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.
