1) Spot Bellied Eagle Owl: it was recently spotted in Seshachalam forest of Andhra Pradesh for the first time. It is also known as the forest eagle-owl.They are large, powerful and bold predatory birds.
- It is a forest-inhabiting species found in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam in altitudes from 300 to 3000m
- IUCN Status: Least Concern, Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972: Schedule IV ,CITES :Appendix II.
2) Greenback: It refers to the first paper money issued by the United States government in the 19th century.It was legal tender by law backed by the United States government.
- The issuance was primarily intended to cover up the expenses of the American Civil War.
- Since the backside of this paper money is inked in green color, it got the name greenback.
- Greenback trading: Traders in the foreign exchange market use the term greenback to refer to the United States Dollar.
3) Annual Status of Education Report (ASER): It is a citizen-led household survey that provides estimates of the enrolment status of children aged 3-16 and the basic reading and arithmetic levels of children aged 5-16 at the national, state and district level.
- ASER is published by NGO Pratham, and the survey has been conducted every year since 2005.The survey reaches children in the age group of 3-16 in almost all rural districts of India.It uses household rather than school-based sampling.
- Enrollment has gone from 97.2 per cent in 2018 to 98.4 per cent in 2022.
- As many as 72.9 per cent of the surveyed students go to government schools.
- In only three states, the number of girls not going to school is above 10% – Madhya Pradesh (17%), Uttar Pradesh (15%), and Chhattisgarh (11.2%).
4) Halteria: microscopic ciliates (a single-celled organism with minuscule hairs) that populate freshwater worldwide — can thrive wholly on a virus-only diet or ‘virovory’.
- Plankton of the genus Halteria can each consume 10,000 to a million virus particles a day, increase their population using the metabolised energy, and provide more food for the zooplanktons that consume the Halteria. They are found in freshwater bodies.
- They are heterotrophs meaning they can’t produce their own food.Instead, they are well-known bacterivores — they consume bacteria to power themselves.
- They infect and kill both bacteria and plankton, releasing organic matter that dissolves in the water.
5) Non-NATO Ally: A US Congressman has recently moved a Bill in the House of Representatives to revoke Pakistan’s designation as a Major Non-NATO Ally.
- Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) status is a designation under US law that provides foreign partners with certain benefits in the areas of defense trade and security cooperation.
- While MNNA status provides military and economic privileges, it does not entail any security commitments to the designated country.
Benefits of Major non-NATO ally status: Entry into cooperative research with the Department of Defense (DoD), Participation in certain counter-terrorism exercises, Delivery of military surplus on a priority basis, Loans of equipment and materials for development projects, Permission to use U.S. financing to purchase certain defense equipment etc.
