1) Asteroid Bennu: Recently, NASA unlocked a canister of dust from asteroid Bennu.
- Earlier NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission brought the sample from asteroid Bennu back to Earth.
- About Asteroid Bennu
- Type: A small, near earth carbon-rich asteroid.
- Age: Around 4.5 billion years old.
- Composition: Established within 10 million years of the formation of our solar system.
- Close encounters: Comes very close to Earth, every 6 years.
- Asteroids are small, rocky objects that orbit the Sun, they are much smaller than planets.
- Main Asteroid Belt is found between Mars and Jupiter.
2) Computerization Scheme for RCSs and ARDBs.: Minister of Cooperation launched computerization scheme for offices of Registrar of Cooperative Societies (RCSs) and Agriculture and Rural Development Banks (ARDBs) of the states.
- Computerization Project of ARDBs
- Aims at computerizing 1851 units of ARDBs located in 13 States/UTs and link them with NABARD through a Common National Software.
- Will benefit small and marginal farmers, connected with ARDBs for credit and related services through Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACSs).
- Computerization of offices of RCSs
- For better efficiency, accountability and transparency in RCS offices, and ensuring linkage with national database
3) Interim Budget 2024-25: An interim budget is not like regular yearly budget presented by government, instead it presented in an election year.
- Like Union budget, interim budget too is debated in Lok Sabha before passage and is valid for entire year though it is merely a transition arrangement (usually 2-4 months).
- An interim Budget conventionally is also called a ‘vote-on-account’ because it serves as an authorisation to incur specific expenditures which is necessary till a new government comes to power.
- Under Article 116, a vote-on-account is an upfront allocation of grant from ‘Consolidated Fund of India’ to government to address immediate expenditure needs.
4) One District One Product (ODOP): The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) is conducting events under its ODOP Sampark initiative to create awareness about ODOP.
- DPIIT is a department under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
- ODOP is aimed at fostering balanced regional development across all districts of the country.
- It aims to select, brand, and promote at least One Product from each District (One District – One Product) of the country across all regions.
- The States/UT would identify the food product for a district
