13.01.25

SERS Definition: Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) enhances Raman scattering by molecules adsorbed on rough metal surfaces (typically gold or silver).

Signal Amplification: SERS amplifies the Raman scattering signals of molecules close to nanostructured metallic surfaces due to intense local electromagnetic fields created by these surfaces.

Technique Type: SERS is a surface-sensitive technique, meaning it’s particularly effective for analyzing molecules at or near a surface.

Information Provided: SERS provides the same information as standard Raman spectroscopy but with a significantly stronger signal.

Raman Spectroscopy Basics: Raman spectroscopy is used to study vibrational, rotational, and other low-frequency modes in a system, based on inelastic scattering of light.

Raman Effect: Raman scattering (or Raman effect) is the inelastic scattering of photons from a molecule. Discovered by C.V. Raman in 1928.

Application Areas: SERS is a powerful tool in chemical, material, and life sciences.

• Why: Highlights his enduring influence on Indian youth and his relevance to national development.

• Why: Aligns with Vivekananda’s emphasis on youth empowerment and their role in shaping India’s future.

• Philosophical: Introduced Vedanta and Yoga to the West, advocating for a blend of spirituality and material progress.
• Spiritual: Emphasized self-realization, compassion, and selfless service, drawing from Upanishads, Gita, Buddha, and Jesus.
• Revivalism: Promoted man-making, character-building education for national regeneration.
• Why: His philosophies advocate comprehensive advancement, merging cultural and spiritual values with modern progress.

• Dedication to goals, mental and physical strength, and ethical conduct.
• Rationality, supporting science and reason, and a humanistic, universalistic nationalism.
• Why: Encourages holistic development focused on moral strength.

• Founded the Ramakrishna Mission (1897) for service, education, and spiritual upliftment.
• Established Belur Math (1899) as his permanent residence.
• Why: Institutionalized his teachings for sustained impact.

• Addressed the Parliament of Religions in Chicago (1893), representing Hinduism.
• Addressed the London Hindu Association (1896).
• Why: Showcased Indian philosophy on a global stage.

• Why: Highlights the demographic significance of youth in India’s development.

• Vivekananda’s teachings and initiatives like Viksit Bharat Young Leaders Dialogue prioritize youth empowerment, ethical leadership, and holistic development.
• Why: Essential for equipping youth to shape India’s future while honoring its heritage.

Seamless Mobile Connectivity: The government is ensuring uninterrupted mobile connectivity for the Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 in Prayagraj.

Unprecedented Scale: The event anticipates 40 crore devotees over 44 days, potentially creating the highest tele-density ever.

Infrastructure Deployment: Over 100 km of optical fibre has been installed, alongside enhanced radio capacity towers. 78 transportable towers and 150 small cell solutions will be used in crowded areas.

Emergency Communication: Special centres will be established to support emergency communication and coordinate with local authorities.

Event Details: Maha Kumbh Mela 2025 will be held in Prayagraj from January 13th to February 26th, 2025.

Significance: Uttar Pradesh has designated the Maha Kumbh area as a new district for four months.

• Why: This ranking reflects a decrease in visa-free access for Indian passport holders.

• Why: This shows the limited international mobility for Indian citizens compared to higher-ranked countries.

• Why: Highlights the impact of global events and policies on passport power.

• Why: Illustrates the best passport access globally.

• Why: Indicates changing geopolitical dynamics and visa policies.

• Why: Reflects significant limitations in international travel for citizens of these countries.

• Why: This is an additional positive aspect, emphasizing affordability despite the lower ranking.

Why in News: The President of India greeted citizens on the eve of Lohri, Makar Sankranti, Pongal, and Magh Bihu, highlighting these harvest festivals’ diverse celebrations across India.

Harvest Festivals’ Meaning: These festivals mark the end of the harvesting season in India.

Astronomical Significance: They celebrate the Sun’s transition into the Capricorn zodiac (Makara) and the start of Uttarayan (northward journey), signifying the end of winter and a move towards warmer months. They follow the solar cycle, occurring on January 14th.

Cultural Significance: Rituals include bathing in sacred rivers, offering food (Naivedhya) to Lord Surya, charity, and breaking fasts.

Regional Celebrations:

• Tamil Nadu (Pongal): A four-day rice harvest festival with home decorations using rice powder kolams.
• Karnataka: Sharing sesame and jaggery (harmony), cattle dressing and fire-jumping (‘Kicchu Haisodu’).
• Punjab (Lohri): Bonfires, folk songs, and offerings of groundnuts and popcorn.
• Bihar: ‘Khichdi’ festival, preparing the dish Khichdi (rice and lentils), distributing sesame and jaggery sweets.
• Rajasthan & Gujarat: Kite-flying competitions, including the International Kite Festival in Ahmedabad, and sky lanterns.
• Assam (Magh Bihu): Celebrates the annual harvest and the Assamese new year.

Meta’s Shift: Meta replaces professional fact-checkers with a Community Notes program, similar to X (formerly Twitter).

Reasoning: Meta cites partisan behavior of fact-checking organizations.

Community Notes: Aims to combat misinformation using user-generated context. Users add notes to posts requiring clarification, visible only with diverse agreement.

Concerns in India:

• Increased misinformation due to untrained users.
• Potential for biased content to dominate.
• Delays in addressing misinformation as responsibility shifts to users.
• Risk of political skew and polarization.
• Challenges due to India’s diversity and complex issues.

Why Fact-Checking Matters:

• Ensures fair journalism, transparency, and combats misinformation.
• Protects political integrity during elections.
• Essential for investigating deepfakes and manipulated media.

Challenges in Tackling Fake News:

• Lack of a clear legal definition.
• Balancing regulation with free speech.
• Unintentional sharing by passive re-sharers.
• Limited platform accountability.
• Language and regional diversity in India.
• Rise of deepfakes.

Provisions in India:

• Press Council of India (PCI) can censure media outlets.
• News Broadcasters Association (NBA) self-regulation.
• Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections for inciting violence or unrest.
• Defamation laws.
• IT Act, 2000 for cybercrimes.

Way Forward:

• Multilingual moderation using AI.
• Platform accountability for social media companies.
• Ethical journalism and independent content audits.
• Public awareness campaigns.
• Media literacy programs in schools.

Objective: To refund embedded taxes/duties on exported goods that aren’t refunded through other mechanisms, boosting exports.

• Why: Makes Indian exports more competitive by reducing the tax burden.

• Effective Date: Implemented January 1, 2021, amending the Foreign Trade Policy 2015-20.

• Why: Provides a defined starting point for businesses to adapt and benefit.

• Administered By: Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance.

• Why: Ensures governmental oversight and proper implementation.

• WTO Compliance: Adheres to global principle against exporting taxes/duties.

• Why: Avoids trade disputes and maintains international trade harmony.

• Replaces MEIS: Superseded the Merchandise Export Incentive Scheme.

• Why: Addresses WTO concerns about India’s export subsidies.

• Tax Reimbursement: Refunds taxes, duties, and levies at central, state, and local levels incurred during production and distribution.

• Why: Reduces the overall cost of exporting goods and makes products more competitive.

• Eligibility: Open to all export sectors, including merchant and manufacturer exporters, provided goods are made in India and directly exported.

• Why: Broad eligibility allows diverse businesses to benefit.

• Priority Sectors: Labor-intensive sectors (like marine, leather, gems & jewellery, agriculture) receive priority. SEZ & EOU Units and E-commerce exports are also eligible. Re-exported products are not eligible.

• Why: Focuses support on sectors with high employment potential and strategic importance.

• Refund Mechanism: Rebates issued as transferrable e-scrips (electronic certificates) based on a percentage of FOB value. E-scrips can be used to pay basic customs duty or transferred.

• Why: Streamlines the refund process and provides flexibility in utilizing the benefits.

Location: Bijapur district, Chhattisgarh.

Establishment: Established in 1981.

Tiger Reserve: Declared a tiger reserve in 1983 under Project Tiger.

Name Origin: Named after the Indravati River, which forms its northern boundary with Maharashtra.

Topography: Undulating hilly terrain.

Vegetation: Moist Mixed Deciduous Forest (with & without Teak) and Southern Dry Mixed Deciduous Forest. Key tree species include Teak, Achar, Karra, Kullu, Shisham and Semal.

Fauna: Home to rare wild buffalo, Nilgai, Black Buck, Sambar, Gaur, Tiger, Leopard, Chital, and Sloth bears.

Largest National Park in Chhattisgarh: Guru Ghasidas National Park.

Global Growth Stagnant: The UN projects global economic growth to remain at 2.8% in 2025, the same as in 2024. Why: This signals a lack of significant improvement in the global economic outlook.

Infrastructure Investment Key: Capital expenditure on infrastructure development is expected to have strong positive effects on economic growth. Why: Infrastructure projects create jobs and stimulate demand across multiple sectors.

Manufacturing & Services Drive Growth: Expansion in the manufacturing and services sectors will be major contributors to economic activity. Why: These sectors are often key drivers of innovation, productivity, and employment.

Export Growth to Help: Strong export growth in

Favorable Monsoon Boosts Agriculture (India): Good monsoon rains in 2024 are expected to increase agricultural output in 2025. Why: Agriculture remains a significant sector in many developing economies, influencing food security and rural incomes.

South Asia’s Robust Growth: South Asia’s economic growth is projected to remain strong, primarily driven by India. Projected growth is 5.7% in 2025 and 6% in 2026. Why: Highlights the region’s economic dynamism and India’s pivotal role.

Critical Minerals Opportunity: Resource-rich developing countries like India can leverage rising demand for critical minerals to boost growth, create jobs, and increase public revenue. Why: This presents a pathway for sustainable economic development.

Cryo-Born Corals Introduced: The world’s first corals created using cryopreserved sperm have been successfully introduced to the Great Barrier Reef.

Cutting-Edge Cryopreservation: Australian scientists used cryopreservation techniques to fertilize coral eggs with frozen sperm.

Grown in National Sea Simulator: The resulting coral larvae were nurtured in a controlled environment (National Sea Simulator) before reef deployment.

‘Coral Cradles’ for Protection: Transferred corals were placed in specially designed structures (‘coral cradles’) on the Reef for initial protection.

Climate Change Resilience: The project’s goal is to introduce heat-tolerant coral varieties to enhance the reef’s resilience to rising ocean temperatures caused by climate change.

CryoDiversity Bank: Australia maintains a large collection of frozen coral sperm from 32 species collected since 2011, called CryoDiversity Bank, providing genetic diversity for restoration efforts.

Coral Basics: Corals are invertebrates (Anthozoa, Cnidaria) that build reefs using limestone skeletons secreted by polyps and symbiotic algae (zooxanthellae) for nutrients.

Hard vs. Soft Corals: Only hard corals, not soft corals, create the massive calcium carbonate structures that form coral reefs.

Why it matters : It’s a breakthrough conservation effort to use cryopreservation to improve reefs’ climate resilience.

Foundation and Purpose: Launched in 2001, it systematically develops India’s organic agriculture sector. It strengthens the organic certification system.

Goals: Promotes sustainable farming, creates opportunities for farmers/exporters, and boosts India’s global organic market competitiveness.

Key Activities: Includes accreditation of Certification Bodies, sets organic production standards, and promotes organic farming and marketing.

Implementing Agency: APEDA (Ministry of Commerce & Industries) manages the programme.

8th Edition Highlights: Amendments focus on ease of operations and transparency.

Simplified Certification: Organic grower groups now have legal status, replacing the Internal Control System (ICS).

NPOP Portal: Provides visibility and operational ease for organic stakeholders.

Organic Promotion Portal: Helps farmers/FPOs/exporters showcase products, generate trade leads, connect with buyers, access training, and get information on trade events.

TraceNet 2.0: Upgraded organic traceability system for seamless operations and better regulatory oversight.

APEDA & AgriXchange Portals: Redesigned for improved user experience and data accessibility for stakeholders and the public.

Objectives: Evaluates and certifies organic agriculture and products based on government-approved criteria.

• Expedite DNT classification (SC/ST/OBC), issue caste certificates (e.g., SC-DNT).
• Strengthen SEED through NGO participation, simplify eligibility.
• Conduct caste census, encourage community representation in policymaking.
• Establish a permanent commission, district-level complaints committees.

• Natural:
  • Lightning strikes igniting dry vegetation.
  • Climate change, specifically unusual wet/dry cycles, creating fuel for fires.
  • Strong Santa Ana winds spreading flames rapidly.
• Human Intervention:
  • Unattended campfires, sparks from vehicles, faulty power lines, arson, etc.

• Economic loss from destruction.
• Air pollution from particulate matter, acids, and other chemicals.
• Land degradation, loss of nutrients and vegetation.
• Loss of biodiversity.

• Chemical mix containing ammonium phosphate slurry and potentially toxic metals (chromium and cadmium in some formulations).
• Phos-Chek contains ammonium phosphate fertilizers and a red dye.
• Coats vegetation to prevent combustion by cutting off oxygen.
• Pink color chosen for visibility.