1) Veer Baal Diwas: Guru Gobind Singh ji had four sons – Sahibzada Ajit Singh, Sahibzada Jujhar Singh, Sahibzada Zorawar Singh and Sahibzada Fateh Singh.
- All four of his sons were initiated into the Khalsa and all were executed by Mughal forces before the age of 19. Sikhism honors the illustrious martyred sons as ‘Char Sahibzade’, that is the four princes of the Khalsa warrior order.
- In 2022, the Centre announced that December 26 would be observed as ‘Veer Bal Diwas’.
- Sikhs are demanding that this day be called ‘Sahibzade Shaheed Diwas’.
2) Dark Patterns: It is a user interface that has been crafted to trick or manipulate users into making choices that are detrimental to their interests. They endanger the experience of internet users and make them more vulnerable to financial and data exploitation by BigTech firms.
- EG: introduce online obstacles, make simple tasks time-consuming, etc.
- Drip pricing: It is a pattern when the total price is only revealed at the very end of the buying process.
- Bait and switch: It is a pattern that occurs when a user takes an action expecting one outcome, but instead is served an outcome they didn’t want.
- False urgency: It is a dark pattern that refers to misleading information on quantities of a particular product.
- Disguised advertising: It is a pattern when an advertisement mimics editorial content.
3) Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB): A recent report said that the number of polluted stretches in India’s rivers has fallen from 351 in 2018 to 311 in 2022. The number of polluted river stretches categorised in ‘Priority 1 to 5.
- Priority 1: River stretches with a BOD exceeding 30 mg/L are considered the most polluted and thus need the most urgent remediation.
- Priority 2: Indicating a BOD of 20-30 mg/L.
- Priority 3: BOD between 10-20 mg/l
- Priority 4: BOD between 6-10 mg/l.
- Priority 5: Indicating 3-6 mg/L.
- While Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh had the maximum number of ‘Priority 1’ river stretches (6), Maharashtra had the maximum number of polluted river stretches i.e. 55, followed by Madhya Pradesh (19), Bihar (18)
4) Bomb cyclone: A bomb cyclone is a mid-latitude storm in which the central pressure drops fast at one millibar per hour for at least 24 hours. However, the millibar readings can change based on where the storm is forming.
- This quickly increases the pressure difference, or gradient, between the two air masses, making the winds stronger. A bomb cyclone is formed when the air of different air masses (cold, dry) comes together. This process of rapid intensification has a name: bombogenesis.
- As the winds blow, the rotation of the Earth creates a cyclonic effect. The direction is counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere
5) Kala Azar Disease: It is a disease caused by infection with Leishmania parasites. It is transmitted by female sandfly. It is also known as visceral leishmaniasis or black fever or Dum-Dum fever.
- This disease is the second-largest parasitic killer in the world. Elimination is defined as reducing the annual incidence of Kala Azar (KA) to less than 1 case per 10,000 people at the sub-district level.
- Treatment of Kala Azar is done through liposomal AmB – this is the drug of choice for immunocompetent patients.
