Prelims Focus 6th June 2026

Blue Helmet

In News: A total of 565 Indian Blue Helmets, serving with the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) have been honoured with the UN Medal of Honour.

• “Blue Helmets” are those involved in military, police or civilian service within a United Nations peacekeeping mission.
• The peacekeepers were awarded for their work in the following areas:
  • Preserving civilians with patrolling,
  • Community engagement,
  • Veterinary camps,
  • Women’s self-defence training,
  • Addressing gender-based violence and,
  • Improving humanitarian access.
• India has also been the second largest contributor to the uniforms of peacekeepers to UN peacekeeping missions after Nepal.

Yellow-throated Marten

In News: The yellow-throated marten has been spotted in Kaziranga National Park for the first time.

• Common name: Red fox.
• It is a member of the weasel family, Mustelidae, that also includes otters, badgers and wolverines.
• It is a smaller carnivore, which lies below the apex predators like the tiger and the bear in the food chains.
• A diurnal (active in daylight hours), tree-climbing mustelid that helps disperse seed which helps maintain good forest regeneration and the balance of the forest. 
• It is distributed throughout the Himalayas, South Asian, Southeast Asian, China, Korea and in parts of Russia. 
• The yellow-throated marten is distributed throughout the entire Himalayan region of India, and in other parts of the north east region such as Assam. 
• IUCN Ranking: LC – Least Concern.
• Is listed as a Schedule II animal in the Wildlife Protection Act of India.

Padma Barrage

In News: The project of Padma barrage has been accepted as a large scale river engineering project on the Padma river, a part of the Ganga river in Bangladesh, in the Rajbari district. 

• It’s an effort by Bangladesh to somewhat alter hydrology in its south west, which has been prone to drought in recent decades, due to decrease in seasonality of flows.
• The barrage will be 2.1-km-long and have 78 spillway gates, undersluices, navigation locks, fish passages, and associated embankments. 
• Bangladesh says the project will impact about 37% of the nation’s land area and water approximately 2.88 million ha of agricultural land.

Jai Prakash Narayan Bird Sanctuary 

In News: India officially reached a historic milestone in wetland conservation by designating the Jai Prakash Narayan Bird Sanctuary (also known as Surha Tal) in Uttar Pradesh as the country’s 100th Ramsar Site. This declaration recognizes the site’s critical role in sustaining global biodiversity and local ecological balance. 

Key Details of the 100th Ramsar Site

• Location: Ballia district, Uttar Pradesh (in the middle stretch of the Ganga River basin). 
• Landscape: Centered around a massive, rain-fed perennial oxbow lake. It encompasses floodplains, extensive marshes, and seasonally flooded areas. 
• Ecological Significance: Acts as an essential refuge for waterbirds, especially during hot summer months when smaller wetlands in the region dry out.
• Wildlife: Supports a diverse range of waterfowl, including the vulnerable common pochard (Aythya ferina) and the Indian river tern (Sterna aurantia). 

4th anniversary of the JanSamarth Portal 

In News: The Ministry of Finance commemorated the 4th anniversary of the JanSamarth Portal on June 6, 2026. Since its inception, the unified single-window digital platform has processed around 54.10 lakh applications, facilitating seamless institutional credit worth ₹3,00,951 crore across agriculture, business, housing, and renewable energy schemes. 

Scale and Impact

The platform aims to streamline the credit delivery process and eliminate middlemen by directly connecting loan seekers with multiple lenders. Key highlights include: 

• Sectors Covered: Loans are available across 16 different Central Government schemes, including Mudra, PM SVANidhi, and the Agri Clinics and Agri Business Centres Scheme. 
• Extensive Network: The portal is integrated with 269 Member Lending Institutions, including Public and Private Sector Banks, Regional Rural Banks, and Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs). 
• Accessibility: Available in multiple languages to increase ease of use and penetration in rural and underprivileged communities. 

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