• Svaya Robotics, a Hyderabad-based company, has partnered with two DRDO labs, the Research and Development Establishment in Pune (R&DE) and Defence Bio-engineering & Electro Medical Laboratory in Bengaluru (DEBEL), to create India’s first quadruped robot and wearable exo-skeleton.
• Quadruped robots
  • They are four-legged robots that can walk or run on uneven and rough terrains.
  • The robots can carry 25 kg in payload and walk along with the soldier.
  • It is made for navigating in unstructured terrains to provide remote reconnaissance and inspection, which otherwise are not safe for humans to operate in.
• Exoskeleton
  • It is developed to suit Indian soldiers’ anthropometry and augment soldier strength for walking long distances.
  • These active exoskeletons, when worn by soldiers, can carry heavy loads without expending much effort.

• The International Day of Happiness is celebrated on March 20.
• Its purpose is to emphasize the importance of happiness and the overall well-being of individuals.
• The theme of International Day of Happiness 2023 is “Be Mindful, Be Grateful, Be Kind.”
• On July 12, 2012, the United Nations General Assembly announced March 20 as the International Day of Happiness through its resolution 66/281.
• The United Nations initiated this event in 2013, following Bhutan’s advocacy for national happiness.

• A tiger was recently spotted in the Namdapha national park, after a gap of eight years.
• Namdapha, a National Park and Tiger Reserve, lies on the border between India and Myanmar within Changlang District of Arunachal Pradesh.
• It comprises the catchment area of Noa-Dihing River, which is a tributary of the Brahmaputra.
  • Namdapha is name of a river which originates from Daphabum (Dapha is name of hill, Bum means peak of hill) and meets Noa-Dihing river.
• Flora: Sumatran pine, Spruce, Orchid Bamboo etc.
• Fauna: Barking deer, Elephants, Asiatic golden cat, clouded leopard, snow leopard etc.

• PM has urged people to visit Matua Maha Mela in West Bengal.
• Mela is organised on birth anniversary of Shri Harichand Thakur (1812-1878), who was the founder of the sect of Vaishnavite Hinduism called Matua.
• He wrote couplets in Bengali and stressed on education and strong organisation as the primary modes of community empowerment.
• He wanted to establish a classless, casteless society.

About Matua community

• Matuas are Namasudras, a Scheduled Caste group considered untouchable during 19th C.E.
• Matuas migrated to India during Partition and after the creation of Bangladesh.

• Google claims to have made a breakthrough in an important subfield called quantum error correction which would go on to make quantum computing more accurate.
• Rather than storing information using bits represented by 0’s or 1’s as conventional computers do, quantum computers use qubits, to encode information as 0’s, 1’s, or both at the same time.
  • However qubits are so sensitive that even stray light can cause calculation errors and the problem worsens as quantum computer grows.
• To bridge this calculation error gap, Google claimed to have made a breakthrough in quantum error correction.
• Quantum error correction protects information by encoding it across multiple physical qubits (instead of relying on individual physical qubits) to form a “logical qubit”.
• Quantum computing is focused on developing computer technology based on quantum theory principles, which explains nature and behaviour of energy and matter on the quantum (atomic and subatomic) level.
• It uses two key principles of quantum physics-
  • Superposition means that each qubit can represent both 1 and 0 at the same time.
  • Entanglement means that qubits in a superposition can be correlated with each other; i.e., state of one (whether it is a 1 or a 0) can depend on state of another.

• To deal with faster detection of spoofing attempts, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has implemented a two-layer authentication system to ensure that originality of fingerprints is captured in a more fool-proof manner.
  • The Artificial intelligence -based mechanism captures both the fingerprint image and finger minutia (major features of a fingerprint image).
• Development comes amid concerns raised against possible misuse of Aadhar because of issues like:
  • Aadhaar system treats all 10 fingerprints as one entity, hence by varying a set of fingers a new ID can be created.
  • System is unable to differentiate between a real fingerprint and a silicon imprint.
  • It does not conduct facial biometrics match while creating ID’s, thus allowing a same person to obtain different Aadhaar using mixed fingerprints.
• Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identity number that can be obtained by residents of India, based on their biometric and demographic data.
• It is issued by UIDAI, a statutory authority under Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, on behalf of Government of India.
• In 2018, Supreme Court (SC) while upholding the Aadhar scheme as constitutionally valid provided certain riders regarding its use for various services.
  • Aadhaar cannot be made mandatory: for openings of a bank account and for getting mobile connections, for school admission.
  • Private companies cannot ask for Aadhaar.

• Recently, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for war crimes for President Vladimir Putin and a second Russian official for the alleged war crime of unlawfully deporting and transferring children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
• The court says Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

About International Criminal Court (ICC)

• It is headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands.
• It was established under a 1998 treaty called the “Rome Statute”.
• It “investigates and, where warranted, tries individuals charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression.”
• The ICC can also practice its jurisdiction over cases referred by the UN Security Council to it.
• Members: 123 countries are party to the Rome Statute, including Britain, Japan, Afghanistan, and Germany.
  • USA, India and China are not.
• ICC prosecutes individuals(whereas ICJ tries deals with countries and inter-state disputes)
• ICC’s jurisdiction is limited to offences occurring after it came into effect on July 1, 2002.
• Additionally, the offences should be committed either in a country that ratified the agreement or by a national of a ratifying country.

• The President of India presented the President’s Colour to INS Dronacharya.
• It is the highest award bestowed on a military unit in India in recognition of its exceptional services to the nation.
• It is also known as ′Nishaan′ which is an emblem that is worn by all unit officers on the left-hand sleeve of their uniform.
• The Indian Navy was the first Indian Armed Force to be awarded the President Colour by Dr. Rajendra Prasad in 1951.
• In India, as well as many Commonwealth nations, the tradition of Colours has been drawn from the British Army.
• Traditionally, there have been four kinds of symbols associated with Colours —Standards, Guidons, Colours and Banners.

About INS Dronacharya

• The Indian Navy’s INS Dronacharya is a prestigious gunnery school located in Kochi, Kerala.
• It is responsible for training officers and ratings in various fields such as small-arms, naval missiles, artillery, radar, and defensive countermeasures.

• Horseshoe crabs, medicinally priceless and one of oldest living creatures on the earth, appear to be disappearing from their familiar spawning grounds due to destructive fishing practices along Chandipur and Balaramgadi coast in Odisha’s Balasore district.
• Horseshoe crabs are considered living fossils meaning they have existed nearly unchanged for at least 445 million years, well before even dinosaurs existed.
• There are four species of horseshoe crabs–
  • Limulus polyphemus, the Atlantic or American horseshoe crab, found along the Atlantic coast of the United States and the Southeast Gulf of Mexico.
  • The tri-spine horseshoe crab (Tachypleus tridentatus), the coastal horseshoe crab (Tachypleus gigas) and the mangrove horseshoe crab (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda) in coastal waters of India, southeast Asia, China and Japan
• Female horseshoe crabs are about one-third larger than the males.

Conservation Status:

• The American horseshoe crab is listed as Vulnerable to extinction and the tri-spine horseshoe crab is classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
• Coastal horseshoe crab (Tachypleus gigas) and the mangrove horseshoe crab (Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda) are not listed on IUCN red list yet but are part of Schedule 4 of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

Uses

• A horseshoe crab’s blood contains a special clotting agent limulus amebocyte lysate(LAL) which detects a contaminant called endotoxin.
• It is used to test vaccines, drugs and medical devices to ensure that they aren’t contaminated with dangerous bacterial toxins.

• Recently, a study of NASA Magellan spacecraft’s captured images of Venus’ surface from different orbits gave new evidence of Venus having active volcanoes.
• A 2.2 square kilometre volcanic vent showed signs of drained lava, the radar images indicated that the same vent had doubled in size and the lava lake seemed to have reached the rim. The vent is associated with Maat Mons.
  • A volcanic vent is a spot through which molten rock erupts.
  • Maat Mons is the planet’s second-highest volcano. It sits in the Atla Regio, a vast highland region near Venus’ equator.

Magellan Mission

• NASA’s Magellan mission to Venus was one of the most successful deep space missions.
• It was the first spacecraft to image the entire surface of Venus and made several discoveries about the planet it was launched on May 4, 1989.

Other upcoming Expeditions to Venus

• Indian Space Research Organisation’s Shukrayaan-1 to study Venus geological and volcanic activity.
• Europe’s Envision (scheduled in 2032).
• NASA’s VERITAS and DAVINCI (in the 2030s).

About Venus:

• It is the second closest planet to the sun and the sixth-largest planet in the solar system.
• Known as earth’s twin.
• Hottest planet in the solar system and its extreme temperatures (450⁰ C) and acidic clouds make it an unlikely place for life.
• Along with Uranus it spins backwards with respect to other planets i.e. Its sun rises in the west and sets in the east.
• Along with Mercury it has no moons and no rings.