About Financial Fraud Risk Indicator (FRI):

• It was launched by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT’s) Digital Intelligence Unit (DIU).
• It is a risk-based metric that classifies mobile numbers into three categories: Medium, High, and Very High Risk based on their likelihood of involvement in financial fraud.
• The classification draws from a comprehensive analysis using inputs from various platforms, including the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre’s National Cybercrime Reporting Portal (NCRP), DoT’s Chakshu platform, and intelligence shared by banks and financial institutions.
• By flagging high-risk numbers early, the tool enables banks, non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), and UPI service providers to take appropriate measures for customer protection and transaction validation.
• How Advance Notification Helps Prevent Fraud?
  • The DoT’s Digital Intelligence Unit (DIU) regularly disseminates the Mobile Number Revocation List (MNRL), which details mobile numbers disconnected due to involvement in cybercrime, failed verification, or exceeding permissible usage limits.
  • These numbers often surface in financial fraud activities.
  • Given that fraudulent mobile numbers are often short-lived and verification processes can take time, a preemptive indicator such as the FRI becomes highly effective.
  • Thus, as soon as a suspected mobile number is flagged by a stakeholder, it undergoes multidimensional analysis, and classifies it into Medium, High, or Very High financial risk associated with it.
  • It then shares this assessment about the number immediately with all stakeholders through DoT’s Digital Intelligence Platform (DIP).
  • Banks and financial institutions can use FRI in real time to take preventive measures such as declining suspicious transactions, issuing alerts or warnings to customers, and delaying transactions flagged as high risk.

About Paliyar Tribe:

• They are an indigenous tribal community primarily found in the hilly regions of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
• They are and have been known by multiple names, such as the Paliyans, Pazhaiyarares, and Panaiyars.
• Historically, the Paliyars were spread all over the Dindigul district and the Sirumalai Palani hills, adjacent to the Western Ghats.
• As they inhabited the Palani hills, they were known as Panaiyars.
• Language: They primarily speak a dialect related to Tamil, reflecting their Dravidian linguistic heritage.
• Occupation:
  • Traditionally, the Paliyars were hunters and gatherers, residing in the forests of the Western Ghats.
  • Presently, they have transformed into traders of forest products, food cultivators, and beekeepers, with some working intermittently as wage labourers, mostly on plantations.
• They are recognized for their extensive knowledge and traditional practices pertaining to the use of medicinal plants.
• Palliyars have small communities called kudis, sometimes living in caves or mud shelters.
• The Paliyar tribes never burned the dead bodies. They had the customary practice of burying the dead bodies in an area near to their residential area on the western side.
• Their festivals involve nature-based rituals, dancing, and music.
• They have a special ceremony to invoke rain and protect the forest spirits.

About Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti:

• He was a very important Sufi saint.
• People often call him Gharīb Nawāz, which means 'Benefactor of the Poor'.
• A follower of Sunni Hanafi theology, he became the disciple of Hazrat Khwaja Usman Harooni, who later declared him his spiritual successor.
• He came to India around the year 1192 AD. He finally settled in the city of Ajmer during the reign of Sultan Iltutmish in Delhi and Prithviraj Chauhan in Ajmer.
• He is famous for bringing the Chishti Order of Sufism to India.
• He preached love, tolerance, charity, and detachment from materialism, and established a Khanqah in Ajmer to serve the poor.
• His tomb is known as the Dargah Sharif, or the Ajmer Sharif Dargah.
  • The architectural style of Dargah Sharif purely reflects the Mughal style of architecture.
  • All Mughal rulers from Humayun to Shah Jahan have made modifications in the structure.

The Chishti Order's Beliefs:

• The Chishti Order is a group within Sufism.
  • Sufism is a way of life in Islam that focuses on finding a deeper, more personal connection with God.
• The Chishti Order was started by a saint named Abu Ishaq Shami in Chisht, a town in Afghanistan.
• The Chishti Order is mostly followed in Afghanistan and South Asia.
• Moinuddin Chishti brought this order to India.
• The Chishti Order teaches several important things:
  • Love for all people.
  • Helping the poor and needy.
  • Living a simple life.
  • Being tolerant and peaceful.
  • Listening to spiritual music, called Qawwali, to feel closer to God.

About Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) Mission:

• It is the first spacecraft mission dedicated to surveying the upper atmosphere of Mars.
• It is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, an unprecedented, multi-decade campaign to comprehensively understand Mars and its suitability to host past or present life.
• It aims to understand the role that loss of atmospheric gas to space played in changing the Martian climate over time.
• It carries three packages of instruments.
  • One package studies the solar wind and its impact on Mars’s ionosphere.
  • The second package is an ultraviolet spectrometer that studies the upper atmosphere.
  • The third package is a mass spectrometer that studies the composition of the upper atmosphere.
• MAVEN found that Mars lost about 2/3 of its early atmosphere to space.

About Kuttanad Wetland Agricultural System:

• It is unique and the only system in India that favours rice cultivation below sea level.
• The Kuttanad system is a complex mosaic of fragmented agricultural landscapes divided in three structures:
  • Wetlands used for paddy activities and fish catching,
  • Garden lands used for coconut, tubers and food crops plantation
  • Water areas used as inland fishing and shells
• Recognition: The Kuttanad Below Sea-level Farming System recognised under Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) of Food And Agriculture Organisation.

Impact of Aluminium on soil and Plants:

• Aluminium becomes more soluble and toxic as soil pH drops below five.
• Excessive aluminium damages the plant root system and severely interferes with the absorption of essential nutrients such as phosphorus, calcium, potassium, and magnesium.

Key Facts about Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems:

• The Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) is a Food and Agriculture Organization’s programme launched at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in 2002.
• It aims to strike a balance between conservation, sustainable adaptation and socioeconomic development.
• India’s GIAHS Include:
  • Koraput region (Odisha): It is renowned for its subsistence paddy cultivation, predominantly on highland slopes.
  • Kuttanad system (Kerala): It is a unique below-sea-level farming landscape.
  • Saffron Park of Kashmir: It represents a rich agro-pastoral system characterized by traditional saffron cultivation.

About Bhima River:

• It is a perennial river and the largest tributary of the Krishna River.
• Origin: It originates near Bhimashankar Temple in the Bhimashankar hills in the Western Ghats.
• It flows through the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Telangana.
  • 75 percent of the river lies in Maharashtra.
• Confluence: It merges into the Krishna River in Karnataka’s Raichur district.
• Drainage Area: The Bhima drainage area is defined by the Western Ghats (west), the Balaghat Range (north), and the Mahadeo Hills (south).
• It runs in a well-entrenched valley, and its banks are heavily populated. 
• Major Tributaries of Bhima River
  • Right Bank: Indrayani River, Mula River, Mutha River and Pavana River.
  • Left Bank: Sina and Nira etc.
• Spiritual Significance: Pandharpur is an important pilgrimage centre located on the right bank of the Bhima River.

About GhostPairing:

• GhostPairing is a type of WhatsApp attack where hackers secretly link their own device to a victim’s WhatsApp account.
• It gives hackers almost full access without the victim noticing.
• GhostPairing' allows cybercriminals to take complete control of WhatsApp accounts without requiring passwords or SIM swaps.
• The threat actors can take over WhatsApp accounts without authorisation by tricking potential victims into entering the pairing codes.
• By following a sequence of steps, victims unknowingly grant attackers full access to their WhatsApp accounts.

About Anjadip Ship:

• It is the third of eight Anti-Submarine Warfare Shallow Water Craft.
• It is indigenously designed and built by Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata.
• The ship derives its name from Anjadip Island located off coast of Karwar, Karnataka.
• The ship is a reincarnation of the erstwhile INS Anjadip, a Petya class Corvette decommissioned in 2003.
  • The ASW SWC ships have been designed and constructed as per the Classification Rules of Indian Register of Shipping (IRS) under a Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) of GRSE with M/s L&T Shipyard, Kattupalli.
• Features of Anjadip Ship:
  • Capacity: It has a maximum speed of 25 knots.
  • It is the largest Indian Naval Warships propelled by Waterjets.
  • These are equipped with state of the art Lightweight Torpedoes, indigenously designed Anti-Submarine Rockets and shallow water SONAR.
  • The ship stands as a testament to growing domestic defence manufacturing ecosystem and reducing dependency on imports.
  • Significance: The ship will strengthen Navy’s Anti-Submarine, coastal surveillance and mine laying capabilities.

About Rapid Financing Instrument:

• It provides prompt financial assistance to any International Monetary Fund (IMF) member country facing an urgent balance of payments need.
• It is one of the facilities under the General Resources Account (GRA) that provide financial support to countries, including in times of crisis.
• Types of Rapid Financing Instrument:
  • Regular Window: It is for urgent balance of payments needs caused by sources including domestic instability, exogenous shocks and fragility.
    • Under this, access up to 50 percent of quota per year and 100 percent of quota on a cumulative basis.
  • Large natural disaster Window: It is for urgent balance of payments needs arising from natural disasters where damage is assessed to be equivalent to or exceed 20 percent of the member’s GDP.
    • It provides access of up to 80 percent of quota per year and 133.33 percent of quota on a cumulative basis.
  • Conditionality of Rapid Financing Instrument:
    • Support provided without ex-post program-based conditionality or reviews (prior actions sometimes apply).
    • Economic policies should aim at addressing the underlying balance of payments difficulties.