Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 is awarded to Maria Corina Machado.

• It is awarded for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy’ in Venezuela.

Nobel Peace Prize

• Since WW-II, The Peace Prize (started in 1901) has been awarded to honour efforts in four main areas: 
  • arms control and disarmament.
  • peace negotiation.
  • democracy and human rights.
  • work aimed at creating a better organized and more peaceful world. 
• Indian citizen who won Nobel peace prize
  • Mother Teresa (1979) 
  • Kailash Satyarthi (2014)

Apex committee of the Environment Ministry has accorded environmental clearance to the Sawalkote hydroelectric project.

About Sawalkote hydroelectric Project:

• It is a 1,856 MW run-of-the-river hydroelectric project located on the Chenab River in district Ramban & Udhampur of UT Jammu & Kashmir.
  • The Run-of-the-River project uses the natural flow of the river with little or no water storage.
• It is the first major hydropower project on the Indus rivers to be accorded environmental clearance following India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT).

Researchers from Raman Research Institute have developed new quantum techniques to generate and certify truly random numbers.

What are random numbers?

• They are essential for digital encryption, authentication systems, and cybersecurity.
• Current systems use pseudorandom numbers, generated algorithmically thus predictable with the use of quantum computers.

What are true random numbers?

• True randomness is observed in some natural or physical processes that are inherently random, not from any algorithm. 
  • Radioactivity and weather events are a few examples of random processes in nature.
• It enables creation of truly unpredictable encryption keys, potentially making digital systems unhackable.

Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has formally recognised three major ports as  Green Hydrogen Hubs under NGHM.

• The three ports are Deendayal Port Authority (Gujarat), V.O. Chidambaranar Port Authority (Tamil Nadu), and Paradip Port Authority (Odisha).
• The recognition of these ports is expected to catalyse industrial participation, attract green investments, and promote innovation in clean fuel technologies.

About NGHM

• Announced: In January 2023
• Objective: Make India a Global Hub for production, usage and export of Green Hydrogen and its derivatives.
• Target: Production of 5 MMT per annum of Green Hydrogen by 2030.

Siddi tribal community, a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group, has achieved a literacy rate of over 72 per cent.

About Siddi tribal community

• Also known as Habshi or Badsha, are an Afro-Indian tribal community believed to have migrated from East Africa.
• Location: India’s western coast i.e. Gujarat, Karnataka, and Maharashtra.
• Occupation: Traditionally hunters and gatherers, now mostly agricultural labourers and daily-wage workers.
• It is believed that they first came to India in the 7th century with Arab merchants and in the 16th century with the Portuguese and British, largely as slaves.
• Currently recognised as a Scheduled Tribe by union government.

Bamiyan Buddhas were in the news recently.

About Bamiyan Buddhas

• Buddhas of Bamiyan were two monumental size statues, standing at 115 and 174 feet tall.
• Location: sandstone cliffs of the Bamiyan valley in central Afghanistan.
• Period: Built in the 6th century
• Artistic Significance: Exemplified Gandharan Buddhist art.
  • Closely connected with spread of Buddhism across Central Asia
• Destruction: Destroyed by the Taliban in 2001
• UNESCO Recognition: Bamiyan Valley declared a World Heritage Site in 2003.