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27/11/2025

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CA-27/11/2025

• The scheme duration is seven years, including a two-year gestation period for setting up facilities, followed by five years of sales-linked incentive support for manufactured REPM.
• Only five beneficiaries will be selected through a global competitive bidding process, each allotted up to 1,200 metric tonnes of manufacturing capacity annually.
• Support will be provided both as capital subsidy for establishing facilities and as incentives based on the sale of sintered NdFeB (neodymium-iron-boron) magnets, a critical material for high-tech industries.
• Value Chain Strengthening: The scheme covers the entire manufacturing chain: converting rare earth oxides to metals, metals to alloys, and alloys to finished magnets.

• REPMs are vital for many advanced technologies, and India’s current demand (~4,000 tonnes/year) is expected to double by 2030.
• These magnets enhance energy efficiency and enable miniaturization across clean tech, transport, and high-tech industries, supporting India's push for self-reliance amid global supply risks.

• Electric Vehicles (EVs): Used in traction motors, power steering, and wiper systems for high torque and efficiency, enabling lighter designs and longer range.
• Renewable Energy: Critical in wind turbine generators to convert wind into electricity with compact, high-energy-density components.
• Defense and Aerospace: Employed in drones, satellites, fighter jets, missiles, and actuators for reliable performance under extreme conditions.

• Electronics and Motors: Power hard drives, speakers, headphones, industrial machinery, generators, and magnetic sensors/actuators.
• Medical Devices: Integral to MRI systems for strong, stable fields in imaging, and dental prosthetics.
• Other Sectors: Applied in magnetic separators for mining/recycling, robotics, door locks, pumps, and jewelry.

• ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that affects motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord, leading to muscle weakness, atrophy, and eventual paralysis.
• It typically onset around ages 54-67 and has no cure, with most patients succumbing to respiratory failure within 2-5 years, though 5-10% survive longer.

• Muscles get weak and twitch, starting in arms, legs, hands, or feet.
• Speech becomes slurred, swallowing gets tough, and you might laugh or cry without meaning to.
• Later, breathing feels short, muscles shrink and stiffen, causing cramps, falls, and full-body paralysis while senses like sight and hearing stay normal.

• Mostly happens without a clear reason (sporadic, 90-95% cases), but family history plays a role in 5-10% where gene changes like SOD1 affect nerve cells.
• Nerve cells that control muscles in brain and spine die off due to issues like too much brain chemical buildup, damaged energy in cells, swelling, or protein clumps.

• No cure, but drugs like Riluzole slow worsening by a few months and Edaravone helps keep daily functions better for some.
• Breathing machines, feeding tubes, and wheelchairs manage symptoms.
• Physical therapy, counseling, and nutrition support improve life quality.

• Scientific Name: Ploceus megarhynchus; also called Finn's Baya or Yellow Weaver.
• Naming Origin: Named after Frank Finn (British officer) who noted its yellow breeding plumage; first identified by A.O. Hume.
• Size: About 17 cm long, larger than other Indian weavers with heavy bill and legs.
• Distribution: Ganges and Brahmaputra valleys in India (Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Uttarakhand) and Nepal's Terai grasslands.
• Habitat: Marshes, tall wet grasses (Phragmites, Typha), near dams/reservoirs; nests in Semal (Bombax ceiba), Shisham trees.
• Diet: Primarily granivorous (seeds); opportunistic insectivore during breeding.
• Breeding: May-September; globular nests from leaf strips, fully lined inside; males strip tree leaves for visibility.
• Conservation Status: IUCN Endangered; Schedule IV, Wildlife Protection Act 1972.
• Threats: Habitat loss (agriculture, floods, grass cutting), crow predation, water projects.

• Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) are baby stars still growing inside thick clouds of gas and dust.
• They shine brightly in infrared light because the dust blocks normal light but lets heat through, making telescopes see their glow.
• These young stars shoot out powerful jets of gas from their poles, like fireworks exploding both ways, carving paths in the surrounding cloud.
• They have spinning disks of material around them, where planets might form later, and the star eats bits from this disk causing brightness flares.

• Community of ~10,000 from Mizoram and Manipur in northeast India, claiming descent from biblical Lost Tribe of Manasseh (exiled ~721 BCE).
• Tibeto-Burmese ethnic groups (Mizo, Kuki, Chin) with oral traditions of migration from Israel via Central Asia, China, and Burma
• Preserve ancient practices like Sabbath, kosher dietary laws, circumcision, and festivals despite Christian influences.

• 1950s: Leaders in India had dreams urging return to Jewish roots; started simple practices like Sabbath.
• 1976: Manmasi group got Torah scrolls, prayer items from Israel trip; began proper Jewish observances.

• 1980s: Israeli Rabbi Eliyahu Avichail found them, named "Bnei Menashe" (Children of Manasseh). Taught real Jewish laws; sent teens to Israel for training; pushed for their move home.
• 2003: Israel paused immigration; rabbis lobbied Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar instead.
• 2005: Amar called them "descendants of Israel" after judges visited India; okayed conversions.

• ~3,000+ have made Aliyah (immigration of Jews to Israel) since 2005, undergoing Orthodox conversion (giyur: mikveh, Torah study).
• Settled in Sderot, Kiryat Arba, Galilee, Negev; built synagogues and mikvehs.

• First held as British Empire Games in Hamilton, Canada, in 1930 with 400 athletes from 11 countries competing in six sports.
• Renamed British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954; became Commonwealth Games in 1970.
• Held every four years over 11 days, midway between Olympics; host selected 8 years in advance.
• Traditions include King's/Queen's Baton Relay (since 1958) and flag-hoisting ceremonies.
• Includes 10-17 sports (10 core like athletics, badminton, boxing); first to achieve gender parity in 2018.
• Women debuted in athletics in 1934; Para athletes integrated as full competitors since 2002.
• Features non-Olympic sports like netball, lawn bowls, squash; team events added in 1998.
• Australia leads medal tally historically; known as "Friendly Games" for cultural exchange.

• International IDEA, founded in 1995 via a conference on February 27–28 in Stockholm, Sweden, is an intergovernmental organization supporting sustainable democracy worldwide.
• Headquartered in Stockholm with nearly 300 staff across regional offices in Europe, Latin America/Caribbean, Asia-Pacific, Africa, West Asia, and North America.
• Current Secretary-General: Kevin Casas-Zamora (since 2019); holds UN General Assembly observer status.
• 35 Member States as of 2024, including founding members like India, Australia, Sweden, South Africa; recent additions: France (35th).
• Mission: Advances democracy through policy knowledge, capacity development, advocacy, and dialogues, emphasizing human rights and sustainable development.
• Key workstreams: Electoral Processes, Constitution-Building, Democracy Assessment (e.g., Global State of Democracy reports), Political Participation/Representation, Climate Change/Democracy, Digitalization/Democracy.
• Tools/resources: Voter Turnout Database, Electoral Risk Management, Political Finance Database, GSoD Indices.

• Positions Andhra Pradesh as a major AI hub, complementing Google's $15 billion 1 GW project and advancing the state's 6 GW data centre target by 2030.
• Enables high-performance AI workloads with advanced GPUs, TPUs, and processors, supporting hyperscalers, enterprises, and cloud providers for next-gen innovation.
• Drives economic growth through massive investment, job creation (direct and indirect), and skill development in tech infrastructure.
• Promotes sustainability via dedicated renewable energy, including a linked 6 GWp solar project to power operations cleanly.
• Strengthens India's sovereign AI compute capacity as a twin to Reliance's Jamnagar facility, forming Asia's powerful AI networks.

• Article 51 preserves the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a UN member state.
• The right to self-defense is valid only until the UN Security Council takes necessary measures to maintain peace and security.
• Any measures taken in self-defense must be immediately reported to the Security Council.
• It is an exception to the general prohibition on the use of force under Article 2(4) of the UN Charter.
• Self-defense actions must comply with principles of necessity and proportionality, meaning force used should be limited to what is essential to repel the attack.
• The definition of "armed attack" triggers this right, and not all violent incidents are considered armed attacks under international law.
• Collective self-defense allows states to come to the defense of other attacked states.
• There is continuing legal debate on the application of Article 51 against non-state actors, including terrorists.

• Location and Type: Lake Urmia is an endorheic salt lake in northwestern Iran, situated between East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan provinces, west of the Caspian Sea in the Armenian Highlands.
• Size and Dimensions: It spans up to 6,000 km² (2,300 sq mi) at maximum extent, measures 140 km long and 70 km wide, with a maximum depth of 20 m (66 ft).
• Hydrology: Relying on rivers like Talkheh, Zarinheh, and Simineh for inflow, leading to high salinity (8-28%) from evaporation.
• Status and Significance: Recognized as a Ramsar wetland since 1975 (483,000 ha), it was once the Middle East's largest lake and Earth's sixth-largest saltwater lake, hosting about 102 islands.
• Environmental Challenges: The lake has shrunk significantly since the 1990s due to reduced inflows from dams and overuse, dropping to ~2,300 km² by 2022; Iran employs cloud-seeding for restoration.

• Mothers drink contaminated groundwater with high uranium levels from rocks like granite.
• Crops grown in uranium-rich soil absorb it, passing through food to mothers.
• Human activities like mining, coal burning, and phosphate fertilizers add more uranium to water and soil.

• Uranium harms kidneys, causing long-term damage since babies can't remove it easily.
• It affects brain growth, leading to low IQ, learning delays, and behavior issues.
• 70% of studied infants face non-cancer risks like mental health problems, though levels stay below safe limits.
• Babies get exposed as uranium crosses into milk, but mothers mostly pass it out in urine.

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