About Munich Security Conference (MSC)

• It is the world's leading forum for debating international security policy. 
• Objective: To build trust and contribute to the peaceful resolution of conflicts by sustaining a continuous, curated, and informal dialogue within the international security community. 
• It has been held in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, since 1963.
• The conference is held annually in February. The venue is the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. 
• It is a venue for diplomatic initiatives to address the world's most pressing security concerns.
• It brings together security experts, and politicians, military leaders, and the defense industry from around the world.
• MSC regularly convenes high-profile events on particular topics and regions and publishes the Munich Security Report, an annual digest of relevant figures, maps, and research on crucial security challenges.

Key Facts about North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)?

• It is a transatlantic security alliance of 31 like-minded North American and European countries.
• It was established by the North Atlantic Treaty (also called the Washington Treaty) on April 4, 1949.
• Aim: To protect peace and to guarantee the territorial integrity, political independence, and security of the member states.
• Article Five of the treaty: If an armed attack occurs against one of the member states, it should be considered an attack against all members, and other members shall assist the attacked member, with armed forces if necessary.
  • This article forms the core of the Alliance, a promise of collective defense.
• Headquarters: Brussels, Belgium.

Q1) What is the North Atlantic Treaty?

The North Atlantic Treaty is the treaty that forms the legal basis of, and is implemented by, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949.NATO states are committed to sharing the risks and responsibilities as well as the benefits of collective security.

Source: Munich Security Conference 2024: India is non-west but not anti-west, says EAM S Jaishankar

About Pradhan Mantri Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme

• Launched on June 29, 2020, PMFMPE is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme by the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.
• It is designed to address the challenges faced by micro-enterprises and to tap the potential of groups and cooperatives to support the upgradation and formalization of these enterprises.
• Objectives: To build the capability of microenterprises to enable:
  • Increased access to credit by existing micro food processing entrepreneurs, FPOs, self-help groups, and co-operatives.
  • Integration with an organized supply chain by strengthening branding & marketing.
  • Support for the transition of existing 2,00,000 enterprises into a formal framework.
  • Increased access to common services like common processing facilities, laboratories, storage, packaging, marketing, and incubation services.
  • Strengthening of institutions, research, and training in the food processing sector; and
  • Increased access for enterprises, to professional and technical support.
• Outlay:
  • The scheme envisages an outlay of ₹ 10,000 crores over a period of five years from 2020-21 to 2024-25.
  • The expenditure under the scheme would be shared in a 60:40 ratio between Central and State Governments, in a 90:10 ratio with the Northeastern and the Himalayan States, a 60:40 ratio with UTs with the legislature and 100% by the Center for other UTs.
• Coverage:
  • Under the scheme, 2,00,000 micro food processing units will be directly assisted with credit-linked subsidies.
  • Adequate, supportive common infrastructure and institutional architecture will be supported to accelerate the growth of the sector.
• Benefits: The program has four broad components addressing the needs of the sector:
  • Support to individuals and groups of micro-enterprises.
  • Branding and Marketing support.
  • Support the strengthening of institutions.
  • Setting up a robust project management framework.
• Financial Support:
  • Support to Individual micro-units:
    • Micro enterprises will get credit-linked subsidy at 35% of the eligible project cost, with a ceiling of Rs.10 lakh.
    • The beneficiary contribution will be a minimum of 10%, and the balance from the loan.
  • Support to FPOs/SHGs/Cooperatives:
    • Seed capital will be given to SHGs (at Rs. 4 lakh per SHG) for loans to members for working capital and small tools.
    • Grant for backward/ forward linkages, common infrastructure, packaging, marketing, and branding.
• The Eligible Borrowers for PMFMPE can be:
  • Farmer Producer Organization (FPO)
  • Self-Help Groups
  • Co-operatives
  • Existing Micro Food Processing Entrepreneurs
  • New Units, whether for individuals or groups, would only be supported for One District One Product (ODOP).

Q1) What is a Farmer Producer Organization (FPO)?

A Farmer Producer Organization (FPO) is a type of Producer Organisation (PO) where farmers are its members. The PO is an organisation of any produce, such as non-farm products, agricultural, artisan products, etc., by producers. The Small Farmers’ Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) provides support for FPOs promotion.

Source: PMFME scheme awareness camp held in Srinagar

About National Science Day (NSD)

• It is celebrated every year on February 28 to mark the contributions of scientists towards the development of the country. 
• On this day, in 1928, Indian Physicists Sir CV Raman made an important discovery in the field of spectroscopy, which was later named after him: the Raman Effect.
  • For this discovery, he was also awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930.
• History:
  • The National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC), in 1986, asked the Government of India to announce February 28 as National Science Day.
  • The government accepted and declared the day National Science Day.
  • The first National Science Day was celebrated on February 28, 1987.

What is the Raman Effect?

• The Raman effect is a change in the wavelength of light that occurs when a light beam is deflected by molecules.
• When a beam of light traverses a dust-free, transparent sample of a chemical compound, a small fraction of the light emerges in directions other than those of the incident (incoming) beam.
• Most of this scattered light is of an unchanged wavelength. A small part, however, has wavelengths different from that of the incident light; its presence is a result of the Raman Effect.

Q1) What is the National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC)?

The National Council for Science and Technology Communication (NCSTC) is mandated to communicate Science and Technology to masses, stimulate scientific and technological temper and coordinate and orchestrate such efforts throughout the country. The programmes of NCSTC aims at building capacity for informed decision making in the community and promote scientific thinking. It is devoted towards societal upliftment through the dissemination of scientific knowledge in an informed manner and builds programmes with the help of different media which percolate down to every nook and corner of the society.

Source: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh launches the theme for National Science Day 'Indigenous Technologies for Viksit Bharat'

About Magnetoelectric multiferroics

• These are a special class of materials popular among the research fraternity for their rarity and unique properties.
• These materials can exhibit both magnetism and ferroelectricity simultaneously.
• Application: For advanced technology applications like spintronics, electronic memory devices, and other electronic components like actuators and switches.

What is MnBi2S4?

• It is also known as mineral graţianite and belongs to the ternary manganese chalcogenide family.
• It has distinct magnetic structures in the material, including a spin density wave, as well as cycloidal and helical spin structures.
• It is also known to be centrosymmetric, undergoes magnetic ordering at low temperatures (27, 23, and 21.5 Kelvins).

Significance of the study

• The significance of this finding lies in the strong coupling between magnetism and electric polarization.
• The unique mechanism, driven by magnetic frustration, represents a breakthrough in magnetoelectric coupling.
• Specifically, if the material possesses the ability to exhibit the same phenomena at room temperature, it could pave the way for energy-efficient manipulation of spin using small electric fields.
• This could revolutionize data storage by reducing energy consumption during writing processes.
• These findings can be helpful for the development of four-state logic memory system, providing additional degrees of freedom for device performance compared to the current binary logic systems. 

Q1) What is Magnetism?

It is the force exerted by magnets when they attract or repel each other. Magnetism is caused by the motion of electric charges. Every substance is made up of tiny units called atoms. Each atom has electrons, particles that carry electric charges.

Source: Scientists uncover unique properties in a multiferroic material potential for energy-efficient data storage

About Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti

• It is a High Powered Committee for Promotion of Indian Languages.
• It has been constituted by the Ministry of Education, Government of India in 2021.
• Mandate: The mandate of this committee would be to explore and recommend pathways of the holistic and multi-disciplinary growth of Indian languages as envisaged in the National Education Policy-2020.
• It has also been entrusted to advise the Ministry on all matters pertaining to revitalization of existing language teaching and research and its extension in various institutions in the country.
• To perform the tasks assigned to it, the High Powered Committee may appoint sub-committees/study groups.
• The committee may organize seminars, workshops, conferences, and webinars to highlight the need for the promotion of Indian languages.
• It may also interact and coordinate with any institution of the Central/State Government dealing with teaching, research, and extension/promotion of languages.
• Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri National Sanskrit University (SLBSNSU), New Delhi would provide secretarial assistance and space to house the High Powered Committee and meet the related expenditure as per the Government of India rules, regulations and instructions from time to time.
• The SLBSNSU has been also entrusted to appoint consultants and experts/scholars/officials/young professionals on short-term basis and to conduct seminars, workshops, webinars, etc. as per the recommendations of the Committee.
• Necessary finance towards the same would be provided by the Ministry of Education (MoE) to the University under relevant budget heads.

Q1) What is language?

A language is a system of conventional spoken, manual (signed), or written symbols by means of which beings express themselves. The typical functions of language include communication, the expression of identity, play, imaginative expression, and emotional release.

Source: Multilingualism is crucial, says Bharatiya Bhasha Samiti chairman

About India Stack

• It is a set of Application Programming Interface (APIs) that allows governments, businesses, startups and developers to utilise a unique digital Infrastructure.
• India Stack consists of three layers of open APIs: identity, payments, and data.
• Although the name of this project bears the word India, the vision of India Stack is not limited to one country.
• It can be applied to any nation, be it a developed one or an emerging one.
• The four distinct technology layers provided are
  • Presenceless layer: Where a universal biometric digital identity allows people to participate in any service from anywhere in the country.
  • Paperless layer: Where digital records move with an individual's digital identity, eliminating the need for massive amount of paper collection and storage.
  • Cashless layer: Where a single interface to all the country's bank accounts and wallets to democratize payments.
  • Consent layer: Which allows data to move freely and securely to democratize the market for data?
• Some of the APIs that are a central part of India Stack: Aadhaar Proof, Aadhaar e-KYC, e-Sign, Digital Locker, Unified Payment Interface.

Q1) What is API?

It stands for Application Programming Interface. In the context of APIs, the word Application refers to any software with a distinct function. Interface can be thought of as a contract of service between two applications. This contract defines how the two communicate with each other using requests and responses.

Source: India signs MoU with Colombia on sharing India's open-sourced DPIs

About International Single Species Action Plan

• It is the key instrument developed under the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA). 
• Purpose: It is for the purpose of implementing coordinated measures to restore migratory waterbird species to a favourable conservation status.
• International cooperation among the species’ range states is essential for implementation of these action plans.

What is AEWA?

• It is an intergovernmental treaty dedicated to the conservation of migratory waterbirds and their habitats across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, Greenland and the Canadian Archipelago.
• It is developed under the framework of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS) and administered by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
• It brings together countries and the wider international conservation community in an effort to establish coordinated conservation and management of migratory waterbirds throughout their entire migratory range.
• It covers 255 species of migratory waterbirds that are ecologically dependent on wetlands for at least part of their annual cycle.
• The Agreement area stretches from the northern reaches of Canada and the Russian Federation to the southernmost tip of Africa, covering 119 Range States from Africa, Europe, the Middle East and parts of Asia and Canada
• The Agreement has three main bodies:
  • Meeting of the Parties (MOP), the governing body of AEWA;
  • Standing Committee (StC), responsible for steering the operations between sessions of the MOP;
  • Technical Committee (TC), responsible for providing scientific and technical advice.
• The Agreement’s Secretariat (UNEP/AEWA Secretariat) based in Bonn, Germany, supports the Parties and services the bodies of the Agreement.

Q1) What is the United Nations Environment Programme?

It is responsible for coordinating responses to environmental issues within the United Nations system. It was established by Maurice Strong, its first director, after the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in June 1972.

Source: CMS COP14: Draft resolution for conservation of hawksbill turtle & angelshark adopted

About Central Electricity Regulatory Commission:

• It is a statutory body established by the Government of India under the provisions of the Electricity Regulatory Commissions Act, 1998.
• It is the Central Commission for the purposes of the Electricity Act, 2003, which has repealed the ERC Act, 1998.
• Composition: The Commission consists of a Chairperson and four other members including the Chairperson, Central Electricity Authority, who is an ex-officio Member of the Commission.
• The Commission intends to promote competition, efficiency, and economy in bulk power markets, improve the quality of supply, promote investments, and advise the government on the removal of institutional barriers to bridge the demand supply gap and thus foster the interests of consumers. 
• Functions:
  • To regulate the tariff of generating companies owned or controlled by the Central Government;
  • To regulate the tariff of generating companies other than those owned or controlled by the Central Government specified in clause (a), if such generating companies enter into or otherwise have a composite scheme for generation and sale of electricity in more than one State;
  • To regulate the inter-State transmission of electricity;
  • To determine tariff for inter-State transmission of electricity;
  • To issue licences to persons to function as transmission licensee and electricity trader with respect to their inter-State operations.

Q1: What is Electricity?

It is a type of energy that consists of the movement of electrons between two points when there is a potential difference between them, making it possible to generate what is known as an electric current.

Source: Central Government appoints Shri Harish Dudani as Member in Central Electricity Regulatory Commission