The Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) has begun the process of formulating a National Agriculture Code (NAC), on the lines of the existing National Building Code and National Electrical Code. 
• It will cover the entire agriculture cycle, and will also contain a guidance note for future standardisation.
• The code will have two parts. The first will contain general principles for all crops, and the second will deal with crop-specific standards for the likes of paddy, wheat, oilseeds, and pulses.
• The NAC will serve as a guide for farmers, agriculture universities, and officials involved in the field.
• It will cover all agriculture processes and post-harvest operations, such as crop selection, land preparation, sowing/transplanting, irrigation/drainage, soil health management, plant health management, harvesting/threshing, primary processing, post-harvest, sustainability, and record maintenance.
• It will also include standards for input management, like use of chemical fertilisers, pesticides, and weedicides, as well as standards for crop storage and traceability.
• Crucially, the NAC will cover all new and emerging areas like natural farming and organic farming, as well as the use of Internet-of-Things in the field of agriculture.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/national-agriculture-code-bureau-of-indian-standards-9603867/

The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) compiled and released the 7th consecutive issue of the publication “EnviStats India 2024: Environment Accounts”.

• It is compiled in accordance with the SEEA (System of Environmental- Economic Accounting)
• The current publication which is seventh in series covers Energy Accounts, Ocean Accounts, Soil Nutrient Index and Biodiversity.

Highlights EnviStats India 2024
• There has been around 72% increase in the number and around 16% increase in area for the Total Protected Area during the period 2000 to 2023.
• The coverage of Mangroves, which is an important sub ecosystem of the ocean ecosystem, has increased around 8% over the years 2013 to 2021.
• The report also includes the taxonomic faunal and floral diversity of India, the status of the Leopard and Snow leopard, information on Genetic Conservation using data from the stakeholder Ministries/agencies.

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2060296

In a recent study published in Nature Communications, physicists from Purdue University in the U.S. reported levitating Fluorescent Nano-Diamonds (FNDs) in a high vacuum and spinning them very fast, paving the way for multiple applications in industry.

• These are nanometre-sized diamonds made of carbon nanoparticles.

• Properties:-
• They are produced in a high temperature and high pressure process.
• FNDs are stable under light and aren’t toxic to living things.
• FNDs don’t blink when irradiated for a long time.
• Their fluorescence lifespan is greater than 10 nanoseconds (ns) — a relatively long duration — which makes them better than quantum dots.
• FNDs can also be doped to enhance their electrical, magnetic, thermal, and/or optical properties.

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Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi (26 October 1890 – 25 March 1931) was an Indian journalist, a leader of the Indian National Congress and an independence movement activist.

He was an important figure in the non-cooperation movement and the freedom movement of India, who once translated Victor Hugo's novel Ninety-Three, and is mostly known as the founder-editor of the Hindi language newspaper, Pratap.