Tarang Shakti 2024
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- 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.
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PM Kisan Nidhi
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- 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.
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Burp Tax
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- 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.
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SaaS Waste
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- 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.
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Red teaming
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- 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.
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Greylisting
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- 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.
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June 17, 2024