• The three-day state-level Spring Festival, locally known as Pipal Jatra, is set to begin on April 28 in Kullu.
• During the event, various cultural programmes will be organised at the Kala Kendra.
• Kullu Municipal Council president said local artistes would be given preference to perform at the event.
• The events to be held during the festival will include the Spring Queen beauty pageant among other competitions.

• IIT Madras is set to establish the first Indian Institute of Technology in Africa in Tanzania, with classes scheduled to begin in October.
• The new campus will be located in Zanzibar, and marks IIT Madras’ first international campus.

• PM recently inaugurated the first phase of Kochi Water Metro in Kerala – first-ever metro system of its kind.
• It’s a public boat service integrated with the metro rail network.
• The project is being implemented by Kochi Metro Rail Corporation with the financial assistance provided by a German funding agency.
• Objective- to link ten island communities in Kerala’s city with the mainland
• Kochi Water Metro is a modern ferry transport project consisting of numerous boats running along 16 routes across Greater Kochi.
• The boats in the Kochi Water Metro are powered by batteries and require only 10 to 20 minutes to traverse each route.

• Parkash Singh Badal, a former Chief Minister of Punjab and leader of the Akali Dal, has passed away at the age of 95 in Mohali.
• Badal was born in Abul Khurana, a village in Punjab near the Rajasthan border, and received his education at Lahore’s Forman Christian College.
• He started his political career as a village sarpanch and went on to contest assembly elections for the first time in 1957 as a member of the Congress party.
• He became the youngest Chief Minister of Punjab at the age of 43.
• CM terms 1970-1971, 1977-1980, 1997-2002, 2007-2012, 2012-2017.
• Badal received the Padma Vibhushan award, the second-highest civilian honour in the country from the government in 2015.
  • He had returned the same in 2020 in protest against the treatment of protesting farmers by the Central government.

• At 12:17 PM IST on April 25, Bengaluru and at all places along the 130 north Latitude experienced a ‘Zero Shadow Day’.

About ‘Zero Shadow Day’(ZSD)

• A ZSD is a day on which the Sun does not cast a shadow of an object at solar noon, when the sun will be exactly at the zenith position(highest point in the sky)
• ZSD happens twice a year for locations between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn.
• One ZSD falls during Uttarayan (movement of the Sun from south to north from winter solstice to summer solstice) and one other during Dakshinayan (back from north to south).
  • The dates will vary for different locations on Earth.
• Uttarayan and Dakshinayan happen because Earth’s rotation axis is tilted at an angle of roughly 23.5° to the axis of revolution around the Sun.
• When the Sun is at the zenith its rays make the shadow exactly under it, making it look like no shadow.

• A consortium of organizations such as the World Health Organization, UNICEF, Gavi the Vaccine Alliance, Immunization Agenda 2030 and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are implementing the “The Big Catch-up”.
• It is a targeted global effort to boost vaccination among children aiming to reverse the declines in childhood vaccinations driven by COVID-19 pandemic.
• It will have a particular focus on 20 countries including India where three quarters of the children who missed vaccinations in 2021 live.
• It will strengthen healthcare workforces, improve health service delivery, build demand for vaccines and address obstacles to restoring immunization.

• The Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), which increased its capacity in FY23, has completed 23 investigations during the year, up from 13 in the year before.
• SFIO is a multi-disciplinary organization under Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
• Headquarter: New Delhi
• It consist experts in field of accountancy, forensic auditing, law, information technology, investigation, company law, capital market and taxation for detecting and prosecuting or recommending for prosecution white-collar crimes/frauds.
• It was accorded statutory status under Companies Act, 2013.
• Has the power to arrest accused people for violation of Company law.
• Computer Forensic and Data Mining Laboratory (CFDML) was setup in 2013 to assist officers of SFIO on investigations.

• The World Health Organization reported that a batch of contaminated India-made cough syrup has been found in the Marshall Islands and Micronesia.

About

• Guaifenesin is an expectorant used to relieve chest congestion and symptoms of cough.
• Samples of the Guaifenesin Syrup TG Syrup from the Marshall Islands were analysed and it was found that the product contained unacceptable amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol as contaminants.
  • Diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol are toxic to humans when consumed, and can prove fatal.
• The latest alert comes months after the WHO linked other cough syrups made in India to child deaths in Gambia and Uzbekistan.

Regulation of Drugs in India

• Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940: The Act regulates the import, manufacture, and distribution of drugs in India.
• The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 was amended by the Drugs & Cosmetics (Amendment) Act, 2008 to provide for more stringent penalties for manufacture and trade of spurious and adulterated drugs.
• Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) is a regulatory body for Indian pharmaceuticals and medical devices.
  • It comes under the purview of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
  • It is headed by Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI).
  • It is responsible for approval of licences of specified categories of drugs such as blood and blood products, IV fluids, vaccines, and sera in India.
  • DCGI also sets standards for manufacturing, sales, import, and distribution of drugs in India.

• Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has urged the government to conserve 15^th century Vilakkumadom structure at Sree Mahavishnu Temple at Thirunelly during the ongoing renovation of temple.
• Built in traditional Kerala architecture, it is situated on banks of stream Papanashini, on the side of Brahmagiri hills in Wayanad, Kerala.
• It is also known as ”Sahyamala Kshetram” and ”Kashi of the South’‘.
• Thirunelli Temple is the only temple in the world where the devotees can perform all the rituals related to one’s life, starting from birth to death and life after death.
• The temple is blessed with trinity of Shiva, Vishnu (main diety) and Brahma.
  • It is believed that here the idol of Lord Vishnu was installed by Lord Brahma.
  • On western side is the cave temple Gunnika, dedicated to Lord Shiva.

Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage

• It is a non-profit charitable organisation, founded in 1984, and registered under the Societies’ Registration Act, 1860.
• Vision– To spearhead heritage awareness and conservation in India.
• It has pioneered the conservation and preservation of natural and built heritage along with intangible heritage.
• In 2007, the United Nations awarded INTACH a special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

• World Development Report 2023 was recently released by World Bank.
• Report is titled “Migrants, Refugees and Societies” and proposes an integrated framework to maximize development impacts of cross-border movements on both destination and origin countries and on migrants and refugees themselves.
• It categorised migrants into four types – Refugees with skills in demand, economic migrants with skills that match with demand, distressed migrants and refugees.

Major Findings

• About 184 million people across the world, including 37 million refugees lack citizenship in country in which they live.
• There is 120% income gain for Indians working abroad as compared to 40% income gain through internal migration.
• Low skilled Indian migrants, who migrated to U.S, tend to see a significant gain in their income of around 500%.
• India-US, India-Bangladesh and India- Gulf Cooperating Council considered among the top migrant corridors.
• The share of working-age adults will drop sharply in many countries over the next few decades e.g. Spain.
  • However, developing nations such as India are observing an increase in the number of young people.

Recommendations

• The report introduces the “Match-Motive Framework,” a labour economics-based approach that emphasizes how well migrants’ skills and attributes match the needs of the destination countries.
• Countries of destination promote migration in sectors where migrant skills are highly sought after.
• International cooperation and multilateral efforts to strengthen the match of migrants’ skills with the needs of destination societies.