Gujarat and Maharashtra born out of bilingual Bombay State celebrate their states day

States Reorganization Act, 1956

• Andhra Pradesh is the first state to be created by separating the Telugu speaking areas from the Madras state because of the death of Potti Sriramulu.
• The creation of Andhra state intensified the demand from other regions for creation of states on linguistic basis.
• So Fazl Ali commission is formed to re-examine the recommendations and submitted its report based on linguistic states.
• But it rejected the theory of ‘one language-one state’.
• By the states reorganization act the 4 fold classification of states is abolished and 14 states and 6 union territories were created on November 1, 1956.

Maharashtra and Gujarat

• In 1960, the bilingual state of Bombay was divided into two separate states–Maharashtra for Marathi speaking people and Gujarat for Gujarati speaking people.
• Gujarat was established as the 15th state of the Indian Union.

Dadra and Nagar Haveli

• It was converted into a union territory of India by the 10th Constitutional
• Amendment Act, 1961.

Goa, Daman and Diu

• Goa was conferred a statehood.
• Consequently, Daman and Diu was made a separate union territory.

Puducherry

• 1962 - It was made a union territory by the 14th Constitutional Amendment Act.

Nagaland

• In 1963, the State of Nagaland was formed10 by taking the Naga Hills and Tuensang area out of the state of Assam.

Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh

• In 1966, the State of Punjab was bifurcated11 to create Haryana, the 17th state of the Indian Union, and the union territory of Chandigarh.

Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya

• Manipur 19th, Tripura 20th and Meghalaya 21st state created in 1972.

Sikkim

• The 36th Constitutional Amendment Act (1975) was enacted to make Sikkim a full-fledged state of the Indian Union (the 22nd state).

Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Goa

• In 1987, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Goa came into being as the 23rd, 24th and 25th states of the Indian Union respectively.

Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand

• In 2000, 3 more new States of Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand were created as the 26th, 27th and 28th states of the Indian Union, respectively.

Telangana

• In 2014, the new state of Telangana came into existence as the 29th state of the Indian Union.

Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh

• The union territory of Jammu and Kashmir is created by abolishing the special status by a presidential order under the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019.

Chile’s President Gabriel Boric announced plans for the state to take a majority stake in the country’s lithium industry

Lithium

• Lithium is a lightweight metal used in the cathodes of lithium-ion batteries, which power Electric Vehicles (EV).
• The need for lithium has increased significantly due to the growing demand for EVs.
• However, lithium is also used in the batteries of laptops and cell phones, as well as in the glass and ceramics industry.
• Lithium is also used to make lubricant greases for the transport, steel, and aviation industries, along with other lesser-known uses.

Lithium Production and Reserves

• Lithium from Australia comes from ore mining, while in Chile and Argentina lithium comes from salt deserts, so-called salars.
• The 3 largest producers of lithium are Australia, Chile and China.
• Chile has the Salar de Atacama, one of the world’s richest lithium brine deposits.
• The demand for lithium is expected to reach 1.5 million tonnes of lithium carbonate equivalent by 2025 and over 3 million tonnes by 2030.
• The global market for the alkali metal lithium is growing rapidly.

Periyar Tiger Reserve

• The Periyar Tiger Reserve (PTR) in Thekkady located in the southern region of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
• It gets its name from the River Periyar which has its origin deep inside the reserve.
• It was declared as a Sanctuary in 1950 and declared as Tiger Reserve in 1978.
• Habitat - The terrain is Hilly and undulating.
• Rivers - Two major rivers namely Periyar and Pamba drain the area.
• Mullai Periyar Dam is located within the PTR.
• The vegetation comprises of Tropical evergreen forests, semi- evergreen forests, Moist deciduous Forests, Transitional fringe ever green forests, grass lands and eucalyptus plantations.
• Fauna - In addition to Tiger, Periyar is an important elephant habitat.
• Gaur, sambar deer, leopard, sloth bear, wild dog, Lion tailed monkey, Nilgiri langur, barking deer and Nilgiri tahr are found here.
• The major four species of primates are also found at Periyar - the rare lion-tailed macaque, the Nilgiri Langur, Gee's Golden Langur, Common Langur and Bonnet Macaque.
• Tribes - Paliyans, Mannans, Malayarayans, Mala Pandarams, Uralis and Ulladans.

Among the laundromat countries, India remained the highest global consumer of seaborne Russian crude in April.

Laundromat Countries  

• These are the countries that buy Russian oil and sell processed products to European countries, thus evading European sanctions against Russia.
• The laundromat countries are China, India, Turkey, the UAE and Singapore.
• These countries are refining larger volumes of imported Russian crude to then export refined products to sanction imposing countries.
• This is currently a legal way of exporting oil products to countries that are imposing sanctions on Russia.
• These countries export nearly 3.8 million tonnes of oil products to price cap coalition countries, which include the EU, G-7 countries, Australia and Japan.

Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) report

• The CREA report said the most oil products were being exported from two ports in Gujarat:
• The Sikka port that services the Reliance-owned Jamnagar refinery, and
• The Vadinar port that ships oil products from Nayara energies.
• RIL’s Jamnagar refinery, is the biggest oil product export port to the price-cap coalition countries.
• It is also the largest importing port in the world of seaborne crude oil from Russia.

Uncontrolled spread of H5N1 virus leading to the mass extinction of several species of endangered birds.

H5N1 Virus

• Avian influenza A viruses are designated as highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) or low pathogenicity avian influenza (LPAI) based on molecular characteristics of the virus.
• H5N1 is a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza A (H5N1) in Birds and Other Animals.
• It is a reassortant virus with genes from Asian HPAI H5 viruses and low pathogenic North American viruses.
• Reassortment –It occurs when the genes from two different viruses mix to create a new virus.
• World Health Organization (WHO) has assessed the risk of H5N1 to humans to be low.
• United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization considered 6 countries to be endemic for Asian HPAI H5N1 virus in poultry (Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam).