• Chief Minister unfurled the flag on the occasion of state-level Himachal Day function at Kaza in the tribal district of Lahaul Spiti.
• It is for the first time that the state level function is being held at Kaza.
• On the occasion he announced three per cent DA for 2.15 lakh employees and 90,000 retiree’s employee which will put a burden of Rs 500 crore on the exchequer.

History

• Himachal Pradesh was organised as a province on April 15, 1948 by merging several princely states.
• On December 18, 1970, the State of Himachal Pradesh Act was passed by Parliament and the new state came into being on January 25, 1971.
  • Since then, January 25 is being celebrated as Statehood Day in Himachal Pradesh each year.

• April 15 is celebrated as World Art Dayto commemorate Leonardo da Vinci’s birthday.
• World Art Day was officially established on April 15 during the General Assembly of the International Association of Art in 2012.

• Kolkata Metro has become the first metro rail in India to complete an under-river journey.
• The Kolkata Metro is will cover the 520-meter distance under the Hooghly river in just 45 seconds.
• Once operational, Howrah will become the deepest metro station in the country, situated 33 meters below the surface.

• BER is released by Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU),
• It measures the attractiveness of the business environment in 82 countries on a quarterly basis across 91 indicators.
• Singapore topped the latest rankings.
• India improved its ranking by six spots due to its improved score in parameters like technological readiness, political environment, and foreign investment among others.

• National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has developed the Know Your Medicine web and mobile application with an aim to create a clean sporting environment in India.
• Paving the path for clean sport, the application will enable the sports ecosystem to:
  • Check if any prohibited substance is present in medicines.
  • Make informed choices about use of medicines.
• Available in Hindi and English, the users can search by image and text options and search by medicines and ingredient options.

About NADA

• The National Anti-Doping Agency was set up as a registered society under the Societies Registration Act of 1860 on 24th November, 2005 with a mandate for Dope free sports in India.
• It is under the purview of Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.
• The primary objectives are to implement anti-doping rules as per WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency) code, regulate dope control programme, to promote education and research and creating awareness about doping and its ill effects.

• National Stock Exchange has issued notices naming entities involved in dabba trading.
• Dabba trading is informal trading that takes place outside the purview of stock exchanges.
• Traders bet on stock price movements without incurring a real transaction to take physical ownership of a particular stock as is done in an exchange.
• Since there are no proper records of income or gain, it helps dabba traders escape taxation.
• It is recognised as an offence under Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act (SCRA), 1956.

• India signed a MoU with WFP for sending wheat to Afghanistan.
• WFPis the food-assistance branch of UN and world’s largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security.
• It was founded in 1961 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) with its headquarters in Rome, Italy.
• WFP works in over 120 countries and territories to enhance nutrition in women and children, support smallholder farmers, help prepare for climate-related shocks, and boost human capital.
• Executive Board (India’s term to end in 2024) is WFP’s supreme governing body.
• WFP’s funding comes from governments, corporations, individuals etc.

• Ghana became the first country to approve a new malaria vaccine – R21/Matrix-M vaccine – developed at Oxford University.
• It is being manufactured by Serum Institute of India.
• It has exceeded the WHO target of 75% efficacy.
• However, WHO is yet to recommend the R21 vaccine for widespread use.
• WHO has earlier approved RTS,S malaria vaccine in 2021.
  • It acts against Plasmodium falciparum.
• There are 5 Plasmodium parasite species that cause malaria in humans and 2 of these species – falciparum and P. vivax – pose the greatest threat.
• Malaria kills more than 600,000 people each year, most of them children in Africa.

• A group of students witnessed phenomenon of bioluminescence along the coast of Visakhapatnam recently.

About Bioluminescence

• Bioluminescence occurs due to the presence of some marine planktons called dinoflagellates that produce light when the water is disturbed.
• These planktons emit light on the ocean surface at night.
• Many marine creatures like sponges, jellyfish, worms, species of fish, anthropods, echinoderms and unicellular alga exhibit bioluminescence to either evade predators, attract prey or during mating.
• In Visakhapanam, this phenomenon is most likely the result of an algal bloom of the dinoflagellate species of noctiluca and ceratium.
• This occurs when the luciferase enzyme reacts with luciferin compound in the presence of oxygen to produce a cold light.
• The dinoflagellates follow a circadian cycle (24-hour cycle) and as a result this phenomenon occurs during the night which is visible in low light conditions.
• This unique phenomenon has been visible in some other beaches in India including Havelock Island in the Andamans, Thiruvanmiyur beach in Chennai, Mattu beach in Karnataka and Bangaram Island in Lakshadweep.

Abput Planktons

• Plankton are a group of marine and freshwater organisms that drift along ocean currents because they are too small or weak to swim against them.
• Their name comes from the Greek word planktos which means “”
• The range in size from 2 micrometers to more than 20 centimeters.
• There are two types of plankton: phytoplankton, which are tiny plants, and zooplankton, which are tiny animals.

• Jallianwala Bagh Massacre Day 2023 marks 104 years since the tragic incident.
• The Jallianwala Bagh massacre was a tragic incident that occurred on 13th April 1919 in Amritsar, India, where British Gurkha soldiers, on the orders of Brigadier-General Dyer, fired upon a large crowd of unarmed protestors who had gathered at Jallianwala Bagh to demonstrate against the Rowlatt Act 1919
  • Rowlatt Act 1919 gave the government enormous powers to repress political activities and allowed detention of political prisoners without trial for two years.
• Background:
  • Mahatma Gandhi gave a call for non-violent civil disobedience against such unjust laws.
  • In Punjab, on 9^th April 1919, two nationalist leaders, Saifuddin Kitchlew and Dr. Satyapal, were arrested and taken to unknown destination.
  • This caused resentment among the Indian protestors who came out in thousands on 10th April to show their solidarity with their leaders.
  • To curb any future protest, the government put martial law in place and law and order in Punjab was handed over to Brigadier-General Dyer.
• The incident
  • On 13th April, Baisakhi day, a large crowd of people mostly from neighbouring villages, unaware of the prohibitory orders in Amritsar gathered in the Jallianwala Bagh.
  • Brigadier-General Dyer arrived on the scene with his men and ordered the troops to surround the gathering and blocked the only exit point and opened fire on the unarmed crowd killing more than 1000 unarmed men, women, and children.

Aftermath

• The Jallianwala Bagh tragedy was one of the causes that led Mahatma Gandhi to begin organising his first large-scale and sustained nonviolent protest (satyagraha) campaign, the Non Cooperation Movement (1920-22).
• The Bengali poet and Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore renounced the knighthood that he had received in 1915.
• Hunter Commission was setup to investigate the incident, which in 1920 censured Dyer for his actions and ordered him to resign from the military.