Explanation

• Glanders is a highly contagious and often fatal disease of equines.
• Equines are a group of mammals that belong to the family Equidae.
• Equines are known for their slender legs, hooves, and long faces with large, expressive eyes. Example – Horse, Donkey, Mules.
• It can also affect other animals and humans. It causes nodules and ulcerative lesions in the respiratory tract and lungs.
• Ingestion is the primary route of infection, especially through shared feeding or watering sources.
• It is recognized as a notifiable disease under the Prevention and Control of Infectious and Contagious Diseases in Animals (PCICDA) Act, 2009.

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Explanation

• Statement 1 is incorrect – Kani tribes are inhabitants of Agasthyamalai hills of the Western Ghats in the Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari districts of Tamil Nadu.  
• Statement 2 is incorrect – There is no independent script, they use Tamil & Malayalam scripts when needed.
• Statement 3 is correct – Pilathi
  (physician–priest) performs the important ritual of kanis called Chattu.
• The songs sung during Chattu are known as Chattupattu, accompanied by the help of an instrument called Kokkara.

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Explantion

• All the given statements are correct.
• Additional information – Recently, the government has come up with an “action plan” to respond to the tariff escalation by the U.S., aimed at addressing the short-term pain points, long-term competitiveness.
• Plan address major concerns for exporters include Liquidity crunch due to shortage of finance and fall in orders especially in SEZ’s i.e. key labor intensive industries.
• Government ensuring response through Export Promotion Mission (EPM) under sub schemes, Niryat Protsahan (Financial Support for Exporters) and Niryat Disha (Market Access & Capability Building) to support exporters.

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Explanation

• IISER Kolkata reveals a troubling connection i.e., microbes that digest plastic may also host antibiotic resistance genes, creating potential hotspots for gene transfer.
• Statement 1 is correct – The most notable example for naturally occurring plastic eating microbe is Ideonella sakaiensis, a bacterium discovered in sediments at a bottle recycling site in Japan.
• Statement 2 is correct – Certain microbes have evolved enzymes to break down plastics, demonstrated by PETase enzyme from Ideonella sakaiensis, capable of degrading PET.
• Sticky microplastic surfaces foster bacteria that contain antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), raising grave concerns about the rise of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
• Statement 3 is correct - PDE abundance increased during monsoon season due to nutrient influx from inland rivers as per research.

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Explanation

• Recently, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) in collaboration with Vertis Infrastructure Trust   launched Project Aarohan.
• Nodal ministry of the scheme Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
• It is implemented by  SMEC Trust’s Bharat Cares.
• The project aims to support the educational aspirations of the children of toll plaza employees.
• Its objectives is to remove financial barriers, bridge socio-economic divides.
• To provide equal access to quality education for students from
• economically weaker sections,
• including girls from low-income households,
• first-generation learners, those from SC/ST/OBC and minority communities.

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