Today's Brief 15/10/2025

1 .Brazil:

General Studies Paper-I (Mains) - Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society

Vice President and Minister of Development, Industry, Trade and Services of Brazil, Geraldo Alckmin reached New Delhi this afternoon on a three day visit to India.

Brazil, officially known as the Federative Republic of Brazil, stands as the largest country in South America and the fifth-largest in the world by both land area (8.5 million sq km) and population (over 214 million).

It is the only Portuguese-speaking nation in the Americas, a legacy of its colonization by Portugal in 1500.

Geographically, Brazil is incredibly diverse, featuring the vast Amazon Rainforest, the world's largest tropical rainforest and home to an estimated 10% of the planet's known biodiversity; the Pantanal, the world's largest tropical wetland area; and extensive river systems, including the Amazon River, the largest by discharge volume.

The country also boasts a long Atlantic coastline with famous beaches like Copacabana and Ipanema in Rio de Janeiro.

Historically, Brazil's path included being the seat of the Portuguese Empire after Napoleon's invasion of Portugal, a unique status in the colonial Americas.

It transitioned from a monarchy to a republic in 1889 and has experienced periods of military rule in the 20th century before returning to democracy.

Its economy is a powerhouse in the region, characterized by major exports of soybeans, coffee, iron ore, and aircraft (Embraer), though it faces challenges like income inequality and deforestation.

Politically, Brazil is a federal presidential constitutional republic, with its capital in Brasília, a planned city renowned for its modernist architecture.

The country plays a significant role in global affairs as a member of the BRICS group and various international organizations.

2 .The National Digital Livestock Mission (NDLM) is an initiative by the Government of India, primarily driven by the Department of Animal Husbandry & Dairying (DAHD), designed to revolutionize the country's livestock sector through digital technology.

The mission's core objective is to create a farmer-centric, technology-enabled ecosystem by building on the existing Bharat Pashudhan platform, which assigns a unique 12-digit ear tag ID to cattle.

This digital backbone enables key functions such as accurate animal traceability across the value chain, highly efficient real-time disease surveillance and management, and support for genetic improvement programs by centralizing breeding and productivity data.

Ultimately, the NDLM aims to empower farmers by giving them a single interface to access services, manage animal health records, and facilitate market access, thereby increasing their income and ensuring data-driven policy-making for the entire sector.