About Exercise KAZIND: 

• It is a joint military Exercise held every year between India-Kazakhstan.
• The Indian Armed Forces, comprising 120 personnel, are being represented by a battalion of the KUMAON Regiment of the Indian Army, along with other arms and services, as well as personnel from the Indian Air Force.
• The Kazakhstan contingent will be represented mainly by personnel from Land Forces and Airborne Assault Troopers.
• Aim: To enhance joint military capability of both sides to undertake counter terrorism operations in a sub conventional scenario under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.
• It will focus on operations in the semi-urban and mountainous terrain. Objectives to be achieved from the Joint Exercise are high degree of physical fitness, rehearsing and refining drills for operations at tactical level and sharing of best practices.
• Tactical drills to be rehearsed during the Joint Exercise include joint response to a terrorist action, establishment of a Joint Command Post, establishment of an Intelligence and Surveillance Centre
• Joint Exercise KAZIND-2024 will enable both sides to share best practices in tactics, techniques and procedures of conducting joint operations.
• It will facilitate developing inter-operability, bonhomie and camaraderie between the two armies. The Joint Exercise will also enhance defence cooperation, further augmenting bilateral relations between the two friendly nations.

Q1: What is the Kumaon Regiment ?

It is the most decorated regiment of the Indian Army. The regiment traces its origins to the 18th century and has fought in every major campaign of the British Indian Army and the Indian Army, including the two world wars. Kumaon gets its recruits from Kumaonis of Kumaon division and Ahirs from the plains.

Source: INDIA- KAZAKHSTAN JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE KAZIND -2024 COMMENCES IN AULI

About Cruise Bharat Mission: 

• It is aimed at boosting the tremendous potential of cruise tourism in the country and to propel the country's cruise tourism industry by doubling cruise passenger traffic within five years; i.e. by 2029.
• It will be implemented in three phases, beginning from 1 October 2024 up to 31 March 2029.
  • The Phase 1 (01.10.2024 – 30.09.2025) will focus on conducting studies, master planning, and forming cruise alliances with neighbouring countries. It will also modernise existing cruise terminals, marinas, and destinations to enhance the potential of cruise circuits.
  • The Phase 2 (01.10.2025 – 31.03.2027) will concentrate on developing new cruise terminals, marinas, and destinations to activate high-potential cruise locations and circuits.
  • Phase 3 (01.04.2027 – 31.03.2029) will focus on integrating all cruise circuits across the Indian Subcontinent, marking the maturity of the cruise ecosystem while continuing the development of cruise terminals, marinas, and destinations.
• The mission has identified key initiatives across five strategic pillars.
  • The Sustainable Infrastructure & Capital: It addresses infrastructure gaps, focusing on developing world-class terminals, marinas, water aerodromes, and heliports, alongside digitalisation (e.g., facial recognition) and decarbonisation (e.g., shore power).It includes creating a National Cruise Infrastructure Masterplan 2047, setting up a cruise-focused SPV under Indian Ports Association (IPA), and establishing a cruise development fund.
  • The Operations Including Technology Enabled: This pillar aims to streamline operations, ensuring smooth embarkation, disembarkation, and destination visits with a focus on digital solutions such as e-clearance systems and e-visa facilities.
  • The Cruise Promotion & Circuit Integration: It focuses on international marketing and investment promotion, including linking cruise circuits, hosting events like the "Cruise India Summit," and forming alliances with neighbouring countries.
  • The Regulatory, Fiscal & Financial Policy: This pillar is centred on creating tailored fiscal and financial policies, with a focus on tax scenarios, cruise regulations, and the launch of a National Cruise Tourism Policy.
  • The Capacity Building and Economic Research: This pillar emphasizes skill development, creating a Centre of Excellence for cruise-related economic research, and formulating National Occupational Standards to promote youth employment in the cruise industry.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways

Q1: What is the Indian Ports Association (IPA)?

It was constituted in 1966 under Societies Registration Act, primarily with the idea of fostering growth and development of all Major Ports which are under the supervisory control of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways. 

Source: The Union Minister for Ports, Shipping, and Waterways, Shri Sarbananda Sonowal Launches ‘Cruise Bharat Mission,’ to Double Cruise Calls and Passengers within Five years

About Overseas Citizen of India: 

• The Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) scheme was introduced in August 2005 which provides for registration of all Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) who were citizens of India on January 26, 1950, or thereafter, or were eligible to become citizens of India on the said date.

Who cannot be an OCI?

• An applicant is not eligible to get an OCI card if his/her parents or grandparents have ever been a citizen of Pakistan or Bangladesh.
• Foreign military personnel either in service or retired are also not entitled for grant of OCI.
• However, the spouse of foreign origin of a citizen of India or spouse of foreign origin of an OCI, whose marriage has been registered and subsisted for not less than two years, can apply for an OCI card.
• Advantages of OCI card holders
  • An OCI card holder — essentially a foreign passport holder — gets a multiple entry, multi-purpose life-long visa for visiting India, and is exempt from registration with local police authority for any length of stay in the country. 
• The OCI card holder is
  • Not entitled to vote; to be a member of a Legislative Assembly or of a Legislative Council or of Parliament; to hold Indian constitutional posts such as that of the President, Vice President, Judge of the Supreme Court or High Court.
  • He or she cannot normally hold employment in the government.

Latest rules regarding OCIs

• On March 4, 2021, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a gazette notification amending the rules regarding OCI card holders.
• These rules required OCI card holders to seek permission or a permit to visit protected areas in India.
• The same restrictions apply to foreign nationals visiting Jammu & Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh.
• They need to secure a special permit to undertake “any research”, to undertake any “missionary” or “Tablighi” or “journalistic activities” or to visit any area in India notified as “protected”, “restricted” or “prohibited”.
• They are at par with “foreign nationals” in respect of “all other economic, financial and educational fields” for the purposes of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 2003 although past circulars by the Reserve Bank of India under FEMA continued to hold ground.

Q1: What is Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas?

Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas is also known as Non-Resident Indian (NRI) Day, is celebrated on January 9 to mark the contribution and achievements of the overseas Indian community to the development of India. It is the flagship event of the Ministry of External Affairs.

Source: Who is an Overseas Citizen of India? What are the rights and privileges of OCI card holders?

About White Goods:

• White goods traditionally refer to large home appliances such as stoves, refrigerators, freezers and washing machines.
• Originally, such goods were only available in white, hence the designation.
• Today, the same goods are offered in an array of colors but are still collectively referred to as white goods.
• White goods are also used in a different connotation within other categories.
• In fabrics, white goods can refer to home products made from linen, cotton, or other white base materials. This includes curtains, towels, and sheets.
• White goods can also refer to colorless spirits.
• In the alcoholic beverage industry, white goods are often used as a collective designation for colorless spirits such as vodka and gin.

Q1: What is Linen?

Linen is a flax-based textile that is predominantly used for homeware applications. While linen is similar to cotton, it is made from fibers derived from the stems of the flax plant instead of the bolls that grow around cotton seeds.

Source: Govt Invites White Goods Makers To Explore PLI

About Kosi River:

• It is a transboundary river which flows through China, Nepal, and India.
• It is a prominent tributary of the Ganges.
• Course:
• Origin: The river Kosi is formed by the confluence of three streams, namely the Sun Kosi, the Arun Kosi, and the Tamur Kosi, all of which have their origin in the Himalayan region of Nepal and Tibet. 
• About 30 miles (48 km) north of the Indian-Nepalese frontier, the Kosi is joined by several major tributaries and breaks southward through the Siwalik Hills at the narrow Chatra Gorge. 
• The river then emerges on the great plain of northern India in Bihar state on its way to the Ganges River, which it enters south of Purnea after a course of about 450 miles (724 km). 
• The Kosi drains an area of 74,500 sq.km, of which only 11,070 sq.km lie within Indian Territory. 
• The Kosi River valley is bounded by steep margins that disconnect it from the Yarlung Zangbo River to the north, the Mahananda River to the east, the Gandaki to the west, and the Ganga to the south.
• Because of its great outflushing of debris, the Kosi has no permanent channel in its course through the great plain of northern India.
• It is well known for its tendency to change course generally in a westward direction. During the last 200 years, the river has shifted westwards for a distance of about 112 km and has laid waste large tracks of agricultural land.
• Kosi is known as the "sorrow of Bihar", as it has caused widespread human suffering in the past due to flooding and very frequent changes in course, when it flows from Nepal to Bihar.
• Tributaries: It has seven major tributaries: Sun Koshi, Tama Koshi or Tamba Koshi, Dudh Koshi, Indravati, Likhu, Arun, and Tamore or Tamar.

Q1: Which are the major tributaries of the Ganges River?

Tributaries of Ganga include Ramganga, Gomti, Ghaghara, Gandak, Kosi and Mahananda from the left bank and Yamuna, Tamsa, Son and Punpun from the right bank.

Source: Flood situation in Bihar worsens as embankments of Kosi, Bagmati rivers breached

About Tsetse flies:

• Tsetse flies (genus Glossina) are unicellular blood-sucking insects.
• They are holometaboulos insects, females giving birth to full-grown larvae which rapidly pupate in the soil.
• They are arranged taxonomically and ecologically into three groups: the fusca, or forest, group (subgenus Austenina); the morsitans, or savanna, group (subgenus Glossina); and the palpalis, or riverine, group (subgenus Nemorhina). 
• Habitat:
  • They are found in local patches of dense vegetation along banks of rivers.
  • Also found in lakes in arid terrain, and also in dense, wet, heavily forested equatorial rainforest
• They feed on blood and transmit the Trypanosoma parasites, which are responsible for sleeping sickness in humans and animal trypanosomosis or "Nagana" in cattle.
• They are also linked to nagana in African livestock, resulting in annual agricultural losses estimated in the billions of dollars.
• The collected data confirmed the presence of Glossina species in 34 countries, ranging from Northern Senegal (around 15 degrees north) to South Africa (Kwazulu-Natal province at 28.5 degrees south). 

Q1: What is Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT)?

Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) is also known as sleeping sickness. It is caused by protozoan parasites transmitted by infected tsetse flies and endemic in sub-Saharan Africa.

Source: Tsetse fly present in 34 countries in Africa, confirms FAO atlas