GS Analyst
Daily Current Affairs

The 12-day Pushkaralu festival of Telugu-speaking people commenced recently in Varanasi.

• The festival is being organised in Kashi this year after a gap of 12 years due to a unique combination of planetary transits.
• Godavari Pushkaralu is celebrated once every 12 years when Brihaspati enters Simha Raasi. 
• In this festival, pilgrims worship their ancestors and the river Ganga.
• It is the second event of the recent past to be organised in Varanasi, after the Kashi-Tamil Sangamam.

The story behind

• As per the legend, after severe penance, the devotee Pushkara was blessed by Lord Shiva with the ability to live in water and purify holy rivers.
• On a request from Brhaspati (Jupiter), Pushkara decided to enter one of the 12 sacred rivers — Ganga, Yamuna, Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri, Bhima, Tapti, Narmada, Saraswati, Tungbhadra, Sindhu, and Pranhita.
• Each river has its zodiac sign.
• The river for each year’s festival is decided in accordance with Brihaspati's travel from one zodiac sign to another.

The ancient art form of Bhoota Kola, which gained mainstream popularity after the film Kantara, inspires anticipation and hope in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kasaragod.

• The trained Bhoota Kola performer, in a possessed state, provides the answers to the community and is revered as the manifestation of God himself.
• The ritual performance that starts in the night goes on into the early hours of the morning.
• Different forms: Performed in the open air, the Bhoota Kola comes in the forms of Panchuruli, Kallurutti, Koragajja and so on.
• Objective: The Tuluvas, the people who speak the Tulu language, believe in animism and the Bhoota Kola is performed to invoke these spirits of Nature.
• Tribe: The traditional right to perform the kola belong to the Nalike and Parava tribes of the region.
• A typical Bhoota Kola season starts in January and extends to May.

How is it different from Theyyam?

Originally from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts of Karnataka and the northern parts of Kasaragod district, the Bhoota Kola has striking similarities with Kerala’s Theyyam, but have subtle differences too.

• Costume: The costumes of the Bhoota Kola are not as strikingly colourful as those of the Theyyam. The Bhoota Kola performer is bedecked in an attire entirely made of intricately woven palm leaves.
• Face painting: The elaborate face painting, however, is similar to Theyyam. The incantations the performer utters are in Tulu. The nema or kola (as the performance is called) usually involves a fierce dance accompanied by drums, music and other rituals.

The Group of Seven (G7) economic powers have called for the "extension, full implementation and expansion" of a critical deal to export Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.

Need of the deal

• Ukraine is a major global exporter of sunflower, maize, wheat and barley.
• When Russia invaded in February 2022, its naval vessels blockaded Ukraine's ports, trapping some 20 million tonnes of grain.
  
  

What is in the deal?

• Brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, the deal was signed in Istanbul last July, allowing Ukraine to export more than 27 million tonnes of grain from several of its Black Sea ports.
• The deal allowed exports from Ukraine of grain, other foodstuffs, and fertilizer, including ammonia, to resume through a safe maritime humanitarian corridor from three key Ukrainian ports to the rest of the world:
  • Chornomorsk
  • Odesa
  • Yuzhny/Pivdennyi

The European Parliament, the legislative body of the 27-country block European Union, has approved the world’s first set of comprehensive rules to bring largely unregulated cryptocurrency markets under the ambit of regulation by government authorities.

What is in the new legislation?

• The regulation is called the Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA). Mica is the most comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets to date.
• The rules will impose a number of requirements on crypto platforms, token issuers and traders around transparency, disclosure, authorization, and supervision of transactions.
  • Platforms will be required to inform consumers about the risks associated with their operations, while sales of new tokens will also come under regulation.
• Coverage: The MiCA legislation will apply to ‘cryptoassets’ (Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins)
  • Cryptoassets can be understood as a digital representation of a value or a right that uses cryptography for security and is in the form of a coin or a token or any other digital medium which may be transferred and stored electronically, using distributed ledger technology or similar technology
• Stablecoins: It will apply not only to traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum but also to newer ones like stablecoins. MiCA will establish new rules for three types of stablecoins-

• asset-referenced tokens, which are linked to multiple currencies, commodities or cryptocurrencies
• e-money Tokens, which are linked to a single currency
• utility tokens are intended to provide access to a good or service that will be supplied by the issuer of that token

What is the need of such regulation?

• The concentration of the crypto industry: About 22% of the global crypto industry was concentrated in central, northern and western Europe, which received $1.3 trillion worth of cryptoassets.
• Rise in size: The investments and the size of the crypto industry have grown at unprecedented rates.
• Increasing Distability: The year 2022 saw some of the biggest failures and wipeouts in the crypto industry involving bankruptcies and fraud scandals, be it the collapse of the crypto exchange FTX and its spat with Binance or the failure of Terra LUNA cryptocurrency and its associated stablecoin.

What are the benefits of such a framework?

• Harmonising the industry: Having a comprehensive framework like MiCA for 27 countries in Europe would harmonise the crypto industry.
• Competitive edge: It would also give the EU a competitive edge in its growth compared to the U.S. or the U.K. which lack regulatory clarity.
• Stability: The governance practices in crypto firms would ensure stability and financial sector-like rout and contagion. The law would protect consumers against deception and fraud,

Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Indian Navy successfully conducted a maiden flight trial of a sea-based endo-atmospheric interceptor missile off the coast of Odisha in the Bay of Bengal.

Key-highlights

• The purpose of the trial was to engage and neutralize a hostile ballistic missile threat thereby elevating India into the elite club of Nations having Naval Ballistic missile defence (BMD) capability.
  • AWACS (airborne warning and control systems) and other hostile aircraft, as well as approaching long-range nuclear missiles, can be intercepted by BMDs.
• Prior to this, DRDO successfully demonstrated a land-based BMD system with the capability to neutralize ballistic missile threats, emerging from adversaries.

Cybercriminals have developed new ransomware encryptors designed to target macOS devices, making this the first major ransomware operation to specifically target Apple computers.

What is LockBit ransomware?

• First reported in September 2019 and dubbed the “abcd” virus, due to the file extension used when encrypting victims’ files, the LockBit ransomware is designed to infiltrate victims’ systems and encrypt important files.
• The virus is categorised as a “cryptovirus” due to its requests for payment in cryptocurrency to decrypt the files on the victim’s device.
• The ransomware is therefore typically deployed against victims who feel hindered enough by the disruption to pay heavy sums in exchange for access and can afford to do so.

• Target: Historically, ransomware has targeted Windows, Linux, and VMware ESXi servers. However, the LockBit is now working to create encryptors targeting Macs for the first time.
• It works as a self-spreading malware, not requiring additional instructions once it has successfully infiltrated a single device with access to an organisational intranet. 
• Protection: While there are no fool-proof ways of protecting against ransomware attacks, organisations and individuals can take certain steps to increase resilience against such cyber threats.