🔆SCHEDULED TRIBES

✅According to 2011 census, the population of ST is 104.3 million and comprises 8.6% of total population.

Empowerment schemes and programmes ;

✅ The Ministry of Tribal Affairs is implementing two Special Programmes viz. Special Central Assistance to Tribal Sub-Plan (SCA to TSP) and Grants under Article 275(1) of the Constitution of India.
✅ The SCA to TSP is meant for filling up critical gaps in the family-based income- generating activities of TSP and to cover employment-cum -income generation activities and infrastructure incidental thereto.
✅ Special Central Assistance (SCA) is provided by the Ministry of tribal Affairs to the State Government as an additive to the state.
✅ Eklavya Model Residential School: establishing quality residential schools for the promotion of education in all areas and habitations in the country for ST students.
✅ Vocational Training Centres in Tribal Areas: The main aim of this scheme is to upgrade the skills of the tribal youth in various vocations to enable them gain suitable employment or enable them to become self-employed.

Critical Evaluation of welfare schemes :

✅ In spite of a large number of welfare schemes for SC and ST population, little progress is seen in the last six decades.
✅ Financial incentives and reservations bestow little real benefit to them.
✅ Quality of education is an issue as well. Quality of education has been described by many as unrelated to their lifestyle and thus being questioned.
✅ Efforts need to be made to induct them into new ethos of learning and inculcate verbal and non-verbal skills.
✅ Efforts need to be made to address the drop-out rates and attendance issues among the SC and ST students.

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CAPF AC 2023
Answer key

CAPF 2023 clean pdf
Conducted today.

Good practice questions for CSE-24


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Important Alert:

Today is the last date to submit DAF-I by 6:00 PM. Those who have qualified for Civil Services (Main) Examination this year please ensure you have filled it.

The candidature of those candidates, who fail to finally submit their DAF-I, complete in all respects, by given time, will be cancelled and they will not be allowed to appear in the Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2024.

Thank you

🔆Pillar Architecture: Mauryan’s Pillars

✅Mauryan Pillars (4th and 2nd Century BC) are one of the crucial architectural belongings of Ancient India. These pillars give details about the major incidents of those times, rulers, wars, etc. Thus, they are major sources of information for Historians.
✅Three types of pillars were made during the Mauryan period. The 1st variety was that of a wooden pillar. These pillars were used in the palace build by Chandra Gupta Maurya. These pillars are known only from literacy reference.
✅The other 2 varieties of pillars were made up of stone. Out of these 1st variety was used in the stone palace build by Ashoka to support the roof & 2nd variety represented Independent work.
✅Despite the fact that creating pillars is an ancient practice, Mauryan pillars vary from pillars in other regions of the globe (such as Achaemenian pillars) in that they are rock-cut pillars, demonstrating the carver’s talent.
✅Two kinds of stone were used to chisel these pillars. Some are made of white sandstone from the Mathura region, while others are made of buff-colored fine-grained hard sandstone mined in Chunar near Varanasi.
✅Capital is the topmost element of a pillar or column. Figures such as a bull, lion, elephant, and others were carved onto the upper half of the pillar. The capital figures (typically animals) are all carved standing on a square or circular abacus and are all forceful.
✅Abacuses have stylized lotuses on them.
✅The Lion Capital, a Mauryan pillar capital unearthed at Sarnath, is the best specimen of Mauryan sculpting tradition.
✅King Ashoka erected many pillars across his territory.
✅The pillars of Ashoka are a series of monolithic columns dispersed throughout the Indian subcontinent, erected or at least inscribed with edicts by the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka during his reign from c.  268 to 232 BCE.
✅Ashoka used the expression Dhaṃma thaṃbhā (Dharma stambha), i.e. “pillars of the Dharma” to describe his own pillars. These pillars constitute important monuments of the architecture of India, most of them exhibiting the characteristic Mauryan polish.
✅Of the pillars erected by Ashoka, twenty still survive including those with inscriptions of his edicts.
✅Only a few with animal capitals survive of which seven complete specimens are known. Two pillars were relocated by Firuz Shah Tughlaq to Delhi. Several pillars were relocated later by Mughal Empire rulers, the animal capitals being removed.
✅Averaging between 12 and 15 m (40 and 50 ft) in height, and weighing up to 50 tons each, the pillars were dragged, sometimes hundreds of miles, to where they were erected.
✅All the pillars of Ashoka were built at Buddhist monasteries, many important sites from the life of the Buddha and places of pilgrimage. Some of the columns carry inscriptions addressed to the monks and nuns. Some were erected to commemorate visits by Ashoka.
✅Major pillars are present in the Indian States of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and some parts of Haryana.
✅The capital without the crowning wheel and the lotus base has been adopted as the National Emblem of Independent India.

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🔆'Responsible quantum technologies’ movement

✅The United Nations has declared 2025 as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology to raise awareness of quantum S&T’s benefits.
✅Responsible quantum S&T calls for ethical practices to prevent misuse, especially given the dual-use nature of the technology.
✅Companies like IBM are committed to positive social impact and preventing harmful applications of quantum technology.
✅Challenges include disparities in quantum S&T capacities between countries and ethical issues. National policies often prioritize intellectual property protections over openness.

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