• The European Commission (EC) has classified ethylene oxide as a pesticide.
  • Earlier it was classified as fumigant.
• This means agricultural products being exported to European Union will now be mandatorily tested.

About Ethylene oxide

• A flammable colorless gas with a sweet odour.
• Used primarily to produce other chemicals, including antifreeze.
• In smaller amounts, ethylene oxide is used as a pesticide and a sterilizing agent.
• It has been classified as carcinogenic and mutagenic reproductive toxin.

• First meeting of India-Central Asia Joint Working Group on Chabahar port took place in Mumbai.
• Chabahar Port is located in Sistan-Baluchestan province in South-eastern Iran, on Gulf of Oman.
• In 2016, India signed a tripartite agreement with Iran and Afghanistan to develop the Shahid Beheshti Terminal at Chabahar.
• It is considered a crucial gateway that would enable India to bypass Pakistan and access Afghanistan, and ultimately Central Asia.
• It is at a strategic location near Strait of Hormuz and Indian Ocean.

• SIDBI has recently launched the pilot version of the Mission 50K-EV4ECO to promote the growth and development of value chain of India’s electric vehicle industry.
• It is expected to promote EV adoption and strengthen associated infrastructure in the country.
• The project prioritizes the uptake of 2-wheeler, 3-wheeler, and 4-wheeler EVs through direct and indirect lending.
• Objective –to provide access to affordable financing for electric vehicles and to develop charging infrastructure, including battery swapping.
• The pilot scheme Mission 50K-EV4ECO shall enable quick replicability and scalability through multilateral support.
• The scheme is the precursor to the EVOLVE scheme by SIDBI-World Bank, which provides better financing terms and other solutions to address the issues faced in the EV ecosystem in India.

• India is going to buy 250 more Pralay ballistic missiles for the services to strengthen them on the northern borders, further boosting the firepower of the defence forces.

About Pralay missile:

• It is a quasi-ballistic surface-to-surface missile.
• It can hit targets 150-500 km away.
• The missile can carry 350-700 kg of high-grade explosives.
• It is developed by the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO).
• It is powered by a solid propellant rocket motor and other new technologies.
• The missile guidance system includes state-of-the-art navigation and integrated avionics.
• It can change its path after covering a certain range in mid-

• Recently, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft first time caught a glimpse of the Jupiter and Trojan asteroids.

About Trojan asteroids:

• These are mysterious space rocks which have been gravitationally trapped in Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun for billions of years.
• These are thought to be remnants of the primordial material that formed the outer planets.
• They orbit the Sun in two loose groups, with one group leading ahead of Jupiter in its path, and the other trailing behind.
• They are clustered around the two Lagrange points equidistant from the Sun and Jupiter, the Trojans are stabilized by the Sun and its largest planet in a gravitational balancing act.

About Lucy Mission

• It was launched by NASA from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in 2021.
• It is a 12-year mission which will take close observations of nine of Jupiter’s Trojans and two main belt asteroids along with that.
• It is the first spacecraft sent to study the Trojan asteroids, which orbit the Sun in the same path that the planet Jupiter takes.
• It has recently captured the images of Eurybates, Polymele, Leucus and  Leucus asteroids.

• Tamil Nadu’s famous Cumbum Panneer Thratchai, also known as Cumbum grapes recently earned the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.
• The Cumbum Valley located at the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu is known as the ‘Grapes City of South India’ and cultivates the Panneer Thratchai.
• This variety, also known as Muscat Hamburg, is popular for its quick growth and early maturity, ensuring that the crop is available in the market almost throughout the year.
• The Panneer grapes were first introduced in Tamil Nadu by a French priest in 1832 and are rich in vitamins, tartaric acid and antioxidants and reduce the risk of some chronic diseases.
• They are also known for a superior taste apart from the purplish brown-colour.

• CERT-In, under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, is the national nodal agency for responding to computer security incidents.

Important highlights of the report

• Ransomware incidents have gone up by 53% in 2022 over 2021. Not only money, but Geo political conflicts also influenced ransomware attacks this year.
• Broadened Ransomware attacks across critical sectors with increased frequency and complexity of the attacks.
• Lockbit was the most prevalent ransomware variant in India, followed by Makop and DJVU/Stop ransomware.
• New variants such as Vice Society and BlueSky were noticed in 2022.
• IT and IT-enabled services sector was the most impacted sector, followed by finance and manufacturing sectors.
  • Ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) ecosystem becoming prominent.
• Makop and Phobos Ransomware families mainly targeted medium and small organizations, while Djvu/Stop variants used for attacks on individuals.

About Ransomware

• Ransomware is a category of malware that gains access to systems and makes them unusable to its legitimate users, either by: Encrypting different files on targeted systems, also known as Crypto Ransomware.
• Locking the system’s screen unless a ransom is paid, also known as Locker Ransomware.

• The Bharat Gaurav Tourist train tour on Ambedkar Circuit was flagged from Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station.

About Ambedkar circuit

• The Ambedkar Circuit was the fourth in the list of special tourist circuits namely, the Ramayana Circuit, Buddhist Circuit, and North East Circuit.
• IRCTC in association with the Ministry of Tourism is operating its first tour on the Ambedkar circuit.
• The eight-day special tour will include visits to prominent places associated with the life of Dr. Ambedkar like New Delhi, Mhow, Nagpur, and the sacred Buddhist sites of Sanchi, Sarnath, Gaya, Rajgir, and Nalanda.
• It aims to attract a wider tourist base besides the Dalit community, who frequent these key destinations as a pilgrimage.

About ‘Bharat Gaurav Tourist Train’

• The Ministry of Railways is promoting the cultural and religious heritage of India through its fleet of Bharat Gaurav Tourist Trains which are being operated by Railways on various famous theme-based circuits to showcase the cultural heritage of this great nation.
• It is being operated under the ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ initiative which is aimed at promoting domestic tourism and is a joint collaboration between the Ministries of Tourism and Railways.

‘Dekho Apna Desh’ scheme

• The Ministry of Tourism launched the ‘Dekho Apna Desh’ initiative with the objective of creating awareness among the citizens about the rich heritage and culture of the country and encouraging citizens to travel within the country.
• The scheme aims to push people, especially middle-class citizens, to travel broadly in India rather than flying abroad.

• NISAR will map the most earthquake-prone regions in the Himalayas with unprecedented regularity.
• It will feature advanced radar systems, L- and S-band radar built by NASA and ISRO respectively, to add to current understanding on Earth’s crust.
• It will study Earth’s land and ice surfaces twice every 12 days to study natural hazards, melting sea ice, groundwater supply, volcanoes etc.
• It will also survey forests and agricultural regions to help understand carbon exchange between plants and atmosphere.

Significance of NISAR for Himalayan region

• Determining how strain is building up in various parts of the Himalayas.
  • Strain refers to deformation that occurs in rocks when it is under pressure from other rocks, usually due to movements of continental plates.
• Study deformation patterns, such as in Joshimath, and create a deformation map.
• Map out the most earthquake-prone regions in the Himalayas with unprecedented regularity.

About NISAR Satellite

• NISAR is an Earth-observation satellite, being jointly developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
• It was envisioned by NASA and ISRO eight years ago in 2014.
• It is slated to be launched in 2024 by ISRO’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark II
• The satellite will operate for a minimum of three years. It is a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) observatory.
• NISAR will map the entire globe in 12 days

• World Chagas Disease Day is observed every year on April 14 to raise awareness about Chagas Disease.
• The theme for World Chagas Disease Day 2023 is “Time to integrate Chagas disease into primary health care”.

About Chagas Disease

• It is also called American trypanosomiasis and is a communicable parasitic disease.
• It is caused by the parasite protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi.
• The disease is named after physician Carlos Chagas who first detected it in a Brazillian child in 1909.
• Symptoms– Fever, headaches, rashes and inflammatory nodules, nausea or diarrhoea and muscle or abdominal pain.
  • A majority of the patients (70-80 per cent) show an asymptomatic clinical course throughout their lives, making early detection challenging.
• Transmission- The parasites are mainly transmitted by a family of bugs called ‘triatomines’, also known as the ‘kissing bug’.
• An individual can also contract this disease through congenital transmission (pregnant woman to their baby), blood transfusions, organ transplantation, consumption of uncooked food contaminated with the faecal matter of infected bugs or even accidental laboratory exposure.
• The disease cannot propagate by casual contact with infected humans or animals.
• The disease remains most prevalent in Latin America.
• There are currently no vaccines available for Chagas disease. However it can be treated with antiparasitic medicines Benznidazole and Nifurtimox.