Prelims Mantra (Day-16)

Extended Fund Facility (EFF) of IMF:

• • It provides financial assistance to countries facing serious medium-term balance of payments problems because of structural weaknesses that require time to address. e.g. recently given to Sri Lanka.
  • Typically approved for periods of 3 years but may be approved for periods as long as 4 years to implement deep and sustained structural reforms.
  • Repayment over 4½–10 years in 12 equal semi-annual instalments.
  • Market-determined Special Drawing Rights (SDR) interest rate

Extended Credit Facility (ECF) of IMF:

• • It provides medium-term financial assistance to low-income countries (LICs) with protracted balance of payments problems.
  • It is one of the facilities under Poverty Reduction and Growth Trust (PRGT).
  • Duration- maximum 5 years.
  • Zero interest rate.
  • Repayment – Grace period of 5½ years, and a final maturity of 10 years.

Dholavira:

• • President visited UNESCO World Heritage Site Dholavira, located on island of Khadir in Kachchh district, Gujarat.
  • It is locally known as Kotada Timba.
  • Two seasonal stream: Mansar in north & Manhar in south.
  • Unique Features: Water management system, multi-layered defensive mechanisms, extensive use of stone in construction, and special burial structures.

Archaeological Findings:

• • It consisted of a ‘citadel’, a middle town’, and a lower town, the only city to be divided into 3 parts.
  • Large-scale use of sandstone along with mud brick.
  • Elaborate system of water harvesting and management by building a series of dams and channelling water into connected reservoirs.
  • Black on red ware pottery, Redware, and Buff ware pottery.
  • Weights and measures made up of chert (rock).
  • An inscription comprising ten large-sized signs of the Harappan script is similar to a sign board.

Exercise Desert Hunt 2025:

• • An integrated Tri-Service Special Forces exercise conducted by Indian Air Force at Air Force Station Jodhpur from 24 to 28 February 2025.
  • It involved elite Para (Special Forces) from Indian Army, Marine Commandos from Indian Navy along with Garud (Special Forces) from Indian Air Force, participating together in a simulated combat environment.

Swavalambini – Women Entrepreneurship Programme:

• • Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE), in collaboration with NITI Aayog, launched Swavalambini— a Women Entrepreneurship Programme.
  • It empowers female students in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) by providing them with necessary entrepreneurial mindset, resources, and mentorship to successfully build and scale their ventures.
  • Implemented by National Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD).

Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 1:

• • S. company successfully landed its spacecraft on moon on 2^nd March 2025, marking only second private mission to achieve milestone — and first to do so upright.

Maple Syrup Urine Disease (MSUD):

• • Scientists have created a new gene therapy for a debilitating genetic disorder MSUD, also known as branched-chain ketoaciduria.
  • It is a rare genetic disorder characterized by deficiency of an enzyme complex (branched-chain alpha-keto acid dehydrogenase) that is required to break down (metabolize) three branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) leucine, isoleucine and valine, in body.
  • A child is born with MSUD when both parents are carriers of specific gene mutation and pass it on.
  • Loss of this complex prevents body from properly breaking down several amino acids, eventually leading to neurological symptoms and life-threatening brain damage.

ERONET:

• • It is a Web-based platform developed for election officials, in multiple languages and scripts, to handle all processes pertaining to registration, migration, and deletion of names from the electoral rolls.

Abkhazia region:

• • Pro-Russian politician Badra Gunba was declared winner of run-off presidential polls in breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia, amid tensions over Moscow’s influence.
  • Abkhazia is recognised by most of the world as Georgian territory but has been under Russian control since a 2008 war between Russia and Georgia.

Altieri’s ring:

• • Recently, Euclid space mission of European Space Agency (ESA) spotted an Einstein ring in galaxy NGC 6505.
  • Astronomer named Bruno Altieri first noticed this Einstein ring in September 2023 in image captured by Euclid.
  • Einstein predicted that light will not travel on a straight path when moving in the vicinity of massive objects. He argued that a large object distorts spacetime — the fabric of space and time around it.
  • This idea forms basis of Einstein’s famous general theory of relativity.
  • Massive object in the foreground, called a gravitational lens, distorts and amplifies light coming from background sources in same way a magnifying glass distorts path of light scattered by a background object.
  • This quirky cosmic phenomenon is called strong gravitational lensing. An Einstein ring is a special case of strong gravitational lensing.

Planetary parades:

• • Events when planets seem to line up, one behind other, in night sky in the order of their distance from sun.
  • Reason – planets of solar system all orbit sun in roughly the same plane, called ecliptic plane.
  • Parade around February 28, 2025 involved seven planets: Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus & Neptune.

Symbiotic relationship between sea anemone and anemonefish (e.g. clown fish):

• • Anemone fishes (Amphiprion clarkii) live and shelter among the tentacles of sea anemones, swimming in and out unharmed by stinging cells (nematocysts) that are present on tentacles and that can be fatal to other fishes.
  • When anemonefish are provided with foods of various sizes and types in field, they selectively consume small animal food (krill, clams, squid, and fish) while providing larger pieces of animal food to their hosts.

High levels of selenium in wheat lead to hair loss:

• • ICMR Report shows high levels of selenium in wheat led to hair loss of people in Buldhana district, Maharashtra.
  • Selenium has antioxidant properties and may help protect cells from damage.
  • An overdose of selenium may cause bad breath, hair loss, fever, tiredness, and nausea.

Sashakt Panchayat-Netri Abhiyan: o Launched by Ministry of Panchayati Raj on 4th March 2025 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. o Strategic initiative aimed at strengthening capacity-building interventions for women elected representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions.

Information on languages in India: o Eighth schedule of Constitution has 22 languages as – Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Marathi, Sanskrit, Punjabi, Telugu, Urdu, Malayalam, Oriya, Tamil, Sindhi (1967), Manipuri (1992), Konkani (1992), Nepali (1992), Dogri (2004), Maithili (2004), Bodo (2004), Santhali (2004). o Classical languages- Tamil (2004), Sanskrit (2005), Telugu (2008), Kannada (2008), Malayalam (2013), Odia (2014), Marathi, Pali, Prakrit, Assamese and Bengali (2024). o Hindi tops the list as the most widely spoken language in India, with over 528 million native speakers followed by Bengali (97 million) and Marathi (83 million). o Ramcharitmanas is an epic poem in Awadhi language, composed by 16th-century Indian bhakti poet Tulsidas. o Kongthong village in East Khasi Hills of Meghalaya is India’s only whistling village. It is popular as ‘whistling village’ due to its unique tradition of ‘Jingrwai Lawbei’ (meaning the Song of Clan’s First Woman) under which mothers create a tune for their newborns. They belong to the Seng Khasi Tribe and speak the Khasi language.

 

PRACTICE MCQs

Q1. Consider the following languages:

1. Marathi
2. Pali
3. Prakrit
4. Assamese
5. Bengali

How many of the above languages were given classical language status recently by the government?

A. Only two

B. Only three

C. Only four

D. All five

Answer: D

Q2. Consider the following statements about Extended Fund Facility (EFF):

1. It is financial assistance mechanism of World Bank.
2. It is provided to countries facing serious medium-term balance of payments problems because of structural weaknesses.
3. Zero interest rate is levied on financial assistance under EFF.

Which of the statements given above is/are incorrect?

A. 1 only

B. 1 and 2 only

C. 2 only

D. 1 and 3 only

Answer: D

Q3. Abkhazia region, recently mentioned in the news, is part of which of the following countries?

A. Ukraine

B. Russia

C. Georgia

D. Turkey

Answer: C

Q4. Which of the following statements correctly describes the term ‘gravitational lensing’?

A. Massive celestial object distorting and amplifying light coming from background sources.

B. Gravitational waves detected through a telescope in space.

C. Effect of gravitational waves on magnetic field of the earth.

D. Earth’s atmosphere blocking harmful U.V. rays coming from the Sun.

Answer: A

Q5. Kongthong village, famously known as India’s only whistling village, is located in –

A. Nagaland

B. Arunachal Pradesh

C. Mizoram

D. Meghalaya

Answer: D

Spread the Word