5th, April, 2022

 

 

Topic: Education

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

What is the news?

• The Director of Higher Education has given approval to the principals of all government colleges to purchase a full set of four Vedas in Hindi or English so as to popularize these ancient religious scriptures among students and teachers.

 

Purpose:

• The initiative will encourage teachers and students to read and understand the Vedas, enrich their knowledge and propagate Vedic sciences.
• The Vedas, considered as a sea of knowledge, will also enable readers to understand the value system of ancient India and encourage inquisitive students to study Sanskrit for a deeper understanding of the Vedas.

 

The New Education Policy (NEP) also stresses on popularizing Sanskrit, which will be taught invariably from Class III to X.

 

About Vedas:

• The Vedas are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India.
• Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the oldest layer of Sanskrit literature and the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. There are four Vedas: the Rigveda, the Yajurveda, the Samaveda and the Atharvaveda.

(Source: HP Tribune)

 

 

Topic: Tribal Issue

 

Importance: Himachal HPAS Prelims and Mains

 

What is the news?

• Center refuses tribal status to Himachal’s Trans-Giri area, Dodra Kwar.
• Clarifies that no such notification issued for Jaunsar Bawar of Uttarakhand.
• In a setback to the Hattee community of Sirmaur district, the Ministry of Tribal Affairs today clarified that the state government’s proposal to notify ‘tribal status’ to the Trans-Giri area of Sirmaur district, Dodra Kwar subdivision of Shimla district and areas of Shimla and Kullu districts could not be considered due to want of criteria.

 

Constitutional Provision:

• The provision of Article 244 of the Constitution enables the designation of certain areas as Scheduled and Tribal Areas. The Constitution provides for two types of areas, areas designated as “Schedules Areas” in terms of Fifth Schedule of the Constitution and areas designated as “Tribal Areas” in terms of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
• The reply further clarified that according to the Constitutional provision of the Fifth Schedule under Article 244(I) of the Constitution, the expression “Schedules Areas” means such areas as the President may by order declare to be Scheduled Areas. The specification of a Scheduled Area or modification of an existing SA is done after consultation with the Governor of that state and through notification issued with the approval of the President.
• The ministry also clarified that the Jaunsar Bawar area of Uttarakhand had not been notified as SA neither under Article 244(I) of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, nor the Tribal Area under Article 244(2) of the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
• The state government has been pursuing the case since 2016. The Tran-Giri area was part of the erstwhile the Jaunsar Bawar area of Uttarakhand and both areas were part of the royal Sirmaur state. Though Hattee leaders had been claiming that the Jaunsar Bawar area had been granted the tribal status, the ministry’s reply clarified that no such notification had been issued.
• Only Kinnaur enjoys the ST status in Himachal. The tribal status to the area requires a constitutional amendment. Over 3 lakh people of 144 panchayats of the area would have benefited from this status.

(Source: HP Tribune)