Government announced the formation of a high-level committee to provide recommendations for improving the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA). 

About NTA

• Established by Ministry of Education (MoE) as a premier, specialist, autonomous and self-sustained testing organization
• Purpose:  To conduct entrance examinations for admission/fellowship in higher educational institutions.
• Registered society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
• Chaired by an eminent educationist appointed by MoE. 

Government held a training workshop on e-SAKSHI Portal for revised fund flow procedure under MPLADS (Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme).

• e-SAKSHI portal is an end-to-end solution for efficient and transparent implementation of the MPLAD scheme.

About MPLADS 

• Type: Central Sector Scheme.
• Ministry: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
• An amount of Rs. 5 crore is allotted to each MP for recommending developmental works for creating durable community assets based on locally felt needs.  
  • Funds are non-lapsable and are carried forward to next year.
• Atleast 15% of MPLADS entitlement is allocated for areas inhabited by Scheduled Caste population and 7.5% for areas inhabited by Scheduled Tribe population.

New Study reveals thousands of tonnes of methane may have dissolved in the Baltic Sea.

• In 2022, the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines suddenly began leaking at four locations.

About Nord Stream

• Comprises a network of offshore pipelines (Nord Stream 1 and 2) supplying natural gas from Russia to northern Germany. 
• Pipelines pass through the territorial waters and/or Exclusive Economic Zones of Russia, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Germany.
• Impacts of Nord Stream’s Leakage: The high concentration of methane in water may have promoted the growth of methanotrophic bacteria.
  • This bacteria uses methane as their sole source of carbon and energy.

UN chief has warned about the rise of malicious and illegal cyber activities through “Cyber Mercenaries”.

About Cyber Mercenaries

• Cyber mercenaries are described as a person, group of persons, or private actors that are hired to carry out cyber offensive or defensive operations to take action on particular cyber networks and infrastructure.
  • These enable spying on networks, computers, phones, or devices connected by the internet. 
• Examples of cyber mercenaries include Lazarus, Ocean Lotus group, NSO group etc. 
• Use of cyber mercenaries is considered as a ‘grey-zone’ activity due to absence of agreed international conventions regulating the domain.

NSO releases ‘Statistical report on value of output from agriculture and allied sectors (2011-12 to 2022-23)”.

Key highlights

• Agriculture and allied sector accounted for 18.2% of the Gross Value Added (GVA) at current prices in 2022-23. 
• Share of various sub-sectors are Crop (54.3%), Livestock (30.9%), Forestry (7.9%), and Fishing and aquaculture (6.9%).
• Output trend of sub-sectors (2011-12 to 2022-23):
  • Crop: Declined from 62.4% to 54.3%.
  • Livestock: Increased steadily from ₹487.8 thousand crore to ₹878.5 thousand crore.
  • Forestry: Increased from ₹149 thousand crore to ₹223 thousand crore.
  • Fishing: Increased steadily from ₹80 thousand crore to ₹195 thousand crore.

Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report has been released by the World Bank.

• Report is compiled with the help of World Bank's Global Flaring and Methane Reduction (GFMR) Partnership.

Key Findings

• Global gas flaring in 2023 has increased by 7% from 2022 leading to a rise of 23 million tonnes of CO2 emissions.
• Major Contributor: Russia, Iran, Iraq, USA, etc. 

About Gas Flaring

• Refers to burning of the natural gas associated with oil extraction.
• Reasons:
• Safety Concern (de-pressurise the equipment) 
• Economical (logistical issues in transporting gases from oil fields are located in remote and inaccessible places). 
• Key Measures taken: Zero Routine Flaring by 2030 (ZRF) initiative (World Bank)

KisanKraft Limited has joined the Low Methane Rice Project (LMRP) under UPPAP to promote the Direct Seeded Rice (DSR) in Uttar Pradesh.

• LMRP is an initiative of World Bank’s 2030 Water Resource Group (WRG). 
• The WRG is a multi-donor trust fund hosted by the World Bank Group.

About UPPAP

• Aims to bring about significant agricultural advancements and boost incomes across the state by promoting water-use efficiency and low-carbon practices through technological and institutional innovations.
• Launched by Uttar Pradesh Multi-Stakeholder Platform, and is supported by 2030 WRG.
• Its implementation is being supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Qatar offered to sell 12 Mirage 2000 fighter aircrafts to India. 

About Mirage 2000

• Manufacturer: Dassault Aviation, France. 
• It is a single engine delta-wing multirole aircraft.
• It is supersonic combat aircraft with maximum speed of Mach 2.2.
• Mirage 2000 can carry laser guided bombs, air-to-air and air-to-surface missiles and has a Thomson-CSF RDY (Radar Doppler Multi-target) radar on board.
• First commissioned in Indian Air Force in 1985 which gave it the name ‘Vajra’.
• It played a decisive role in 1999 Kargil war and operation Bandar of 2019.