📝 Three-Language Formula[1][2][3]
🚀 Formally adopted as part of the National Policy on Education, 1968 ⇒ Recommended by the Kothari Commission (1964-66).
👉🏽 Formula: Regional language or mother tongue + Hindi (non-Hindi states) or another Indian language (Hindi states) + English
👉🏽 National Education Policy 2020: Retained the three-language formula with some modifications ⇒ The 1968 policy advocated for Hindi and English to be compulsory languages nationwide, while the 2020 policy does not impose any specific language on any State ⇒ allows states, regions, and students to choose languages, provided that at least two of the three languages are native to India.
📝 SpaDeX mission[4]
🚀 ISRO’s Space Docking Experiment ⇒ Involves two satellites: SDX01 (Chaser) and SDX02 (Target) ⇒ To develop and demonstrate the technology needed for spacecraft rendezvous, docking, and undocking.
👉🏽 Launched on 30 December 2024 using PSLV-C60 ⇒ Satellites were docked for the first time on 16 January 2025 and undocked on 13 March 2025 ⇒ 2nd docking on 20 April 2025.
💡 India is the 4th country, after the U.S., Russia, and China, to conduct the docking experiment successfully.
📝 Rare earth elements (REEs)[5]
🚀 A group of 17 substances found in the Earth’s crust ⇒ Called “rare” not because they are scarce, but because they are difficult to extract and process in large quantities and make them usable in industrial applications.
🚀 Recently, China imposed export controls on REEs ⇒ Targets 7 REEs: dysprosium, gadolinium, lutetium, samarium, scandium, terbium, and yttrium.
👉🏽 Dysprosium: Used in hard disks and car motors; Gadolinium: Used in nuclear reactors for shielding and in some medical equipment; Lutetium: Used in PET scanners and petroleum refineries; Samarium: Used in powerful magnets in personal electronics; Scandium: Used in fighter aircraft; Terbium: Used in lighting for personal electronics; Yttrium: Used in cancer treatments and superconductors.
📝 India imposes 12% safeguard duty on steel imports[6]
🚀 Applicable for 200 days, effective from 28 April 2025 ⇒ Primarily aimed at China.
🤔 Why does the government sometimes impose a safeguard duty instead of an anti-dumping or customs duty on certain imported goods? How do these duties differ from each other?
Feel free to discuss HERE.
💡Biggest Steel Exporters to India in 2024-25: China > South Korea
💡India was a net importer of finished steel for the 2nd consecutive year in the 2024-25 ⇒ Shipments reached a 9-year high of 9.5 million metric tons.
💡India is the 2nd-biggest crude steel producer ⇒ China is the 1st.
📝 Earth Day[7]
🚀 An annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection ⇒ First held on April 22, 1970 ⇒ Includes a wide range of events coordinated globally through earthday.org ⇒ Was suggested at the UNESCO summit in 1969.
👉🏽 Theme for 2025 is “Our Power, Our Planet.“
👉🏽 HM Shri Amit Shah inaugurated the ‘Save Earth Conclave’ in New Delhi on Earth Day 2025 to explore the potential of bamboo to mitigate climate change and drive economic growth.
📝 Aerostatic drone[8]
🚀An aerial platform that derives its lift from both buoyancy and aerodynamics.
👉🏽 Features: Energy efficient, silent (do not require constant thrust to stay afloat), and cost-effective, flexibility to equip with both day and night camera or other payloads such as telecommunication relay and anti-drone system ⇒ Can persistently stay afloat for surveillance with an endurance of over 4 hours ⇒ Could be integrated with any ground vehicle or can be installed at any site.
👉🏽 Applications: Wildlife monitoring, forest surveillance, crowd monitoring, border security and disaster surveillance, etc. ⇒ Can serve as temporary communication relays in remote areas or during emergencies.
🚀 The North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR) recently showcased this technology ⇒ Developed by Airbotix Technologies, Gurgaon, with support from NECTAR ⇒ 1st of its kind in India.
💡NECTAR: An autonomous body under the Department of Science and Technology.
📝 Miscellaneous[9][10][11][12][13]
🚀 RBI has permitted banks to allow minors above 10 years to independently open and operate savings/term deposit accounts.
🚀 El-Fasher: Capital of North Darfur (Sudan)
🚀 Natuna Islands: South China Sea (Indonesia)
🚀Joint Parliamentary Committee on One Nation One Election: 39 members ⇒ Chairperson: P P Chaudhary.
🚀 Baisaran forest area: Pahalgam, Anantnag (J & K) ⇒ Terrorist attack on a tourists.