Why in news?

• World Civil Defence Day is annually observed across the globe on 1^st March to honour the significance of Civil Defence and the personnel who have sacrificed their lives for it.
• The purpose of the Day is to promote public awareness about civil defence, civil protection and emergency management in order to better prepare the civilian population to protect itself in the event of an emergency and to reduce the risk of disaster.
• The theme of World Civil Defence Day 2022 is “Civil defence and management of displaced populations in face of disasters and crises; role of volunteers and the fight against pandemics”.

Why in news?

• Recently, Tamil Nadu (TN) Chief Minister launched a skill development scheme for the students named “Naan Mudhalvan” which means ‘I am the first’, at the Kalaivanar Arangam in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

Objective

• To improve the educational skills, knowledge, talent, and efficiency of 10 lakh young people annually.
• To make all students and youth stand out in the spheres of education, research, thought, action and talent.

About Naan Mudhalvan

• The scheme is designed to bridge the talent gap in the employment market.
• The scheme will hone the skills of a particular individual in a selected sector and will also include training students on their choice of subjects/area, languages, technical knowhow and others.
• Under this scheme the students will be given modern-day coding and robotics classes while experts will mentor them on aspects related to physical health and behaviour.
• The Guidance centres will be set up in schools while there would be a separate syllabus aimed at Classes 9 to 12.

Why in news?

• In the backdrop of Indian delegation visiting Namibia, the Cheetah capital of the world, grounds are being prepared for appointing Namibian cheetahs as the country’s goodwill ambassadors for India’s 75th year of Independence.
• Background- Supreme Court lifted its seven-year stay on a proposal to Introduce African cheetahs from Namibia into the Indian habitat on an experimental basis.
• In 2013, SC had rejected this owing to lion translocation in the same Kuno-Palpur sanctuary and doubt of lack of prey base for Cheetah.
• Also, an ‘Action plan for Introduction of Cheetah in India was launched to Introduce 50 Cheetahs over 5 years.

About Cheetah Reintroduction

• African Cheetahs (IUCN status: Vulnerable), are being considered for reintroduction as Asiatic Cheetah (IUCN: critically endangered) are low in numbers which is known to occur only in Iran now.
• Cheetah is a keystone species of dry forests, scrub forests, and savannahs.
• It was declared extinct in India in 1952 due to over-hunting and loss of habitat.
• It is also the world’s fastest land mammal.
• Part of Appendix 1 of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Why in news?

• Recently, Assam government decided to set up ‘Naamghars’ (Vaishnavite Monasteries) across the places where 15th-century saint and social reformer Srimanta Sankardeva spent at least one night during his journey from Batradava (Assam) to Cooch Behar (West Bengal).

About Srimanta Sankardeva

• Srimanta Sankardev was a 15th–16th century Assamese polymath, a saint-scholar, playwright, musician, poet, dancer, actor and artist social-religious reformer.
• He was a figure of importance in cultural and religious history of Assam.
• He is widely credited with building on past cultural relics and devising new forms of theatrical performance (Ankia Naat, Bhaona), music (Borgeet), literary language (Brajavali) and dance (Sattriya). He was a multi-faceted spiritual guru of 15th and 16th centuries.
• He was a great soul who infused nationalistic fervour among Assamese people.
• Sankardev inspired the Bhakti movement in Assam just like Guru Nanak, Namdev, Ramananda, Kabir, Basava and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Why in news?

• Australia is currently facing catastrophic weather events as a result of global warming.
• Australia’s third-most populous city, Brisbane, was underwater Monday after heavy rain brought record flooding to some east coast areas and killed eight people.

About Rain Bomb

• Rain bombs are also known as Wet Microbursts.
• A microburst is a small column of sinking air known as downdraft that forms within a thunderstorm and has a diameter of less than or equal to 2.5 miles.
• Microbursts can cause significant surface damage and can also be life-threatening. Wet microbursts and dry microbursts are the two main types of microbursts. Wet microbursts are accompanied by a lot of rain.
• Process-
• It begins with the formation of a thunderstorm and the water droplets or hailstones suspended within the updraft. An updraft can sometimes be so strong that it suspends huge amounts of these hailstones and water droplets in the upper reaches of a thunderstorm. Cooling due to evaporation occurs and this causes a decrease of the updraft.
• Once this happens, the thunderstorm’s huge core of rain or hail will no longer be able to hold it. Thus, the core falls to the ground. It spreads out in all directions as soon as it strikes the ground. The area where the microburst initially hits the earth has the strongest winds and the most damage.

Why in news?

• A team of geologists have discovered a crater named “Yilan Crater”, in northwest of Yilan in Heilongjiang Province of China.
• Prior to 2020, only one impact crater “Xiuyan Crater” was discovered in Liaoning province, despite China’s large land area.
• Then, in 2021, Yilan crater was discovered in heavily forested Lesser Xing’an mountain range. The local residents knew it as “Quanshan,” or “circular mountain ridge.”

Characteristics of Yilan crater

• Yilan crater is slightly larger than Xiuyan and spans about 1.85 kilometers.
• Thus, it is the largest crater on Earth under 100,000 years old. Carbon-14 dating sediments suggests that, this crater was formed between 46,000 and 53,000 years ago.
• Meteor or Barringer crater in Arizona is also around 50,000 years old. However, its diameter is 1.2 kilometers.

Why in news?

• Para-archer, Pooja Jatyan has scripted history as she became the first Indian to win a silver in an individual section of the Para World Championships in Dubai, UAE.
• She lost to Italy’s Patrilli Vincenza in the final to be content with the silver medal.
• India has won 2 Silver medals for the first time in the Para Archery World Championship.
• The compound mixed pair of Shyam Sundar Swamy and Jyoti Baliyan had earlier opened India’s account by winning a silver medal.

Why in news?

• Japan and India have renewed the Bilateral Swap Arrangement (BSA) the size of which is up to USD 75 billion. The BSA is a two-way arrangement where both authorities can swap their local currencies in exchange for the US Dollar.
• The interest rate charged in this case is fixed at the time of signing the agreement and hence it reduces the risk caused due to fluctuations in the exchange rate.
• The actual Bilateral Swap Arrangement (BSA) was signed between the Bank of Japan and the Reserve Bank of India in 2018.

What does BSA between India and Japan mean?

• It means that Japan and India can borrow money from each other in either their currency i.e Indian Rupee or Japanese Yen or US Dollar. This can be further explained as mentioned below:
• When India wants to borrow money from Japan it can borrow in US Dollars or Japanese Yen up to the limit of $75 billion.
• When Japan wants to borrow money from India it can borrow in US Dollars or Indian Rupees up to the limit of $75 billion.
• The countries will pay interest on the amount actually borrowed at an interest rate fixed at the time of borrowing the money.

Why in news?

• The University Grants Commission (UGC)has appointed educationist and research scientist Professor Bhushan Patwardhan as chairman, of the executive committee of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), Bengaluru. The position was vacant after Prof Jagadish Kumar was appointed as chairman of UGC.
• Prof Patwardhan is currently a national research professor designated by the Ministry of Ayush, Government of India, and a distinguished professor at the Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences, Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU).

About the National Assessment and Accreditation Council

• NAAC is an autonomous body established by the UGC on September 5, 1994, with Prof Ram Reddy as founding chairman and Prof Arun Nigavekar as its first director.
• NAAC undertakes assessment and accreditation of higher educational institutions (HEI) such as colleges, universities, or other recognized institutions to assess the quality status of these institutions.
• NAAC grades are based on predefined criteria of assessment of quality and performance denoting Very good (A), Good (B), Satisfactory(C), and Unsatisfactory (D) levels respectively. NAAC accreditation is a globally accepted indicator of the credibility and quality of the institution and has bearing on the academic, financial, and perceptual benefits.

Why in news?

• The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Madhabi Puri Buch as the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairperson for an initial period of three years from 1st March 2022.
• She will be the 1st woman to head the SEBI, securities market regulator and she is also the 1st person from the private sector to head SEBI and also 1st non-IAS to be appointed as the SEBI chairman.
• She will be the 10^th chair of the board.
• She succeeds Ajay Tyagi, who served as a chairman for 5 years. His tenure ends on 28th February 2022.
• Her tenure as a whole-time member of SEBI ended in October 2021.

About Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI):

• Establishment – 12th April 1992 (In accordance with SEBI Act, 1992) and headquartered at Mumbai, Maharashtra.