Chagos Archipelago
- The Chagos Archipelago is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 individual tropical islands in the Indian Ocean.
- It is about 500 kilometers south of the Maldives archipelago.
- This chain of islands is the southernmost archipelago of the Chagos-Laccadive Ridge, a long submarine mountain range in the Indian Ocean.
- The United Kingdom excised the archipelago from Mauritian territory in 1965, to for the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) along with islands of Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroches from the Seychelles.
- In 1976, Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroches were returned to the Seychelles.
- United Kingdom evicted the native people of Chagos between 1967 and 1973 to allow the United States to build a military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands.
- The sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago is disputed between the UK and Mauritius.
- Recently United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution stating that Chagos archipelago forms an integral part of the territory of Mauritius, and UK must decolonize the region unconditionally within a period of no more than six months.
SWAYAM Portal
- SWAYAM (Study Webs of Active–Learning for Young Aspiring Minds) is a programme initiated by Government of India.
- The portal is ultimately capable of hosting 2000 courses and 80000 hours of learning: covering school, under-graduate, post-graduate, engineering, law and other professional courses.
- This is done through an indigenous developed IT platform that facilitates hosting of all the courses taught in classrooms to be accessed by anyone, anywhere at any time.
- All the courses are interactive, prepared by the best teachers in the country and are available, free of cost to the residents in India.
- SWAYAM platform is developed by Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD).
Appointments of Navy Chief
- The Chief of the Naval Staff is the commander and the highest-ranking officer in the Indian Navy.
- The office of the Chief of the Naval Staff was created by The Commanders-In-Chief (Change in Designation) Act of the Indian Parliament in 1955, replacing the erstwhile office of the Commander-in-Chief of Indian Navy.
- Appointments to the office are made by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).
- The Chief of the Naval Staff generally reaches superannuation upon serving three years or at the age of 62, whichever is earlier.
Rajasthani Folk Dances
- Rajasthani folk dances are originated from different tribes and mainly used at past time to entertain Kings.
- Folk songs of rajasthan are commonly ballads which relate heroic deeds and love stories and religious or devotional songs known as bhajans and banis.
- The Ghoomar dance from Udaipur and Kalbeliya dance of Jaisalmer have gained international recognition.
- Ghoomar - Ghoomar is basically a community dance for women and performed on auspicious occasions.
- Kalbelia - The dance is performed by a tribe of the same name, Kalbelia dance and songs are now in UNESCO’s representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity from the year 2010.
- Terah Taali - This folk dance is performed by the Kamada tribes who are traditional snake charmers.
- Besides this it is also performed by the tribes of Mirasi, Bhand, Dholi, Bhat and Nat.
- Gair Dance - This traditional folk dance is one of the many dance- form of the Bhil community of Rajasthan.
- Dandia dance which is performed with wooden sticks is a type of Gair dance.
- Chari Dance - Chari dance describes the art of collecting water in a chari or pot by the Rajasthani womens in their day to day life.
- It is also known as traditional fire dance of Rajasthan.
- Chari dance belongs to Gujjar community and only womens perform in this dance.
Coliform Bacteria
- Coliforms are bacteria that are always present in the digestive tracts of animals, including humans, and are found in their wastes.
- Coliforms are indicator organisms, i.e the presence of coliforms in water proves the presence of other disease causing pathogens.
- Thus the most basic test for bacterial contamination of a water supply is the test for total coliform bacteria.
- Total coliform counts give a general indication of the sanitary condition of a water supply.
- Escherichia coli (E. coli) is the major species in the fecal coliform group.
Nal Se Jal Scheme
- Nal Se Jal (Water from Tap) scheme is the most ambitious project of union government.
- It aims to ensure piped water for every household by 2024.
- Newly-formed Ministry of Jal Shakti is the implementing agency of the scheme.
Source: PIB, the Hindu
