National Ayurveda Day 2025
Why in news?
National Ayurveda Day 2025 was celebrated on September 23rd at the All-India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), Goa, marking the 10th edition of this observance with the theme "Ayurveda for People, Ayurveda for Planet."
Themes and Initiatives in 2025
- The 2025 theme, “Ayurveda for People, Ayurveda for Planet,” stresses Ayurveda’s role in human health and ecological sustainability.
- Large-scale public health campaigns like “Desh ka Swasthya Parikshan Abhiyan” have been launched, involving millions in Ayurvedic health assessments.
- Initiatives promote awareness of Ayurveda’s preventive and natural methods aligned with global sustainability goals.
Origin and Purpose
- National Ayurveda Day was first observed on October 28, 2016, coinciding with the birth anniversary of Dhanvantari, the Hindu god of medicine considered the deity of Ayurveda.
- The day aims to promote Ayurveda worldwide as an ancient yet relevant system of preventive and holistic health care.
- The first All India Institute of Ayurveda was inaugurated on the first Ayurveda Day by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
National Ayurveda Day fosters wider recognition of Ayurveda’s enduring legacy and its contributions to health care both in India and internationally. It also aligns Ayurveda with contemporary needs like nutrition, sustainable living, and integrating traditional knowledge with modern medical research.
Maitri 2.0 Programme
Why in news?
Recently Maitri 2.0 Brazil-India Cross-Incubation Programme launched by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) on September 22, 2025, in New Delhi.
Maitri 2.0, the second edition of this bilateral agritech initiative, aims to foster innovation-driven growth and collaboration between Indian and Brazilian agritech ecosystems.
Key Objectives and Features
- Strengthen incubator linkages between India and Brazil to build robust networks for agritech innovation.
- Exchange best practices in sustainable agriculture and value-chain development.
- Promote co-incubation through joint ventures and collaborative agritech projects.
- Open new opportunities in digital agriculture technologies and sustainable farming.
- Address shared challenges like climate change, food security, and sustainable intensification.
Strategic Importance
- Reflects the broader Brazil–India strategic partnership, aligned with commitments from leadership at bilateral and multilateral forums such as BRICS and G20.
- Supports a long-term vision for cooperation in agriculture, emerging technologies, and food and nutritional security.
- Implements key pillars of cooperation established during Indian PM Modi's visit to Brazil in July 2025, focusing on food security, science, technology, and innovation.
Impact and Support
- Facilitates collaboration between over 400 agri-startups nurtured by ICAR.
- Emphasizes agriculture not only as a livelihood but as a scalable business.
- ICAR’s innovation ecosystem includes over 1,800 patents granted annually and more than 5,000 licensing agreements.
- The program actively promotes public-funded innovation commercialization to benefit farmers and agricultural end-users.
Maitri 2.0 signifies a milestone in India-Brazil agricultural collaboration, aiming to build more resilient food systems and empower farmers by integrating traditional knowledge with modern agritech solutions for sustainable development and global food security.
India-Morocco defence cooperation
Why in news?
India and Morocco recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation establishing a robust institutional framework to enhance their growing partnership, focusing on collaboration in the defence industry, joint military exercises, training, and capacity building.
Key Highlights
- The MoU covers joint military exercises, training programs, defence industry collaboration, counter-terrorism, maritime security, cyber defence, military medicine, peacekeeping, and expert exchanges.
- India established a Defence Wing at its Embassy in Rabat to facilitate ongoing cooperation and coordination.
- Tata Advanced Systems inaugurated India’s first overseas defence manufacturing facility in Morocco near Casablanca, producing armoured combat vehicles (WhAP) for the Moroccan military and potentially for export in Africa.
- This defence manufacturing unit promotes a hybrid local-global supply chain model, supporting both India’s export ambitions and Morocco’s defence modernization plans.
The cooperation represents a strategic partnership enhancing India’s footprint in Africa and Morocco’s defence capabilities amid evolving global security dynamics.
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)
Why in news?
- CPCB celebrated its 51st Foundation Day on September 22, 2025, in New Delhi.
- New CPCB laboratories were inaugurated in Pune and Shillong, equipped for advanced environmental monitoring.
- Also launched an updated version of the SAMEER App for enhanced pollution monitoring and public engagement.
- Additionally, a technical report on polluted river stretches and a manual on freshwater benthic macroinvertebrates in India were released
About Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB)
- The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) is a statutory organization operates under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
- The CPCB's key roles include promoting cleanliness of water bodies, improving air quality, and preventing and controlling water and air pollution across India.
Key Points about CPCB:
- Establishment and Legal Basis: Constituted in 1974 under the Water Act and empowered by the Air Act in 1981.
- Principal Functions:
- Promote cleanliness of streams and wells by preventing, controlling, and abating water pollution.
- Improve air quality and control air pollution.
- Advisory Role: Advises the Central Government and State Governments on pollution control related matters and environmental standards.
- Coordination: Coordinates activities of State Pollution Control Boards and resolves conflicts among them.
- Monitoring: Implements National Air Monitoring Programme to assess air quality trends and establish background data.
- Standard Setting: Lays down standards for emission, discharge, and environmental quality including water and air.
- Technical Assistance: Provides technical support, investigation, research, training, and awareness programs.
- Legislative Role: Ensures implementation of environmental laws and pollution control programs.
- Specific Powers in Union Territories: Acts as the State Pollution Control Board and monitors industrial pollution sources.
- Public Awareness: Conducts mass awareness campaigns on pollution prevention and control.
- Data Management: Collects and disseminates technical and statistical data on pollution.
CPCB also develops manuals, codes, and guidelines related to pollution control and environmental management, including standards for treatment and disposal of sewage, trade effluents, and industrial emissions.
Greywater management
Why in news?
The Ministry of Jal Shakti emphasized that effective greywater reuse can save 30-40% of total water use by recycling wastewater. Promote simple and sustainable technologies like soak pits at household or community levels under schemes such as Swachh Bharat Mission (Grameen) Phase-II.
What is Greywater management?
- Greywater management refers to the treatment and reuse of domestic wastewater generated from sources like bathing, laundry, and kitchen sinks but excluding toilet waste (blackwater).
Key Aspects of Greywater Management
- Sources and Nature: Greywater is wastewater without fecal contamination, making it easier and safer to treat compared to sewage.
- Health Implications: Proper management is necessary to avoid health risks from stagnant greywater, such as mosquito-borne diseases.
- Treatment Technologies:
- Household Level: Soak pits, leach pits, magic pits, and simple filtration or settling tanks are common.
- Community Level: Cluster greywater pits, waste stabilization ponds, constructed wetlands, phytorid technology, and decentralized wastewater treatment systems (DEWATS).
- Nature-Based Solutions: Constructed wetlands, green roofs, and biofilters that use plants and microbes to break down contaminants.
- Mechanical and Biological Systems: Filtration, membrane bioreactors, activated sludge processes, and ultraviolet disinfection.
- Reuse: Treated greywater is reused for non-potable purposes such as irrigation, toilet flushing, and washing, thus conserving high-quality freshwater resources.
- Implementation Strategy: Preferably managed at household or gram panchayat/village level with convergence with water supply schemes for integrated water management.
Benefits
- Reduces freshwater demand
- Minimizes wastewater discharge and environmental contamination
- Decreases the load on sewage treatment facilities
- Supports safe water reuse for irrigation and other purposes
Challenges
- Appropriate technological selection based on geography, demography, and land availability
- Maintenance and monitoring
- Public awareness and capacity building for adoption at rural and urban levels
Overall, greywater management involves decentralized, cost-effective, and simple technologies that communities can adopt to promote water reuse and sanitation hygiene sustainably.
Artemis III mission
Why in news?
The Artemis 3 mission, NASA's planned crewed lunar landing mission, is currently scheduled to launch no earlier than 2027.
Key points of the Artemis III mission:
- Artemis III is NASA's first crewed Moon landing mission since Apollo 17 in 1972, planned for no earlier than mid-2027.
- The mission will land astronauts near the lunar South Pole, a region with unique scientific interest including potential water ice deposits.
- Four astronauts will launch on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in the Orion spacecraft from Kennedy Space Center.
- Scientific goals include geological sampling, studying water ice, testing advanced spacesuits, and deploying new instruments like the Lunar Environment Monitoring Station (LEMS).
- Artemis III will demonstrate new technologies and operational capabilities to support sustainable human presence on the Moon and future missions to Mars.
- The mission duration will be approximately 30 days from launch to Earth return.
- Artemis III aims to land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon.
Artemis I
- It was an uncrewed Moon-orbiting mission launched on November 16, 2022, that tested NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft in deep space.
- It orbited the Moon, including six days in a distant retrograde orbit, and returned safely to Earth after about 25 days, validating critical systems for crewed missions.
Artemis II
- The first crewed mission in the Artemis program, planned for early 2026.
- Four astronauts will travel aboard Orion on a roughly 10-day lunar flyby mission, testing life support and other systems in deep space.
- This mission will send humans around the Moon farther than ever before since Apollo 17, preparing for future lunar landings and beyond.
Sawalkote Hydropower Project
Why in news?
Sawalkote Hydropower Project is being fast-tracked as a key strategic and energy project following the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) after the Pahalgam terror attack.
Key details about the Sawalkote Hydropower Project:
- A major hydroelectric project proposed on the Chenab River in the Ramban and Udhampur districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
- Capacity: 1,856 MW, expected to generate over 7,000 million units of electricity annually.
- Structure: A 192.5-meter high concrete gravity dam with a reservoir capacity of about 530 million cubic meters.
- Development Phases: The capacity is planned in two stages - 1,406 MW in Stage I and 450 MW in Stage II.
- Forest and Land Impact: Requires diversion of 846 hectares of forest land and felling of over 222,000 trees, primarily in Ramban.
- Cost: Estimated investment around ?22,704 crore.
- Strategic Context: Post Indus Waters Treaty suspension, the project is a key step towards India asserting control over utilization of western rivers previously restricted by the treaty.
- Timeline: Tenders have been floated for construction components, signaling imminent execution with a completion timeline that could span a decade from initiation.
The project faces ecological concerns due to large reservoir size, forest clearance, and cumulative hydrological impact on the Chenab basin, already hosting other hydro projects like Dulhasti, Baglihar, and Salal.
Anand Marriage Act 1909
Why in news?
The Supreme Court directed 17 states and 8 Union Territories to frame rules within four months for the registration of Sikh marriages solemnized under the Anand Marriage Act, 1909.
Historical and Social Context
- The Act was originally enacted by the British Imperial Legislative Council in 1909 to formally recognize Sikh marriage traditions.
- Before this Act, Sikh marriages were registered under Hindu laws, which did not reflect or respect Sikh religious identity.
- The 2012 Amendment was aimed at enabling Sikhs to register their marriages under their own tradition and to resolve issues caused by lack of official registration.
Key Provisions of the Anand Marriage Act, 1909
- It validates Sikh marriages solemnized through the Anand Karaj ceremony.
- Applies only to Sikhs; marriages of non-Sikhs or those declared void are exempt.
- The Act does not invalidate any other Sikh marriage ceremony.
- The 2012 amendment added provisions for marriage registration under this Act.
- Registration rules are to be framed by states and UTs for implementation.
Significance
- Upholds Sikh religious identity by recognizing their traditional marriage ceremony.
- Provides a legal framework distinct from the Hindu Marriage Act.
- Registration under this Act ensures evidentiary value and legal recognition in areas like inheritance, maintenance, and succession.
Conclusion
Despite these positive steps, critics note that the Anand Marriage Act still has gaps, particularly regarding divorce, custody, and other matrimonial rights, which are not covered under the Act.
The Supreme Court ruling emphasizes the need for uniformity and timely rule-making by states to fulfill the statutory promises of the Act effectively.
