📝 Universal Acceptance (UA)[1]
🚀A movement advocating for increased availability and accessibility of the Internet in languages other than English.
💡National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI): Operates the .in and Indian languages’ domain name registry ⇒ Founded in 2003.
💡IT Ministry and NIXI maintain Bhashanet, a dedicated portal to help government organisations add an Internationalised Domain Name (IDN).
👉🏽 IDNs allow the use of non-ASCII characters in domain names, enabling a more inclusive and multilingual internet experience ⇒ Use Unicode characters to enable domain names in native languages.
🤔 What is ASCII?
📝 First-Ever Global Carbon Tax on Shipping Industry[2]
🚀 Recently, India and 62 other countries voted in favour of the world’s 1st-ever global carbon tax imposed on the shipping industry by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) ⇒ To reduce maritime GHG emissions and promote cleaner technologies.
👉🏽 Opposed by oil-rich nations such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Russia, and Venezuela. The U.S. was absent.
👉🏽 Starting 2028, ships will have to pay a fee for the pollution they generate ⇒ Revenue generated from the carbon tax will be used exclusively to decarbonise the maritime sector.
💡IMO: UN’s Specialised Agency ⇒ Formed in 1948 ⇒ HQ : London
🤔 What does “UN’s specialized agency” mean, and how many of these agencies are there?
📝 Type 5 Diabetes[3]
🚀 Malnutrition-induced diabetes ⇒ 1st reported in Jamaica in 1955 ⇒ Approx 25 million people globally living with it.
👉🏽 Type 5 Diabetes Working Group: Announced at the World Diabetes Congress organised by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) in Bangkok.
💡Type 2 diabetes: Most common form of diabetes ⇒ Occurs when the body becomes resistant to insulin or doesn’t make enough insulin.
🤔 What is insulin? Where is it found, and what role does it play in the human body?
📝 Uranium Enrichment[4]
🚀 Naturally, U-235 makes up around 0.7% of uranium. The rest is U-238.
👉🏽 Uranium is enriched to increase the concentration of U-235 ⇒ Highly enriched uranium (HEU): Enrichment beyond 20%; Weapons-grade uranium: Typically 90% or more.
Centrifuges: Uranium enrichment technology ⇒ Uses centrifugal force to increase the concentration of U-235 ⇒ Feed is uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas.
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📝 Spatial Rainfall Trends Across India[5]
🚀 Based on the GSMaP-ISRO data.
👉🏽 Major Findings:
(1) West-central India, Indo-Gangetic Plain and Southernmost India experienced a slight increase in rainfall during 2011–2020 compared to the previous decade ⇒ Linked to increased vegetation and soil moisture.
(2) Eastern India received slightly less rainfall during 2011-2020 compared to the previous decade ⇒ Linked to decreased vegetation and soil moisture.
(3) Peak time of maximum rainfall in the Indo-Gangetic Plain has advanced by 2-4 hours, while in the west-central region, it has been delayed by 1-2 hours ⇒ Linked to aerosol loading.
💡Typically, the peak time for maximum rainfall in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal is in the morning, while inland areas experience it in the afternoon.
💡GSMaP-ISRO: A precipitation product specifically for the Indian subcontinent ⇒ Developed through an agreement between ISRO and JAXA.
👉🏽 GSMaP: Global Satellite Mapping of Precipitation.
📝 rt-LAMP assay[6]
🚀 A quick, cost-effective and real-time molecular test with high sensitivity and specificity for early diagnosis of TB ⇒ Developed by Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST).
👉🏽 Developed as an open platform system that allows repurposing of existing RT-PCR machines for TB diagnosis.
💡India over-relies on smear microscopy (79%) instead of molecular test (21%) for TB diagnosis.
🤔 We often encounter terms like MDR-TB and XDR-TB in the news. What do they mean?
📝 Miscellaneous[7][8][9][9a][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]
🚀 Tamil Nadu became the 1st indian state to notify Acts in the Government Gazette, without the President’s or the Governor’s formal assent.
SC’s ruling on this issue is covered HERE
🚀 Daripalli Ramaiah: Passed away ⇒ Known as the Tree Man of Telangana ⇒ Famous for social forestry initiatives ⇒ Planted over 1 crore saplings.
🚀 Aryabhata: India’s first satellite ⇒ Completely designed and fabricated in India ⇒ Launched by a Soviet Kosmos-3M rocket from Kapustin Yar on April 19, 1975.
🚀 Cheiraoba: Meitei New Year ⇒ Meiteis visit Thangjing Hill (Manipur) to celebrate Cheiraoba.
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🚀 The Supreme Court has stated in The State of Tamil Nadu versus The Governor of Tamil Nadu and Anr. (2023) case that if a bill is reserved by the Governor for the President’s consideration on grounds of unconstitutionality, the President “ought to” seek the Supreme Court’s opinion (not mandatory) under Article 143.
Other aspects of this news are covered HERE
🚀 My Life – Law and Other Small Things: M. C. Setalvad’s autobiography ⇒ He was India’s 1st and longest serving (1950 to 1963) Attorney General.
🚀 4th edition of Tiger Triumph: India-U.S. tri-service amphibious Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise ⇒ Recently concluded (Conducted from April 1-11, 2025) on India’s eastern coast.
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🚀 Saras Mk2: A multi-purpose 19-seater civilian aircraft designed by the CSIR-NAL ⇒ 1st test flight expected in December 2027.
🚀 Russell’s viper (Daboia russelii): A snake found across the Indian subcontinent, responsible for over 40% of snake bite-related deaths in India each year.
🚀 India is the world’s 4th-largest automobile producer after China, the U.S., and Japan ⇒ But its share in the global traded auto component market is only 3%.