About India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX): 

• It is India's first International Bullion Exchange.
• It is based at GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tech City) IFSC (International Finance Services Center), Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
• IIBX has been conceptualized to provide a gateway to import bullion into India and provide a world class bullion exchange ecosystem to promote bullion trading, investment in bullion financial products, and vaulting facilities in IFSCs.
• It will facilitate Transparent Price Discovery, Responsible sourcing and supply chain integrity, Quality Assurance and Standardization.
• The IIBX is regulated by the International Financial Services Centers Authority (IFSCA), a unified authority for the development and regulation of financial products, financial services, and financial institutions at IFSCs.
• Products and technology offered at IIBX are diversified, and available at a cost that is far more competitive than those at Indian exchanges, as well as global exchanges in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, London, and New York.
• What is a bullion?
  • Bullion refers to physical gold and silver of high purity that is often kept in the form of bars, ingots, or coins.
  • Bullion can sometimes be considered legal tender and is often held as reserves by central banks or held by institutional investors.

Key Facts about International Financial Services Centers Authority (IFSCA):

• It is a statutory authority established under the International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2019 (“IFSCA Act”).
• Mandate: To develop and regulate the financial products, financial services, and financial institutionsin the International Financial Services Centres (‘IFSC’).
• The IFSCA aims to develop a strong global connection and focus on the needs of the Indian economy, as well as serve as an international financial platform for the entire region.
• Before the establishment of IFSCA, the domestic financial regulators, namely, RBI, SEBI, PFRDA, and IRDAI regulated the business in IFSC.
• GIFT-IFSC is the maiden IFSC in India.

Q1: What is the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)?

The SEBI is a statutory regulatory body established by the Government of India in 1992. It was given statutory powers through the SEBI Act, 1992. It aims to regulate the securities market in India and protect the interests of investors in securities.

Source: SBI is 1st bank as trading-clearing member of IIBX

About United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime:

• It is a global leader in the fight against illicit drugs and international crime, in addition to being responsible for implementing the United Nations lead programme on terrorism.
• It was established in 1997 through a merger between the United Nations Drug Control Programme and the Centre for International Crime Prevention.
• What are its functions?
  • It works to educate people throughout the world about the dangers of drug abuse.
  • Strengthen international action against illicit drug production and trafficking and drug-related crime. 
  • It also works to improve crime prevention and assist with criminal justice reform in order to strengthen the rule of law, promote stable and viable criminal justice systems and combat the growing threats of transnational organized crime and corruption. 
  • In 2002, the UN General Assembly approved an expanded programme of activities for the Terrorism Prevention Branch of UNODC. The activities focus on providing assistance to States, on request, in ratifying and implementing the eighteen universal legal instruments against terrorism.
• Funding: It relies on voluntary contributions, mainly from governments, to carry out the majority of our work.
• Headquarters: Vienna, Austria 

What is the World Wildlife Crime Report?

• It is the 3rd edition (2024) of the report and earlier editions were published in 2016 and 2020.
• It probes trends in the illicit trafficking of protected wildlife species.
• It also presents systematic analyses of wildlife crime harms and impacts, probes the factors driving wildlife trafficking trends, and takes stock of current knowledge about the effectiveness of the different types of intervention being pursued to resolve this problem.

Q1: What is Wildlife Crime Control Bureau?

Wildlife Crime Control Bureau is a statutory multi-disciplinary body established by the Government of India to combat organized wildlife crime in the country. It was constituted by amending the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.

Source: Rhinos, elephants, pangolins, cedars, rosewoods & agarwood most affected by illegal wildlife trade: UNODC

Why in News?

• The long-term agreement, to be valid for 10 years and extended subsequently, was being negotiated by the two sides over the past three years and had been held up over differences on a clause related to arbitration.
• It replaces an initial pact inked in 2016 that covered India’s operations at the Shahid Beheshti terminal of Chabahar port and has been renewed annually.
• India Ports Global Chabahar Free Zone (IPGCFZ), a subsidiary of state-run India Global Ports Limited (IGPL), currently operates the Shahid Beheshti terminal at Chabahar port.
• This is the first time India will take over the management of an overseas port.

About Chabahar Port:

• It is a deep-water port located in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan province.
• It is on the Gulf of Oman at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz.
• It is the only Iranian port having direct access to the Indian Ocean.
• It consists oftwo separate ports called Shahid Beheshti and Shahid Kalantari.
• It's geographic proximity to countries such as Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India, as well as its status as a key transit center on the burgeoning International North-South Transport Corridor (INSTC), gives it the potential to develop into one of the most important commercial hubs in the region.
  • INSTC is a multi-modal transportation route linking the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulfto the Caspian Sea via Iran, and onward to northern Europe via Saint Petersburg in Russia.
• Kandla port in Gujarat is 550 Nautical Miles from Chabahar port, while the distance between Chabahar and Mumbai is 786 Nautical Miles.
• Chabahar Project:
  • In May 2016, India signed a tripartite agreement with Iran and Afghanistan to develop the Shahid Beheshti Terminal at Chabahar.
  • It is India's first foreign port project.
  • The deal agreement aims to establish an international transport and transit corridor in Chabahar. 
  • The construction of the Chabahar Port and the construction of a rail line from Chabahar Port to Zahedan are the major highlights of this project.
  • The idea was that the port would enable India to bypass Pakistan and access Afghanistan, and ultimately Central Asia.
  • Moreover, the port could serve as a hub for transit trade between India, Iran, and Afghanistan and provide an alternative route to the traditional Silk Road that passes through China.

Q1: Which countries border the Gulf of Oman?

The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman, also known as the Gulf of Makran or Sea of Makran, forms the only entrance to the Persian Gulf from the Indian Ocean. It is bordered by Pakistan and Iran in the north, by the United Arab Emirates in the west and by Oman in the south.

Source: India signs 10-year deal with Iran to manage Chabahar port

About Mahi River:

• It is one of the major west-flowing interstate rivers of India.
• It extends over the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Gujarat, having a total drainage area of 34,842 Sq.km. 
• Course:
  • It originates from the northern slopes of Vindhyas at an altitude of 500 m near village Bhopawar, in the Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh, and flows through Madhya Pradesh for about 120 km in a southerly direction. 
  • It then enters the south eastern portion of Rajasthan, which is the Vagad region. The river flows through the Banswara district, which comes under the Vagad region.
  • Before entering Gujarat, the river makes a 'U'-shaped loop in Rajasthan.
  • It drains into the Arabian Seathrough the Gulf of Khambhat.
• The total length of Mahi is 583 km.
• It is bounded by the Aravalli Hills on the north and the north-west, by the Malwa Plateau on the east, by the Vindhyas on the south, and by the Gulf of Khambhat on the west. 
• Tributaries: The main tributaries of the river are Eru, Nori, Chap, Som, Jakham, Moran, Anas, Panam, and Bhadar.

The Mahi River has a dam on it, namely, the Mahi Bajaj Sagar Dam. The whole of Gujarat gets water to drink and electricity from the dam.

Q1: What is the Gulf of Khambhat?

The Gulf of Khambhat (also known as the Gulf of Cambay) is an inlet of the Arabian Sea along the west coast of India, in the state of Gujarat. It divides the Kathiawar Peninsula from the south-eastern part of Gujarat.The periphery of the Gulf of Khambhat is an extensive area of estuarine habitats. The Narmada, Tapti, Mahi and Sabarmati rivers drain into it. These rivers have deposited alluvium over large areas as the marine recession has united Saurashtra with the mainland of Gujarat. The Gulf is not very deep and has abundant shoals and sandbanks. There are extensive areas of intertidal mud and sand flats in the deltas of the Mahi and Sabarmati rivers. There are some coral reefs around small inlets in the western part of the Gulf.

Source: Two drown in Mahi river near Kotna

About GPT-4o:

• GPT-4o (“o” for “omni”) offers GPT-4 level intelligence and it is much faster and improves its capabilities across text, vision, and audio.
• Features
  • It makes human-to-machine interaction much more natural and far easier.
  • The voice mode on GPT-4o is efficient and intuitively recognises the voice of the speaker or multiple speakers.
  • Until now, the voice mode had three models that came together to deliver the feature. These are – transcription, intelligence, and text-to-speech and they all came together and orchestrated to deliver the voice mode. This led to latency, however, with GPT-4o all of this happens natively. “GPT-4o reasons across voice, text, and vision.
  • It also has a vision, allowing users to upload photos and documents, and can start conversations about the same.
  • One can also use the Memory feature, and browse to search real-time information during conversations. Also, OpenAI has improved the quality and the speed in 50 different languages.
  • This model can pick up on a user’s emotions, and come up with different kinds of emotive styles of conversation.
  • It is also capable of telling about your feelings by looking at your face in real-time.

Q1: What is emotional intelligence (EQ)?

It is the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges and defuse conflict.

Source: OpenAI unveils GPT-4o, a powerful free-for-all AI model with vision, text, and voice

About Soil Nailing:

• It is a geotechnical engineering technique that involves the insertion of reinforcing elements into the soil in a specified area to strengthen it.
• This soil reinforcement process uses steel tendons which are drilled and grouted into the soil to create a composite mass similar to a gravity wall. 
• Soil nailing methods
  • Drilled and grouted soil nailing methods: The nails are inserted in the pre-drilled holes and filled with grouting materials.
  • Driven Soil Nailing Method: It is used for temporary stabilization, it is fast. However, it does not provide corrosion protection to the steel or nails.
  • Drilling Soil Nailing Method: In this method the hollow bars are used in this method, bars are drilled and grout is injected. This method is typically faster than driven nails.
  • Jet Grouted Soil Nailing Method: This method is used for eroding soil for creating holes in the soil surface, steel bars are installed in this hole and grout with concrete.
  • Launched Soil Nailing Method: This method involves nailing steel bars forced to the soil with a single shot using compression by an air mechanism.
• It is commonly used for
  • Stabilizing slopes and landslides
  • Supporting excavations
  • Repairing existing retaining walls

What is hydroseeding?

It is a process of applying a mixture of seeds, fertilizer, organic materials and water onto the soil to facilitate the growth of grass and plant-life, that will help hold the top soil together and prevent erosion.

Q1: What is Soil erosion?

It refers to the erosion of the top layer of dirt known as topsoil, the fertile material vital to life. The rate of soil erosion depends on many factors, including the soil's makeup, vegetation, and the intensity of wind and rain.

Source: A ‘green’ solution to prevent landslips in the Nilgiris

About Silk cotton tree:

• The silk cotton tree (Bombax ceiba L.) is locally known as semal tree.
• It is a lofty deciduous tree with buttressed base when old and the whole trunk is covered with large conical prickles.
• It is mainly found in moist deciduous and semi-evergreen forests, also in the plains
• Occasionally found in plains from the coast, on the deciduous belt of the hills to 1400 m. 
• Members of the Garasia tribe in Rajasthan believe they are descended from semal trees.
• Distribution: In India it is seen in Andaman & Nicobar Island, Assam, Bihar, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Odisha, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh.
• Significance of the tree
  • It has multiple purposes and is useful to wild animals, insects, and even to tribal communities.
  • It is a fire-resistant tree. It is also known for its cooling properties.
  • It is considered a pioneer tree that generates a rich biomass every season, and has been used to reclaim wastelands.
  • This tree fixes carbon and helps carbon sequestration by shedding all leaves before flowering.
  • Many researchers believe the semal to be a bio indicator—a late flowering could mean a hot summer or a delayed monsoon.
  • The rock bees nestle on its branches because the tree’s spikes keep its predator, the sloth bears, away.
  • Members of tribal communities consume the tree’s reddish root for food during the monsoons.
  • It provides opportunities for agroforestry and resources like food, fodder, and fuel wood.
  • Members of the Kathodi tribe use its wood to craft musical instruments while those of the Bhil use it to make utensils.

Q1: What is a Bioindicator?

These are living organisms such as plants, planktons, animals, and microbes, which are utilized to screen the health of the natural ecosystem in the environment.

Source: For Udaipur’s Holi, Rajasthan’s semal trees are going up in flames

About Exercise Shakti:

• It is a biennial training event conducted alternatively in India and France.
• The last edition was conducted in France in November 2021.
• Aim: To enhance the joint military capability of both sides to undertake multi-domain operations in a Sub-Conventional scenario under Chapter VII of the United Nations Mandate.
• The joint exercise will focus on operations in the semi-urban and mountainous terrain. 
• Objectives to be achieved from the joint training are a high degree of physical fitness, rehearsing and refining drills for operations at the tactical level, and sharing of best practices.
• It will enable the two sides to share their best practices in Tactics, Techniques and Procedures for conducting joint operations.
• The Indian contingent comprises 90 personnel, primarily from the Rajput Regiment, along with personnel from other arms and services, participating in the exercise.
• Observers from the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force are also part of this 14-day exercise.

It will also include the French contingent, consisting of 90 personnel, mainly from the 13th Foreign Legion Half-Brigade (13th DBLE).

Q1: What is VARUNA Exercise?

VARUNA Excercise is the Bilateral Naval Exercise between India and France. This bilateral exercise between the two navies was initiated in 1993. It was named ‘VARUNA’ in 2001 and has become a hallmark of India France strategic bilateral relationship.

Source: INDIA- FRANCE JOINT MILITARY EXERCISE SHAKTI COMMENCES IN MEGHALAYA