• Minister for Labour and Employment has recently launched DigiSaksham Initative.

DigiSaksham Initiative

• It is a digital skills programme to enhance the employability of youth by imparting digital skills that are required in an increasingly technology driven era.
• It is a joint initiative launched by the Minister for Labour and Employment with Microsoft India.
• Through DigiSaksham initiative, free of cost training in digital skills including basic skills as well as advance computing, will be provided to more than 3 lakh youths in the first year.
• The Jobseekers can access the training through National Career Service (NCS) Portal.
• The initiative gives priority to the job-seekers of semi urban areas belonging to disadvantaged communities, including those who have lost their jobs due to Covid-19 pandemic.
• Under the DigiSaksham initiative, there will be basically three types of training viz. Digital Skills

1. Self paced learning
2. VILT mode training (Virtual Instructor led) and
3. ILT mode training (Instructor led). 

• The ILT training which is in person training would be conducted at the Model Career Centres (MCCs) and National Career Service Centres (NCSC) for SCs/STs across the country.
• DigiSaksham will be implemented in the field by Aga Khan Rural Support Programme India (AKRSP-I). 

• India has extended support for protecting the Antarctic environment and for co-sponsoring the proposal of the European Union for designating East Antarctica and the Weddell Sea as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) at a high-level ministerial meeting conducted recently.

Marine Protected Area (MPA)

• An MPA is a marine protected area that provides protection for all or part of its natural resources.
• Certain activities within an MPA are limited or prohibited to meet specific conservation, habitat protection, ecosystem monitoring, or fisheries management objectives.
• Since 2009, CCAMLR members have developed proposals for MPAs for various regions of the Southern Ocean.
• The proposal to designate East Antarctica and the Weddell Sea as MPAs was first put forth to the CCAMLR in 2020 but could not reach a consensus at that time.
• This is the first time India is considering co-sponsoring an MPA proposal at the CCAMLR and getting aligned with countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Korea, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA, which are also proactively considering supporting the MPA proposals.
• CCAMLR is an international treaty to manage Antarctic fisheries to preserve species diversity and stability of the entire Antarctic marine ecosystem.

British Antarctic Territory

• It is a sector of Antarctica claimed by the United Kingdom as one of its 14 British Overseas Territories, of which it is by far the largest by area.
• It forms a wedge shape that extends to the South Pole, overlapping the Antarctic claims of Argentina (Argentine Antarctica) and Chile (Chilean Antarctic Territory).

Convention on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR)

• CCAMLR is an international treaty to manage Antarctic fisheries to preserve species diversity and stability of the entire Antarctic marine ecosystem.
• It was adopted at the Conference on the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources which met at Canberra, Australia, 7–20 May 1980.
• The treaty came into force in April 1982.
• The Convention applies to all Antarctic populations of finfish, molluscs, crustacean and sea birds found south of the Antarctic Convergence (the Convention Area).
• The marine resources managed by CCAMLR specifically exclude whales and seals, which are the subject of other conventions namely, the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling and the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Seals.

India & the Convention

•  India has acceded to the CCAMLR treaty in 1985 and become a permanent member along with 24 other nations.
• Work pertaining to the CCAMLR is coordinated in India by the Ministry of Earth Sciences through its attached office, the Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology (CMLRE) in Kochi, Kerala.

• Indian Vice-President has recently inaugurated the Mahabahu Brahmaputra River Heritage Centre on Guwahati’s Barphukanar Tila, meaning Barphukan’s Hillock. 
• This British-era bungalow on a hillock used to be the 17th century military office of the Ahom rulers.
• Barpukhan was a post equivalent to Governor General created by Ahom king Pratap Simha or Susengpha (1603-1641).
• The hillock by the Brahmaputra, mentioned in ancient scriptures as Mandrachal, was from where Ahom General Lachit Barpukhan launched the Battle of Saraighat in March 1671 to inflict the most crushing defeat on the Mughals.

Battle of Saraighat

• It is a naval battle fought in 1671 between the Mughal Empire (led by the Kachwaha king, Raja Ram Singh I), and the Ahom Kingdom (led by Lachit Borphukan) on the Brahmaputra river at Saraighat.
• Saraighat is regarded as the greatest naval battle ever fought in a river.
• Although weaker, the Ahom Army defeated the Mughal Army.
• The Battle of Saraighat was the last battle in the last major attempt by the Mughals to extend their empire into Assam.

Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO), Ladakh

• A recent study has said that the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO) located at Hanle near Leh in Ladakh is becoming one of the promising sites globally for the next generation of astronomical observatories.
• This is due to its advantages of more clear nights, minimal light pollution, background aerosol concentration, extremely dry atmospheric condition, and uninterrupted by monsoon.
• The study found that the Hanle site which is as dry as Atacama Desert in Chile and is also one of the emerging sites for infrared and sub-mm optical astronomy.
• This is because water vapour absorbs electromagnetic signals and reduces their strength.