About National Medical Commission (NMC):

• It has been constituted by the National Medical Commission Act, 2019, which came into force on September 25, 2020.
• It replaced the erstwhile Medical Council of India (MCI). It regulates medical education and medical professionals in the country.
• It grants recognition of medical qualifications, gives accreditation to medical schools, grants registration to medical practitioners, monitors medical practice, and assesses the medical infrastructure in India.
• Headquarters: New Delhi
• Functions:
  • lay down policies for maintaining high quality and high standards in medical education and make necessary regulations on this behalf;
  • lay down policies for regulating medical institutions, medical researches and medical professionals and make necessary regulations in this behalf;
  • assess the requirements in healthcare, including human resources for health and healthcare infrastructure
  • take such measures, as may be necessary, to ensure compliance by the State Medical Councils of the guidelines framed
  • exercise appellate jurisdiction with respect to the decisions of the Autonomous Boards;
  • lay down policies and codes to ensure observance of professional ethics in the medical profession and to promote ethical conduct during the provision of care by medical practitioners;
  • frame guidelines for determination of fees and all other charges in respect of fifty percent of seats in private medical institutions and deemed to be universities which are governed under the provisions of this Act;
• Composition:
  • It consists of 33 members, including the Chairperson (medical professionals only), 10 ex-officio members and 22 part-time members.
  • Medical Advisory Council: It provides the platform through which the States or UTs can put forth their views and concerns before the NMC and advises the NMC on measures to determine and maintain minimum standards of medical education.
  • Four autonomous boards:
    • Under-Graduate Medical Education Board
    • Post-Graduate Medical Education Board
    • Medical Assessment and Rating Board
    • Ethics and Medical Registration Board

Q1: What is AYUSH?

AYUSH is an acronym for Ayurveda, Yoga & naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homoeopathy, a consortium of indigenous systems of allied medical sciences. It was devised in 2003 to change the name of the Department of Indian Systems of Medicine and Homoeopathy (ISM & H).

Source : MBBS Internship : Supreme Court Directs NMC To Submit Details Of Stipend Paid To Interns By Medical Colleges In All States

About Agni-Prime Missile:

• It is a nuclear-capable new-generation advanced variant of the Agni class of missiles. It is a two-stage canisterised missile with a maximum range of 1,000 to 2,000 km.
• It is lighter than all the earlier Agni series of missiles. It weighs at least 50 per cent less than the Agni 3 missile and has new guidance and propulsion systems.
• It can be transported by road and rail and stored for longer periods, significantly reducing the time required for preparation and launch. The missile uses a cold launch mechanism and can be fired in salvo mode.

What are Ballistic Missiles?

• These are launched directly into the upper layers of the earth’s atmosphere. They can travel outside the atmosphere, where the warhead detaches from the missile and falls towards a predetermined target.
• They are rocket-propelled self-guided weapons systems which can carry conventional or nuclear munitions. They can be launched from aircraft, ships and submarines and land.

Q1: What is a Cruise Missile?

 It is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets, that remains in the atmosphere (unlike ballistic missiles) and flies the major portion of its flight path at an approximately constant speed, before hitting the target.

Source : New generation ballistic missile Agni-Prime successfully flight-tested

About Paira cropping system:

• The utera/paira is a type of cropping which is commonly practiced in Bihar, Eastern Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal Chhattisgarh and Odisha.
• It is a kind of relay method of sowing in which lentil/ lathyrus/ urdbean/ mungbean seeds are broadcast in the standing crop of rice about 2 weeks before its harvest.
• This system does not allow agronomic intervention such as tillage, weeding, irrigation and fertilizer However, rice variety decides the productivity of pulses in this system.
• Advantages:
  • This practice enables us to use better soil moisture available at the time of harvesting of rice crops, which could otherwise be lost quickly.
  • Experimental evidence showed that paira cropping produced more yield of lentil than planting with tillage after harvesting of the rice crop.
  • This is an efficient way of utilising resources for sustainable crop intensification and boosting land productivity.

What is the Relay cropping method?

• It is a method of multiple cropping where one crop is seeded into standing second crop well before harvesting of second crop.
• It can solve a number of conflicts such as inefficient use of available resources, controversies in sowing time, fertilizer application and soil degradation.

Q1: What is Intercropping?

It is the practice of growing two or more crops in proximity. The most common goal of intercropping is to produce a greater yield on a given piece of land by making effective use of resources without affecting the yield of the main crop.

Source : How Odisha is promoting climate-resilient agriculture through rice fallow initiative

About S.A.R.A.H.:

• Smart AI Resource Assistant for Health (S.A.R.A.H.) is a digital health promoter prototype with enhanced empathetic response powered by generative artificial intelligence (AI).
• It is launched by the World Health Organisation (WHO). It aims to provide an additional tool for people to realize their rights to health, wherever they are.
• Features:
  • It is trained to provide information across major health topics, including healthy habits and mental health
  • It has the ability to support people in developing better understanding of risk factors for some of the leading causes of death in the world, including cancer, heart disease
  • It can help people access up-to-date information on quitting tobacco, being active, eating a healthy diet and de-stressing among other things. 
  • It can engage users 24 hours a day in 8 languages on multiple health topics, on any device. It is now powered by generative AI rather than a pre-set algorithm or script helping her to provide more accurate responses in real-time.

Q1: What is Generative AI?

It refers to deep-learning models that can take raw data and “learn” to generate statistically probable outputs when prompted. It is powered by foundation models (large AI models) that can multi-task and perform out-of-the-box tasks, including summarization, Q&A, classification, and more.

Source : WHO launches gen-AI powered digital health promoter S.A.R.A.H. for public health

About Purple-striped jellyfish:

• Appearance: It usually appears a blue purple (mauve) colour with a globe shaped umbrella covered in orangey brown warts.
• Habitat: It is primarily pelagic or in the open ocean. However, this species can survive in benthic and temperate coastal habitats.
• Distribution: It is found worldwide in tropical and warm-temperature seas. It is mainly found in the Indo-Pacific, Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.
• Unique feature: Unlike other jellyfish species, it has stingers not just on the tentacles, but on the bell too. These are bioluminescent, having an ability to produce light in the dark.
• It is venomous and causes varying degrees of illness such as diarrhoea, extreme pain, vomiting and anaphylactic shock.
• A jellyfish bloom is when the population of the species increases dramatically within a short period of time, usually due to a higher reproduction rate.
  • According to marine biologists, jellyfish blooms are reported frequently as a result of rising ocean temperatures, one of the main causes of substantial population growth.

Q1:What is an algal bloom?

An algal bloom is the overgrowth of microscopic algae or algae-like bacteria in fresh, salt, or brackish waters.

Source : Venomous jellyfish blooms spotted along Visakhapatnam coast in Andhra Pradesh

About Shallowfakes:

• Like deepfake, shallowfake is also an act of morphing people’s pictures and using them for malicious activities. But unlike deepfake, which is created by using advanced artificial intelligence (AI) software, shallowfake can be created by simply using basic editing software.
• They are made with existing technologies—for example, a conventional edit on a photo, slowing-down a video to change the speech patterns of an individual or more often, relying on mis-captioning or mis-contextualising an existing image or video, claiming it is from a time or place which it is not from. 
• And precisely because of this easier way to create them, many experts consider shallowfakes to be bigger threats than deepfakes.
• Why are they called shallow? The term ‘shallow’ implies the quality of such fakes, which are lower in quality compared to deepfakes.
• They are used to create a false proof of identity or address, including photo ID documents like passports, driving licences etc.
• It is also used to create fake supporting evidence to support a claim or transaction, like contracts, agreements and invoices for services, no claims discount certificates, etc.

What are Deepfakes?

• Deepfakes are a compilation of artificial images and audio put together with machine-learning algorithms to spread misinformation and replace a real person’s appearance, voice, or both with similar artificial likenesses or voices. The term "deepfake" combines the deep learning concept with something fake.
• It can create people who do not exist and it can fake real people saying and doing things they did not say or do.
• Working:
  • They are created by machine learning models, which use neural networks to manipulate images and videos. 
  • To make a deepfake video of someone, a creator would first train a neural network on many hours of real video footage of the person to give it a realistic “understanding" of what he or she looks like from many angles and under different lighting.
  • Then they'd combine the trained network with computer-graphics techniques to superimpose a copy of the person onto a different actor.
• Deep fakes differ from other forms of false information by being very difficult to identify as false.

Q1: What is Machine Learning?

Machine learning is an essential branch of artificial intelligence that employs data and algorithms to mimic human learning processes, gradually enhancing its accuracy. It is a cornerstone of the emerging field of data science. It involves training algorithms to find patterns in data, which enables them to make predictions or perform tasks without being explicitly programmed.

Source : More than deepfakes, shallow fakes should worry everyone

About Sannati Buddhist site:

• It is the ancient Buddhist site on the bank of Bhima river near Kanaganahalli (forming part of Sannati site) in Kalaburagi district, Karnataka. It is also popular among tourists for the Chandrala Parameshwari Temple.
• Major findings in this site:
  • It is believed to have been developed in three constructional phases – Maurya, Early Satavahana and Later Satavahana periods stretching from 3rd Century B.C. to 3rd Century A.D.
  • Ranamandala area of Sannati offers a unique chronological scale from prehistoric to early historic times.
  • An inscription written in the Prakrit language using the Brahmi script is also found here.
  • The excavation also recovered another precious stone of historical importance – a stone sculpture portraying Mauryan Emperor Ashoka. The emperor is seen surrounded by his queens and female attendants in this rare sculpture. The sculpture had the words “Raya Asoko” etched on it in Brahmi script leaving little scope for mistaking the identity of the man featured in it.
  • The recoveries included around 60 dome slabs with sculptural renderings of selected Jataka stories, main events in the life of the Master, portraits of Shatavahana monarchs and certain unique depictions of Buddhist missionaries sent by Ashoka to different parts
• The site of ancient Nagavi Ghatikasthana, which was often termed the Takshashila of the South by historians, is around 40 km away from Sannati.
• The Ghatikasthana, which had the status of a present-day university, was a major education hub during rulers of the Rashtrakuta and Kalyana Chalukya dynasties between the 10th and 12th Centuries.

Q1: What are the Jataka tales?

These are a large collection of Buddhist morality stories in which the Buddha recounts some of his past lives on his long road to enlightenment.

Source : Nuggets of history from Sannati village in Kalaburagi district

About 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.
• Geography:
  • 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.
• Its shape and its orientation in relation to the southwest monsoon winds account for its high tidal range (12 metres) and the high velocity of the entering tides.
• On the eastern side of the gulf are Bharuch, one of the oldest Indian ports, and Surat, identified with early European commercial contacts with India.
• The town of Khambhat is at the head of the gulf.

Q1: What is a shoal?

The term shoal is commonly used in earth sciences, oceanography and geomorphology to refer to a natural submerged bar, bank, or ridge which is made up of consolidated material such as sand. The material arises from the bed of an adjacent waterbody. The term is mostly used to denote a submerged bar, bank, or ridge, which rises close enough to a waterbody's surface to pose a danger to navigation. Two or more shoals that are linked via present or past hydrographic and sedimentary processes or separated by shared troughs are called a shoal complex.

Source : Indian Coast Guard rescues injured fisherman in Gulf of Khambhat