28th May 2025

Explanation:
The National Apprenticeship Training Scheme provides apprenticeship training to graduates and diploma holders in engineering and technology to enhance their employability. The scheme is implemented by the Ministry of Education (formerly known as the Ministry of Human Resource Development), not the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Under the scheme, apprentices receive a stipend which is shared by both the government and the employer.

Explanation:
The ground at the summit of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii (USA) has been rumbling and swelling in recent days, prompting scientists to warn that the mountain could once again disgorge lava. The activity is occurring at the summit of Kilauea volcano, an uninhabited area within Hawaii Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island. This is about 200 miles southeast of Honolulu, which is on a different island called Oahu.

Explanation:
IMD brands the monsoon as ‘normal’ or ‘deficient’ based on how it fares against its benchmark Long Period Average (LPA). LPA is the average rainfall received by the country as a whole during the south-west monsoon, for a 50-year period.

• Deficient rainfall - The country is said to have received deficient rainfall if the actual rainfall falls below 90 per cent of LPA.
• Excess rainfall - The country is said to have received excess rainfall if the rainfall is greater than 110 per cent of LPA.
• Normal rainfall - It is deemed ‘normal’ when the actual rainfall received falls between 96 and 104 per cent of LPA. The IMD has recently changed the definition of a “normal” monsoon by reducing average rainfall received during rainy season from 89 cms to 88 cms.

Explanation:
CRISPR-Cas9 technology behaves like a cut-and-paste mechanism on DNA strands that contain genetic information. The specific location of the genetic codes that need to be changed, or NOTES “edited”, is identified on the DNA strand, and then, using the Cas9 protein, which acts like a pair of scissors, that location is cut off from the strand. A DNA strand, when broken, has a natural tendency to repair itself. Scientists intervene during this auto-repair process, supplying the desired sequence of genetic codes that binds itself with the broken DNA strand.