About Hydrothermal Systems:

• Hydrothermal systems occur in areaswith high heat fluxes,bothoncontinents, near convergent plate boundaries, and on the ocean floor, near the mid-ocean ridges. 
• Their formation requires the existence of three important components: fluids, heat, and permeability through rocks so that fluids can circulate. 
• These systems are often found near mid-ocean ridges, where tectonic plates diverge and new seafloor is created.
• How hydrothermal systems work?

o Hydrothermal systems occur when seawater percolates down through fractures in the oceanic crust,heating up as it nears the earth’s hot interior.

o Descending seawater interacts with the oceanic crust, removing chemicalsfrom the rocks as it heats to 350-400 degrees Celsius, about four times hotter than boiling water (the extreme pressure in the ocean’s depths prevents fluids from boiling). 

o This interaction of seawater and crust produces hydrothermal fluid, chemically modified slurry of gases and dissolved elements, including metals. 

o The superheated fluid is then ejected back up to the seafloor and promptly chilled by near-freezing ocean bottom waters.

o Chemicals dissolved in the fluid precipitate at the vent, forming chimney-like deposits.

o These depositssupport deep-sea chemosynthetic communities—organisms that rely on chemicals rather than photosynthesis to fuel their metabolism

Q1: What is the mid-ocean ridge?

The massive mid-ocean ridge system is a continuous range of underwater volcanoes that wraps around the globe, stretching nearly 65,000 kilometers (40,390 miles). The majority of the system is underwater, with an average water depth to the top of the ridge of 2,500 meters. They occur along divergent plate boundaries, where a new ocean floor is created as the Earth’s tectonic plates spread apart. As the plates separate, molten rock rises to the seafloor, producing enormous volcanic eruptions of basalt. The speed of spreading affects the shape of a ridge – slower spreading rates result in steep, irregular topography while faster spreading rates produce much wider profiles and more gentle slopes.

Source:Major 'magnetic anomaly' discovered deep below New Zealand's Lake Rotorua

About Mekong River:

• It is the longest river in Southeast Asia, the 7th longest in Asia, and the 12th longest in the world.
• It has a length of about 2,700 miles (4,350 km). 
• Course:

o It rises in southeastern Qinghai province, China.

o It originates from the Sanjianyuang in the Tibetan Plateau, with the area designated a national nature reserve to protect the headwaters of the Yangtze, Yellow, and Mekong Rivers.

o The river drains approximately 795,000 square kilometers and flows through sixAsian countries: China, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Cambodia, where it is referred to by different names. 

• Vientiane (Viangchan), the capital of Laos, and Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, both stand on its banks.
• The river drains into the South China Sea southof Ho Chi Minh City (Vietnam).
• Tributaries: The left-bank tributaries (draining high rainfall areas) include Nam Ou, Tha, and Nam Khan, while the right-bank tributaries (draining the lower relief region) are Ruak, Kok, Tonle Sap, and Mun.
• Its biodiversity is only second to the Amazon River Basin and contains about 20,000 plant species, 1,200 birds, 430 mammals, 800 amphibians and reptiles, and 850 fish species.
• It is the river with the most large fish species, including giant freshwater stingrays, giant pangasius, Mekong giant catfish, and giant barb.

· The Mekong creates a huge delta, or triangular piece of land, in southern Vietnam. The delta has rich soil and is one of the world’s great producers of rice.

Q1: What is the Tibetan Plateau?

It is a vast high plateau of southwestern China. is the most extensive region of elevated topography in the world. It encompasses all of the Tibet Autonomous Region and much of Qinghai province and extends into western Sichuan province and southern Uygur Autonomous Region of Xinjiang.It is surrounded by high mountain ranges, including the Hindu Kush to the west, the Himalayas to the south, the Kunlun Mountains to the north, and the Qilian Mountains to the northeast. It has an elevation exceeding 4500 m (14,800 ft).

Source:Dam project across Mekong River in Laos raises fears

About eNAM:

• It is an online trading platformfor agricultural commodities in India.
• It was launched on April 14, 2016, and is completely funded by the Government of India.
• The Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) acts as the lead agency for implementing e-Nam under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare. 
• It aims to create better marketing opportunities for the farmers to sell their productsthrough a competitive and transparent price discovery system, along with an online payment facility for the buyers.
• The NAM portal networks the existing APMC (Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee) / Regulated Marketing Committee (RMC) market yards, sub-market yards, private markets, and other unregulated marketsto unify all the nationwide agricultural markets by creating a central online platform for agricultural commodity price discovery. 
• Features:

o It will enable farmers to showcase their products through their nearby markets and facilitate traders from anywhere to quote prices.

o It provides single-window services for all APMC related services and information. This includes commodity arrivals, quality and prices, buy-and-sell offers, and e-payment settlements directly into farmer’s accounts, among other services.

o Using the eNAM service, licenses for traders, buyers,and commission agentscan be obtained from state-level authorities without any pre-condition of the physical presenceor possession of a shop or premises in the market yard.

o Harmonisation of quality standards of agricultural products and infrastructure for quality testing are made available in every market.

o Provision of Soil Testing Laboratories is provided for the selected mandi (market) in order to facilitate the farmers visiting the mandi.

• e-NAM is designed and implemented to benefitall the stakeholders: farmers, mandis, traders, buyers, Farmer Producer Organization (FPOs), processers, and exporters.
• The benefits to stakeholders include:

o Transparent online trading with enhanced accessibility to the market.

o Real-time price discovery for better and more stable price realization for producers.

o Reduced transaction costs for buyers.

o Availability of information on the e-NAM mobile app about commodity prices.

o The details of the price of commodity sold, along with the quantity, are received through SMS.

o Quality certification.

o More efficient supply chain and warehouse-based sales.

o Online payment directly to the bank accounts of the farmers

Q1: What is APMC (Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee)?

APMC is a statutory market committee constituted by a State Government in respect of trade in certain notified agricultural or horticultural or livestock products, under the Agricultural Produce Market Committee Act issued by that state government.Every APMC is a centralized market place, a meeting point for seller's ,buyers and agent's.A.P.M.C.regulate the wholesale selling of agriculture produce in their defined area of operation.

Source:Farm-gate, inter-mandi e-NAM sales surge in FY24; 18 million farmers, across 1361 mandis on the platform

About GRAPES-3 experiment: 

• Gamma Ray Astronomy PeV EnergieS phase-3 (GRAPES-3) is designed to studycosmic rays with an array of air shower detectors and a large area muon detector.
• Location: It is located in Ooty, India.
• It is operated by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.
• It aims to probe acceleration of cosmic rays in different astrophysical settings.
• Its objectives are to study

o The origin, acceleration and propagation of >1014 eV cosmic rays in the galaxy and beyond.

o Existence of “Knee” in the energy spectrum of cosmic rays.

o  Production and/or acceleration of highest energy (~1020 eV) cosmic rays in the universe.

o Astronomy of multi-TeV γ-rays from neutron stars and other compact object.

o Sun the closest astrophysical object, accelerator of energetic particles and its effects on the Earth.

Key facts about Cosmic rays

• These rays were discovered more than a century ago.
• They are considered to be the most energetic particles in the universe.
• Our planet is constantly bombarded by them from outer space almost uniformly from all directions at a constant rate.
• They enter into Earth's atmosphere and induce a shower of particles that travel to the ground almost at the speed of light.
• The shower particles constitute electrons, photons, muons, protons, neutrons etc.
• They have been observed over a remarkably wide energy range (108 to 1020 eV). 

Q1: What are Muons?

Muons are subatomic particles raining from space. The muon was discovered as a constituent of cosmic-ray particle “showers” in 1936 by the American physicists Carl D. Andersonand Seth Neddermeyer. They are created when the particles in Earth’s atmosphere collide with cosmic rays — clusters of high-energy particles that move through space at just below the speed of light.

Source:A new kink in the proton spectrum to enhance our knowledge of cosmic ray origin

About Dusted Apollo:

• It is an extremely rare butterfly and has never been photographed before in Himachal Pradesh.
• Distribution range: It is found from Ladakh to West Nepal and it flies between 3,500 to 4,800 meters in the inner Himalayas.
• Appearance

o It closely resembles Ladakh Banded Apollo (Parnnasius stoliczkanus) but the discal band on the upper fore wing in dusted apollo is complete and extends from costa to vein one while this discal band is incomplete and extends only up to vein four in Ladakh Banded Apollo.

o Moreover, the Dark marginal band on the hind wings is much narrower in Dusted Apollo while it is broad in Ladakh Banded Apollo.

• Another rare species Regal Apollo (Parnnasius charltonius) was also photographed at Manimahesh, which is protected under Schedule II of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
• There are 11 Apollo species recorded from Himachal Pradesh and five of them are declared as Scheduled species.
• It is an encouraging indication of the flourishing diversity of Apollo butterflies in the region.
• Threats: Apollos are considered commercially important butterflies and they fetch high prices in the poaching industry.
• Most of the Apollo butterflies are now endangered and need immediate attention for their conservation and protection.
• Conservation measures:

o Community awareness about poaching and the importance of these species may play an important role in their conservation.

o Also, establishing butterfly parks and conservation reserves in the State should be on the priority list of the government. 

Q1: What is the role of Butterfly?

These are increasingly being recognised as valuable environmental indicators, both for their rapid and sensitive responses to subtle habitat or climatic changes and as representatives for the diversity and responses of other wildlife.

Source:Dusted Apollo, a rare high-altitude butterfly, sighted for the first time in Himachal’s Chamba

About Directorate General of GST Intelligence: 

• The Directorate General of Central Excise Intelligence (DGCEI) now renamed as Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI).
• It is an apex intelligence organization functioning under the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs, Department of Revenue, and Ministry of Finance.
• It is entrusted with the task of collection, collation, and dissemination of intelligence relating to the evasion of Goods and ServicesTax (GST) and the duties of Central Excise and Service Tax on an all India basis.
• Functions of DGGI
• Intelligence gathering: It is responsible for gathering intelligence about potential violations of the GST law. This includes collecting information from various sources, such as GST returns, financial statements, and other documents.
• It develops intelligence, especially in new areas of tax evasion through its intelligence network across the country and disseminates such information, by issuing Modus Operandi Circulars and Alert Circulars to sensitize the field formations about the latest trends in duty evasion.
• Investigation: It has the power to conduct investigations into suspected cases of GST evasion or non-compliance. This may involve summoning persons, examining records, and carrying out searches and seizures.
• Enforcement: It is responsible for enforcing the provisions of the GST law. This includes taking legal action against offenders, imposing penalties, and recovering any taxes or duties due. 

Q1:What is Goods and Services Tax ?

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.

Source:DGGI probing Mahadev Online Book for possible non-payment of GST

About Whip: 

• A whip in parliamentary parlance is a written order that party members be present for an important vote, or that they vote only in a particular way.
• The term is derived from the old British practice of “whipping in” lawmakers to follow the party line.
• The importance of a whip can be inferred from the number of times an order is underlined.
• Appointment:

o In India all parties can issue a whip to their members.

o Parties appoint a senior member from among their House contingents to issue whips — this member is called a Chief Whip, and he/she is assisted by additional Whips.

• Types of whips:

o One-line whip: A one-line whip, underlined once, is usually issued to inform party members of a vote, and allows them to abstain in case they decide not to follow the party line.

o Two-line whip: A two-line whip directs them to be present during the vote.

o Three-line whip: A three-line whip is the strongest, employed on important occasions such as the second reading of a Bill or a no-confidence motion, and places an obligation on members to toe the party line.

• Defiance of whip

o In India, rebelling against a three-line whip can put a lawmaker’s membership of the House at risk.

o The anti-defection law allows the Speaker/Chairperson to disqualify such a member; the only exception is when more than a third of legislators vote against a directive, effectively splitting the party. 

Q1:What is Anti-defection law?

It was introduced in India in 1985 through the 52nd amendment to the Constitution of India. This amendment added the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution, which lists out the provisions related to defection. It lays down the process by which legislators may be disqualified on grounds of defection by the Presiding Officer of a legislature based on a petition by any other member of the House.

Source:BJP Issues Whip To Its Lok Sabha MPs To Be Present In House Today

About InTranSE Program:

•         The Intelligent Transportation System Endeavor (InTranSE) is a revolutionary collaborative research and development programme.
•         It is an initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & IT.
•         Purpose: To synergize the transformation in Intelligent Transportation System the Ministry of Electronics & IT took early steps by bringing together premier academic institutes like Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Indian Institute of Management (IIM) etc. and Premier R&D Centre like C-DAC under one umbrella.
•         This initiative formulated the Collaborative Intelligent Transportation Systems Endeavor for Indian Cities (InTranSE) during the year 2009-2012 (Phase-I) that witnessed IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIM Calcutta and C-DAC Thiruvananthapuram collaboratively developing, implementing, demonstrating and knowledge transfer of ITS products and solutions.
•         The InTranSE Phase-II program (2019-2021) is aiming at undertaking R&D projects collaboratively with IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IISc Bangalore and C-DAC Thiruvananthapuram
•         Significance: It will achieve traffic efficiency by minimizing traffic problems, prompting efficient infrastructure usage, enriching users with prior information about traffic and reducing travel time as well as enhancing safety and comfort of commuters. 

Q1:What is Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC):

It is the apex research and development wing of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.It was established in the year 1988. Its main purpose was to carry out research and development in Electronics, IT and other associated areas.

Source:Three Indigenous developed Technologies transferred to Industries as a step towards the Innovation, Science and Technology theme of Viksit Bharat @2047