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• Combined ICI increased by 6.7% (provisional) in February 2024 as compared to the Index of February 2023. 
• The ICI measures the combined and individual performance of production of eight core industries.
  • Eight core industries are Fertilizers, Cement, Natural Gas, Crude Oil, Coal, Electricity, Steel, and Petroleum Refinery Products. 
    • They comprise 40.27% of the weight of items included in the Index of Industrial Production (IIP). 
  • ICI is released by the Office of the Economic Adviser, Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

• ISARC will develop rice varieties with low methane emissions and enhance productivity of premium quality nutritious rice. 
  • To achieve this, ISARC is promoting adoption of best agronomic and management practices like Dry Seeded Rice and Alternate Wet and Drying.

• About ISARC
  • Established in 2018 through MoU between India’s Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and IRRI.
  • Located at Varanasi, Utter Pradesh.
  • Dedicated to strengthening rice-based agri-food system in South Asia region by developing climate-resilient, bio-fortified rice varieties for farmers and consumers.

• About IRRI (HQ: Philippines)
  • Dedicated to reducing poverty and hunger through rice science; etc.

• Harbour Phase of the exercise Tiger Triumph is being conducted at Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh. 
• Tiger Triumph is a Bilateral Tri-Service Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Amphibious Exercise between India and the US.

• Moyar valley located in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve is the only region with largest nesting colony of Gyps vultures in wild.

• About Gyps Indicus
  • Characteristics
    • Possess whitish feathers on a dark head and neck, and a pale collar.
    • Colonial nesters and often seen in flocks.
    • Population is declining.
  • Habitat
    • Habitat Specialization: Open Grassland.
    • Found in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan.
  • Protection Status
    • IUCN: Critically Endangered
    • Wildlife Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I
  • Conservation Measures
    • Banning of Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like diclofenac, Ketoprofen for veterinary use.
    • Vulture Action Plan 2020-25. 

• India-led Group of Friends (GOF) launched a new database designed to record crimes against Peacekeepers & monitor progress in holding perpetrators accountable. 
  • The GOF was launched by India in 2022 to promote accountability for crimes against the Blue Helmets during its presidency of the UN Security Council
• UN peacekeeping forces are employed to maintain or re-establish peace in an area of armed conflict. However, they sometimes face violence in deployed regions. 
  • These forces are also referred to as Blue Helmets as they are equipped in blue-coloured helmets.
  • They won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988.

• CERN has launched the White Rabbit Collaboration (WRC) to foster the uptake of White Rabbit technology by Industry.
  • The Collaboration aims to provide dedicated support and training, facilitate R&D projects in the technology.

• WR technology 
  • It was developed at CERN to provide sub-nanosecond accuracy and picosecond precision of synchronisation for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) accelerator chain. 
    • LHC is the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator
  • It was first used in 2012 and in 2020, it was included in the worldwide industry standard known as Precision Time Protocol (PTP).

• Skyroot Aerospace has successfully test-fired Stage-2 of Vikram-1 space launch vehicle, called Kalam-250.
  • Stage-2 is significant because it propels satellites from dense atmosphere of Earth to deep vacuum of outer space.
  • Vikram-1 is three-stage, solid-fuel based rocket.

• About Kalam-250 
  • It is a high-strength carbon composite rocket motor, which uses solid fuel and high-performance Ethylene-Propylene-Diene terpolymers (EPDM) Thermal Protection System.
  • Solid propellant in Kalam-250 was processed by Solar Industries at Nagpur facility.
  • Earlier, Skyroot had tested Kalam-100, third stage of Vikram-1, which was test-fired successfully in 2021.

• World Health Organisation (WHO) has launched a new CoViNet.

• About CoViNet
  • It is a network of global laboratories with expertise in human, animal and environmental coronavirus surveillance.
  • It currently includes 36 laboratories from 21 countries (3 in India) in all 6 WHO regions.
  • It aims to facilitate and coordinate global expertise for early and accurate detection, monitoring and assessment of SARS-CoV-2, MERS-CoV and novel coronaviruses of public health importance.

Tama Dora

• About Tam Dora
  • He was born in Koya Community.

• Contributions
  • Under his leadership, tribal people of Malkangiri especially ‘Koya tribe´ rose in revolt against unjust and oppressive policies of Raja of Koraput and British.
  • He defeated British Police of Malkangiri.
  • Colonel Macqoid of Hyderabad contingent marched with 100 men to protect but failed by severe attack of Koya Army.
• Values: Leadership, Courage, Empathy, etc.