• The World Thalassemia Day is observed every year on May 8.
• The Day serves as a crucial platform to emphasize the importance of disease prevention, raise awareness, sensitize stakeholders, promote early detection, and ensure quality care for those affected by thalassemia.
• The theme for 2024 World Thalassemia Day is, “Empowering Lives, Embracing Progress: Equitable and Accessible Thalassaemia Treatment for All.”
• The first World Thalassemia Day was celebrated on May 8, 1994. The day was established in memory of TIF President Panos Englezos’ son, George, who fought the disease.

ABOUT THALASSEMIA:

• Thalassemia is a genetic blood disorder which occurs when the body is unable to produce enough haemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells. The initial symptoms of thalassaemia are fatigue, slow growth, abdominal swelling, dark urine, etc. Thalassemia patients often develop anaemia which is why they need life-saving blood transfusions. The frequency of blood transfusions depends on the type of thalassemia.

ABOUT TIF:

• The Thalassaemia International Federation (TIF) is a non-profit, non-governmental organisation founded in 1986 by a group of patients and parents representing thalassaemia associations in Cyprus, Greece, the UK, the USA and Italy.

• The National Cadet Corps (NCC) has bestowed the honorary rank of Colonel upon Prof Rajeshwar Singh Chandel, Vice-Chancellor of Dr YS Parmar University of Forestry and Horticulture, Nauni.
• He is among the distinguished company of 19 Vice-Chancellors (VCs) nationwide, who have been bestowed with this honour.
• Prof Chandel will now hold the title of Colonel Commandant of the university’s NCC Wing.
• Prof Chandel, himself a former NCC cadet and holder of the NCC B certificate, emphasised the university’s commitment to starting NCC units within its constituent colleges at Neri and Thunag.

• St Edward’s teams wins Naldehra golf event by defeating the teams of Bishop Cotton School, the Army and Naldehra club.
• A fine performance given by Arjun Chanana, Girish Minocha, Arjun Lall, Ankush Dass Sood, Aman Sachdeva, Lt General (retd) PM Bali and Justice Ajay Mohan Goel.
• The Individual prizes for best cards in different categories were won by Arjun Chanana, Arun Sirkek, Arjun Lall and Pankaj Sharma, while the nearest to the pin was bagged by Girish Minocha, maximum pars by Ankush Dass Sood and maximum birdies by Praveen Singha.

• A new marine tardigrade species discovered off the southeast coast of Tamil Nadu has been named Batillipes chandrayaani after the Chandrayaan-3 moon mission.
• It is the third marine tardigrade species to have been scientifically described from the Indian waters and the second from the east coast.
• It features a trapezoid-shaped head and four pairs of legs with sharp-tipped sensory spines.

WHAT ARE TARDIGRADES ?

• They are microscopic, multicellular, and one of the most durable forms of life on planet Earth.
• Tardigrades are found in terrestrial, marine, and freshwater environments from the Arctic to the Antarctic, including great depths and altitudes.
• Also known as water bears or moss piglets, they are capable of surviving temperatures as high as 150° Celsius and as low as minus 272° Celsius albeit for a few minutes.

• Union Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman administers Oath of Office to Justice (Retd.) Sanjaya Kumar Mishra as the President of the GST Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT).
• He was a former Chief Justice of the Jharkhand High Court and was selected by a Search-cum-Selection Committee headed by the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India.

ABOUT

• The GSTAT is the Appellate Authority established under the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.
• It is a specialized appellate authority for resolving disputes under the GST laws.
• It consists of a Principal Bench and 31 State Benches.
• The Principal Bench, led by the President, comprises two Technical Members, one from the Centre and one from the State

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR THE MEMBERS:

• Must be a judge of the High Court.
• Alternatively, can be a retired District Judge or Additional District Judge with a minimum of 10 years of combined experience.
• Lawyers with at least 10 years of experience, particularly in litigation related to indirect taxes.

• Ministry of Tourism, Government of India is participating in Arabian Travel Mart 2024, being held in Dubai from May 6th to 9th May, 2024.
• The Ministry of Tourism has launched the ‘Cool Summers of India’ campaign at Arabian Travel Mart.
• Incredible India pavilion was Inaugurated by Mr. Satish Kumar Sivan, Counsul General of India to Dubai.
• The campaign seeks to promote India as a holistic destination for tourist throughout the year.
• India’s participation in the Arabian Travel Mart 2024 holds immense potential for the tourism industry and the economy at large and attract visitors from the MENA region.

• The Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, has recently launched a portal for pensioners in collaboration with the Bank of India.

ABOUT THE INTEGRATED PENSION PLATFORM

• It is a digital initiative to enhance the welfare of pensioners being implemented through various means such as Digital Life Certificates and Bhavishya Portal.
• The platform’s primary objective is to achieve complete digitization of pension processing and payment systems. This transition to digital platforms enhances transparency, efficiency, and accessibility in pension-related services.
• The Bhavishya platform is an integral component of the Integrated Pension Platform. It ensures end-to-end digitisation of pension processing, starting from online submission of pension forms by retiring employees to the issuance of Pension Payment Order (PPO) in electronic format.
• Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare was awarded the 3rd Rank for BHAVISHYA as per the NeSDA Assessment 2021 among all the Central Government e-Governance Service Delivery Portals.

• Tropical Cyclone Hidaya made landfall on Mafia Island, located south-southeast of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s largest city, on May 4, 2024.
• It significantly lost its strength upon making landfall but brought heavy rainfall to parts of Tanzania, with specific weather stations reporting significant rainfall amounts within a short period.

ABOUT TROPICAL CYCLONE

• Tropical cyclones are violent storms that originate over oceans in tropical areas and move over to the coastal areas bringing about large-scale destruction caused by violent winds, very heavy rainfall and storm surges.
• These storms derive their energy from the warm ocean waters, typically with sea surface temperatures of at least 5°C (80°F).
• The conditions favourable for the formation and intensification of tropical storms are:
  • Large sea surface with temperature higher than 27° C.
  • Presence of the Coriolis force.
  • Small variations in the vertical wind speed.
  • A pre-existing weak low- pressure area or low-level-cyclonic circulation.
  • Upper divergence above the sea level system.
• Tropical cyclones are known by different names in different regions of the world:
  • In the North Atlantic Ocean and eastern North Pacific, they are called
  • In the western North Pacific (around the Philippines, Japan, and China), they are known as
  • In the western South Pacific and Indian Ocean, they are referred to as

• Victoria Shi, the world’s 1st AI diplomat representing Ukraine.
• Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has introduced an AI-generated avatar as its digital spokesperson. This is a first in the world of diplomacy.
• The visual aspect of Victoria Shi is generated by AI, the statements are prepared and verified by human personnel, according to Ukraine’s ministry.

• The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has celebrated its 65th Raising Day on May 07, 2024.
• The event was organised in New Delhi, which was presided over by Defence Secretary Shri Giridhar Aramane.
• The event also witnessed the unveiling of a compendium on Sela Tunnel as well as some books including ‘Oonchin Sadaken’, ‘Path Pradarshak’ and ‘Path Vikas’ by the Defence Secretary.

WHAT IS BORDER ROAD ORGANISATION?

• BRO was conceived and raised in 1960 by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru for coordinating the speedy development of a network of roads in the North and the North Eastern border regions of the country.
• It works under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence.
• It has diversified into a large spectrum of construction and development works comprising airfields, building projects, defence works and tunneling and has endeared itself to the people.

ACHIEVEMENTS OF BRO

• The BRO executes road construction and maintenance works at altitude ranging from 9,000 ft up to 19,000 ft along the Northern and Western frontiers.
• In six decade it has constructed over 62,214 kms of roads, 1,005 bridges, seven tunnels and 21 airfields.
• It has completed two significant airfield projects namely Bagdogra and Barrackpore.
• The foundation stone for Mudh Airfield Project was laid by Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh recently.