President Rule extended in Manipur by another 6 months.

About President Rule (Part XVIII :Emergency Provisions)

• Grounds for imposition:
  • Breakdown of constitutional machinery (Article 356): If the President receives a report from the state's Governor or otherwise is convinced that the state government cannot carry on the governance according to the provisions of the Constitution.
  • Failure to Comply with Union Directions (Article 365): Can be imposed if any state fails to comply with directions given by the Union on matters it is empowered to.
• Duration: Initially for a period of six months and it can be extended for a period of three years with parliamentary approval, every six months.

APY has achieved a significant milestone by surpassing 8 crore total gross enrolments.

About APY

• Aim: To address the twin challenges of longevity risks and lack of retirement security among India’s vast unorganised workforce
• Ministry: Ministry of Finance
• Implementing agency: Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).
• Eligibility: Open to all bank account holders in the age group of 18 to 40 years who are not income taxpayers.
• Benefits:Guaranteed Monthly Pension Lifelong pension between ₹1,000 to ₹5,000 from age 60.

DRDO conducts successful flight-trials of Advanced Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Launched Precision Guided Missile-V3.

About ULPGM-V3

• Developed by: DRDO.
• Equipped with a high definition dual-channel seeker that can strike a wide variety of targets.
• Significance: 
  • Can be fired in plain and high-altitude areas. 
  • Day-and-night capability and two-way data link to support post-launch target/aim-point update.

The researchers suggest that extreme marine heatwaves of 2023 were driven by climate change and may signal a climate tipping point.

About climate tipping point:

• ​​These are critical thresholds in a system that, when exceeded, can lead to a significant change in the state of the system, often with an understanding that the change is irreversible ( Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ).
  • For E.g., Global warming triggers a change like a rainforest becoming a dry savannah. 
• The IPCC identifies several tipping points:Greenland ice sheet, Atlantic circulation, Amazon Rainforests, Antarctic ice sheets, etc.

Iran was recently threatened of snapback sanctions by E3 countries amidst the derailed U.S.-Iran nuclear talks.

• Snapback sanctions (under 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)) - are  provisions that allow reimposition of sanctions against Iran if it violates its nuclear commitments.

About E3 countries 

• About: E3 is an informal foreign and security cooperation arrangement between the UK, Germany and France.
• Origin: The E3 met for the first time after the US attacked Iraq in 2003 to identify a trilateral strategy towards Iraq, and manage nuclear risks coming from Iran.

After Nathu La, Sikkim to open Doklam, Cho La for battlefield tourism, eight years after India-China standoff.

About Doklam (Donglang)

• Altitude: 13,780 ft above sea level
• Highly-strategic territory where the borders of China, Bhutan, and India (tri-junction) meet in the Himalayas. 
• The Doklam standoff gained prominence in 2017 when India intervened to stop Chinese road construction in Bhutanese territory.

• India intervened in support of Bhutan under the 2007 India–Bhutan Treaty.

• Significance for India: 
  • To protect Siliguri Corridor ("Chicken's Neck") that links Northeast India with the mainland.
  • Provides significant military leverage over both Bhutan and India's vulnerable northeastern connectivity.

Underground Atlas’ by SPUN (Society for the Protection of Underground Networks ) recently highlighted the need for conservation of Mycorrhizal Fungi.

• It revealed that over 90% of mycorrhizal fungi hotspots are outside protected areas.

About Mycorrhizal Fungi

•  It is a fungus that symbiotically with more than 80 per cent of plant species on earth and make as much as 30 per cent of living microbial biomass in the soil.
• Importance -helps the plant soak in nutrients such as phosphorus from the soil and play an important role in carbon sequestration as they use the carbon dioxide (CO2) released by the plant roots.

This initiative is part of digital innovations in agriculture for fostering financial resilience.

About CROPIC (Collection of Real Time Observations & Photo of Crops) initiative 

• It is a mobile app launched by The Ministry of Agriculture under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY).
  • To take geotagged pictures of crops four-five times during their cycle. 
• It will use an AI-based cloud platform for photo analysis and information extraction, and a web-based dashboard for visualisation.
• Funding: Through Fund for Innovation and Technology (FIAT) under PMFBY.