• Natural farming is a chemical-free approach that relies on locally available resources, including desi cow dung and urine, and emphasises traditional, indigenous practices.  
  • It eliminates the use of synthetic fertilisers and pesticides, promoting on-farm biomass recycling, including mulching, and pest management through biodiversity, botanical concoctions, and exclusion of all synthetic chemicals.  
  • Internationally, Natural Farming is considered a form of regenerative agriculture—a prominent strategy to save the planet.  
    • It has the potential to manage land practices and sequester carbon from the atmosphere in soils and plants, where it is useful instead of being detrimental. 

Benefits of Natural Farming

• Low cost of production: Minimal use of the equipment and no use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides.
• Good for health: Food produced has higher nutrition density and is chemical-free.
• Environment Conservation: Fewer chemical residues and carbon emissions. In this agroecology-based diversified farming system, crops, trees, and livestock are integrated with functional biodiversity.
• Efficient Use of Water: Modern commercial farming leads to the over-extraction of groundwater. But natural farming leads to more efficient use of soil moisture.

Promotes Soil Health

• Conventional chemical-based farming depletes macro-nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, etc.), micro-nutrients (iron, manganese, zinc, copper, etc.), organic carbon, and rhizosphere microbiome (for nitrogen fixing) in the soil. This does not happen in natural farming.
• Natural farming on the other hand helps in the growth of beneficial organisms like earthworms and increases soil enzymes and microbial biomass. All these help in soil restoration.

Challenges of Natural Farming

• The decline in Yields: Sikkim, the first organic state in India has seen a decline in yield following conversion to organic farming. Many farmers have switched back to conventional farming after this decline.
• Shortage of Natural Inputs: Lack of readily available natural inputs is a barrier to converting to chemical-free agriculture. For profitable farming this delay and shortage in natural inputs are detrimental.
• Resistance from Chemical Inputs Industry: It is a well-built-up capital-intensive industry. It naturally discourages any efforts towards natural farming.

The following 15 countries grant GSP preferences: Armenia, Australia, Belarus, Canada, the European Union, Iceland, Japan, Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Norway, the Russian Federation, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom and the United States of America.

• The Generalized System of Preferences (GSP)  was instituted in 1971 under the aegis of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
• It is a voluntary trade measure implemented by developed countries that provides an advantageous, or “preferential”, tariff treatment to imports from developing countries.
• The preferences are in the form of either elimination or reduction in customs duty when the list of eligible products from the beneficiary developing country (BDC) is exported to the developed country.
• However, an exporter under the GSP is required to fulfil the rules of origin under the GSP scheme. The rules of origin are the criteria required to ensure that the product exported originates from the country of export and is not being diverted from another country.
• The GSP is a unilateral customs duty preference scheme i.e. there is no need for India or other BDCs to provide reciprocal customs duty preferences for the developed country.
• The major countries who grant GSP preferences to developing countries are Armenia, Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Canada, European Union (EU), Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, New Zealand, Norway, Russian Federation, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Turkey, United Kingdom (UK), United States (US), and Uzbekistan.
• Each of these developed countries has its own regulatory framework under which it provides the GSP tariff preferences.
• The GSP provided also varies in terms of the products on which preferences are provided and the developing countries exports to which the tariff preferences are granted.
• In terms of trade volumes, the GSPs granted by the EU and the US are the most comprehensive and, hence, the most important for developing countries.
• Some of the GSP schemes also provide additional tariff preferences to a specified class of developing countries, with most providing the largest coverage of GSP customs duty preferences to exports from Least Developed Countries (LDCs).
• India is one of the primary beneficiaries in terms of export volume realized under the GSP. Around 40% of India’s exports to the EU are under the EU GSP, while prior to the USGSP withdrawal, around 10% of India’s total exports to the US were under the GSP.

• The Major Atmospheric Cherenkov Experiment (MACE) Observatory is the largest imaging Cherenkov telescope in Asia.
• Location: It is located at an altitude of ~4,300 m, at Hanle, Ladakh.
• It is Asia’s Largest and World’s Highest Imaging Cherenkov Observatory.
• The MACE project aims to foster international collaborations, advancing India’s contributions to space research and bolstering India’s position in the global scientific community. 
• It is indigenously built by Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) with support from Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL), Hyderabad, and other Indian industry partners.
• It will help the scientific community enhance its understanding in the fields of astrophysics, fundamental physics, and particle acceleration mechanisms.
• The MACE telescope will observe high-energy gamma rays, contributing to global efforts to understand the most energetic phenomena in the universe, such as supernovae, black holes, and gamma-ray bursts. 

• New Glenn is a next-generation reusable rocket developed by Blue Origin.

• New Glenn is a two-stage heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle designed to carry both crewed and uncrewed payloads to Earth orbit and beyond.
• The rocket features a seven-meter diameter payload fairing, which provides twice the volume of traditional five-meter class fairings. This allows it to accommodate large payloads, such as multiple satellites or even structures as large as three school buses.
• The first stage is powered by seven BE-4 engines that use liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid oxygen (LOX) as propellants.
• The second stage utilizes two BE-3U engines powered by liquid hydrogen and LOX, which are optimized for operations in space.
• The first stage is designed to be reused for up to 25 missions, landing vertically on a sea-based platform after each launch.
• Payload capacities: it can lift up to 45 metric tons to low Earth orbit (LEO) and 13 metric tons to geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) in a reusable configuration.