Ambedkar Jayanti

History

Context

On April 14, India commemorates Ambedkar Jayanti, marking the 135th birth anniversary of Dr. BR Ambedkar.

Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar

Babasaheb Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar was a social reformer, jurist, economist, author, polyglot (knowing or using several languages), orator, a scholar and thinker of comparative religions.
Birth – He was born in 1891 in Mhow, Central Province (now Madhya Pradesh).

Brief Profile

He is known as the Father of the Indian Constitution and was India’s first Law Minister.
He was the Chairman of the Drafting Committee of the Constitution.
He was a well-known statesman who fought for the rights of the Dalits and other socially backward classes.

Contributions

He led the Mahad Satyagraha in March 1927 against Hindus who were opposing the decision of the Municipal Board which had barred the untouchables from using water from the mahad tank.
In 1926, the Municipal Board of Mahad (Maharashtra) passed an order to open the tank to all communities.
He participated in all three Round Table Conferences.
In 1932, Dr. Ambedkar signed the Poona pact with Mahatma Gandhiji, which abandoned the idea of separate electorates for the depressed classes (Communal Award).
However, the seats reserved for the depressed classes were increased from 71 to 147 in provincial legislatures and to 18% of the total in the Central Legislature.
His ideas before the Hilton Young Commission served as the foundation of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

Election and Designation

In 1937, he was elected to the Bombay Legislative Assembly as a legislator (MLA).
He was appointed to the Executive Council of Viceroy as a Labour member in 1942.
In 1947, Dr. Ambedkar accepted PM Nehru’s invitation to become Minister of Law in the first Cabinet of independent India.

Shift to Buddhism

He resigned from the cabinet in 1951, over differences on the Hindu Code Bill. He converted to Buddhism in 1956.
He was awarded India’s highest civilian honour the Bharat Ratna in 1990.

Important Works

Journals

Mooknayak (1920), Bahishkrit Bharat (1927), Samatha (1929), Janata (1930).

Books

Annihilation of Caste, Buddha or Karl Marx, The Untouchable: Who are They and Why They Have Become Untouchables
Buddha and His Dhamma
The Rise and Fall of Hindu Women

Organizations

Bahishkrit Hitkarini Sabha (1923)
Independent Labor Party (1936)
Scheduled Castes Federation (1942)

Death

He died on 6th December 1956.
Chaitya Bhoomi is a memorial to B R Ambedkar, located in Mumbai.

Relevance of Ambedkar in Present Times

Caste-based inequality in India still persists. While Dalits have acquired a political identity through reservation and forming their own political parties, they lag behind in social (health and education) and economic dimension.

9th Indian Ocean Conference

Defence/Security

Context

The External Affairs Minister addressed the 9th Indian Ocean Conference, which was centered on the theme “Collective Stewardship for Indian Ocean Governance.”

Indian Ocean Conference

It is a premier annual consultative forum launched in 2016 by the India Foundation
Objective – to discuss regional cooperation, maritime security, and economic development in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).
Significance – It connects over 40 countries—including ministers and experts—focused on the SAGAR (Security and Growth for All in the Region) vision.
The 9th edition was held in Mauritius (April 2026), with the 8th held in Oman.

Additional Information – Government Initiatives

Sagarmala Programme-Supports port infrastructure, coastal development, and connectivity.
Maritime India Vision 2030 (MIV 2030): Aiming for India to become a top 10 shipbuilding nation by 2030 and create a world-class, efficient, and sustainable maritime ecosystem.
Sagarmanthan Dialogue: An annual maritime strategic dialogue to position India as a global center for maritime conversations.
Maritime Development Fund: ₹25,000 crore fund for long-term financing to modernize ports and shipping infrastructure, encouraging private investment.
Launch of MAHASAGAR (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth for All in the Region) reflects India’s strategic rebranding in the IOR.
Naval Modernisation and Indigenous Development: India is modernising naval capabilities:
Commissioning indigenous warships (e.g., INS Vikrant, INS Visakhapatnam).
Boosting maritime domain awareness and power projection.

India Rejects China’s Fictitious Naming of Places in Arunachal Pradesh

International

In News

India has strongly rejected China’s attempts to assign “fictitious names” to places it considers part of its territory, calling such actions “mischievous” and harmful to bilateral relations.

China’s actions

China claims Arunachal Pradesh as “southern Tibet” (Zangnan)
It has issued multiple lists of renamed locations since 2017, which India consistently rejects as invalid.
China is creating administrative units such as He’an and Hekang counties in areas of Ladakh, including parts of Aksai Chin, which is a long-standing border dispute region.
China has also reportedly created a new county, Cenling.

Cenling

It is located near the Karakoram mountain range, which falls in the vicinity of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and Afghanistan’s Wakhan corridor.
He’an – It included parts of the Aksai Chin plateau, which has been in focus because of the long-running India-China border issue.
India’s Response – The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) reiterated that regions like Arunachal Pradesh and other disputed areas are “integral and inalienable” parts of India.

Line of Actual Control (LAC)

The LAC is the demarcation that separates Indian-controlled territory from Chinese-controlled territory.
India considers the LAC to be 3,488 km long, while the Chinese consider it to be only around 2,000 km.
It is divided into three sectors: the eastern sector which spans Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, the middle sector in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, and the western sector in Ladakh.

Project HIM SAROVAR

Environment

Context

Project Him Sarovar has been launched in Ladakh.

Project Him Sarovar

It is a scientific water conservation initiative launched on April 10, 2026,
The project aims to address chronic water scarcity in the region by creating 50 small water bodies to capture and store annual snowmelt and rainwater.

Key Objectives & Impact

Water Security: To provide year-round water availability for irrigation and rural needs in the high-altitude cold desert, where melting snow often goes to waste.
Climate Resilience: Serving as a “shield” against the visible impacts of climate change, such as receding glaciers and falling water tables.
Infrastructure Plan: The goal is to construct 50 reservoirs—30 in Leh and 20 in Kargil—within the next year.
Restoration Goals: Aligns with the national vision of restoring 2.6 crore hectares of degraded land by 2030

National Agriculture Market (e-NAM)

Economy

Context

The e-NAM portal reflects increasing market integration, with the number of connected mandis rising from 1,389 in 2024 to 1,656 as of March 2026, spanning 23 States and 4 Union Territories.

National Agriculture Market (e-NAM)

It is a pan-India electronic trading portal launched on April 14, 2016.
It functions as a “central sector scheme” fully funded by the Central Government via the Agri-Tech Infrastructure Fund (ATIF).
Its primary goal is to create a unified national market for agricultural commodities by networking existing Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) mandis.

Core Objectives

Unified National Market: Integrating state-level markets to facilitate pan-India trade, moving towards the vision of “One Nation, One Market”.
Transparent Price Discovery: Enabling real-time price discovery based on actual demand and supply through transparent online auctions.
Reducing Intermediaries: Minimising the role of middlemen to ensure farmers receive a larger share of the final consumer price.
Quality Assuring: Implementing quality assaying and grading so that prices are commensurate with produce quality.