• India’s first centre for research on conserving the endangered Gangetic river dolphin, National Dolphin Research Centre (NDRC), is now operational and aims to assist scientists and researchers in studying Gangetic dolphins comprehensively.
• The NDRC, spanning a 4,400 square metre plot on the premises of Patna University near the Ganga, offers a strategic location for researchers to closely observe dolphins in their natural habitat.

About Gangetic Dolphin

• The Gangetic river dolphin is India’s national aquatic animal.
• The Gangetic river dolphin is one of four freshwater dolphin species in the world.
  • The other three are found in the Yangtze river in China (now extinct), the Indus river in Pakistan and the Amazon river in South America.
• The dolphin is found in India, Bangladesh and Nepal.
• It is blind and finds its way and prey in river waters through echolocation.
• Bihar is home to around half of the estimated 3,000 Gangetic dolphins in India.
• Dolphins prefer water that is at least five to eight feet deep.
• They are usually found in turbulent waters, where there are enough fish for them to feed on.
• Gangetic dolphins live in a zone where there is little or no current, helping them save energy.
• If they sense danger, they can dive into deep waters.
• The dolphins swim from the no-current zone to the edges to hunt for fish and return.
• Protection status
  • It is a Schedule I animal under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972.
  • It has been declared an ‘endangered’ species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and added in Appendix I of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

• The Zoological Survey of India named a new marine species of head-shield sea slug with ruby red spot after President of India Droupadi Murmu.
• This species belonging to Melanochlamys genus was discovered from Digha of West Bengal coast and Udaipur of Odisha coast.
• The new species of head-shield sea slug, which is found nowhere in the world, is named as Melanochlamys droupadi.

• National Safety Day in India is observed every year on 4 March to spread awareness and commitment to working safely.
• This year’s theme for the National Safety Week is ‘Safety Leadership for ESG Excellence.’

 BRIEF HISTORY

• In 1966, on March 4, the Ministry of Labour and Employment of the Government of India established the National Safety Council as a self-financing non-governing body.
• In the year 2000, the National Safety Council was established as a public trust under the Bombay Public Trust Act of 1950.
• In 1972, National Safety Day was announced on the day the National Safety Council was established. Since then, the day has been observed every year.

• The Khelo India University Games 2023, which started on the 17th of February, were officially declared closed by the Assam sports Minister at the Sarusajai Sports Complex in Guwahati.
• Chandigarh University clinched the overall championships of the 4th Khelo India University Games 2023.
• Lovely Professional University was a distant second while Guru Nanak Dev University finished third.
• Defending champions Panjab University came in fourth.

• The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) organized the ‘Poshan Utsav’ in New Delhi, aiming to advocate and spread the importance of proper nutrition.
• The ministry unveiled the ‘Poshan Utsav Book’ and introduce a “cartoon coalition” in support of the POSHAN cause.
• Curated by the Deendayal Research Institute (DRI) and backed by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the ‘Poshan Utsav Book’ is crafted to promote cultural heritage and traditional nutritional practices.
• Designed as an atlas on food, the book provides insights from cultural, social, economic, and scientific angles.

• Scientists have long speculated about Cavum clouds, also called hole-punch clouds or fallstreak holes, but it’s now well understood that these odd cloud formations are caused by airplanes.
• Formation
  • Cavum clouds form when planes fly through banks of altocumulus clouds, mid-level clouds that have supercooled (below the freezing point of water but still liquid) water droplets.
  • As air moves around the plane, a process called adiabatic expansion can make the droplets freeze into ice crystals.
  • The ice crystals eventually grow heavy and fall out of the sky, leaving a hole in the cloud layer.
  • The falling ice crystals are visible in the center of the holes as wispy trails of precipitation that never reach the ground – features called

• The 9th Annual Shakti International Women Entrepreneurs Summit was held in New Delhi recently.
• The annual Shakti International Women Entrepreneurs Summit is held each year in observance of International Women’s Day with an aim to empower aspiring and established women entrepreneurs while also celebrating achievements of emerging women entrepreneurs from varied industry sectors.
• The Summit saw launch of  three new initiatives-
  • Launch of a joint integrated national campaign by Ministry of MSME and Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) ‘ Panjikaran Se Pragati.’ This national campaign is a clarion call to women entrepreneurs across the nation to get Udyam registered and unlock a world of opportunities.
  • Joint program of the Ministry of MSME and the Women’s Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP) ‘WEP Unnati _ Udyamita se Pragati tak.’ This MSME – WEP Award-to-Reward (ATR) programme is a ground-breaking initiative to take Women MSME’s to the next level of growth by providing comprehensive capacity building support through WEP.
  • The ‘mentorship platform’ of Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP).

• United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) released Global Resources Outlook 2024 report titled, ‘Bend the trend: Pathways to a liveable planet as resource use spikes’.
• It is the flagship report of the International Resource Panel of the United Nations Environment Programme.
• Report sheds light on how resources are essential to effective implementation of Agenda 2030 and multilateral environmental agreements (MEAs) to tackle the triple planetary crisis (TPC).
  • TPC refers to the three interlinked crises- climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss.

MAJOR FINDINGS

• Low-income countries consume six times less materials compared to wealthy countries, despite generating 10 times less climate impacts.
• The consumption and use of resources is largely driven by demand in upper income countries.
• The extraction and processing of material resources — including fossil fuels, minerals, non-metallic minerals and biomass — accounts for over 55 per cent of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 40 per cent of particulate matter poisoning the environment.
• The extraction and processing of agricultural crops and forestry products accounts for 90 per cent of land-related biodiversity loss and water stress and a third of GHG emissions.
• The extraction and processing of fossil fuels, metals and non-metallic minerals including sand, gravel and clay account for 35 per cent of global emissions.

• Defence Minister launched the Acing Development of Innovative Technologies with iDEX (ADITI) scheme to promote innovations in critical and strategic defence technologies.
• Under the scheme, start-ups are eligible to receive grant-in-aid of up to Rs 25 crore for their research development and innovation endeavours in defence technology.
• The scheme was launched during DefConnect 2024 event.
• The ADITI scheme worth Rs 750 crore for the period 2023-24 to 2025-26 falls under the iDEX framework of the department of defence production under the ministry of defence.
• It aims to develop about 30 deep-tech critical and strategic technologies in the proposed timeframe.

 ABOUT IDEX

• The iDEX (Innovations For Defence Excellence) is a well-conceived scheme of the ministry’s department of defence.
• The iDEX initiative was launched in April 2018.
• It aims to achieve self-reliance and foster innovation and technology development in defence and aerospace by engaging industries including MSMEs, start-ups, individual innovators, R&D institutes and academia.

• This campaign is an effort for observing World’s Birth defect day, which is observed on 3rd of March every year and the National Birth Defect Awareness Month is an initiative in raising awareness for all birth defects and improve the care and treatment for children.

• The theme of this National Birth Defect Awareness Month 2024 is “Breaking Barriers: inclusive support for children with birth defects”.
• The birth defects awareness campaign would be focusing on the awareness about prevention, early identification and timely management.
• The month-long activities are planned under Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram of Child Health division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).
• RBSK focuses on early identification and management of birth defects to minimize disability.
• To achieve this objective, the program screens the children at four different levels–
  • Comprehensive New born screening at Delivery points
  • Screening for visible birth defects in New born by ASHA during home visitation
  • Children (6 weeks to 6 years) bi-annually screening at Anganwadis
  • Children (6 years to 18 years) screening at Government and Government aided schools once a year

FACTS

• As per Sample Registration System 2020 Report, presently-
  • The Neonatal mortality rate is 20 per 1000 live births,
  • Infant mortality rate is 28 per 1000 live births and
  • Under 5 mortality rate is 32 per 1000 live births
• As per Cause of Death Statistics 2017-19 report of Sample Registration System under Registrar General of India, Birth Defect contributes to 4.9% defects of neonatal mortality and 5.7% of U5MR mortality.