3 Oct | UPSC Current Affairs: Goddess Shailputri, Jal Hi AMRIT Programme, BharatGen, New SEBI Rules, ANNA DARPAN, and More

UPSC GS 1

Goddess Shailputri 

• News: The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has prayed to Goddess Shailputri on the first day of Navratri. 
• Goddess Shailputri: 
  • • Maa Shailputri is the first manifestation of Maa Durga. 
    • The name ‘Shail’ represents the Himalayas, and as the daughter of Parvataraja Himalaya, Goddess Parvati is revered as Shailputri. 
    • She is the consort of Lord Shiva, and her vehicle is the bull, Vrishabha. Hence, she is also known as Vrishbharudha.
    • She is depicted holding a trident in her right hand and a lotus in her left.
    • She is regarded as the protector of all wild animals, symbolising beauty and benevolence.

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UPSC GS 2

Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan

• News:  Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently launched the Dharti Aaba Janjatiya Gram Utkarsh Abhiyan in Jharkhand.
• Definition: 
  • • This package was originally coined as the PM Janjatiya Unnat Gram Abhiyan (PM-JUGA).
    • It was cleared by the Union Cabinet as an umbrella package to implement existing schemes in 63,000 Scheduled Tribe-majority villages.

• Aim:
  • • This initiative is aimed at promoting the holistic development of tribal communities across the country. 
    • The Abhiyan will cover around 63,000 villages benefitting more than 5 crore tribal people in 549 districts and 2,740 blocks across 30 States and UTs.
    •  It shall attain saturation of critical gaps in social infrastructure, health, education, livelihood, through 25 interventions implemented by various 17 Ministries and Department of Government of India. 
• Budget and Implementation:
  • •  Rs 79,150 crore: (Central Share: Rs.56,333 crore and State Share: Rs. 22,823 crore). 
    •  The program will be implemented over the next five years in collaboration with central and state governments. 
• Nomenclature:
  • • Dharti Aaba is the name that people in Jharkhand use to refer to Birsa Munda, the anti-colonial tribal leader who built resistance against the British Empire in the late 19th century.
• Components of the Scheme:
  • • Tourism and Tribal Homestays:
    • The scheme aims to boost tourism by promoting tribal homestays.
    • Tribal households will receive ₹5 lakh each to construct new two-room homestays or ₹3 lakh to renovate existing homes.
    • The goal is to create 1,000 homestays in villages with significant tourist potential.
• Sustainable Farming on Forest Land:
  • • The initiative promotes sustainable farming practices for Forest Rights Act (FRA) patta holders.
    • It seeks to ensure the conservation of forest lands while expediting pending FRA claims.
• Infrastructure Development:
  • • The scheme will construct 20 lakh pucca homes for tribal families.
    • It includes laying 25,000 km of roads to connect ST-majority villages.
    • 2.35 lakh households and public institutions will be electrified, and 25 lakh LPG connections will be provided.
    • 5,000 tribal villages will receive broadband connectivity through the BharatNet project.
• Livelihood and Economic Empowerment:
  • • Fishing support will be provided to 10,000 communities and one lakh individuals.
    • Livestock rearing assistance will benefit 8,500 recipients.
    • 100 multi-purpose marketing centres will be established to promote economic activities in tribal regions.
• Health, Education, and Social Welfare:
  • • The scheme will deploy 1,000 mobile medical units and establish 2,000 new anganwadi centres, with 6,000 centres upgraded.
    • 1,000 hostels and 1,000 Poshan Vatikas under the National AYUSH Mission will be set up.
    • Ayushman Bharat cards will be provided to all households in tribal-majority villages.
• Renewable Energy and Green Initiatives:
  • • Off-grid solar power will be provided to every unelectrified household and public institution.
    • The focus is on promoting sustainable energy solutions, ensuring access to clean and renewable energy in tribal areas.
• Improve the Gross Enrolment Ratio:
  • •  Efforts will be made to improve the Gross Enrolment Ratio in schools and access to quality healthcare for tribal families.

Jal Hi AMRIT Programme

• News:   The Central Government has introduced the Jal Hi AMRIT scheme in its first 100 days, aiming to promote efficient water management.
• Overview of Jal Hi AMRIT Programme:
  • • The Jal Hi AMRIT Programme has been launched under the AMRUT 2.0 scheme.
    • This initiative aims to incentivize States and Union Territories (UTs) to manage used water treatment plants (UWTPs/STPs) efficiently, ensuring the production of good-quality treated water that meets environmental standards on a sustained basis.
• Objectives:
  • • The primary goal is to foster competition among cities in managing their sewage treatment facilities.
    • It seeks to develop capacities in managing water treatment and to encourage improvements in the quality of treated discharge effluents.
• Focus Areas:
  • • The programme places emphasis on capacity building and incentivizing qualitative improvements in the water treatment process.
    • Cities are encouraged to produce recyclable water of high quality, meeting stringent environmental standards.
• Assessment and Star-Rating System:
  • • A mid-course assessment and water quality testing will be conducted as part of the programme.
    • The final evaluation will lead to the awarding of Clean Water Credits, with cities receiving a star-rating between 3 to 5 stars, valid for six months.
• Key Facts About AMRUT 2.0 Scheme:
  • • The AMRUT 2.0 scheme was launched for a period of five years, from 2021-22 to 2025-26.
    • It aims to provide universal coverage of water supply through functional taps for all households in all statutory towns across the country.
    • The scheme also focuses on sewage and septage management, covering 500 cities that were included in the first phase of the AMRUT scheme.
• Promoting a Circular Economy of Water:
  • • AMRUT 2.0 promotes a circular economy of water by developing a City Water Balance Plan (CWBP) for each city.
    • The scheme focuses on the recycling and reuse of treated sewage, rejuvenation of water bodies, and water conservation efforts.

BharatGen

• News: The Central Government has launched BharatGen, an initiative to make generative AI available to citizens in different Indian languages.
• Definition:
  • • BharatGen is an initiative aimed at creating generative AI systems capable of generating high-quality text and multimodal content in various Indian languages.
    • It is the first government-supported multimodal large language model initiative in India.
• Implementation: 
  • • The project is being implemented by IIT Bombay under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS).

• Features of BharatGen:
  • • BharatGen focuses on multilingual and multimodal foundation models.
    • The models are built and trained using Bhartiya (Indian) datasets.
    • It aims to develop an open-source platform to foster an ecosystem of generative AI research in India.
    • The project is expected to be completed within two years and is designed to benefit government bodies, private sectors, educational institutions, and research organizations.
• What is a Multimodal Large Language Model?
  • • A multimodal large language model is designed to process and generate content in multiple formats, such as text, images, and sometimes audio and video.
    • These models are trained on large datasets that include text and image data, allowing them to understand the relationships between different modalities.
    • They have various applications, including image captioning, visual question answering, and content recommendation systems that use text and image data to provide personalized recommendations.

UPSC GS 3

New SEBI Rules

• News:  Markets regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has introduced  a stricter framework for futures and options (F&O) trading in an effort to curb losses for retail investors.
• What is Futures and Options?
  • • Futures and options are the major types of stock derivatives trading in a share market.
    • Future and options in the share market are contracts which derive their price from an underlying asset (known as underlying), such as shares, stock market indices, commodities, ETFs, etc.
    •  These are contracts signed by two parties for trading a stock asset at a predetermined price on a later date.
    • Futures and options basics provide individuals to reduce future risk with their investment through pre-determined prices. 
    • However, since a direction of price movements cannot be predicted, it can cause substantial profits or losses if a market prediction is inaccurate.

• Contract Size for Index Derivatives Recalibrated:
  • • Minimum contract size increased to Rs 15 lakh (from Rs 5-10 lakh).
    • Applicable to new index derivatives contracts introduced after November 20, 2024.
    • This move will ensure that only investors with sufficient capital and risk tolerance engage in these high-risk instruments.
• Upfront Collection of Options Premium:
  • • Effective February 1, 2025, brokers will be required to collect option premiums upfront.
    • This shift is aimed at discouraging excessive intraday leverage among investors and ensuring that they have sufficient collateral to cover their positions. 
• Rationalisation of Weekly Index Derivatives Products:
  • • Exchanges can offer weekly expiry derivatives only for one benchmark index to curb speculative trading.
•  Intra-day Monitoring of Position Limits:
  • • From April 1, 2025, stock exchanges will begin intraday monitoring of position limits for equity index derivatives.
    •  This means that position limits will be checked multiple times throughout the trading day, reducing the risk of traders exceeding permissible limits unnoticed.
• Removal of ‘Calendar Spread’ Treatment on Expiry Day:
  • • The long-standing practice of calendar spreads offsetting positions across different expiries will be eliminated for contracts expiring on the same day. 
    • Calendar spreads allow traders to offset risk between contracts expiring on different dates, reducing margin requirements. 
    • However, on expiry days, these spreads can lead to substantial basis risk, where contract values fluctuate wildly, making risk management challenging.
    • By removing this benefit on expiry day, it will be ensured that traders are adequately covered by margins. 
• Increase in ‘Tail Risk’ Coverage on Day of Expiry:
  • •  To address the high volatility observed on expiry days, Sebi will implement an additional extreme loss margin (ELM) of 2% for all open short options on the day of expiry. 
    • This measure is intended to protect investors from extreme market fluctuations, particularly during high-volume trading sessions.

Swallowtail Butterflies

• News:  The overexploitation of 25 species of host plants valued for their medicinal properties has threatened the swallowtail butterflies in the forest habitats of a part of Assam.
• Definition:
  • • Swallowtail butterflies belong to the family Papilionidae (order Lepidoptera).
• Appearance:
  • • Named for their characteristic tail-like extensions on the hindwings.
    • However, many species are tailless.

• Distribution:
  • • Swallowtail butterflies (Papilio) are found globally, except in the Arctic regions.
    • India hosts 77 out of the 573 known species of swallowtails recorded worldwide.
• Mimicry:
  • • Many swallowtail species mimic the coloration and patterns of butterflies that are protected by their unpleasant taste.
• Threats to Swallowtail Butterflies:
  • • Illegal cattle farming within protected areas.
    • Agriculture and tea cultivation near their habitats.
    • Illegal tree felling.
    • Pesticide use, which negatively affects their populations.

• Ecological Importance of Butterflies:
  • • Butterflies, including swallowtails, serve as key environmental indicators.
    • The health of the environment directly influences their presence, abundance, and species diversity.

Electrolyte

• News:  Researchers have developed a solid electrolyte that could be a suitable material for all-solid-state batteries. 
• What Are Electrolytes?
  • • Electrolytes are minerals that carry an electrical charge when dissolved in fluids like blood and urine.

• Types of Electrolytes:
  • • The most common electrolytes include acids, bases, and salts.
    • When dissolved in solvents like water or alcohol, they ionize and conduct electricity.
    • Some salts, such as sodium chloride, function as electrolytes when melted without a solvent.
    • Certain compounds, like silver iodide, can act as electrolytes even in solid form.
• Sources of Electrolytes:
  • • The body produces electrolytes naturally.
    • These minerals are also obtained through food, drinks, and supplements.
• Role of Electrolytes in the Body:
  • • Electrolytes are found in blood, tissues, urine, and other body fluids.
    • They are essential for balancing body fluids, regulating heart rhythm, and supporting nerve and muscle function.
• Electrolyte Imbalance:
  • • An imbalance occurs when there is too much or too little of specific electrolytes in the body.
    • This may indicate an underlying condition, such as kidney disease.
• Electrolyte Panel:
  • • An electrolyte panel is a blood test used to measure electrolyte levels in the body.

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Mudumalai Tiger Reserve

• News: A survey of herpetofauna – reptiles and amphibians – within the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR), led to the identification of 33 reptiles and 36 amphibians that were recorded from the region for the first time.
• Location of Mudumalai Tiger Reserve:
  • • Mudumalai Tiger Reserve is situated in the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu, at the tri-junction of three states: Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu.
    • The reserve shares its western boundary with Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (Kerala) and its northern boundary with Bandipur Tiger Reserve (Karnataka).
    • The name “Mudumalai” translates to “ancient hill range,” as the area dates back approximately 65 million years, coinciding with the formation of the Western Ghats.
    • The Theppakadu elephant camp, located within the reserve, is a popular tourist attraction.

• Vegetation and Habitats:
  • • Mudumalai Tiger Reserve features a wide variety of habitats, including tropical evergreen forests, moist deciduous forests, moist teak forests, dry teak forests, secondary grasslands, and swamps.
• Flora of Mudumalai:
  • • The reserve is home to tall grasses, often referred to as “Elephant Grass.”
    • It also has species of giant bamboo and valuable timber trees such as teak and rosewood.
• Fauna of Mudumalai:
  • • The reserve hosts a rich diversity of wildlife, including large mammals like elephants, gaur (Indian bison), tigers, and panthers.
    • Other notable species include spotted deer, barking deer, wild boar, and porcupines.
• Highlights of Recent Survey:
  • • The survey recorded two critically endangered species of amphibians: Micrixalus spelunca (cave dancing frog) and Nyctibatrachus indraneili (Indraneil’s night frog).
    • Other endangered amphibian species such as the star-eyed bush frog, Nilgiri bush frog, and Nilgiris wart frog, all endemic to the region, were also found during the survey.

ANNA DARPAN

• News: Food Corporation of India has selected Coforge for its digital transformation project, Anna DARPAN. 
• About Anna DARPAN Project:
  • • The Anna DARPAN Project aims to streamline and enhance the supply chain management system across various operational levels including Mandis, Mills, Depots etc. 
    • The system is designed to improve efficiency and productivity by implementing an interactive and user-friendly interface.
    • It will enable data-driven decision-making through the use of data analytics, supporting both strategic and operational decisions.
    • The system will integrate with both internal and external systems, prioritizing a mobile-first approach to ensure accessibility from any location, at any time.

• Role of Coforge:
  • • Coforge is responsible for the end-to-end design, development, implementation, and maintenance of the Anna DARPAN system.
    • The project will be built using the latest technology and hosted on a cloud-based platform, ensuring flexibility and scalability.
    • The system will utilize a service mesh architecture to enable seamless communication between microservices.
• Project Development and Integration:
  • • During the requirement gathering, analysis, and documentation phase, Coforge will gain deep insight into the operations of the Food Corporation of India (FCI).
    • This phase will include a thorough understanding of FCI’s requirements, existing process flows, and potential integration opportunities with current FCI-related applications.