Lieutenant Governor: Manoj Sinha

Chief Minister: Omar Abdullah

Union Territory Formed: 31 October 2019 (Reorganisation Act, 2019)

Boundaries: Shares international borders with Pakistan (Line of Control) and China (Line of Actual Control via Ladakh), and domestic borders with Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

Capital: Srinagar serves as the summer capital, while Jammu serves as the winter capital.

Major Rivers: The Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, and Ravi flow through or originate near the region. The Jhelum forms the famous Wular Lake, one of the largest freshwater lakes in Asia.

Key Passes: Zoji La (connects Srinagar to Leh), Banihal Pass (connects Jammu to Srinagar via the Jawahar Tunnel), and Pencil La.

National Parks: Dachigam National Park (famous for the critically endangered Hangul or Kashmir Stag), Kishtwar National Park, and Kazirag National Park.

GI Tags: Kashmiri Saffron (grown in the Pampore highlands/Karewas), Kani Shawls, Kashmiri Pashmina, and Bhaderwah Rajmash.

Karewas: These are highly fertile lacustrine (lake) deposits in the Kashmir Valley, crucial for the cultivation of Saffron, almonds, and walnuts.

Tulip Garden: Located in Srinagar, the Indira Gandhi Memorial Tulip Garden is the largest tulip garden in Asia.

Hydroelectric Projects: Baglihar Project (Chenab), Salal Project (Chenab), Uri Project (Jhelum), and Dul Hasti Project (Chenab).

Historical Facts

• Ancient History: Kalhana’s Rajatarangini is the earliest authentic chronicle of Kashmir's history, composed in the 12th century.
• Medieval Rulers: Zain-ul-Abidin (fondly called Badshah or the Great King) is highly tested for his religious tolerance and for banning cow slaughter.
• Modern History: The princely state acceded to India on October 26, 1947, when Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession following a tribal invasion.

• Formation (by bifurcation): 1 May 1960
• Governor: Jishnu Dev Varma
• Chief Minister: Devendra Fadnavis (BJP)
• Parliamentary Seats: 48 seats in Lok Sabha and 19 seats in Rajya Sabha.
• Highest Peak: Kalsubai (1,646 m) in the Sahyadri range
• Festivals: Ganesh Chaturthi, Gudi Padwa (Marathi New Year), and Pola.
• Folk Arts: Lavani and Tamasha; Warli painting is a famous tribal art.
• Saint Tradition: Known as the "Land of Saints" (Sant Dnyaneshwar, Sant Tukaram, Sant Namdev).
• Major Rivers: Godavari (the longest in the state, often called the "Dakshin Ganga"), Krishna, Tapi, and Bhima.
• UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Seven sites including Ajanta Caves, Ellora Caves, Elephanta Caves, Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, and the Victorian Gothic and Art Deco Ensembles of Mumbai.

• Official Name: National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT of Delhi).
• Constitutional Status: Special Union Territory under Article 239AA (inserted by the 69th Constitutional Amendment Act, 1991).
• Administration: It has a legislative assembly and a council of ministers headed by a Chief Minister. However, Public Order, Police, and Land are under the jurisdiction of the Union Government (administered through the Lieutenant Governor).
• Districts: 11 districts.
• Legislature: Unicameral (70 Assembly seats).
• Parliamentary Representation: 7 Lok Sabha seats and 3 Rajya Sabha seats.
• Seismic Zone: Falls under Seismic Zone-IV (high vulnerability to earthquakes).
• Biodiversity: The Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary is located in the Aravalli hills.
• Ancient: Legend holds it was the site of Indraprastha (Mahabharata era).
• Medieval: Ruled by Delhi Sultanate (Slave, Khilji, Tughlaq, Sayyid, Lodi dynasties) and Mughal Empire.
• Modern: Capital shifted from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911 by the British.
• Designers: Designed by Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker.
• Incorporation: Became a Union Territory in 1956.

• Formation: 1 October 1953
• Capital: Amaravati
• Governor: S. Abdul Nazeer
• Chief Minister: N. Chandrababu Naidu
• Parliamentary Representation: 25 Lok Sabha seats and 11 Rajya Sabha seats
• Classical Dance: Kuchipudi
• Major Rivers: Godavari (Ganga of the South) and Krishna
• Leading Producer of: Mica
• Coastline: India's second-longest coastline (approximately 974 km), after Gujarat

Major Lakes:

• • Kolleru Lake (freshwater, Ramsar Site)
  • Pulicat Lake (brackish water, home to Sriharikota Island)
• Visakhapatnam Steel Plant: India's first shore-based integrated steel plant
• Major Festivals: Ugadi (Telugu New Year), Sankranti, and Tirupati Brahmotsavam
• National Parks:

• • Papikonda National Park
  • Sri Venkateswara National Park
  • Rajiv Gandhi (Rameswaram) National Park

• Major Ports:

• • Visakhapatnam Port (India's deepest natural seaport)
  • Gangavaram Port

• Capital: Tashkent
• Currency: Uzbekistani Som
• President of Uzbekistan: Shavkat Mirziyoyev
• Foreign Minister of Uzbekistan: Bakhtiyor Odilovich Saidov
• Bordering Countries: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan (it is famously doubly landlocked, meaning all its neighbors are also landlocked).
• Major Desert: Kyzylkum Desert is located largely in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan

• An intergovernmental organization of major emerging economies that serves as a leading platform for South-South cooperation.
• Coined by: The term "BRIC" was originally coined in 2001 by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill
• Formalization: The grouping was formalized in September 2006 during the UN General Assembly in New York
• First Summit: The first official BRIC Summit was held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, in 2009.
• Original Members: Brazil, Russia, India, China (joined 2006) and South Africa (joined 2010).
• Recent Joiners (2024-2025): Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) became full members on January 1, 2024. Indonesia officially joined as a full member on January 6, 2025.
• Partnership Status: In 2024, a new "partner country" category was created. Current partners include Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
• 2025 Presidency: Brazil held the chairmanship with the theme "Strengthening Global South Cooperation for More Inclusive and Sustainable Governance".
• 2026 Presidency: India assumed the BRICS Chairmanship on January 1, 2026. India is hosting the 18th BRICS Summit.

New Development Bank (NDB)

• Headquarters: Shanghai, China.
• Objective: Mobilizing resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in BRICS and other emerging economies.
• Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA): A framework created to provide mutual support against short-term balance of payments pressures.

• Chairman: Challa Sreenivasulu Setty (C.S. Setty)
• Chief Financial Officer (CFO): Kameshwar Rao Kodavanti

Evolution & Historical Facts

The history of SBI is frequently tested in chronological or naming questions:

• The Presidency Banks: SBI traces its origin to three British-era banks:
  • Bank of Calcutta (1806) -> Later renamed Bank of Bengal (1809).
  • Bank of Bombay (1840).
  • Bank of Madras (1843).
• Imperial Bank of India (1921): These three Presidency Banks were amalgamated to form the Imperial Bank of India.
• Birth of SBI (1955): Following the recommendations of the All India Rural Credit Survey Committee (Gorewala Committee), the Imperial Bank was nationalised and renamed State Bank of India on 1 July 1955 under the SBI Act, 1955.
• Associate Banks Merger (2017): On 1 April 2017, 5 associate banks (State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Travancore) along with the Bharatiya Mahila Bank were completely merged into SBI.

Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra

First Chairman of SBI: John Matthai.

First Female Chairperson: Arundhati Bhattacharya

SBI Foundation Day: 1st July (Also celebrated as National Doctor’s Day and Chartered Accountants Day in India).

Market Status: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) classifies SBI as a D-SIB (Domestic Systemically Important Bank), meaning it is categorized as a bank that is "Too Big To Fail."

• Established in 1954 in Bengaluru, Karnataka.
• Parent Ministry: Operates under the Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence.
• Classification: Conferred Navratna status in June 2007 (and previously the first MoD PSU to get Miniratna Category-I).
• Headquarters: Bengaluru, Karnataka.
• Current Head (CMD): Manoj Jain
• Manufacturing Units: Exactly 9 units across India (Bengaluru, Ghaziabad, Pune, Machilipatnam, Kotdwara, Panchkula, Chennai, Hyderabad, and Navi Mumbai).

• Establishment Date: July 1, 1916
• Headquarters: Kolkata, West Bengal
• Parent Ministry: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC)
• First Director: Dr. Nelson Annandale (took charge in 1916)
• Current & 18th Director: Dr. Dhriti Banerjee (First woman director of ZSI, assumed office in August 2021)
• Regional Centers: 16 regional and field centers spread across India.
• Genesis: Rooted in the zoological section of the Indian Museum established in Calcutta in 1875.

About 23rd (XXIII) Commonwealth Games

• Host City & Country: Glasgow, Scotland (replaced Victoria, Australia, which withdrew due to rising cost concerns).
• Governance: Organised by Commonwealth Sport (formerly the Commonwealth Games Federation)
• Official Motto: "A New Kind of Games"
• Dates: July 23 to August 2, 2026.
• Scale & Format: Streamlined to 10–11 core sports due to the compact preparation timeline, omitting several traditional events like wrestling, badminton, hockey, and shooting/cricket.

India’s Performance

• Indian Contingent Size: 124 athletes competing across 8 able-bodied and 5 para-sports.
• Overall Rank: 4th place globally behind Australia (1st), England (2nd), and Canada (3rd).
• Mirabai Chanu became only the second Indian in history to win three successive CWG gold medals.
• Out of the 39 medals, Indian women athletes bagged 23 medals, including 9 of the 13 Golds.

Boxing (10 Medals: 7 Gold, 3 Silver)

• Boxing was India's most successful discipline, with the contingent topping the overall tournament boxing table.
• Gold: Sakshi Chaudhary, Preeti Pawar, Jaismine Lamboria, Arundhati Choudhary, Priya, Sachin Siwach (Men's 60kg), and Ankush Panghal (Men's 80kg).
• Silver: Lovlina Borgohain (Women's 75kg), Narender Berwal (Men's Super-Heavyweight), and Jadumani Singh Mandengbam (Men's 55kg).

Weightlifting & Para-Powerlifting

• Gold: Mirabai Chanu historic hat-trick of consecutive CWG gold medals.
• Silver: Muthupandi Raja.
• Bronze: Bindyarani Devi (Women's 58kg, lifting 199kg total), Jhandu Kumar (Para-Powerlifting Men's Heavyweight, opening India's overall tally).

Athletics & Para-Athletics

This edition registered India's most successful para-athletics outcome, ending a 20-year wait for a podium finish in the category.

• Gold: Soman Rana (Para-Athletics), Sharmila Dhankar.
• Silver: Neeraj Chopra (Men's Javelin Throw, marking his return to CWG), Gulveer Singh (Men's 10,000m), Tejaswin Shankar (History made as India’s first-ever CWG Decathlon medallist), Praveen Chithravel (Men's Triple Jump), Shubham Juyal (Para-Athletics), and Sarvesh Kushare.
• Bronze: Gulveer Singh (Men's 5000m, becoming the first track & field athlete from India to secure two individual medals at a single edition), Selva Prabhu Thirumaran (Men's Triple Jump), Seema Kaliramna (Women's Discus Throw), and Shilpa K Shyla (Para Women's Shot Put F57, won post-appeal).

Judo

• Gold: Asmita Dey (Scripted history as India's first-ever CWG Judo Champion) and Harsh Tokas (Men's -81kg).
• Bronze: Unnati Sharma (Women's -63kg).

Next Host (2030): Ahmedabad (Amdavad), India, awarded the 2030 Centenary Commonwealth Games.

Origin: First held in 1930 in Hamilton, Canada, originally called the British Empire Games.

Frequency: Held once every four years.

About The Commonwealth of Nations

• The Organization: An intergovernmental organization of 56 member states (mostly former territories of the British Empire).
• Headquarters: Marlborough House, London.
• Core Charter: Focuses on democracy, human rights, peace, and free trade.
• Trivia: Membership is not strictly limited to former British colonies. Countries like Mozambique, Rwanda, Gabon, and Togo have joined despite having no colonial ties to Britain.