Maithili Sharan Gupt Jayanti

History and Culture

Context

Maithili Sharan Gupt Jayanti is celebrated every year on 3 August to mark the birth anniversary of the legendary Indian poet, Maithili Sharan Gupta.

About

Birth Date: August 3, 1886, in Chirgaon, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh.
Literary Contributions: He popularised Khari Boli Hindi as a literary language, displacing the hegemony of Braj Bhasha in modern poetry.
His work included issues of nationalism, social justice and Indian cultural values.
Literary Works: Saket (an epic depicting the Ramayana from Urmila’s perspective), Bharat Bharati, Yashodhara, Panchavati, and Jayadrath Vadh.
Title: Mahatma Gandhi granted him the title of “Rashtrakavi” (National poet) for his patriotic masterpiece Bharat-Bharati (1912).
Honors: He was nominated member of Rajya Sabha from 1952-1964.
For his outstanding contribution to literature and education, he was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1954.

History and Culture

Context

2nd August is observed as the 166th birth anniversary of Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy.

About

He was born on 2nd August 1861 in Khulna, now in Bangladesh.
He rose to prominence as a pioneering scientist, educator, and industrialist.
He was the founder of India’s first pharmaceutical company Bengal Chemicals & Pharmaceuticals established in 1901.
He is widely regarded as the father of modern chemical science in India and played a key role in promoting scientific education in the country.
He also established the first modern Indian research school in chemistry.
He is remembered for his discovery of mercurous nitrite in 1896.
It opened a new path for research into metal nitrites and established modern chemical research in India.

History and Culture

Context

Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tributes to freedom fighter Pingali Venkayya on his 150th birth anniversary.

Pingali Venkayya

He was born on 2 August 1876, in Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh.
He was a freedom fighter and the designer of the Indian national flag, which later evolved into the present-day Tricolour.

Flag Design

In 1921, he presented a flag design to Mahatma Gandhi at a Congress session in Vijayawada.
His design featured three stripes representing India’s major communities and a spinning wheel (charkha) symbolizing self-reliance.
In 1947, the design was modified to include the Ashoka Chakra, symbolizing law and progress.
Recognition- The Government of India has issued postage stamps in his honor and organized events like Tiranga Utsav to celebrate his legacy.

Geography

In News

Shipki La Pass

It is a motorable mountain pass in the Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh at 3,930 m.
It enters Himachal Pradesh at Shipki La (3,930 m) and flows in the south-westerly direction through Kinnaur, Shimla, Kullu, Mandi, Solan and Bilaspur districts of the State.
Trade included wool, horses, borax, turquoise and gold from Tibet, grains, spices, dried fruits, timber and metal goods from India.
The route was closed after the 1962 Sino-Indian War and was disrupted during the Doklam standoff and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Health

News

Kerala has witnessed a sharp rise in cases and deaths due to leptospirosis in 2026.

Leptospirosis

It is a zoonotic disease caused by bacteria and spread to humans by contact with the urine of an infected animal or with contaminated water and soil.
The bacteria enter the body through cuts in the skin or through the eyes, nose and mouth.
It has been endemic in Kerala since 1989 and now has the highest mortality among communicable diseases in the State.
The disease can range from mild to severe, sometimes fatal, with symptoms similar to those of influenza, dengue and other viral diseases.
Mild leptospirosis is treated with oral antibiotics, while severe cases require hospitalisation.

International Relations

Context

U.S. Special Envoy for South and Central Asia Sergio Gor invited Bangladesh to join the U.S.-led Pax Silica initiative.

‘Pax Silica’

It is a coalition comprising the United States, Australia, Greece, Israel, Japan, Qatar, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, the UAE, the UK, and now India.
Objective – It is a US-led strategic initiative to build a secure, prosperous, and innovation-driven silicon supply chain from critical minerals.
The term ‘Pax Silica’ derived from Latin ‘Pax’ (peace) and ‘Silica’ (a core compound in semiconductors).
Significance – It symbolizes the pursuit of technological peace and prosperity through resilient, transparent, and cooperative supply chains.