5th, September, 2022

 

Topic: Teachers Day

 

Importance: Punjab PCS Prelims and Mains

 

Punjab PCS Prelims: Society & Culture : Important Personalities

Punjab PCS Mains:

• Paper 4: General Aptitude I: Topic: Society : lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders and reformers.

 

 

What is the news?

• Former president of India, great scholar Dr. Dedicated to Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan ji.
• Every year his birthday is celebrated as a teacher’s day in India.
• The Punjab government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann salutes all the teachers who enlightened the lives of our youth and our society with the light of their knowledge.

Why is the Teacher’s Day celebrated?

• Teachers’ Day is celebrated on September 5 every year in India to acknowledge the contribution of teachers in the society. The day marks the birth anniversary of India’s second President and first Vice President Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.

 

Why 5th September is celebrated as Teacher’s Day?

• Every year September 5 is celebrated as Teachers Day in India. The day marks the birth anniversary of Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, India’s first Vice-President and second President. He was a celebrated academic and the recipient of Bharat Ratna.

 

About Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan:

1) Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, (born Sept. 5, 1888, Tiruttani, India—died April 16, 1975, Madras [now Chennai]), scholar and statesman who was president of India from 1962 to 1967. He served as professor of philosophy at Mysore (1918–21) and Calcutta (1921–31; 1937–41) universities and as vice chancellor of Andhra University (1931–36). He was professor of Eastern religions and ethics at the University of Oxford in England (1936–52) and vice chancellor of Benares Hindu University (1939–48) in India. From 1953 to 1962 he was chancellor of the University of Delhi.

2) Radhakrishnan led the Indian delegation to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO; 1946–52) and was elected chairman of UNESCO’s executive board (1948–49). From 1949 to 1952 he served as Indian ambassador to the Soviet Union. On his return to India in 1952 he was elected vice president, and on May 11, 1962, he was elected president, succeeding Rajendra Prasad, who was the first president of independent India. Radhakrishnan retired from politics five years later.

3) Radhakrishnan’s written works include Indian Philosophy, 2 vol. (1923–27), The Philosophy of the Upanishads (1924), An Idealist View of Life (1932), Eastern Religions and Western Thought (1939), and East and West: Some Reflections (1955). In his lectures and books he tried to interpret Indian thought for Westerners.

(Source: Punjab Government and Britannica)

 

 

Topic: Birth Anniversay of of Baba Sri Chand Ji, the elder son of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji.

 

Importance: Punjab PCS Prelims and Mains

 

Punjab PCS Prelims: Society & Culture : Spiritual personalities

Punjab PCS Mains:

• Paper 4: General Aptitude I: Topic: Society : lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders and reformers

 

 

What is the news?

• The Punjab Government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann congratulates everyone on the occasion of the birthday of Baba Sri Chand Ji, the elder son of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji.

 

About Baba Sri Chand ji:

• Sri Chand (1494 to 1643), also called Baba Sri Chand is the elder son of Guru Nanak and the founder of the ascetic sect of Udasis. He was born to Mata Sulakhani on Bhadon sudi 9, 1551 Bk / 9 September 1494 at Sultanpur Lodhi, now in Kapurthala district of the Punjab.
• This type of arrangement where the child is born at the mother’s parental (“Nanakay” meaning ‘maternal grandparents’) home was a quite common and accepted custom at that time.
• Sri Chand mastered the techniques of yoga at a very young age. He remained devoted to his father, Baba Nanak and established the Udasi order. He travelled far and wide and spread awareness of Guru Nanak.
• Baba Sri Chand was held in great esteem by the ensuing Sikh Gurus. Baba Mohan, the eldest son of Guru Amar Das and the person who is best known as the custodian of Guru Sahib’s Pothis (hand written verses) from which Guru Arjun Dev compiled the Guru Granth Sahib also became a renunciate, possibly influenced by Sri Chand.

 

Early Life:

• After Guru Nanak left home on his travels to distant lands, Baba Sri Chand’s mother, Mata Sulakhani took him and his younger brother, Lakhmi Das, to her parents` home at Pakkhoke Randhave on the left bank of the River Ravi.
• Guru Nanak had discourses with various yogis and their disciples like Gorakh, Bhangarnath, Loharipa, Hanifa, Kanifa, Bharthari etc. He taught them by answering their direct questions.
• When Guru Nanak, after his travels, had settled down at KARTARPUR on the right bank of Ravi and not far from Pakkhoke, Siri Chand rejoined the family.

Reburial of Guru Nanak’s Ashes:

• Guru Nanak having chosen one of his disciples as his spiritual successor, passed away at Kartarpur on 7 September 1539 and a monument was raised over the site where his ashes were buried. As the monument was washed away by floods in the river, Siri Chand had the urn containing the ashes salvaged, reburied it at some distance close to the well of Ajitta Randhava, a devotee of the late Guru, and built a mud hut over it.
• The place came to be revered as a dehri or samadh (mausoleum) of Guru Nanak around which the present town of Dera Baba Nanak grew. It is mentioned in accounts of the time that that when Guru Ram Das met Baba Siri Chand, Baba Siri Chand Ji commented that Guru Ram Das had the longest beard he had seen. Guru Ram Das replied, “It is to wipe the feet of the saints like you”. Guru Ram Das bent down to do so, and Siri Chand pulled his feet back in surprise.

 

Teaching of Sikh Traditions:

• Baba Siri Chand stayed on at Pakkhoke Randhave for some time. He gathered around him a band of his own disciples who, like him, shunned the householder`s life and practiced austerities. With his disciples he traveled throughout the length and breadth of India, initiating many as Udasin or Udasi (lit. indifferent, stoic) sect who functioned as itinerant teachers and established missionary centres at different places in the country and beyond.
• Through these Udasin Guru Nanak`s word was also carried to far corners of the land. Baba Siri Chand`s own main centre was at Barath, eight kilometres southwest of Pathankot in Gurdaspur district of Punjab. Baba Siri Chand also kept in touch with successive Gurus during his long life of well over a hundred years. The Gurus held him in high esteem. In 1626, when at the behest of Guru Hargobind, his eldest son, Baba Gurditta, proceeded to found the town of Kiratpur in the lower Sivalik hills, he had the ground broken by Baba Siri Chand Ji.

 

Death:

• Picture Depicting Baba Sri Chand picking his nephew from Lakhmi Das’s Horse
  Baba Sri Chand died at Kiratpur on Magh sudi 1,1685 bik/ 13 January 1629. Udasi Traditions say that he never died, but he vanished into the forest of Chamba.
• After Baba Siri Chand went invisible, the son of Guru Hargobind, Baba Gurditta became his successor as head of the Udasis. The Udasis protected and maintained the historical shrines of Anandpur, Hazoor Sahib and Amritsar for over a hundred years after Guru Gobind Singh’s death.

 

Some Important Points:

• Baba Sri Chand Ji is said to have composed “Aarta” a poem in the name of his father, Guru Nanak Dev Ji. Many of his compositions are known to be part of the Udasi scripture, Matra Sahib.
• When Guru Arjun Dev Ji was composing Sukhmani Sahib having 24 Ashtpadis and had completed 16 Ashtpadis, Baba Sri Chand Ji visited him. Guru Ji requested Baba Sri Chand Ji to write in Sukhmani Sahib, but the Baba said that writing Bani is the prerogative of Gurus. However, on insistence of Guru Arjan Dev, Baba Sri Chand suggested that a verse of Guru Nanak Dev Ji (Aad Sach, Jugad Sach, Hai Bhi Sach, Nanak Hosi Bhi Sach) be the beginning of the 17th Ashtapadi of Sukhmani Sahib and it remained so.
• Baba Gurditta the eldest son of Guru Hargobind Ji joined the Udasi sect and eventually replaced Baba Sri Chand as head of the sect. Baba Gurditta was the father of seventh Guru Har Rai Ji and grandfather of eight Guru Har Krishan Ji.
• Sikh institutions such as the Nihang, Damdami Taksal and most Jathedars revere Baba Sri Chand Ji.

 

Founder of the Udasin Sect : Baba Sri Chand ji

About Udasin Sect:

• Udasi or Udasin is a religious, ascetic sect, Sampradaya (tradition) which considers itself as denomination of Sikhism, and focuses on the teachings of its founder, Sri Chand (1494-1643), son of Guru Nanak Dev, the founder and the first guru of Sikhism. Its Time of origin is 1494 (birth of Baba Siri Chand Maharaj), established as an institution in early 1600s.
• The word ‘Udasi’ is derived from the Sanskrit word which means “one who is indifferent to or disregardful of worldly attachments, a stoic, or a mendicant.” In Sikh tradition, the term udasi has also been used for each of the four preaching tours of Guru Nanak Sahib Ji; in this sense, udasi meant a prolonged absence from home. Some scholars, including many Udasis, trace the origin of the sect back to the Puraṇic age, but, historically speaking, Baba Sri Chand was the founder.
• The major sect of Udasin ascetics was originally not Shaiva — nor even Hindu — but belonged to the Sikh religion. It was founded in the sixteenth century by a son of Guru Nanak — himself the founder of Sikhism — called Shrichandra. The Udasin are therefore also known as Nanakputras, the ‘sons of Nanak’, and they revere the Grantha Saheb, the sacred book of the Sikhs. They were excommunicated by the successor of Guru Nanak and gradually turned to Hinduism.

(Source: Punjab Government and Sikhiwiki)

 

 

Topic: Construction & upgradation of two important roads in border area of Punjab under Central Road Fund

 

Importance: Punjab PCS Prelims and Mains

 

Punjab PCS Prelims: Economy

Punjab PCS Mains:

• Paper 6: General Aptitude III: Topic: Indian Economy: Infrastructure- Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc; Investment models
• Paper 5: General Aptitude II: Topic: Probity in Governance: Utilization of public funds

 

What is the news?

• The Punjab Rural Development, NRI Affairs and Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister, Mr. Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, today met the Union Minister for Road Transport, Mr. Nitin Gadkari, at Transport Bhawan, New Delhi to take up development and strengthening of road infrastructure in the border areas of Punjab.
• Union Minister approves construction & upgradation of two important roads in border area of Punjab under Central Road Fund
• Also approves redevelopment of roads in Ajnala city and villages Awan, Gaggowal and Thoba.

Cabinet Minister Mr. Dhaliwal while talking to the media informed that:

 

1) The Union Ministry of Road Transport has given approval for the construction and up-gradation of two important roads in the border areas of Amritsar district.

2) The construction of Ghonewala Ramdass Road to Gulgarh road from near Dhusi Bann along the Ravi River and the development of Ajnala-Fatihgarh Churian-Ramdas road in border area block Ajnala have been given approval under the Central Road Fund (CRF).

 

How this will help?

• Due to the non-development of these two roads, the development of around 100 villages suffered a lot, but the completion of this project will give a big boost to the development of this area.
• ‘The Union Minister Gadkari has also given approval to develop the roads in Ajnala city and three roads between villages Awan, Gaggowal and Thoba under rehabilitation and assured to release the funds within the week for these roads.

 

About Central Road Fund (CRF):

• The Central Road Fund (CRF) is a non-lapsable fund created under Central Road Fund Act 2000. It is procured out of the out of cess/tax imposed by the Union Government on the consumption of Petrol and Diesel. CRF should be used to develop and maintain National Highways, State roads (that have economic importance with inter-state connectivity), rural roads, railway under/over bridges etc, and national waterways (waterways from 2017 onwards only). A welcome and interesting trend about the CRF is that its revenue is increasing at a significant pace during the last few years. This has helped the government to finance various road development projects with much ease.

 

The Central Road Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2017:

 

1) The Central Road Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2017 was introduced in Lok Sabha on July 24, 2017 by the Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Mr. Nitin Gadkari. The Bill amends the Central Road Fund Act, 2000. The Act regulates the Central Road Fund (CRF), that is credited with the cess collected on high speed diesel oil and petrol. This collected amount is then released to National Highways Authority of India, and to the state/union territory governments for the development of national and state highways. The Bill seeks to allocate a share of this cess towards the development of inland waterways.

2) Inclusion of inland waterways: The Bill defines national waterways as those that have been declared as ‘national waterways’ under the National Waterways Act, 2016. Currently, 111 waterways are specified under the 2016 Act.

3) Utilisation of fund: Under the 2000 Act, the fund can be utilized for various road projects, including: (i) national highways, (ii) state roads including roads of inter-state and economic importance, and (iii) rural roads. The Bill provides that in addition to these the fund will also be used for the development and maintenance of national waterways.

4) Powers of central government: Under the Act, the central government has the power to administer the fund. The central government will make decisions on the: (i) investments on national highways and expressway projects, (ii) raising funds for the development and maintenance of national highways, and rural roads, and (iii) disbursement of funds for national highways, state roads and rural roads. The Bill provides that central government will make all the above decisions for national waterways as well.

5) Allocation of cess: Under the Act, the cess on high speed diesel oil and petrol is allocated towards different types of roads. The Bill seeks to decrease the allocation of cess towards the development and maintenance of national highways from 41.5% to 39%. It allocates 2.5% of the cess towards the development and maintenance of national waterways. As per the financial memorandum of the Bill, at the current rate of levy of this cess, the share allocated towards waterways will amount to around Rs 2,000 crore per annum. The remaining cess amount will continue to be used for the development of other roads such as national highways, state highways, etc.

(Source: Punjab Government and prsindia)

 

 

Topic: 74 teachers to be honored by the Punjab government on Teacher’s Day under three categories

 

Importance: Punjab PCS Prelims and Mains

 

Punjab PCS Prelims: Punjab Current Events

Punjab PCS Mains:

• Paper 4: General Aptitude I: Topic: Issues relating to the development and management of Social Sector- Health, Education

 

What is the news?

• Punjab School Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains today accorded his approvel to the list of 74 teachers to be honored by the Punjab government on Teacher’s Day under three categories.

 

What are these 3 Categories?

1) The Teacher State Award will be given to 55 teachers who have excelled in their fields.

2) Young Teacher Award to be presented to 10 teachers.

3) Nine teachers have been selected for Administrative Awards.

• Punjab government is going to organize a state-level function on September 5 on Teacher’s Day at Virasat-e-Khalsa, Sri Anandpur Sahib and Chief Minister Bhagwant Maan will be the Chief Guest on this occasion.

How names get selected?

• Speaking about the selection criteria for these awards, the Education Minister asserted that the awarded names have been finalised by State Level Jury after the recommendations of District Level Committees in free, fair and transparent manner.

(Source: Punjab Government)

 

 

Some More News:

 

1) Punjab has a robust agro ecosystem and brilliant opportunities for setting up manufacturing units in this segment.Food processing is one of the fastest growing industry in Punjab.

 

2) Tie Chandigarh, in collaboration with Startup Punjab, organized the finals of TiE Women Global Pitch Competition at the IISER, Mohali.

More than 30 women-led startups applied for the competition this year, of which the top nine teams competed in the finals. The top three winners were felicitated by Sibin C, Director, Industries and Commerce, Punjab.

3) Mr. Bhagwant Mann, CM Punjab today inaugurated the Accelerator “Innovation Mission Punjab” which is supported by the Government of Punjab. This accelerator aims to boost the startup ecosystem in the state.