PIB Summary- 25th March, 2021 | PIB (Press Information Bureau) Summary - UPSC PDF Download

Development of Iconic Tourist Destinations Scheme

Context: To promote India as a MICE destination (MICE – Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions), the Tourism Ministry, in association with Madhya Pradesh Tourism and India Convention Promotion Bureau are organizing ‘MICE Roadshow – Meet in India’ at Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh.

Points to Note

• Khajuraho is one of the identified iconic tourist destinations of the country.

About Development of Iconic Tourist Destinations Scheme

• It is a central sector scheme for the development of nineteen identified iconic destinations in the country following a holistic approach.
• The identified tourist sites to be developed as iconic destinations under the scheme are:
  • Taj Mahal & Fatehpur Sikri (Uttar Pradesh)
  • Ajanta Caves & Ellora Caves (Maharashtra)
  • Humayun’s Tomb, Red Fort & Qutub Minar (Delhi)
  • Colva Beach (Goa)
  • Amer Fort (Rajasthan)
  • Somnath , Dholavira & Statue of Unity (Gujarat)
  • Khajuraho (MP)
  • Hampi (Karnataka)
  • Mahabalipuram (Tamil Nadu)
  • Kaziranga (Assam)
  • Kumarakom (Kerala)
  • Konark (Odisha)
  • Mahabodhi Temple (Bihar)
• The objective of the scheme is to boost the tourism influx in India and serve as a model for other tourism sites.
• The focus of the government is to enhance the overall development of these sites from the tourism point of view. It includes basic amenities like availability of water and toilet facilities in abundance and infrastructural developments like roads, hotels, lodges, connectivity and access.
• The nodal agency for the scheme is the Tourism Ministry while other ministries such as civil aviation, railways, etc. are also involved.
• In order to maintain international standards, places in and around the monuments will have components of global accessibility, sustainable and green technology, and upgraded security for tourists.

National Creche Scheme

Context: Creches under the ‘National Creche Scheme for the Children of Working Mothers’ are not functional in the country at present for the purpose of preventing spread of Covid-19.
National Creche Scheme (earlier named as Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme) is being implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme through States/UTs to provide day care facilities to children (age group of 6 months to 6 years) of working mothers. 

The salient features of the National Creche Scheme are as follows:

• Daycare Facilities including Sleeping Facilities
• Early Stimulation for children below 3 years and pre-school Education for 3 to 6 years old children.
• Supplementary Nutrition ( to be locally sourced)
• Growth Monitoring
• Health Check-up and Immunization

Potential of Yoga

Context: AYUSH Ministry sets up interdisciplinary team of experts to explore the potential of Yoga as a productivity enhancing tool for the population.

Details

• The productivity enhancing dimension of Yoga will be explored by a high level interdisciplinary committee set up by the Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India.
• The committee was set up on 24 March 2021 through videoconferencing.
• The committee is chaired by Dr. H. R Nagendra, Chancellor, SVYASA and its members include representatives from AIIMS New Delhi, IIM Bangalore, IIT Bombay, various leading Yoga institutions, the corporate sector and the AYUSH Ministry.
• Though the benefits of Yoga have been widely embraced by its practitioners, its productivity dimension, i.e., its role in the workplace in offering benefits to employees to perform better – remains unexplored to a large extent.
• This dimension becomes especially important given the increasing physical and mental pressures faced by employees, exacerbated by the current pandemic, even as employers grapple with the situation and try to improve workplace wellness.
• The committee is expected to submit its preliminary recommendations by May 2021.

What is Yoga?

Yoga is a set of spiritual, physical and mental practices that originated in ancient India. The literal meaning of the word Yoga is union.

• Yoga combines physical exercises, poses (asanas), meditation, breathing exercises and techniques.
• The word itself means ‘yog’ or union of the physical with the spiritual within oneself. It also symbolises the union of individual consciousness with that of the Universal Consciousness, indicating a perfect harmony between the mind and body, human & nature.
• Yoga is also the name of one of the six schools of Hindu philosophy, the other five being Sankhya, Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Mimansa and Vedanta.
  • Like the Sankhya school, the Yoga school relies on three of the six Pramanas (proof or means which leads one to knowledge) namely,
    • Pratyakṣa (perception)
    • Anumāṇa (inference) 
    • Sabda (Āptavacana, word/testimony of reliable sources)
  • The Yoga school conceives the world as composed of two realities, the Purusha (consciousness) and the Prakriti (matter).
  • The Purusha is bonded to Prakriti in a living being (Jiva) and the end of this bondage is called Moksha.
• The practice of Yoga is mentioned in the Rig Veda and the Upanishads also.
• Patanjali’s Yogasutra (2nd Century BCE) is an authoritative text on Yoga and is considered a foundational text of classical Yoga philosophy.
• During modern times and especially in the West, Yoga largely means physical exercise along with meditation and poses. However, the purpose of Yoga goes beyond having a healthy mind and body.

Yoga Origins

There is no consensus on an exact time period on the origins of Yoga. 

• Some researchers believe that it originated during the Indus Valley Civilization period, others say it originated from the pre-Vedic age in eastern India.
• Some experts believe it to have originated in the Vedic Age. Yet others point out to the Sramana traditions.
• The Pashupati seal excavated from Mohenjo Daro suggests a figure sitting in what is presumably the Mulabandhasana (a sitting pose in Yoga), and so a few researchers give this as evidence of Yoga having an Indus Valley origin.
• The first use of the word Yoga is from the Rig Veda in a verse to the rising Sun God in the morning.
  • However, the Rig Veda does not refer to what the Yogic practices were. 
  • One of the earliest references to the practice of Yoga can be found in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, one of the first Upanishads.
  • However, the word Yoga with the same meaning as contemporary times can be found in the Katha Upanishad.
• Systematic texts of Yoga started to emerge in the early Buddhist texts, the middle Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, etc.
• In the modern era, Gurus such as Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Paramhansa Yogananda, Swami Vivekananda, Ramana Maharshi, etc. contributed to the development and popularising of Yoga all over the world.

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra

Yoga Sutra is a collection of about 195 sutras or aphorisms written in Sanskrit. 

• It was composed by the sage Patanjali drawing upon the previous works and older traditions on Yoga. 
• It is dated between 500 BCE and 400 CE. 
• In the treatise, Patanjali describes Yoga as having eight limbs (Ashtanga). They are yama (abstinences), niyama (observances), asana (yoga postures), pranayama (breath control), pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (absorption).
• During medieval times, it was translated into about 40 Indian languages and also into Arabic and Old Javanese. 
• The Yogasutra was almost forgotten in modern times until Swami Vivekananda resurrected it and took it to the West.

What is Hatha Yoga?

Hatha Yoga emerged during the Middle Ages (500 – 1500 CE). It was during this period that many satellite traditions of yoga emerged.

• Hatha means force and what is practised in modern times is essentially this form of Yoga with the focus on physical exercise, asanas and breathing exercises.
• Hatha Yoga is a preparatory process of Yoga so that the body is capable of sustaining higher levels of energy.
• The oldest text describing Hatha Yoga is the Amritasiddhi (11th century CE), although the term itself is not mentioned in the work. 

Yoga as Soft Power

In 2014, the United Nations General Assembly declared the 21st of June to be observed every year as ‘International Yoga Day’. This was initiated by India and is seen as the projection of India’s soft power.

The theme for 2020 International Day of Yoga was – “Yoga for Health – Yoga at Home”

• Other aspects of India’s soft power have been Bollywood, Ayurveda, Vedanta, classical arts, Indian handicrafts, cuisines, etc.
• The projection of Yoga has been largely successful which is reflected in the fact that the proposal received support from more than 170 countries.
• It also showed the popularity of the ancient Indian practice of Yoga all over the world. 
  • Currently, there are over 300 million practitioners of Yoga worldwide.
  • Around 50% of the practitioners are Indian-origin.
  • Yoga is popular in countries as varied as Spain, the US, Portugal, Indonesia, Morocco, the UK, Costa Rica, Italy, and so on.
• The government is trying to harness the popularity of Yoga and its benefits to project India’s contributions to the world in the field of health and well-being and also spirituality.
• It can also be a big tourist boost for the country with many people visiting the country especially with a focus on learning and practicing yoga in its birthplace.
• The idea behind the Yoga day celebrations and the government’s efforts in this direction is that humanity should acknowledge and celebrate Yoga – India’s gift to the world.

Drone operations

Context: 34 green zone sites approved for NPNT compliant drone operations.

Details

• The Ministry of Civil Aviation has granted permit to “No-Permission-No-Take off’ (NPNT) compliant drone operations at 34 additional green zones to facilitate, smoothen, and promote drone operations in the country.
• The approved sites allow drone usage up to 400 ft Above Ground Level (AGL).
• These zones are in addition to the twenty-six green zone sites approved in Feb 2021 and six green zone sites approved in April 2020.

NPNT Compliance

• As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), “NPNT or ‘No Permission – No Take-off’ compliance enables every Remotely Piloted Aircraft (except Nano) to obtain a valid permission through Digital Sky platform before operating in India.
• This further allows non operationalization of drones prior to necessary approvals.
• Flying in these approved ‘green-zones’ will require only intimation of the time and location of the flights via the Digital Sky portal or the app.
• The framework mandates users to register on an online portal which acts as the national unmanned traffic management system for remotely piloted aircraft.
• Drone flights in the green zone sites shall be compliant with the applicable conditions of Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Rules, 2021.

Commercial coal mining

Context: India launches auctions for 2nd tranche of commercial coal mining.

Details

• India launched its 2nd tranche of auction for commercial coal mining offering 67 mines for sale of coal.
• This is the highest number of mines on offer in a particular tranche of auction after commencement of the auction regime since 2014.
• Out of the total 67 mines offered by the Ministry of Coal, 23 mines are under CM(SP) Act and 44 under MMDR Act.
• The coal mines on offer are a mix of mines with small and large reserves, coking and non-coking mines and fully and partially explored mines spread across six states namely, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh.
• The commercialisation of coal mining was announced in tranche 4 of the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.
• The government had announced that it would remove the government monopoly on coal mining by introducing commercial mining on a revenue sharing basis.
• The private sector would be allowed to bid for 50 coal blocks. Private players would also be allowed to undertake exploration activities.
• The commercial coal mining auctions are completely different from the earlier regime of restricted sectors, use and price. Now there are no such restrictions at all.
• The proposed auctions have terms and conditions which are very liberal allowing new companies to participate in the bidding process, reduced upfront amount, adjustment of upfront amount against royalty, liberal efficiency parameters to encourage flexibility to operationalize the coal mines, transparent bidding process, 100% FDI through automatic route allowed and reasonable financial terms and revenue sharing model based on National Coal Index.
  • The Coal Ministry is developing a National Coal Index to fix the price of coal for commercial mining, which would include a weighted combination of monthly prices of coal in various channels of transaction.
• The successful bidders also will have flexibility in coal production unlike in the past and have provision for incentives for early production and coal gasification.

Central Scrutiny Centre

Context: Finance Minister launches the Central Scrutiny Centre (CSC) to scrutinise user filings.

About the Central Scrutiny Centre

• The CSC is an initiative of the Corporate Affairs Ministry to scrutinise the filings by users under straight through processes.
• The objective behind the launch of CSC is to ensure that data quality is uncompromised and free from flaws.
• CSC will primarily scrutinise the filings made by users under straight through processes, identify data quality issues and irregularities, and communicate the same to the concerned Registrar of Companies so that corrective steps can be taken to restore authenticity and correctness of data and it can be seamlessly shared with other regulators, if required.

The minister also launched the mobile app of Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA).

• The mobile app aims at achieving the goal of financial literacy, spreading investor awareness, education, and protection among investors.
• The prime goal here is to push Ease of Living.
• The app will have the facility of tracking the status and progress of IEPF claim refund process.
• It will also provide a mechanism for investors and common citizens to report on suspected fraudulent schemes.

According to the Ministry, the two initiatives aim to strengthen the Prime Minister’s vision of a ‘Digitally empowered India’.

Prelims Facts

Central Ground Water Board (CGWB)

• CGWB is an organisation under the Department of Water Resources, River Development, and Ganga Rejuvenation, Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India.
• Its mandate is to develop and disseminate technologies, and monitor and implement national policies for the scientific and sustainable development and management of India’s ground water resources, including their exploration, assessment, conservation, augmentation, protection from pollution and distribution, based on principles of economic and ecological efficiency and equity.
• CGWB is the national apex agency entrusted with the responsibilities of providing scientific inputs for management, exploration, monitoring, assessment, augmentation and regulation of ground water resources of the country.
• It was established in 1970 by renaming the Exploratory Tube wells Organization under the Ministry of Agriculture. It was merged with the Ground Water Wing of the Geological Survey of India during 1972.
• The Board is implementing the National Aquifer Mapping and Management program (NAQUIM), which envisages mapping of aquifers (water bearing formations), their characterization and development of Aquifer Management Plans to facilitate sustainable management of ground water resources.