eShram has achieved over 30 crore registrations in the span of just 3 years. 

About E shram Portal

• Envisaged as "One-Stop-Solution" for Country’s unorganised workers 
• Seeks to create a National Database of Unorganized Workers (NDUW), including migrant workers, construction workers, gig and platform workers, etc. 
• The NDUW will be seeded with Aadhaar.
• Launched by: Ministry of Labour & Employment
• Aim: to facilitate access of various social security schemes being implemented by different Ministries/ Departments to unorganised workers like Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, Ayushman Bharat etc. 

IEPFA has launched a new five-digit toll-free number — 14453 — to better serve claimant queries.

About IEPFA

• Under aegis of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
• Established under the provisions of section 125 of the Companies Act, 2013.
• Responsible for managing the Investor Education and Protection Fund (IEPF).
  • IEPF focuses on safeguarding investor interests by facilitating the refund of shares, unclaimed dividends, and matured deposits/debentures. 
• Through its initiatives, the IEPFA aims to ensure transparency, protect investors' rights, and promote financial literacy across the country.

Recently, cabinet approved the proposal for procurement of 240 aero-engines (AL-31FP) for Su-30 MKI aircraft under Buy (Indian) category from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

• Engines will have indigenous content (IC) over 54%. 

About Buy (Indian) category

• Under the Defence Acquisition Procedure 2020, it refers to the acquisition of products from an Indian vendor which may not have been developed indigenously, having 60% IC on cost basis of the base contract price.
• Vendors in the 'Buy (Indian-IDDM)' category, with indigenous design and at least 50% IC, are also eligible to participate. 

Scientists are working to grow cocoa beyond the tropics and make the crop more resilient. 

About Cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.)

• A tropical and perennial crop, mainly grown in African continent.
  • In India, mainly grown in southern states.
• Origin: Native of the Amazon region of South America.  
• Climatic Requirements: 
  • Rainfall: Average rainfall of 1250-3000 mm. per annum, distributed throughout the year.
  • Temperature: 15-39°C with optimum temperature is around 25° C. 
  • Soil: Predominantly grown on clay loam and sandy loam soils.
• Other: Can withstand flooding, but can’t tolerate stagnant, waterlogged conditions. 

Just like we use the internet to communicate with each other and order supplies, trees and other plants have their own network: fungi. 

• Scientists refer to this network as “the Wood Wide Web.”
• These are underground fungal threads known as mycelium which connect the roots of plants, allowing them to share nutrients and communicate through chemical signals.

Centre recently initiated an EWS for 188 critical lakes in the Indian Himalayan Region prone to GLOFs following the 2023 Sikkim disaster.

• A delegation set up by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) visited the first lake (Tenchungkha lake) in Sikkim under the GLOF EWS Mission.
• It is composed of NDMA, ISRO and the State Disaster Management Authority, to make on-ground assessments for the GLOF EWS Mission and to plan mitigation measures.
• Identified critical lakes are located in Uttarakhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya, Manipur and Nagaland.

NHAI will track around 100 toll plazas with GIS-based software for seamless movement of traffic at National Highways.

• GIS (under the larger umbrella of Geospatial Technologies) is a computer-based tool for mapping and analyzing things that exist and events that happen on Earth.
• GIS can show many different kinds of data on one map, such as streets, buildings, and vegetation.
• Examples of GIS Systems in India: PARIVESH, e-Green Watch and Van Agni Geo-portal of MoEF&CC, Gram Manchitra by Ministry of Panchayati Raj. 

This famine severly affected people of Odisha (Killing Around one-third of Odisha's total population).

• Also known as 'Na-Anka Famine' because it occurred during Gajapati Divyasinghadeva's ninth regnal year.
• Causes: Carelessness of British administrators, natural and economic disasters. 
• Occurred during tenure of Thomas Edward Ravenshaw (oCmmissioner of Odisha division).
• Aftermath:
  • Puri Canal or Coast Canal connecting Hooghly River (West Bengal) to River Matai (Odisha) was built after Famine.
  • Thomas Edward Ravenshaw established number of vernacular schools in rural areas with an emphasis on Odia language, converted the Cuttack Zilla School into Ravenshaw College.