• Sewri Fort will get flamingo-viewing gallery as part of its makeover in Mumbai.

About Sewri fort

• It is a fort in Mumbai built by British in 1680 at Sewri, Island of Parcel.
• It was served as watch tower, atop a quarried hill overlooking the Mumbai Harbour.
• In 1689, The Siddi general Yadi Sakat invaded Mumbai and they first captured the Sewri Fort.
  • The Siddhis were allies of Mughal emperor Aurangzeb.
• It had a garrison of 50 sepoys and was managed by a subedar or local chief. It was also armed with eight to ten cannons.
• This fort is later also involved in the battle that repelled The Portuguese attack in 1772.
• It was later used as a jail, but today it stands neglected in many parts.
• Still, parts of the fort have been protected by the state’s department of archaeology and museums.
• It serves as the site of the annual Flamingo Festival.

• Unified Portal of CBN was launched recently to facilitate a balance between narcotics substance availability for medical/scientific/industrial use and law compliance.
• The portal is designed to be integrated with other government services, including Bharat Kosh, GST, PAN-NSDL validation, e-Sanchit, and UIDAI, providing single-point services for obtaining licenses from the Central Bureau of Narcotics.
• It’ll instil efficiency and transparency and reduce time taken by pharma industry to get a trade licence.

About CBN

• CBN is a subordinate office under Department of Revenue of Ministry of Finance.
• It deals with international trade of narcotic drugs, under ambit of various United Nations Conventions and provisions of Narcotics Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985.

• According to research by Microsoft and Citizen Lab, spyware developed by Israeli company has been used against journalists, opposition figures and advocacy organizations across at least 10 countries.
• Spyware developed by QuaDream is a no-interaction-needed hacking tool, known as “Zero-Click”.
• Zero-Click tools can remotely compromise devices without an owner needing to open a malicious link or download a tainted attachment.
• Zero-click attacks often rely on zero-days, which are vulnerabilities that are unknown to the software maker and for which no fix is presently available.
  • Earlier, Pegasus was also such a spyware.
• Zero-click attacks are hard to detect given their nature and hence even harder to prevent.
• Detection becomes even harder in encrypted environments where there is no visibility on the data packets being sent or received.

• Zoological Survey of India researchers have discovered a new species of frogs from deep within the Siju cave system in the South Garo Hills district of Meghalaya.

About Amolops siju

• It has been named after the Siju cave where it was discovered.
• It belongs to the cascade Ranidae family and genus Amolops.
• Genus Amolops is among the largest groups of ranid frogs (family Ranidae) with 73 known species widely distributed across India’s North East and north, Nepal, Bhutan, China, the Indochina region and the Malaya Peninsula.
  • Cascade frogs are named so because they prefer small waterfalls.
• It is the second time that a frog was discovered from inside a cave in the country, the first being the discovery of the Micrixalus spelunca in 2014 from a cave in Tamil Nadu.

About Siju caves

• It is one of the longest cave systems in the world situated in the state of Meghalaya.
• It is a 4 km long natural limestone cave famous for its stalactites and stalagmites.

• South Western Railway (SWR) is all set to revamp two railway stations, Krishnarajapuram and Whitefield stations in Bengaluru under Amrit Bharat Station scheme.

About Amrit Bharat Station Scheme:

• Amrit Bharat Station Scheme was introduced by the Union Ministry of Railways in December 2022 with the goal of modernizing over 1,000 minor stations during the ensuing years.
• It envisages development of stations on a continuous basis with a long term vision.
• The plan’s objective is to create master plans for railroad stations and implement them gradually to improve the facilities.
• Longer platforms, ballastless rails, space for rooftop plazas, and 5G connectivity are important aspects of these proposed stations.
• Other Facilities planned under this Scheme
  • Smooth access by widening of roads, properly designed signages, dedicated pedestrian pathways, well planned parking areas, improved lighting.
  • High level platforms(760-840 mm) shall be provided at all categories of stations.
  • Provide good cafeteria/retail facilities.
  • Space shall also be created for Executive Lounges and places for small business meetings.
  • Drainage of platform areas.
  • Ceremonial flags may be provided at appropriate space in the station.
  • Special amenities for the disabled.
  • Gradual shift to sustainable and environmentally friendly solutions as per availability of funds and condition of existing assets is considered.

• India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that country as a whole is likely to receive 96% of Long Period Average (LPA) for southwest monsoon from June to September 2023.
• LPA of rainfall is the precipitation recorded over a particular region for a given interval (like a month or season) average over a long period like 30 years or 50 years.
• In last four years (2019 to 2022), India has received normal to above normal rainfall.
• IMD’s forecast considers following three factors that affects Indian monsoon
  1. El Nino: it is associated with diminished rainfall in India.
  2. Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD): IOD refers to the difference in sea-surface temperatures in Eastern and Western parts of Indian Ocean.
     • Positive IOD is considered good for Indian monsoon.
  3. Snow Cover: Winter and spring snow cover extent over Northern Hemisphere and Eurasia has a general inverse relationship with subsequent summer monsoon rainfall.

Category of Rainfall

• Deficient < 90% of LPA
• Below Normal 90 – 95% of LPA
• Normal 96 -104 % of LPA
• Above Normal 105 -110% of LPA
• Excess > 110% of LPA

About El Nino Southern Oscillation

• El Nino is warm phase of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), where unusual warming of surface waters in eastern tropical Pacific Ocean occurs.
• La Nina is cool phase of ENSO, and since 2019, India has been under influence of the La Nina, getting substantial monsoon rains.

About India Meteorological Department (IMD)

• It is an agency of the Ministry of Earth Sciences.
• It is the principal agency responsible for meteorological observations, weather forecasting and seismology.
• It is also one of the six Regional Specialised Meteorological Centres of the World Meteorological Organisation.
• IMD releases the long range forecast in two stages in April and June.

• Keen to give a fillip to tourism, the state government has stepped up efforts for setting up the Anandpur Sahib-Naina Devi ropeway which has been hanging fire for over a decade.
• The process for appointing a technical consultant has now been entrusted to Himachal Pradesh Infrastructure Development Board (HPIDB).
• Initially, the ropeway having a span of 2.5 km was supposed to have three terminal points – Rampur (lower), Toada (intermediate) and Naina Devi (upper). Later the span of the ropeway was increased to 3850 mts.
• The project is expected to reduce the traffic congestion on the land route connecting the two pilgrim centres.
• Thousands of people from Punjab and Haryana make a beeline to the hill top temple to pay their obeisance.
• The cost of the project initially pegged at Rs 85 crore has now shot up to over Rs 100 crore

• Scientists have made a groundbreaking discovery by finding the closest black hole to Earth.
• BH1 is the closest black hole ever detected till date.
  • It is situated just 1,560 light-years away from Earth in the direction of the constellation Ophiuchus.
• It was discovered by a team of astronomers using the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia satellite, which is designed to precisely measure the positions and movements of stars in the Milky Way
• In addition, Gaia also found the second closest black hole to Earth, Gaia BH2, which is 3800 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus.
• Black holes are formed when massive stars collapse under the force of their own gravity, creating incredibly dense objects.
  • They are so dense that their gravity is strong enough to trap anything that comes too close, including light itself.

• National Safe Motherhood Day is an annual event that is celebrated on April 11 in India.
• The White Ribbon Alliance India (WRAI) initiated this day to highlight the importance of maternal health and reduce maternal mortality rates in the country.
• India has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with 12 per cent of all maternal deaths occurring in the country.
• The Indian government officially recognised National Safe Motherhood Day in 2003, to emphasise the importance of ensuring that women have access to adequate care throughout pregnancy, childbirth and the postnatal period.
• The day was marked on April 11 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Kasturba Gandhi, wife of Gandhiji.

• UIDAI – IIT Bombay join hands (under NCETIS) to develop touchless biometric capture system.
• It will allow fingerprint authentication from home alike face authentication making Universal authenticator a reality.

About NCETIS

• NCETIS is a joint initiative by IIT Bombay and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), under its flagship Digital India Programme.
• NCETIS is aimed at developing indigenous technology solutions for Internal Security forces in broad areas of Electronic System Design and Manufacturing (ESDM).