Formation of States in India post independence

• Goa, Puducherry, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Sikkim were not a part of India at the time of independence.
• Puducherry along with Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam, was transferred to India in 1954 by the French.
• Dadra & Nagar Haveli was liberated in 1954 from the Portuguese.
• Similarly, Goa was liberated from Portuguese occupation in 1961.
• Sikkim became a part of India in 1974.

State Formation in Chronological Order

• 1953: Andhra Pradesh carved out of Madras
• 1960: Gujarat separated out of Bombay
• 1963: Nagaland separated out of Assam and is the 16th state.
• 1966: Haryana separated out of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh (HP) separated as Union Territory (UT)
• 1971: HP converted into state from UT
• 1972: Manipur converted to state from UT
• 1972: Tripura converted to state from UT
• 1972: Meghalaya converted to state from sub state in Assam
• 1975: Sikkim from being a protectorate of India became a full state
• 1987: Mizoram converted to state from UT
• 1987: Arunanchal Pradesh converted to state from UT
• 1987: Goa converted to state from UT
• 2000: Chhattisgarh
• 2000: Uttarakhand
• 2000: Jharkhand
• 2014: Telangana

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel

• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress and a prominent figure in the Indian Freedom Struggle.
• He later became India’s first Deputy Prime Minister and first Home Minister.
• Sardar Patel’s contribution in integrating 565 princely states into a newly independent India is unforgettable.
• Vallabhbhai Patel was born in Nadiad, Gujarat; on October 31, 1875 (His birth anniversary is now observed as National Unity Day or Rashtriya Ekta Diwas).
• The meeting with Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in Godhra (1917) fundamentally changed Patel’s life.
• Patel joined the Congress and became the secretary of the Gujarat Sabha that became a Congress stronghold later.
• On Gandhi’s call, Patel quit his hard-earned job and joined the movement to fight for exemption of taxes in Kheda at the time of plague and famine (1918).
• It was the Bardoli Satyagraha of 1928 which earned Vallabhbhai Patel the title of ‘Sardar’ and made him popular throughout the country.
• After the signing of the Gandhi–Irwin Pact, Patel was elected president of Congress for its 1931 session (Karachi).
• Few princely states like Travancore, Hyderabad, Junagadh, Bhopal and Kashmir were averse to joining the state of India.
• Sardar Patel worked tirelessly to build a consensus with the princely states but did not hesitate in employing methods of Sama, Dama, Dand and Bhed where ever necessary.
• Sardar Patel was of the opinion that we will not have a united India if we do not have a good all-India Service.
• The statue of unity depicts Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, India’s first Home Minister, wearing a traditional dhoti and shawl, towering over the Narmada River.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)

• The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), also known as Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS) is Indian legislation enacted on August 25, 2005.
• The MGNREGA provides a legal guarantee for one hundred days of employment in every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work at the statutory minimum wage.
• The Ministry of Rural Development (MRD), Government of India is monitoring the entire implementation of this scheme in association with state governments.
• This act was introduced with an aim of improving the purchasing power of the rural people, primarily semi or un-skilled work to people living below poverty line in rural India.

Guru Nanak Dev

• He is a philosopher, poet, traveler, political rebel, social leveler, mass communicator and a spiritual master- on whose teachings the religion of Sikhism is founded.
• Guru Nanak Dev (1469-1539) was born in a village, Talwandi Rai Bhoe, near Lahore.
• Guru Nanak Dev initiated inter-faith dialogue way back in the 16th century and had conversations with most of the religious denominations of his times.
• Guru Nanak Dev travelled far and wide during the 15th and 16th centuries.
• From Mecca to Haridwar, from Sylhet to Mount Kailash, Guru Nanak visited hundreds of interfaith sites related to Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism, and Jainism throughout his journeys (also called udaasis).
• His travels were documented in texts called ‘Janamsakhis’.
• These sites are now spread across nine nations as per current geographical divisions — India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, China (Tibet), Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan — and some are even inaccessible due to travel restrictions or being located in conflict zones.
• Guru Nanak Dev, along with his companion Bhai Mardana, undertook most part of his journeys on foot.
• The founder of Sikhism, made walking an integral part of the “Sikh culture”.
• Each gurdwara now has “parikrama”.

Indian Dolphins

Gangetic Dolphins

• Gangetic dolphins in general are blind and catch their prey using ultrasonic sound waves.
• Killing the Gangetic River Dolphin is a punishable offence under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
• Ganges river dolphins live in the Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna and Karnaphuli-Sangu river systems of Nepal, India, and Bangladesh.
• The Ganges river dolphin can only live in freshwater and is essentially blind.
• It has been declared endangered under the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
• Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary is in the state of Bihar.

Indus Dolphins

• Indus river dolphins are one of only four river dolphin species and subspecies in the world that spend all of their lives in freshwater.
• The Indus river dolphin is the second most endangered freshwater river dolphin.
• At present, there are only around 1,800 of these in the Indus in Pakistan. Their population in the Beas River is between 8 to 10.
• IUCN status: Endangered.
• Punjab Government has declared the Indus river dolphin as Punjab’s state aquatic animal in 2019.