• In news: Priyanka Mohite from Maharashtra’s Satara district has become the first Indian woman to climb
• Key Points:
• b five peaks above 8000 metres. Priyanka achieved the milestone after climbing Mount Kanchenjunga. The 30-year-old climbed the third highest peak on Earth on May 5 at around 4:42 pm.
• Priyanka works for a pharmaceutical research company in Bengaluru. In 2020, she also won the prestigious Tenzing Norgay Adventure Award. The 30-year-old climbed Mount Everest in 2013, Mount Lhotse in 2018, Mount Makalu in 2019 and Annapurna 1 in 2021. Notably, she is also the first Indian woman to climb Annapurna 1 and Makalu.

Key Points:

• World Thalassemia Day is celebrated on May 8 every year to commemorate Thalassemia victims and to encourage those who struggle to live with the disease.
• Thalassemia is an inherited blood disorder that doesn’t let the body to create enough haemoglobin. The disease weakens and destroys the blood cells.
• There are two types of thalassemia, alpha and beta, along with Thalassemia minor, intermedia and major as its subcategories.
• The theme for this year’s World Thalassemia day is ‘Be Aware.Share.Care: Working with the global community as one to improve thalassemia knowledge.’

Key Points:

• Indian Grandmaster D Gukesh has emerged as champion in the 1st Chessable Sunway Formentera Open 2022 chess tournament in Punta Prima.
• It was a hat-trick of titles for him after he had previously won the La Roda tournament and the Menorca Open in recent weeks.
• The 15-year old Gukesh (Elo 2637) settled for a draw with Armenian GM Haik M Martirosyan in the final round to win the title with eight points.
• He had defeated compatriot and second-seed K Sasikiran in the ninth and penultimate round. He has now moved up to no.64 in the world rankings.

Key Points:

• In Manipur, the Poumai tribe has declared that Poumai inhabited areas will be a Drug-Free Zone supporting the State government’s War on Drug campaign.
• The Chief Minister welcomed the resolution of the Poumai Naga tribe and affirmed that the State government will not tolerate deforestation and poppy plantation in hill districts in Manipur.
• The leaders of the Paumai tribe also conveyed that the community will join the fight against the drug menace in the State.

Why in News –5000-year-old jewellery factory found in Haryana’s Indus Valley site Rakhi Garhi

About Rakhigarhi

• The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), which has been working in Rakhi Garhi in Haryana for the last 32 years, made one of its biggest discoveries yet with the excavation of a 5000 year old jewellery making factory.
• Rakhi Garhi is a village and one of the oldest archaeological sites belonging to the Indus Valley Civilisation in Hisar district of Haryana.
• The structure of some houses, a kitchen complex and a 5000-year-old jewellery making factory was discovered, which shows that the site must have been a very important trade centre. Copper and gold jewellery were also found which had been hidden for thousands of years.
• Like Sinauli in Uttar Pradesh- which gained attention for its Bronze Age solid-disk wheel carts found in 2018, which were interpreted by some as horse-pulled “chariots”- graveyards have been found in the excavation sites which archaeologists say explain that civilisation believed in life after death.

• The State of World’s Birds report was recently published.
• It is Birdlife International’s flagship science publication, using birds to assess the condition of our ecosystems as a whole.
• BirdLife International is a global partnership of non-governmental organizations that strives to conserve birds and their habitats.
• Headquarters:  Cambridge, United Kingdom.

Highlights of the 2022 report:

• Around 48% of bird species worldwide are known or suspected to be undergoing population declines.
• In India, nearly 80% species are declining in numbers, and almost 50% plummeting strongly.
• The situation is similar in the European Union, where trends across 378 species indicate an overall decrease in breeding bird abundance of 17-19% between 1980 and 2017.
• The study found that bird species and abundance data from the tropics is scarce but in many countries such as India, citizen science driven data was available.

 Reasons behind this decline:

• The report has attributed the threat to almost half of the 10,994 recognised extant species of birds to the expanding human footprint on the natural world and climate change.
• The degradation and loss of natural habitats as well as direct overexploitation of many species are the key threats to avian biodiversity.

• As per the report of the 5th round of the National Family Health Survey -5
• The total fertility rate of India has declined from 2.2 to 2.0 between the fourth National Family Health Survey (NFHS) conducted in 2015-16 and the fifth one in 2019-21.
• This indicates the significant progress of population control measures.
• There are only five states in India, which are above the replacement level of fertility of 2.1.
• This includes Bihar (2.98), Meghalaya (2.91), Uttar Pradesh (2. 35), Jharkhand (2.26) and Manipur (2.17).

• To combat the increasing pollution and rejuvenate Dal Lake, a unique initiative known as ‘Athwas’ has been launched by the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
• ‘Athwas’ is a unique partnership between citizens and authorities for the rejuvenation of Lake. It involves community participation.
• Under the initiative, the de-weeding and dredging will be conducted in collaboration with the citizens.

About Dal:

• It was known as the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir.
• It is named the “Jewel in the crown of Kashmir” or “Srinagar’s Jewel”.
• The lake is also an important source for commercial operations in fishing and water plant harvesting.
• The lake is located in the Zabarwan mountain valley, in the foothills of the Shankracharya hills, which surround it on three sides.
• The lake has four main interconnected basins namely, Hazratbal, Bod dal, Gagribal and Nagin.
• The floating gardens here, known as “Raad” in Kashmiri, blossom with lotus flowers during July and August.

• PMJJBY, PMSBY and APY were launched by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi on 9th May, 2015 from Kolkata, West Bengal.
• These three social security schemes are dedicated to the welfare of the citizens, recognising the need for securing human life from unforeseen risks/losses and financial uncertainties.

ABOUT THE SCHEMES

Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY)

Scheme: PMJJBY is a one-year life insurance scheme renewable from year to year offering coverage for death due to any reason.

Eligibility: Individuals in the age group of 18-50 years having a savings bank or a post office account are entitled to enroll under the scheme. People who join the scheme before completing 50 years of age can continue to have the risk of life covered up to age of 55 years upon payment of premium.

Benefits: Life cover of Rs. 2 Lakh in case of death due to any reason against a premium of Rs. 330/- per annum.

Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY)

Scheme: PMSBY is a one-year accidental insurance scheme renewable from year to year offering coverage for death or disability due to accident.

Eligibility: Individuals in the age group of 18-70 years having a savings bank or a post office account are entitled to enroll under the scheme.

Benefits: Accidental death cum disability cover of Rs.2 lakh (Rs.1 lakh in case of partial disability) for death or disability due to an accident.

Atal Pension Yojana (APY)

The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) was launched to create a universal social security system for all Indians, especially the poor, the under-privileged and the workers in the unorganised sector. It is an initiative of the Government to provide financial security and cover future exigencies for the people in the unorganized sector.

Eligibility: APY is open to all bank account holders in the age group of 18 to 40 years and the contributions differ, based on pension amount chosen.

Benefits: Subscribers would receive the guaranteed minimum monthly pension of Rs. 1000 or Rs. 2000 or Rs. 3000 or Rs. 4000 or Rs. 5000 at the age of 60 years, based on the contributions made by the subscriber after joining the scheme.

About Gopal krishan Gokhale

• Birth: Gopal Krishna Gokhale was born on 9 May 1866 in Kotluk village in Maharashtra in a Brahmin family.
• Role in Colonial Legislatures:
  Between 1899 and 1902, he was a member of the Bombay Legislative Council followed by work at the Imperial Legislative Council from 1902 till his death (1915).
• At the Imperial legislature, Gokhale played a key role in framing the Morley-Minto reforms of 1909.
• Role in INC:
  He was associated with the Moderate Group of Indian National Congress (joined in 1889).
• He became president of INC in 1905 in Banaras session.
• This was the time when bitter differences had arisen between his group of ‘Moderates’ and the ‘Extremists’ led by Lala Lajpat Rai and Bal Gangadhar Tilak among others. The two factions split at the Surat session of 1907.
• Despite the ideological difference, in 1907, he intensely campaigned for the release of Lala Lajpat Rai, who was imprisoned that year by the British at Mandalay in present-day Myanmar.
• He established the Servants of India Society in 1905 for the expansion of Indian education.
• He was also associated with the Sarvajanik sabha journal started by Govind Ranade.
• In 1908, Gokhale founded the Ranade Institute of Economics.
• He started english weekly newspaper, The Hitavada (The people’s paper).
• Mentor to Gandhi:
• As a liberal nationalist, he is regarded by Mahatma Gandhi as his political guru.
• Gandhi wrote a book in Gujarati dedicated to the leader titled ‘Dharmatma Gokhale’.