📝 Perovskite Solar Panels[1]
🚀 A new type of solar cell made using perovskite-structured materials that absorb sunlight very efficiently ⇒ Seen as a major alternative to traditional silicon solar panels.
✅ Advantages: Higher efficiency, lower production Cost, lower weight and more flexibility.
⚠️ Challenges: Shorter lifespan, toxicity (lead), and recycling issues (harmful solvents).
🚀 Way Forward:
👉🏽 New water-based recycling methods, using safe salts such as sodium acetate and sodium iodide, are showing promise to recover almost 99% of materials without toxic solvents.
👉🏽 Research is ongoing to create perovskite cells without lead, using safer materials.
👉🏽 Coatings and hybrid designs are being developed to enhance the longevity of perovskite cells.
💡Perovskite: A crystal with ABX₃ structure that absorbs sunlight super-efficiently, helping to create cheaper and smarter solar panels for the future.
👉🏽 A and B refer to positively charged particles, while X refers to a negatively charged particle.
📝 M23 Rebels[2]
🚀 A Rwanda-backed rebel paramilitary group based in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) ⇒ A member of the Congo River Alliance, a coalition of rebel groups in eastern DRC.
👉🏽 Recently, the DRC suspended the political party of former President Joseph Kabila, the People’s Party for Reconstruction and Democracy (PPRD), accusing it of supporting the M23 rebels.
📝 2025 Hindu Kush Himalaya Snow Update[3][4][5]
🚀 A report released by the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
👉🏽 Snow persistence over the Hindu Kush Himalaya region between November and March this year was 23.6% below normal levels ⇒ A record low in the last 23 years.
👉🏽 Snow persistence in the Ganga basin this year has been 24.1% below normal ⇒ It was 30.2% above normal in 2015.
👉🏽 Mekong region ⇒ 51.9% decline in snow persistence ⇒ Most alarming.
❄️ Snow persistence measures the fraction of time snow remains on the ground after snowfall.
🌊 Snowmelt contributes about 23% to the total yearly water flow in major river basins.
💡ICIMOD: An intergovernmental knowledge and learning centre based in Kathmandu ⇒ Founded in 1983 ⇒ Aims to secure a greener, more inclusive, and climate-resilient Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH).
👉🏽 8 member countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan.
💡Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH): Extends 3,500 km over 8 eight member countries of ICIMOD ⇒ Source of 10 large Asian river systems: Amu Darya, Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Irrawaddy, Salween, Mekong, Yangtse, Yellow River, and Tarim.
🗺️✏️ Locate the source and mouth of these rivers on the map.
👉🏽 10 highest peaks in HKH: Nanga Parbat, K2, Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Manaslu, Cho Oyu, Everest, Lhotse, Makalu, and Kangchenjunga.
🗺️✏️ Locate these peaks on the map.
📝 International Conclave on the Buddha Dhamma and the Culture of North-East India[6]
🚀 Inaugurated by Arunachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein in Namsai, Arunachal Pradesh.
👉🏽 Organised by the International Buddhist Confederation in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Culture.
📝 SpaDeX Mission[7][8][9]
🚀 Refers to the Space Docking Experiment by ISRO ⇒ To demonstrate the technology needed for rendezvous, docking, and undocking of two small spacecraft named SDX01 (Chaser) and SDX02 (Target) in a low-Earth circular orbit.
👉🏽 Launched using PSLV-C60 on 30 December 2024 ⇒ Satellites were docked for the 1st time on 16 January 2025 ⇒ 2nd docking took place on April 20, 2025.
👉🏽 Applications: Human spaceflight, in-space satellite servicing and other proximity operations
📝 Eight Core Industries of India[10]
🚀 Includes cement, fertilisers, steel, electricity, coal, refinery products, natural gas, and crude oil ⇒ 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production.
🚀 Index of Eight Core Industries: Recorded 4.4% growth in FY25 compared to FY24.
📝 Miscellaneous[11][12]
🚀 Global Education Monitoring Report: Released by UNESCO.
🚀 India’s Automobile exports: Increased by 19% in FY25.