Multimodal Artificial Intelligence (AI)

• The multimodal model artificial intelligence refers to the integration of multiple modes of information or sensory data to facilitate human-like reasoning and decision-making.
• It revolutionizes the way AI systems process and interpret information by seamlessly integrating various sensory modalities.
• Multimodal systems allows users to engage with AI in several ways.
• Unlike conventional Al models, which focus on a single data type, multimodal Al systems have the capability to simultaneously comprehend and utilize data from diverse sources such as text, images, audio, and video.
• It is the next frontier of AI models.
• Gemini is multimodal large language model being developed by the google.
• Gobi is multimodal AI being developed by the OpenAI.

Habitat Rights

The Baiga Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG) recently got habitat rights to protect their community from extinction and wellbeing.

• Habitat rights is a special provision under the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 to recognize the traditional rights of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTG).
• Habitat rights recognize and provides the community concerned rights over their:
  • Customary territory of habitation,
  • Economic and livelihood means,
  • Intellectual knowledge of biodiversity and ecology,
  • Traditional knowledge of use of natural resources and
  • Protection and conservation of their natural and cultural heritage.
• 4 state level departments such as Forest, Revenue, Tribal and Panchayati Raj in coordination with the UNDP team to ascertain the boundaries of habitat of the PVGT.
• Community forest Resource rights can be extended to all types of Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (OTFDs).
• Habitat rights is specially meant for the recognition of traditional rights of PVTG/Pre-agricultural Communities.
• Community Forest Resource rights provide for recognition of the right to “protect, regenerate or conserve or manage” the community forest resource.
• According to the ministry of tribal affairs, PVTG are tribal communities who are:
  • Technologically backward,
  • Have a stagnant or declining population growth,
  • Extremely low level of literacy and a
  • Subsistence level of economy.
• PVTGs have low health indices and largely reside in isolated, remote and difficult areas in small and scattered hamlets/habitats.
• The ministry has identified 75 PVGTs in 18 states and 1 Union Territory.
• Out of 75 PVTG in India, only 3 have habitat rights.
• The Baiga of Madhya Pradesh was the first to get habitat rights in India, followed by the Bharia of MP, Kamar of Chhattisgarh and Baiga of Chhattisgarh.

Electoral Bonds

The Supreme Court is about to hear petitions filed by two NGOs (Common Cause and Association for Democratic Reforms), challenging the scheme for lack of transparency and unlimited funding.

• Electoral bonds are interest-free bearer instruments in the nature of a promissory note to donate money anonymously to political parties that was announced in the 2017 Union Budget.
• They are sold in multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1 lakh, Rs 10 lakh, and Rs 1 crore.
• They can be bought from authorised branches of the State Bank of India (SBI).
• Under the electoral bonds scheme the donor is required to pay the amount only via cheque or a digital mechanism and cash payment is not allowed.
• The political parties can choose to encash such bonds within 15 days of receiving them and fund their electoral expenses.
• The bonds that are not encashed within 15 days are deposited into the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund by the SBI.
• There is no limit on the number of bonds an individual or company can purchase.
• Before the electoral bonds scheme there was a cap on the limitation a company could donate to a political party.
• Only 7.5 % of the average net profits of a company in the preceding 3 years can be funded to the political party.

Tele Manas Seva

Recently the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the logo for the Tele Manas Seva.

• Tele MANAS – Tele Mental Health Assistance and Networking Across States.
• It is a 2022 budget scheme for comprehensive mental health care service.
• It was launched on the occasion of World Mental Health Day, 10 October 2022.
• It is implemented by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).
• To achieve specific goals and objectives of Tele MANAS it is implemented via a National Technical Advisory Group (NTAG) and 3 technical advisory sub-committees that includes:
  1. Mental Health Service Delivery
  2. Information Technology Architecture
  3. Health Systems
• Tele MANAS has two-tier system.
• Tier 1 comprises the State Tele MANAS cells, which includes trained counsellors and mental health specialists.
• Tier 2 comprises specialists at District Mental Health Programme (DMHP)/Medical College resources for physical consultation and/or eSanjeevani for audio visual consultation.
• Ayushman Bharat health and wellness centres have facilitated the integration of mental health services with primary health services.
• The primary health services includes priority services for mental health, neurological disorders and substance use disorders.
• To improve coverage and access to mental health care, district-level activities have been supported under the National Mental Health Programme in 743 districts across all 36 States/union territories.

Dancing Frogs

The Wildlife Trust of India after analysing the second edition of the Global Amphibian Assessment and said the dancing frogs that are endemic to the Western Ghats are the most threatened amphibian genus of India.

• Dancing frogs are members of the Micrixalus genus and there are about 24 frog species in this family.
• Their preferred habitats are shola grasslands, myristica swamps and evergreen forests within the Western Ghats, where they mainly reside near slow-moving perennial streams.
• The dancing frogs that are found near the streams do a unique display to mate.
• The males stretch up their hind legs one at a time and wave their webbed toes in the air in a rapid motion akin to a dance.
• The signature dance move is called ‘foot-flagging’ and serves the dual purpose of attracting a female while also sending out a warning signal to other male frogs in the area.
• According to the second edition of the Global Amphibian Assessment the dancing frogs that are endemic to the Western Ghats are the most threatened amphibian genus of India.
• The factors that are threating the Dancing frogs are:
  • Invasive species like the mosquito and fish,
  • Land use change, and variation in temperature and humidity,
  • Extreme weather events such as floods and excess rainfall,
  • Infectious diseases, water pollution, light pollution and
  • Infrastructure projects such as dams.
• They are also impacted by human activities that alter the flow of wild streams in the forest.
• Of the 24 species of the frogs belonging to the Micrixalus genus that were assessed, 2 were found to be critically endangered and 15 were endangered.
• It is also the 5th most threatened genus in the world with 92 % of its species in the threatened category.
• Frogs are valuable in the food chain and also provide other ecological services.
• Protecting the natural habitats and preserving their optimal living conditions is vital to save the last of these species.