Art & Culture Current Affairs MCQs

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Belum cave system is the largest cave system open to the public on Indian subcontinent extending about 3,229 meters. It is located in Kurnool District of Andhra Pradesh. The recently concluded Belum Caves festival promoted the caves system.

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India and Portugal recently signed an MoU to develop a world-class National Maritime Heritage Complex (NMHC) at Lothal in Gujarat. The MoU has been signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Portugal President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, during his visit to India.
The complex would showcase rich Indian artefacts and create awareness among the public about the rich heritage of the country. The two countries also signed as many as 14 agreements in several fields including maritime transport and ports.

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Kambala is a traditional sport of Karnataka, in which the people of coastal districts of the state conduct a buffalo-race.
It was in news recently as one of the local contestants from Dakshina Kannada district named Srinivas Gowda covered 142.5 m Kambala in just 13.62 seconds. The Sports Authority of India recently announced that it will devise a suitable course for the runner. He is called for trials by the Sports Ministry.

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The traditional festival called ‘Fagli’ has been recently celebrated in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh. The annual festival is being celebrated for several years to observe the “victory of good over evil”. This festival is also celebrated to mark the end of winter or the beginning of spring.
The people of the state were dressed in traditional attire with masks on their faces and followed the traditional celebrations associated with the festival. This festival will continue for the next few days in the district.

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‘Dharma Chakra Parvattana’ is a famous celebration of Buddhism, which commemorates Gautam Buddha’s first discourse to his first five disciples at Sarnath.
The International Buddhist Confederation, under the Ministry of Culture, celebrates Ashadha Poornima as Dharma Chakra Day. The Prime Minister has recently conveyed his greetings on Ashadha Poornima, also known as Guru Purnima.

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The birth anniversary of Nepali poet Bhanu Bhakta Acharya is celebrated as ‘Bhanu Jayanti’, in the state of Sikkim.
The poet is revered in Nepali Literature as ‘Adikavi’ and he is said to have laid the foundation of the Nepali literature. He had also translated several religious scripts from Sanskrit to Nepali. The Governor Ganga Prasad and Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang participated in the commemorative event.

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The Union Culture Ministry has announced the formation of seven new circles of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
This has been announced following the Prime Minister’s call to preserve and register archaeological monuments. The new circles are – Trichy (Tamil Nadu), Raiganj (West Bengal), Rajkot (Gujarat), Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh), Jhansi (Uttar Pradesh), Meerut (Uttar Pradesh) and Hampi (Karnataka). Earlier there were 29 circles of ASI in India.

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Char-chaporis are shifting riverine islands of the Brahmaputra river and they are primarily inhabited by the Muslims of Bengali-origin referred to as ‘Miyas’.
Several people of Assam were requesting the government to fast-track the establishment of Miya museum reflecting the culture and heritage of the people living in char-chaporis. Recently, ahead of the Assembly elections, this was again in news.

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The Jharkhand assembly has unanimously passed a resolution seeking to include Sarna as a separate religion in Census 2021.
As per the Chief minister Hemant Soren, the resolution which was passed during a special one-day assembly session, will be sent to the Centre for approval. The followers of Sarna faith believe praying to nature with the principle of ‘Jal, Jungle, Zameen’.

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Union Minister of Culture Prahlad Singh Patel recently handed over the bronze idols of Lord Rama, Lakshmana and Goddess Sita to Idol Wing of Tamil Nadu Government.
These Bronze idols were handed over to High Commission of India in London by the London Metropolitan Police, in September 2020. These idols belong to a temple in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu, from where they were stolen in 1978.