Category: GS-I

Pandharpur Wari

  • Pandharpur Wari is related to Bhakti Movment
  • It is an annual pilgrimage (yatra) to Pandharpur – the seat of the Hindu god Vithal in
  • Palakhis (palanquin processions) carrying the paduka (foot prints) of various saints – most notably Dnyaneshwar and Tukaram – from the Varkari (Warkari, “one who performs the Wari”) sect (which venerates Vithal), are taken from their respective shrines to Pandharpur.

Bhakti Movement

  • As a social movement, the Bhakti movement, challenged caste hierarchy, emphasized the individual’s direct connection to god and the possibility of salvation for all through good deeds and simple living.
  • In Maharashtra, the Bhakti movement began in the late 13th century.
  • Its proponents were known as the Varkaris.
  • Among its most popular figures were Jnanadev (1275- 96),Namdev (1270-50) and Tukaram (1608-50), who have left behind many verses that embody the essence of Bhakti.

Tukaram

  • Saint of the Bhakti movement in Maharashtra,
  • Tukaram is best known for his devotional poetry called Abhanga and community-oriented worship with spiritual songs known as kirtans
  • He was part of the egalitarian, personalized Varkari devotionalism tradition
  • Tukaram was a rebel from Shudra by caste,
  • Defying the injunctions of the Brahmins, Tukaram chose to write on religious matters, and that too in Marathi, the language of the people.

Namdev

  • was an Indian poet and saint from Maharashtra,
  • writings were also recognized by the “Gurus” of Sikhism and are included in the holy book of Sikhism, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib.
  • Namdev was influenced by Vaishnavism.
  • His philosophy contains both nirguna and saguna Brahman elements.

Dnyaneshwar

  • was a 13th-century Marathi saint, poet, philosopher and yogi of the Nath Vaishnava tradition.
  • Dnyaneshwar’s ideas reflect the non-dualistic Advaita Vedanta
  • His legacy inspired saint-poets such as and Tukaram

RED FORT

Context:

ASI carries out restoration of Mughal •era parts of Red Fort.

About:

  • Red fort fuses architectural styles of the Timurids and the Persians.
  • Red Fort has many structures that serve as fine examples of Islamic architectural style and Mughal architecture,
  • Built By: Shah Jahan
  • Architect: Ustad Ahmad Lahauri Architectural styles: Mughal, Indo-Islamic Current Status: UNESCO World Heritage Site On the Banks of River Yamuna,
  • The Red Fort is known for its gardens and a water channel called The Stream of Paradise.

Salient Features of Indo-Islamic Architecture:

  • Islamic Architecture is characterised by a few Visible Symbols.
  • One is the arch, which frames the space;
  • second symbol is the dome, which looms over the skyscape;
  • third is the Minaret, which pierces the skies. Minarets were Actually Symbols in the Middle of Deserts
  • Muslims forbidden to replicate living forms on any surface, developed their religious art and architecture consisting of the arts of arabesque, geometrical patterns and calligraphy on plaster and stone.

Indian Indo Islamic Architecture:

  • The Indo-Islamic architecture inculcates the elements of Saracenic, Turkish and Arab architecture
  • The first new element added in the Indian architecture was the use of shapes instead of natural forms. This apart, use of calligraphy as inscriptional art was also a new element added to by Muslims
  • Inlay decoration and use of coloured marble, painted plaster and brilliantly glazed tiles.

Indo-Islamic architecture is conventionally categorised into the following four Categories:

  • Imperial Style (Delhi Sultanate)
  • Provincial Style (Mandu, Gujarat, Bengal, and Jaunpur)
  • Mughal Style (Delhi, Agra, and Lahore)
  • Deccani Style (Bijapur, Golconda).

The Building Material:

  • One thing is very common in these buildings that the walls are extremely thick and largely constructed of Rubble masonary, which was easily available.
  • These walls were then cased over with limestone plaster or dressed stone.
  • A variety of stones were used such as Quartzite, Sandstone, Buff, Marble, etc. In some cases, the Polychrome Tiles were used to finish the walls.

INDIA’S FOREST COVER INCREASED

Context:

  • Forest cover of India increased by 2%

State of Forests Report:

  • Is a biennial publication of FSI, an organization under MoEFCC, GoI. ISFR 2017 is the 15th in the series since 1987
  • Forest cover of the country is mapped through indigenous RESOURCESAT -2 satellite
  • data with a LISS III sensor.
  • The LISS-III (Linear Imaging Self Scanning Sensor) sensor is an optical sensor working in  four  spectral  bands  (Green,  Red,  near  Infrared  and  short-wave  infrared).  It  covers  a 141km-wide swath with a resolution of 23 metres in all spectral bands.
  • It provides the estimates of
    • Growing stock within and outside the forest areas
    • Special thematic information on forest cover in hill,
    • tribal and north eastern states
    • Carbon Sink
    • Bamboo
    • Mangrove cover

Recorded Forest Area and Forest Blank

  • The area recorded as “forests” in the Government records is called Forest Area or Recorded Forest Area.
  • The patches within the forest area which have little or no trees are called “Forest Blank”

The report for the First Time Contains:

  • Information on decadal change in water bodies in forest during 2005-2015
  • Forest fire
  • Production of timber from outside forest
  • State wise carbon stock in different forest types and density classes

Classification of Forest Cover into density classes

  • Very Dense (Canopy Density > 70%)
  • Moderate Dense (Canopy Density 40% to 70%)
  • Open Forest (Canopy Density 10% to 40%)
  • Scrub: Degraded forest lands (Canopy density <10%) Non-forest: Lands not included in above classes

Top Five States / UTs that have shown the maximum increase in forest cover are:

  • Andhra Pradesh (2141 sq.km)
  • Karnataka (1101 sq.km)
  • Kerala (1043 sq.km)
  • Odisha (885 sq.km)
  • Telangana (565 sq.km)

Top 5 States where Forest cover has Decreased are:

  • Mizoram (531 sq.km)
  • Nagaland (450 sq.km)
  • Arunachal Pradesh (190 sq.km)
  • Tripura (164 sq.km)
  • Meghalaya (116 sq.km)

Top three states/UTs having the largest forest cover in terms of area are:

  • Madhya Pradesh (77414 sq.km)
  • Arunachal Pradesh (66964 sq.km)
  • Chhattisgarh (55547 sq.km)

Important Terms: / Canopy and Canopy Density:

The cover of branches and Foliage formed by the crown of trees is called Canopy. The percentage area of land covered by the canopy of trees is called Canopy density.

Forest Cover:

  • All lands which are More Than 1 Hectare in Area and with a Canopy density of more than 10% irrespective of the ownership and legal status is called Forest Cover.
  • Also, it does not make any distinction whether the forest is natural or manmade forest, government or private, recorded or not recorded. It includes bamboo, orchards, palm etc.

Carbon Stock:

  • It is defined as the amount of carbon stored in the ecosystem of the forest especially in living biomass and soil

SUMMER SOLSTICE

  • Summer   Solstice   21   June   is   longest   Day   in   Northern hemisphere of globe.
  • In the northern hemisphere, summer solstice, or longest day of the year, takes place between June 20 and 22 each year.

What Exactly Happens:

  • Summer Solstice
  • There are two solstices each year – one in the winter and one in the summer. The summer solstice occurs when the tilt of Earth’s axis is most inclined towards the sun and is directly above the Tropic of Cancer.
  • It might seem like a day to celebrate, but it actually signals the moment the sun’s path stops moving northward in the sky, and the start of days becoming steadily shorter as the slow march towards winter begins.

Winter Solstice-

  • At the winter solstice, the Earth’s axis is tilted furthest away from the sun directly over the Tropic of Capricorn bringing only a few hours of daylight.
  • In the southern hemisphere the dates of the two solstices are reversed. The winter solstice occurs on the same day in June and the summer solstice the same day in December.
  • The term ‘solstice’ derives from the Latin word ‘solstitium’, meaning ‘sun standing still’. Some prefer the more teutonic term ‘sunturn’ to describe the event.

ILO ADOPTS #MeToo PACT AGAINST HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE

Context:

  • The U.N. agency overseeing international labour standards adopted on Friday a new treaty against violence and harassment in the workplace, fueled by the women’s #MeToo movement.
  • The convention, which will be binding on governments that ratify it, was agreed by a wide margin on the final day of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) annual conference of governments, employers’ groups and workers.
  • Sexual harassment mainly adds deprivations of women of their opportunity to work and free choice of the profession.

Vishaka Guidelines:

  • Vishaka and others v/s state of Rajasthan is a case which deals with the evil of Sexual Harassment of a women at her workplace.
  • It is a landmark judgment case in the history of sexual harassment which as being decide by Supreme Court.
  • Present civil and penal laws in India do not adequately provide for specific protection of women from sexual harassment in work places and that enactment of such legislation will take considerable time,
  • It is necessary and expedient for employers in work places as well as other responsible persons or institutions to observe certain guidelines to ensure the prevention of sexual harassment of women.

Mechanism for complaint in House Mechanism:

  • The complaint mechanism, should be adequate to provide, where necessary, a Complaints Committee, a special counsellor or other support service, including the maintenance of confidentiality.
  • The Complaints Committee should be headed by a woman and not less than half of its member should be women. Further, to prevent the possibility of any undue pressure or influence from senior levels, such Complaints Committee should involve a third party, either NGO or other body who is familiar with the issue of sexual harassment.
  • The Complaints Committee must make an annual report to the Government
  • department concerned of the complaints and action taken by them.

Why there is need of Vishaka Guidelines.

  • If any strict action will not be taken towards this crime, it will directly hamper the working ration of the women in India and on other hand it will hamper the economic situation of India.
  • Government should make strict laws regarding the aversion of sexual harassment at workplace, because it should realize that, women also constitute the working population of our country.
  • It should be abolished to prevent the dignity and the respect of the women.
  • Various new approaches and skills shall be implemented by the institutions, organisations to prevent there women employees from such a social evil.
  • The main objective behind the stabilization of this right is to promote gender equality at workplace without any kind of discrimination and discernment among the workers of an organisation.

What is ILO?

  • The   only   tripartite   U.N.   agency,   since   1919   the   ILO   brings   together   governments, employers and workers of 187 member States, to set labour standards, develop policies and devise programmes promoting decent work for all women and men.
  • The unique Tripartite Structure of the ILO gives an equal voice to workers, employers and governments to ensure that the views of the social partners are closely reflected in labour standards and in shaping policies and programmes.
  • The ILO became the First Specialized Agency of the UN in 1946.
  • The International labour Conference: – sets the International labour standards and the broad policies of the ILO. It meets annually in Geneva. Often called an international parliament of labour, the Conference is also a forum for discussion of key social and labour questions. The Governing body is the executive council of the ILO. It meets three times a year in Geneva. It takes decisions on ILO policy and establishes the programme and the budget, which it then submits to the Conference for adoption.
  • The International Labour Office is the permanent secretariat of the International Labour Organization. It is the focal point for International Labour Organization’s overall activities, which it prepares under the scrutiny of the Governing Body and under the leadership of the Director-General.

What is the #MeToo movement?

  • The  ‘me  too.’  movement  was  founded  in  2006  to  help  survivors  of  sexual  violence, particularly  Black  women  and  girls,  and  other  young  women  of  color  from  low  wealth communities, find pathways to healing.
  • In less than six months, because of the viral #metoo hashtag, a vital conversation about sexual violence has been thrust into the national dialogue.
  • The ‘me too’ movement supports survivors of sexual violence and their allies by connecting survivors to resources, offering community organizing resources, pursuing a ‘me too’ policy platform, and gathering sexual violence researchers and research.
  • Girls for Gender Equity (GGE) is the fiscal sponsor of the ‘me too.’ movement, and receives tax-deductible charitable contributions for the benefit and use of implementing the ‘me too.’ movement’s programming.
  • GGE is a New York nonprofit benefit corporation located in Brooklyn, New York, U.S.

TRAFFIC INDEX 2018

Why in News?

  • A recent study has ranked Mumbai as the most traffic-congested city in the world for the second straight year, and Delhi at fourth place.

Traffic Index 2018:

  •  The findings published are part of the Traffic Index 2018 published by TomTom, an Amsterdam-based company.
  •  It offers traffic solutions, uses location technology to collect traffic information, and has been publishing city rankings for eight years.
  • The index factors for peak hours, accidents, inclement weather, construction work and all other factors likely to cause disruptions.
  • The latest index ranks 403 cities across 56 countries, including 13 new cities.

Defining Congestion:

  • For this study, congestion has been defined in terms of the additional time taken to reach a destination as opposed to when the road would have been clear of traffic.
  • Mumbai’s 2018 congestion level of of 65%, therefore, means that the extra travel time is
    65% more than an average trip would take during uncongested conditions.
  • For Delhi, by the same yardstick, the extra travel time is 58% more.

Around the world:

  • Nearly 75% of the cities part of the 2018 index had increased or stable congestion levels between 2017 and 2018, with only 90 cities showing measurable decreases, states the report.
  • Congestion in Jakarta, for example, decreased by 8 percentage points while that in Lima rose by the same number of points.

ASI IDENTIFIES INDIAN ARTEFACTS SEIZED FROM SMUGGLER

Why in News:

  • From idols dating back to the Gupta period (5th-6th Century AD) to terracotta objects of the Harappan culture, a range of Indian antiquities and artefacts that were smuggled identified by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) during a team’s recent visit to the United States.

Details:

  • “The antiquities comprise beautiful bronzes from the Suttamalli and Sripurantan temples of
  • Tamil Nadu and also a very significant image of Mahakoka Devata.
  • Of these, four antiquities were stolen from the protected monuments at Karitalai, district Katni in Madhya Pradesh.
  • Apart from that, 56 terracotta objects that were returned by Toledo Museum in Ohio to the Indian consulate were declared to be antiquities by the team.
  • Among them, few were identified as antiquities, like the stone image of the Buddha of Mathura School, a terracotta image of the Buddha belonging to the Gupta period and a set of 10 copper plates engraved with Quranic verses of the late Mughal Period,

Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)

  • The ASI is the premier organization for the archaeological researches and protection of the cultural heritage of the country.
  • The prime objection of ASI is to maintain the archaeological sites, ancient monuments and remains of national importance.
  • Headquarters: New Delhi.
  • Established: 1861 by Alexander Cunningham.
  • It regulates all archaeological activities as per the provisions of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958.
  • It functions under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Culture. It also regulates Antiquities and Art Treasure Act, 1972.

A FILM ON LIFE AND TIMES OF SHEIKH MUJIBUR RAHMAN

Why in News:

  • State broadcaster Prasar Bharati will be co-producing a feature film directed by Shyam Benegal on the life of the founding father of Bangladesh, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, and also a documentary on Bangladesh Liberation War.

Bilateral meet

  • The decision was taken after a Bangladeshi delegation led by adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, and including Bangladesh High Commissioner to India.
  • The announcement comes in the backdrop of raging debate on the National Register of Citizens in the northeast that seeks to disenfranchise Bangladeshi migrants.
  • The announcement is a culmination of a three-year dialogue between the two countries on the issue.

Liberation War

  • Co-production of a documentary on the Bangladesh Liberation War was also discussed It was mutually agreed that the director of the documentary would be from Bangladesh who would be assisted by a co-director from India.
  • A working agreement on cooperation between All India Radio and Bangladesh Betar was also agreed upon.

Sheikh Mujibur Rahman

  • Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, famously known as Bangabandhu was declared the first president of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, while Vice-president Syed Nazrul Islam became the acting president in the absence of Bangabandhu.

Mujibnagar Day

  • Mujibnagar Day is observed on 17th April because on this day senior leaders of Awami League assembled at Baidyanathtala—a mango orchard that was later named as Mujibnagar—in Meherpur district on April 17, to form the provisional government of independent Bangladesh.
  • On the Occasion Bangladeshi PM Sheikh Hasina paid tributes to Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the Bangabandhu Memorial Museum, in Dhanmondi, Dhaka

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