ART AND CULTURE / HISTORY                                                  

1. Earliest Sanskrit inscription in South India found in A.P.                     

2. President of India Visit to Vivekananda Rock Memorial                       

SOCIAL ISSUES                                                                                 

1. NPR: house-to-house verification planned                                         

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE                                                       

1. 2nd Edition of “Eat Right Mela”                                                         

2. 5 verticals of Quality Mandate in Higher Educational Institutions         

ECONOMY                                                                                         

1. FM releases postage stamp                                                            

ART AND CULTURE / HISTORY

Earliest Sanskrit inscription in South India found in A.P.

GS PAPER - 01 ART AND CULTURE - Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

Context :

• Archaeological Survey of India has discovered the earliest epigraphic evidence so far for the Saptamatrika cult.

• The inscription in Prakrit language and of Brahmi characters belonging to the 1st century A.D. was also found.

Saptamatrikas:

• Saptamatrikas are a group of seven female deities worshipped in Hinduism as personifying the energy of their respective consorts.

• There are references of Saptamatrika worship in the early Kadamba copper plates and the early Chalukyas and Eastern Chalukya copper plates.

• The new discovery predates them by almost 200 years.

Key Findings :

•  Inscriptions related to Saptamatrika:

  • It is the earliest Sanskrit inscription to have been discovered in South India.

  • Before this discovery, the Nagarjunakonda inscription of Ikshavaku king Ehavala Chantamula issued in his 11th regnal year corresponding to the 4th century A.D. was considered the earliest Sanskrit inscription in South India.

  • The inscription came to light when some local villagers informed the authorities of the presence of a pillar with some engravings when they were restoring and repairing the local Bheemeshwara temple.

• Location: Tambrape is the ancient name of Chebrolou, Andhra Pradesh.

• Language and Characters:

  • All the available records proved that the found inscription (also known as Chebrolu inscription) is in Sanskrit and in Brahmi characters.

  • The place also yielded another inscription which is in Prakrit language and of Brahmi characters and belongs to the 1st century A.D.

    • This is the earliest epigraphic reference to Mutts and records the gift of a cloister mandapa and chaitya to the bhavatho (Lord) of the Gadasa Mutt by a person hailing from Tabaava.

                                                                                                                           Source :- The Hindu

President of India Visit to Vivekananda Rock Memorial

GS PAPER - 01 ART AND CULTURE - Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

Context :

• The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, visited  Vivekananda Rock Memorial and Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari.

Vivekananda Rock Memorial :

• The Vivekananda Rock Memorial is situated offshore around 500 m east of the mainland of Vavathurai, Kanyakumari, in the southernmost tip of India.

• It is seated on one of the two adjacent rocks projecting out of the Lakshadweep Sea and comprises of two important structures, the ‘Shripada Mandapam’ and the ‘Vivekananda Mandapam’.

• The construction of the memorial took six years and was completed in 1970 in honour of the great Indian monk and reformer Swami Vivekananda.

• It is believed that after meditating for three days and three nights at the rock, Swami Vivekananda attained enlightenment and transformed himself from a simple monk to an enlightened being.

• Swami Vivekananda visited Kanyakumari in December 1892 days before his famous visit to Chicago to attend the ‘World Religious Conference’.

                                                                                                                                                                    Source :- PIB

SOCIAL ISSUES

NPR: house-to-house verification planned

GS PAPER - 01 SOCIAL ISSUES - Population and associated Issues.

Context :

• As nation-wide protests continue over the amended citizenship law ,The Narendra Modi government proposes to update the existing National Population Register.

• The NPR exercise has become controversial because the Citizenship Rules 2003 link the Population Register to the creation of a National Register of Indian Citizens (NRIC) or National Register of Citizens.

Background:

• A pan-India NRC has already been initiated — it started 16 years ago, when the Citizenship Act 1955 was amended in 2003 to include the term “illegal migrant”.

• Thereafter, the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, was issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, which included the legal procedure for roll out of a pan-India NRC, except Assam.

• The 2003 Rules also included the National Population Register (NPR), its implementation and how it would form the basis of NRC. The NPR, which began in 2003, would help identify ‘doubtful citizens’, who would then have to prove their citizenship before the NRC authorities.

Can a state block the process of NRC?

• State are mandated to implement NRC because citizenship, as a subject, falls under the Union list.

  • However, in its rollout, the central government will need the help of state-level authorities such as district- and taluka-level officers and the district registrar of citizen registration.

  • A state, citing law and order problems, can refuse to appoint these officers and, therefore, halt the NRC process. Law and order is a state subject.

What was the 2003 amendment to Citizenship Act 1955 all about?

• The Citizenship Act 1955 has undergone multiple amendments starting from 1986. It was amended thereafter in 1992, 2003, 2005, 2015 and 2019.

• In 2003, the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government had included the term “illegal migrant” in the 1955 Act by amending Section 2 of the primary Act.

• The amendment stated that any foreigner who has entered India without valid documents, such as passport, or overstays in the country beyond the stipulated time will be declared an “illegal immigrant”.

  • To check who the illegal immigrants are and to establish a process therein, the Ministry of Home Affairs then issued a set of Rules on 10 December 2003 — this was the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, which set the ball rolling on NRC.

So how is NRC defined in 2003 Rules?

• A proper definition in the 2003 Rules, it states that the National Register of Indian Citizens means the “register containing details of Indian Citizens living in India and outside India”.

  • For this purpose, the Rules also attempt to appoint a Registrar General of Citizen Registration who will be entrusted to maintain such a database.

• NRC will be divided into sub-parts consisting of the

  • “State Register of Indian Citizens,

  • The District Register of Indian Citizens,

  • The Sub-district Register of Indian Citizens and

  • The Local Register of Indian Citizens  and shall contain such details as the Central Government may, by order, in consultation with the Registrar General of Citizen Registration, specify”.

How is nationwide NRC different from NPR?

• The NPR or the population register as under the 2003 Rules is a register containing details of persons usually residing in a village/town/ward/or urban area.

  • NPR is formed by the house-to-house enumeration of data akin to a census conducted by the Government of India.

  • There are bodies at the state, district, and taluka levels mandated under the Rules who will be entrusted with the duty to populate such a register.

• However, NRC will only consider the citizens of the country and those living abroad and not everybody who is residing within the territorial boundaries of India.

So, is the NRC based on NPR?

• The Rules under the head of ‘NRC’ explicitly state that “during the verification process, particulars of such individuals, whose citizenship is doubtful, shall be entered by the Local Registrar with appropriate remark in the Population Register for further inquiry and in case of doubtful Citizenship, the individual or the family shall be informed in a specified proforma immediately after the verification process is over”.

• This means that the NRC will be based on the NPR, and once the NPR establishes the list of ‘doubtful citizens’, they will have to go through a process of claims and objections before being entered into the NRC. The ones who fail to prove they are not doubtful will be excluded.

How does Citizenship Amendment Act of 2019 play a role here?

• The NPR list — including the ‘doubtful citizens’ category — is religion-agnostic and could include all communities. This is where the amended citizenship Act comes into play.

• The 2019 Act specifies that persecuted members of six communities — Hindus, Buddhists, Parsis, Sikh, Jains and Christians — from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan will be given citizenship. It does not specify the Muslim community.

Are NPR and population census the same thing?

• Population census in India is under the Census Act of 1948 while the NPR is under the Citizenship Act 1955.

  • So, the two exercises are under completely different legislations and, therefore, there is no way they can culminate into becoming the same exercise.

• In fact, though, the census data will be available in the public domain, NPR will not as it will form the basis of NRC, which is not a public document.

Is there any similarity between Assam NRC and pan-India NRC?

• Section 4A in The Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, etches out the exception for the state of Assam.

• Clause 2 of this section states that the Assam NRC was after “inviting applications from all the residents, for collection of specified particulars relating to each family and individual, residing in a local area in the State including the citizenship status based on the National Register of Citizens 1951 and the electoral rolls prior to the year 1971”.

• However, pan-India NRC will be based on the population register.

  • The Local Register of Indian citizens shall contain details of persons after due verification made from the Population Register”, which inevitably proves how NRC is based on NPR and since NPR is based on house-to-house enumeration of data by the government, there is no similarity between the Assam NRC and the one that’s going to take place across the country.

  • While Assam NRC had 1971 as the cut-off date, citizenship under the NRC will be based on dates in the 1955 Act.

    • For example, under the citizenship by birth according to the 1955 Act, every person born on or after January 26 1950 but before July 1 1987 will be considered citizens.

    • Next, born after July 1 1987 and before the 2003 amendment Act with either of parents as Indian citizens will also be citizenship by birth.

    • Lastly, if one is born after 2003, then the citizenship by birth will be granted if both parents are Indian citizens or either of parents are Indian citizen and one is an illegal migrant.

What are the details that NRC will contain?

• According to the Rules, the NRC document will contain with respect to every Indian citizen: (i) Name; (ii) Father’s name; (iii) Mother’s name; (iv) Sex; (v) Date of birth; (vi) Place of birth; (vii) Residential address (present and permanent); (viii) Marital status ñ if ever married, name of the spouse; (ix) Visible identification mark; (x) Date of registration of Citizen; (xi) Serial number of registration; and the (xii) National Identity Number.

  • National Identity Numbers would be a “unique identity number allotted to every Indian Citizen by the Registrar General of Citizen Registration”, and this too has been defined in the 2003 Rules.

                                                                                                     Source :- The Hindu; Indian Express

POLITY AND GOVERNANCE

2nd Edition of “Eat Right Mela”

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

• The Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare inaugurates the 2nd Edition of the “Eat Right Mela”.

• On the sidelines of the event The Union Minister launched

  • ‘The PURPLE Book’ a handbook on diets for diseases.

  • NetSCoFAN (Network for Scientific Co-operation for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition)

Eat Right Mela :

• As part of the Eat Right India movement, the ‘Eat Right Mela’ was conceived to engage, excite and enable citizens to eat right through an infotainment model.

  • The Mela was first held in 2018 in Delhi.

• The ‘Eat Right India’ movement was launched by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) to usher in a ‘new food culture’ by nudging businesses and consumers to adopt safe, healthy and sustainable food practices and habits.

• Eat Right Melas have been envisioned for massive outreach to build awareness on safe food and healthy diets through an interactive and informative model.

• In addition to showcasing street foods from all over the country, it consists of entertaining yet informative activities such as food quizzes, talks by dieticians and nutritionists, live cooking demonstrations by chefs, discussions by leading food experts and exhibits on healthy eating along with a host of cultural performances such as street theatre, dances and so on.

PURPLE Book :

• The book provides general guidelines for hospitals on suitable diets for common medical conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cancer, gut disorders and so on in a simple format and has been developed and vetted by experts in the field of food and nutrition.

• This book is available for free download on www.fssai.gov.in.

           Network for Scientific Co-operation for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (NetSCoFAN) was also launched.

• It is a network of research & academic institutions working in the area of food & nutrition along with the NetSCoFAN directory, covering detailed information of various heads/Directors and lead scientists of lead and associated partnering institutions.

• It would comprise of eight groups of institutions working in different areas viz. biological, chemical, nutrition & labelling, food of animal origin, food of plant origin, water & beverages, food testing, and safer & sustainable packaging.

• It would identify research gaps in respective areas and collect, collate and develop database on food safety issues for risk assessment activities.

                                                                                                                                         Source :- PIB

5 verticals of Quality Mandate in Higher Educational Institutions

GS PAPER - 02 GOVERNANCE - Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health, Education, Human Resources.

Context :

• The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has adopted the Higher Education Quality Improvement Programme Mandate to improve the quality in higher educational institutions.

Quality Mandate :

• The Quality Mandate was developed by the University Grants Commission (UGC) which contains 5 documents covering the 5 verticals of Quality Mandate-

  • Evaluation reforms

  • Eco-friendly and sustainable university campuses

  • Human values & professional ethics

  • Faculty induction

  • Academic research integrity

•  The quality mandate aims at evolving higher education system to equip the country's next generation with vital skills, knowledge and ethics for leading a rewarding life.

• Student evaluation plays a crucial role in improving the quality of Higher Education in the country.

Five Documents on 5 verticals of Quality Mandate :

• Evaluation reforms:

  • Under this, the report ‘Evaluation Reforms in Higher Educational Institutions in India’ has been published in order to make student assessment more meaningful, effective and linked to ‘Learning Outcomes’.

• Eco-friendly and Sustainable University Campuses:

  •  The SATAT - Framework for Eco-Friendly and Sustainable Campus development in Higher Educational Institutions encourages universities to adopt reflective policies and practices to enhance the environmental quality of the campus and to adopt sustainable and green methods in its future.

• Human Values & Professional Ethics:

  •  A policy framework ‘MulyaPravah – Guidelines for Inculcation of Human Values and Professional Ethics in Higher Educational Institutions’ has been developed to discuss and streamline the process that helps to infuse the culture of human values and ethics in educational institutions.
     

  • The guidelines for values and ethics in higher education call for students to-
     

    • Observe modesty in their overall appearance and behaviour.

    • Maintain good health and refrain from any kind of intoxicants.

    • Maintain harmony among students belonging to different socio-economic status, community, caste, religion or region.

• Faculty Induction:

  • The guidelines for Guru-Dakshta – A guide to Faculty Induction Programme (FIP) will fulfill its main objective to sensitise and motivate the faculty to adopt learner centred approaches, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) integrated learning and new pedagogic approaches to teaching-learning, assessment tools in higher education.

• Academic Research Integrity:

  • UGC is putting up efforts for setting up a Consortium for Academic and Research Ethics (UGC-CARE) to continuously monitor and identify quality journals across disciplines.

  • It will be useful to create more awareness and help the cause of promoting academic integrity and ethical publishing.

                                                                                                            Source :- PIB ; The Hindu

ECONOMY

FM releases postage stamp

GS PAPER - 03 ECONOMY - Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Context :

• Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs formally released a postage stamp to commemorate the distinguished service and glorious contribution by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) in protecting the nation.

Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) :

• The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) was constituted on 4th December, 1957 to function as an apex intelligence agency of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs to counter the menace of smuggling.

• Through the years, DRI has established itself as the premier intelligence agency commanding the trust of international and national agencies with its intelligence inputs on myriad subjects inter alia ranging from FICN, narcotics, gold, arms & ammunitions, wildlife, cultural heritage and commercial fraud.

• Over the years, the organisation has sought to reorient itself to new and emerging challenges, such as those relating to black money, money-laundering and narco-terrorism.

• The DRI has also been designated as the lead agency for S-CORD, the national Anti-smuggling co-ordination centre.

                                                                                                            Source :- PIB

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