UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 01-03-2021

PSLV-C51/Amazonia-1 Mission

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched Brazil’s Amazonia-1 satellite along with 18 co-passenger satellites onboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C51).
PSLV-C51 is the 53^rd flight of PSLV and 3^rd flight of PSLV in 'DL' configuration (with 2 solid strap-on boosters).
Orbit - Sun synchronous polar orbit.
The 18 co-passenger satellites onboard PSLV-C51 includes four from IN-SPACe and fourteen from NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL).
1. 4 from IN-SPACe - 3 UNITYsats from the consortium of 3 Indian academic institutes and 1 Satish Dhawan Sat from Space Kidz India
2. 14 satellites from NSIL - Satellites from India (1) and USA (13)
These satellites are intended for providing Radio relay services.

Amazonia-1

Amazonia-1 is the first dedicated commercial mission of NSIL, a Government of India Company under Department of Space.
Amazonia-1 is the optical earth observation satellite of the Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE).
It would provide remote sensing data to users for monitoring deforestation in Amazon region and analysis of diversified agriculture across the Brazilian territory.

Dekho ApnaDesh Campaign

DekhoApnaDesh is initiated by the Ministry of Tourism by releasing the content of the pledge during a function on Mygov platform.
It promotes domestic tourism in India which is intended to enhance tourist footfalls in places of tourist interest - to develop local economy.
During the lockdown period, the Tourism Ministry organised webinars on the overall theme of 'DekhoApnaDesh'.
Objective of the webinars - To create awareness, provide and in-depth knowledge on and promote several tourism destinations in India.

One District One Focus Product

Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, and Ministry of Food Processing Industries has finalized the products for One District One Focus Product (ODOFP).
Products - Agricultural, horticultural, animal husbandry, poultry, milk, fisheries, aquaculture, marine and processed food sectors.
These products - identified from 728 districts across the country - are finalized after taking inputs from States/UTs and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
They will be promoted in a cluster approach through convergence of the schemes, to increase the farmers’ income and value of the products.
Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare will support ODOFP from its ongoing centrally sponsored schemes - MIDH, NFSM, RKVY, PKVY.
Ministry of Food Processing Industries will support these products under the PM Formlisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PM-FME) scheme - provides incentives to promoter and micro-enterprises.
This scheme needs to be implemented by State Governments.

Pagdi Sambhal Jatta

Bhagat Singh’s nephew says that farmer’s protest against the three agrarian laws mirrors Pagdi Sambhal Jatta movement of 1907.
In 1906, the British passed three detrimental agrarian laws - Doab Bari Act, Punjab Land Colonisation Act, Punjab Land Alienation Act.
In 1906-1907, Ajit Singh (Bhagat Singh’s uncle) started the ‘Pagdi Sambhal Jatta’ agitation with Lala Lajpat Rai, Kishan Singh (Bhagat Singh’s father), Ghasita Ram and others to get the laws repealed.
The laws enraged the farmers, which led to unrest across Punjab, with the British government ultimately cancelling the three laws.

Etikoppaka Bommalu

Etikoppaka is a small village located on the banks of the river Varaha in Vishakhapatnam district of Andhra Pradesh.
Etikoppaka Bommalu (or Etikoppaka toys), which have Geographical Indication (GI) Tag, are the toys made of soft wood in this region.
They are also called as lacquer toys because of application of Turned Wood Lacquer Coating.
They are coloured with natural dyes derived from seeds, lacquer, bark, roots and leaves.

Channapatna Toys

These are a particular form of wooden toys (and dolls) that are made in Channapatna town in Ramanagara district, Karnataka.
Due to the popularity of this geographical indication (GI) tagged toys, Channapatna is known as Gombegala Ooru (toy-town) of Karnataka.
This toy is made by lacquering the Wrightia tinctoria wood (Aale mara or ivory-wood) or sandalwood or rosewood.
The origin of these toys can be traced to the reign of Tipu Sultan who invited artisans from Persia to train the local artisans in toy making.
Bavas Miyan is the father of Channapatna Toy, who used Japanese technology for toys making.

Nirmal Art

Nirmal Art is 400-year-old rich tradition that encompasses wood toys and attractive duco paintings (Shiny paintings) as well as furniture.
This traditional art has a geographical indication (GI) tag.
Nirmal wooden toys are exclusively made in Nirmal town in Adilabad district of Telangana.
Rajasthan’s Naqqash families, who migrated during 17^th century, brought this art to Nirmal. It flourished due to the legacy of Hyderabad Nizam.
These toys were made of finely carved softwood called Ponki chekka or white sander. They are even painted in enamel colours.

Other toys:

Source: PIB, The Hindu, Live Mint, The Print