Wainganga-Nalganga River Linking Project

About Wainganga-Nalganga river linking project:

• The water from Wainganga river in Godavari basin will be redirected to the Nalganga project in Buldhana district by constructing 426.52km of link canals
• This project promises to enhance agricultural productivity and provide a sustainable water supply to the affected regions, bringing significant relief and development opportunities to the drought-stricken Marathwada area
• The project will benefit 15 talukas across Nagpur, Wardha, Amravati, Yavatmal, Akola, and Buldhana districts in Vidarbha by providing irrigation, drinking water, and industrial water supply.

About Wainganga and Nalganga River:

• Wainganga River
  • Wainganga River is one of the key tributaries of the river Godavari.
  • Source: The river rises in the Mahadeo Hills in the Seoni District of Madhya Pradesh.
  • The river Wainganga after its confluence with river Wardha is called Pranhita
• Nalganaga River
  • It is the main left bank tributary of river Purna  and a sub-tributary of Tapi river.

BIMSTEC- Free Trade Agreement

About BIMSTEC:

• The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)  bloc includes seven countries: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Thailand. 
• BIMSTEC was established in the 1997 Bangkok Declaration with a secretariat in Dhaka.
• Its members lie in the littoral and adjacent areas of the Bay of Bengal constituting a contiguous regional unity.

BIMSTEC Free Trade Area Framework Agreement:

• FTA: A Free trade Agreement (FTA) is an agreement between two or more countries where the countries agree on certain obligations that affect trade in goods and services, and protections for investors and intellectual property rights, among other topics.
• BIMSTEC Free Trade Area Framework Agreement (BFTAFA): It has been signed by all member nations to stimulate trade and investment in the parties, and attract outsiders to trade with and invest in the BIMSTEC countries at a higher level.
• “Trade Negotiating Committee”(TNC) : Subsequently, the “Trade Negotiating Committee”(TNC) was set up, with Thailand as the permanent chair, to negotiate in areas of trade in goods and services, investment, economic co-operation, trade facilitations and technical assistance for LDCs.
• No FTA: BIMSTEC FTA was negotiated in 2004, talks on it are yet to be concluded. The last round of talks were held in 2018.

Kasturi Cotton Bharat Program

About Kasturi Cotton Bharat Programme:

• Kasturi Cotton: it is an initiative of the Government of India, Textile Trade Bodies and Industry with the objective of creating premium value for cotton grown in India as per benchmarked specifications.
• Implementing agency: The Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL) 
• Digital Platform: It provides a digital platform for necessary information and updates on these initiatives and highlights the registration process for ginners to produce Kasturi Cotton Bharat Brand and its processes that make the branded Indian cotton unique.
• QR based certification : To provide complete traceability of Kasturi Cotton Bharat tagged bales across the supply chain, QR based certification technology is being used at each stage of the processing
• Block-chain based software platform: It will provide end to end traceability and transaction certificate. In this regard, Microsites with QR code verification and BlockChain technology has been developed.
• Operational at the national level: The Kasturi Cotton Bharat programme is operational at the national level and its promotion is being made at national and international platform. 
  • Hence, the allocation of funds is not at state level.

Cheque Truncation System (CTS)

Batch Processing and Continuous Clearing: 

• Batch Processing: Batch processing refers to the execution of a series of tasks or transactions as a single group or batch, typically at scheduled intervals (e.g., end of the day).
• Continuous clearing: It is a method where transactions or data are processed in real-time or near real-time as they are received, rather than waiting to accumulate into a batch.

About Cheque Truncation System:

• About: CTS is a cheque clearing system undertaken by the RBI . As the name suggests, truncation is the process of stopping the flow of physical cheques in its way of clearance.
• It is an online image-based cheque clearing system where cheque images and Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) data are captured at the collecting  bank branch and transmitted electronically eliminating the actual cheque movement.  
• Cheque truncation thus obviates the need to move physical cheques across branches
• CTS is protected by a comprehensive PKI-based security architecture which incorporates basic security and authentication controls such as dual access control, user ID and passwords with cryptobox and smart card interfaces.

Benefits:

• Realisation of proceeds of cheque possible within the same day.
• Data storage and retrieval becomes easy.
• Minimizes risks and introduce a secured cheque clearing system.
• Will result in cost savings due to lower cost in physical movement of cheques.
• Minimizing bottlenecks and delays between presentation and realization time.
• Provides shorter clearing cycles and a centralized image archival system.

Chandipura Virus & Viral Encephalitis

About Chandipura Virus: 

• About: The virus is a member of the Vesiculovirus genus of the family Rhabdoviridae. Incidentally this family also includes the rabies virus
• Transmission: The virus is vector-borne, with the likely vector believed to be the female Phlebotomine sandfly, insects that are prevalent in the early monsoon period. 
• It said several species of mosquitoes replicated and transmitted the virus experimentally, and among the different mosquito species studied, Aedes aegypti, (which also transmits dengue), was found to be highly susceptible and could transmit the virus more efficiently than others, under laboratory conditions. 
• Whom does it affect: Chandipura virus has been found to mostly affect children under the age of 15, predominantly in rural locations. 

About Viral encephalitis: 

• Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES):It is a group of clinically similar neurologic manifestations caused by several different viruses, bacteria, fungus, parasites, spirochetes, chemical/ toxins, etc. 
• The known viral causes of AES include JE, Dengue, HSV, CHPV, West Nile, etc.
• Viral encephalitis: It is inflammation of the brain parenchyma caused by a virus. 
• It is the most common type of encephalitis and often coexists with viral meningitis. 
• Viruses invade the host outside the central nervous system and then reach the spinal cord and brain via hematogenous spread or in a retrograde manner from nerve endings. 

Mitra Shakti

About Mitra Shakti: 

• It is a joint military exercise between India and the Sri Lankan army.
• AIM: To enhance their readiness to address common security concerns and maintain regional stability.