1. MINIMUM EXPORT PRICE (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Economy)

Context: The Centre may be considering a minimum export price (MEP) for a host of specialty rice, including the basmati variety, to ensure that unscrupulous traders don’t ship excess quantities abroad.

• India had banned export of all non-basmati white rice a few weeks ago to check domestic price rise but it allowed exports of basmati and parboiled rice.

Minimum Export Price (MEP) 

• It is the price below which an exporter is not allowed to export the commodity from India. 
• MEP is imposed in view of the rising domestic retail/ wholesale price or production disruptions in the country.
• MEP involves “fixing a floor price” below which an exporter shall not sell the product to an overseas customer.
• While the government stipulates a MEP from time to time, in market parleys it is largely seen as an outdated concept as it gets easily circumvented.  
• The system is duped easily by invoicing at or above MEP for the record but actually pricing and selling the good at prevailing market price.
• Depending on the pre-agreed arrangements, the price differential is later adjusted through future transactions or quality claims.
• With exporters having mastered this route, MEP has become an ineffective instrument to restrict commodity export or contain domestic price rise.

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2. ARTICLE 371 OF THE CONSTITUTION (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 - Polity)

Context: The Supreme Court accepted the Centre’s assurance that it does not intend to “touch” the special constitutional provisions protecting the interests of the people of the northeastern States.

• Northeastern states of India have expressed apprehension that having rendered Article 370 irrelevant, the government might unilaterally move to abrogate or modify Article 371.

Special provisions for twelve states

• Part XXI of the Constitution of India is a compilation of laws pertaining to the constitution of India as a country and the union of states that it is made of. 
• This part of the constitution consists of Articles on Temporary, Transitional and Special Provisions
• Articles 371 to 371-J in Part XXI of the Constitution of India contain special provisions for twelve states.
• Article 371 of the Constitution guarantees protection of the cultural and economic interests, as well as ensures the rule of law, for the people of 12 States, including Sikkim, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland, and Manipur.
• Originally, the constitution did not make any special provisions for these states. 
• They have been incorporated by the various subsequent amendments made in the context of reorganisation of the states or conferment of statehood on the Union Territories.

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3. ANTIMICROBIAL RESISTANCE (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 - Health)

Context: The number of reported antimicrobial resistance (AMR) cases spiked more than 4.5 times from 25,833 in 2017 to 119,686 till December last year, a report by the health ministry showed. 

• The data has been generated by the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) as a part of an annual AMR surveillance exercise.

Key Points

• AMR is recognized by the World Health Organization as one of the top 10 global public health threats.
• Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines making infections harder to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death. 
• E. coli was the most common bacteria, accounting for 33% of AMR cases in 2022.
• The National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance (NAP-AMR) 2017 has assigned coordinated tasks to multiple government agencies involving health, education, environment, and livestock to change prescription practices and consumer behaviour and to scale up infection control and antimicrobial surveillance.

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4. ABDM MICROSITES (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 - Health)

Context: The National Health Authority (NHA) had announced 100 Microsites project for accelerated adoption of Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) across the country. 

• Mizoram becomes the first state in India to operationalize an ABDM Microsite in its capital city Aizawl. 
• Besides Mizoram, other states including Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh have also made significant progress regarding implementation of ABDM Microsites.

ABDM Microsites

• The ABDM Microsites are defined geographical regions where focused outreach efforts would be made to onboard small and medium scale private healthcare providers. 
• Under this, all healthcare facilities including the private clinics, small hospitals and labs in the region shall be made ABDM-enabled and will offer digital health services to the patients.
• These Microsites would be majorly implemented by State Mission Directors of ABDM while the financial resources and overall guidance would be provided by NHA. 
• An interfacing agency under this program will have an on-ground team to reach out to the healthcare providers in the area. 
• This team will spread awareness about the benefits of ABDM and will help the service providers to join the core registries under ABDM besides promoting the use of ABDM enable digital solutions for regular clinical documentation. 
• Patients will be able to link the health records generated at these facilities with their Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts (ABHAs) and will be able to view and share these records using any ABDM-enabled Personal Health Record (PHR) application on their phones.

Ayushman Bharat Digital Health Mission (ABDM)

• About: Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission aims to provide digital health IDs for all Indian citizens to help hospitals, insurance firms, and citizens access health records electronically when required.

• Origin: It was launched in September 2021 by the Prime Minister.

• The pilot project of the Mission had been announced by the Prime Minister from the ramparts of the Red Fort on 15th August 2020.
• Implementing Agency: National Health Authority (NHA) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

• Key Features: 

• Health ID: It is issued for every citizen that will also work as their health account which contain details of every test, every disease, the doctors visited, the medicines taken and the diagnosis.

• Health ID is free of cost, voluntary. It will help in doing analysis of health data and lead to better planning, budgeting and implementation for health programs.

• Healthcare Facilities & Professionals’ Registry: A comprehensive repository of all healthcare professionals involved in delivering healthcare services across both modern and traditional systems of medicine.

• Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission Sandbox: A framework that allows technologies or products to be tested in the contained environment in compliance with ABDM standards.

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5. 15TH BRICS SUMMIT (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 - International Organisations)

Context: India welcomes the expansion of the BRICS grouping through a consensus based approach.

• The 15th BRICS Summit 2023 is the fifteenth ongoing annual BRICS summit which is hosted by South Africa.

Key Points

• Twenty two nations have formally applied to become members of the BRICS economic bloc.
• An equal number have also informally sought to join the organisation that groups Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
• Countries including Saudi Arabia and Iran have formally asked to become BRICS members, while countries that expressed an interest in joining include Argentina, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Egypt, Bahrain and Indonesia.

• India questioned the criteria for Brics membership and seeks clear guidelines for new entrants.

Criteria for eligibility in BRICS:

• There is no formal application process as such to join BRICS, however, certain eligibility features are considered for new members:
• Economic Size: India had suggested a minimum of $400bn GDP for new members
• Trade Volume: India had suggested minimum BRICS trade of $50 billion with the new member
• Emerging Economy Status: The country should demonstrate characteristics of an emerging economy, including growth potential, industrialization, and development trajectory.
• Political Stability: Membership often requires the candidate country to have a stable political environment, good diplomatic relations with existing members, and a commitment to democracy.
• Mutual Consensus: Existing BRICS members usually need to reach a consensus on admitting new members, which is crucial for expansion.

BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa)

• In 2001, the British Economist Jim O’Neill coined the term BRIC to describe the four emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China.
• The grouping was formalised during the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers’ in 2006.
• South Africa was invited to join BRIC in December 2010, after which the group adopted the acronym BRICS.
• The BRICS brings together five of the largest developing countries of the world, representing 41% of the global population, 24% of the global GDP and 16% of the global trade.
• The chairmanship of the forum is rotated annually among the members, in accordance with the acronym B-R-I-C-S.

• India was the chair for 2021.

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6. WHITE SHIPPING AGREEMENT (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 - IR)

Context:  Indian Navy and Philippine Coast Guard signed the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for exchange of White Shipping Information.

• The SOP was signed during ongoing visit of the Commandant, Philippine Coast Guard to India.

White Shipping Agreement

• The white shipping information refers to the exchange of prior information on the movement and identity of commercial non-military merchant vessels. 
• Ships would be classified into white (commercial ships), grey (military vessels), and black (illegal vessels).
• The signing of the SOP between Philippine Coast Guard and Indian Navy would facilitate operationalization of information exchange on merchant shipping traffic, which will contribute to enhanced maritime safety and security in the region.

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7. FUKUSHIMA NUCLEAR POWER PLANT (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Env & Eco)

Context: Treated, radioactively contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Japan, will be dumped into the Pacific Ocean. 

The move has been opposed by the Japan’s neighbour along with major concerns by the fishing industry over potential effects on marine life.

Key Points

• The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant is a disabled nuclear power plant located on a 3.5-square-kilometre site in the towns of Ōkuma and Futaba in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
• The plant suffered major damage from the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11, 2011.
• The chain of events caused radiation leaks and permanently damaged several reactors, making them impossible to restart.
• In April 2021, the Japanese government approved the dumping of radioactive water of this power plant into the Pacific Ocean over the course of 30 years.
• Japan is using Advanced Liquid Processing System (ALPS) technology  to treat the water.
• ALPS removes most of the radioactive materials from the water except tritium - a rare and radioactive isotope of hydrogen. 
• The water is diluted further with seawater to meet standard.
• More than half of the free water on Earth is found in the Pacific Ocean, which is the biggest and deepest of the world’s ocean basins.

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8. RAINFALL DEFICIT IN WESTERN GHATS (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Env & Eco)

Context: Erratic and deficit rainfall in monsoon 2023 in the Western Ghats have affected the breeding cycles of amphibians, showed recent visits by researchers.

Key Points

• Animals usually found abundantly in the region during the season have been absent.
• Rainfall results in the formation of temporary rock pools and replenishment of the permanent water bodies where frogs breed.
• The temporary pools require water to last for a few days depending on species’ larval period to enable frogs to breed and give birth to the newer generation.
• However, in the northern Western Ghats, water remains in some pools for only two to three days under short-duration rainfall. 
• Frogs lay eggs in this period but they dessicate or dry up before the tadpoles metamorphose into adults, as the pools lose water and moisture essential to complete the breeding cycle.
• The researcher has also noticed numbers of Malabar gliding frogs dwindling. 
• The Malabar gliding frogs were seen breeding abundantly about five years ago.
• Only a few pairs were found breeding and very few eggs were laid this year. 
• Certain species of frogs follow different strategies for breeding. Some species complete it in 2-3 days while others continue for 2-3 months.
• For example, Indirana species endemic to Western Ghats start breeding early. They lay eggs in moisture laden or damp conditions.
• Another species Xanthophryne tigerina or the Amboli toad breeds only for two to three days in a year and lives in lateritic rock, commonly found in tropical regions.

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9. CHANDRAYAAN - 3 (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Sci & Tech)

Context: Chandrayaan-3 landed on the lunar surface at the Moon's South Pole.

• India has now become the first nation to land near the South Pole, which is a hot new destination since traces of water were found on the moon.
• India has become the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the moon. Before India, Russia, the United States of America and China have achieved this remarkable feat.

Key Points

• Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 and its objectives are to demonstrate safe and soft landing on the lunar surface, roving on the Moon, and to conduct in-situ scientific experiments.
• The objectives of Chandrayaan-3 mission are safe and soft landing on the lunar surface. 
• The rover will collect data on the composition and geology of the moon, which will help scientists learn more about the history and evolution of our nearest celestial neighbour.
• In addition to its primary goal of landing a spacecraft on the moon, Chandrayaan-3 will also conduct scientific experiments to study the moon's environment, including its history, geology, and potential for resources.
• Instead of a success-based design in Chandrayaan-2, the space agency opted for a failure-based design in Chandrayaan-3, focused on what all can fail and how to protect it and ensure a successful landing.
• Chandrayaan-3's design philosophy is that it should land even if everything goes wrong.

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10. EQUAL CONTRAST TECHNIQUE (Syllabus: GS Paper 3 - Sci & Tech)

Context: Scientists developed a new methodology, called Equal Contrast Technique (ECT), to analyze images of the Sun in white light can help obviate temporal and latitudinal variations in observations related to instrument and sky conditions. 

• It can help in accurate analysis of the historic time series of images of Sun and in understanding the dynamics of the sun, solar cycle variations, dynamo processes in the convection zone and resulting long term climatic variations on the earth.

Key Points

• It is known that there are large numbers of regions of weak magnetic field on the sun which vary with time.
• These can be studied using magnetograms and Ca-K line images of the sun as there is strong correlation between the magnetic field and the Ca-K line intensity of the region on sun. 
• The magneto-grams are available for short period and the characteristics of the instrument are changing with time. 
• Ca-K line images are available for long period at Kodaikanal observatory (KO), for more than 100 years with no change in the optics of the instrument.
• Similarly, other observatories in the world, such as Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO) have this type of data for about 70 years.
• Using the data obtained at Kodaikanal observatory the scientists have shown that correlation between derived plage area (bright region in the sun’s chromosphere) from the Ca-K images and sunspot number is excellent, even on daily basis, over a period of about 100 years for the first time.
• This type of accurate analysis of the historic time series of Ca-K images can be useful for reliable and accurate investigation of variations on the sun and the effect of this on the climatic condition of the earth.

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