Prime Minister has recently released the commemorative stamp and coin on Paika Rebellion.
The setting up of a Chair on the Paika Rebellion, in Utkal University, Bhubaneswar, was also announced.
It was an armed rebellion against the British East India Company's rule in Odisha in 1817.
The Paiks were the traditional landed militia of Khurda, Odisha.
Rulers of Khurda were traditionally the custodians of Jagannath Temple and ruled as the deputy of Lord Jagannath on earth.
The British, having established their sway over Bengal Province occupied the Khurda’s land in 1803 and took over the hereditary rent-free lands granted to Paikas.
The Paikas rose in armed rebellion in 1817 under the leadership of Baxi Jagabandhu.
The tribals of Ghumusar and other sections of the population actively took part in it.
Many scholars, researchers and historians have opined that the Paika Rebellion was India’s first organized armed rebellion against British Raj.
Bogibeel Bridge
It is India’s longest rail-road bridge and 4th project across the river Brahmaputra.
It will connect Dhibrugarh and Dhemaji in Assam.
It aids connectivity between the north and south banks of Brahmaputra, falling in the eastern part of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
It is a double deck bridge with a two-line railway track on the lower deck and a three-lane road on the upper deck.
It will reduce train travel time between Tinsukia in Assam to Arunachal Pradesh’s Naharlagun by 10 hours.
Foundation stone for the bridge was laid in the year 1997 and North East Frontier Railway constructed the bridge.
National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK)
NCSK has recommended that all states across India should have individual state safai karamchari commissions in order to end the practice of manual scavenging.
NCSK was constituted as a statutory body via an act of parliament National Commission for Safai Karamcharis Act, 1993.
The act was lapsed in 2004.
Now, it is a non-statutory body and its tenure is extended from time to time through government resolutions.
It makes recommendations in its annual report to Social Justice and Empowerment ministry.
Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013 outlaws manual scavenging but people still being employed in the manual cleaning of dry toilets, sewer and septic tanks.
National Testing Agency
It is an autonomous body, constituted last year under the Ministry of Human Resources Development.
It has taken the mantle of conducting competitive exams like UGC-National Eligibility Test, NEET and JEE (Main) from CBSE.
It is likely to conduct board exams in various states from 2020.
This would reduce the burden of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE).
The entrance examinations will be conducted in online mode at least twice a year, giving adequate opportunity to candidates.
There had been concerns of paper leaks, cheating scandals, outdated syllabus, etc with the CBSE. NTA is thus likely to address these shortfalls.
Fall Armyworm
Tamil Nadu State government has recently launched awareness programme among farmers to fight invasive pest fall armyworm.
It has been wreaking havoc in the farmlands of Maize in the state of Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar and Assam.
It is a major maize pest in North America and it arrived in Africa in 2016.
It has spread to Central and Western Africa in 2016 and has proved very hard to control.
It prefers Maize, but can feed on 80 species of plants, including rice, sorghum, millet, sugarcane and cotton.
It can be controlled with insecticides, through natural enemies or by inter-cropping.
