In the 196th Meeting, Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) approved the re-launch of the Scheme to Promote Registration of Employers/Employees (SPREE).

About SPREE Scheme

• Initial Success (Launched in 2016): It facilitated the registration of over 88,000 employers and 1.02 crore employees under the Employees' State Insurance Act.
• Renewed SPREE (2025): A one-time enrollment window will be open for unregistered employers and left-out workers.
• Focuses on voluntary compliance rather than penalization

Other agendas to improve ESIC 

• Approves Amnesty Scheme 2025 (2025 – 2026): Aim to reduce litigation and promote ease of doing business.
• Revised ESI AYUSH Policy: Approval for Yoga therapists & Panchakarma attendants in ESIC hospitals.

The Ministry of Tribal Affairs launched the Adi Karmyogi Programme. 

About the Adi Karmyogi Programme

• Aim: Building a cadre of highly motivated officers and change makers dedicated to grassroots transformation.
• Objective: To take capacity-building to about 20 lakh field-level stakeholders by creating a batch of trainers and master trainers at the State, district, and block levels.
• It seeks to bring a fundamental shift in the attitude and motivation of field-level officials, emphasizing citizen-centric ideation and delivery. 
• Target: Reaching 1 lakh tribal villages and habitations.

Cochin backwaters of Kerala, face seasonal invasions of jellyfish, as a symptom of cumulative ecosystem stress.

About Jellyfish

• Type: Part of the cnidarian group (alongside corals and anemones), 
• Habitation: As pelagic organisms, they live in open oceans (tropical to Arctic), drifting with currents despite limited swimming ability.
• Features: Possess stinging cells (nematocysts) for capturing prey and defense; Bodies made of 95% water for camouflage; Tolerate low-oxygen (hypoxic) environments 

About Jellyfish Blooms

• Sudden population explosions of jellyfish in marine or brackish water ecosystems.
• Caused by warmer sea surface temperatures, eutrophication, overfishing, and pollution.

India’s current account balance recorded a surplus of $ 13.5 billion (1.3% of GDP) in Q4 FY25.

• It led to narrowing India’s current account deficit to $ 23.3 billion (0.6% of GDP) during FY25 down from $26 billion (0.7% of GDP) in FY24.
• On the annual basis India generally experiences a trade deficit.

Current Account Balance

• It measures the flow of goods, services, income, and current transfers between a country and the rest of the world over a specific period.
• The Current Account Balance is a key component of a country's Balance of Payments (BoP).
• Major components of a current account are goods, services, income, and current transfers.

According to the Finance Ministry Indian Economy’s health is in a relative Goldilocks situation.

About Goldilocks situation of Economy

• Concept: It describes an ideal state for an economy where it's not expanding or contracting by too much.
• In this state of the economy, there are certain features attached. 
  • The unemployment rate in the economy is really low. 
  • There is steady growth in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) numbers and companies report better earnings. 
  • The retail inflation and the interest rates are relatively low. 
• The Goldilock scenario is good for investors as companies perform well and stocks rally.

PM extends greetings on the occasion of Lord Jagannath’s Rath Yatra.

About Rath Yatra (Chariot Festival)

• It is a major annual Hindu festival held in the city of Puri, Odisha. 
• It marks the annual ceremonial journey of Lord Jagannath, along with his siblings Lord Balabhadra and Devi Subhadra, from the Jagannath Temple to the Gundicha Temple.
• The festival begins on the second day of the Asadha month (June–July).
• After a week the deities return to the main temple in a return procession known as Bahuda Yatra.

Researchers discovered nearly 20 species of bacteria capable of breaking down PFAS 

About PFAS

• These are chemicals having carbon-fluorine bonds, which are very strong and do not degrade easily.
• These chemicals can resist grease, oil, water, and heat. 
• Application: Cookware, food packaging, food processing equipment, Fabrics, Paints, Foams etc. 
• Impact: It persists in the environment, contaminating air, water, and soil, and bioaccumulates in humans and animals.
  • Bioaccumulation is the process by which toxins enter the food web by building up in individual organisms.

The Vera C. Rubin Observatory released its first images of the cosmos. 

About Vera C. Rubin Observatory

• The observatory located in Chile is designed to conduct the Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), a 10-year project to map the southern sky.
• It has been named after Astronomer Vera C. Rubin, who provided pioneering evidence of dark matter.

IBAT Alliance doubled its investment in biodiversity data from 2023 to 2024

• Increased investment will support three key global biodiversity datasets i.e., World Database on Protected Areas, IUCN Red List and World Database of Key Biodiversity Areas.

About IBAT Alliance

• Headquarter: The UK
• Genesis: Founded in 2008
• It is a coalition of four of the world’s largest and most influential conservation organisations.
• These four organizations are:  Birdlife International, Conservation International, The International Union of Conservation for Nature (IUCN), The United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC)
• Mission: To provide data, tools and guidance that help organisations act on biodiversity related risks etc.