Current Context: Garia Puja is a seven-day festival celebrated annually in Tripura. The festival honors Garia, a deity symbolizing prosperity and well-being, and is a key cultural event for the state.

About

• Originated in the tribal traditions of Tripura.
• Marks the beginning of the Tripuri calendar month of Boishakh.
• Rituals and Practices
• Bamboo pole erected as a symbol of Lord Garia.
• Offerings: Rice, fowl, rice beer, and eggs.
• Chicken sacrifice is common among the Tripuri community, with the blood offered as a blessing.

Modern Celebrations

• The festival has expanded beyond tribal areas to urban centers like Agartala.
• Celebrated by diverse communities, promoting social harmony and recognizing the region’s rich culture.

Current Context: The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) added 16 new sites from 11 countries to its Global Geoparks Network, bringing the total to 229 sites across 50 countries.

About

• UNESCO Global Geoparks are designated areas with significant geological heritage, including geological formations like volcanoes, fossils, and canyons.
• Purpose: They aim to preserve Earth’s geological history and promote sustainable tourism and education.
• Established: . The Global Geoparks Network was established in 2004 and was formally adopted by UNESCO in 2015.
• Total Area Covered: Approximately 855,000 square kilometers (km²).
• New Countries with Geoparks:China, North Korea, Ecuador, Indonesia, Italy, Norway, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Spain, the United Kingdom (UK), and Vietnam.

India & Global Geoparks

• Current Status: India does not yet have any UNESCO Global Geopark.

Proposed Sites:

• Lonar Crater (Maharashtra): An impact crater formed by a meteorite.
• Mary’s Island (Karnataka): Known for its columnar basaltic lava formation.
• Siwalik Fossil Park (Himachal Pradesh): A significant fossil-rich zone.

Current context: A newly discovered submerged landmass was found beneath the icy waters of the Davis Strait a Study Led By Scientists from the United Kingdom and Sweden.

Key Highlights:

• A previously hidden landmass, called the Davis Strait proto-microcontinent, was found beneath the icy waters of the Davis Strait.
• The discovery was made through satellite gravity data and seismic readings.
• The proto-microcontinent is formed from unusually thick continental crust (12-15 miles or 19-24 km thick).

About Davis Strait

• A bay in the northern Atlantic Ocean between southeastern Baffin Island (Canada) and southwestern Greenland.
• Separates Baffin Bay (north) from the Labrador Sea (south).
• Forms part of the Northwest Passage, connecting the Atlantic and Arctic Oceans.
• Known as one of the broadest straits in the world.

Home to complex geological features like underwater basins and ridges, formed by strike-slip faulting along the Ungava Fault Zone 45-62 million years ago.

Current Context: South Korea is considering the establishment of a “necessary facility” in the Yellow Sea’s overlapping territorial waters with China. This comes after China’s deployment of a steel structure in the region, which South Korea views as a potential threat to its maritime sovereignty.

About

• Location: Marginal sea of the Western Pacific, north of the East China Sea. Bordered by China (north/west), North Korea, and South Korea (east).
• Named for: Yellowish sand particles from the Gobi Desert.
• Rivers: Han, Yangtze, Datung, Yalu, Guang, Sheyang.
• Islands: Jeju (South Korea), Shandong Peninsula (China), Ganghwa (South Korea).
• Ports: Qingdao, Dalian (China), Inch’ŏn (South Korea), Namp’o (North Korea).

• Observed on April 24 every year to commemorate the enactment of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act, 1992, which came into force in 1993, institutionalizing Panchayati Raj in India.
• Engagement: Celebrated by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India, through gram sabhas, awareness campaigns, and best-performing panchayat awards.
• Significance: Marks the decentralization of power to the rural population and strengthens participatory democracy at the village level.

Current Context: Naresh Chauhan, Principal Media Advisor to the Chief Minister, stated that the Himachal Pradesh government is expediting the construction of the Medical Device Park (MDP) at Nalagarh, Solan district.

Key Highlights

• Project Cost: ₹300 crore (funded by state government).

Work in Progress:

• ₹130 crore worth of infrastructure under construction.
• Water supply nearing completion.
• Electrification, road, and site development ongoing.

Current context: Former Supreme Court judge Justice (Retd.) Dinesh Maheshwari was appointed Chairperson of the 23rd Law Commission of India in April 2025.

Current context: Recently, Uttarakhand cabinet launched the Adarsh Sanskrit Village Programme to promote Sanskrit by selecting one model village per district for active teaching and use of the language.

Key Details

• Objectives: Preserve and popularize Sanskrit; connect youth with Indian philosophy and cultural heritage; dispel its image as exclusive to certain communities.
• Village Selection: Thirteen villages chosen (e.g., Bhogpur in Dehradun, Mukhem in Tehri) based on community receptiveness; pilot may expand to block level.
• Instructors: Thirteen Sanskrit teachers to be hired at ₹20,000 per month after written test and interview; trained at the Sanskrit Academy, Haridwar.
• Curriculum: Structured syllabus with shlokas and stories from the Mahabharata, Ramayana, Vedas, and Durga Saptashati for comprehensive literary grounding.
• Community Involvement: Inclusive outreach to all groups (Muslims, Dalits, tribals); optional Sanskrit in madrasas; local committees to oversee implementation.
• Employment & Digital Integration: Partnerships with industry bodies to create jobs for Sanskrit graduates; collaboration with IIT Roorkee on AI-based Sanskrit tools and public signage in Sanskrit.

Current context: Karnataka has launched a village‑level antiquities survey, becoming the first Indian state to document inscriptions, sculptures and monuments at this granular scale.

Key Details

• Launch: Announced by the Department of Archaeology, Museums and Heritage on World Heritage Day.
• Scope: Geo‑tagging and inventory of every antiquity—inscriptions, sculptures, minor and major monuments—in all villages.

State‑Protected Sites:

• 800+ monuments under Karnataka’s protection
• 600+ sites under the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)
• Proposal submitted to add 110 more monuments
• Conservation Model: Operates under a Public‑Private Partnership (PPP) since 2001 with Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara Dharmothana Trust.
• Funding split: 40% state department, 40% trust, 20% local community

Current Context: India participated in Gulf Information Technology Exhibition, GITEX Africa 2025, Africa’s largest tech and startup summit, held in Marrakesh, Morocco. Minister of State (MoS) Jayant Chaudhary represented India.

Key Highlights

• Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI):India showcased scalable and inclusive platforms including Aadhaar – Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), UPI – Unified Payments Interface, ONDC – Open Network & for Digital Commerce, SIDH – Skill India Digital Hub, DigiLocker – Digital Document Storage Platform & DIKSHA – Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing.

Skilling & Innovation:

• SIDH onboarded 1 crore+ users in just 1.5 years.
• India registered 33.39% Year-on-Year(YoY) growth in AI talent (Stanford AI Index 2025).
• Bilateral Engagements: MoS held meetings with Moroccan ministers on Artificial Intelligence (AI),Digital governance & Education and skill development