• It is a warning system to identify stress (and its level) among farmers at least 3-4 months ahead of its actual occurrence.
• Developed by Central Research Institute for Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA) of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
• It was developed as part of NABARD-funded project on ‘Farmers Distress and Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
• The 21-question survey built around seven key pillars captures financial, economic, emotional health status of farmers in vulnerable areas.

• World Hemophilia Day is celebrated every year on April 17^th to honor the birth anniversary of Frank Schnabel, who established the World Federation of Hemophilia.
• The theme for World Hemophilia Day in 2023 is “Access for All: Partnership, Policy, Progress – Engaging Governments to Integrate Inherited Bleeding Disorders into National Policy”.

About Hemophilia

• Hemophilia is an uncommon medical condition where the blood is incapable of clotting correctly because of a shortage of specific clotting factors.
• This leads to prolonged bleeding, which can pose a life-threatening risk in some cases.
• Although there is no known cure for this disorder, available treatments can help control and manage the condition.

Hemophilia can either be present from birth (congenital) or develop later in life (acquired).

• In a significant discovery, researchers from the Central University of Odisha (CUO) and the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) have recently found a rare freshwater fish in the Koraput district.

About Garra Laishrami

• It is a new cyprinid fish species of the Garra genus found in the Kolab River.
• These are characterised by the presence of a gular disc developed from tissues of the gular region that exhibit variation in the size, shape, and arrangement of the snout tubercles.
• It is usually found under rocks, stones and boulders of torrential streams and rivers.
• Geographical distribution: Borneo, southern China and southern Asia through Middle East Asia, Arabian Peninsula and East Africa to West Africa.

About Kolab River(or Sabari river)

• It is one of the main tributaries of Godavari.
• It originates from the western slopes of Eastern Ghats in Odisha state from the Sinkaram hill ranges.
• It forms the common boundary between Chhattisgarh and Odisha states and later enters Andhra Pradesh to merge with River Godavari.

• Study reveals how ‘EBV’ virus that spreads through saliva can lead to cancer.

About Epstein-Barr virus (EBV):

• It is one of the most common human viruses in the world.
• It spreads through bodily fluids, especially saliva (spit).
• Symptoms: Fatigue, fever, inflamed throat, swollen lymph nodes in the neck, enlarged spleen, swollen liver, rash.
• EBV can cause infectious mononucleosis, also called mono, and other illnesses.
• There is no vaccine to protect against EBV
• Most EBV infections are small and transient, however, in some cases,long-lasting latent infections, i.e., infections by an organism that has for some time been inactive in the body, are associated with a number of cancers as well as several chronic inflammatory disorders.
• The researchers found that the virus induces cleavage of human chromosome 11, and triggers genomic instability, which can activate a leukaemia-causing oncogene and reduce the function of a major tumour suppressor.

• Cash-strapped Sri Lanka is considering exporting 1 lakh endangered monkeys to China.

About Toque Macaque (Macaca sinica):

• It is a reddish-brown-coloured Old World monkey endemic to Sri Lanka, where it is locally known as the ”rilewa” or ”rilawa”.
• They are native and endemic exclusively to Sri Lanka.
• They generally occupy three types of habitat; hence can be divided into three subspecies. These are
  • the Common toque macaque (Macaca sinica sinica), occurring in dry habitat;
  • the Pale-fronted toque macaque (Macaca sinica aurifrons), inhabiting wet areas;
  • the Hill-zone toque macaque (Macaca sinica opisthomelas), found at high elevations;
• The most characteristic feature of this primate is the toque-like swirl of hair on its head top.
• Males are physically larger than females.
• They are fitted with exceptionally long, thin tails. They have the distinction of being the smallest species belonging to the genus Macaca with the longest tails relative to their body size.
• They are highly social animals, living in units of up to 40 individuals.
• IUCN red list categorises it as ‘Endangered’.

• A meeting to debate Syria’s readmission to Arab League has ended without agreement.

About Arab League

• It is an intergovernmental pan-Arab organisation of Arab states in Middle East and North Africa.
• Formal Name – Al-Jamia ad-Duwal al-Arabiya (Arabic)
• It was established in Cairo (HQ) in 1945, following adoption of Alexandria Protocol in 1944.
• Currently it has 21 Arab countries as members (Syria suspended since 2011).
• Founding members are Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Jordan, and Yemen.
• It was established in response to concerns about post-war colonial divisions of territory and also strong opposition to emergence of a Jewish state on Palestinian territory.
• India was granted an observer status in 2007.

• Recently, the Chhattisgarh forest department has carried out a successful translocation of four sub-adult wild buffaloes from Assam to Barnawapara wildlife sanctuary.

About Barnawapara wildlife sanctuary

• It is located in the district of Raipur in Chhattisgarh.
• The rivers Balmedhi, Jonk and Mahanadi are the lifeline river which runs along the sanctuary.
• River Balamdehi forms the western boundary and Jonk River forms the northeastern boundary of the Sanctuary.
• The sanctuary contains major vegetation of Teak, Sal and Mixed forest.
• Fauna: Cheetal, Sambhar, Nilgai and Wild Boar, Sloth Bear, Wild Dog, are commonly seen.

About Wild buffalo

• The Indian Wild Buffalo is the state animal of Chhattisgarh (India) and is a large species of bovine native to the Indian Sub-continent and South East Asia.
• It is mainly found in the alluvial grasslands, marshes, swamps and river valleys.
• In India, they are generally concentrated in North East India in Kaziranga National Park, Manas and Dibru-Saikhowa National Parks, Laokhowa Wildlife Sanctuary and Bura Chapori Wildlife Sanctuary, D’Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh.
• Protection status
  • IUCN: Endangered
  • Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule 1

• The two hill States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand would be taken up by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) in its field season – 2023-24 for lithium exploration.
• The two States have been listed as probable destinations “because of topographical and geological similarities to Jammu and Kashmir” region.
• Recently, Geological Survey of India established Lithium inferred resources of 5.9 million tonnes in Salal-Haimana area of Reasi District of Jammu & Kashmir.
  • ‘Inferred’ mineral resource is part of a resource for which quantity, grade and mineral content are estimated only with a low level of confidence.
• Other potential sites in India
  • Igneous rocks of Marlagalla–Allapatna region of Karnataka’s Mandya district.
  • From brines of Sambhar and Pachpadra areas, Rajasthan and Rann of Kutch, Gujarat.
• Lithium is generally produced from two different deposit types:
  • Brines Operations: Pump saline brines with high lithium content from beneath the surface and lithium is concentrated by way of evaporation, before brine is sent to processing facilities for production of lithium hydroxide.
  • Hard-rock operations: In this, ore is extracted using conventional mining techniques before it is concentrated by way of crushing, and separated to produce a concentrate.

About Lithium

• It is soft , shiny grey metal found in the earth’s crust.
• It has lowest density of all metals.
• Reacts vigorously with water.
• It does not occur as the metal in nature.
• Spodumene, petalite, lepidoite, and amblygonite are the important miner-als containing lithium.
• Applications of Lithium
  • Primarily used to build the rechargeable batteries.
  • Lithium alloys are lighter and strong in nature.
  • Other compounds of Lithium
    • Lithium Chloride: One of the most hygroscopic materials known, and is used in air conditioning and industrial drying systems
    • Lithium Carbonate: Drugs to treat manic depression.
    • Lithium Stearate: all-purpose and high-temperature lubricant.

• Nobel laureate Andre Geim has recently discovered that Graphene displays an anomalous giant magnetoresistance (GMR) at room temperature.

About GMR                                                                                       

• Magnetoresistance is the tendency of a material to change the value of its electrical resistance in an externally-applied magnetic field.
• Giant Magnetoresistance (GMR) is the large change in the electrical resistance which is induced by the application of a magnetic field to thin films composed of alternating ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic layers.
  • When materials are magnetised in same direction, electrical resistance in the conductor is low.
  • When directions are opposite each other, resistance increases.
• Application of GMR: Hard disk drives and magnetoresistive RAM in computers, biosensors, automotive sensors, microelectromechanical systems, and medical imagers.
• New study has found that a graphene-based device, unlike conventional counterparts, wouldn’t need to be cooled to a very low temperature to sense magnetic fields.

About Graphene

• Graphene is ‘a two-dimensional single-atom-thick layer of carbon atoms bonded in a hexagonal honeycomb lattice structure.
• It has exceptionally high tensile strength, electrical conductivity, transparency, and thinnest two-dimensional material in the world.
• It is almost perfectly transparent since it only absorbs 2 percent of light.
• It is extracted from graphite.
• Applications include Energy (Solar cell, Fuel cell, Super computers etc); Sensor, Bio-sensor; Biomedical (diagnostic, drug delivery etc); Environment treatment etc

• Himachal Pradesh CM recently said that 4G services would be extended to the Spiti Valley.

About Spiti Valley

• It is a cold desert mountain valley located in the northeastern part of Himachal Pradesh.
• It is located in the rain shadow region of the Greater Himalayan ranges.
• The name Spiti or Piti means ‘The middle land’ that is the land between India and Tibet.
• The valley is bounded by the districts of Kinnaur in the southeast, Kullu in the south, and the valleys of Zanskar & Ladakh in the north.
  • In the east, Spiti shares its boundary with Tibet.
• Natives communicate in Stod Bhoti, a subgroup of the Tibetan languages.
• The famous Tabo Monastery (a favourite of the Dalai Lama) is located in Spiti Valley.