Soliga tribes

• Soligas are an indigenous tribe of Karnataka.
• The Soligas are the first tribal community living in the core area of a Biligiri Ranganatha Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve in India to get their forest rights recognised.
• Traditionally they have been dependent on the forests for their livelihood.
• The Soligas are also called the children of bamboo.

Silver Cockscomb

• Silver cockscomb is a nutritious leafy green vegetable that grows well even on fallow land and in drought-like conditions.
• The scientific name is Celosia argentea.
• It is a short-lived 50-60 cm-tall plant that bears simple, spirally arranged leaves around the stem with pinkish or silky white flowers.
• For the Soligas, known for their traditional knowledge of ecology, silver cockscomb is a nutritious leafy green vegetable.

PRABANDH Portal

• PRABANDH - PRoject Appraisal, Budgeting, Achievements and Data Handling System.
• It is a step towards leveraging technology to enhance efficiency and manage the implementation of Samagra Shiksha.
• It is for transparency and accuracy in the system with respect to approvals, releases financial position.
• Districts can submit the physical and financial expenditure on the PRABANDH portal.

Samagra Shiksha Scheme

• It is a Centrally Sponsored Integrated Scheme for School Education.
• It envisages the school as a continuum from pre-school, primary, upper primary, secondary to Senior Secondary levels.
• It subsumes the 3 erstwhile Schemes of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) and Teacher Education (TE).
• Goal – To improve effectiveness of school, measured in terms of equal opportunities for schooling and equitable learning outcomes.
• Vision – To ensure inclusive and equitable quality education from pre-school to senior secondary stage in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for Education.

Methane

• Methane (CH4) is a hydrocarbon that is a primary component of natural gas.
• Methane is also a greenhouse gas (GHG).
• According to Global Methane Tracker 2022 agriculture is the largest source of methane emission in India.

Methane reduction measures taken by India

• Direct Seeded Rice system reduces methane emissions as it does not involve raising nurseries, puddling and transplanting.
• National Livestock Mission aims to reduce methane emissions from livestock.
• The National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA):
  • It is implemented by Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
  • It seeks to provide resilient practices including methane reduction practices in rice cultivation.
• National Innovations in Climate Resilient Agriculture (NICRA):
  • It is a project under The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
  •  It has developed several technologies with mitigation potential for methane from rice cultivation.
• The Gobar (Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources) scheme supports biodegradable waste recovery and conversion of waste into resources and reduction of methane emissions.

Due to slow pace of documentation under the National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities (NMMA) the trafficking of Antiquities is on the rise

Protection of Indian heritage Items

• Indian heritage items and cultural repositories which are scattered all over the country come under the purview of various agencies.
• Some are protected by ASI, some are under the state government and some are under trusts, local authorities and private ownership.
• A big chunk of movable heritage is unprotected and scattered all over the country without any vigilance and protection.
• Therefore, the documentation of all such antiquities in the form of digitized records along with maintenance and periodic auditing of inventory is necessary to safeguard India’s tangible cultural heritage.

National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities (NMMA)

• NMMA was launched in 2007 to document the India’s monuments and antiquities.
• It was mandated with the target to document 58 lakh of the antiquities.
• It was initially set up for a period of 5 years from 2007 to 2012.
• It was extended for a further 5 years till 2017 and later merged with Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
• Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is the nodal agency for NMMA to implement the various activities all over the country.

Cyber Surakshit Bharat

Recently National e-Governance Division (NeGD) under Cyber Surakshit Bharat organised CISO Deep-Dive training programme at Central Academy for Police Training to spread awareness about cyber crimes

• Cyber Surakshit Bharat aims to spread awareness about cyber-crime and build capacities of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) and frontline IT officials, across all government departments.
• It ensures adequate safety measures and defend the digital infrastructures by various organizations and become future-ready in tackling cyber-attacks.
• It will include an awareness program on the importance of cybersecurity; a series of workshops on best practices.
• This program also conducts training sessions for CISOs and technical officials to:
  • The Central Government,
  • State Governments and Union Territories,
  • Public Sector Banks and Public Sector Units,
  • Defence Forces, Defence PSUs and technical arms of the Air Force, Army and the Navy.
• CISO Deep-Dive training programme seeks to spread awareness, build capacity as well as enable Government departments on steps that need to be taken to create a cyber-resilient eco system.