Borthekera: A medicinal plant commonly called ‘Bor Thekera’ in the Assamese language, traditionally forbidden for raw consumption, has been found to protect from heart diseases. It is an evergreen tree related to the more familiar purple mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana).
The tree is endemic to the south-eastern regions of Asia such as parts of Bangladesh and north-eastern parts of India.The sun-dried slices of the ripe fruit are used for culinary and medicinal purposes and are known to have therapeutic properties like anti-inflammatory, anthelmintic, antibacterial, antifungal, antidiabetic, hypolipidemic, nephroprotective, and even neuroprotective activity. The ripe fruit is eaten cooked or raw. Sun-dried slices are much valued and used for preparing delicacies like “tenga diya masor jol” meaning Assamese sour fish curry.
The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India: The Authority has now framed a comprehensive group standard for 15 types of millets specifying eight quality parameters to ensure the availability of good quality millets in domestic and global markets.
The group standard applies to the millets including Buckwheat (Kuttu), Kodo Millet (Kodo), Little Millet (Kutki), Brown top (Korale) and Job’s tears (Adlay).
It is a statutory body established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (FSS Act).FSS Act, of 2006 consolidated various acts & orders that had earlier handled food-related issues in various Ministries and Departments.
Nodal ministry: Ministry of Health & Family Welfare.
The Foundational Literacy and Numeracy report: Recently, Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) has released the report. This edition of the report highlights language as a critical foundational skill and its importance in acquiring early literacy. It was prepared by the Institute for Competitiveness, India at Harvard Business School. It captures the fundamental concepts children require to become skilled readers and highlights distinct challenges faced in a multilingual environment.
Significance of Report: The report is a benchmark for states and union territories to track their performance in achieving universal foundational learning by 2026-27. The report’s findings cover multi dimensional factors like the role of nutrition, access to digital technology and language-focused instructional approach.
National Geospatial Policy 2022:It is a citizen-centric policy based on Geo-Spatial technology, which seeks to strengthen the Geospatial sector to support national development and a thriving information economy. The policy is aimed to set up high resolution topographical survey and mapping, with a high-accuracy Digital Elevation Model (DEM) by 2030.
Vision and Goals: It aims to make India a World Leader in Global Geospatial space.
To develop Geospatial infrastructures, Geospatial skill and standards, Geospatial businesses.
Institutional framework: A Geospatial Data Promotion and Development Committee (GDPDC) at the national level shall be the apex body for formulating and implementing strategies related to promotion of the Geospatial sector.GDPDC would replace and subsume the functions and powers of the National Spatial Data Committee (NSDC) constituted in 2006 and GDPDC constituted in 2021.Department Of Science & Technology shall continue to be the nodal Department of the Government and GDPDC shall make suitable recommendations to DST in the discharge of its functions relating to the Geospatial regime.
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