News in Short

• Risa, a traditional handwoven cloth used by the Tripura's indigenous communities, would soon get the Geographical Indication (GI) tag
• Woven in colourful designs and worn as an upper garment, risa also has a host of crucial, social and religious utilities.
• It is common in almost all 19 indigenous tribal communities of Tripura but each community has its own designs.

• Alphabet Inc’s Google has hired a new public policy head in India, Archana Gulati, who previously worked at NitiAayog.
• A number of Indian government officials have been hired by Big Tech companies which are battling tighter data and privacy regulation.
• Gulati is a long-term Indian government employee, having worked until March 2021 as a joint secretary for digital communications.

• In the Running Track meet in San Juan Capistrano, California, USA,  Olympian Avinash Sable broke Bahadur Prasad’s 30-year-old 5000m national record.
• Now Avinash holds the national record in three separate disciplines — 5000m, half-marathon and 3000m steeplechase.
• Bahadur Prasad’s national record has not been broken since 1992 when he clocked 13:29.70in 5,000m.

• President Rajapaksa declared a state of emergency amid growing countrywide anti-government protests over the unprecedented economic crisis.
• The state of emergency gives the police and the security forces sweeping power to arbitrarily arrest and detain people.
• Sri Lanka is currently in the throes of unprecedented economic turmoil since its independence from Britain in 1948. The crisis is caused in part by a lack of foreign currency.

• Nicholas Pooran has been named the new West Indies captain for one-day internationals (ODIs) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is).
• Pooran earlier served as vice-captain when all-rounder Pollard captained the side in both limited-overs forms.
• He has already led the team in Pollard’s absence, a home T20 series win against Australia last year. His first assignment will in the Netherlands at the end of this month for three ODIs.