Current Context :The Bharmour administration has decided to allow only registered pilgrims to trek to the sacred glacier-fed Manimahesh Lake.

SIGNIFICANCE OF MANIMAHESH LAKE:

• It is also known as Chamba Kailash.
• The lake is situated in the Bharmour subdivision of Chamba district at an altitude of 13,000 feet at the foot of the Kailash peak (18,564 ft).
• Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati take a bath in this lake during this time. The fair starts on Janamastmi and ends on Radhastami.
• Fair is held at this lake on the eighth day of the light half of the moon in the month of Bhadon (August–September).
• Lord Shiva is the presiding deity of this fair / jatra.
• At one corner of the Manimahesh lake is a marble image of Shiva which is worshipped by the pilgrims.
• After bathing in the holy waters, the pilgrims go around the circumference of the lake three times.
• About one and half kilometers short of Manimahesh lake fall two religiously important water bodies called Gauri Kund and Shiva Krotri where as per popular belief Gauri and Shiva bathe respectively.
• The women pilgrims do take holy dip in Gauri Kund
• The men pilgrims take holy dip in Shiva Krotri before proceeding to Manimahesh lake.

Current Context : Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), makes Indian Standards Institution (ISI) mark mandatory for stainless steel and aluminium kitchen utensils through a Quality Control Order.

• ISI Mark is developed by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), assuring of product quality and safety.

ABOUT BIS

• BIS is the National Standard Body of India established under the BIS Act, 2016.
• It comes under Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution,
• It aims at harmonious development of the activities of standardization, marking and quality certification of goods.
• Headquarters : New Delhi

BIS STANDARDS:

• Hallmark: Official guarantee of purity or fineness of precious metal articles.
• Eco Mark: Labelling of environment friendly products.

Current Context : India’s Project Zorawar light tank is expected to be ready for induction into the Army by 2027 in high-altitude warfare in places like eastern Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.

ABOUT

• It is named after a military general, Zorawar Singh Kahluria, who had served under Jammu’s Raja Gulab Singh in the 19th Century.
• Developed by DRDO and private sector company L&T.
• Weight around 25 tonnes.
• The tank will be able to fire at high angles of elevation.
• Equipped with all the modern technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence, Drone Integration.

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Current Context : Recently, Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) and TransUnion CIBIL has launched SEHER Program.

• WEP is a public-private partnership platform incubated at NITI Aayog aiming at empowering women entrepreneurs across India.

ABOUT SEHER PROGRAM

• It is a credit education program will empower women entrepreneurs to access financial tools for business growth with financial literacy content and business skills.
• It will increase awareness among women entrepreneurs in India about finances and accessing and managing credit.
• Program is part of WEP’s Financing Women Collaborative (FWC), a first-of-its-kind initiative aimed at accelerating access to finance for women entrepreneurs.
• Presently, only 7% of overall outstanding loans to MSMEs are to women-led businesses, signifying the need for improving credit access to women entrepreneurs.

Current Context : Recently, Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav launched ‘Lokpath Mobile App’ through which road problems of the public will be resolved in seven days.

• Aim : to make all departments as accountable as possible towards the public.
• App will provide a facility for the general public to report problems of potholes and patches on the roads of Public Works Department through single click.
• It is developed by Madhya Pradesh State Electronic Development Corporation Limited.

Current Context : Ministry of Science and Technology launched Indo-French Liver and Metabolic Disease Network (InFLiMeN) in collaboration with Government of France.

ABOUT INFLIMEN

• It is a joint research programme that aims to foster scientific exchanges and enhance joint research projects to tackle health challenges associated with liver and metabolic disorders.
• It has been established at Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi.
• Significance: Every third Indian has fatty liver, which predates Type 2 Diabetes and other metabolic disorders.
• InFLiMeN aims to address issues related to Fatty Liver Disease.

Current Context : Iranian lawmaker Masoud Pezeshkian has won an election to become the country’s next president.

• The elections were held after the previous president Ibrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May.
• The elected president 69-year-old is a heart surgeon turned reforming lawmaker,

ABOUT IRAN

• Iran was earlier known as
• It is an Islamic country and the majority of its population are Shia muslims.
• Located in southwestern Asia.
• It is bordered to the north by the Caspian Sea and the south by the Persian Gulf.
• It has a total of 5,894 km (3,662 mi) land borders with 7 Countries include Iraq, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.
• Capital: Tehran
• Currency: Iranian Rial.
• Official language : Persian (Farsi)

Current Context : Recently, Three people died in Kerala, from Primary Amoebic Meningoencephalitis (PAM), a cancerous brain illness.

ABOUT

• Naegleria fowleri (brain eating Amoeba) is a single-celled organism and can infect humans.
• It lives in warm freshwater places like lakes and rivers.
• When people do things like swim, this amoeba can get into their brains through their noses.
• It’s sometimes called the “brain-eating amoeba” because it destroys brain tissue, which leads to serious swelling and death.
• Symptoms: Headaches, fevers, feeling sick, and throwing up, stiff neck, dizziness, loss of balance, and hallucinations.

Current Context : Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) has finalised a new model of the Producer Price Index (PPI) in India that may eventually replace the Wholesale Price Index (WPI).

• PPI going ahead in line with most G20 economies.

ABOUT PPI

• It measures the average change in the price a producer receives for his goods/services sold in the domestic market/ exports.

TWO TYPES:

• Output PPI: When goods/ services leave the place of production
• Input PPI: When goods/ services enter the production process.

NEED TO REPLACE WPI

• WPI has inbuilt bias due to double/ multiple counting of same product.
• WPI doesn’t include exports and imports.
• WPI also excludes the service sector, which covers about 55% of GDP.

Current Context : Recently, Philippine Army has confirmed that the “deadly” Typhon Weapons System, deployed by the United States for joint military exercises, will soon be withdrawn from the country.

ABOUT TYPHON WEAPONS SYSTEM:

• Typhon is an integrated weapons system being developed by the United States Navy.
• It is also known as the Strategic Mid-Range Fires (SMRF) System.
• It is capable of firing the Standard Missile 6 (SM-6), a ballistic missile defense munition that can also target ships at sea at a range of 370 kilometers (230 miles).
• It can also fire the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile, a maneuverable cruise missile.
• A full Typhon Weapon System battery comprises four launchers, a command post, and reload and support vehicles, all on trailers.
• Typhon launchers are derived from the Mk 41 Vertical Launch System (VLS) in use on various S. Navy and foreign warships.