What's the NEWS

• On April 23, to commemorate the 164th death anniversary of Veer Kunwar Singh, the then-king of Jagdishpur who is regarded as one of the greatest heroes of the First War of Independence in 1857, more than 75,000 Indians simultaneously waved the national flag for a full five minutes at Jagdishpur town in Bihar's Bhojpur district.
• Union Home Minister Amit Shah had also attended the Vijayotsav celebrations of Veer Kunwar Singh held at Dulour Maidan in Jagdishpur, Bhojpur.
• The event was organized by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Culture under the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav', the 75th anniversary of India's Independence.

• Babu Veer Kunwar Singh emerged as a prominent leader of the Indian freedom struggle of 1857, who even at the age of about 80, fought bravely against the British colonial rule.
• He belonged to the Ujjayini dynasty of the Parmar Rajputs of Jagdishpur, a part of present-day Bhojpur district, Bihar, India.
• At the age of 80, he led a selected band of armed soldiers against troops under the command of the British East India Company
• The first war of independence in 1857, also known as the Sepoy Mutiny, or India's First Struggle for Independence.
• It started on May 10, 1857, in the garrison town of Meerut, as a mutiny by British East India Company army sepoys.
• The insurrection began when sepoys refused to use new rifle cartridges, which were considered to be lubricated with a mixture of pigs' and cows' lard and so religiously impure for Muslims and Hindus respectively.
• While his army was in Barrackpore, a soldier named Mangal Pandey stabbed a British sergeant and injured an adjutant, sparking the rebellion.
• The Mutiny soon spread to Delhi, Cawnpore, Lucknow, Jhansi, and Gwalior.
• When the uprising reached Bihar, Kunwar Singh was called upon to lead a select band of armed soldiers against the troops under the command of the British East India Company.
• Kunwar Singh was 80-years-old when he took up arms against the British. He gave a good fight and harried British soldiers for nearly a year and remained invincible until the end.

• Prime Minister will participate in the inaugural ceremony of year long joint celebrations of 90th anniversary of Sivagiri Pilgrimage and Golden Jubilee of Brahma Vidhyalaya on 26th April, 2022
• Sivagiri Pilgrimage and Brahma Vidhyalaya
• Both Sivagiri Pilgrimage and Brahma Vidhyalaya were started with the blessing and guidance of great social reformer Shri Narayana Guru.
• Sivagiri Pilgrimage is held every year for three days from December 30 to January 1 at Sivagiri, Thiruvananthapuram.
• According to the Shri Narayana Guru, the aim of pilgrimage should be the creation of comprehensive knowledge among the people and the pilgrimage should help in their overall development and prosperity.
• The pilgrimage, therefore, focuses on eight subjects viz education, cleanliness, piety, handicrafts, trade and commerce, agriculture, science & technology and organised endeavour.
• The pilgrimage started with a handful of devotees in 1933 but now has become one of the major events in South India.
• Every year, lakhs of devotees from all over the world irrespective of caste, creed, religion and language visit Sivagiri to participate in the pilgrimage.
• Shri Narayan Guru had also envisioned a place to teach the principles of all religions with equanimity and equal respect.
• The Brahma Vidhyalaya of Sivagiri was set up to realise this vision.
• Brahma Vidhyalaya offers a course of 7-years on Indian Philosophy including the works of Shri Narayan Guru and scriptures of all important religions of the world.
• Sree Narayana Guru
• He gave the famous slogan "One Caste, One Religion, One God for All" (Oru Jathi, Oru Matham, Oru Daivam, Manushyanu).
• In 1888, he built a temple dedicated to Lord Shiva at Aruvippuram which was against the caste-based restrictions of the time.
• In one temple he consecrated at Kalavancode, he kept mirrors instead of idols. This symbolised his message that the divine was within each individual.
• He organized an All-Region Conference in 1923 at Alwaye Advaita Ashram, which was reported to be the first such event in India. This was an effort to counter the religious conversions Ezhava community was susceptible to.
• Later, in 1903, he established the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (SNDP), a charitable society as the founder and president.
• In 1924, the Sivagiri pilgrimage was established to promote the virtues of cleanliness, education, devotion, agriculture, handicrafts, and trade.
• He became one of the greatest proponents and re-evaluators of Advaita Vedanta, the principle of non-duality put forward by Adi Shankara.
• He provided the impetus for Vaikom agitation which was aimed at temple entry in Travancore for the lower castes. It drew nationwide attention and appreciation from Mahatma Gandhi.
• His Adyaropa darsanam (Darsanamala) explains the creation of the universe.
• Daivadasakam and Atmopadesa satakam are a few examples of how the mystic reflections and insights closely resemble recent advances in physics.

What's the NEWS

• The Ministry of Civil Aviation and Govt. of Himachal Pradesh signed MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) for development of a Green Field Airport in Nagchala, Mandi District of Himachal Pradesh.
• The new greenfield airport at Nagchala, Mandi is being developed under the Greenfield Airport Policy of MoCA and a Joint Venture Company between State Government of Himachal Pradesh and Airport Authority of India has been formed.
• There are 3 airports i.e. Shimla, Kullu, & Kangra and 5 heliports i.e. Kangnidhar, Shimla, Rampur, Baddi, and SASE(Manali) in Himachal Pradesh that are developed or being developed which would give a massive boost to tourism industry of the state once completed.

• With a view to unlock the abundant potential in food and hospitality sector, Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), in association with the India Trade Promotion Organization (ITPO), is organising Asia's biggest B2B international food and hospitality fair AAHAR commencing from April 26, 2022 at Pragati Maidan.
• APEDA is organizing in the 36th edition of AAHAR with the theme "Geographical Indication Products" as APEDA is focussing on promotion of exports of GI certified agricultural products.

• AAHAR is a part of the series of export promotion initiatives taken by APEDA, which works under the Ministry of Commerce and Trade, to showcase agricultural and processed food products to the global players in the food and beverages industry as the fair is visited by a large number of importers from different parts of the world.
• Apart from AAHAR, APEDA also organizes national events like Organic World Congress, BioFach India etc to promote agri-exports.
• Notably, more than 150 food and agri Products have been registered as GI by the GI Registry out of which 123 GI products fall under APEDA's category till March, 2022.

What's the NEWS

• The All-India Household Consumer Expenditure Survey, usually conducted by the National Statistical Office (NSO) every five years, is set to resume this year after a prolonged break.
• Typically, the Survey is conducted between July and June and this year's exercise is expected to be completed by June 2023.
• Estimates of household monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) and the distribution of households and persons over different MPCE classes, based on the Survey, may only become available about a year after the field work is completed.
• The results will include separate data sets for rural and urban parts, and also splice spending patterns for each State and Union Territory, as well as different socio-economic groups.
• Fresh one-off surveys on consumer expenditure and employment and unemployment were commissioned over 2011-12 after the usually scheduled Surveys conducted in 2009-10 had coincided with a worldwide slowdown following the 2008 global financial crisis and a drought year in India.
• India has not had any official estimates on per capita household spending, used to arrive at estimates of poverty levels in different parts of the country and to review economic indicators such as the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), since 2011-12.
• The government had junked the findings of the last Survey, conducted in 2017-18, citing "data quality" issues.
• The Survey could not be launched in the past two years due to the pandemic.

Science & Technology/GSIII
iCreate

What's the NEWS

• The Chief Minister of Gujarat, presided over the MoU signing between the Government of Gujarat's flagship technology incubator - iCreate (International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology) and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), the premier research and development body of the Government of India.

• Under the MoU, CSIR and iCreate intend to establish a collaborative support system for promising tech start-ups by making combined resources available for entrepreneurs and innovators in the country.
• The partnership will also catalyse scientific innovation and the marketability of high-tech start-ups.
• iCreate will help set up new incubators at identified CSIR labs.
• Such start-ups will access CSIR's equipment, facilities, and scientific manpower.
• CSIR will provide intellectual property support and explore methods of financially supporting innovative start-ups from India to boost emerging entrepreneurs.
• iCreate will also leverage its deep industry connections and market linkages to identify real needs that can be addressed through scientific innovation by CSIR scientists
• Since its founding in 2012, iCreate has helped a significant number of start-ups across sectors to grow and scale rapidly.
• With the CSIR collaboration, iCreate envisions to gain further momentum in supporting India's robust innovative start-up ecosystem.

• iCreate (International Centre for Entrepreneurship and Technology) is an autonomous centre of excellence of the Government of Gujarat and is India's largest institution for transforming start-ups based on tech innovation into successful businesses.
• It has supported over 412 innovations and 30+ patents with a ‘high-touch, entrepreneur first model, connecting them with mentors, markets and money.
• Embedded systems and IoT are a focus area for iCreate, in domains like electric vehicles, agritech, smart cities, health, tech, industrial automation, and renewable energy, among others.
• It is home to Cisco's largest Innovation Lab in India and has partnerships with leading institutions in the US, Israel and other countries.

• The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), known for its cutting-edge R&D and Industrial knowledge base in diverse S&T areas, is a contemporary R&D organisation.
• CSIR has a dynamic network of 37 national laboratories, 39 outreach centres, one Innovation Complex, and three units with a pan-India presence.
• Currently, CSIR's R&D expertise and experience are embodied in 3439 active scientists supported by about 4193 scientific and technical personnel.
• CSIR has a patent portfolio of 8366 Indian patents and 7806 foreign patents.
• CSIR covers a wide spectrum of science and technology - from oceanography, geophysics, chemicals, drugs, genomics, biotechnology and nanotechnology to mining, aeronautics, instrumentation, environmental engineering and information technology.
• It provides significant technological intervention in many areas concerning societal efforts, which include environment, health, drinking water, food, housing, energy, farm and non-farm sectors.