The Women of India Organic Festival is conducted by Ministry of Women and Child Development.
The aim is to boost organic culture and promote Women Organic Farmers and Entrepreneurs.
The festival has been held annually in New Delhi since 2015.
Kumbh Mela
Prayagraj (Allahabad) will host the Ardh Kumbh Mela 2019.
Millions of people attend the holy festival making it the largest public gathering and collective act of faith.
The pilgrimage is celebrated four times over a course of 12 years.
The geographical location of Kumbh Mela spans over four locations in India.
The Mela site keeps rotating between one of the four pilgrimages on four sacred rivers as listed below -
Haridwar on the Ganges in Uttarakhand
Ujjain on the Shipra in Madhya Pradesh
Nashik on the Godavari in Maharashtra
Prayagraj (Allahabad) at the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna, and the mythical Sarasvati in Uttar Pradesh.
Loin Looming of Nagaland
Nagaland’s famed loin looms are being revived.
Weaving with the use of the traditional loin loom is a skill and occupation that is passed down generations among women in tribal communities in the North-East.
Traditionally, the loin loom has an economic significance as well and forms an important part of the socio-culture of tribal societies.
The portable Naga loin loom has a back strap with a continuous horizontal warp.
The kotong (its six sticks) functions as the warp beam.
It is fastened to the wall of the house by loops that are set at a distance equal to the breadth of the cloth to be woven.
The woven cloth tends to have a ribbed texture.
Lake Urima
It is a saltwater lake.
It is situated in the mountains of northwest Iran i.e the west of the southern portion of the Caspian Sea and is fed by 13 rivers.
It is designated as a site of international importance under the UN Convention on Wetlands.
The lake has been shrinking since 1995, due to a combination of prolonged drought, elevated summer temperatures that speed up evaporation, over-farming and dams.
It became one of the worst ecological disasters of recent decades as the lake's surface which was 2,366 km2 in 2011 shrank to just 700 km2 in 2013.
This has threatened the habitat of shrimp, flamingos, deers and wild sheep and caused salt storms that pollute nearby cities and farms.
It has started stabilising in recent times after the implementation of a joint program between Iran and the UNDP.
