NIFTEM:

• NIFTEM is the brainchild of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries (MoFPI)Government of India.
• It was created to cater to the needs of various stakeholders such as entrepreneurs, food processing industry, exporters, policy makers, government and existing institution.
• It works actively for assisting in setting up food standards, businesses incubation and can also include knowledge sharing.
• It would also be an apex institution in the field of food technology and management, networking and co-ordinating with other institutions in the same field in India and Abroad.

Bugun liocichla:

• Bugun Liocichla ( Liocichla bugunorum) was discovered in 2006 in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh. The bird has been named in honour of the efforts of the Bugun community of Singchung village in West Kameng district in conserving the wildlife and forest of the area.
• The known population of this species is between 14 and 20 individual birds and occupies an extremely small (3 to 4 square kilometre) area in the temperate forest around 2,200m which is entirely within the traditional lands of Singchung village.
• The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has classified this species as critically endangered.

Community reserves

• Conservation reserves and community reserves in India are terms denoting protected areas of India which typically act as buffer zones to or connectors and migration corridors between established national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and reserved and protected forests of India.
• Such areas are designated as conservation areas if they are uninhabited and completely owned by the Government of India but used for subsistence by communities, and community areas if part of the lands are privately owned. Administration of such reserves would be through local people and local agencies like the gram panchayat, as in the case of communal forests.
• The 2002 Amendment to the Indian Wildlife Protection Act (1972) calls for a new category of protected areas, a ‘Community Reserve’ (cr).

Rustom- 2:

• Rustom 2 drone is a medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle, developed on the lines of predator drones of the United States. The objective of this drone is to carry out surveillance for the armed forces with an endurance of 24 hours.
• The drone was developed for use by all three services of the Indian armed forces, primarily for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) operations.
• The medium-altitude prototype can fly at over 22,000 ft and is a long-endurance (MALE) UAV that has an approximate flight time of 20 hours.
• It can fly at around 280 km/h and carry a variety of payloads like Medium Range Electro Optic (MREO), Long Range Electro Optic (LREO), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Electronic Intelligence (ELINT).
• Rustom 2 can fly missions on manual as well as autonomous modes. The onboard way-point navigation system allows the drone to conduct missions autonomously.

Uniform Civil Code: 

• Uniform civil code is the ongoing point of debate within Indian mandate to replace personal laws based on the scriptures and customs of each major religious community in India with a common set of rules governing every citizen.
• Article 44 of the Directive Principles expects the state to apply these while formulating policies for the country.
• Apart from being an important issue regarding secularism in India & fundamental right to practice religion contained in Article 25, it became one of the most controversial topics in contemporary politics during the Shah Bano case in 1985.
• The debate then focused on the Muslim Personal Law, which is partially based on the Sharia law and remains unreformed since 1937, permitting unilateral divorce, polygamy in the country and putting it among the nations legally applying the Sharia law.
• The Bano case made it a politicized public issue focused on identity politics—by means of attacking specific religious minorities versus protecting its cultural identity.

Fourth Generation Biofuels

• They are aimed at not only producing sustainable energy but also a way of capturing and storing CO₂.
• This process differs from second and third generation production at all stages of production as the carbon dioxide is simultaneously captured.
• Carbon Negative: This carbon capture makes fourth generation biofuel production carbon negative rather than simply carbon neutral, as it is ‘locks’ away more carbon than it produces.

Nidaan

• A new software, ‘Nidaan’, has been launched in Rajasthan for presumptive diagnosis and monitoring of seasonal and non-communicable diseases as well as the trends of ailments found in specific areas.
• It is expected to help in the formulation of specific action plans for control of diseases.
• The new arrangement would also help strengthen telemedicine services in the government hospitals.
• “Nidaan” will facilitate online entries of as many as 46 diseases and healthcare services available for their treatment in different institutions.

Permanent Residency Status scheme

Sherpas

• Sherpa is a Tibetic ethnic group native to the most mountainous regions of Nepal, as well as certain areas of China, Bhutan and India, the Himalayas.
• Ethnic Sherpas from the valleys around Everest are known for high altitude climbing.
• They have a unique ability to work in a low-oxygen, high altitude atmosphere.
• Their unique physiology, adapted over thousands of years of living at high altitudes, has made them essential. Sherpas use oxygen more efficiently than lowlanders.
• Sherpas have been helping Everest climbers since the first British teams set their sights on the summit in the 1920s.

Queqiao, or Magpie Bridge

• China launched a relay satellite as part of a groundbreaking programme to be the first to land a spacecraft on the far side of the moon later this year.
• The satellite, lofted into space aboard a Long March-4C rocket, will facilitate communication between controllers on Earth and the Chang’e 4 mission.
• Moon’s far side is also known as the dark side because it faces away from the earth and is comparatively unknown.
• The satellite, named Queqiao, or “Magpie Bridge,” after an ancient Chinese folk tale, was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in the south-western province of Sichuan, the space administration said.
• China conducted its first crewed space mission in 2003, making it only the third country after Russia and the U.S. to do so and has put a pair of space stations into orbit.

India-CLMV conclave

• 5^th India – CLMV (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam) Business Conclave was recently held at Phnom Penh, Cambodia. During the conference, government and business community of CLMV countries were invited to actively partner in India’s initiative to strengthen manufacturing capacities. 
• Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam collectively, is the third largest economy in ASEAN, followed by Indonesia and Thailand.
• India’s trade with the CLMV countries has grown from USD 1.5 bn to more than USD 10 bn in the last 10 years.

Clean Air India initiative:

• The Clean Air India Initiative is a collaborative project between Get In The Ring, a platform for start-ups, the government of the Netherlands, Start-up India, and INDUS Forum, an online matchmaking platform of Indian and Dutch businesses.
• The campaign aims to curb air pollution in Indian cities by promoting partnerships between Indian start-ups and Dutch companies and build a network of entrepreneurs working on business solutions for cleaner air.

SURYA KIRAN-XIII:

• It is a joint Military Exercise between India and Nepal that will be conducted at Pithoragarh.
• The Surya Kiran series of Exercises are being conducted annually, alternatively in Nepal and India. Notably in the series of military training exercises undertaken by India with various countries, Surya Kiran series with Nepal is the largest in terms of troop’s participation.
• The aim of this exercise is to conduct battalion level joint training with emphasis on Counter Terrorism in mountainous terrain. Aspects of Disaster Management have also been included in the exercise.
• The Joint Battalion Level Exercise will enhance defence co-operation and relations between the two nations. It is an ideal platform for the contingent of both nations to share their experience and gain mutually. The Exercise will be yet another step towards taking traditional friendship between the two nations to greater heights.