Monday, January 25, 2021
Current Affairs – January 25, 2021
India
UP govt. to provide free coaching to students for competitive exams
Uttar Pradesh will launch a state-wide, free coaching programme named ‘Abhyudaya’ from February. This coaching programme will help students to prepare for various competitive examinations.
Assam: 1st Bodoland Territorial Region Accord Day celebrated at Kokrajhar
Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, attended the first BTR (Bodoland Territorial Region) Accord Day celebration at Kokrajhar in Assam. The first BTR was celebrated on January 24, 2021. Shah assured the Bodo people on preserving the Bodo language and the culture & political rights of Bodo people.
National Girl Child Day celebrated on Jan 24
The National Girl Child Day is celebrated every year on January 24, 2021. It is an initiative of the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
32 children awarded Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar
Thirty-two children, from the 32 districts of 21 states and Union Territories, have been awarded the ‘Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar’ this year for their exceptional abilities and outstanding accomplishments in the fields of innovation, scholastics, sports, arts, culture, social service and bravery.
Economy & Corporate
First commercial flight service between Delhi and Sikkim begins
The first commercial flight services between Delhi and Sikkim commenced on January 23, 2021 with a Bombardier Q400 aircraft of SpiceJet airline. The flight landed at Pakyong airport in the Himalayan state with 57 passengers.
World
International Day of Education observed on 24 January
The International Day of Education was observed on January 24, 2021. The United Nations General Assembly had adopted the resolution proclaiming 24 January as International Day of Education on December 3, 2018.
Nepal: PM KP Sharma Oli removed from ruling Nepal Communist Party
The rival faction of the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP) removed Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli from the party on January 24, 2021. He was removed because of increasing political unrest after his decision to dissolve the lower house of the Parliament.
Dhaka International Film Festival organised from Jan 16 to 24
The 19th Dhaka International Film Festival (DIFF) was organised from January 16 to 24, 2021. Kyrgyz film ‘The Road to Eden’ jointly directed by Bakyt Mukul and Dastan Zhapar won the best film award. While, the Best Director award was given to Ksenia Langutina for the film ‘Farida’. The film is jointly produced by Azerbaijan and Russia.
China empowers its coastguards to fire on foreign ships to prevent threats
China passed its coastguard legislation that allows it to fire on foreign vessels. This move could stoke tensions with its neighbours in contested waters.
China: 11 workers rescued from gold mine in Shandong province
Eleven workers who were trapped by an explosion inside a Chinese gold mine in Shandong province from January 10, were brought safely to the surface on January 24, 2021.
Ageing dams in India, U.S., other nations pose growing threat: UN report
UN report ‘Ageing water infrastructure: An emerging global risk’ highlights that, over a thousand large dams in India will be roughly 50-years-old in 2025 and such aging structures across the world pose a growing threat. most people on Earth will live downstream of tens of thousands of dams built in the 20th century.
Sports
Thailand Open badminton: Carolina Marin, Viktor Axelsen win singles titles
Spain’s Carolina Marin beat Tai Tzu-ying (Chinese Taipei) 21-19, 21-17 in the final to win the women’s singles title at Thailand Open badminton on January 17, 2021. Viktor Axelsen (Denmark) won men’s singles title by beating Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus (Denmark) in the final 21-11, 21-7.
Bihar’s lost city: A newly unearthed Buddhist monastery holds vital clues
Ward No 33, Jaynagar village, Lakhisarai is some 125 kilometres east of Patna. Here, on a hilltop known as Lal Pahari, a recent discovery of two burnt clay sealings has left researchers ecstatic.
The burnt sealings recovered from the site records: śrīmaddharmahāvihārik āryabhikṣusaṅghasya which translates into “this is the sealing of the council of monks of the Srimaddhama vihara.” The inscription on the sealings are written in Sanskrit and the script is Siddhamātṛkā dating around the 8th-9th century.
Researchers say the discovery is evidence to the fact that the excavated area atop the red-soiled hill was a Buddhist monastery of the early medieval period. The geographical location of the site also makes it the first such hilltop monastery in the entire Gangetic valley. Artefacts extracted from the site also substantiate a nearly 140-year-old clue that the monastery was run by a woman monk named Vijayshree Bhadra.
The excavation at Lal Pahari is yet another clue found in recent years as part of a larger effort by researchers and government officials to resurrect a long-forgotten, prosperous city called Krimila, which has been identified in and around the present-day town of Lakhisarai.
The ancient city
The ancient city of Krimila is said to be a religious-cum-administrative centre in eastern India during the early medieval period. A flourishing urban settlement, Krimila is said to have been famous for the manufacture of stone sculpture, particularly Tibetan-Buddhist sculptures. The region drew the attention of ancient scholars, travellers and was explored from time to time by British and later by Indian scholars.
The region was first surveyed by Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham, a British Army engineer who took interest in archaeology and went to form what we know as the present day Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Cunnigham first surveyed the area in 1871 and again visited it in between 1879-80. During his visit, the archaeologist identified several stupas and the recorded presence of ancient temples in the region in his reports.
In his records, Cunningham spoke of “a large town or city” that existed at the confluence of River Kiul, old Ganges and Harohar. The British archaeologist also cited accounts of Hiuen Tsang, the famous Chinese Buddhist monk-traveller who referred to this place as lo-in-ni-lo in his accounts. “Hwen Thsang says only a few words about lo-in-ni lo. It possessed a monastery and a stupa of Asoka… the only place which suits this special description is Rajaona, which is situated two miles to the north-west of the Lakhi-Sarai Railways station, near the junction of the River Kiul with the old Ganges and River Harohar,” Cunningham wrote.
Here, Cunningham also discovered images of Lord Buddha seated under the Bodhi tree, made of black basalt stone with inscription and an image of Bodhisattva Padmapani, a Buddhist deity also known by the name Avalokitesvara.
Apart from Cunningham, several other British explorers including J D Beglar and Buchanan explored the nearby villages of Valgudar, Rajaona, Chowki and Jaynagar, all of which falls under Lakhisarai.
However, Anil Kumar, Professor and Head of the Department of Indian History Culture and Archaeology at the Visva Bharati University in Santiniketan, argues that the exploration done by the British archaeologists primarily focused only on identifying ruins mentioned in Tsang’s account. Work done by Indian archaeologists such as D.C Sircar and R.K Choudhary, who visited the site in the 1950s and 1960s respectively, holds vital importance in figuring out important clues about the location of the city, Kumar says.
Sircar had found an inscription in Valgudar, a village near Lakhisarai, which mentioned the name Krimila Visaya (an administrative unit) of Gupta period. “Several other inscriptions of early India also mentioned Krimila as a Visaya. In this regard the Nalanda plate of Samudragupta, Bihar inscription of Gupta period, Naulagarh inscription of Pala period and two inscriptions from Valgudar and its adjacent areas are significant,” Kumar wrote in his paper titled Krimila: A forgotten Nagar of Early Medieval Eastern Inn his paper, Kumar also argued that Krimila played a role of an important political centre of early medieval eastern India during the rule of Palas, as proved by a citation in King Devapala’s Munger copper plate which mentions Krimila as a Visaya of the Sri Nagara bhukti (believed to be the Pataliputra region).
Further clues about the city’s growth and socio-religious structure appeared in another inscription deciphered by Sircar that said: That in Dharmapala’s state at Krimila Visaya Madhu Srenika (a guild of probably honey collectors) in honour of Dharmapala has founded a Devadhmmayam (a religious centre). The inscription also mentioned Krimila as an Adhisthana meaning centre of administration, a city or town.dia.
Hints of a flourishing economy were also discovered in another inscription dating the 12th century that recorded a donation made by a daughter-in law-of an oil maker for religious purposes.
Excavation work
Exploration work to unearth the lost city began in 2009. So far, an area of 72 sq km has been identified as a tentative territorial boundary of the ancient city where remains of habitation are scattered all over.
A total of 60 sites have been identified by the researchers out of which six sites–Lal Pahari, Sarsanda Hill, Ghosikundi Hill, Bicchwe Hill, Lai, Nongarh have been declared as state-protected.
Amongst the items discovered by the excavation team include a large number of finished and unfinished early medieval sculptures of Buddhist and Brahmanical Gods Such as Lord Buddha, Brahma, Parvati, Ganesh and Durga. Besides, hundreds of architectural remains, fragments of daily items used by residents and objects of ritualistic use have also been unearthed.
“In due course of the exploration, we have documented over 500 brahminical and Buddhist sculptures from all over the regions. Out of these 200 have been shifted to a temporary museum while others are currently in temples or are in private possession,” Kumar told indianexpress.com.
A specific lintel representing Buddhist deity Avalokiteshvara recovered from one of the sites in the region has also caught the eye of researchers. “The lintel is unfortunately incomplete, the right third of it having been lost, but from what has survived it can be seen to have been carved in three panels, so what is seen today are its central and left (for the viewer) panels. This sculpture was carved with the utmost care, with elements such as decorative ornamentation, jewellery, garments, or facial features carved in an exquisite and detailed manner – qualities which characterize the production of the site in the 12th century as we know it from the images previously discovered,” Claudine Bautze-Picron, an Indian art historian wrote in h“Those involved in the creation of this panel, monks and sculptors, were evidently animated by a profound impulse of the imagination and the creative mind,” Picron added.
The Lal Pahari monastery
Talks about the presence of a vihara atop the Lal Pahari were also first mentioned by Cunningham during his visit to the region. In 2015, during an accidental dig, nearby villagers discovered a bastion that led authorities to call for an urgent archaeological excavation.
In 2017, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Bihar Heritage Development Society and Visva Bharati University. On November 25, 2017, excavation began at Lal Pahari following As the systematic excavation proceeded, structural remains of a Buddhist monastery on a stone masonry foundation with several unique architectural features emerged. Discovery of the two burnt clay sealings and evidence of excessive protection measures further confirmed that the site was a vihara with a significant woman or mixed population.inauguration by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.er analysis of the discovery.
“We discovered a total of 12 bastions (3 in each corner) in the structure, perhaps used for security purposes. Several cells meant for monks were interconnected and had doors. The cells also had one elevated painted platform with an inner chamber,” Kumar told indianexpress.com
Dozens of wooden votive tablets with figures of a person, most probably Buddha sitting in Padmasana have also been recovered. “These tablets have never been found in monasteries in India before. They were only discovered in Burma and other south-east Asian countries,” he said.Hundreds of bangles made of copper and silver, neck ornaments, finger rings and nose pins were also recovered from the site during excavation.Asked about the claim of a woman monk named Vijayshree Bhadra running the monastery, Kumar said that the discovery of women’s ornaments and excessive security measures corroborates the inscriptional evidence found from this hill by Cunningham. “The inscription depicted over an image of Singhnadavalokeshavara (a Buddist goddess) read that an elderly nun, Vijayashri Bhadra, used to receive donations from Mallika Devi, perhaps the wife of Pala ruler Sura Pala,” he added.The above-said sculpture was kept in the Berlin Museum but was taken away to Russia as “war booty” by the Russian army during the Second World War. At present, it is housed in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.
In 2018, excavation at the Lal Pahari was briefly halted after rumours of gold coins and other valuables being found made rounds on social media triggering locals to rush to the site.
Source: Indian Express, 21/01/21
Covid deepened inequalities: wealth, education, gender
An Oxfam report, titled ‘The Inequality Virus’, has found that as the pandemic stalled the economy, forcing millions of poor Indians out of jobs, the richest billionaires in India increased their wealth by 35 per cent.
A new report by Oxfam has found that the Covid pandemic deeply exacerbated existing inequalities in India and around the world.
The report, titled ‘The Inequality Virus’, has found that as the pandemic stalled the economy, forcing millions of poor Indians out of jobs, the richest billionaires in India increased their wealth by 35 per cent.
“The wealth of Indian billionaires increased by 35 per cent during the lockdown and by 90 per cent since 2009 to $422.9 billion ranking India sixth in the world after US, China, Germany, Russia and France,” states the report.
According to Oxfam’s calculations, since March, as the government announced possibly the strictest lockdown anywhere in the world, India’s top 100 billionaires saw their fortunes increase by Rs 12.97 trillion — enough money to give every one of the 138 million poorest Indians a cheque for Rs 94,045 each. In stark contrast, 170,000 people lost their jobs every hour in the month of April 2020, the report points out.
“In fact, the increase in wealth of the top 11 billionaires of India during the pandemic could sustain the NREGS scheme for 10 years or the health ministry for 10 years,” according to Oxfam’s calculations.
The report states that Covid has the potential to increase economic inequality in almost every country at once — the first time this has happened since records began over a century ago.
Oxfam details how the pandemic aggravated all manners of inequalities.
Sectorally, India’s large informal workforce was the worst hit as it made up 75 per cent of the 122 million jobs lost. Informal workers had relatively fewer opportunities to work from home and suffered more job loss compared to the formal sector. The 40-50 million seasonal migrant workers, typically engaged working in construction sites, factories etc. were particularly distressed, notes the report.
The pandemic also spiked health and education inequalities.
Over the past year as education shifted online, India saw the digital divide worsening inequalities. On the one hand, private providers such as BYJU’s (currently valued at $10.8 billion) and Unacademy (valued at $1.45 billion) experienced exponential growth yet, on the other, just 3 per cent of the poorest 20 per cent of Indian households had access to a computer and just 9 per cent had access to the internet.
In terms of healthcare, Oxfam found that since India does not report case data desegregated by socio-economic or social categories, it is difficult to gauge the distribution of the disease amongst various communities. But India currently has the world’s second-largest cumulative number of COVID-19 positive cases and globally, the poor, marginalised and vulnerable communities have higher rates of COVID-19 prevalence.
“The spread of disease was swift among poor communities, often living in crammed areas with poor sanitation and using shared common facilities such as toilets and water points,” it states.
In this regard, it found that only 6 per cent of the poorest 20 per cent households had access to non-shared sources of improved sanitation, compared to 93 per cent of the top 20 per cent households in India.
In terms of caste, just 37.2 per cent of SC households and 25.9 per cent of ST households had access to non-shared sanitation facilities, compared to 65.7 per cent for the general population.
The pandemic has also widened gender disparities.
The unemployment rate among women rose from already high 15 per cent before Covid to 18 per cent. “This increase in unemployment of women can result in a loss to India’s GDP of about 8 per cent or $218 billion,” states the report. Of the women who retained their jobs, as many 83% were subjected to a cut in income according to a survey by the Institute of Social Studies Trust.
Beyond income and job losses, poorer women also suffered healthwise because of the disruption in regular health services and Anganwadi centres. “It is predicted that the closure of family planning services will result in 2.95 million unintended pregnancies… 1.80 million abortions (including 1.04 million unsafe abortions) and 2,165 maternal deaths,” states the report.
The pandemic also fueled domestic violence against women. As of November 30, 2020, cases of domestic violence rose by almost 60% over the past 12 months.
“While the Coronavirus was being touted as a great equaliser in the beginning, it laid bare the stark inequalities inherent in the society soon after the lockdown was imposed,” said Oxfam India CEO Amitabh Behar.
Oxfam India’s findings are part of the Oxfam International report released on the opening day of the World Economic Forum’s “Davos Dialogues”.
“The deep divide between the rich and poor is proving as deadly as the virus,” said Gabriela Bucher, Executive Director of Oxfam International.
Oxfam has argued the urgent need for policymakers to tax the wealthy individuals and rich corporates and use that money to “invest in free quality public services and social protection to support everyone, from cradle to grave”.
However, with the Union Budget round the corner, not everyone is convinced of these policy recommendations.
N R Bhanumurthy, Vice-Chancellor of Dr B R Ambedkar School of Economics University in Bengaluru, said that this is not the year to prioritise inequality.“Reducing inequalities is very important but it should be a medium-term target. Between growth and distribution, we must get the sequencing right. We need to grow first before we can distribute. Otherwise, we can get stuck in a low-income equilibrium,” he said.
Source: Indian Express, 25/01/21
To protect women, challenge patriarchy
Seldom has the State’s concern to protect one half of its citizens been so high. In Andhra Pradesh, a Disha law. In Maharashtra, a Shakti Bill. And “love jihad” ordinances in three states. All in the name of protecting women.
We should be so reassured. But even as Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was launching a “samman” (respect) programme, explaining how employed women can register at the local thana so that they can be tracked for their own safety, came news of nine men raping a 13-year-old multiple times over a span of a couple of days in Umaria.
India’s endemic rape problem is a matter of concern. Laws passed since 2013 have not flatlined the graph. In nine states, the number of young women who faced sexual violence as children has gone up, finds the latest round of the National Family Health Survey.
Now, Maharashtra’s stringent Shakti Bill, based on Andhra Pradesh’s Disha law, expands the death sentence for rape, but also dilutes the standards of consent, making rape more difficult to prove in courts. An outcry by women activists has led to a review.
So many laws, still no solution. Perhaps because there’s a contradiction here. The contradiction in wanting to protect women but within the decorous folds of patriarchy. We will keep women “safe” as long as they are bound by family structures, even though data on domestic violence and sexual abuse tells us the family is not the safest place.
In Uttar Pradesh (UP), the police have announced they will use artificial intelligence to spot women in “distress”. How is distress defined? How this will work is yet to be revealed. What we do know is that UP subscribes to the idea of the helpless Hindu woman duped by the scheming Muslim man. This is the bedrock of its “love jihad” law that robs adult women of autonomy, an autonomy that the Allahabad High Court and some other courts still defend.
Safety means empowering all women — single, divorced, rebellious — to live as equal citizens. It means respecting women’s choices. Rape stems from male entitlement and the idea that a woman’s consent doesn’t count. You cannot solve it with laws that spring from the same patriarchal mindset.
This mindset is not limited to our legislators. The chief justice of our highest court wants women to stay away from protests, as if we have not been an integral part of movements from Independence and Chipko onwards.
The head of the National Commission of Women (NCW) meets the Maharashtra governor to discuss “love jihad”, even though NCW has no evidence of it. One of its members says a rape and murder in Badaun could have been avoided if the 50-year-old anganwadi worker had not ventured out alone in the evening. Clearly, we are looking at the wrong solutions. A good start is a new vocabulary. Reduce words like “protection” and “respect”. Embrace a more affirmative language of empowerment, independence, rights.
Namita Bhandare writes on gender
Source: Hindustan Times, 22/01/21
Friday, January 22, 2021
Quote of the Day
“Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives.”
C S Lewis
“हमारे जीवन में जो भी दृढ़ और स्थायी ख़ुशी है उसका नब्बे प्रतिशत उत्तरदायी प्रेम है।”
सी एस लुईस
Current Affairs – January 22, 2021
India
Meghalaya, Tripura and Manipur celebrate Statehood Day
On January 21, 2021, Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura celebrated their statehood day. The three states gained their statehood on January 21, 1972.
Exercise Kavach
The larges scale joint military exercise Kavach involving Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force is to be held in January 2021 under the Andaman and Nicobar Command.
HAL test fires SAAW
On January 21, 2021, the HAL successfully test fired the Smart Anti Airfield Weapon, SAAW from the Hawk aircraft.
Fire at Serum Institute of India, Vaccine works unaffected
On January 21, 2021, a major fire broke out at the building of Serum Institute of India in Pune. The Manjri facility located in the outskirts of Pune is where the COVISHILED vaccine is produced.
Election Commission allows those excluded from NRC to vote in assembly poll
On January 20, 2021, the Election Commission announced that those excluded from the National Register of Citizens will be eligible to vote in the upcoming Assam assembly poll.
Economy and Corporate
Indian Army sign MoU with SIDM
The Indian Army signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers to provide impetus to indigenization and achieve strategic independence to reduce dependence on foreign origin equipment.
MASCRADE 2021 organised
On January 21, 2021, the Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan inaugurated the seventh edition of “MASCRADE 2021”. MASCRADE is Movement against Smuggled and Counterfeit Trade. It is organised by FICCI.
Centre proposes suspending implementation of three new Farm Laws for 1.5 years
The Central Government recently proposed to suspend the implementation of farm laws up to a year and a half. According to the Government, this is being done to arrive at a consensus with the farmer union. The farmer union announced that they will revert on January 22, 2021.
PMAY-Urban: Centre approves construction of 168,000 houses
The Government of India recently approved the construction of 1.68 lakhs of houses in urban areas under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. This will increase the total sanctioned houses under the scheme to 1.1 crores.
SEBI nods to Reliance-Future deal
On January 20, 2021, SEBI approved the Future Group’s Scheme of arrangement. Also, SEBI approved sale of assets of Reliance.
Shyam Srinivasan named Business Standard Banker of the Year 2019-20
Shyam Srinivasan, the Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Federal Bank was named as the Business Standard Banker of the year for 2019-20.
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