State PCS - Haryana (HCS)

• 12 Aug 2025

Community & Social Impact Award

Why in News? 

Haryana IAS officer, Rajesh Jogpal, has been honored with the prestigious Community and Social Impact Award for his exceptional work in urban sustainability and innovative governance.  

• The award was presented by the Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare during the second Sustainable Agriculture Summit and Awards-2025 (9th August 2025) held in New Delhi. 

Key Points 

• Impactful Leadership: IAS Jogpal, who currently serves as the Registrar of Cooperative Societies in Haryana, was recognized for his pioneering efforts in promoting sustainable urban governance. 
• Summit Highlights: The summit, organized by Sustainability Matters and IndiAgri in partnership with Grey Matters Communications, gathered agricultural leaders and innovators from across India to discuss the future of climate-smart farming. 
  • Theme of 2025 Summit: “Agriculture 2047: Climate-Ready Farming, Future-Ready India” 
• Community Focus: The award highlights the significance of integrated community development through innovative governance, particularly in urban sustainability and agriculture. 
• Objectives: The objectives of the summit are to support the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047, promote climate-ready farming practices, create a platform for stakeholder dialogue, recognize sustainable agriculture innovations, and document grassroots innovations for scaling. 

World Elephant Day 2025

Why in News? 

On 12^th August 2025, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), in collaboration with the Tamil Nadu Forest Department, hosted the World Elephant Day celebration in Coimbatore.  

• A specialized workshop on Human-Elephant Conflict (HEC) was also held, providing a platform for elephant range states to share challenges and discuss mitigation strategies, in line with Project Elephant's focus on community participation and scientific solutions to address human-elephant conflicts. 
• A nationwide awareness program also aims to engage approximately 12 lakh school children from around 5,000 schools across India. 

World Elephant Day 

• World Elephant Day was co-founded on 12th August 2012, by Canadian Patricia Sims and the Elephant Reintroduction Foundation of Thailand.  
• Since its inception of global awareness building, it has partnerships with 100 elephant conservation organizations worldwide and reaches countless individuals across the globe.  
• The theme for 2025 is “Bringing the world together to help elephants”. 
• World Elephant Society, established in November 2015 as a nonprofit organization, aims to support the annual World Elephant Day campaign. 
  • The organization educates the public on global elephant conservation efforts, particularly around World Elephant Day. 

Facts About Elephants 

• Three Species: African savannah elephant, African forest elephant, and Asian elephant. 
• Size: African savannah elephants are largest (up to 4 meters tall and 6,800 kg in weight). 
• Lifespan: Wild elephants typically live 60 to 70 years of age. 
• Diet: Elephants are herbivores 
• Trunk: Their trunk is a versatile tool used for breathing, smelling, touching, grasping, and producing sound. 
• Tusks: Elephant tusks are actually enlarged incisor teeth and can be found on elephants at 2 years old.  
  • Elephants have been targeted for their ivory tusks, driving the illegal wildlife trade and causing severe declines in their populations. 
• Intelligence: Elephants have the largest brain of any land animal. 
• Social Structure: Female elephants live in family groups called herds, led by a matriarch.  
• Reproduction: Elephant pregnancies last about 22 months, and calves weigh 200–300 pounds at birth. 
• Conservation Status (IUCN Red List Status):  
  • Asian elephants: Endangered (EN) 
  • Savannah elephants: Endangered (EN) 
  • Forest elephants: Critically Endangered (CR) 

India’s Role in Elephant Conservation 

• India is home to nearly 60% of the world’s wild elephant population.  
• India has established 33 Elephant Reserves and 150 identified Elephant Corridors, according to the Report on Elephant Corridors in India, 2023.  
• India has granted elephants the status of National Heritage Animal.  
• In India, Asian Elephants are categorized under Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. 

Deen Dayal SPARSH Yojana

Why in News? 

The Department of Posts has announced the Deen Dayal SPARSH (Scholarship for Promotion of Aptitude & Research in Stamps as a Hobby) Yojana for the year 2025-26, offering scholarships to students from classes 6 to 9.  

• The selected students will receive a monthly scholarship of ₹500 to promote interest in philately. 

Key Points 

• Eligibility: The scholarship will be awarded based on academic performance, results from a quiz organized by the Department of Posts, and a philately project (philately is the collection and study of Postage stamps). 
  • Students who have secured a minimum of 60% marks or equivalent grades in the previous year's examination are eligible to apply.  
  • A 5% relaxation will be given to students from scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.  
  • To apply, students must be members of their school's philately club, or if such a club doesn't exist, they must have an individual philatelic deposit account. 
  • Students can submit their applications at the Philately Bureau at the General Post Office (GPO).  
• Objective: The objective of the scholarship is to "Promote Philately among children at a young age in a sustainable manner that can reinforce and supplement the academic curriculum in addition to providing a hobby that can help them relax and de-stress". 
• Significance: Stamp collection provides educational insight into the socio-economic and political context of its time, serves as a stress-relieving hobby, fosters social connections, and enhances memory skills through organizing and cataloging information.

India Post

• Establishment: On 1st October 1854 by Lord Dalhousie (Governor-General of British India) 
• Historical Timeline 
  • 1766: Robert Clive set up postal system under East India Company (called "Company Mail") 
  • 1774: Warren Hastings opened Calcutta General Post Office- first public post office 
  • 1854: Lord Dalhousie brought postal service under British Crown 
• Current Network Size 
  • Total Post Offices: 164,999 Post Offices (Rural: 149,164 (90% of total) and Urban: 15,823) 
  • Global Status: World's largest postal network 
• Organizational Structure 
  • Ministry: Ministry of Communications, Government of India 
  • Circles: 23 postal circles across India 
• Services: 
  • Banking and financial services 
  • Postal Life Insurance (PLI) 
  • India Post Payments Bank 
  • E-commerce and retail services 
  • Government scheme disbursements (pensions, MGNREGA)