Digital Shakti

• Digital Shakti started in 2018 to help women across the nation to raise the awareness level on the digital front, to build resilience, and fight cybercrime in the most effective ways.
• Through this project, over 3 lakh women across India have been made aware of cyber safety tips and tricks, reporting and redressal mechanisms, data privacy and usage of technology for their benefit.
• Digital Shakti 4.0 is focused on making women digitally skilled and aware of standing up against any illegal/inappropriate activity online.
• It is an initiative of the National Commission for Women (NCW) along with CyberPeace Foundation and Meta.

Polluted White Dwarfs

• It is believed that planets in a system are formed from leftover star formation material millions of years after the star starts forming.
• The research on polluted white dwarfs adds to evidence that suggests the building blocks of planets like Jupiter and Saturn start forming when a young star is growing.
• Polluted white dwarfs are white dwarf stars that have recently consumed a planet or asteroid that was orbiting around them.
• They have thin atmospheres and are considered celestial graveyards.
• Usually, telescopes cannot learn much about the interior of planets but “polluted” white dwarf systems are an exception.
• Spectroscopic observations of such polluted stars can reveal the composition of the asteroids and planets that burned up in their atmosphere.

Carbon Border Adjustment Tax

• The European Union has proposed a policy, called the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism.
• It aims to tax products such as cement and steel that are extremely carbon intensive, with effect from 2026.
• The EU has established the Emissions Trading System (ETS) in 2010.
• This provided carbon emission rights to domestic producers in the EU.
• The EU will now be imposing an equivalent cost on imports to level the playing field between foreign and domestic producers, thereby preventing carbon leakage.
• India does not levy an explicit carbon price.

Artefacts and States of Origin

• Prime Minister gifted wide range of presents to world leaders on the side-lines of the G20 summit.
• Paran Patola Scarf – Gujarat – A colourful dupatta woven in the northern part of Gujarat, which was encased in a decorative sadeli box, a wooden craft native to Surat.
• The double ikat scarf can be worn on both sides.
• Pahari Painting – Himachal Pradesh
• Kinnauri Shawl – Himachal Pradesh – The design on this specific piece shows influences from Central Asia and Tibet.
• Agate Bowls – Gujarat – The semi-precious stone is found in underground mines of Rajpipla and Ratanpur in riverbeds, and extracted to produce a variety of ornamental objects.
• Pithora painting – Gujarat – Pithora paintings, ritualistic tribal folk art by the Rathwa artisans from Chhota Udaipur in Gujarat, are based on the cave paintings that tribal people used to make, reflecting their social, cultural and mythological life and beliefs.
• These paintings resemble the aboriginal dot paintings of the indigenous communities of Australia.

Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group

• The Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group of Ministers of Finance of the Climate Vulnerable Forum is a dedicated cooperation initiative of economies systemically vulnerable to climate change.
• The V20 works through dialogue and action to tackle global climate change.
• The Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group was established with the inaugural meeting of the V20 Ministers of Finance of the Climate Vulnerable Forum.
• The Global Shield Plan launched by the G7 group of countries aims to provide funding to countries suffering from climate disasters.
• The initiative is coordinated by president of G7, Germany and the V20 group of climate-vulnerable countries.
• Global Shield Plan aims to rapidly provide pre-arranged insurance and disaster protection funding after events such as floods, droughts and hurricanes hit.

Members

• North and South America – Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Saint Lucia, Colombia, Barbados, Grenada, Guyana.
• Asia and Pacific Islands – Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Philippines, Timor-Leste, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Marshall Islands, Kirbati, Tuvalu, Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu.
• Africa – Morocco, Tunisia, Lebanon, Palestine, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi, Eswatini, Yemen, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Comoros, Madagascar.