• North Korea has recently unveiled its new nuclear underwater drone, which has caused concerns in the international community.
• The drone, dubbed “Haeil” or Tsunami, is designed to create massive radioactive waves through submarine explosions.
• The drone can be deployed at any coast and port or towed by a surface ship for operation.

• The forest department has initiated ‘Mission Arikomban’, an operation to capture the rogue tusker.
• A wild elephant by the name of Arikomban has been causing chaos in the higher ranges of Idukki district in Kerala.
• Over the past few years, Arikomban has trampled at least 10 people to death and destroyed around 60 houses and shops.
• The forest department has come up with a plan to capture Arikomban and train it to be a ‘kumki’, a captive elephant used for operations against rogue elephants.
• The plan is to capture it with tranquilizer shots and later shift it to an elephant training center.

• For the first time, scientists have reported evidence of piezoelectric effect in liquids.
• Piezoelectric effect is the ability of certain materials to generate an electric charge in response to applied mechanical stress.
• In the piezoelectric effect, a body develops an electric current when it is squeezed. The piezoelectric effect was discovered in 1880, in quartz.
  • Quartz is the most famous piezoelectric crystal.
  • Quartz is silicon dioxide (SiO2). The quartz crystal consists of silicon and oxygen atoms at the four vertices of a three-sided pyramid; each oxygen atom is shared by two pyramids.
• It is used in this capacity in analog wristwatches and clocks. Such crystals are also used in cigarette lighters, electric guitars, TV remote controls, audio transducers etc.
• The Piezoelectric effect has only been expected in solids thus far because the body being squeezed needs to have an organised structure, like pyramids of quartz.
  • Liquids don’t have such structure. Instead, they take shape of their container.

• A team from the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) recently discovered a new catfish species in Arunachal Pradesh.
• The new species was found in Siking stream, a tributary of Siang river in Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh.
• The new catfish species has been christened ‘Exostoma Dhritiae’ after Dhriti Banerjee, the first woman director of the ZSI, as a mark of honour for her contributions to research on the fauna of the country.
• The new species is a small fish found in streams in these hills and is called ‘Ngorang’ by local tribals.

• The Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment in India is implementing two schemes: The Scheme for Residential Education for Students in High Schools in Targeted Areas (SHRESHTA) and the Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise (SMILE).

About SHRESHTA

• SHRESHTA provides financial assistance to NGOs for education projects related to students belonging to Scheduled Castes, with three types of projects covered. They are Residential Schools, Non-Residential Schools, and Hostels, both for Primary and Secondary Students.
• The scheme has been revised and a new component, Mode-I, has been added for quality residential education for meritorious SC students in top-class residential High Schools through a nationwide entrance test conducted by National Testing Agency (NTA).

About SMILE

• SMILE, on the other hand, supports marginalized individuals for livelihood and enterprise, but does not specifically cover persons belonging to Scheduled Castes.
• The focus of the scheme is extensively on rehabilitation, provision of medical facilities, counselling, basic documentation, education, skill development, economic linkages and so on.

It includes a subscheme – ‘Central Sector Scheme for Comprehensive Rehabilitation of persons engaged in Begging’.

• Recently a decision was taken to release one tigress each to Kota’s Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve and Bundi’s Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve in the state of Rajasthan to increase the tiger population in the region and to improve the ecological balance of the area.
• Along with the tigresses, some other wild animals like Gaurs and wild dogs will also be released into the reserve area.

About Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve

• The Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve is located in Rajasthan’s Kota district and has an area of 759.99 km2.
• It was established in 2004 and comprises three wildlife sanctuaries: Darrah Wildlife Sanctuary, National Chambal Sanctuary, and Jawahar Sagar Wildlife Sanctuary.
• The reserve is located in the Khathiar-Gir dry deciduous forests and has a rugged and hilly terrain dominated by Dhok (Anogeissus pendula) trees.
• It is an important ecological zone for wildlife, including tigers, leopards, chinkaras, and crocodiles.

About Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve

• The Ramgarh Vishdhari Tiger Reserve is situated in the southeastern part of the state in Bundi district.
• It represents both Vindhyan and Aaravalli elements and is in continuation with the buffer area of Ranthambore tiger reserve in the northeastern side and Mukundara Hills tiger reserve in the southern side.
• The Mez, a tributary of the Chambal river, passes through the tiger reserve.
• The terrain is mostly rugged and hilly, and it is part of the ‘Semi-arid’ Zone of India.
• The habitat is dominated by Dhok (Anogeissus pendula) trees.

As per reports, many institutes even after being selected for the Institution of Eminence (IoE) Status, are still waiting for the IOE status for more than three years.

About Institution of Eminence Scheme

• The central Government formulated the IoE scheme to establish 20 prestigious educational institutions in the country.
• It was introduced by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 2017 that required the IoE scheme to receive accreditation within five years of notification.
• The status of ‘Institute of Eminence’ was launched to empower higher education institutions in India and help them implement world-class teaching systems to enhance affordable access to high-quality education.
• Twenty institutions (10 Public and 10 Private Institutions) received the grant, and eleven among the selected ones got the Institutions of Eminence status in April 2021.
• Objective:-
  • To provide for higher education leading to excellence and innovations
  • To engage in areas of specialization to make distinctive contributions to the objectives of the university education system.
  • To aim to be rated internationally for its teaching and research as a top hundred Institution in the world over time.
  • To provide for high quality teaching and research and for the advancement of knowledge and its dissemination.
• Criteria:
  • Only those institutions which have appeared in any of the global/national ranks (e.g., QS, NIRF) shall be recommended for the IoE status.
  • The Institutions should be among:
    • Top 50 in the National institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) in their category.
    • Top 500 in internationally recognised rankings like the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, QS.
  • Greenfield Proposals: Only after exhausting the above criterion, if any slot remains vacant, shall consideration be given to yet to be established (Greenfield) proposals.
    • The term greenfield project generally refers to the initiation of a project without the need to consider any prior work.
    • The Greenfield Institutions would get a 3-year period to establish and operationalize the institution, and thereafter, EEC will consider giving IoE status to such institutions.
  • The public institutions under the IOE tag will receive a government grant of Rs 1,000 crore, while the private institutions will not get any funding under the scheme.

• The Doppler Very High Frequency Omni Range (DVOR) and DME (Distance Measuring Instrument) systems set up by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) at the top of Thachi hill about 60 km from Bhuntar aiport, near the Kullu-Manali border, have been commissioned.
• Now the aircraft will be able to land even in bad weather at Bhuntar airport.
• The global aviation watchdog ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation) considers DVOR coupled with DME standard navigational aids for the approaching aircraft.
• With the help of the DVOR and DME, the aircraft can accurately predict its direction and distance while in air.

• Purple Day of Epilepsy is an International Day of Awareness dedicated to raising understanding and reducing the social stigma associated with epilepsy, a neurological condition.
• It is celebrated annually on March 26 with the goal of educating people about epilepsy, recognizing the signs of a seizure, and offering support to those who are impacted by it.
• The first Purple Day of Epilepsy was celebrated on March 26, 2008, and since then, it has grown into a global movement.
• Purple Day of Epilepsy was founded in 2008 by Cassidy Megan, a young girl from Nova Scotia, Canada, who wanted to raise awareness about epilepsy after her own struggles with the disorder.

• African philosophy ‘Ubuntu’ can help us fight climate crisis.

About Ubuntu

• African word Ubuntu means ‘humanity to others’.
• This indigenous philosophy (focusing on altruism) provides an alternative way of thinking to rampant individualism.
• It will help us focus on and rebuild our relationship with the natural world and prioritise interconnectedness.
• It invokes a spirit of collective, global and regional inter-governmental action, as well as communal and individual efforts to resolve complex climate crisis.