• Recently, India’s retail inflation rate declined to 66%, below the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upper target of 6% in March 2023, primarily due to a decrease in food prices, especially for vegetables.
• Core inflation, which excludes food and fuel prices, was at 95% in March, down from 6.12% in February.

About Retail Inflation

• Retail inflation, also known as Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation, is the rate at which the prices of goods and services that consumers buy for personal use increase over time.
• It measures the change in the cost of a basket of goods and services that are typically purchased by households, including food, clothing, housing, transportation, and medical care.
• Four types of CPI are as follows:
  • CPI for Industrial Workers (IW).
  • CPI for Agricultural Labourer (AL).
  • CPI for Rural Labourer (RL).
  • CPI for Urban Non-Manual Employees (UNME).
• Of these, the first three are compiled by the Labour Bureau in the Ministry of Labour and Employment.
  • Fourth is compiled by the NSO in the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
• Base Year for CPI is 2012.
• In 2020, the Ministry of Labour and Employment released the new series of Consumer Price Index for Industrial Worker (CPI-IW) with base year 2016.
• The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) uses CPI data to control inflation.
• In April 2014, the RBI adopted the CPI as its key measure of inflation.

• Telangana Chief Minister unveiled a 125-feet tall bronze statue of Dr B R Ambedkar at the Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad on his 132nd birth anniversary.
• It is claimed to be the tallest statue in the country ever built for Dr B R Ambedkar.
• It has an overall height of 175 feet, including a 50 feet high circular base resembling the edifice of the Parliament of India.
• 360 tonnes of stainless steel and 114 tonnes of bronze was used for building the statue.
• It was designed by renowned sculptors Ram Vanji Sutar and his son Anil Ram Sutar of Ram Sutar Art Creations who also designed the world’s tallest statue — the Statue of Unity (597 feet) of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel in Gujarat.

About Dr B R Ambedkar-

• Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is popularly known as Babasaheb, meaning “respected father” in Marathi and Hindi.
• He was an Indian jurist, economist, politician and social reformer.
• Ambedkar was born into a poor low Mahar (dalit) caste, who were treated as untouchables and subjected to socio-economic discrimination.
• In 1930, Ambedkar launched the Kalaram Temple movement to enter Kalaram Temple.
• Poona Pact was an agreement made in 1932 between Ambedkar and Mahatma Gandhi on the reservation of electoral seats for the depressed classes.
• He was the architect of the Constitution of India by serving as the Chairman of the Constitution Drafting Committee.
• He was independent India’s first law and justice minister.
• In 1956, he converted to Buddhism initiating mass conversions of Dalits.
• In 1990, the Bharat Ratna was posthumously conferred upon Ambedkar.
• In honour of Ambedkar, Indian Constitution Day (National Law Day) is celebrated on 26 November.
• Political parties/groups formed by him:
  • Depressed Classes Federation (DCF) in 1930
  • Independent Labour Party (ILP) in 1936
  • Scheduled Castes Federation (SCF) in 1942
• Key Literary works:
  • Annihilation of Caste
  • Ranade, Gandhi and Jinnah
  • Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development
  • The Buddha and His Dhamma
  • Waiting for a Visa

• Himachal Pradesh passed Sukhashraya (Care, Protection, and Self-Reliance of Children of the State) Act, 2023 to ensure the welfare of orphans and persons with special needs.
• The Act defines orphans as those without biological parents or whose parents are incapacitated and includes children in need of care and protection such as those without homes or those at risk of forced marriage, crime, or drug abuse.
• The Act offers financial and institutional benefits to the beneficiaries between the age of 18-27 years, along with vocational training, skill development, and coaching to help them become active members of society.

Benefits under the Act:

• A Mukhya Mantri Sukhashraya Sahayata Kosh fund of Rs 101 crore has been formed, and a child welfare committee will be established in each district to oversee the scheme.
• Orphans and persons with special needs will become ‘children of the state’.
• Financial benefits include Rs 5,000 in summer and winter, Rs 500 for major festivals, and Rs 4,000 monthly allowance for daily expenses in college.
• Institutional benefits include sponsored train tickets and accommodation for 10 days within the state, and hostel fees for beneficiaries in ITI and government colleges.
• The government will give a fixed amount of money at the time of marriage and three biswas of land to build their own homes.
• Orphans who wish to establish their own start-ups will be given a token corpus to incentivize entrepreneurial pursuits.
• D. students will also receive the monthly allowance.

Other Safeguards Mentioned in the Act:

• Ex-residents of child care institutions will be supported by the state government till the age of 21 years.
• Recurring deposit accounts will be opened for each child and orphan, and the state government shall make contributions to these accounts as per prevalent rates.
• The child welfare committee will carry out surveys to identify orphans and will look into the demands of children in need.

• Recently, 56th session of United Nations Commission on Population and Development (UNCPD) was held at New York.
• Most of the countries are facing “a triple crisis in education – one of equity and inclusion, quality and relevance. 130 million girls around the world are not in school today.

Brief History

• A Population Commission was established by the Economic and Social Council in 1946.
• It was renamed by General assembly as Commission on Population and Development in 1994.
• It is composed of 47 Member States elected by Economic and Social Council for a period of four year.
• India is a member till 2025.

• Recently, the US and the Philippines have launched their annual “Balikatan” military exercises, and aimed at improving the respective militaries’ ability to respond jointly to threats in the Indo-Pacific.
• The exercises were first staged in 1991.
• Balikatan means “shoulder-to-shoulder”.

• Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) was granted ‘Miniratna Category-I’ status recently.
• SECI is a central government PSU under administrative control of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy.
• Till date, SECI has awarded Renewable Energy (RE) project capacities of over 56 GW.
• SECI enjoys highest credit rating of AAA by ICRA.
• It is the only CPSU dedicated to the renewable energy sector.

• Recently, a stone scoreboard used in an ancient soccer has been discovered at the famed Mayan Chichen Itza archaeological site in Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula.
• The circular piece displays hieroglyphic writing surrounding two players standing next to a ball that was discovered on this site.

About Chichen Itza

• It was one of the greatest Mayan centres of the Yucatán peninsula.
• Mayan people ruled for over 1,000 years and left their mark on the city.
• It is thought to have been a religious, military, political, and commercial centre that at its peak would have been home to 35,000 people.
• It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988.

• Discussions on the draft pandemic accord took place during the fifth meeting of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB).
• INB was established by World Health Assembly (highest decision-making body of WHO) in 2021.
• It includes WHO’s 194 countries.
• It was established to draft and negotiate a convention, agreement or other international instrument to strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
• The INB’s work is based on the principles of inclusiveness, transparency, efficiency, Member State leadership and consensus.

• Supreme Court has stated that government may need to re-check its stance on Ranganath Mishra report.
• The top court was hearing the pleas, including those which have alleged that the Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950 is discriminatory and violative of Article 14 and 15.
  • The Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order, 1950, as amended from time to time, says no person professing a religion other than Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism shall be deemed to be a member of a Scheduled Caste (SC).

About Ranganath Mishra Commission

• It is officially known as National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities.
• It was constituted to look into various issues related to linguistic and religious minorities in the country.
• Report by Commission (2007) recommended that Scheduled caste status be completely delinked from religion and be made religion-neutral like STs.
• It had recommended permitting Dalits who converted to Islam and Christianity to avail Scheduled Caste status.

• Madhya Pradesh’s traditional Gond painting has been awarded the Geographical Indication (GI) tag, a recognition that will help protect the art form and the artists who create it.
• The paintings, which are created by the Gond tribe, depict nature, animals, and religious themes, and showcase their way of life.
• The Dindori district is the main source of Gond painting, and it has expanded to other places in the area.
• Patangarh village of Dindori district is such a village where there is an artist in every house.
• The promotion of Gond painting through the National Rural Livelihood Mission(NRLM) and National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) also will bring the art form to a wider audience through greeting cards, mobile covers, and bag covers.