS Paper - III
The LUNA Analog Facility, created by the German Space Agency (DLR) and European Space Agency (ESA), is an impressive lunar simulation designed to recreate many of the environmental conditions astronauts will face on the moon.
GS Paper - II
The Supreme Court struck down a series of rules in several state prison manuals which “reinforce caste differences” and target members of marginalised communities, especially those dubbed “criminal tribes” in the colonial era for violating the fundamental rights of the prisoners.
GS Paper - II
The Environment Ministry has shelved its elephant census report, ‘Status of Elephant in India 2022-23’, citing a delay in the census in the Northeast. The report on the current status of the national heritage animal in the rest of India has been printed but its release is now on hold until at least June 2025.
GS Paper - II
Iran fired almost 200 missiles at Israel. India has high stakes in the West Asian region and the Ministry of External Affairs has said “It is important that the conflict doesn’t take a wider regional dimension and we urge that all issues be addressed through dialogue and diplomacy.”
GS Paper - III
Four years after the outbreak of Covid, an expert group constituted by NITI Aayog has recommended setting up a comprehensive framework to effectively manage future public health emergencies or pandemics.
GS Paper - III
The Maharashtra government announced a subsidy of Rs 50 per animal per day for cattlesheds (gaushalas) that take care of indigenous (desi) breeds of cows. The financial incentive will help preserve the state’s desi cow population, the Cabinet note said. The government has also declared the state’s indigenous cow breeds as “RajyaMata-Gomata”.
GS Paper - III
The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has begun the process of formulating a National Agriculture Code (NAC), on the lines of the existing National Building Code and National Electrical Code.
GS Paper - III
The World Health Organization (WHO) has approved the first mpox diagnostic test for emergency use, expanding access to medical testing. WHO approved Abbott Laboratories’ PCR diagnostic test, called the Alinity MPXV assay, which detects mpox virus DNA from skin swabs. This test is for use by trained lab personnel.
GS Paper - III
BharatGen, a pioneering initiative in generative AI designed to revolutionize public service delivery and boost citizen engagement through developing a suite of foundational models in language, speech and computer vision, was inaugurated by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology in New Delhi.
GS Paper - I
Among the five languages to be recently accorded Classical Language status are Pali and Prakrit, two Sanskrit-derivatives that were popular in Ancient India. Pali and Prakrit are at the root of India’s culture.
GS Paper - II
The Union Cabinet on 3 October 2024 approved a decade-old proposal to accord classical language status to Marathi. The government also named Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali as classical languages.
The UK agrees to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, ending a long-standing colonial dispute. The decision follows rulings by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), UN General Assembly, and other international bodies. The islands were separated from Mauritius by the UK in 1965, prior to Mauritius' independence in 1968.
GS Paper - III
Recasting its flagship scheme on labelling of eco-friendly products, the Union Environment Ministry notified the Ecomark Rules, 2024, almost a year after its draft rules were notified. Launched in 1991, it is a voluntary and non-binding scheme which promotes labelling of household and consumer products based on the environmental and quality parameters.
GS Paper - II
The bloody conflict in West Asia escalated further on 1 October 2024 when Iran rained down missiles on Israel. Israel said many were intercepted by its air defence systems.
GS Paper – II
Delhi Police has imposed prohibitory orders under section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) (formerly section 144 of CrPc) at several places in Delhi from 30 September 2024 to 5 October 2024.
GS Paper - III
Australia is home to a growing number of carbon neutral certified firms, but many of them don’t advertise their credentials. These firms measure, reduce and offset their carbon emissions but often decide to stay silent about their efforts, an emerging global trend called “greenhushing”.
GS Paper - 2
On 2 October 2024, Prime Minister Narendra Modi marked the 10th anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Mission during the Swachh Bharat Diwas at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. This celebration coincided with the 155th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, emphasizing the theme of ‘Swabhav Swachhata, Sanskaar Swachhata,’ which focuses on cleanliness and environmental well-being.
GS Paper - III
On 2 October 2024, an annular solar eclipse was visible in parts of South America, and a partial solar eclipse was visible in parts of South America, Antarctica, North America, the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific Ocean, including Hawaii. The solar eclipses weren’t visible in India.
GS Paper - II
The central government on 30 September 2024 launched the five-year Cruise Bharat Mission, aiming to boost cruise tourism in India to 1 million passengers and create 400,000 jobs by 2029.
GS Paper - II
In the wake of several Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card holders complaining about being reclassified as “foreigners”, the Ministry of External Affairssaid that there were no changes made to the OCI rules.
GS Paper - II
A family of four Pakistani nationals, living under the false name of Sharma, was arrested from the outskirts of Bengaluru on 29 September 2024.They had been living in India illegally since 2014. The four have told the police they are linked to the Mehdi Foundation International (MFI), for which they faced persecution in Pakistan.
GS Paper - III
Marking a major step towards becoming a world-class manufacturer of electronic components, Keltron Component Complex Limited (KCCL) has set up India’s first super-capacitor production facility at Kannur.
GS Paper - III
Mars today is a cold and barren desert, but this was not always the case. Increasingly, new evidence suggests that water flowed on the Martian surface once upon a time. This means that a thick atmosphere would have had to envelope the planet, to keep this water from freezing.
GS Paper - II
Britain will become the first G7 country to end coal-fired power production on 30 September 2024 with the closure of its last plant, Uniper’s Ratcliffe-on-Soar in England’s Midlands. It will end over 140 years of coal power in Britain.
GS Paper - II
Switzerland police arrested at least four persons recently for their involvement in the death of a 64-year-old American woman by a ‘suicide pod’. The woman, whose identity has not been disclosed, reportedly suffered from an autoimmune condition for years.
GS Paper - II
The Pentagon has announced that the United States will deploy several thousand additional troops to the Middle East to strengthen security and defend Israel if required. This move comes amid escalating tensions, with Israel already conducting limited raids across the border into Lebanon.
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