🔆Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD):

✅It is a progressive and fatal neurological disease affecting deer, elk, moose, and other cervids (members of the deer family).
✅It's caused by abnormal proteins called prions that damage brain tissue, leading to severe neurological symptoms, weight loss, and eventually death.
✅CWD is part of a group of diseases known as Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies (TSEs), which also include mad cow disease in cattle and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans.

✅Transmission:
CWD spreads between animals through bodily fluids, like saliva, urine, and feces, as well as contaminated soil and plants.

✅There is currently no evidence that CWD can infect humans.

✅Treatment: It is always fatal in infected animals. There is no vaccine or treatment.

Biodiversity Hotspot

🌿What are Biodiversity Hotspots?

- Regions with high species diversity and endemism
- Facing significant threat of habitat loss
- Identified by Conservation International
- 36 such hotspots globally, 4 in India

🌿Major Biodiversity Hotspots in India:

1. Eastern Himalayas
2. Western Ghats
3. Indo-Burma
4. Sundaland

🌿Key Facts to Remember:
- India has 4 of the world's 36 biodiversity hotspots
- These regions cover just 2.4% of the Earth's surface
- Yet, they host over 60% of all plant and animal species
- Face rapid habitat loss and destruction

🔆Post-independence poverty estimates:

📍Planning Commission

✅Planning Commission Expert Group (1962), constituted by the Planning Commission formulated the separate poverty lines for rural and urban areas (Rs.20 and Rs.25 per capita per year respectively).

📍Y. K. Alagh Committee (1979)
✅By 1979, it was decided that poverty should be measured precisely based on starvation. Committee was constituted which gave its recommendation as the people consuming less than 2,100 calories in the urban areas or less than 2,400 calories in the rural areas are poor.

📍Lakdawala Committee (1993)
✅In 1993, an expert group constituted to review methodology for poverty estimation, chaired by D.T.

✅Lakdawala, made the following suggestions:
🔰Consumption expenditure should be calculated based on calorie consumption as earlier;
🔰State specific poverty lines should be constructed and these should be updated using the Consumer Price Index of Industrial Workers (CPI-IW) in urban areas and Consumer Price Index of Agricultural Labour (CPI-AL) in rural areas; and
🔰Discontinuation of ‘scaling’ of poverty estimates based on National Accounts Statistics. This assumes that the basket of goods and services used to calculate CPI-IW and CPI-AL reflect the consumption patterns of the poor.

🔆Mission Amrit Sarovar

✅Recently, the Prime Minister of India said that over 60,000 Amrit Sarovars were constructed across villages leaving behind a legacy for future generations.

📍Mission Amrit Sarovar:

✅It was launched on 24th April, 2022with the resolve to build 75 Amrit Sarovars during the 75th year of independence as a part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.
✅It helps to overcome the water crisis in rural areas of the country.
✅Every Amrit Sarovar will have a pondage area of at least 1 acre with a water holding capacity of about 10,000 cubic metre.
✅It focuses on water conservation, people’s participation and proper utilization of soil excavated from the water bodies to boost infrastructure projects.
✅There is no separate financial allocation for Mission Amrit Sarovar.
✅Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Application and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N) has been engaged as Technical partner for the Mission.

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY):

Launch and Aim:
• It was launched by the government in 2015 for providing loans up to Rs. 10 lakh to the non-corporate, non-farm small/micro-enterprises.

Funding Provision:
• MUDRA, which stands for Micro Units Development & Refinance Agency Ltd., is a financial institution set up by the Government.
• It provides funding to the non-corporate small business sector through various last-mile financial institutions like Banks, NBFC and Micro Finance Institutions.
•MUDRA does not lend directly to micro-entrepreneurs/individuals.

📖 Important Current Affairs for All Upcoming Exams



1) Defence minister Rajnath Singh inaugurated a new Sainik School under the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
▪️ Rajasthan:-
Governor - Haribhau Kisanrao Bagade
➭Amber Palace
➭Hawa Mahal
➭Ranthambore National Park
➭City Palace
➭Keoladeo Ghana National Park
➭Sariska National Park.
➭ Kumbhalgarh Fort

2) Azerbaijan, the host of this year's climate change conference, COP29, has proposed to launch a new climate fund for developing countries.
➨ The fund can be financed through “voluntary” contributions from fossil-fuel producing countries and companies.

3) According to the Asian Power Index Report 2024, released recently by the Australian think tank Lowy Institute, India is ranked third most powerful country in Asia after the United States of America and China.

4) The Maharashtra government has approved a proposal to rename Pune airport as Jagadguru Sant Tukaram Maharaj Airport, a decision made during a cabinet meeting.
▪️ Maharashtra :-
➨ Sanjay Gandhi (Borivali) National Park
➨ Tadoba National Park
➨Nawegaon National Park
➨Gugamal National Park
➨Chandoli National Park

5) Kumar Tuhin has been appointed as India’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

6) According to the latest government report under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the majority of atrocities against Scheduled Tribes (STs) were also concentrated in 13 states, which reported 98.91% of all cases in 2022.
➨ 97.7% of cases of atrocities against SCs were reported from 13 states.
➨ Uttar Pradesh had the highest percentage with 12,287 cases with 23.78%, followed by Rajasthan with 8,651 cases (16.75%) and Madhya Pradesh with 7,732 cases (14.97%).

7) Megastar K Chiranjeevi was honoured by the Guinness World Records, which recognised him as the most prolific star in the Indian film industry in the actor/dancer category.

8) The prestigious 25th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards will be held in Jaipur, Rajasthan, at the JECC Sitapura from March 7–9, 2025.

9) Union Minister for Finance Nirmala Sitharaman represented India at the 9th Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) Board of Governors meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.
➨The theme of the 9th AIIB Board of Governors meeting was "Building Resilient Infrastructure for All".

10) India has officially joined an international deal aimed at protecting marine life in the high seas.
➨ External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar signed the agreement, known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ).

11) The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi dedicated to the nation three PARAM Rudra Supercomputers.
➨ Developed indigenously under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM), these supercomputers have been deployed in Pune, Delhi and Kolkata to facilitate pioneering scientific research.
➨The Prime Minister also inaugurated a High-Performance Computing (HPC) system tailored for weather and climate research.

12) Rising swimming star Pratyaksha Ray has been selected for the Ekalavya Puraskar 2024 due to her impressive achievements.
➨ At the Khelo India University Games in Guwahati this February, Ray won a total of six medals: four gold, one silver, and one bronze.

13) The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India assumed chairmanship of the Asian Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (ASOSAI) for 2024-2027.

14) Air Marshal Ajay Kumar Arora assumed the appointment of Air Officer-in-Charge Maintenance, Indian Air Force, at Air Headquarters (Vayu Bhawan).
➨ Air Marshal Arora was commissioned in the Aeronautical Engineering stream of IAF in Aug 1986.

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Some of the important places in the news

✅ Israel - Tel Aviv, Haifa port

✅ Iran - Tabriz, Jolfa

✅ Lebanon - Dahieh, Beirut

✅ UAE - Fujairah, Rass Al Khat, Jebel Ali, and Ghuwaifat

✅ Saudi Arabia - Dammam port and Haradh

✅ Ukraine - Donbas, Donetsk,Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

✅ Ethiopia - Tigray, Amhara

✅ DRC - North Kivu and Ituri

✅ Uganda -Bidibidi refugee complex

✅ Kenya - Dadaab refugee complex

✅ Myanmar - Kachin

✅ Turkey - Anatolia

✅ Mozambique - Cabo Delgado

✅ Spain - Catalonia

✅ Levant - Region along the eastern Mediterranean shores, roughly corresponding to modern-day Israel, Jordan,Lebanon, Syria, and certain adjacent areas.

✅ Azerbaijan -Nagorno-Karabakh ( Disputed between Azerbaijan and Armenia )

✅ Senkaku Islands dispute - Japan and China.

✅ The Suwałki Gap - is a barely 100 kilometre-long stretch of land between Russia’s ally Belarus and Kaliningrad(Russia).

✅ Lake Titicaca - Peru and Bolivia

✅ Raffah crossing - It's the southernmost post of exit from Gaza and borders Egypt’s Sinai peninsula.It is under control of Egypt.

✅ Sinai Peninsula - Sovereign territory of Egypt.

✅ Liptako-Gourma region - At the tri junction of the  Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.

✅ Galapagos Island - Island group of the eastern Pacific Ocean, administratively a province of Ecuador.