NationalHorticultureFair2025

27 Feb - 1 Mar 2025 | ICAR-IIHR, Hesaragahtta, Bengaluru

National Horticulture Fair in Bengaluru from February
27 to March 1
▪ The fair will be organised at the Indian Council of Agricultural
Research (ICAR) - Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR)
▪ Theme -
and Livelihood’
.
‘Horticulture for Vikasit Bharat - Nutrition, Empowerment
▪ The focus will be on promoting varieties and technologies which
will help in improving nutrition levels in the country.
PM credits Soliga tribe for
increasing tiger population in
BRT Tiger Reserve in
Karnataka
DECAN HERALD FEBRUARY 24, 2025
an Credit
Soliga Tibes , ,
man-animal con ict 71 $
ARAR ตสา รคเส นสคโจPr*Asiatic
-xistence
In his monthly Mann ki Baat, PM Modi
credited the Soliga tribe for their vital
role in increasing the tiger population
at Karnataka's BRT Tiger Reserve. He
praised their harmonious coexistence with
natureandcommitmenttoconservation
e orts. The acknowledgment highlighted
the importance of indigenous communities
in preserving biodiversity and fostering
sustainable environmental practices.
archamClasses
Soligas and Tiger Conservation in BRT Tiger Reserve
▪ Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a reference to Soligas of BRT
Tiger Reserve in Karnataka State. in the 119th edition of Mann Ki
Baat
▪ The tiger is worshipped as a god and is referred to as “Dodda Nayi”
▪ Soligas was the rst tribal community living inside a tiger reserve
and getting their forest rights recognised by a court in a judgment in
2011.
▪ The National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) report on the tiger
population for BRT Tiger Reserve indicated the presence of 69 tigers
in 2014.
▪ This number went up to 86 in the 2018 report. However, the NTCA’s
2022 report noted a decline in the tiger population and attributed it
to the presence of humans and habitat degradation.
About Biligiri Rangaswamy Temple (BRT) Tiger Reserve
• Location: It is located in the Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka
State.
• The tiger reserve derives its name from 'BILIGIRI ', the white rocky
cli which has a temple of Lord 'VISHNU', locally known as
‘Rangaswamy’.
• Made a Wildlife Sanctuary in 1974.
• BRT Wildlife Sanctuary was declared a Tiger Reserve in 2011.
Tiger Reserves In Karnataka
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1. Bandipur Tiger Reserve
2. Bhadra Tiger Reserve
3. 4. Biligiri Ranganatha Temple Tiger Reserve
Anshi Dandeli (Kali) Tiger Reserve
5. Nagarhole Tiger Reserve
Datia Airport
&
Datia Airport Gets DGCA Nod, Becomes MP’s 8th
Airport
▪ The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has granted Datia
Airport a license as a public aerodrome, under the 3C/VFR
category (allows for operations of regional aircraft in visual ight
conditions)
▪ Before September 2024, there were only ve airports licensed for
public use in Madhya Pradesh which include Bhopal, Indore,
Jabalpur, Khajuraho, and Gwalior.
▪ On September 9, 2024, Rewa Airport received license, and its
inauguration was done by PM Modi on October 20, 2024.
▪ In December 2024, Satna Airport was granted public aerodrome
license.
PM Modi inaugurated Advantage Assam 2.0
Investment, Infrastructure Summit in Guwahati
▪ On February 25, 2025
▪ Assam Governor Laxman Prasad Acharya
▪ Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma
▪ Assam, known for its tea gardens and petroleum resources, is now
expanding into sectors such as agriculture, food processing,
handicrafts, tourism, and information technology.
▪ Ambassadors of 61 countries were present on the occasion along
with representatives of high-level business delegations from partner
countries such as Bhutan, Thailand, Singapore, South Korea,
Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan.
Prime Minister Modi Inaugurates Historic Jhumoir
Ensemble in Assam
▪ The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi participated in the Jhumoir
Binandini 2025, a Mega Jhumoir programme in Guwahati, Assam
▪ It is a spectacular cultural extravaganza with 8,000 performers
participating in the Jhumoir dance, a folk dance of Assam Tea Tribe
and Adivasi Communities of Assam
▪ The Jhumoir performance, the biggest ever, was staged at the
Sarusajai Stadium. Some 8,600 dancers were performed to mark the
200th anniversary of Assam’s tea industry.
▪ The PM set the tone for the dance ensemble by playing on the
“Dhomsa”, a traditional drum played by the tea garden community.
What is the tea garden community?
▪ The term “tea tribe” loosely refers to a multi-cultural, multi-
ethnic community of tea garden workers and their descendants.
▪ These people came from Central India — mostly from present-
day Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and West Bengal — and
settled in Assam in the 19th century to work in the tea gardens
that the British were setting up.
What is the Jhumur dance?
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 Women are the main dancers and singers, while men play
traditional instruments such as madal, dhol, or dhak (drums),
cymbals, utes, and shehnai.
India, Bangladesh agree to launch new ‘hotline’
between border forces
▪ India and Bangladesh have decided to establish a new
communication link between the deputy commanders of their
respective border-guarding forces and identi ed about 99 fresh
patches for erecting a fence along their shared border.
▪ The decisions were nalised during the biannual director general-
level talks between the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Border
Guard Bangladesh (BGB).
Bangladesh Border
▪ Bangladesh shares border
with India and Myanmar
India – Bangladesh Border
▪ Bordering States : West Bengal, Assam
Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram (ATMM)
▪ Border length : 4,096.7 km
▪ Border Name : Radcli Line
▪ Capital- Dhaka
▪ Currency –Taka
▪ President – Mohammed Shahabuddin Chuppu
▪ Head of Interim Government – Muhammad Yunus
Global University Reputation 2025:
▪ The Times Higher Education (THE) World
Reputation Rankings 2025 assess the world's
most esteemed universities based on academic
prestige and global in uence.
▪ featuring the top 300 institutions from 38
countries and territories
▪ Harvard University has retained its top
position for the 14th consecutive year, while
the University of Oxford and MIT jointly
second.
Rank University Country
1 Harvard University United States
2 Massachusetts Institute of
Technology
United States
2 University of Oxford United Kingdom
4 Stanford University United States
4 University of Cambridge United Kingdom
Institute 2025 2023
IISc 201-300 101-125
IIT Bombay— 151-175
IIT Delhi 201-300 151-175
IIT Madras 201-300 176-200
Shiksha ‘O’
Anusandhan
201-300—
Performance of Indian Universities
▪ Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru dropped from
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 the 101-125 band in 2023 to the 201-300 band in 2025.
▪ IIT Delhi slipped from 151-175 to 201-300 band.
▪ IIT Madras fell from 176-200 to 201-300 band.
▪ IIT Bombay was removed from the list after previously
being ranked in the 151-175 band.
▪ Shiksha ‘O’ Anusandhan (SOA), Bhubaneswar, entered the
rankings for the rst time in the 201-300 band.
Defence Minister confers gallantry, service medals to
Indian Coast Guard personnel
▪ Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh conferred gallantry,
distinguished service, and meritorious service medals to the
personnel of the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) during the 18th ICG
Investiture Ceremony held at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi
A total of 32 medals –
▪ 6 President’s Tatrakshak Medals (Distinguished Service),
11 Tatrakshak Medals (Gallantry) and 15 Tatrakshak
Medals (Meritorious Service) - for 2022, 2023 and 2024
India organizes 1st-ever Capacity Building Programme
on UNSC Resolution 1540
▪ United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540 was adopted in
2004 to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction
(WMD)
▪ The Government of India, in partnership with the United Nations
O ce for Disarmament A airs (UNODA), is organizing the rst-ever
Capacity Building Programme of its kind on the United Nations
Security Council Resolution 1540 and Strategic Trade Controls for
Asia-Paci c Countries
▪ at National Academy of Customs, Indirect Taxes and Narcotics,
Palasamudram, Andhra Pradesh from 25-27 February 2025.
24 government experts from 8 countries in the region, viz.
Bangladesh, Cambodia, Indonesia, Iraq, Lao PDR, Maldives, Sri
Lanka and Thailand are participating in the programme.
MoSPI to launch ‘Innovate with GoIStats’ hackathon
on MyGov platform
▪ The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), in
collaboration with MyGov, is set to launch an exciting data-
visualization hackathon
▪ titled "Innovate with GoIStats", centered around the theme “Data-
Driven Insights for Viksit Bharat”.
▪ The hackathon aims to inspire India’s young and brightest minds –
students and researchers to utilize the vast o cial statistics generated
by the National Statistics O ce (NSO) for creating innovative data
driven insights.
▪ The Hackathon will take place on the MyGov platform, from 25th
February 2025 to 31st March 2025.
▪ Students pursuing undergraduate, postgraduate or
doing research can participate.
▪ The top 30 entries, selected by a panel of expert
evaluators from the industry and academia will get
prize money, with one rst prize of ₹2 Lakhs
First Phase of the ‘Desh Ka Prakriti Parikshan
Abhiyaan’ concludes with Historic Five Guinness World
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Records
The National Commission for Indian System of Medicine
(NCISM), with the support of the Ministry of Ayush,
Government of India, concluded the closing ceremony
marking the completion of the rst phase of the ‘Desh Ka
Prakriti Parikshan Abhiyaan’ at Mumbai.
Five Guinness World Records:
1. The most pledges received for a health campaign in one week
2. The most pledges received for a health campaign in one month
3. The most pledges received for a health campaign: overall with
13,892,976 pledges
4. The largest online photo album of people displaying a digital certi cate
5. The largest online video album of people saying the same sentence
IRDAI Forms Committee Under Ex-SBI Chairman
Dinesh Khara to Review Insurance Law Amendments
▪ Committee : Committee to review and implement changes to the
Insurance Act of 1938
▪ Formed by : Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of
India (IRDAI)
▪ Members : 7
▪ Chair by : Dinesh Kumar Khara, the former Chairman of the
Mumbai (Maharashtra) based State Bank of India (SBI)
▪ Report submission : Within 3 months
▪ Extra info : As of January 2025, there are 25 life insurance
companies and 34 non-life or general insurance rms in India
Proposed Amendments to the Insurance Act:
▪ Increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) : Raise the FDI cap in
the insurance sector from 74% to 100% aiming to attract more
foreign investment
▪ Composite License for Insurers : Allow insurance companies to
operate across di erent insurance segments (like life and general)
under a single license
▪ Reduced Capital Requirements :Lowering the minimum paid-up
capital for insurance companies
IOA replaces Boxing Federation of India with ad-hoc panel
▪ The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) replaced the Boxing
Federation of India (BFI) with an ad-hoc committee as the BFI’s
“elections have not been held, resulting in administrative instability
within the federation.
▪ BFI president Ajay Singh wrote to IOA president P.T. Usha, terming
the National Olympic Committee’s action as “misconceived,
arbitrary and...without following due process” and appealed to
withdraw the order immediately.
▪ BFI had not been able to hold its elections which were to be
conducted on or before February 2.
▪ The IOA formed an ad-hoc body comprising Madhukant
Pathak (chairman), BFI vice-president Rajesh Bhandari
(vice-chairman), Dr D.P. Bhatt, boxer Shiva Thapа and
Virendra Singh Thakur.
▪ It entrusted the panel with the responsibilities of running
the BFI and overseeing its elections.
REVISION
QUESTIONS
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 Consider the following statements regarding Jhumur dance:
1. It originated in the Assam tea garden community and has no connection to
the Chotanagpur region.
2. Women are the main dancers and singers, while men play traditional
instruments.
Which of the above statement/s is/are correct?
A) 1 only
B) 2 only
C) 1 and 2 both
D) None
Answer: B
Which university holds the top position in the THE World Reputation
Rankings 2025?
तत क ग2025 कौनसा लयशी नपर ?
a) Stanford University
b) Harvard University
c) University of Cambridge
d) California Institute of Technology
Answer: b
The Soligas were the rst tribal community in India to:
सोललगाभारतकापहलाजनजातीयसमुदा जजसने:
a) Establish their own wildlife sanctuary
b) Get their forest rights recognized inside a tiger reserve through a
court judgment
c) Introduce tiger conservation laws in India
d) Form an independent ecological research institute
Answer: b
Who is the chairman of the IRDAI committee formed to review
amendments to the Insurance Act of 1938?
बीमाअ तनयम1938 न समी के ललएगठठतIRDAI सलमततके
अ कौन ?
a) Shaktikanta Das
b) Dinesh Kumar Khara
c) N. S. Vishwanathan
d) Uday Kotak
Answer: b
QUESTION OF THE DAY
What is the theme of the National Horticulture Fair 2025?
a) ‘Horticulture for Sustainable Agriculture’
b) ‘Horticulture for a Green Future’
c) ‘Horticulture for Vikasit Bharat - Nutrition, Empowerment and
Livelihood’
d) ‘Horticulture and Climate Resilience
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