• The humble and largely discrete Santhal community is in the spotlight after the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) nominated one of the community leaders Droupadi Murmu to the highest constitutional position in the country.

• Santhal is the third largest schedule tribe community in the country after Gond and Bhil.
• The population of Santhal is mostly distributed in Odisha, Jharkhand and West Bengal.
• In Odisha, Santhals are found in Keonjhar and Balasore, other than Mayurbhanj district.
• The word ‘Santhal' is derived from two words; ‘santha' meaning calm and peaceful and ‘ala' meaning man.
• In the past, the Santhals were leading a nomadic life. Gradually they came to settle down in the Chhotanagpur plateau.
• Towards the end of the 18th century, they migrated to the Santhal Parganas of Bihar and then they came to Odisha.
• The Santhal community is huge community and one of the most populous tribal communities in the country.
• Their literacy rate is very high compared to other tribes in Odisha
• They are nature worshipers and pay their obeisance at Jaher (sacred groves)
• Santhals are agriculturists and eke their livelihood from farming.
• Santhals speak Santhali which has its own script called ‘Ol chiki' invented by Pundit Raghunath Murmu.
• Santhali in OI-Chiki script has been included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution.

• The 38th edition of India-Indonesia Coordinated Patrol (IND-INDO CORPAT) between Indian Navy and Indonesian Navy is being conducted from 13-24 Jun 22.
• Indian Naval Ship INS Karmuk, an indigenously built Missile Corvette based at the Andaman and Nicobar Command, along with a Dornier Maritime Patrol Aircraft, is participating in the CORPAT
• The two navies have been carrying out CORPATs along the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) every year since 2002, with the aim of keeping this vital part of the Indian Ocean Region safe and secure for commercial shipping and international trade.
• The 38th Ind-Indo CORPAT will contribute towards Indian Navy's efforts to consolidate inter-operability and forge strong bonds of friendship with Indonesian Navy

• Centre's Aroma Mission, ably supported by CSIR, is changing the mind-set of farmers and more and more of them are taking up the cultivation of aroma crops like lavender, lemon grass, rose and marigold for extracting costly oils to be used in many industries.
• Purple Revolution has shifted focus to Agri-tech StartUps.
• Due to high monetary returns, farmers in hilly areas of Jammu and Kashmir are switching from traditional farming to aroma crops like lavender

• Aroma crops are both drought and pest resistant, and CSIR is providing all kind of technical support for promoting this Agri Start-up boon in the UT.
• CSIR is also planning to introduce the aroma crops in other hilly States with similar climatic conditions like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and in North-Eastern States.
• IIIM Jammu was helping the Start-ups in aroma and lavender farming to sell their produce.
• Last month the Ministry of Science and Technology inaugurated the country's first 'Lavender Festival' at Bhaderwah, the birthplace of India's Purple Revolution
• Aroma Mission is attracting Start-ups and agriculturists from across the country, and during Phase-I, CSIR helped cultivation on 6,000 hectares of land and covered 46 Aspirational districts across the country.
• In the second Phase of Aroma Mission, it is proposed to engage over 45,000 skilled human resources with the aim of benefitting more than 75,000 farming families across the country.
• CSIR-IIIM introduced lavender to farmers in Doda, Ramban, Kishtwar, Kathua, Udhampur, Rajouri, Pulwama, Anantnag, Kupwara and Bandipora districts of J&K.
• Lavender cultivation has employed about 5,000 farmers and young entrepreneurs in geographically remote areas of J&K.

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

• It was established by the Government of India in September 1942 as an autonomous body that has emerged as the largest research and development organisation in India.
• As of 2013, it runs 38 laboratories/institutes, 39 outreach centres, 3 Innovation Centres and 5 units throughout the nation
• Although it is mainly funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology, it operates as an autonomous body through the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
• The research and development activities of CSIR include aerospace engineering, structural engineering, ocean sciences, life sciences, metallurgy, chemicals, mining, food, petroleum, leather, and environmental science

• Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey recently announced his vision for a new decentralized web platform that is being called Web 5.0 and is being built with an aim to return "ownership of data and identity to individuals".

• Being developed by Dorsey's Bitcoin business unit, The Block Head (TBH), Web 5.0 is aimed at "building an extra decentralized web that puts you in control of your data and identity".
• Web 5.0 is Web 2.0 plus Web 3.0 that will allow users to ‘own their identity' on the Internet and ‘control their data'.
• Both Web 3.0 and Web 5.0 envision an Internet without threat of censorship - from governments or big tech, and without fear of significant outages.

• Web 1.0: Web 1.0 was the first generation of the global digital communications network. It is often referred to as the "read-only" Internet made of static web-pages that only allowed for passive engagement.
• Web 2.0: The next stage in the evolution of the web was the "read and write" Internet. Users were now able to communicate with servers and other users leading to the creation of the social web. This is the world wide web that we use today.
• Web 3.0: Web 3.0 is an evolving term that refers to a "read-write-execute" web - with decentralization as its bedrock. It speaks about a digital world, built leveraging the blockchain technology, where people are able to interact with each other without the need of an intermediary. Web 3.0 will be driven by Artificial Intelligence and machine learning.
• Web 4.0 - "Mobile Web" -The next step is not realy a new version, but is a alternate version of what we already have. Web needed to adapt to it's mobile surroundings. Web 4.0 connects all devices in the real and virtual world in real-time.

• A senior engineer at Google claimed that the company's artificial intelligence-based chatbot Language Model for Dialogue Applications (LaMDA) had become "sentient".

• LaMDA is a language model created by Google AI, a division of Google dedicated to artificial intelligence.
• LaMDA is an artificial intelligence system that creates chatbots - AI robots designed to communicate with humans - by gathering vast amounts of text from the internet and using algorithms to respond to queries in the most fluid and natural way possible.
• Google first announced LaMDA at its flagship developer conference I/O in 2021.
• In June 2022 the LaMDA chatbot received widespread coverage regarding claims about it having achieved sentience (i.e. the capacity to experience feelings and sensations).

• With the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba in Canada passing the Turban Day Act, April 13 every year will now be celebrated as Turban Day across the province.

• The day of Baisakhi or Vaisakhi, which usually falls on April 13 or 14 each year, commemorates the birth of Khalsa Panth.
• It was on this day in 1699 that the tenth Guru Gobind Singh had laid the foundation of Khalsa Panth at Anandpur Sahib among his followers.
• Giving an official recognition to the turban or dastaar (a headgear which is Sikh religious symbol) will spread awareness against racism that Sikhs still face in Canada.
• Sikhs constitute just 1.4 per cent (around 5 lakh in number) of Canada's total population but hold significant positions in the government and political system.
• Not just Sikhs, Canada remains the most preferred destination for Punjabis to immigrate.
• The month of April is celebrated as Sikh Heritage Month across Canada after the Federal Parliament passed the Bill in 2019 and it was given the Royal Assent.