Learn with NITISH KUMAR

📰 News : Geographical Indication Tags for Kanniyakumari clove, Karuppur kalamkari paintings & Kallakurichi wood carvings. • Recently, Kanniyakumari clove, the traditional dye-painted figurative and patterned cloth called Karuppur kalamkari paintings and the wood carvings of Kallakurichi have received geographical indication (GI) tags. • Kanniyakumari clove (Tamilnadu). • Karuppur kalamkari paintings (Tamilnadu). • Kallakurichi wood carvings (Tamilnadu). □ About Kanniyakumari clove : • It is grown in the densely wooded areas of Western Ghats in the district. • Kanniyakumari clove known for its rich aromatic oil content. • Of the total production of 1,100 tonnes of cloves in India, Tamil Nadu accounts for close to 1,000 tonnes, of which over 65% is grown in the district. • The climate in the hilly regions of Kanniyakumari district is ideal for clove cultivation. • This region benefits from both the south-west and north-east monsoons. Also, the ‘sea mist’ comes in and works up the moisture needed for the crop. • The black soil here, rich in organic nutrients, is suitable for clove cultivation. This makes the cloves grown in the region unique. • With the highest percentage of volatile oil content present in the clove buds, the crop being grown in the district is much sought-after. The ‘sea mist’ also helps with eugenol. The eugenol acetate content in the oil is higher, lending better aroma and flavour to the clove buds. • While the typical volatile oil content is about 18%, the volatile oil content in the Kanniyakumari clove buds is 21%, resulting in 86% of eugenol. • Furthermore, drying happens naturally at the plantations located at an altitude of about 800 metres and having moderate temperature. This means a limited loss of essential oils and an increase in their concentration. • The flower buds, stalks and fallen leaves are used in essential oil preparation. The clove bud and its oils are also used in the medical, pharmaceutical and perfumery industries. □ About Karuppur Kalamkari paintings : • Kalamkari paintings are done on pure cotton cloth, predominantly used in temples for umbrella covers, cylindrical hangings, chariot covers and asmanagiri (false ceiling cloth pieces). • Documentary evidence shows that kalamkari paintings evolved under the patronage of Nayaka rulers in the early 17th century. □ About Kallakurichi wood carvings : • Kallakurichi wood carvings are a unique form of wood carving entailng the application of ornamentation and designs, derived from traditional styles by the craftsmen. • The woodcarving skill evolved as an indigenous art when Madurai was an important town under different monarchical regimes in the ancient times. In the course of time, woodcarving craftsmen migrated to other towns and places, and each of them evolved their own style like the Kallakurichi woodcarving. □ About Geographical Indication Tag (GI Tag) : • Under the international agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), the GI tag is assigned to a product that has a specific geographical origin and possesses qualities or a reputation that are unique to that place. • The GI recognition gives local producers exclusive brand protection. • Darjeeling tea became the first GI tagged product in India in 2004. • Award of a GI sign not only helps in tracing the origins of products but also helps in confirming authenticity and marketing of indigenous specialities. • Besides ensuring quality control mechanisms, the GI tag will enable those, who have the right to its use, prevent its misuse by a third party whose product does not conform to the applicable standards.

■ Rail Kaushal Vikas Yojana : • The Ministry of Railways launched Rail Kaushal Vikas Yojana (RKVY). • Rail Kaushal Vikas Yojana is a skill development programme launched under the aegis of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). • It aims to provide training skills to the youth in various trades, with a special focus on jobs that are relevant to the Railways. • Candidates who are 10th passed and between 18-35 years shall be eligible to apply.  • The training will be provided to a total of 50,000 candidates over a three years period. • Training will be provided to apprentices under the Apprentice Act 1961. • Under the programme, training will be provided in four trades viz. Electrician, Welder, Machinist and Fitter. • Other trades will be added by zonal railways and production units based on regional demands and needs assessment. • The training shall be provided free of cost and participants will be selected from applications received online on the basis of marks in matriculation.  • The curriculum for this training has been developed by Banaras Locomotive Works. • Participants in the training shall have no claim to seek employment in Railways on the basis of this training. • After the completion of training, trainees shall be required to undergo a standardized assessment and will be awarded a certificate in the allotted trade by the National Rail & Transportation Institute, upon conclusion of their programme. • They will also be provided Toolkits relevant to their trade, which would help these trainees utilize their learnings and enhance their capacity for self employment as well as employability in various industries. • The programme will not only improve the employability of the youth, but also upgrade the skills of self-employed and those who are working with contractors through reskilling and upskilling. □ About Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana : • The Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship launched the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) in 2015. • PMKVY is implemented by the National Skills Development Corporation (NSDC) under the guidance of the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (MSDE). • It is a Skill certification scheme. It aims to encourage and promote skill development in the country by providing free short duration skill training and incentivizing this by providing monetary rewards to youth for skill certification. • It aims to mobilize youth to take up skill training with the aim of increasing productivity and aligning the training and certification to the needs of the country. • Under this scheme, trainings are provided as per National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) to those who are either school/college dropouts or unemployed. • Owing to the success of PMKVY 1.0 wherein more than 19 lakh students were trained as against the target of 24 lakh, the scheme was relaunched as PMKVY 2.0 (2016-2020). • And further PMKVY 3.0 was launched in 2021, in a bid to empower India’s youth with employable skills by making over 300 skill courses available to them. It envisages training of eight lakh candidates over a scheme period of 2020-2021. • PMKVY 3.0 takes the bottom-up approach to training, it will identify job roles that have demand at the local level and skill the youth, linking them to these opportunities (Vocal for Local).

■ National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) : • The mission will provide a digital health ID to the people who will hold their health records. • Currently, the programme is being implemented in the pilot phase in six union territories (Chandigarh, Ladakh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep). • The NDHM is implemented by the National Health Authority (NHA) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. • It is a digital health ecosystem under which every Indian citizen will now have unique health IDs, digitised health records with identifiers for doctors and health facilities. • It comprises six key building blocks — HealthID, DigiDoctor, Health Facility Registry, Personal Health Records, e-Pharmacy and Telemedicine. • The core building blocks of the mission is that the health ID, DigiDoctor and Health Facility Registry shall be owned, operated and maintained by the Government of India. • Private stakeholders will have an equal opportunity to integrate and create their own products for the market. The core activities and verifications, however, remain with the government. • The Health ID - unique 14-digit health identification number- for every citizen that will also work as their health account. • Health ID under NDHM is free of cost and voluntary. • The national Health ID will be a repository of all health-related information of a person. • The health ID will enable access and exchange of longitudinal health records of citizens with their consent. • This health account will contain details of every test, every disease, the doctors visited, the medicines taken and the diagnosis. • This information will be very useful as it is portable and easily accessible even if the patient shifts to new place and visits a new doctor. • The citizens will be able to give their doctors and health providers one-time access to this data during visits to the hospital for consultation.

Consider the following statements on Thenneri inscription? 1) This inscription mentioned about the qualifications for candidates to village administrative committees (‘Perumkuri sabai’). 2) The inscriptions are found on the walls of Kanthaleeswarar temple. 3) The Kanthaleeswarar temple was built by the King Raja Raja Cholan 1.

■ Chola inscriptions detail qualifications for civic officials : • The inscriptions of Uthiramerur in Kancheepuram district that dwells upon ‘Kudavolai’. Kudavolai is a system to elect members to annual committee (‘variyam’), garden committee, tank committee and other committees for 30 wards are well known. • Thenneri inscriptions laying down qualifications for candidates to village administrative committees (‘Perumkuri sabai’). • According to the inscriptions, candidates should own land and should not have any case pending against them. He should be highly educated and should have maintained his accounts in a transparent manner. • The inscriptions at Thenneri village in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu also shed light on how farm produce was taxed. The inscriptions are on the walls of the Kanthaleeswarar temple. • “For areca nuts, only 50% tax would be collected for the first 10 years after cultivation. Farmers would pay full tax only after the trees started yielding fruits. Similarly, 50% tax was imposed on banana crops until the yield,”. • The Kanthaleeswarar temple and the Abathsaheswarar temple are on the banks of the 3.80-km-long Thenneri. • The temples were constructed by Sembian Mahadevi, the grandmother of Chola King Rajaraja, in memory of her son Uthama Chola. • The lake bears testimony to Thenneri’s ancientness. "Perumpanattrupadai", a Sangam-era literary work, refers to the king who created the lake as ‘Thondaiman Ilanthiraiyan’. • The copper plates of the Pallava period found at Kaasakudi refer to the lake as ‘Thiraiyan Eri’. Over centuries, it has become Thenneri. • There is a Vijayanarayana Perumal temple. Village meetings took place in the front hall of the temple during the reign of Rajaraja. The temple is known as Mummudi Chola Vinnagaralvar.

■ Aapda Mitra scheme : • Aapda mitra scheme aims to provide the community volunteers with the skills that they would need to respond to their community’s immediate needs in the aftermath of a disaster thereby enabling them to undertake basic relief and rescue tasks during emergency situations such as floods, flash-floods and urban flooding • To train and raise community volunteers in disaster response, NDMA launched a country-wide project titled ‘Aapda Mitra’, meaning ‘Friends during disasters'. • National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has been implementing this scheme since May 2016. • The Centre is planning to roll out the ‘Aapda Mitra’ (Friends in Disaster) project in 350 districts across the country by imparting training to over 1 lakh young volunteers, as first responders to any disaster. • All these volunteers would get life insurance by the government. □ Objectives of the scheme : • Development and Standardization of training modules at National Level. • Development of Information Knowledge Management System at National level linked to States/UTs. • Training institutions to be empanelled by respective States/UTs at the State/UT level. • To train 6000 community volunteers in life saving skills of disaster response (flood relief and rescue), coordination, assistance, and provide personal protective equipment and emergency responder kits. • To create a Community Emergency Stockpile/Reserve at the district/block level containing essential light search and rescue equipment, medical first aid kits, etc; • To disseminate training and education tools developed under the project to more number of flood prone districts in subsequent phases of the scheme.