• The state has bagged the Best State Award and the GSP Gold Partner Award by the Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, under the Green School Programme (GSP).
• Solan has been selected for the Best District Award
• Govt Senior Secondary School, Himgiri, Chamba, has been adjudged best in the Land Section Award
• Two teachers from the state have also been selected for the GSP Ambassador Award
• The HP Council for Science, Technology and Environment (HIMCOSTE) as a nodal agency has established 3,000 eco-clubs in schools and 100 colleges under the National Green Corps (NGC) programme. It provides opportunities to the schoolchildren to redirect their consciousness and actions to create a more sustainable planet.
  • Innovative environmental projects such as rainwater harvesting development of herbal garden on the school campus, solid waste management (waste-to-wealth concept), beautification of the campus, setting up of science and environment model, demonstration lab for the conservation and protection of environment have been initiated in the eco-clubs. The council is also implementing plastic waste buy back scheme through 100 eco-club schools (ECS).

• World Bank President David Malpass has announced his resignation nearly a year early.
• He is ending tenure as the head of the development lender that was clouded by questions over his climate stance.
• The veteran of Republican administrations in the United States was appointed to the role in 2019 when Donald Trump was president and previously served as Under Secretary of the Treasury for international affairs. Malpass’s term would have originally ended in 2024.

• New Zealand stepped up recovery efforts after Cyclone Gabrielle left at least five people dead and displaced 9,000.
• Cyclones are rapid inward air circulation around a low-pressure area. The air circulates in an anticlockwise direction in the Northern hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern hemisphere.
• There are two types of cyclones: Tropical cyclones and Extra-Tropical cyclones.

• Paytm Payments Banks Limited (PPBL) has launched Unified Payments Interface (UPI) LITE, enabled by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) for multiple small-value UPI transactions.
• This feature will help with faster real-time transactions with a single click through Paytm as the bank aims to drive the adoption of digital payments across the country.

About UPI Lite

• UPI LITE is a payment solution that leverages the trusted NPCI Common Library (CL) application to process low value transactions that have been set at below ₹ 200.
• The solution runs off existing UPI ecosystem protocols for mobile phones to ensure commonality, compliance and system acceptance.
• Designed by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), UPI LITE was launched by the Reserve Bank of India in September 2022.
  • Unified Payments Interface (UPI) is an instant real-time payment system developed by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

• Karnataka Bank was awarded with ‘Prathista Puraskar’ under ‘Digidhan Awards 2021-22’ by Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), government of India for achieving target with highest percentage in BHIM-UPI transactions in private sector bank category.
• Labelled as ‘KBL-NxT’, the bank is currently undertaking an accelerated digital drive under its transformation journey ‘KBL VIKAAS 2.0’.
  • Karnataka Bank Limited is an Indian private sector bank based in Mangalore.

• A new beetle species named Omorgus Khandesh has been discovered in a remote district of north Maharashtra. The beetle is important for forensic science as it helps detect the time of death of an animal or human.
• It is necrophagous (eats dead or decaying animal flesh) and is, therefore, also called a keratin beetle. The new species belongs to the Trogidae family. With the addition of this new species, now there are a total of 14 extant species of this family in India.
• The beetles of this group are sometimes called hide beetles as they tend to cover their body under the soil and hide. They are usually black or grey and encrusted in the dirt. Their bumpy appearance is distinct, with short, dense setae all over the body.

• Puducherry has launched the country’s first Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) framework as part of a pact under the Indo-Norway Integrated Ocean Initiative, to balance growth alongside sustainable management of ocean resources and coastal environment preservation.
• It is a collaboration between Norwegian Environment Agency, Ministry of Earth Sciences, National Centre for Coastal Research and Puducherry administration.

What is Marine Spatial Planning?

• MSP is a process of analysing and allocating spatial and temporal distribution of human activities in marine areas to achieve ecological, economic, and social objectives.
• Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission of UNESCO help countries by providing a step-by-step guide for ecosystem-based MSP.
• Advantages
  1. Identification of biological and ecological important areas, reduction of cumulative effects of human activities on marine ecosystems etc.
  2. Access to desirable areas for new private sector investments, transparency in permit and licensing procedures etc.
  3. Enhanced community participation, improved protection of cultural heritage etc.
  4. Increasing cross-border cooperation to develop renewable energy, allocate shipping lanes, laying submarine cables etc. on regional and global scale.
  5. Reducing conflicts and creating synergies between different activities.

• The Aadi Mahotsav is a tribal festival which is organized by the Tribal Cooperative Marketing Development Federation (TRIFED) to honor the spirit of tribal traditional art, culture, crafts, gastronomy, and trade.
• The main objective of conducting Aadi Mahotav is to prevent the middlemen from exploiting the tribals and to provide them direct access to markets.
• Aadi Mahotsav is being organized in New Delhi.
• The festival hosts nearly 200 stalls which will present the rich and varied legacy of the tribes from all around India. Almost 1000 tribal artisans are expected to take part.
• Along with the customary attractions like handicrafts, handloom, ceramics, jewellery, etc., the Mahotsav will place a special emphasis on exhibiting millets under the name ‘Sri Anna’ because 2023 is being observed as the International Year of Millets.
  • The United Nations announced 2023 as the International Year of Millets on India’s insistence.

• The Jal Jan Abhiyan, a joint nationwide campaign by Brahma Kumaris, an organisation which promotes spirituality, and the Union Jal Shakti Ministry was launched recently by PM.
• The main objective of the campaign is water conservation.
• During the campaign, the volunteers from the organization will conduct public awareness campaign on preserving water.
• The campaign is to run for eight months. They will focus on building new water bodies and also on preserving more than 5,000 water bodies.
• The target of the campaign is to reach at least ten crore people and organize 10,000 programs.
• The Brahma Kumaris organization is deploying its Raja Yogis, the well-versed yoga practitioners. They will inspire people to prevent water wastage and pull them into the concept of a sustainable world.

Brahma Kumaris

• The organization originated in Hyderabad, Sindh (today the place is in Pakistan).
• Present headquarters Mount Abu, Rajasthan.
• Founder of the organization was Lekhraj Kriplani (Om Baba).
• In 1983, it received “Consultative Status” from UNESCO.

• Recently, the State of Maharashtra witnessed a controversy surrounding Lavani dance, where the younger generation of women dancers was accused of vulgarising the traditional folk art form.

About the Dance

• Derived from ‘lavanya’ or beauty, Lavani is a traditional folk art form in which women dancers wearing nine-yard-long sarees in bright colours, make-up, and ghunghroos(ankle bells) perform on dholak beats on a stage before a live audience.
• It attained popularity in the Peshwa era in the 18th century with performances being held in front of kings and for the entertainment of tired soldiers resting during breaks in fighting.
• Several sub-genres of Lavani exist, of which the most popular is the Shringarik (erotic) kind. With passage of time the art became sanitised with later performers choosing indirect references to erotic meanings over direct gestures and overt lyrics.
• Lavani dance was generally performed by Dhangars or Shepherds living in the Solapur, inspired by nature, the dance form contains tales of the birth of Biruba, their deity. Live performances continue to get huge responses from the public in rural Maharashtra.
• A Lavani performance can be broadly categorized into two parts. The Nirguni Lavani, which deals with philosophy and Shringari Lavani which deals with sensuality.
  • Shrinagri Lavani is more popular than Nirguni Lavani and is performed in theatres as well as in Bollywood movies.
  • Shringari Lavani deals with a multitude of genres, with the love between a man and a woman being the most prominent.