GS-1, Prelims

Topic: Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.

Marble dorms of Aurangabad Bibi Ka maqbara to get a new glow

• Bibi Ka maqbara is a 17th century Mughal Era monument which is located in Aurangabad,
• The monument is to undergo scientific conservation by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).
• Archaeological Survey of India is an Indian government agency attached to the Ministry of Culture.
• It is responsible for archaeological research and conservation or preservation of cultural monuments in the country.
• Founded: 1871 by Alexander Cunningham
• Headquarters: New Delhi.

GS-3, Prelims

Topic: Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life.

107th Indian Science Congress in Bengaluru from January 3

• 107th Indian Science Congress is to be held at the University of Agricultural Science, Bengaluru between 3-7 January 2020.
• ICS is normally held in 1^st week of January.
• The theme of the Congress of this year is ‘Science and Technology: Rural Development’.
• It has been argued that Congress needs new ideas which are practical for society and not just a mix of myth and pseudoscience.
• It now becomes a “Science Mela” for the country in which various new technology introduced towards aiming a successful India.
• Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA) is a scientific organisation of India which was started in 1914 in Kolkata by JL Simonsen and PS MacMohan.
• Its headquarters at Kolkata, West Bengal Congress meets annually in the first week of January.

Aim of ISC

This gathering of scientists aims “How Science and Technology can help in the formation of New Nation”.

Human Space Flight Centre (HSFC) to be established in Karnataka

India’s world-class faculty of astronauts gathered in Challakere, a shrubby, arid oilseeds town in Karnataka to form single-stop consolidating infrastructure and activities related to space travelers.

This faculty will be autonomous and will be looking at India’s future projects Like Ganganyaan and other future missions in the space.

Prelims, GS2, GS3

National Renewable Energy Database.

Renewable Energy: is kind of energy that can be renewed like Solar Energy, wind energy, water energy

India’s Current Status wrt Renewable Energy:

• India’s solar and wind capacity has now crossed 68 GW, compared to a modest 16 GW in 2010.
• In the context of solar energy India globally ranks 3rd largest market after China and the US.
• The ambition of GOI regarding Renewable Energy (RE).
• India targets of 450 GW of installed RE capacity by 2030.
• This requires the investment of a huge amount of money.
• To put it into perspective, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) estimated the accumulated exposure of the Indian scheduled commercial banking system to the power sector as a whole, to be around Rs 5.65 lakh crore.

Prelims based facts

Topic: Current events of National and International importance.

Challakare to be ISRO’s astronaut training hub

• Challakare is a town in Bengaluru on Bengaluru-Pune NH4 is situated in Chitradurga district in Karnataka.
• A world-class facility for training astronauts is to come up at this place which is to be developed by ISRO.
• It is to be completed in 3 years.

Faiz Ahmed Faiz

• Faiz Ahmed Faiz was an Urdu poet.
• He was nominated for Nobel prize in literature.
• He wrote the poem ‘Hum Dekhenge’ which is in news currently.

NAL wants the government to push for Saras to take off

• Saras Mk-2 who developed by National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) is the first indigenous light transport aircraft.
• It is 20-25% lower in cost than other aircraft in a similar category.
• It is a 19-seater aircraft developed at the cost of ₹50 crores.
• The NAL has been pitching Saras Mk-2 for government’s UDAN (Udega Desh ka Aam Nagrik) since it has the capacity to operate in “ill-equipped”, “semi-prepared” and “unpaved airstrips”.

Topic: General Science.

Pune to host 5^th edition of global Drosophila conference

• The last 4 editions of the conference were hosted at Taipei, Seoul, Beijing, and Osaka.
• What is Drosophila?
  • Drosophila is a fruit fly that is the most widely used and preferred model organism in biological research.

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GS-1: Indian Heritage and culture, history and geography of the world and society

Tussle over Belagavi

Topic: Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country

• The border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka
• Belagavi (earlier Belgaum) is the epicenter of the issue from the last six decades
• In 1957 when the States Reorganisation Act, 156 was being implemented, Maharashtra demanded the readjustment of its border with Karnataka because of Marathi-speaking areas being added to Karnataka.
• It claimed an area covering 814 villages and 3 urban settlements (Belagavi, Karwar, and Nippani), which were, before independence, a part of the Mumbai presidency.
• In 1960, a four-member (2 from each state) committee was set up to resolve the issue in which Maharashtra agreed to transfer 260 Tamil-speaking villages to Karnataka in return for 814 villages and 3 urban settlements. Karnataka didn’t agree.
• Between the 1960s and 1980s, the chief ministers of both states have met several times to resolve the issue but came up with no solution.
• Efforts by union government- in 1966, it set up a one-man commission under chief justice of the Supreme Court of India, Meher Chand Mahajan, to look into the border dispute of Karnataka (then known as the Mysore state) and Maharashtra. The commission also got the responsibility of looking into Karnataka’s demand for integrating Kannada-speaking areas in Kasaragod in Kerala.
• Commission report came in 1967 and was presented in parliament in 1972. It rejected Maharashtra’s claim over Belagavi city while recommending the transfer of 260 villages to Maharashtra and about 250 villages from Maharashtra to Karnataka.
• Karnataka accepted the report but not by Maharashtra.
• In 2004, Maharashtra approached the Supreme Court for a settlement under article 132(b) of the constitution. Karnataka has questioned it. One judge has recused so a new bench is to be set up.
• Withdraw Savarkar booklet NCP

Topic: Modern Indian history from about the middle of the 18 century until the present significant events, personalities, issues.

• Vinayak Damodar Savarkar also is known as Veer Savarkar was an Indian nationalist and president of Hindu Mahasabha.
• He was involved in the swadeshi movement. He later joined tilak’s swaraj party.
• He called the revolt of 1857 as the first Indian war of independence. It is the title of his book too.

GS-2: governance, constitution, polity, Social justice, and international relations

The double burden of malnutrition: the need for urgent policy intervention

Topic: Issues relating to the development and management of social sector/services related to health, education, human resources and Issues relating to poverty and hunger

• India’s ‘father of nutrition’ is Dr. C. Gopalan.
• Challenges regarding nutrition in India:
  • A work led by ICMR published in Lancet Global Health shows that progress in maternal and child undernutrition varies largely among states
  • Malnutrition contributes the most to child deaths as well as disability in adults.
  • According to the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey, 10% of children under 19 years have pre-diabetes.
  • Recent work by IFPRI and Emory university highlighted how economic progress is a double-edged sword- on one hand, it reduces underweight among women and on the other hand it leads to overweight among others.
  • Studies published by various researchers have shown that early-life undernutrition leads to later-life adult diseases, along with food environments, physical activity, and preventive healthcare.
• Solutions for some of these challenges:
  • India should be focusing on nutrition for saving the lives of children under five.
  • Public policy interventions are required across multiple ministries.
  • Incentivizing the cultivation and consumption of a range of food commodities.
  • The government should focus on buying better nutrition and not just focusing on providing more calories (as is the case of PDS, ICDS and school meals)
  • Ensuring optimal healthcare of adolescents, pregnant women, and young children.
  • Restricting the marketing of unhealthy foods and drinks.
  • Expanding efforts to improve nutrition literacy.
• Various policies and programs:
  • For child undernutrition- POSHAN Abhiyan
  • For Anaemia-mukt Bharat
  • For healthy eating- Eat Right India

• 171 hospitals de-listed from PM’s Health scheme after fraud

Topic: Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation

• Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (PM-JAY) is the Centre’s ambitious insurance scheme under the National Health Authority (NHA).
• Over 19000 hospitals across 9 states are empaneled to the scheme, of which 390 have been either served show-cause notices, suspended or de-empaneled (171) for alleged fraud.
• It has been found that private hospitals were performing procedures reserved for government hospitals only.
• Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Punjab are the states where frauds have been detected.
• It provides a health insurance cover of 5 lakh rupees per family.

GS-3: Technology, Economic Development, Biodiversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management

How humans affect the genetic connectivity of four mammals

Topic: conservation, environmental pollution, and degradation, environmental impact assessment

• A new study from National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru has added anthropogenic activities along with existing reasons (like changing landscape, habitat loss, fragmentation, and global climate change) as a major reason for biodiversity decline worldwide.
• The study says that anthropogenic activities can impact genetic connectivity (or the movement among habitat patches), usually resulting in mating and genetic exchange.
• Isolation of habitat patches due to habitat destruction and fragmentation can restrict animal movement among habitat patches and thus reduce genetic exchange and increase the probability of extinction. Hence, maintaining connectivity is crucial to ensure the long-term survival of species.
• In the study, which was conducted on four mammals (jungle cats, leopards, sloth bears, and tigers), tigers are the most affected by human activities (like land use, human population density, nearby roads and traffic) and Jungle cats are the least impacted but they too experience road-kills.
• Way forward:
  • presence of overpasses or underpasses in currently well-connected population areas.
  • Paying attention to the formation of wildlife corridors.
• Last year, the government released a document laying out regulatory requirements for developing roads, railways, and powerlines while recognizing the impacts on wildlife and people. NHAI and all PWDs are instructed to follow the guidelines.

• WHO pre-qualifies Serum’s low-cost pneumococcal vaccine?

Topic: achievements of Indians in Science and technology, indigenization of technology, and development of new technology

• A pneumococcal vaccine, PNEUMOSIL, has been developed by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India.
• It had been pre-qualified by WHO in the third week of December 2019.
• The new vaccine will cost $2 per dose, which is 30% cheaper than the existing Gavi vaccine.

Prelims

1. WHO pre-qualifies Serum’s low-cost pneumococcal vaccine.
2. Miyawaki afforestation
3. The Miyawaki afforestation model was pioneered by Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki to successfully convert land destroyed by human activity and natural calamities, along the Japanese coastline, into mini forests.
4. The Kerala government used this model, which has revolutionized the concept of urban afforestation by turning backyards into many forests.
5. The Kerala government now plans to extend this model to restore the land affected by floods, landslips and soil erosion under its Rebuild Kerala Initiative.
6. Chilika may host over 1 million birds
   1. Chilika Lake is the largest winter ground for migratory birds.
   1. It is the country’s largest brackish water lagoon.
   1. It is also Asia’s largest and the world’s second-largest lagoon.
   1. It is located on the east coast of Odisha on river Daya.
   1. It is home to a number of endangered species of plants and animals like Irrawaddy dolphins.
   1. It was the first Indian wetland to be designated as an Indian wetland of international importance under the Ramsar convention in 1981.
   1. Nalabana Island (Forest of reeds), part of this Lagoon, was declared a bird sanctuary in 1987.
7. Gurdwara Nankana Sahib
   1. Also known as Gurudwara Janam Asthan.
   1. The site where the Guru of Sikhs, Guru Nanak, was born.
   1. Located in Lahore, Pakistan is considered a holy site for Sikhs.
   1. In the news because of a mob attack.

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ART AND CULTURE Handout (SUPPLEMENTARY) for UPSC Prelims and Mains GS 1 Examination.

Indian art and culture form a substantial part of the UPSC syllabus, impacting performance across exam stages. A comprehensive understanding not only boosts scores but also aids in comprehending broader social, political, and historical contexts.

1. Study of Indian History and Civilizations: 
   1. Delving into Indian history is crucial, covering eras such as the Indus Valley Civilization, the Vedic Period, the Mauryan Empire, and the Gupta Dynasty.
   2. Exploring the contributions of influential rulers, artists, and thinkers from various historical periods enhances your grasp of the subject.
2. Exploring Traditional Indian Arts and Crafts:
   1. Traditional art, including miniature paintings, Madhubani paintings, and Tanjore paintings, provides insights into India’s cultural heritage.
   2. Understanding these art forms’ techniques, themes, and cultural symbolism is essential.
3. Indian Classical Music and Dance Forms: A comprehensive understanding of classical music genres, dance forms, historical context, classical ragas, and intricate footwork is vital.
   1. A comprehensive understanding of classical music genres (Hindustani and Carnatic) and dance forms (Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi) is vital.
   2. Exploring the historical context, classical ragas, and intricate footwork associated with these art forms enhances your appreciation.
4. Immersing in Indian Literature and Poetry:
   1. Reading ancient texts like the Vedas and Upanishads and epics like the Ramayana provides insights into diverse literary traditions.
   2. Analyzing the themes, writing styles, and contributions of celebrated authors like Tagore, R.K. Narayan, and Premchand is essential.
5. Watching Indian Cinema and Theatre:
   1. Indian cinema, especially Bollywood, profoundly impacts popular culture, portraying cultural themes and traditions.
   2. Attending live theatre performances, encompassing traditional Indian plays and modern productions provides a firsthand experience of Indian performing arts.
6. Examining the Influence on Modern Society:
   1. Understanding how Indian art and culture influence modern society in fashion, design, music, and literature is imperative.
   2. Analyzing the fusion of traditional and contemporary art forms in the works of modern Indian artists broadens your perspective.
7. Online Resources for Indian Art and Culture:
   1. Use dedicated online resources such as the National Portal of India, the Archaeological Survey of India’s website, and state cultural websites.
   2. Accessing comprehensive information, articles, videos, and interactive materials online enhances your understanding.
8. Interacting with Experts and Artists:
   1. Engaging in discussions and seeking guidance from experts in Indian art and culture is invaluable.
   2. Participation in seminars, workshops, and lectures by renowned scholars, historians, artists, and curators enhances your knowledge through direct interaction.
9. Guided Tours and Cultural Exchange Programs:
   1. Participation in guided tours and cultural exchange programs provides immersive experiences across diverse regions of India.
   2. Engaging with local communities and artists during these programs offers a firsthand understanding of various art forms, rituals, and cultural practices.
10. Self-Evaluation and Practice Questions for UPSC Preparation:
    1. Regularly assessing your knowledge through practice questions and UPSC-specific mock exams is crucial.
    2. Identifying strengths and weaknesses and focusing on improvement, using study materials and reference books tailored for UPSC preparation, is an ongoing process.

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Download Art and Culture Handout (Supplementary) Notes

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