About Gorsam Kora Festival

• It is held in Arunachal Pradesh’s Zeminthang Valley along the Nyanmjang Chu River.
• History
  • This annual festival is held at Gorsam Chorten, a 93 feet tall Stupa, built during 13th century AD by a local monk- Lama Pradhar.
  • This is also the place where the 14th Dalai Lama had his first rest after fleeing from Tibet in 1959.
  • It features cultural performances and Buddhist rituals at the Gorsam Chorten, which is older than the Tawang Monastery.
• Many devotees including a large number of Bhutanese nationals visit during Gorsam Kora festival to celebrate the virtuous occasion during the last day of the first month of the Lunar calendar.
• It attracted pilgrims and Lamas from Bhutan, Tawang, and neighbouring regions, epitomising the spirit of camaraderie and cultural exchange.
• The festival featured a diverse array of events, including enthralling performances by local cultural troupes and by the Indian army bands, martial performances like Mallakhamb and Zanjh Pathaka.

Q1) What is Mahayana Buddhism?

Mahayana Buddhism is the largest Buddhist sect in the world, and its beliefs and practices are what most non-adherents recognize as "Buddhism" in the modern era. It developed as a school of thought sometime after 383 BCE, possibly from the earlier school known as Mahasanghika, though that claim has been challenged.

Source: What you need to know about Gorsam kora festival in Tawang

About Exercise 'Bharat Shakti'

• It is an integrated tri-service firepower and manoeuvre exercise, showcasing the prowess of indigenously manufactured defence equipment across the three services.
• Location: Pokhran, Rajasthan.
• The exercise involves the showcasing of the calibrated tactical employment of niche technology in a tri-services environment against perceived threats.
• The exercise displays an array of indigenous weapon systems and platforms as a demonstration of the prowess of the country, premised on the nation's Aatmanirbharata initiative.
• It will also simulate realistic, synergised, multi-domain operations displaying the integrated operational capabilities of the Indian armed forces to counter threats across land, air, sea, cyber, and space domains.
• It features indigenous weapon systems: T-90 (IM) Tanks, Dhanush and Sarang Gun Systems, Akash Weapons System, Logistics Drones, Robotic Mules, ALH, and various unmanned aerial vehicles from the Indian Army showcasing the advanced ground warfare and aerial surveillance capabilities.
• The Indian Navy displays Naval Anti-Ship Missiles, Autonomous Cargo Carrying Aerial Vehicles, and Expendable Aerial Targets.
• The Indian Air Force showcases indigenous aircraft: Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, Light Utility Helicopters, and Advanced Light Helicopters.

Q1) What is the Akash Weapons System?

AKASH is a Short Range Surface to Air Missile System to protect vulnerable areas and points from air attacks. Akash Weapon System (AWS) can simultaneously engage Multiple Targets in Group Mode or Autonomous Mode. It has built-in Electronic Counter-Counter Measures (ECCM) features. The entire weapon system has been configured on mobile platforms.

Source: PM Modi witnesses 'Bharat Shakti' tri-service exercise in Rajasthan 

About Kochrab Ashram

• It was the first ashram founded by Mahatma Gandhi in 1915, following his return to India from South Africa.
• Location: It is located in Kochrab village, situated on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
• It was called Satyagraha Ashram based on his ideas of achieving India's independence from British rule through peaceful methods.
• Establishment:
  • Gopal Krishna Gokhale requested Mahatma Gandhi to return to India, which needed his skills as a community organizer.
  • Mahatma Gandhi began his association with Ahmedabad after returning to India from South Africa.
  • About his decision to settle in Ahmedabad in 1915, Gandhi wrote that, as a Gujarati, he should be able to serve the country best through the Gujarati language.
  • On 20th of May, 1915, Gandhi began living in a bungalow in Kochrab village.
  • The bungalow, which he soon rechristened as the Satyagraha Ashram, was given to him by his fellow lawyer and colleague, Jeevanlal Desai.
• Mahatma Gandhi based himself here for about one-and-a-half years before moving to the new campus of Sabarmati Ashram.
• It is a colonial-style building with a white-washed façade.
• The campus has hostels and kitchens.
• The Gandhi Memorial Museum in the ashram campus has a small collection of artifacts associated with the life of Mahatma Gandhi and historical photographs.

Q1) What is the Dandi March?

The Dandi March, also known as the Salt March and the Salt Satyagraha, led by Mahatma Gandhi, was a milestone in the Civil Disobedience Movement. It was started as a nonviolent protest against the unjust salt tax, imposed by the British Government in India.. On 12th March 1930, Mahatma Gandhi started the historic march along with 78 followers from the Sabarmati Ashram in the Ahmedabad district to the coastal town of Dandi near Surat. The march was joined by huge crowds everyday as Gandhi walked through different villages. They walked 241-miles for twenty-four days and reached Dandi on 5th April 1930. On the morning of 6th April, Mahatma Gandhi and his followers broke the Salt Act by producing salt from sea water. 

Source: Modi inaugurates redeveloped Kochrab Ashram in Gujarat, Gandhi’s first home after returning to India

About UCPMP 2024

• It has been implemented to control unethical practices in the pharma industry.
• The updated guidelines include drug endorsement, promotion, ethical conduct for medical representatives, and maintaining relationships with healthcare professionals.
• Important Provisions:
  • It prohibits pharma companies from offering gifts and travel facilities to healthcare professionals or their family members.
  • The UCPMP mandates that medical representatives must not employ any inducement or subterfuge to gain an interview, and they must not pay, under any guise, for access to a healthcare professional.
  • It also holds companies responsible for the actions of the medical representatives.
  • It also bans the supply of free samples to those who are not qualified to prescribe such a product.
  • Each pharma company also needs to maintain details such as product name, doctor name, the number of samples given, date of supply of free samples to healthcare practitioners, etc., and the monetary value of samples so distributed should not exceed two percent of the company's domestic sales per year.
  • All pharmaceutical associations must constitute an Ethics Committee for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (ECPMP), set up a dedicated UCPMP portal on their website, and take further necessary steps towards the implementation of this Code.
  • It also lists in detail how the drug should be promoted, both in texts and in the audio-visual market.
  • The information about drugs must be balanced, up-to-date, and verifiable, and must not mislead either directly or by implication.
  • The pharma companies should not make claims and comparisons of their drug's usefulness, and the word "safe" must not be used without qualification.
  • The word "new" must not be used to describe any drug which has been generally available or any therapeutic intervention which has been generally promoted in India for more than a year.
  • The responsibility for adherence to the code rests with the Chief Executive Officer of pharmaceutical companies.
  • It also detailed the penalties for violating the code and how complaints will be handled.
  • Any violations of the code will be addressed by the ECPMP, ensuring accountability and oversight.

Q1) What are pharmaceuticals?

Pharmaceuticals are substances used in the diagnosis, treatment, or prevention of disease and for restoring, correcting, or modifying organic functions.

Source: 'No freebies, cash': Centre rolls out pharma marketing code to curb unethical practices

About Index of Industrial Production (IIP)

• It is one of the prime indicators of economic development for the measurement of trends in the behavior of industrial production over a period of time with reference to a chosen base year.
• IIP is a short-term indicator measuring industrial growth until the actual result of detailed industrial surveys become available.
• It indicates the relative change in physical production in the field of industries during a specified year as compared to the previous year.
• It is computed and published by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, on a monthly basis.
• Calculation:
  • The IIP is a quantum index, the production of items is expressed in physical terms. However, the unit of reporting in respect of certain items like machinery, machine tools, shipbuilding, etc. is in value terms. 
  • The IIP is compiled as a simple weighted arithmetic mean of production relatives by using Laspeyre’s formula. 
  • In order to remove the effect of price rises from the index, the production figures of such items are deflated on the basis of Wholesale Price Indices (Base 2011-12), compiled by the Office of Economic Adviser, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, before the compilation of the index.
• Base Year:
  • The base year is always given a value of 100.
  • The current base year for the IIP series in India is 2011-12.
  • So, if the current IIP reads as 116, it means that there has been 16% growth compared to the base year.

What is Laspeyre’s formula?

• It was proposed by German economist Étienne Laspeyres (1834–1913) for measuring current prices or quantities in relation to those of a selected base period.
• A Laspeyres price index is computed by taking the ratio of the total cost of purchasing a specified group of commodities at current prices to the cost of that same group at base-period prices and multiplying by 100.
• The base-period index number is thus 100, and periods with higher price levels have index numbers greater than 100.

Q1) What is the Index of Eight Core Industries (ICI)

ICI measures the collective and individual performance of production in selected eight core industries viz. Coal, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Petroleum Refinery Products, Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity. The objective of the ICI is to provide an advance indication of production performance of industries of ‘core’ nature before the release of IIP by the Central Statistics Office. These industries are likely to impact general economic activities as well as industrial activities. The Index is compiled and released by the Office of the Economic Adviser (OEA), Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India.

Source: Index of industrial production grows by 3.8 per cent in January 2024

Why in news? 

• The South Korean government is reported to have deployed around 7,000 Hyodol dolls to keep senior citizens ‘company’ and remind them to take medications. Loneliness among senior citizens is a growing social issue in South Korea.

About Hyodol Robot

• These look like cuddly soft toys, their advanced language processing and ability to recognise emotions, talk, and play music can offer some form of engagement to seniors.
• It is an AI care robot that offers customised care for seniors.
• The robot does this by relying on data collected by living and having conversations with them.
• The doll can hold full conversations and it comes with a companion app and web monitoring platform for caretakers to monitor remotely.
• Besides, it comes with safety features that can raise an alert when no movement has been detected for a certain period of time.
• It also comes with touch interaction, check-ins, a health coach, voice messages, 24-hour voice reminders, music, quizzes, exercise suggestions, and more.
• Moreover, caregivers with access to the app will be able to send and receive voice messages, make group announcements, and monitor motion detection.
• The robot also continuously monitors the health condition of its users through health Q&A two times a day.
• This robot collects verbal/nonverbal data for 24 hours from the users through AI.
• Technology used
  • The AI robot can hold conversations owing to the large language model that has been integrated into it.
  • The robots provide convenient and easily managed intelligent services for users and are easy to develop and debug.
  • Besides, the AI robot can be linked to smart home devices and comes with an interface for easy interactions for all users.

Q1) What is the Internet of Things (IoT)?

It refers to an integrated system of physical objects (things) embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data within the systems over the “internet”. The physical objects used in the IoT range from ordinary household objects to sophisticated industrial tools connected to the internet via embedded devices.

Source: Meet Hyodol, an AI social robot to help senior citizens beat loneliness

About KIRTI Programme

• It is aimed at school children between nine and 18 years age group.
• The nation-wide scheme will have two main objectives:
  • To hunt talent from every nook and corner of the country and
  • To use sports as a tool to curb addiction towards drugs and other gadgetry distractions.
• KIRTI aims to conduct 20 lakh assessments across the country throughout the year to identify talent through notified Talent Assessment Centres.
• It wants to reach out to every block in the country and connect with those kids who want to play a sport but don’t know how.
• KIRTI made a solid launch across 50 centres in India. Fifty thousand applicants are being assessed in the first phase across 10 sports, including athletics, boxing, wrestling, hockey, football and wrestling.
• KIRTI’s athlete-centric programme is conspicuous by its transparent selection methodology based on Information Technology.
• Data analytics based on Artificial Intelligence is being used to predict the sporting acumen in an aspiring athlete.

What is the Khelo India Scheme?

• It is the flagship Central Sector Scheme of the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports.
• The Khelo India Mission aims at infusing sports culture and achieving sporting excellence in the country thus allowing the populace to harness the power of sports through its cross-cutting influence.
• Under the “Sports Competitions and Talent Development” vertical of the Khelo India Scheme, the “Talent Identification and Development” component is dedicated to working towards the identification and development of athletes at the grassroots and elite levels to develop the sports ecosystem in the country.

Q1) What are the Khelo India Para Games? 

These are an annual sports event under the Khelo India initiative for disabled athletes.

Source: Khelo India Rising Talent Identification will take sports to the doorstep of aspiring champions: Anurag Singh Thakur

About Directorate General of Foreign Trade

• It is a government organization in India responsible for the formulation of exim guidelines and principles for Indian importers and indian exporters of the country.
• Before 1991, DGFT was known as the Chief Controller of Imports & Exports (CCI&E).
• It is an attached office of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and is headed by the Director General of Foreign Trade.
• It has been assigned the role of "facilitator".
• It is responsible for implementing the Foreign Trade Policy or Exim Policy with the main objective of promoting Indian exports.
• The DGFT also issues scrips/authorization to exporters and monitors their corresponding obligations through a network of 24 regional offices. 
• Functions
  • To implement the Exim Policy or Foreign Trade Policy of India by introducing various schemes and guidelines through its network of dgft regional offices thought-out the country.
  • To Grant Exporter Importer Code Number to Indian Exporter and Importers. IEC Number is a unique 10 digit code required by the traders or manufacturers for the purpose of import and export in India.
  • It permits or regulate Transit of Goods from India or to countries adjacent to India in accordance with the bilateral treaties between India and other countries.
  • To promote trade with neighboring countries.
  • To grant the permission of free export in Export Policy Schedule 2.
  • Setting standard input-output norms is also controlled by the DGFT.
• Headquarter: New Delhi

Q1) What is Goods and Services Tax (GST)?

 It is an indirect tax (not directly paid by customers to the government), that came into effect from 1 July 2017 through the implementation of the 101st Amendment to the Constitution of India by the Indian government. It has actually replaced various indirect taxes such as - service taxes, VAT, excise and others in the country.It is levied on the manufacturer or seller of goods and the providers of services.

Source: After industry flags concerns, DGFT steps in with exemptions on quality control orders