Geographical Indications

Recently 7 products from across India, including 4 from Rajasthan, were given the Geographical Indication (GI) tag

• Mankurad Mango – It is also known as malcorada, cardozo mankurad, corado, and Goa mankur.
• Goan bebinca – Is also known as the ‘queen of Goan desserts’ which is a traditional Indo-Portuguese pudding.
• Jalesar Dhatu Shilp – Includes ghungrus (anklets), ghantis (bells) and other decorative metal craft and brassware.
  • The Thatheras community, which resides in a mohalla (locality) named Hathuras, makes these products.
• Udaipur Koftgari Metal Craft – Weapons are exquisitely ornamented by a complicated process.
• Bikaner Kashidakari Craft – Traditionally created on cotton, silk or velvet with a variety of fine stitches and mirror-work, mainly for objects associated with marriage, especially gift items.
  • The mirrors are believed to repel the ‘evil eye’ with their reflective surfaces.
  • The weaving of fabrics by hand used to be done by the Meghwal community in Bikaner and nearby districts.
• Jodhpur Bandhej Craft – Is the Rajasthani art of tying and dyeing.
• The fabrics used for Bandhej are muslin, silk and voile. Cotton thread is used for tying the fabric.
• Bikaner Usta Kala Craft – Is also known as gold nakashi or gold manauti work due to the prominence of its long-lasting golden colour.
  • Untreated raw camel hide is processed and moulded by the Dapgar community of leather craftspeople for the requirements of the Usta.

MASI Portal for Monitoring Child Care Institutions (CCIs)

• MASI - Monitoring App for Seamless Inspection for real time monitoring of the Child Care Institutions (CCIs) and their inspection mechanism across the country.
• It serves as a single platform for inspections of all the CCIs across the country by the following authorities:
  • Child Welfare Committees (CWCs),
  • State Inspection Committees,
  • District Inspection Committees,
  • Members of Juvenile Justice Boards (JJBs) and
  • State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs).
• CWC is the authority that dispose the cases for the care, protection, treatment, development and rehabilitation of children in need of care & protection.
• CWC also provides basic needs and protection of human rights for children.
• National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has developed an application ‘MASI’.
• The app is linked to the monitoring Portal where the automatic reports are generated.
• The effective and efficient functioning of the mechanism for inspection of CCIs provided under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 (as amended in 2021).
• The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015, makes it mandatory to establish at least one Child Welfare Committee (CWC) in each district.

Wildfires and heatwaves

Wildfires and heatwaves have been raging across the Northern Hemisphere in the past month (July), even as many countries across Europe, Asia and northern America have been experiencing record-high temperatures

• Spain – Has been bearing the brunt of wildfires, particularly in the Canary Islands where 4,000 people to flee and forced others to wear face masks.

• Syria – The fires in Latakia raged for five days before rescuers could control it.
• Turkey – The seaside town of Kemer was affected by wildfire.
  • In the western coastal province of Izmir, towns of Kinik and Odemis were also affected by wildfires.
• Greece – Wildfires which were initially confined to the islands of Rhodes and Corfu spread towards the mainland with the city of Volos facing a large brunt of the crisis.
• Italy – Is facing extreme weather events that are occurring in both the northern and southern regions of the country.
  • The Palermo airport in Sicily has been closed down due to raging wildfires.
  • Sardinia and Calabria have also reported dozens of fires while evacuations were ordered.
  • In the north, Lombardy is being battered by severe storms that have already killed a woman and a sixteen-year-old girl.
• Croatia – In the country’s south along the Adriatic Sea coast, a wildfire was raging a few kilometres from the renowned walled town of Dubrovnik.

The World Heritage Committee

Recently the UNESCO heritage committee stopped short of listing Australia's Great Barrier Reef as a site that is "in danger"

• The Convention concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, adopted by UNESCO in 1972.
• The World Heritage Committee consists of representatives from 21 of the States Parties including India to the Convention elected by their General Assembly.
• It meets once a year in ordinary session and in extraordinary session upon request of two-thirds of its members.

Functions

• The world Heritage Committee is responsible for the implementation of the World Heritage Convention.
• It defines the use of the World Heritage Fund and allocates financial assistance upon requests from States Parties.
• It has the final say on whether a property is inscribed on the World Heritage List.
• It examines reports on the state of conservation of inscribed properties and asks States Parties to take action when properties are not being properly managed.
• It also decides on the inscription or deletion of properties on the List of World Heritage in Danger.

PEHCHAN scheme

• PEHCHAN scheme was launched in 2016 to provide new identity to handicraft artisans so that the benefits of various schemes are provided to the deserving artisans.
• Pehchan card holders can avail the benefits of all the handicrafts schemes implemented by Ministry of Textiles. The schemes includes:
  • National Handicraft Development Programme (NHDP) and
  • Comprehensive Handicrafts Cluster Development Scheme (CHCDS).
• The financial benefits /assistance provided to registered handicraft artisan under the schemes are:
  • Skill & Training upgradation, design development workshops, tool kit distributions, marketing platforms, infrastructural support.
  • Individual benefits to artisans like Mudra loan, Interest Subvention and Margin Money on Mudra loan.
  • Shilp Guru and National Awards to master artisans.
  • Monthly pension of Rs 8,000to awardee artisans under indigent circumstances.