• Home Minister recently unveiled a statue of Lord Basaveshwara in Bengaluru.
• Lord Basaveshwara or Basavanna was a 12th century poet and born in Karnataka.
• He lived during the reign of the Kalyani Chalukya/Kalachuri dynasty.
• He was a philosopher and social reformer.
• He rejected gender and caste discrimination, superstitions and rituals.
• Basavanna spread social awareness through his poetry, popularly known as
• He is considered the founder of the Lingayat religion, which is a major religious group in Karnataka.
• A strong promoter of ahimsa (non-violence), he condemned human and animal sacrifices.
• His philosophy was based on principles of Arivu (true knowledge), ethos (right conduct), and Anubhava (divine experience).
• Basava Purana, written by Palkuriki Somanatha in 13th-century, holds full account of Basavanna’s life and ideas.
• He developed and inspired a new devotional movement named Virashaivas, or ardent, heroic worshippers of Shiva.

• In order to check road mishaps, road crash fatalities and injuries through improved road safety management and institutional reform in Nurpur police district, a World Bank-funded ambitious Road Safety Enforcement Project (RSEP) has been approved.
• The project will focus on strengthening and streamlining the management capabilities for road safety in this police district with inter-state border. Besides, it will also strengthen emergency medical and rehabilitation services for post-crash care.
• Official sources reveal that 25 locations are being identified in the district where evidence-based Artificial Intelligence Digital Surveillance Cameras (AIDSC) for monitoring road safety violations will be installed with centralised traffic enforcement control room at Shimla.

About the project

• Black spots on roads and shortcomings in road engineering will be worked out
• A special budget will be provided for police mobility and procurement of interceptor patrolling vehicles.
• The road engineering will be improved with roadside crash barriers.
• The highway patrol vehicles will be equipped with CCTV cameras, rescue equipment and medical first aid facilities

• The residents of Balh Valley have urged the state government to construct the proposed airport at some other place in the Mandi district, instead of this valley.
• A delegation of Balh Bachao Sangharsh Samiti met Chief Minister in Shimla recently and apprised him of the grievances of the people living in the valley.
• Balh Valley is known as mini Punjab because of its fertile land.
• The people here are primarily dependent on vegetable farming for their livelihood.

• Every year on March 27, World Theatre Day is celebrated worldwide to promote the significance of theatrical forms.
• The theme of World Theatre Day is “Theatre and a Culture of Peace” set by the International Theatre Institute.
• World Theatre Day was first observed in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute (ITI).
• ITI is a worldwide organization that promotes international exchange in theatre arts and promotes the values of UNESCO. It was founded in 1948.
• Headquarters: Paris, France.

• Recently, the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) launched Sagar Manthan dashboard.
• It is the Real-time Performance Monitoring Dashboard of MoPSW that will monitor and track the progress of their projects.
• This new digital platform has integrated all the data related to the Ministry and other subsidiaries.
• Features: Data visualization,Real-time monitoring, Improved communication, Data-driven decision making,Increased accountability
• Significance:
  • The dashboard is a positive development towards Digital India vision.
  • It will ensure the timely completion of projects, informed decision-making, increased efficiency & effectiveness of projects
  • It will also promote risk management, resource allocation, and progress reporting.

• Archaeologists said on Monday they have found the oldest pearling town in the Gulf on Siniyah island, off one of the northern emirates of the United Arab Emirates.
• Artifacts found in this town on Siniyah Island in Umm al-Quwain, likely once home to thousands of people and hundreds of homes, date as far back as the region’s pre-Islamic history in the late 6th century.
• While older pearling towns have been mentioned in historical texts, this represents the first time archaeologists say they have physically found one from this ancient era across the nations of the Gulf.

• Cabinet has extended the Rs 200 subsidy on an LPG cylinder (up to 12 refills per year) under the PMUY by one year.
• The subsidy is credited directly to the bank accounts of eligible beneficiaries.
• PMUY was introduced by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOPNG) in 2016.
• It aims to provide deposit free Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) connections to adult women of poor households.
• The scheme aims to safeguard the health of women and children by providing them with clean cooking fuel.
• Initial target was to release 8 Crore LPG Connections, which was achieved in September 2019.
• As on 1st March 2023, there are 9.59 crore beneficiaries.

• Rubber Board has launched a mobile app–CRISP (Comprehensive Rubber Information System Platform )–to inform growers about rubber cultivation and provides solutions online.
• CRISP has been developed by Rubber Research Institute of India (RRII) in collaboration with Digital University of Kerala.
• With the help of CRISP, farmers will now be able to receive recommendations of RRII on production and productivity enhancement, reduction of cultivation cost, maintenance of soil fertility, disease control measures, etc.
• Rubber Board is a statutory body constituted under Rubber Act 1947, for overall development of rubber industry.
• It functions under administrative control of Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
• Headquarters- Kottayam, Kerala

• Odisha government has declared the Gandhamardan Hill Range in Bargarh and Balangir district as a Biodiversity Heritage Site (BHS).

About Gandhamardan Hill (Gandhamardan Reserve Forest)

• It is considered as the treasure trove of medicinal plants and an Ayurvedic paradise of Odisha.
• Gandhamardan is home to 1,200 species of plants and 500 species of animals with hundreds of types of trees, shrubs, herbs, and species of medicinal plants.
• Hosts two historical monuments: Nrusinghanath Temple located on northern slope and Harishankar Temple situated on southern slope.

In In his chronicles, Hiuen Tsang had described the hill shrine as a Buddhist heritage site named Parimalagiri.

Board of governors at NDB unanimously elected former Brazilian President Mrs. Dilma Vana Rousseff as its new President.

About New Development Bank

• It is a multilateral development bank established by BRICS as per agreement signed during the sixth BRICS Summit in Fortaleza (2014).
  • Bank started operations in 2015.
• HQ- Shanghai
• Objective: To mobilise resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in emerging markets and developing countries (EMDCs).
• Members: Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Bangladesh, United Arab Emirates and Egypt.
• Regional office: Africa Regional Center (ARC) in Johannesburg; Americas Regional Office (ARO) in São Paulo; Eurasian Regional Centre (ERC) in Moscow; India Regional Office in Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City).