• Swami Sahajanand Saraswati was an ascetic, a nationalist and a peasant leader of India.
• He played an important role in organizing non-cooperation movement in Shahabad district of Bihar and Ghazipur district in Uttar Pradesh.
• From 1924 to 1928 his activities centered on the propagation of Khadi and prohibition.
• He established a Khadi weaving center at Simri and an Ashram for political and Sanskrit teaching at Bihata.
• The Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS) was founded by Saraswati in 1929 to address peasants’ complaints about zamindari attacks on their occupancy rights, and served as the foundation for the farmers’ movements in India.
• The All-India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) was established at the Lucknow session of the Indian National Congress in April 1936, with Saraswati chosen as its first President.
• He organised the Bakasht Movement in Bihar during 1937-38.
• He along with other literary personalitites published a Hindi weekly, Hunkar from Patna.

• The third edition of the multilateral exercise La Perouse was conducted in the Indian Ocean Region from 13 to 14 March 2023.
• This edition will witness participation of personnel, ships and integral helicopters of Royal Australian Navy, French Navy, Indian Navy, Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force, Royal Navy and the United States Navy.
• The biennial exercise La Perouse is conducted by the French Navy.
• It is aimed at enhancing maritime domain awareness and optimising maritime coordination amongst the participating navies in the Indo-Pacific Region.

• There are reports of systematic recruitment of prisoners across Russia by Wagner Group.
• Wagner Group is a private Russian military organisation, which has been used in military operations in many countries.
• It is owned and financed by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman with ties to Vladimir Putin and is playing a major role in the fighting in Ukraine.

• India Meteorological Department, Ministry of Earth Sciences in collaboration with Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) and other institutions is rendering District/Block level Agrometeorological Advisory Services (AAS) for the benefits of farmers in the country under the scheme “Gramin Krishi Mausam Sewa (GKMS)”.
• The main emphasis of the existing AAS system is to collect and organize climate/weather, soil and crop information, and to amalgamate them with weather forecast to assist farmers to take decisions on day-to-day farm operations, which can further optimize the application of input resources at farm level during deficient rainfall situation and extreme weather events to reduce monetary loss and to maximize crop yield.

• Red tide has recently occurred on the coast of Florida. It has been occurring since the 1800s in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Red tide is caused by a toxic algae species known as Karenia brevis. It occurs when the algae multiply in large numbers and form blooms, resulting in the water turning reddish-brown.
• The algae produce brevetoxins, which are fatal for aquatic life and capable of making humans sick.
• It could also block out the sunlight and deplete the water’s oxygen levels. It was responsible for the deaths of over 2,000 tonnes of marine life between 2017 and 2018.

Timing of Red tide

• It occurs during summer and spring when the sunshine is apt.
• During this time, the water is warm and slow-moving.
• Also, the water is rich in nutrients as the rivers are free from ice and are adding more nutrients to the sea. The algal bloom is always more in the areas where there is a mixture of brackish and marine water.

In India

• The west coast of India is more prone to algal bloom.
  • Algae like diatoms, cyanobacteria, haptophytes, and raphiphytes cause an algal bloom in India.
• Most of the algal blooms occur during the retreat of southwest monsoon and also during the pre-monsoon period.
• Although east coast has more nutrients than the west coast as it has more number of rivers draining.
• But the temperature and water current are more suitable on the west coast. So more algal blooms occur on the west coast of India.

• Directed by Kartiki Gonsalves and produced by Guneet Monga, Indian documentary The Elephant Whisperers emerged as the winner in the Best Documentary Short category.
  • It became the first Indian production that has won an Academy Award for the Documentary Short category.
• The film also highlights the stunning beauty of Tamil Nadu’s Mudumalai National Park and gives a peek into the lives of the Kattunayakan, an indigenous community that inhabits parts of South India.
• The film is based on the life and work of Bomman and his wife Bellie who foster orphaned elephant calves. Bomman and Bellie are both from the Kattunayakan tribe.
  • Kattunayakans, one of the 75 “Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups” (PVTGs) in India, are settled in parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

About Mudumalai Tiger Reserve

• It is located in the Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu state, at the tri-junction of three states, viz, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
• It has a common boundary with Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary (Kerala) on the West, Bandipur Tiger Reserve (Karnataka) on the North, and the Nilgiris North Division on the South and East and Gudalur Forest Division on the South West, together forming a large conservation landscape for flagship species such as Tiger and Asian Elephant.
• The Reserve has tall grasses, commonly referred to as ‘Elephant Grass’.

• Since Independence, only 486 antiquities have been reported as missing from the 3,696 monuments protected and maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), including 139 from Madhya Pradesh, 95 from Rajasthan and 86 from Uttar Pradesh.
  • However, estimates of missing pieces range from less than 500 to as high as 50,000.
• Antiquities are defined under Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972 (AATA) and include items such as any coin, sculpture, painting, epigraph or other work of art or craftsmanship, article, object or thing detached from a building or cave.
• National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities (NMMA), launched in 2007, has the mandate of preparing a database of antiquities as defined in AATA.
  • NMMA has so far registered 52 lakh antiquities.
• UNESCO 1970 Convention (ratified by India) on Means of Prohibiting and Preventing Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property calls for measures to prohibit illicit trafficking of cultural property.
• In India, AATA makes export of such items without a license (from ASI) a criminal offence.
• Categories of missing antiquities include:
  • Those taken out of India pre-independence;
  • Those which were taken out since independence and before implementation of AATA (March 1976);
  • Those taken out since April 1976.
• Antiquities can be retrieved by raising requests bilaterally or on international fora with proof of ownership and with the help of UNESCO convention.

• New findings on Global Arms Transfers were published by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) recently.
  • SIPRI is a Sweden-based independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament.
• USA was world’s topmost military exporter in past five years, followed by Russia and France.
• According to the findings, India still holds its position as the world’s biggest importer of major arms since 1993.
  • It is followed by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Australia.
• Russia was the largest supplier of arms to India, but its share of total Indian arms imports fell from 64% to 45% while France emerged as the second largest supplier between 2018-22.
  • India’s arms imports fell 11% between 2013-17 and 2018-22 because of reasons like a complex procurement process, efforts to diversify arms suppliers and attempts to replace imports with local design.

Initiatives taken for Defence Indigenisation

• Priority to procurement from domestic sources under Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP)-2020.
• Notification of Positive Indigenisation Lists for which there would be an embargo on import beyond indicated timelines.
• Allowing 74% FDI under automatic route.
• SRIJAN portal to facilitate indigenisation by Indian Industry.
• Establishment of two Defence Industrial Corridors (one each in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu).
• Launch of Mission DefSpace; Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) scheme etc.

• RBI has granted IFC status to Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA).

About IFC

• IFC is a non-deposit accepting loan company which complies with the following :
  • A minimum of 75 per cent of the total assets of an IFC-NBFC should be deployed in infrastructure loans;
  • The company should have minimum net-worth of Rs 300 crore,
  • The CRAR of of the company should be at 15% with Tier I capital at 10% and
  • The minimum credit rating of the company should be at ‘A’ or equivalent of CRISIL, FITCH, CARE, ICRA, BRICKWORK or equivalent rating by any other accrediting rating agencies.

• Ministry of Health & Family Welfare included six rare diseases under NPRD, 2021.
• Group 1- Laron’s Syndrome, a rare disease in which the body is unable to utilise the growth hormones resulting in short stature.
• Group 2-
  • Wilson’s disease, a rare disorder in which copper is accumulated in vital organs like liver, brain and others;
  • Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH), a group of genetic disorders that affect the adrenal glands; and
  • Neonatal onset multisystem inflammatory disease (NOMID) that causes continuous inflammation and tissue damage
• Group 3-
  • Hypophosphatemic rickets, caused due to the defects in the renal handling of phosphorus; and
  • Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (AHUS), which affects kidney function.

About Rare diseases

• WHO defines rare disease as often debilitating lifelong disease or disorder with a prevalence of 1 or less, per 1000 population.
  • There are between 7000 – 8000 rare diseases and about 95% have no approved treatment.
• NPRD aims at lowering incidence and prevalence of rare diseases through a comprehensive preventive strategy.

About NPRD

• Classification of diseases
  • Group 1: Disorders amenable to one-time curative treatment.
  • Group 2: Diseases requiring long term / lifelong treatment having relatively lower cost of treatment.
  • Group 3: Diseases for which definitive treatment is available but challenges are to make optimal patient selection.
• Government’s support in treatment Financial support under Umbrella Scheme of Rashtriya Arogaya Nidhi by Central Government for treatment of Group 1 diseases.
• State Governments can support patients listed under Group 2.