DAILY NEWS ANALYSIS

• A separate ministry for culture was established in 2006.
• Primary mandate- Preservation and conservation of ancient cultural heritage and promotion of tangible and intangible art and culture.
• Union Minister- Shri G. Kishan Reddy

WORLD HERITAGE SITES

• New Inclusion- Santiniketan and Hoysala temples (Sacred Ensembles of Hoysalas) from India were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
• Santiniketan-It is a university in West Bengal set up by the Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore.
• It is based on ancient Indian traditions, reflecting his vision and philosophy of recognizing unity of humanity or ‘Visva Bharati’.
• It is the first tangible cultural heritage site from West Bengal.
• Sacred Ensembles of Hoysalas- It comprise 3 magnificent 13^th century temples of the Hoysala Dynasty in Karnataka, namely
  • Hoysalesvara Temple Helebidu,
  • Channakeshava Temple Belur,
  • Keshava Temple Somnathapur.

India is in the 6^th position for maximum number of sites on the World Heritage List of UNESCO

• UNESCO Creative Cities Network- Newly included in 2023 are
  • Gwalior- Music
  • Kozhikode- Literature
• UNESCO’s Representive List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity- ‘Garba of Gujarat’ has been inscribed newly in 2023.

• Launch year- 2021
• Theme- Nation first, always first
• Meaning- Great Celebration for the Amirtham (nectar) of Independence.
• It is an embodiment of all that is progressive about India’s socio-cultural, political and economic identity.

Important events

• Meri Maati Mera Desh- Maati Ko Naman Veeron ka Vandan- Unified celebration to pay tribute to the ‘Veers’ who laid down their lives for the country.
  • Amrit Kalash Yatra- Carrying soil from all corners of the country in 7500 kalash to create an 'Amrit Vatika' in Delhi.
  • Amrit Mahotsav Memorial- At the memorial site, people will take a solemn pledge covering Panch Pran, affirming their commitment to the country.
  • Rastragaan- Hoisting of flags and singing of National Anthem at sites.
  • Vasudheva vandhan- Panchayats, villages and urban local bodies will replenish Mother Earth by planting 75 saplings of indigenous species and develop the ‘Amrit Vatika’
• Mera Gaon Meri Dharohar- Culturally map India's 6.5 lakh villages, spanning 29 States and 7 Union Territories, on a comprehensive virtual platform under National Mission on Cultural Mapping.
• Har Ghar Tiranga- Encourages people to bring the tricolour flag home and to hoist it to mark the 75^th year of India’s independence.
• Kashi Tamil Sangamam 2.0 -To revive the bonds between Varanasi and Tamil Nadu through cultural exchange and knowledge sharing
• Swantatra Swar- Revolutionary poetry banned during British Raj is published.
• Vande Bharatam programme- An initiative as part of Republic Day Celebrations 2023 along with Ministry of Defence, to promote the spirit of 'Jan Bhagidari', while showcasing India's vibrancy thorough its dance.
  • Shakti Rupen Sansthita- It was the title of the tableau of the Ministry of Culture that was showcased at the Republic Day celebrations at Kartavya Path.

G20 2023- INDIA PRESIDENCY

• Theme- Vasudheiva Kudumbakam (One Earth One Family One Future)
• Events held
  • G-20 March for World Peace
  • G-20 Run for Women Power
  • Culture All Unites, the largest display of Lambani embroidery patches was organised at Hampi, Karnataka
• Kashi Culture Pathway- It reflects the consensus and commitment of the G20 member based on 4 thematic priorities.
• Protection and Restitution of Cultural Property
• Harnessing Living Heritage for a Sustainable Future
• Promotion of Cultural and Creative Industries, and Creative Economy
• Leveraging Digital Technologies for the Promotion and Protection of Culture

INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL RELATIONS

• Global engagement schemes
  • Festivals of India Abroad- Tools of cultural diplomacy that project India’s rich cultural heritage and its soft power
  • Grant-in aid to Indo-Foreign Friendship Cultural Societies- To promote Indian culture abroad, fostering closer friendship and cultural contacts
• Cultural Exchange Programme- It has been signed with Egypt, Colombia, Italy, Mauritius, Slovakia and Belarus to foster bilateral cooperation.
• Shared Buddhist Heritage- Organized in association with Ministry of External Affairs, it is an international conference with Shanghai Cooperation Organization Nations at New Delhi with focus on India’s civilization connect.
• Global Buddhist Summit- It is hosted in collaboration with International Buddhist Confederation with the theme “Responses to Contemporary Challenges: Philosophy to Praxis”.
• India Art, Architecture and Design Biennale, 2023- To invigorate the cultural space and creative industries and leverage the Arts for Global Cultural Diplomacy and Connect.

OTHER INITIATIVES

• Atmanirbhar Bharat Centre for Design- Launched at Delhi to pave the way for a sustainable cultural economy derived from the indigenous crafts of India by empowering the artisan communities with new designs and innovations.
• Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav- Organised in Mumbai to promote National Unity and integrity through cultural exchange.
• Kala Samantar- An art gala uniting visual and performing arts in a beautiful symphony organised by National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi.
• Barisu Kannada Dim Dimava- Festival on Karnataka’s culture, traditions and history.
• Vitasta- Festival to celebrate the vibrant cultural traditions of Jammu and Kashmir.
• Utkarsh- India’s largest folk and tribal cultural event organised in Madhya Pradesh.
• Samskrita Samunmesha- National Sanskrit Convention to carry Sanskrit to the grassroot level.
• Festival of libraries- To promote development and digitization of libraries and cultivate the culture of reading.
• International Museum Expo 2023- To celebrate the International Museum Day and to institutionalize this in its annual calendar.

BIRTH AND DEATH ANNIVERSARIES

200^th Birth Anniversary of Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati

• Dayanand Saraswati was one of the most influential figures of 19th-century India.
• A believer in the supreme authority of the Vedas, he established the Arya Samaj in 1875, leading a reform movement within orthodox Hinduism.
• Arya Samaj means “Make this world noble”. He gave the clarion call “Go back to Vedas”.
• Shuddhi Movement- It was introduced by him to bring back the individuals to Hinduism who were either voluntarily or involuntarily converted to other religions like Islam or Christianity.
• Publications- Satyarth Prakash, Sanskarvidhi and Yajurved Bhashyam.
• Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan called Dayanand Saraswati as “a maker of modern India”.

125^th Birth Anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose

• Subhash Chandra Bose is an Indian revolutionary prominent in the independence movement against British rule of India.
• He was a close associate of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, but later broke away from them due to ideological differences.
• In 1939, he formed the Forward Bloc, an organization aimed at unifying all anti-British forces in India.
• He also led an Indian National Force from abroad against the Western powers during World War II.
• He was a charismatic influencer of the youth and earned the epithet ‘Netaji’ by establishing and leading the Indian National Army (INA) during India’s struggle for independence.

150^th Birth Anniversary of Sri Aurobindo Ghosh

• He is an Indian nationalist, poet, philosopher, and yogi.
• He played an active role in the Indian Freedom Movement till 1910, after which he became a spiritual reformer.
• Tagore painted him as the Messiah of Indian Culture and Civilization and C R Das hailed him as the ‘poet of patriotism, the prophet of nationalism and the lover of humanity.’
• He associated himself with journals and periodicals namely Jugantar, Bande Mataram and the Karmayogi, through which he criticised British imperialism and preached revolutionary concept of nationalism.
• In 1908, he was arrested on the charge of the Alipore Bomb Conspiracy Case and was acquitted in 1909 after a long trial.
• Important writings- The Life Divine, Savitri, Essay on the Gita, Defense of Indian Culture, etc.,

250^th Birth Anniversary of Raja Ram Mohan Roy

• Raja Ram Mohan Roy is considered as the father of modern Indian Renaissance for his remarkable reforms such as abolition of Sati.
• In 1828, Ram Mohan Roy formed the Brahmo Samaj, which had no faith in idol-worship and were against the caste restrictions.
• The title 'Raja' was bestowed upon him by the Mughal emperor Akbar II, in 1831.
• He brought out a newspaper in Persian called 'Miratul- Akhbar' (the Mirror of News) and a Bengali weekly called 'Sambad Kaumudi' (the Moon of Intelligence).

400^th Birth Anniversary of Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur

• Guru Tegh Bahadur Jayanti is celebrated to mark the auspicious occasion of the birth of the 9^th Guru of Sikhism, Guru Tegh Bahadur.
• He is often called as the “Protector of Humanity” by Sikhs.
• He founded the town of Chak-Nanki in Punjab, which later became a part of Punjab’s Anandpur Sahib.
• His writings are housed in the sacred text, ‘Guru Granth Sahib,’ in the form of 116 poetic hymns
• He opposed the forced conversion of the Hindu Kashmiri Pandits by Mughal ruler Aurangazeb and was persecuted.

150^th birth anniversary of Jainacharya Shree Vijay Vallabh Sureshwar

• Vallabhsuri, also known as Punjab Kesari led an austere life as a Jain Saint to spread the message of Lord Mahavira.
• He placed emphasis on education and inspired Jains to build more educational institutions.
• He also participated in the Swadeshi movement led by Mahatma Gandhi for independence of India.
• Statute of Peace is dedicated to him in Rajasthan by Government of India in 2021.

125^th Birth Anniversary of Sri Alluri Sitarama Raju

• Alluri is also referred to as Manyam Veerudu (Jungle Warrior).
• Initially, Sitarama Raju, under the influence of Gandhiji’s Non-cooperation movement, inspired the tribals to seek justice in the local panchayat courts and boycott the colonial courts.
• The Madras Forest Act, 1882 restricted the free movement of the tribal communities and prohibiting them from engaging in their traditional Podu agricultural system.
• This oppressive order was the beginning of the tribal revolt, also known as the Manyam Rebellion or Rampa Rebellion.

525th Birth Anniversary of Saint Meera Bai

• Mirabai, a 16th century Indian royal, was a great Bhakti saint, Hindu mystic poet and a devotee of the Lord Krishna.
• Bhaktmal, a poetry collection that describes the biography of Meera Bai, is written by Guru Nabha Dass ji in 1585 CE in Braja language.
• She became a follower of Ravidas, a saint who was said to be untouchable.

500th birth centenary celebrations of Rani Durgavati

• Rani Durgavati is said to have been born in 1524, in Mahoba’s Chandela dynasty (Uttar Pradesh).
• She was married to Dalpat Shah, son of King Sangram Shah of Gondwana.
• After her husband’s death, Rani Durgavati ascended the throne of Gondwana.
• She fought the Mughal emperor Akbar and his commander Asaf Khan and gave the ultimate sacrifice.
• The day of her martyrdom is commemorated as ‘Balidan Diwas’.

NASA’s telecommunications network and navigation system, Deep Space Network, celebrated its 60th anniversary on December 24.

• Initiative by - Deep Space Network (DSN) is an initiative of NASA started in the year 1963.
• Operated by - The DSN is operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which also operates many of the agency’s interplanetary robotic space missions.
• Applications - DSN is an array of giant radio antennas that supports interplanetary spacecraft missions, plus a few that orbit Earth.
• The DSN also provides radar and radio astronomy observations that improve our understanding of the solar system and the larger universe.
• DSN is what makes it possible for NASA to communicate with spacecrafts further away from the moon.

The DSN also supported ISRO during India’s Chandrayaan-3 mission.

• Sites - The DSN consists of three facilities spaced equidistant from each other, approximately 120 degrees apart in longitude, around the world.
• These sites are at Goldstone, near Barstow, California; near Madrid, Spain; and near Canberra, Australia.

• Working - The strategic placement of these sites permits constant communication with spacecraft as our planet rotates.
• Before a distant spacecraft sinks below the horizon at one DSN site, another site can pick up the signal and carry on communicating.
• Methods - NASA has been enhancing the DSN’s capacity by adding more dish antennas and upgrading the technology to support more spacecrafts and transfer more data from outer space.
• One of these new methods is laser or optical communications, which could send more data from longer distances.

The Nicobar pigeon is hailed as one of the most beautiful pigeons in the world.

• Habitat - It is native to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Malay Archipelago and some islands of Micronesia.
• Features - It is draped in a colorful plumage, with hues of green, blue, yellow and copper that explode into a bomb of colors in the sunlight.
• The bird’s feathers are iridescent due to the many layers of keratin air sacs in the feathers.
• Females Nicobar Pigeons are smaller in size than their male counterpart.
• Extinct birds - DNA studies have shown that it is also the only living cousin of extinct birds like the dodo, the Rodrigues solitaire of Madagascar and the spotted green pigeon of the Pacific Islands.

• Subspecies - There are two subspecies of Nicobar Pigeon, one is endemic to Palau Island in the Pacific Ocean, and the other subspecies is found in all other parts of its range.
• IUCN status - This species is classified as Near Threatened in the IUCN Red List and listed in Appendix 1 of CITES as their numbers in the wild are on the decline.

The United Nations has declared 2024 as the International Year of Camelids.

• Objective - It aims to build awareness of the untapped potential of camelids and to call for increased investment in the camelid sector, and the use of innovative practices and technologies.
• The decision to declare 2024 as the International Year of Camelids was made back in 2020.

According to the official website of the Food and Agricultural Organization(FAO), camelids influence the lives of millions of households in more than 90 countries.

• The report stated that this decision has been made as these animals contribute to food security, nutrition and economic growth for many communities around the globe.

Camelids

• Group - As a group Camelids include alpacas, Bactrian camels, dromedaries, guanacos, llamas, and vicuñas.
• The Camelidae family consists of the Old and New World camelids.
• The 3 Old World camelids (OW) are the dromedary, the domestic Bactrian camel, and the wild Bactrian camel.
• The lineage of New World camelids (NW) consists of the genus Lama and a separate genus Vicugna.
• SDGs - Camelids play an important role in meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) envisaged by the United Nations.
• Food security - Camelids are a source of milk and meat, which helps people fight hunger.
• Uses - They also provide fibre, which can be used for clothing and shelter, used by people as a means of transportation, and provide organic fertilizer, which can be used in agriculture.
• Climate change - Moreover, Camelids are known to survive in harsh conditions and thus be ambassadors to raise awareness about climate change.

In the highlands of Andes mountain ranges and in the arid and semi-arid lands in Africa and Asia, camelids play a major role in the livelihood of the inhabitants.

Researchers have developed a new electronics soil that was found to increase the growth of barley seedlings by 50%.

• It is a novel method of soilless gardening or hydroponics using an electrically conductive growing medium.

• In hydroponic environments, eSoil is a low-power bioelectronics growth substrate that can electrically stimulate the root system and growth environment of plants.
• This novel substrate is not only environmentally friendly, but also offers a low energy, safe alternative to previous methods that required high voltage and non-biodegradable materials.

eSoil is being derived from cellulose and a conductive polymer called PEDOT.

• Working - When the roots of barley seedlings were electrically stimulated for 15 days, they showed a 50% increase in growth using eSoil.
• In hydroponics, plants are grown without soil, requiring only water, nutrients and a substrate, something for their roots to attach to.

Hydroponics is the technique of growing plants using a water-based nutrient solution rather than soil, and can include an aggregate substrate, or growing media, such as vermiculite, coconut coir, or perlite.

• This closed system allows water to be recirculated, ensuring that each seedling receives exactly the nutrients it needs.
• As a result, very little water is used and all the nutrients remain in the system, something that is not possible with conventional farming.

Recently, World Health Organisation (WHO) declared a pressing, albeit underappreciated, global health threat ‘loneliness’ in its report.

What is loneliness?

• Definition – It is largely understood to be “the unpleasant experience that occurs when a person’s network of social relations is deficient in some important way, either quantitatively or qualitatively,” and is computed as an experience other than ‘social isolation.
• Vulnerable population
  • World Health Organisation (WHO) – At least 10% of adolescents, and 25% of older people are lonely.
  • The Global State of Social Connections– At least 25% of 4.5 billion people felt ‘lonely’ or ‘very lonely’ in 2023.
• Spread – WHO clarified in 2023 that loneliness impact the health and well-being of all age groups across the world.
• Reason for higher levels – Wars, climate change and social inequality have only accelerated this ‘silent’ threat.
• Impact of Covid pandemic – It have calcified loneliness as a feature of daily life, with implications on people’s long-term mental and physical health, longevity and well-being.
• Measure - The WHO has established a Commission on Social Connection (2024–2026) with the intent of addressing loneliness from a public health lens.
• It will propose a global agenda on social connection and work to develop solutions targeting loneliness as a medical and social condition.

During the course of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021-2030), the Demographic Change and Healthy Ageing Unit of WHO will be addressing social isolation and loneliness.

What is India’s status in Loneliness?

• Loneliness in India
  • 2004 NSSO study – About 49.1 lakh people (12.3 lakh men and 36.8 lakh women) were living alone and suffered from loneliness.
  • In 2012, self-reported loneliness was found to be 17.3% and 9.5% in urban and rural adolescents, respectively.

• Loneliness among younger people – The Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) in 2017 studied 6,000 people aged 15-34 years across 19 States.
  • 12% of India’s youth reported feeling depressed often, and about 8% frequently felt lonely.
• Loneliness among the elderly – The Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI)in 2017-18 surveyed 72,000 people from 35 States and Union Territories.
  • 20.5% of adults aged 45 years and above reported moderate loneliness, and 13.3% were severely lonely.
• Gender vulnerability – The odds of loneliness were higher among females as compared to males.
• A taboo in our society – There is lack of acknowledgment of mental health issues as people see poor mental health as a “collective problem” that reflects badly on the family, even impairing one’s marriage eligibility.

Why loneliness as a public health concern in India?

• A fertiliser of other diseases – It can thus inflame India’s rising communicable and non-communicable disease burden.
  • The 2017 LASI found that loneliness also increased the odds of major depressive disorder and insomnia symptoms.
• Emerging dementia epidemic - Mental health disorders like depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder have risen steadily over the last few years.

What are the reasons for India’s loneliness epidemic?

• Social inequity – People belonging to marginalised communities go through loneliness intensely.
• Socioeconomic challenges – High poverty, income inequality, low education, high dependency ratio is making people depressed.
• Higher dependence on monsoon – There is rising farmer suicides due to the burden of seasonal droughts.
• Rapid urbanisation and changing family structure – The suicides of daily wage or migrant workers is more due to their disintegration at their village home as well as the lack of any family structure in the urban setting.
• Reduced social cohesion and support – Changing lifestyles erode kinship ties and interpersonal relationships.
• Slum rehabilitation issues - The 2022 study in Mumbai reported that slum rehabilitation dwellers loneliness was partly due to random allocation of flats.
  • It hampered their collective identity, weakened their social support network, and significantly led to loneliness.
• Attachment to Social media – Social media has uniformly been linked to rising loneliness.
• Impact of COVID-19 pandemic – Loneliness among young people is on the rise.
• Chronic illnesses – It exacerbate loneliness among people.
• Institutional deficiencies – According to a 2023 report by a Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare, India lags with inadequate staff, medical infrastructure and budgetary allocation.

What should India focus on?

By 2030, India wants to reduce suicide mortality by 10% under the National Suicide Prevention Strategy (NSPS).

• Change perspectives – Treat loneliness as a conditions itself rather than considering as a symptom or state of mind.
• Tailored treatments – Treat loneliness as a distinct social and medical condition to develop targeted interventions specific to people’s cultural context.
• Capacity building – Investing in mental healthcare facilities, training doctors and setting up health provisions in AIIMS.
  • India has launched suicide and mental health helplines.
• Scale up digital infrastructure – Develop and improve digital mental health programming infrastructure.
• Efficient diagnosis and treatment – Find the root cause of loneliness and suggest physical exercise and spending time socially.
  • Develop healthcare dedicated to addressing loneliness.
• Promote community intervention – Address deficits in communities by building safe spaces like community facilities, effecting anti-discrimination and equality laws, and tackling the causes and consequences of poverty.
• Conduct national-level survey – It should be conducted in local languages, and questions modified to match people’s cultural context as almost 60% of India which lives offline remains beyond the purview of research paradigms.

Scientists have discovered a new method to fight cancer using aminocyanine molecules.

• Aminocyanine molecules - These aminocyanine molecules are termed molecular jackhammers.
• These molecules show a remarkable capability to break apart cancer cell membranes when stimulated by near infrared light.
• The use of near infrared light holds significant importance, as it facilitates deeper penetration into the body.
• In comparison to their predecessors, these molecular jackhammers demonstrate over a million times faster mechanical motion.
• These molecules are commonly used as synthetic dyes in bio imaging.
• Bio imaging - It is a term that refers to a procedure in which there is no involvement of tools that can invade the skin or physically enter the body, and it allows scientists to view biological functions in real time.
• The purpose of bio imaging is to cause as minimal disruption to live processes as possible.

In experiments conducted on cultured cancer cells, the molecular jackhammer method exhibited a staggering 99 per cent success rate in destroying cells.

• Test - Moving from lab settings to living organisms, the approach was tested on mice with melanoma tumors, resulting in half of the animals becoming cancer-free.
• Working - Aminocyanine molecules possess a unique structure and chemical properties that synchronize with the right stimulus, near infrared light.
• As these molecules move, the electrons within them form plasmons, collective vibrating entities that induce movement throughout the entire molecule.
• The plasmons, resembling molecular arms, connect with cancer cell membranes and, through vibrational movements, dismantle them.

Plasmons are collective oscillations of the electrons, which are present at the bulk and surface of conducting materials and in the neighborhood of conducting particles.

Thousands of sardine fish surface near Goa beach, experts call it ‘rare’ event, known as Sardine Run.

• Shoals of the marine species are fluttering in shallow waters along the coast at Keri-Terekhol, on the Goa-Maharashtra border.

Shoals are a large group of fish that feed and swim together.

• Sardine Run happens due to sudden changes in the temperature of sea surface water.
• A drop or rise in sea surface temperature can induce migration of sardines in higher numbers and sometimes they are trapped in shallow waters.
• When the deeper water rises, it brings nutrient-rich water on top, triggering high food production and Sardines feed on this fresh food called ‘phytoplankton’.

Sardines

• They belong to the herring family of fishes.
• The name sardine can also refer to the common herring and to other small herrings or herring like fishes when canned in oil.
• The European sardine, known as pilchard in Britain, occurs in the Mediterranean Sea and off the Atlantic coasts of Spain, Portugal, France, and Britain.
• Sardines are small, silvery, elongated fishes with a single short dorsal fin, no lateral line, and no scales on the head.

Unfavorable climatic conditions following El Nino had badly affected the spawning and growth pattern of oil sardine.

• The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on December, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly.
• The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide.
• Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees.

It also has a mandate to help stateless people. It is headquartered at Geneva, Switzerland.

• Ground frost is a covering of ice that forms on objects, trees, or the ground when their surfaces are below the freezing point of water.
• It can also refer to a temperature that drops below freezing at or near ground level and damages vegetation.
• Ground frost can occur when the ground cools faster than the air.

It can also occur when water vapor directly deposits on objects and trees with surfaces colder than 0°C.

• Veer Baal Diwas is commemmorated to honour the martyrdom of Baba Fateh Singh and Zorawar Singh, sons of 10^th Guru Govind Singh Ji on 26^th December every year.

On this day Mughal forces under Aurangzeb's order killed Sahibzada Zorawar Singh, who was just 6 years old, and Fateh Singh, who was only 9.

• The temple is situated in Puri, Odisha, was built in the 12th century by King Anatavarman Chodaganga Deva of the Eastern Ganga Dynasty.
• The Puri Jagannath Temple is a circular temple that is believed to have inspired the design of the Indian Parliament building.
• The temple is also known as the "White Pagoda" and is one of the 4 great "Char Dham" pilgrimage sites.

It is famous for its Annual Rath yatra, or chariot festival.

• The art of manually cutting words or symbols into jewellery and household objects was added to UNESCO's intangible heritage list recently.

It has been practised across North Africa and West Asia for centuries.

• Bhairavapalem Mudflats are located in Andhra Pradesh.
• The mudflats are named after the village of Bhairavapalem and are subject to tidal water, a habitat for crabs like mud crabs.
• The Godavari River flows into the sea through two mouths, one near Bhairavapalem and the other near Kottapalem.

Bhairavapalem is also the name of a Reserve Forest in the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary.

• Poleramma Temple is a re-established 200 years-old temple located in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh.
• The temple was first constructed by British village officer in India in the 1800s, before which villagers worship Poleramma in form of a mud deity.
• Poleramma is a pre-Vedic deity, who is predominantly worshipped in Andhra Pradesh, and a local form of Sakti.

She is worshipped as Grama devata (goddess who protects the village).

• The Supreme Court recently held that physical training instructors (PTIs) come within the definition of “teachers”.

Physical training instructors impart to students the skills and rules of various sports and games.a

• A Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU)- India is a national body that collects and analyzes information about suspicious financial activity.
• The FIU-IND is an independent body in New Delhi that reports directly to the Economic Intelligence Council (EIC), which is headed by the Finance Minister.

The FIU-IND cooperates with other law enforcement agencies both domestically and internationally.

• Pegasus is a spyware developed by an Israeli firm, NSO Group, to infiltrate smartphones — Android and iOS and turn them into surveillance devices.
• It is used as a tool to track criminals and terrorists for targeted spying and not mass surveillance.
• A spyware is any malicious software designed to enter your computer device, gather your data, and forward it to a third-party without your consent.

NSO Group has affirmed that it sells the software only to governments.

• The Black Sea also known as the Euxine Sea is a large inland sea located at the southeastern tip of Europe.
• The Black Sea is a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, located between Eastern Europe and Western Asia.

• The Black Sea is bordered by Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Romania.

It is the world's largest meromictic basin, meaning that the upper and lower layers of water exchange very little.

• The Shanghai Archaeology Forum (SAF) is a global initiative that promotes the protection, investigation, and use of the world's archaeological resources and heritage.
• It was established in 2013 and is a biennial forum that provides a platform for academic exchanges between archaeologists worldwide.
• Shanghai Archaeology Forum Discovery Award is a biennial award that recognizes individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to human history.

• The centre recently appointed Nina Singh, the 1^st woman IPS officer as the Director General of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
• CISF is a federal police organization in India that is part of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF).
• CISF is responsible for providing security and protection to various industrial establishments, government infrastructure projects, and other important installations in India.

It is the largest industrial security force in the world.

• Defence Ministry recently has extended the rules for maternity, child care and child adoption leaves for women soldiers, sailors and air warriors in the tri-services.

It will entitle women soldiers, sailors and air warriors to the same maternity, childcare and child adoption leaves as female officers in the three services.