Why in news?

• India and France are conducting the 20th edition of the Bilateral Naval Exercise “VARUNA – 2022” in the Arabian Sea from March 30, 2022, to April 03, 2022.
• Bilateral naval exer cises between India’s and France’s navies began in 1993. In 2001, the exercise was given the name “Varuna,” and it has since become an essential part of the two countries’ strategic bilateral cooperation.
• The 19th edition of the Indian and French Navy bilateral exercise ‘VARUNA-2021’ was conducted from 25-27 April 2021 in the Arabian Sea.
• Various units from both navies participated in the exercise, including ships, submarines, maritime patrol aircraft, fighter aircraft, and helicopters.
• These units will work to improve and enhance their maritime operational skills, develop interoperability to conduct maritime security operations, and demonstrate their commitment to the region’s peace, security, and stability as an integrated force.
• The VARUNA series of exercises provides both the navies’ opportunities to learn from each other’s best practices. The exercise sets the stage for operational level understanding between the two navies, highlighting both nations’ shared commitment to the global maritime commons’ security, safety, and freedom.

Why in news?

• A National Conclave on “Production of Bees Wax” was organized by National Dairy Development Board in collaboration with National Bee Board (NBB), Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare.

About National Bee Board

• Formed as a registered Society under Societies Registration Act in 2000 and promoted by the Small Farmers’ Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC).
• Reconstituted in 2006.
• Objective:
• Overall development of Beekeeping by promoting Scientific Beekeeping,
• Increase the Honey production for increasing the income of the Beekeepers/ Farmers.

Beeswax

• Bees wax is a food grade wax with a white color when it is freshly prepared. Later the color changes into yellow because of the presence of propolis and pollen colorants.
• Characteristics:
• Inert with high plasticity, insoluble in water and resistant to many acids, but soluble in most organic solvents.
• Beeswax has uses as a vehicle for drugs, as an emulsion and foundation for cosmetics, in chromatography, used as a fragrance in soaps and perfumes etc.

Why in news?

• Hosting 2022 Football World Cup, organisers in Qatar are condemned for its treatment of migrant workers.
• Many Middle East Countries, including Qatar, follow Kafala System– a sponsorship system which defines the relationship between migrant workers and their local sponsor or Kafeel.
• Under it, local sponsors get almost total control over migrant workers’ employment and immigration status.
• g. sponsor permission is required to leave or change jobs, enter or exit the host country etc.
• Primarily used to meet cheap labour demand, it is used by them for widespread human rights abuses and exploitation of workers.

Why in news?

• India and Sri Lanka have signed a MoU for the Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) to set up a state of the art MRCC in Colombo.
• MRCCs are part of an international network under the UN’s International Maritime Organisation to monitor the sea lanes with the objective of swift response to emergencies, such as vessels in distress, rescue and evacuation of people, and prevention of and containing environmental disasters such as oil spills etc.
• Each country is responsible for its own Search and Rescue Region.
• MRCC is co-ordinated by the Navy or Coast Guard in each country.
• In India, the Coast Guard is the co-ordinating agency.

Why in news?

• Supreme Court upheld the Madras High Court judgement striking down the 10.5 per cent reservation provided to Vanniyars.
• Vanniyars is Most Backward Community (MBC) in Tamil Nadu.
• Tamil Nadu Assembly had in February 2021 passed the bill providing internal reservation for Vanniyars in government jobs and admission to educational institutions.

Why in news?

• Recently, Rajya Sabha passed the Constitutional (SC/ST) Orders (Amendment) Bill, 2022 to omit Bhogta community of Jharkhand from SC list and include them in ST list along with other communities.
• Under Article 341 and 342 of the Constitution, the first specification of SCs/STs in relation to a particular State/ UT was notified by the President, after consultation with the Governor of the State concerned.
• These orders can be modified subsequently only through an Act of Parliament.

Why in news?

• For the first time, since wide availability of satellite images, Scientists observed breakup of Conger Ice Shelf in eastern Antarctica.
• It is happening due to rising temperatures with both North and South Pole seeing warmer than average temperature despite opposite seasons.
• Also, a new research highlighted that Antarctica is approaching a climate tipping point by 2060– when Antarctic ice could begin melting at a runaway rate.
• Climate tipping points are points where any small change could push the earth system into abrupt or irreversible change.
• Globally, we have 9 climate tipping points-
• Amazon rainforest-Frequent droughts
• Arctic sea ice-Reduction in area
• Atlantic circulation-in slowdown since 1950s
• Boreal forest Fires and pests
• Coral reefs-Large-scale die-offs
• Greenland ice sheet-Ice loss accelerating
• Permafrost -thawing
• West Antarctic ice sheet-Ice loss accelerating
• Wilkes Basin, East Antarctica-Ice loss accelerating

About Antarctica

• 5^th largest continent, Antarctica holds 90% of the Earth’s total ice volume and 70% of its fresh water.
• Critical to global ecosystem sustainability, it absorbs as much as 62% of global heat and 40% of all carbon dioxide produced by human activities.
• Also, it is a rich source of minerals (oil and gas), marine life (finfish, krill, squid) and genomic resources of indigenous biodiversity.
• Melting of the Antarctic Ice Sheet is enough to increase sea level by more than 60 m.

Why in news?

• The International T ransgender Day of Visibility (TDOV)occurs annually on March 31 to raise awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, while also celebrating their contributions to society.
• The day is dedicated to celebrating transgender people and raising awareness of discrimination faced by transgender people worldwide, as well as celebrating their contributions to society.

History of the Day:

• The day was founded by US-based transgender activist Rachel Crandall of Michigan in 2009.As a reaction to the lack of LGBT recognition of transgender people, citing the frustration that the only well-known transgender-centred day was the Transgender Day of Remembrance which mourned the murders of transgender people but did not acknowledge and celebrate living members of the transgender community.
• The first International Transgender Day of Visibility was held on March 31, 2009.It has since been spearheaded by the U.S.-based youth advocacy organization Trans Student Educational Resources.

Why in news?

• Olympic silver medallist weightlifter, Mirabai Chanu won the 3rd edition of the BBC Indian Sportswoman of The Year award 2021. Chanu created history last year when she became the first Indian weightlifter to clinch a silver medal at the Summer Olympics.
• Chanu won the gold medal in the 48kg division at the 2017 World Championships in Anaheim and followed up with Commonwealth Games gold in 2018.

Other awardees:

• The BBC Emerging Player award was presented to 18-year-old cricketer Shafali Verma, who has recently been playing at the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand. In 2021, Verma became the youngest Indian cricketer, male or female, to play in all three formats for the national team.
• The first Indian woman to have won a medal at the Olympics in 2000, former weightlifter Karnam Malleswari was presented the ‘BBC Lifetime Achievement’ award. Olympians and the Paralympians from the Tokyo Games were also honoured in this edition of BBC ISWOTY.

Why in news?

• The Maharas htra government has introduced a scheme that allows prisoners to obtain personal loans from banks of up to Rs. 50,000 to help their families improve their living conditions and meet expenses related to their legal matters. It will be a first of its kind initiative in our country.
• The Maharashtra State Co-operative Bank would provide loans up to 50,000 under the scheme at a 7% interest rate. The scheme would be implemented in Yerawada Central Jail in Pune, Maharashtra, on a pilot basis.
• The decision was taken in a meeting presided over by Dilip Walse Patil, Home Minister of Maharashtra and a Government Resolution (GR) was also issued.

About the scheme

• It is the first innovative scheme in India that offers prisoners a loan based on the income earned while working in a prison. It needs no guarantor and will be disbursed on a personal bond.
• This type of loan is called a “khavti” loan, and benefits approximately 1,055 prisoners.
• The loan facility will be determined by the bank based on the prisoner’s loan limit, duration of punishment, the possibility of relief, the prisoner’s age, the estimated annual working day, and the minimum daily income.
• The lending bank will be fully responsible for ensuring that the loan amount is used to serve the needs of the family concerned or to pay the fees of their lawyers or for other legal matters.
• In addition, 1% of the amount collected by the bank from loan repayment will be donated to the Prisoners’ Welfare Fund on an annual basis.