Why in news?

• National Medical Commission has recommended a modified Maharishi Charak Shapath for candidates on introduction to medical education.
• Acharya Charak, also known as Pranacharya Charak, was born in Kashmir and remembered as Father of Indian Medicine.
• He was an Ayurvedic practitioner and considered to be a court physician of King Kanishka.
• He wrote Charaka Samhita, a Sanskrit text on Ayurveda dealing with subjects such as basic physiological and anatomical details of humans, Tridosha (vata, pitta and kapha), etc.
  • Charaka Samhita is dedicated to Maharshi Bharadwaja, as it traces its root to Atharva Veda with verses from Maharshi Bharadwaja to treat various ailments.
  • Agnivesha Samhita (by Rishi Agnivesha) on Ayurveda is also mentioned in Charaka Samhita.

Why in news?

• Accessible India Campaign’s targets will finally be achieved in June 2022.
• The original deadlines for different projects under the three heads were between July 2016 and July 2019. These have now been revised to June 14, 2022.

About Accessible India Campaign (Sugamya Bharat Abhiyan)

• Objective -to achieve universal accessibility for Persons with Disabilities (PWDs).
• For creating universal accessibility for Persons with Disabilities (PwD), the campaign has been divided into three verticals;
  • Built-up environment,
  • Transportation sector (airports, railways, public transport) and
  • Ict ecosystem (websites and public documents, sign language interpreters and TV viewing).
• Ministry: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment

Why in news?

• Punjab will be the first state in the country to provide “digitized form J1” in real-time to farmers from this Rabi procurement season.
• ‘J form’ is the sale receipt of a farmer’s agricultural produce in mandis (grain market) which acts as an income proof for a farmer who sells his crop.
• These forms were earlier issued manually by arthiyas (commission agents).
• It can be used for raising finance, IT waivers, subsidy claims, farmers’ insurance etc.
• It will act as a record of land under cultivation for both the wheat and paddy crops in state.
• J Forms can also be stored in DigiLocker.

Why in news?

• On 31 March 2022, The H aryana Agriculture Minister J P Dalal launched the portal of ‘Mukhya Mantri Bagwani Bima Yojana’ with an initial corpus of Rs 10 crore for the scheme. Under which the farmers will be compensated for the damage caused to their crops due to adverse weather and natural calamities.
• The scheme compensates a sum of Rs 30,000 per acre for vegetable and Spices and Rs 40,000 per acre for fruits, which will be compensated to the farmers upon claim via four categories such as 25 percent, 50 percent, 75 percent and 100 percent based on the survey.
• The farmers contribution will be only 2.5 percent of the insured amount i.e.Rs 750 per acre for vegetable and Spices and Rs 1000 per acre for fruits.
• The Scheme covers 21 crops – 14 vegetables (tomato, onion, potato, cauliflower, peas, carrot, okra, bottle gourd, bitter gourd, brinjal, green chilli, capsicum, cabbage, radish), 2 spices (turmeric, garlic) and 5 fruits (mango, kinnow, berry, guava, lychee).
• The scheme will be optional for all those farmers who will get registered under ‘Merl Fasal Mem Byora’ (a web portal through which the problems of the farmers of the state will be resolved).
• Monitoring of the scheme, review and resolution of disputes will be done through the state-level and district-level committees constituted under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana.

Why in news?

• On 31st March 2022, the Chief Justice of India (01), NV Ramana virtually launched the ‘Fast and Secured Transmission of Electronic Records’ (FASTER) programme.
• It is a digital platform to communicate interim orders, stay orders, bail orders etc., of the Supreme Court to authorities concerned through a secured electronic communication channel.
• It allows court orders to be transmitted in a quick and secure electronic format.
• Objective-To eliminate the situation in which inmates’ release is delayed even after the Supreme Court grants them bail.

About ‘Fast and Secured Transmission of Electronic Records’ (FASTER) programme: 

• The FASTER program was created in response to a news report published in July 2021, regarding prisoner release delays.
• lt is developed on war footing by the Registry in collaboration with the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
• All nodal officers have been connected through a specific Judicial Communication Network (JCN) by creating a secured pathway.
• Every proceeding will have digital signatures of authorized Nodal Officers of the Supreme Court as well as institutional digital signatures.
• Such directives would be received by all parties affected on time, allowing them to take the necessary actions.

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.