• Russia is to launch its first lunar landing spacecraft Luna-25 in nearly half a century.
• The Luna-25 spacecraft, weighing 1.8 tons and carrying 31 kg of scientific equipment, will spend five to seven days in lunar orbit before descending to one of three possible landing sites near the south pole.
• Its primary task will be to collect rock samples from a depth of up to 15 cm to test for the presence of frozen water.
• The Luna-25 mission will take off from the Vostochny cosmodrome

• Foreign Secretary recently told a Parliament committee that the Raisina Dialogue is now among the most significant global level think tank events in the

About Raisina Dialogue

• Raisina Dialogue is an annual conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics addressing issues facing the global community.
• It derives its name from Raisina Hill, the seat of Indian government.
• Since 2016, this annual event is held by the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), which is an independent think tank in collaboration with Ministry of External Affairs.
• The Dialogue is structured as a multi-stakeholder, cross-sectoral discussion involving heads of state, cabinet ministers, and local government officials, who are joined by thought leaders from the private sector, media, and academia.
• The 8th Edition was held in March 2023 under the theme– “Provocation, Uncertainty, Turbulence : Lighthouse in the tempest”
  • It saw the presence of the Prime Minister of Italy and at least 30 foreign ministers.

• The National Power Committee (NPC) has asked States to provide suggestions for offering incentives to buyers and sellers on the surplus power portal, PUSHp, to encourage wider participation, which has been found missing.

About PUSHp portal

• The portal is a national-level generating capacity utilisation mechanism to help States, which are facing power cuts, buy power.
• The tariffs are regulated and determined by the concerned regulatory commissions.
• PUSHp portal, which was launched in March 2023 and began power transactions on April 3, has seen 17 States utilising it.
• So far, 14 requests have been processed and the power has been reallocated to the new beneficiaries.
• Working
  • DISCOMs have tied up long term PPAs (power purchase agreement) for power supply and have to pay fixed charges even when they do not schedule the power.
  • The DISCOMs will be able to indicate their surplus power in block times / days / months on portal.
  • DISCOMs in need of power will be able to requisition the surplus power.
  • The new buyer pays both variable charge (VC) and fixed cost (FC) as determined by Regulators.

Benefits

• This will reduce the fixed cost burden on DISCOMs, and enable the available generation capacity to be utilized optimally.

Shortcomings

• There is a lack of participation from the States of northern region (NR), eastern region (ER) and limited requisition to avail the surplus power available on the portal from all regions.

• Eight Amazonian countries were unable to reach an agreement on the protection of the Amazon rainforest during the Amazon Summit organized by the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (ACTO).
  • The goal proposed by Colombia to protect 80% of the Amazon from deforestation and degradation by 2025 did not garner unanimous support.
• However, member countries of ACTO signed the Belém Declaration in the Brazilian city of Belém.

About Belem Declaration

• Belém Declaration calls for ensuring participation of Indigenous Peoples in decision-making.
• It promotes sustainable forest use and diverse economic solutions, addressing concerns about deforestation and degradation in the Amazon region.
• Emphasizes the need to protect land rights to prevent deforestation and preserve biodiversity within Indigenous territories.
• It also commits to launching the Amazon Alliance to Combat Deforestation.

About ACTO

• ACTO is an intergovernmental socio-environmental block formed by signing of the Amazon Cooperation Treaty.
• Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela are its
• It is the only socio-environmental block in Latin America.
• Dutch, English, Portuguese, and Spanish are the four official languages.

• The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar awards for 2022 haven’t been announced and, this year, too, the nominations for Bhatnagar Awards 2023 were not called for.

About Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar awards

• Named after Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, the first director of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR).
• These awards are given every year in seven scientific disciplines — physics, biology, engineering, mathematics, medicine, chemistry, and earth sciences.
• Each award — there cannot be more than two per discipline — carries a cash component of Rs 5 lakh and, since 2008, an honorarium of Rs 15,000 per month till the scientist is serving in a publicly funded institution.
• A panel of eminent scientists, put together by CSIR every year, makes the final selection out of 500-600 nominations received on average per year.
• Eligibility
  • Any Citizen of India engaged in research up to age of 45 years,
  • Overseas citizen of India (OCI) and Persons of Indian Origin working in India

• World Lion Day is annually observed on August 10^th throughout the world to create awareness about conservation & protection of Lions.
• Big Cat Rescue, the world’s largest accredited lion sanctuary, established World Lion Day in 2013.

About Lion

• Scientific Name- Panthera leo.
• Lions are one of the most sociable cats and live in a group called Prides.
• Lions are divided into 2 subspecies-
  • African lion (Panthera leo leo) and
    • It is found in Africa, south of the Sahara desert.
  • Asiatic lion (Panthera leo persica).
    • It is presently found only in and around the Gir Forest in the Saurashtra peninsula of Gujarat.
  • Asiatic lions are slightly smaller than African lions.
• Population- As per the estimates, there are between 30,000 and 100,000 lions left in the world today.
• Threats include Poaching, trophy hunting and the destruction of natural habitat.
• Lions are the top predators in their habitat and control the population of grazers, keeping the ecological balance.
• The lion census in India is conducted once every five years.
• Protection status
  • IUCN Red List
    • African Lion: Vulnerable
    • Asiatic Lion: Endangered and WPA- Schedule I, CITES- Appendix I

• World Biofuel Day is observed annually on August 10^th.
• It aims to spread awareness about the importance of non-fossil fuels as an alternative for humanity.
• Biofuels are environment-friendly fuels that can be produced using biological materials like agricultural waste, trees, crops or even grass.
• It celebrates the legacy of Sir Rudolf Diesel, the mechanical engineer behind the development of the diesel engine in 1892.

• William Friedkin, the Oscar-winning American director of films like The Exorcist and The French Connection passed away recently in Los Angeles.
• He made his feature directorial debut with the film “Good Times” in 1967.
• He won the Oscar for Best Director for his 1971 film “The French Connection”, which won 5 oscars in total including best picture.
• The Exorcist by William Friedkin became the first horror film to be nominated for Best Picture in the Oscar award in 1974.

• IRS officer Sanjay Kumar Aggarwal has taken charge as the Chairman of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC).
• CBIC is a statutory body under the Ministry of Finance responsible for the administration of indirect taxes in India, which include customs, central excise, service tax, and goods and services tax (GST).

• The United States has officially given the nod for the delivery of M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine.
  • The first batch of the combat assault weapons is expected to arrive in the war-torn nation this fall.
• M1 Abrams Tank is the US main battle tank.
• The first M1 tank was manufactured in 1978 and was delivered to the US Army in 1980.
• It was named in honor to General Abrams, commander of US forces during the Vietnam War.
• The export version of this tank is used by the other nations as well.For e.g. Australia, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Poland, and Saudi Arabia.