PM CARES for Children Scheme

• The PM CARES for Children Scheme was launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 29th May, 2021
• It aims to support children who have lost both the Parents or legal Guardian or Adoptive Parents or Surviving Parent to COVID-19 pandemic during the period starting from 11th March 2020. 
• The objective of the Scheme is to ensure comprehensive care and protection of Children in a sustained manner, and enable their wellbeing through health insurance, empower them through education and equip them for self-sufficient existence with financial support on reaching 23 years of age.
• Fixed Deposit - PM CARES will contribute through a specially designed scheme to create a corpus of Rs 10 lakh for each child when s/he reaches 18 years of age.
• This corpus will be used to give a monthly financial support/ stipend from 18 years of age, for the next five years to take care of his or her personal requirements during the period of higher education.
• On reaching the age of 23 years, s/he will get the corpus amount as one lump-sum for personal and professional use.
• School Education - Child under 10 years will be given admission in the nearest Kendriya Vidyalaya or in a private school as a day scholar.
• Child between 11-18 years will be admitted in any Central Government residential school such as Sainik School, Navodaya Vidyalaya etc.
• Support for Higher Education - The child will be assisted in obtaining education loan for Professional courses / Higher Education in India as per the existing Education Loan norms.
• The interest on this loan will be paid by the PM CARES.
• Health Insurance - All children will be a beneficiary under Ayushman Bharat Scheme (PM-JAY) with a health insurance cover of Rs. 5 lakhs.
• The premium amount for these children till the age of 18 years will be paid by PM CARES.
• Implementing Agency - The Ministry of Women and Child Development shall be the nodal Ministry for execution of the scheme at the central level. 
• Department of the State/UT government dealing with the Juvenile Justice set up in the State shall be the nodal agency at State level. The District Magistrates shall be the nodal authority at District level for execution of the scheme.

• National Council of Science Museums (NCSM) has developed a chain of science museums and science centers throughout the Country including Science Cities through Scheme for Promotion of Culture of Science (SPoCS).
• Currently, 25 Science Museums/Science Centres in the country are functioning under the administrative control of National Council of Science Museums (NCSM).
• NCSM is an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Culture, Govt. of India.

Scheme for Promotion of Culture of Science (SPoCS)

• The Ministry of Culture operates Scheme for Promotion of Culture of Science (SPOCS).
• The Scheme provides for setting up of Science Cities and Science Centres in all the States of the country subject to availability of funds for the purpose.
• States willing to avail of this Scheme have to provide land and share the cost of setting up of facility and corpus for upkeep and maintenance.

Rubber Production in India

• Kerala is the major producer of rubber in India.
• Rubber production seen a significant increase in the North-Eastern parts of India since 2017.
• A Rubber Board research farm in Guwahati, Assam has recently planted the World’s first genetically modified (GM) rubber plant tailored for the climatic conditions in the Northeast.
• Natural rubber is a native of warm humid Amazon forests and is not naturally suited for the colder conditions in the Northeast, which is one of the largest producers of rubber in India.
• Growth of young rubber plants remains suspended during the winter months, which are also characterized by progressive drying of the soil.
• This is the reason for the long immaturity period of this crop in the region. 
• The GM rubber has additional copies of the gene MnSOD, or manganese-containing superoxide dismutase, inserted in the plant, which is expected to tide over the severe cold conditions during winter — a major factor affecting the growth of young rubber plants in the region.

Eutelsat Quantum Satellite

• This is the world's first commercial fully reprogrammable satellite launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) from French Guiana.
• Eutelsat Quantum, developed under an ESA partnership project with satellite operator Eutelsat and prime manufacturer Airbus, is the world’s first commercial fully flexible software-defined satellite.
• Eutelsat Quantum weighs 3.5 tonnes and consists of eight communication beams.
• Each of the beams can be modified to make changes to the coverage area and its telecommunications signal.

Reprogrammable Satellite

• These satellites allow the user to change the communications as per need, in real time.
• Even while orbiting in a fixed position at 35,000 kms above Earth, the satellite can be reprogrammed.
• Because it can be reprogrammed in orbit, it can respond to changing demands for data transmission and secure communications during its 15-year lifetime.

• Union Minister for Commerce & Industry reviewed the functioning of the Office of Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks in Mumbai.

Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks (CGPDTM)

• The Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs & Trade Marks (CGPDTM) is located at Mumbai.
• It functions under the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
• The Controller General supervises the working of the Patents Act, 1970, the Designs Act, 2000 and the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and also renders advice to the Government on matters relating to these subjects.
• The Head Office of the ‘Patent office’ is in Kolkata, ‘Trade Mark Registry’ is in Mumbai and the ‘GI Registry’ is in Chennai.
• The Offices of ‘The Patent Information System’ (PIS) and ‘National Institute of Intellectual Property Management’ (NIIPM) are at Nagpur.
•  In order to protect the Geographical Indications of goods a Geographical Indications Registry has been established in Chennai to administer the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999 under the CGPDTM.

Pangolin

• The Indian Pangolin is found throughout the country south of the Himalayas, excluding the north-eastern region while the Chinese Pangolin ranges through Assam and the eastern Himalayas.
• The Chinese pangolin is distinguished from other Asian pangolins by its almost helmeted appearance, smaller scales than the Indian pangolin.
• All pangolin species are listed in Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix I.
• In India, pangolins, both Indian and Chinese, are protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.

Global Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS)

• CA|TS has been agreed upon as an accreditation tool by the global coalition of Tiger Range Countries (TRCs) and has been developed by tiger and protected area experts, officially launched in 2013.
• There are currently 13 tiger range countries - India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
• CA|TS is a set of criteria which allows tiger sites to check if their management will lead to successful tiger conservation.
• It sets minimum standards for effective management of target species and encourages assessment of these standards in relevant conservation areas.
• Until CA|TS, there has not been a set of criteria which not only provide clarity on management of tiger sites, but also encourage further development and sharing of best practice across the tiger range countries.

Employee Stock Option Plan

• ESOPs give employees a chance to buy their firm’s shares at an attractive price.
• Listed companies may offer these at a discount to the current market price.
• ESOPs are intended to give employees a sense of ownership in a company and to work keeping in mind the interests of the company’s shareholders.
• Companies grant ESOPs to their employees as part of their compensation package.
• While ESOPs have traditionally been granted to senior employees, many firms, particularly start-ups, are now extending them beyond the top echelons.
• A significant proportion of the salary at many start-ups may come in the form of ESOPs.
• While this may imply lower cash in hand for the employees, the potential for windfall gains on sale of these shares at some point in the future makes employees value them.

National Internet Exchange of India (NIXI)

• NIXI is a not-for-profit organization (section 8 of the Companies Act 2013) working since 2003 for spreading the internet infrastructure to the citizens of India through the following activities:

1. Internet Exchanges through which the internet data is exchanged amongst Internet Service Providers (ISP’s), Data Centers and Content Delivery Network (CDNs).
2. .IN Registry, managing and operation of .IN country code domain and .BHARAT IDN (Internationalized Domain Name) domain for India.
3. Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers (IRINN), managing and operating Internet Protocol (IPv4/IPv6).

• NIXI has developed an IPv6 index portal for the Internet community.
• NIXI-IP-INDEX portal will showcase the IPv6 adoption rate in India and across the world.
• It can be used to compare IPv6 Indian adoption rate with other economies in the world.
• It will also include details about web adoption in IPv6, IPv6 traffic etc.

Galileo Project

• Researchers from Harvard University are using artificial intelligence (AI) to search for extra-terrestrial civilisations.
• The project named Galileo Project will use extensive AI object recognition and algorithmic approaches to search for terrestrial objects or satellites.
• The team will use a network of mid-sized, high-resolution telescopes and detector arrays with suitable cameras and computer systems as part of their research to find alien civilisations