Recently, few private member bills were introduced in parliament.

About Private Member’s Bill

• It is a legislative proposal that is initiated by an individual Member of Parliament (elected or nominated), who is not a Minister.
• Its drafting is the responsibility of member concerned.
• Its introduction in House requires one month’s notice.
• It reflects stand of opposition party on public matter.
• In Lok Sabha, House allots last two-and-a-half hours of business every Friday.
• In Rajya Sabha, two-and-a-half hours every alternate Friday.
• Only 14 such bills have become law, with last one in 1970.

Recently, Union Minister for Education has launched 41 new books under PM YUVA 2.0 scheme.

About PM YUVA 2.0 Scheme 

• Ministry: Launched in 2022 by Ministry of Education as part of India@75 Project (Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav).
• About: It is an Author Mentorship programme to train young and budding authors below 30 years of age.
• Aim: To promote reading, writing and book culture in country, and project India and Indian writings globally.
• Significance: To develop a stream of writers who can write on subjects to promote Indian heritage, culture and knowledge system.

Central Advisory Committee meeting held for PM-AJAY.

About PM-AJAY

• Ministry: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
• Type: Centrally Sponsored Scheme
• Launch year: 2021-22
• Objectives: 
  • Reduce poverty of SC communities by generation of additional employment opportunities.
  • Improve socio-economic developmental indicators in SC dominated villages.
  • Increase literacy and encourage enrolment of SCs in schools and higher educational institutions.
• Components: 
  • Development of SC dominated villages into “Adarsh Gram”.
  • Grants-in-aid to State/Districts for Socio-Economic betterment of SCs.
  • Construction/Repair of Educational Hostels for SC students.

Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has hosted the first-ever BIMSTEC Youth Summit in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

• Its goal is to strengthen youth collaboration across region and facilitating exchange of youth-led initiatives among BIMSTEC Member Countries.

About BIMSTEC (Secretariat: Dhaka, Bangladesh)

• Genesis: Established in 1997 with the signing of Bangkok Declaration.
• Members: Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan.
• Objective: Promote rapid economic development, social progress, and ensure peace and stability across Bay of Bengal region.
• 7 focus area: Trade; Environment and Climate Change; Security; Agriculture and Food Security; People-to-People Contact; Science, Technology, and Innovation; Connectivity.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) has warned against the construction of the Morand-Ganjal Irrigation Project in Madhya Pradesh.

About Morand-Ganjal Irrigation Project: Involves building two dams on the Morand and Ganjal rivers to improve irrigation in Hoshangabad, Betul, Harda, and Khandwa districts of Madhya Pradesh.

Potential Impact:

• Social: It can displace 644 families, including 604 tribal families.
• Environment: Over seven lakh trees will be affected at full reservoir level.
• Wildlife: Could destroy a vital tiger corridor between Satpura and Melghat Tiger Reserves, endangering leopards, wolves, wild dogs, hyenas, etc.

RBI defers rollout of LCR norms by a year in big relief to banks.

About LCR

• The Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR) is a key Basel III reform.
• Basel Norms are international banking regulations (developed by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision) focused on capital adequacy, risk management, and financial stability.
• Objective: Ensures banks maintain a sufficient stock of High-Quality Liquid Assets (HQLAs) to meet liquidity needs under a 30-day stress scenario.
• Purpose: To enhance the short-term resilience of banks' liquidity risk profiles. 
• LCR decrease money supply by requiring banks to hold a larger proportion of highly liquid assets.

Union Government has sanctioned 338 Anganwadi Centres for upgradation under Mission Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0.

About Mission Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0

• Ministry: Ministry of Women and Child Development
• Vision: Integrated Nutrition Support Programme to address challenges of malnutrition in children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers.
• Objectives: 
  • Improve nutritional and health status of children in age-group 0-6 years
  • Reduce incidence of mortality, morbidity, malnutrition and school dropout.
  • Enhance capability of mother to look after the normal health and nutritional needs of child through nutrition and health education.

Israel agreed as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement to remove its forces from the Netzarim corridor.

About the Netzarim corridor

• It is a 6-kilometre-long stretch that controls key access points between Gaza’s north and south. 
• The corridor stretches from the Israeli border in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west.
•  The corridor splits the Gaza Strip down the middle, and is located just south of Gaza City.

Other Corridors: Philadelphi Corridor & Rafah Corridor.