• It is a masked dance unique to Tibetan Buddhism.
• In this Buddhist monks with colourful costumes dance to the sounds of traditional instruments.
• The dance in itself is seen as a form of meditation and mostly practised during festivals like Losar in Buddhist monastries.
• It is considered an act of cleansing evil forces.
• The dance ritual of Cham is practiced till date in Himalayas, especially in places where Tibetan Buddhism prospered in India- Ladakh, Dharamshala, Lahaul Valley, Spiti Valley & Sikkim, and Bhutan and Tibet.
• Padma Sambhava (Guru Rinpoche) the founder of Nyingmapa is believed to have started the Cham Dance tradition to subjugate the local demons that were obstructing the building of the first monastery in Tibet, Samye.
  • He also introduced Tantric Buddhism to Tibet.
• The dance often depicts scenes of Padmasambhava’s life and his 8 manifestations.

• The World Health Organization (WHO) has ended the global health emergency for Mpox.

ABOUT MPOX

• Mpox is a viral zoonotic disease most commonly found in Africa and has infected around 87,000 people in 2022.
• Monkeypox virus was initially discovered in lab monkeys in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1958.
• The very first human cases were reported to be discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970.
• The virus is a member of the Poxviridae family which is genetically similar to other poxviruses.
• It spreads through close contact with an infected individual and can be transmitted from animals
  • Transmission can also occur by inoculation or via the placenta (congenital monkeypox).
• Symptoms are similar to smallpox including fever, rashes, swollen lymph nodes, headaches etc, although with less clinical severity.
• Currently there is no approved anti-viral treatment for the disease.

• Bhil tribe are fighting the forest department’s permission to a Hyderabad-based businessman to uproot the Baobab trees for sale to rich clients, each tree costing ₹10 Lakhs.
• Baobab belongs to the genus Adansonia are native to mainland Africa, Madagascar, and Australia.
• There are around 1,000 Baobab trees in Dhar, in Madhya Pradesh’s Mandu district.
  • It is unclear how they reached India
• They have unusual barrel-like trunks and are known for their extraordinary longevity (live upto 2,000 years) and ethnobotanical importance.
• The tree’s unique pendulous flowers are pollinated by bats and bush babies.
• IUCN Status: Endangered
• Madhya Pradesh government has applied for a Geographical Indication (GI) tag for Boababs.

• PM recently laid down the foundation stone of Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory – India (LIGO-India).
• The LIGO-India facility is being constructed in Hingoli district in Maharashtra.
• LIGO – India is a planned advanced gravitational- wave observatory to be located in India as part of the worldwide network.
• The project was given “in principle” approval in 2016 to be completed by 2030.

• Funding by Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST).
• It will be the fifth node of the planned network and will bring India into a prestigious international scientific experiment.

WORKING MECHANISM OF LIGO

• The observatory comprises two 4-km-long vacuum chambers, built perpendicular to each other with highly reflective mirrors at the ends.
• Light rays are released simultaneously in both vacuum chambers.
• In normal circumstances, the light rays in both chambers would return simultaneously.
• However, if a gravitational wave arrives, one chamber gets elongated while the other gets squished, causing a phase difference in the returning light rays.
• Detecting this phase difference confirms the presence of a gravitational wave.

SCIENTIFIC BENEFITS OF LIGO INDIA

• The LIGO-India project would have several spin-off benefits to Indian science.
• The observatory is expected to enable dramatic returns in astronomy and astrophysics, as well as leapfrog Indian science and technology in cutting-edge frontiers of great national relevance.

• The population of the Himalayan monal, the former state bird, has risen to 176 at the Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP), a UNESCO world heritage site, in Kullu district, revealed a survey conducted by the park authorities for 2022-23.
  • Last year, the strength of the bird was 168, while it was merely 90 in 2015-16.
• The Himalayan monal is continuously under threat from poachers because of its colourful crest, which people use to decorate their caps.
  • However, the use of the crest of the bird on the cap is prohibited under law.

About Himalayan Monal

• Himalayan monal (Lophophorus impejanus) is widely distributed from Afghanistan to northeast India.
• It is the national bird of Nepal, where it is known as the danphe or danfe.
• It is the state bird of Uttarakhand.
• IUCN status- Least Concern; CITES- Appendix 1

• Odisha CM office recently directed officials to begin construction of the multipurpose irrigation project at Chheligada.

About Chheligada Irrigation Project

• It is a multipurpose medium project being undertaken across river Badjhore, a tributary of river Vansadhara in the Gajapati District of Odisha.
• The Project envisages the construction of a 250m long & 30m high dam across the river Badjhore with a central spillway.
• This Project will also provide drinking water to Brahampur City.

• Telangana has become the first state in the country to launch a state robotics framework with a vision to create a sustainable robotics ecosystem.
• It has been developed by the Emerging Technologies Wing in collaboration with the All-India Robotics Association and inputs from academia, industry experts and stakeholders.
• It focuses on leveraging robotics technology to drive growth and development across identified four key domains – agriculture, healthcare, industrial automation and consumer robotics.

• Punjab has become the first state to implement the ‘right to walk’.
• Right to walk make it mandatory for all road-owning agencies, including the NHAI, to provide footpaths and cycle tracks on the road.

• The 6th Indian Ocean Conference (IOC) is being held between May 12-13 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
• It will discuss aspects strengthening cooperation between the countries of the Indian Ocean region.
• The 6th edition of the Conference is being organised by India Foundation in association with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bangladesh and Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
• Theme: “Peace, Prosperity and Partnership for a Resilient Future”.
• The Conference endeavours to bring critical states and principal maritime partners of the region together on a common platform to deliberate upon the prospects of regional cooperation for Security And Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR).
• The first edition of the Conference was held in Singapore in 2016.

• First meeting of national MSME Council held with emphasis on RAMP.

About RAMP

• It is a World Bank assisted Central Sector Scheme, supporting COVID Resilience and Recovery interventions of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MoMSME).
• It aims at
  • Improving access to market and credit
  • Strengthening institutions and governance at the Centre and State
  • Improving Centre-State linkages and partnerships
  • Addressing issues of delayed payments and greening of MSMEs
• The total outlay for the scheme is Rs. 6,062.45 crore out of which 3750 crore would be a loan from the World Bank and the remaining Rs. 2312.45 crore would be funded by India.
• The National MSME Council has been set up to oversee inter-Central Ministerial/Departmental coordination.