Kurukh Language
- It is an endangered tribal language of the Dravidian family spoken by the Oraon tribal community.
- Oraon tribes are mainly found in the states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa. They are also found in Andaman Nicobar Island.
- While most of the tribal languages in the Eastern India have their origins in the Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Barman families, Kurukh is an exception.
- Recently the language was given official status in the West Bengal.
- Previously it was written in Devanagiri Script. Later a script was invented specifically for kurukh, Tolong Siki Script.
Tara Tarini Temple
- The Indian Navy has made its new boat “Tarini” based on the design of famous temple Tara Tarini.
- The temple is situated in Kumari hills at the bank of the River Rushikulya, Odisha.
- The word Tarini means “Boat” and its Sanskrit meaning is “saviour”.
- Thus it is considered as a patron deity for sailors and merchants and is worshipped for safety and success at sea.
- The Tara Tarini Shakti Peetha is one of four major ancient Shakti Peethas in India.
- Shakti peetha is originated based on the story of the death of goddess Sati.
- God Shiva who held her dead body, then started his dance of destruction, causing Sati's body to disintegrate and fall into pieces. The sites where these portions of Sati goddess fell, are the Shakti peetha.
- Four Major Shakthi Peethas in India - Jagannath Temple, Puri; Kamakhya Temple near Guwahati; Dakshina Kalika in Kolkata; Tara Tarini near Brahmapur;
National Family Health Survey
- NGHS is a multi-round survey conducted mainly to provide essential information on emerging health and family welfare issues to Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for policy implementation.
- Three rounds of the survey have been conducted since the first survey in 1992-93.
- It covers fertility, infant and child mortality, the practice of family planning, maternal and child health, reproductive health, nutrition, anemia, utilization and quality of health and family planning services.
- International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) is designated as the nodal agency, responsible for providing coordination and technical guidance for the survey.
- The survey is funded by USAID (The United States Agency for International Development), DFID (Department for International Development - UK), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, UNFPA, and MOHFW, GOI.
