• Recently, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Director has visited the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant .
• Zaporizhzhia is an important town in the Ukraine’s southeast that houses the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
  • It is about 40 km up the Dnieper River from the nuclear plant.
• The Nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia has six reactors, which together produce about 5,700 MW of electricity.
• Ukraine is a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as a non-nuclear weapons state.

International Atomic Energy Agency

• The IAEA is the international centre for cooperation in the nuclear/atomic field. It is a UN agency.
• It works with its member countries and many partners to promote peaceful uses of nuclear technologies.
• It originated as the world’s “Atoms for Peace” organisation in 1957 within the United Nations family
• HQ-Vienna
• It reports to both the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council.
• In 2005, it was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their work for a safe and peaceful world.

• A Parliamentary panel has asked Ministry of Education (MoE) to ensure speedy disbursal of sanctioned loans by Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA).

About Higher Education Financing Agency

• HEFA is a joint venture between MoE and Canara Bank to finance infrastructure development in premier educational institutions through long-term loans with an agreed equity participation in the ratio of 90.91% and 09.09% respectively.
• HEFA is registered under Section 8 as Not-for-profit under the Companies Act 2013 as a Union Govt company and as Non–deposit taking Systemically Important (NBFC-ND-SI) with RBI.
• Objective– The main aim of HEFA is for the development of India’s top-ranked institutions like IIT’s, IIIT’s, NIT’s, IISCs, AIIMS into globally top ranking institutions through improvement in their academic and infrastructure quality.
• Government had expanded scope of HEFA in 2018 under Revitalizing Infrastructure and Systems in Education or RISE by 2022 initiative, bringing Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas, medical institutions etc. under its ambit.

• Ongoing Climatic variations and rising input costs, has made cultivation of MDBL unviable in Mahoba district of U.P.
• MDBL is one of the few betel leaf varieties in the country that has received Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
• The variety, however, is highly susceptible to climatic fluctuations and needs a controlled environment.
• Their size is larger than other betel varieties and they have a unique aroma, lesser fibre with a mild bitterness and sweet taste.
• The betel claims an ancient lineage from the time of the Chandela rulers and is said to have been mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbari as a major crop in Mahoba that provided handsome revenue to the Mughal kingdom.

• SCIENTISTS at National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal have successfully cloned a Gir cow “Ganga”.
• Gir cow belongs to Zebu (Bos indicus) family.
• It is popular because of its docile nature and goodness of milk.
• Main native tract of Gir cattle is Saurashtra region (Gujarat) especially area around Gir forest of Kathiawar including Junagad, Bhavnagar, Rajkot etc.
  • The breed is also in high demand in Brazil, the USA, Mexico and Venezuela.
• Gir cattle are very hardy and well-known for their tolerance to conditions of stress and resistance to various tropical diseases.
• Communities rearing Gir Cattle: Rabari tribe, Aher and Mer community

• Saudi Arabia has approved to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a dialogue partner.
• This will increase the number of dialogue partners to 7.
• Iran also signed documents for full membership in 2022.
• The dialogue partner status for Saudi Arabia will be a first step within the organisation before granting the kingdom full membership in the mid-term.

About Shanghai Cooperation Organization

• SCO is a Eurasian political, economic and military organisation aiming to maintain peace, security, and stability in the region.
• It covers 40% of the global population, nearly 20% of the global GDP, and 22% of the world’s landmass.
• The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation was announced in 2001 by the Republic of Kazakhstan, the People’s Republic of China, the Kyrgyz Republic, The Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan.
• The SCO currently comprises of
  • eight Member States (China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan),
  • four Observer States interested in acceding to full membership (Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia) and
  • six “Dialogue Partners” (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey).
• SCO Secretariat in Beijing and Executive Committee of the Regional Anti-Terrorist Structure (RATS) in Tashkent are its two permanent bodies
• India and Pakistan became full members in 2017.

• The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has imposed a penalty of Rs 10 crore on the Kerala government for failing to protect two wetlands, Vembanad and Ashtamudi lakes, which are included in the Ramsar list of wetlands.
• The wetlands have become polluted due to the dumping of pharmaceutical waste, plastic waste, household waste, and slaughterhouse waste.

About Vembanad

• Vembanad was designated as a Ramsar site back in 2002.
• It is the longest lake in India and the largest lake in the state of Kerala.
• The lake is situated at sea level and is separated from the Laccadive Sea by a narrow barrier island.
• The lake is also known as Punnamada Lake (in Kuttanad) and Kochi Lake (in Kochi).
• The Kumarakom Bird Sanctuary is located on the east coast of the lake.
• According to a recent study by the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Vembanad lake’s water retention capacity has decreased by 85% in the last 120 years due to encroachment and devastation of its ecology
  

About Ashtamudi lake

• Ashtamudi lake, home to several plant and bird species, was included in the Ramsar list in August 2002.
• It covers an area of 61 sq kms and is named “Ashtamudi” because it has eight branches or channels, which flow out from the lake.
• It has a unique wetland ecosystem and is known as Gateway to Kerala Backwaters.

• A seminar on ‘Seven Decades of the Constitution of India’ was held in context of India’s Presidency of AALCO.

About

• AALCO was established in 1956 as the outcome of Bandung Conference (1955), held in Indonesia.
• It was originally known as the Asian Legal Consultative Committee (ALCC)
• It has 47 member states including India.
• HQ- New Delhi
• Its main functions include assisting member states in drafting constitutions, model legislations and bilateral agreements upon request and providing expertise and assistance to member states in the appointment of arbitrators etc.
• It was initially formed to serve as an advisory board to member states on matters relating to international law.
• It launched the Integrated Scheme for Settlement of Disputes in the Economic and Commercial Transactions in 1978.

• The Border Road Organisation(BRO) restored Darcha-Padum road via Shinku La (16,580 ft) for traffic movement between Lahaul in Himachal and Zanskar valley in the union territory of Ladakh.
  • The road was blocked for three days due to fresh snowfall near the Shinku La.

Related news

• Shinku-La Tunnel, also known as Shinkula Tunnel or Shingo-La Tunnel, is a planned motorable tunnel linking Himachal Pradesh’s Lahaul Valley and Ladakh’s Zanskar Valley in Northern India.
• The Shinku La tunnel is a part of Project Yojak. This project is implemented by BRO.
• The main objective of the project is to make sure Manali – Leh route is accessible all through the year.

• A new book titled ‘Basu Chatterji: And Middle-of-the-Road Cinema’ has been released, which chronicles the life and times of the veteran Indian filmmaker Basu Chatterjee.
• The book is written by Aniruddha Bhattacharjee, an award-winning author, and has been published by Penguin Random House India (PRHI).

• Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and World Bank have issued ‘Delhi Declaration’ on Modernisation of Agricultural Education System (AES) at International Conference on Blended Learning Ecosystem.
• Conference was held as part of NAHEP’s Resilient Agricultural Education System (RAES) development initiative.

National Agricultural Higher Education Project (NAHEP).

• It aims to attract talent and strengthen higher agricultural education in the country.
• NAHEP is a five-year project initiated in 2018 by World Bank and Central Government to strengthen National AES.
• Funded by the World Bank and the Indian Government on a 50:50 basis.
• The objective of the NAHEP for India is to support participating agricultural universities and ICAR in providing more relevant and higher quality education to Agricultural University students.
• In addition, a four year degree in Agriculture, Horticulture, Fisheries and Forestry has been declared a professional degree.
• ICAR is an autonomous organisation for coordinating, guiding and managing research and education in agriculture including horticulture, fisheries and animal sciences in India. It is headquartered in New Delhi.