Draft Indian Statistical Institute Bill, 2025 has met with strong protests by academicians as well as students.

About ISI

• Founded: 1931
• Founder: Prasanta Chandra Mahalanobis, one of India’s greatest statisticians.
• Registration: In April 1932, under the Societies Registration Act of 1860, and later re-registered under the West Bengal Societies Registration Act of 1961. 
• Received the status of an Institute of National Importance in 1959 through an Act of Parliament.
• Headquarters: Kolkata.
• Objectives:
  • Advancement of statistical science and its interdisciplinary applications.
  • Promotion of research in mathematics, computer science, economics, and social sciences.
• Contribution: Development of National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), establishing the foundation of India’s official statistical system, planning and economic modelling etc.

A powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck off northern Japan triggering a tsunami.

About Tsunami

• Meaning: A tsunami is a catastrophic ocean wave, usually caused by a submarine earthquake, an underwater or coastal landslide, or a volcanic eruption.
• Occurrence: Pacific subduction zones produce 90% of the world's earthquakes/tsunamis(called “Ring of Fire”).

India’s proposed CAFE III norms have faced criticism from global agencies.

About CAFE norms

• Notified in: 2017, under the Energy Conservation Act, 2001.
• First phase: 2017-18, Second Phase: 2022-23.
• Objective: To mitigate fuel consumption by lowering CO₂ emissions; aiming to reduce oil dependency and air pollution. 
• Applicability: Petrol, diesel, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), CNG, hybrid, and electric passenger vehicles with gross vehicle weight (GVW) <3500kgs.

University of Oxford researchers reported a roughly 50-million-lightyear-long cosmic filament traced by at least 14 galaxies.

About Cosmic Filaments

• Cosmic or galaxy filaments are the largest ‘threads’ in the universe’s cosmic web. 
  • A single cosmic filament is a structure spanning hundreds of millions of lightyears, formed as a result of gravity pulling in gas, dark matter, and galaxies into long, thin strands that link giant clusters of galaxies. 
  • Filaments also surround large, empty regions of space called voids.
• Importance in Cosmology
  • Help astronomers study galaxy formation and distribution.
  • Act as highways feeding matter into dense regions, influencing the growth of clusters.

An immune- and cancer cell-targeting antibody therapy has shown potential to eliminate residual traces of multiple myeloma.

About Myeoloma

• Meaning: Cancer of plasma cells (white blood cells that fight infections) in bone marrow.
• Symptoms: Bone pain (spine/chest/hips), tiredness, infections, nausea, constipation, weight loss, frequent urination, confusion.

Biostimulants provide a green solution for sustainable Indian agriculture.

About Biostimulants

• They are substances or micro-organisms that stimulate natural plant processes, independent of nutrient content. 
• Objective: It is to enhance nutrient uptake, boost stress tolerance, improve crop quality, and support resilience under dynamic climate stressors.
• Regulated under: Fertiliser Control Order (FCO), 1985.
• Significance: Better nutrient-use efficiency, soil carbon sequestration, higher climate resilience, supports soil microbial biodiversity, contributes to a circular bioeconomy.

Report warned that India’s current satellite based monitoring systems are capturing only a fraction of actual fires due to their limited observation window.

• Current surveillance under the Consortium for Research on Agroecosystem Monitoring and Modeling from Space (CREAMS), led by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), relies primarily on MODIS and VIIRS polar-orbiting satellites.
  • MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) and VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) are satellite-based sensors that monitor active fires, vegetation, and environmental changes.
  • These satellites orbit the Earth’s poles and observe India only at fixed times of the day, from 10:30 am to 1:30 pm.

The Report jointly released by WHO and World Bank Group analyses progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

Key Findings of the Report

• Health service coverage, measured by the Service Coverage Index (SCI), rose from 54 to 71 points between 2000 and 2023.
• Share of people experiencing financial hardship due to large and impoverishing out-of-pocket (OOP) health payments declined from 34% to 26% between 2000 and 2022.
• However, 4.6 billion people lack essential services, and 2.1 billion face financial hardship, with 1.6 billion pushed into or deeper into poverty.