Tarang Shakti 2024

• Recently, India is set to host its inaugural multinational air exercise, Tarang Shakti 2024, in August, with participation from 10 countries.

Tarang Shakti

• Aim: To improve interoperability and foster peace among the participating air forces by promoting cooperation, strategic alignment, and the exchange of knowledge and best practices.
• Participating Nations: Among the countries sending contingents are Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. 

PM Kisan Nidhi

• The newly sworn-in government’s first decision was to release the 17th instalment of PM Kisan Nidhi. 

PM Kisan Nidhi

• About: The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) Yojana was implemented starting from December 1, 2018.
  • Under this scheme, eligible farmer families across the country receive income support of Rs 6000 per annum, distributed in three equal instalments of Rs 2,000 each every four months.
• Implementing Ministry: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare
• Aim: To support all landholding farmer families financially in purchasing necessary inputs for ensuring crop health and optimal yields, aligned with expected farm income and household requirements.
• Funding: The funding pattern involves full financial support from the Central Government as it is a Central Sector Scheme.
• Eligibility: Families of farmers who own cultivable land, Farmers from urban and rural areas alike, Families of small and marginal farmers.
• Non-Eligible: Current or retired officers and employees of state/central government, PSUs, and government autonomous bodies,
  • Individuals with higher economic status are ineligible,
  • Tax-paying individuals,
  • Farmer families occupying constitutional positions,
  • Professionals such as doctors, engineers, and lawyers,
  • Retired pensioners receiving a monthly pension exceeding Rs 10,000.

Burp Tax

• Recently, New Zealand’s center-right government announced the cancellation of the ‘burp tax’—a plan to tax greenhouse gas emissions from livestock.

Burp Tax

• Goal of the scheme: To reduce methane emissions from ruminant species—hoofed herbivores like cows, sheep, goats, and buffaloes that have a unique digestive system enabling them to digest food that other animals cannot.
• Reasons for Burp Tax:Fermentation in the rumen produces methane, a potent greenhouse gas responsible for 30% of global warming since preindustrial times. Ruminant animals like cows and sheep release methane mainly through burping.
  • In New Zealand, with 10 million cattle and 25 million sheep, these emissions account for nearly half of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.

SaaS Waste

• About: SaaS waste is the unnecessary or inefficient purchasing of cloud-based software. 
• Applicable: This commonly arises when organisations acquire Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) tools that are not essential or utilised. 
  • SaaS wastage may also stem from employees not fully utilising applications, failing to terminate subscriptions during team transitions, and overall poor management of Saas resources.

Red teaming

• About: Red teaming is a structured testing methodology that is utilised to uncover weaknesses and vulnerabilities in Al models.
• Function: This cybersecurity practice involves ethical hacking to simulate real cyber-attacks, identifying potential vulnerabilities in a system and enhancing its security measures over time. 
• Objective: While it is not a new concept, governments and businesses worldwide now view Red teaming as a critical tool for identifying and mitigating risks associated with generative Al.

Greylisting

• About: Greylisting is a spam-fighting method used by mail servers to temporarily block emails from unknown or suspicious sources. 
• Functions: It verifies sender’s IP address, email and recipient email against a list of recognized senders, known as the greylist. Any new or unrecognized senders are rejected with a 4xx error code, prompting them to resend the email.