The Ministry of Women and Child Development launched a new She-Box Portal to make Workplaces safer for Women.

About She-Box Portal

• Centralized platform for registering and monitoring complaints of sexual harassment of women at workplace.
• Objective: Provide a single window access to every woman, (organised or unorganised sector) for registering complaint related to sexual harassment.
• It also has repository of Resources on Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013.

The Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports has launched RESET Programme.

About RESET Programme

• It aims to empower retired sports persons with knowledge and skills for career development and increased employability.
  • Retired athletes aged 20-50 who have participated or received medals in international or national events.
• Key Features: 
  • Two levels based on educational qualifications—Class 12th and above, and Class 11th and below.
  • Mode: Hybrid, including self-paced learning and on-ground training with internships.
  • Placement assistance and guidance for entrepreneurial ventures.

Distribution of green manure, Dhaincha has recently been commenced in Tamilnadu.

About Dhaincha:

• Generally grown  as a green manuring crop in India. 
  • Tall annual herb adapted to wet areas and heavy soils. 
• Significance: Used for feeding livestock and soil improvement.

Green Manuring: 

• Growing of plants belonging to leguminous family and incorporating them into soil after sufficient growth.
• Significance:
  • Improves soil structure, Increases water holding capacity and decreases soil loss by erosion.
  • Reduces weed proliferation and helps reclamation of alkaline soils. 
  • It adds organic matter to the soil and stimulates activity of soil microorganisms.

WGC raises India's gold consumption projection to 850 tonnes in 2024

About WGC

• It was formed in 1987 by some mining companies.
• It is the authority on Gold and explores unique gold markets and conducts research.

About gold as a commodity

• Leading exporters (2022): Switzerland, United States, United Arab Emirates.
• Leading importers (2022): Switzerland, China,  United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom , and India.
• Top producers: China, Australia, Russia.
• In India, largest resources of gold are located in Bihar (44%) followed by Rajasthan (25%), Karnataka (21%).
  • India is the 2nd largest consumer after China.

First indigenously developed Pollution Control Vessel of ICG, ‘Samudra Pratap’ have been launched.

About Samudra Pratap

•  The Ship has been built by Goa Shipyard Limited (GSL) for the ICG.
• The vessel will help to check the oil spillage in the country’s sea coast. 

About Indian Coast Guard (ICG)

• Established In 1977  under Ministry of Defence
• Jurisdiction: Over the entire maritime zone up to 200 nautical miles, including 12 nautical miles of territorial waters. 
• Role: Ensuring safety and protection of artificial islands, offshore terminals, providing protection to fishermen,  Assisting customs and other authorities in anti-smuggling operations etc

The Department of Economic Affairs amended SCRR, 1956, facilitating direct listing of securities by public Indian companies on International Exchanges of International Financial Service Centres (IFSCs).

Significance:

• Facilitate easier access to global capital for Indian start-ups and companies in the sunrise and the technology sectors.
• Indian companies going global benefit from expanded opportunities to grow their presence in international markets.

Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956: An Act to prevent undesirable transactions in securities by regulating the business.

Mastercard chooses India for launch of its Payment Passkey Service

About Payment Passkey Service

• It provides customers with a non-OTP-based solution for transactions
• Working: 
  • It uses passkeys and tokenization to secure a consumer's online checkout interaction
  • To confirm  payment, biometric authentication such as fingerprint, face scan or PIN is used as per availability on device
• Benefits
  • Eliminates inconvenience of forgetting or inadvertently sharing one’s passwords or OTPs thereby simplifies online shopping,
  • Faster and secure Transactions (Since Financial account data is not shared with third parties).

Recently, visitors to RK Beach (Visakhapatnam) witnessed the sea receding by 150 meters.

• Experts believe it may have been caused due to shifting of ocean currents from north to south in the Indian Ocean.
• The Ocean Currents in the region are influenced by the Monsoon. 
  • The monsoon currents are seasonally reversing, open-ocean currents that flow between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal.

Other reasons for receding of Sea

• Change in tidal patterns
• Fluctuations in sea temperatures