Meet ''Omorgus Khandesh'', a newly discovered Indian beetle

• It is a necrophagous and also called a keratin beetle.
• This species belongs to the Trogidae family. With the addition of this new species, now there are a total of 14 extant species of this family in India.
• The beetles of this group are sometimes called hide beetles as they tend to cover their body under the soil and hide.
• It is mainly associated with bird and mammal nests or burrows.

Necrophagous

• The arthropods which feed directly on dead remains and constitute are called necrophagous.

231 bird species spotted at Periyar Tiger Reserve in survey

• Location: It is located in the Western Ghats of Kerala.
• It was declared a Tiger Reserve in 1978.
• It gets its name from the River Periyar which has its origin deep inside the reserve.
• Two main rivers, Pamba and Periyar drain the reserve.
• It is home to many tribal communities including the Mannans and the Palians.
• Terrain: Hilly and undulating with a maximum altitude of 2016 m.
• Vegetation: It consists of tropical evergreen, semi- evergreen and moist deciduous
• Flora:
• There are more than 171 species of grasses.
• Important flora includes teak, mangoes, rosewood, jamun, jacarandas, terminalias, tamarind, royal ponciana, bamboos etc.
• Fauna:
• Includes Elephants, Wild Pigs, Sambar, Gaur, Mouse Deer, Dole or Barking Deer, Indian Wild Dog and Tiger.
• The major four species of primates are also found at Periyar - the rare lion-tailed macaque, the Nilgiri Langur, Gee''s Golden Langur, Common Langur and Bonnet Macaque.
• It Is also being considered as the habitat of the elusive Nilgiri Tahr.

Conference on Financial Literacy in Amrit Kaal

• It was established in 2016 under the Companies Act, of 2013.
• The Authority is entrusted with;
  • The responsibility of administration of the Investor Education Protection Fund (IEPF).
  • Make refunds of shares, unclaimed dividends, matured deposits/debentures etc. to investors and promote awareness among investors.
• Nodal Ministry: Ministry of Corporate Affairs

Investor Education Protection Fund (IEPF).

• It has been established under Section 205C of the Companies Act, 1956 by way of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1999.
• The following amounts that remained unpaid and unclaimed for a period of seven years from the date they became due for payment are credited to the Fund:
  • Amounts in the unpaid dividend accounts of the companies
  • The application money received by companies for allotment of any securities and due for refund
  • Matured deposits with companies
  • Matured debentures with companies
  • Grants and donations are given to the fund by the Central Government, State Governments, companies or any other institutions for the purposes of the Fund
  • The interest or other income received out of the investments made from the fund

Warm water melts weak spots on Antarctica''s ''Doomsday Glacier,'' say scientists

• Thwaites glacier, nicknamed the “Doomsday glacier,” is a fast-moving glacier in West Antarctica.
• It covers an area roughly the size of Great Britain.
• It is 120 km wide at its broadest.
• The glacier is rapidly losing ice to the ocean in response to climate change and changes in ocean circulation.
• It loses more than 50 billion tons of ice to the ocean yearly, contributing to about 4% of the annual sea level rise.
• The glacier holds enough water to raise global sea levels by 65 centimeters.
• It has retreated by about 14 kilometers since the late 1990s.
• It also acts as a buffer, holding back neighboring glaciers that contain around three meters of potential sea level rise.

‘Saptarishi’ in Budget 2023- inclusive development, Last mile delivery, Infrastructure, Green growth, Youth power, Unleashing potential, and Financial inclusion.

Green Growth:

Energy Storage Projects:

• Battery Energy Storage Systems with a capacity of 4,000 MWH will be supported with Viability Gap Funding.

Battery Energy Storage Systems

• Battery storage, or battery energy storage systems (BESS), are devices that enable energy from renewables, like solar and wind, to be stored and then released when customers need power most.

Green Credit Programme:

• It will be notified under the Environment (Protection) Act.
• Aim:
• To encourage behavioral change and incentivize environmentally sustainable and responsive actions by companies, individuals, and local bodies.
• Help mobilize additional resources for such activities.

PM-PRANAM:

• PM-PRANAM stands for “PM Programme for Restoration, Awareness, Nourishment, and Amelioration of Mother Earth.”
• The scheme will be launched to incentivize States and Union Territories to promote alternative fertilizers and balanced use of chemical fertilizers.

GOBARdhan (Galvanizing Organic Bio-Agro Resources Dhan) scheme:

• GOBARdhan scheme was launched by the Government of India in April 2018 as a part of the biodegradable waste management component under the Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin.
• The scheme intends to positively impact village cleanliness and generate wealth and energy from cattle and organic waste.
• The main focus areas of GOBAR-Dhan are to keep villages clean, increase the income of rural households and generate energy and organic manure from cattle waste.
• Budget 2023:
• 500 new ‘waste to wealth’ plants under the GOBARdhan scheme will be established to promote a circular economy.
• These will include 200 compressed biogas (CBG) plants, including 75 plants in urban areas, and 300 community or cluster-based plants at a total investment of ` 10,000 crores.

MISHTI (Mangrove Initiative for Shoreline Habitats & Tangible Incomes):

• MISHTI initiative will facilitate mangrove plantations along India’s coastline and on saltpan lands.
• It will operate through “convergence between MGNREGS, Campa Fund, and other sources.”
• The initiative aims at the intensive afforestation of coastal mangrove forests.

Amrit Dharohar scheme:

• The scheme will be implemented over the next three years to encourage the optimal use of wetlands and enhance bio-diversity, carbon stock, eco-tourism opportunities, and income generation for local communities.
• Amrit Dharohar will emphasize the importance of wetlands and their preservation, with an outlook that includes local communities as caretakers of the ecosystem.

Budget 2023- inclusive development, Last mile delivery, Infrastructure and Investment, Green growth, Youth power, Unleashing potential, and Financial inclusion.

Initiatives under Unleashing the potential:

Centres of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence:

• Three centers of excellence for Artificial Intelligence will be set up in top educational institutions.
• It will be set up to realize the vision of ‘make AI in India and make AI work for India''.
• Leading industry players will partner in conducting inter-disciplinary research and develop cutting-edge applications and scalable problem solutions in the areas of agriculture, health, and sustainable cities,”.

Simplification of Know Your Customer (KYC) process:

• The KYC process will be simplified by adopting a ‘risk-based’ instead of a ‘one size fits all’
• The financial sector regulators will also be encouraged to have a KYC system fully amenable to meet the needs of Digital India.
• What is KYC?
• KYC is an effective way for an institution to confirm and thereby verify the authenticity of a customer.
• All financial institutions are mandated by the RBI to do the KYC process for all customers before giving them the right to carry out any financial transactions.

One-stop solution for identity and address updating:

• This will be established using DigiLocker service and Aadhaar as a foundational identity.
• Purpose: For reconciliation and updating of the identity and address of individuals maintained by various government agencies, regulators and regulated entities

Common Business Identifier:

• What is it? A business identifier is a unique code or number for every company contained on a particular country''s company register.
• Budget 2023: For the business establishments required to have a Permanent Account Number (PAN), the PAN will be used as the common identifier for all digital systems of specified government agencies.

Voluntary settlement scheme (Vivad se Vishwas II ):

• It will be introduced to settle contractual disputes of government and government undertakings, wherein the arbitral award is under challenge in a court.
• This will be done by offering graded settlement termsdepending on the pendency level of the dispute.
• Under the scheme, a voluntary option is given to the private sectorto come into the scheme or not.
• Vivad Se Vishwas Scheme:
• It is a direct tax schemeintroduced by the Government of India in 2020 for settling disputes between taxpayers and the income tax department.
• It aims to minimize tax-related litigation.
• Under this scheme, an individual taxpayer can claim a full waiver on interest and penalty on the full and final settlement of the disputed tax amount.

Result Based Financing:

• The financing of select schemes will be changed, on a pilot basis, from ‘input-based’ to ‘result-based’.
• Purpose: To better allocate scarce resources for competing for development needs.

Entity DigiLocker:

• It will be set up for use by MSMEs, large businesses, and charitable trusts.
• Purpose: To store and share documents online securely, whenever needed, with various authorities, regulators, banks, and other business entities.
• What is DigiLocker?
• It is a flagship initiative of the Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) under the Digital India programme.
• It is a secure cloud-based platform for the storage, sharing, and verification of documents & certificates.
• It aims at the ''Digital Empowerment'' of citizens by providing access to authentic digital documents to citizen''s digital document wallet.

Lab Grown Diamonds (LGD):

• What is it? These are diamonds that are produced using specific technology which mimics the geological processes that grow natural diamonds.
• The diamond simulants such as Moissanite, Cubic Zirconia (CZ), White Sapphire, YAG, and others are used to make them look like natural diamonds.
• Applications:
• They are used for industrial purposes, in machines and tools, and their hardness and extra strength make them ideal for use as cutters.
• Pure synthetic diamonds are used in electronics as a heat spreader for high-power laser diodes, laser arrays, and high-power transistors.
• Budget 2023: A research and development grant will be provided to one of the IITs for five years to encourage indigenous production of LGD seeds and machines and to reduce import dependency,

Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank hike lending rates

• It is the minimum interest rate below which no bank is permitted to lend money.
• It is determined by banks internally, depending upon the loan repayment time.
• The Reserve Bank of India introduced the MCLR methodology for fixing interest rates on 1 April 2016.
• It replaced the base rate structure, which had been in place since July 2010.
• The rate is determined internally by the bank depending on the period left for the repayment of a loan.
• MCLR is calculated based on four components Marginal cost of fund, Negative carry on account of cash reserve ratio, Operating costs, Tenor premium

MCLR and base rate

• MCLR is an advanced version of the base rate.
• The base rate is based on the average cost of funds, but MCLR is based on the marginal or incremental cost of money.
• MCLR depends on the repo rates changed by RBI while Base Rate does not depend on the repo rates changed by RBI.

With an eye on China, Union Cabinet clears 7 ITBP battalions

• Indo-Tibetan Border Police is one of the Central Armed Police Forces of India.
• It is a specialized mountain force and most of the officers and men are professionally trained mountaineers and skiers.
• Origin: It was raised in 1962, in the wake of the Sino-Indian War of 1962 for deployment along India''s border with China''s Tibet Autonomous Region.
• **Status:**ITBP was initially raised under the CRPF Act. However, in 1992, parliament enacted the ITBPF Act and the rules there under were framed in 1994.
• The motto of the Force: “Shaurya-Dridhata-Karma Nishtha” (Valour – Determination – Devotion to Duty).
• **Nodal Ministry:**Ministry of Home Affairs.

The First G20 Culture Group (CWG) meet to be organised in Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh from 22nd to 25th February 2023.

• The working group will have four meetings and they will be held in Khajuraho, Bhubaneshwar, and Hampi.
• The theme of the Khajuraho meet is “Protection and Restitution of Cultural Property”.

Khajuraho

• Khajuraho is an ancient city known for its majestic temples and elaborate sculptures.
• The Khajuraho Group of Monuments is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which was constructed by the Chandela Dynasty between 950-1050 AD.
• These monuments are built in Nagara-style architecture and ornamented with intricate and detailed sculptures.
• The monuments include Hindu and Jain
• According to historical records, there were 85 temples in the temple site in Khajuraho, covering 20 square kilometres, in the 12th Century AD.

Union Budget 2023: Here Are  "Saptarshi - The 7 Priorities Of Union Budget

• The revamped Credit Guarantee scheme will take effect from 1st April 2023 through infusion of ` 9,000 crore in the corpus.
• This will enable additional collateral-free guaranteed credit of ` 2 lakh crore.
• The cost of the credit will be reduced by about 1 per cent.
• What is the Credit Guarantee Scheme for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGS)?
• CGS was launched by the Government of India (GoI) to make available collateral-free credit to the micro and small enterprise sector.
• Both the existing and the new enterprises are eligible to be covered under the scheme.
• The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, GoI and Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), established a Trust named Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) to implement the CGS.

National Financial Information Registry:

• It will be set up to serve as the central repository of financial and ancillary information.
• This will facilitate efficient flow of credit, promote financial inclusion, and foster financial stability.
• A new legislative framework will govern this credit public infrastructure, and it will be designed in consultation with the RBI.

Data Embassy:

• Government will facilitate setting up of their Data Embassies in GIFT IFSC.
• It refers to server resources owned and maintained by a nation-state outside its territorial boundaries, according to its own laws.
• Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT):
• GIFT City is an integrated development on 886 acres of land with 62 mn sq. ft. of Built Up area which includes Office spaces, Residential Apartments, Schools, Hospital, Hotels, Clubs, Retail and various Recreational facilities etc.
• It is located on the bank of river Sabarmati connecting the Business capital (Ahmedabad) and Political capital (Gandhinagar) of Gujarat State.
• GIFT City consist of a conducive Multi-Service SEZ (Special Economic Zone) and an exclusive Domestic Area.
• India''s first International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) is setup at GIFT City.

Mahila Samman Savings Certificate Scheme:

• This is a one-time scheme and will remain available for a two-year period i.e. up to March 2025.
• The scheme offers deposit facility up to Rs 2 lakh in the name of women or girls for a tenor of 2 years.
• It offers fixed interest rate of 7.5 per cent.
• There are no tax benefits, but partial withdrawal is allowed in this scheme.
• Benefit: It will encourage more women to adopt formal financial saving instruments.

Senior Citizen Savings Scheme (SCSS):

• SCSS was launched in 2004 with the main aim of providing senior citizens in India a regular income after they attain the age of 60 years
• Who is eligible?
• Indian citizens above the age of 60 years.
• Retirees in the age bracket of 55-60 years who have opted for Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) or Superannuation.
• Retired defence personnel above 50 yearsand below 60 years of age.
• Maturity: It has a maturity period of five years. But, a depositor can extend one''s maturity period for another three years.
• Premature withdrawal: After one yearof opening the account, premature withdrawal is allowed.
• Budget 2023: The maximum deposit limit for SCSS will be enhanced from 15 lakh to 30 lakh.