Good Governance Day
Good Governance Day is celebrated on 25th December
- To honor the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
- Aim – To raise awareness among citizens about government accountability and effective administration.
- Theme for 2024 – “India’s Path to a Viksit Bharat: Empowering Citizens through Good Governance and Digitalisation.”
Agro-Textile
Union Minister of Jal Shakti inaugurated the Climate Smart Agro-Textile Demonstration Center in Gujarat
- Refers to the application of technical textile materials in the agriculture field.
- Technical textiles – Materials made primarily for their technical and performance qualities, rather than for their appearance or decoration.
- Types of Agrotextiles – Woven, nonwoven, and knitted fabrics for agricultural and horticultural uses.
- Use – For protection, collection and storage of agricultural products
GenCast AI
Google DeepMind Unveils GenCast AI Model
- A weather forecasting model that uses ensemble forecasting, similar to traditional numerical weather prediction (NWP), but is powered by AI rather than simulations.
- Ensemble forecasts use a NWP model with different starting conditions to predict a range of possible weather outcomes.
Hydrothermal Vents
India’s Deep Ocean Mission recently achieved a milestone by imaging an active hydrothermal vent 4,500 meters below the Indian Ocean’s surface.
- Underwater hot springs found near the tectonic plates, where hot water and minerals from beneath the Earth’s crust are expelled into the ocean.
- Formation Process –
- Seawater percolates down through fissures (cracks that form when tectonic plates spread apart) in the ocean crust near tectonic plates that are either moving apart (spreading ridges) or moving towards one another (subduction zones).
- The cold seabed water comes into contact with hot magma, getting heated up to high temperatures
- The heated seawater re-emerges from the ocean floor as hydrothermal fluids, forming the vents.
- The seawater at hydrothermal vents can reach over 700°F but does not boil due to the high pressure at the depths.
National Consumer Day
National Consumer Day 2024 was celebrated on 24th December with the theme “Virtual Hearings & Digital Access to Consumer Justice.”
- Observed annually to commemorate the enactment of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986.
- World Consumer Rights Day – 15th March