The Release of 48 hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza City to a designated “yellow line” took place recently.

•  The war lasted over two years (since Oct 7, 2023).

About Israel- Hamas Ceasefire and Peace deal

• Based on US President 20-point plan, including ceasefire, Israeli withdrawal to agreed lines and release of all hostages.
• Mediated by: USA, Egypt, Qatar, Turkey.
• India’s stand:
  • India  welcomed  peace efforts for regional peace and stability, supporting multilateral diplomacy.
  • Reinforces India’s balanced West Asia policy, maintaining ties with Israel, Palestine, and Arab nations.

Recently ‘Vishwas Scheme’ was launched in 238th meeting of Central Board of Trustees (CBT), Employees’ Provident Fund. 

• CBT is a tri-partite Board, consisting of representatives of Government (Both Central and State), Employers, and Employees.
• CBT is assisted by the EPFO ( Employees’ provident fund organisation)
• Board operates 3 schemes -Employees' Provident Funds Scheme 1952 Employees' Pension Scheme 1995 , Employees' Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme 1976

About Vishwas scheme 

• Objective: Reduce litigation through rationalised penal damages.
  • One of the major reasons for litigations has been the imposition of high rate of penal damages for belated remittances of Provident Fund dues.
  • PF is a retirement saving scheme in which both the employee and employer contribute a fixed % of the employee’s salary every month.
• Duration- scheme shall be operational for 6 months and is extendable by another six months.

India’s Retail Inflation (CPI-based) has cooled lowest since June 2017. 

This is primarily due to base effects and falling food prices; however, core inflation rose sharply to a two-year high, driven by surging gold and silver prices.

About Inflation:

• Consumer Price Index (CPI): Measures the monthly change in price for a basket of goods and services. 
  • Released by: Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
• Core inflation is an inflationary measure that leaves out energy and food, focusing only on items that have fairly predictable price movements.
• RBI's tolerance band for CPI inflation rate is 4% ±2%. 

Recently Pakistan has offered the US the opportunity to develop and operate Port Pasni, as per reports

• The port is envisioned as the gateway for US to Pakistan’s critical minerals. 

About Pasni Port 

• Location: Gwadar district in Balochistan province, along the Arabian Sea. 
• Strategic Significance:  
  • It is located close to 70 miles from the China-operated Gwadar Port and 178 miles from Iran’s Chabahar Port.
  • Its location makes it an ideal hub for trade routes linking South, West and Central Asia. 

Scientists have found an effective and sensitive method of detection of toxic molecules such as Rhodamine B, using coffee-ring effect and nanotechnology application.

• Coffee-ring effect is a spontaneous phenomenon where the capillary flow from the center to the edge of a droplet pushes all solute towards the droplet's edge.

About Rhodamine B

• It is a water-soluble fluorescent synthetic dye known for its bright pink colour.
• Applications: Scientific research; industries like Textiles, paper, and leather. 
• Characteristics: 
  • Toxic: May damage skin, eyes, and the respiratory system; carcinogenic.
  • Environmental contaminant: reported to persist in water.
• It is banned in products such as food and cosmetics.

Warm-water coral reefs have crossed their thermal tipping point, triggering irreversible dieback.

About Tipping point

• Definition: 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, by IPCC.
• Tipping points are interlinked, meaning crossing one may accelerate collapse of others, creating a cascading effect threatening planetary stability.
• Other Planetary Systems at Risk: Amazon rainforest, Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), Sub-Polar Gyre (SPG), land permafrost, mountain glaciers, etc.

Recently, RBI unveiled key initiatives like the Unified Lending Interface (ULI), Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) retail sandbox, pilot for tokenisation of Certificates of Deposit (CDs).  

About Initiatives 

• ULI: It is envisioned as a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI).
  • It aggregates data from multiple data sources which would be made available to lenders for better credit assessment. 
  • It aims to enhance the delivery of credit. 
• CBDC Retail sandbox- for fintech firms to innovate and test solutions.
  • CBDC is a digital version of fiat currencies issued by Central Banks. 
• Tokenisation of CDs: Facilitates faster settlements, improves liquidity, enhances transparency, etc.
  • Tokenization is the process of creating a digital representation, called a "token", of a real-world asset like stocks on a distributed ledger or blockchain.
  • CD is a negotiable money market instrument and issued in dematerialised form or as a Promissory Note against funds deposited at a bank or other eligible financial institution.
  • Its maturity periodis up to one year (min- 7 days).