National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRiP)

• National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRiP), the largest and one of the most significant initiatives in Automotive sector so far, represents a unique joining of hands between the Government of India, a number of State Governments and Indian Automotive Industry to create a state of the art Testing, Validation and R&D infrastructure in the country.
• It will address the R&D requirements of the automotive industry, full-fledged testing and homologation centres.
• The NATRIP project is required:
• To adopt global best practices to ensure road safety, environmental protection etc. in design, manufacture, testing and operation of motor vehicles in India since India is signatory to UN Regulation on Harmonisation of Vehicle Specifications under WP-29 of 1998.
• To make Indian vehicles comply with global standard of safety (in line with UN Brasilia resolution)
• To help the MSMEs for development and certification of auto-components, both for OEMs and after sale parts.

Kajin Sara lake

• Newly discovered lake in Nepal may be the world’s highest.
• The lake is located at a height of 5,200 metres at Singarkharka in Chame rural municipality.
• It called Singar locally is said to have formed out of the water melted from the Himalayas.

Small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV)

• Isro’s mini launcher booked for US satellite customer even before its birth.
• SSLV a new mini-rocket launcher designed and built by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for launching small satellites.
• SSLV rockets are capable of putting a payload of 500 kg to mid-inclination Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and 300 kg to Sun Synchronous Orbit (SSO), making it ideal for launching small satellites.
• SSLV is designed for the launch-on-demand concept, with very quick turn-around capability in between launches.
• SSLV is perfectly suited for launching multiple micro-satellites at a time and supports multiple orbital drop-offs.

Krishna river

• Krishna River or Krishnaveni is one of the longest rivers in Peninsular India.
• It is the fourth largest river in India after the Ganga, Godavari and the Narmadha.
• It rises at Mahabaleswar in district Satara, Maharashtra and flows through Maharastra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
• The delta of this river is one of the most fertile regions in India.
• It was the home to ancient Satavahana and Ikshvaku Sun Dynasty kings.

AKRUTI Programme

• Department of Atomic Energy has launched DAE-Societal Initiative for utilization of Non-Power Applications (NPAs) and Spin-off technologies in the area of water, agriculture, food processing and agri-land improvement through urban and rural waste management.
• The structured program called “AKRUTI-KRUTIK-FORCE” has been formulated by BARC, Mumbai.
• It is implemented through technically oriented NGOs for techno-economic growth of the rural sector.
• AKRUTI is an acronym for Advanced Knowledge andRural Technology Implementation Initiative.

Khare crater

• International Astronomical Union (IAU) has named a crater on Pluto after Bishun Khare, a little-known Indian physicist born in Varanasi who extensively studied the atmosphere of Pluto.
• The Khare crater was among the 14 Pluto features christened by the IAU on the basis of a proposal from NASA’s New Horizons team that carried out the first reconnaissance of Pluto and its moons with the New Horizons spacecraft in 2015.
• This is the second round of nomenclature for Pluto features. In the first round in 2017, IAU used the names of Everest pioneers Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary to describe two mountains on the icy dwarf planet.

Panchamirtham

• ‘Panchamirtham’ of Palani temple gets GI tag.
• This is the first time a temple ‘prasadam’ from Tamil Nadu has been bestowed with the GI tag. 
• The panchamirtham is a combination of five natural substances — banana, jaggery, cow ghee, honey and cardamom. Dates and diamond sugar candies are added for flavour.
• Not even a single drop of water is added during the preparation of the panchamirtham. No preservatives or artificial ingredients are used.

Diurnal Cycle

• A diurnal cycle is any pattern that recurs every 24 hours as a result of one full rotation of the Earth, around its own axis.
• In climatology, the diurnal cycle is one of the most basic forms of climate patterns.
• The most familiar such pattern is the diurnal temperature variation. Such a cycle may be approximately sinusoidal, due to the Sun’s rising and setting and thermal relaxation at night.
• Diurnal cycles of environmental conditions (light or temperature) can result in similar cycles independent biological processes, such as photosynthesis in plants, or clinical depression in humans.
• Plant responses to environmental cycles may even induce indirect cycles in rhizosphere microbial activities, including nitrogen fixation.
• A semi-diurnal cycle refers to a pattern that occurs about every twelve hours or about twice a day.
• Often these can be related to lunar tides, in which case the interval is closer to 12 hours and 25 minutes.

KONKAN bilateral exercise

• It is an annual bilateral exercises between Indian Navy and Royal Navy of Britain.
• It is currently underway off the South Coast of UK.
• It aims to promote mutual understanding, provide exposure to operating procedures, communication measures and best practices.
• INS Tarkash, the Indian Navy’s stealth frigate is exercising with the Royal Navy’s, HMS Defender with integral helicopter Wildcat.
• The thrust of this year exercice is on Anti-Air warfare, Anti-Surface Warfare, Flying Operations and Seamanship Evolutions of varying complexities.

Samarth Scheme

• The Union Textiles Ministry signed a Memorandum of Understanding with 16 State governments on Wednesday to offer skill training programmes under the Samarth scheme (Scheme for capacity building in the textiles sector).
• To provide demand driven, placement oriented National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) compliant skilling programmes to incentivize and supplement the efforts of the industry in creating jobs in the organized textile and related sectors, covering the entire value chain of textile, excluding Spinning and Weaving.
• To promote skilling and skill up gradation in the traditional sectors of handlooms, handicrafts, sericulture and jute.
• To enable provision of sustainable livelihood either by wage or self-employment to all sections of the society across the country.
• The Scheme would target to train 10.00 lakh persons (9 lakhs in organised & 1 lakh in traditional sector)
• Implementing Agencies:–Textile Industry.
• Institutions/Organization of the Ministry of Textile/State Governments having training infrastructure and placement tie-ups with textile industry.
• Reputed training institutions/ NGOs/ Societies/ Trusts/ Organizations/ Companies /Start Ups / Entrepreneurs active in textile sector having placement tie-ups with textile industry.

Insulin

• Two Canadian scientists, Frederick Banting and Dr. Charles H. Best, isolated insulin in 1921.
• Insulin is used by humans for the treatment of diabetes as it has been under use since 1982. 
• Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar. 
• Human Insulin is produced in the laboratory by injecting proteins of insulin in Escherichia coli (E- Coli) bacteria.
• Human insulin is available in two forms, a short acting (regular) form and an intermediate acting (NPH) form.
• NPH (Neutral Protamine Hagedorn) insulin, also known as isophane insulin, is a suspension meaning that the insulin vial should be rolled or repeatedly turned upside down to ensure the solution is uniformly cloudy.
• Premixed insulins consist of a mix of regular and NPH insulin. The premixed insulins are available in a number of different ratios of mixing.

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs):

• Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases, tend to be of long duration and are the result of a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioural factors.
• The main types of NCDs are cardiovascular diseases (like heart attacks and stroke), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases (such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma) and diabetes.
• NCDs disproportionately affect people in low- and middle-income countries.

Beresheet

• It is a Israeli robotic lander for a lunar probe.
• It had carried human DNA samples, along with the ‘Tardigrades’ and 30 million small digitized pages of information about human society and culture.
• It crashed and spilled the tardigrades on the Moon.

Spahaerotheca Magadha/Magadha Burrowing Frog

• A new species of burrowing frog has been confirmed in Jharkhand’s Chhota Nagpur Plateau. 
• The frog was first discovered in 2015. 
• The frog is the newest species of the genus Spahaerotheca.
• It has been named as Spahaerotheca Magadha and will be known by the common name of ‘Magadha Burrowing Frog’.
• The frog is endemic to agricultural areas in Nawadih and Joungi village of Jharkhand’s Koderma district.

Know India Programme:

• The Know India Programme (KIP) is an important initiative of the Government of India with an aim to engage and make the students and young professionals of India Diaspora in the age group of 18-30 years, feel a sense of connect with their motherland and to be motivated and inspired by the transformation taking place in India.
• The objective of KIP is also to give them an exposure to various aspects of contemporary India’s forms of art, heritage and culture and to promote the awareness on different facets of life in India and the progress made by the country in various fields such as Industry, Education, Science & Technology, Information & Communication Technology, Climate and Power & Renewable Energy etc. 
• The KIP is a 25-day orientation programme organized by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in partnership with one or two States including visit to States for 10 days. 
• Since 2004, the Ministry has conducted 53 editions of KIP with participation of 1821 Overseas Indian youth.
• The participants are selected on the basis of nominations recommended by the Indian Missions/Posts abroad.

Four New Products get GI Tag

• Tawlhlohpuan and Mizo Puanchei from the state of Mizoram
• Tawlhlohpuan – a medium to heavy, compactly woven, good quality fabric from Mizoram is known for warp yarns, warping, weaving & intricate designs that are made by hand. 
• Mizo Puanchei – a colourful Mizo shawl/textile, from Mizoram, is considered as the most colourful among the Mizo textiles.
• It is an essential possession for every Mizo lady and an important marriage outfit in the state.
• It is also the most commonly used costume in Mizo festive dances and official ceremonies. 
• Tirur Betel leaf from Kerala
• Tirur Betel leaf- is valued both for its mild stimulant action and medicinal properties. 
• Even though it is commonly used for making pan masala for chewing, it has many medicinal, industrial and cultural usagesand is considered as a remedy for bad breath and digestive disorders.

Baltic States

• Baltic States lie in the north-eastern region of Europe containing the countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea.
• The climate across Baltic States is cool and damp, with greater rainfall in the interior uplands than along the coast.
• Temperatures are moderate in comparison with other areas of the East European Plain, such as in neighbouring Russia.
• People Majority: Balts, Finnic, Baltic Finns, Roman Catholics.
• The Baltic States offer a mix of old European charm and soviet memories, as per Baltic Run.
• The Baltic Sea is positioned in Northern Europe and bordered by Sweden (a part of the Scandinavian Peninsula), Finland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, and Denmark and its numerous islands.

Pretomanid

• United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved new drug-Pretomanid for treating drug-resistant strain of Tuberculosis (TB).
• Pretomanid is only the third new anti-TB drug approved for use by FDA in more than 40 years.
• Pretomanid is novel compound developed by New York-based non-profit organisation TB Alliance.
• It is used alongside two other antibiotics (bedaquiline and linezolid) to treat extremely drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis.
• This three-drug regimen is collectively known as BPaL regimen and it can cure highly drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis by drastically shortening treatment period.

Anginda Peak

• Anginda peak is a mountain in the Nilgiri Hills of the Western Ghats in The Nilgiris District, Tamil Nadu, South India.
• It is just south of Sispara pass, and forms the southernmost boundary of Mukurthi National Park in Tamil Nadu.