About National Panchayat Awards:

• These awards are pivotal in recognizing and encouraging Panchayats for their efforts in poverty alleviation, health, child welfare, water conservation, sanitation, infrastructure, social justice, governance, and women empowerment.
• The primary objective is to encourage these Panchayats to excel further and inspire other rural local bodies to achieve their best, ultimately ensuring ease of living and sustainable, inclusive development in rural areas.
• The Ministry of Panchayati Raj MoPR has grouped the 17 SDGs into 9 LSDG themes and revamped the National Panchayat Awards based on these themes: Poverty-Free and Enhanced Livelihoods Panchayat, Healthy Panchayat, Child-Friendly Panchayat, Water-Sufficient Panchayat, Clean and Green Panchayat, Self-Sufficient Infrastructure in Panchayat, Socially Just and Socially Secured Panchayat, Panchayat with Good Governance , Women-Friendly Panchayat
• This award has been conferred under the following categories:
  • Deen Dayal Upadhyay Panchayat Satat Vikas Puraskar (DDUPSVP): This award is for top-3 ranking GPs/Equivalent bodies for their outstanding performance under each of the above mentioned 9 award themes.
  • Nanaji Deshmukh Sarvottam Panchayat Satat Vikas Puraskar: This award is for top 3 Gram, Block and District Panchayats each for their aggregate performance under all the 9 award themes of DDUPSVP.
• Special categories of Awards:
  • Gram Urja Swaraj Vishesh Panchayat Puraskar is for top 3 GPs/Equivalent Bodies for their performance in adoption and usage of renewable sources of energy.
  • Carbon Neutral Vishesh Panchayat Puraskar is for top 3 GPs/Equivalent Bodies for their performance in adoption and usage of renewable sources of energy. This year, a total 3 awards have been conferred under this category.
  • Panchayat Kshamta Nirmaan Sarvottam Sansthan Puraskar is for 3 Institutions across the country who have provided institutional support to GPs in achieving LSDGs.

Q1: What is the Panchayats Extension to Scheduled Areas (PESA) Act 1996?

It was brought in as a response to the long-standing demands of the tribal communities in India for greater autonomy and control over their own affairs. PESA Act was enacted on 24 December 1996 to enable tribal self-rule in fifth schedule areas. The Act extended the provisions of Panchayats to the tribal areas of Fifth Schedule states. 

News: Hon’ble President Of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu to Confer National Panchayat Awards 2024 on 11th December at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi

About GG Tau A System:

• It is a unique triple-star system which is located 489 light-years away from Earth.
• The system is young- - only 1 to 5 million years old- - which makes it perfect for studying the early stages of planet formation.
• Around these stars is a disk made of gas and dust, which is where planets begin to form.
• The three stars in GG Tau A interact with each other and affect the disk of gas and dust around them, making it harder to predict how planets might form.
• The forces between the stars could cause the disk to behave differently than in a system with just one star. This makes GG Tau A a perfect system to study how planets can form in more complicated, multi-star environments.
• Significance: This is a rare setup in the universe, and studying it helps scientists understand how planets form in more complicated star systems.
• It allows scientists to learn how planets could form in these more complicated environments.

Q1: What is a Protostar?

It is a dense and hot core at the centre of the collapsing cloud. It gathers surrounding dust and gas, eventually becoming the precursor to a fully developed star.

News: India makes breakthrough discovery in solar system with three suns

About Bima Sakhi Yojana:

• It is an initiative of the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation (LIC).
• It is designed to empower women aged 18-70 years who have passed out of Class 10.
• They will receive specialised training and a stipend for the first three years to promote financial literacy and insurance awareness.
• Under the scheme, female agents will get a stipend of Rs. 7,000 per month for the first year, Rs. 6,000 per month in the second year, and Rs. 5,000 per month in the third year.
• Bima Sakhis will also get commissions. They will receive a commission of Rs 48,000 (excluding bonus) for the first year. 
• The plan is to appoint two lakh Bima Sakhi over a period of three years.
• Following the completion of the training, women can serve as LIC agents, and the graduate Bima Sakhis would have the opportunity to qualify for being considered for development officer roles in LIC.
• Relatives of existing agents and employees are not eligible for the scheme. Retired employees are also ineligible.

Q1: What is the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC)?

LIC is a state-owned organization and India's largest life insurance company. Established in 1956, LIC has provided insurance coverage to millions of individuals and families nationwide for over six decades.

News: PM launches LIC’s ‘Bima Sakhi Yojana’

About Marbled Duck:

• The Marbled Duck, also known as marbled teal, is a relatively small duck characterized by its black bill, pale-spotted gray-brown plumage, dark eye patch, and the absence of a speculum.
• Scientific Name: Marmaronetta angustirostris
• Distribution: It is distributed throughout the central and southwestern Palearctic in several highly fragmented populations that stretch from Central Asia to northwest Africa and the Iberian Peninsula.
• Migratory Patterns: Populations in colder regions migrate south during winter,reaching areas like North Africa and the Indian subcontinent.
• Habitat:
  • It is typically found in temporary or semi-permanent wetlands, although it is ultimately tolerant of many types of wetlands, both natural and artificial, provided they offer shallow areas.
  • It tends to prefer brackish wetlands over fresh or saline ones, and well-structured vegetation.
• It is a gregarious, non-territorial, and non-aggressive species. 
• Marbled ducks are usually monogamous. Pairs form every year, starting in autumn. 
• They fly low and slowly and have noticeably long necks and wings. They are easily identifiable in flight.
• IUCN Red List Status: Near Threatened

Q1: What is IUCN?

The International Union for Conservation of Nature is a global organization composed of governments, NGOs, scientists, and experts dedicated to conserving nature and promoting sustainability. Its primary role involves assessing the conservation status of species, providing data and analysis on the state of biodiversity worldwide, and offering guidance and frameworks for conservation efforts.

News: Rare winter guest: Marbled duck spotted at Sultanpur park after 30 years

About Subaru Telescope:

• It is a Japanese 8.2-metre (27-foot) optical-infrared telescope.
• It is located on the dormant volcano Mauna Kea (4,163 metres) on the island of Hawaii.
• The telescope is named for the Japanese name for the Pleiades and is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.
• Construction on Subaru began in 1992, and the first observations were made in 1999.
• An adaptive optics system consisting of 261 actuators can change the shape of the mirror so that it is not affected by deformations caused by gravity.
• Its powerful light-collecting capability can capture weak light from celestial objects. 
• To minimize air turbulence near the telescope, the dome that surrounds the telescope is cylindrical instead of a hemisphere, as is the case with most other observatories. 
• The Subaru Telescope has observed various celestial bodies, from nearby shooting stars to galaxies located 13.1 billion light years away.

Q1: What is an infrared telescope?

An infrared telescope is an instrument designed to detect and resolve infrared radiation from sources outside Earth’s atmosphere such as nebulae, young stars, and gas and dust in other galaxies.

News: Subaru Telescope captures spectacular pair of interacting galaxies

About Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman Scheme:

• It was earlier known as the National Programme of Mid-Day Meal in schools.
• In September 2021, Mid-Day Meal Scheme was renamed as Pradhan Mantri POSHAN Scheme.
• It is a centrally sponsored scheme under which one hot cooked meal is served to students studying in Balvatika and classes I to VIII, in Government and Government-aided schools on all school-days.
• The scheme aims at providing nutritional support and enhancing school participation of students.
• The objectives of the Scheme are to address two of the pressing problems for the majority of children in India, viz. hunger and education by:
  • Improving the nutritional status of eligible children in Government and Government aided schools.
  • Encouraging poor children, belonging to disadvantaged sections, to attend school more regularly and help them concentrate on classroom activities.
  • Providing nutritional support to children of the elementary stage in drought-affected and disaster affected areas during summer vacation.
• Recently, on the basis of the inflation index provided by the Labour Bureau, the Ministry of Education, Government of India, has enhanced the ‘Material Cost’ by 13.70 %.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Education

Q1: What is nutrition?

It is the assimilation by living organisms of food materials that enable them to grow, maintain themselves, and reproduce.

News: Enhancement of ‘Material Cost’under the Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) Scheme

About Voronezh Radar:

• The Voronezh radar system is a critical component of Russia’s early warning and missile defence infrastructure.
• It is capable of identifying and tracking a range of threats, including ballistic missiles and aircraft, over distances of up to 8,000 kilometers.
• Introduced in 2009, these radars have been operational since 2012 and are strategically deployed across Russia to provide extensive coverage against potential missile threats.
• These radars employ phased array technology, which allows for rapid electronic steering of the beam. This makes them highly efficient and less mechanically complex than older systems.
• There are several varieties of these radars operating in the meter (Voronezh-M), decimeter (Voronezh-DM), or centimeter (Voronezh-CM) wavelength range, as well as a few others that combine several ranges.
• The different Voronezh radars can work in unison as part of an integrated Missile Attack Early Warning System to generate a comprehensive radar picture of potential missile threats and space activity.
• These radars are crucial for early warning against ballistic missile threats and are positioned to optimise detection capabilities across various threat vectors.

Q1: What is a Radar?

The word radar comes from the acronym radio detection and ranging. As the name implies, radars use radio waves to determine the distance and velocity of the targets they hit. A radar system usually consists of a transmitter to send out radio signals and a receiver to catch any reflected energy from targets. 

News: India, Russia set to sign USD 4-billion deal for advanced radar system

About Article 67(b):

• The Vice President of India serves as the ex-officio Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
• Article 67(b) of the Indian Constitution outlines how the Vice President can be removed from office. 
• It states that the Vice President may be removed from his office by a resolution of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) passed by a majority of all the then members of the Council and agreed to by the House of the People.
• No such resolution can be moved unless ‘at least a 14-day notice has been given of the intention to move the resolution. The notice must clearly state the intention to initiate the resolution and outline the reasons for it.
• Thus, the process to remove the Vice President begins in the Rajya Sabha, where the Vice President serves as the ex-officio Chairperson.
• Grounds for Removal: The Constitution does not specify particular grounds for removal, leaving it to the discretion of the members of Parliament.

Q1: How is the Vice President of India elected?

The Vice-President is elected by an Electoral College, which consists of the members of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha (both elected and nominated members). As per Article 66(1) of the Constitution of India, the election of the VicePresident shall be held in accordance with the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote and the voting at such election shall be by secret ballot. Under Article 324 of the Constitution of India, the authority to conduct elections to the Office of Vice-President is vested in the Election Commission of India. 

News: Opposition to move notice to remove Vice-President Dhankhar

About Melye-amiley: 

• It is a traditional fermented bambooshoot variety of Tripura.
• It has anti-obesity effects and offers a solution to weight management and metabolic health,
• It reduces lipid accumulation and increases fatty acid β-oxidation.

Highlights of the research

• Based on in vitro cell culture studies the team has observed that a traditional fermented bamboo shoot variety of Tripura, called ‘Melye-amiley’ can reduce intracellular lipid accumulation.
• The process involved an increase in the expression of lipolytic (HSL, LPL, and Agtl) and fat browning regulator genes (UCP1, PRDM16, and PGC1-alpha).
• Furthermore, the study demonstrates that treatment with Melye-amiley leads to the upregulation of thermogenic protein expression via the AMPK signaling pathway.
• This process stimulates mitochondrial biogenesis and enhances fatty acid β-oxidation, offering a multifaceted approach to weight management and metabolic health.
• These findings suggest that fermented bamboo shoot extract has promising anti-obesity effects by boosting energy expenditure in white adipocytes. 

Q1: What is obesity?

It is defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk to health. A body mass index (BMI) over 25 is considered overweight, and over 30 is obese. 

News:Fermented bamboo shoot of Tripura possesses anti-obesity property

About Amrit Gyaan Kosh Portal: 

• It is jointly developed by the Capacity Building Commission and Karmayogi Bharat.
• It is a platform to promote self-reliance in governance training and strengthen governance training.
• It is developed on the iGOT platform, and serves as a comprehensive repository of best practices in governance and policy implementation.
• It aligns with 15 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), covering critical themes such as health, education, agriculture, and digital governance.
• The curated resources enable faculty to align their teaching with global standards while addressing India's unique administrative challenges.

What is Karmayogi Bharat?

• Under the Mission Karmayogi, a comprehensive Institutional Framework has been designed to deliver the program objectives effectively.
• The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), Karmayogi Bharat forms a key pillar of the institutional framework with an aim to operate the iGOT Karmayogi platform, manage its overall governance and ensure that it meets the objective of anytime, anywhere, any-device learning for civil service officials to enhance their overall competency.
• The SPV has been incorporated in the name of Karmayogi Bharat under Section 8 of the Companies Act, 2013 as a 100% Government owned not for profit Company.
  • The organization will be responsible to operate the iGOT Karmayogi platform and any other digital assets pertaining to the Programme.
  • It will be responsible for owning, managing, maintaining, and improving the digital assets, i.e., iGOT-Karmayogi (Integrated Government online Training) the digital/e-learning platform, including the IPR of all software, content, process etc. on behalf of Government with an annual subscription-based revenue model.

Q1: What is Governance?

It refers to a process of exercise of authority to govern people or regulate public affairs. In the simplest terms, governance relates to the effective management of the affairs of a country at all levels, guaranteeing its territorial integrity, and securing the safety and overall welfare of people. 

News: Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh launches "Amrit Gyaan Kosh" Portal to strengthen governance training