Lokmanya Bal Gangadhar birth anniversary (23 July 1856)
Bal Gangadhar Tilak or Lokmanya Tilak was an Indian nationalist, social reformer and lawyer.
The Britishers called him, ‘The Father of the Indian unrest’.
He was given the honourary title of 'Lokmanya', which means admired (or accepted) by the people.
He is known as the 'Father of Swarajya' and made 'Swaraj' as a part of the independence movement and he was the strongest advocates of ‘Swaraj’ (self-rule).
He started the Swadeshi movement.
He joined the Indian National Congress (INC) in the year 1890.
He started two newspaper, ‘Kesari’ in Marathi and ‘Mahratta’ in English (referred as 'Maratha').
He had a political regime with Bipin Chandra Pal and Lala Lajpat Rai and they were referred as 'Lal-Bal-Pal triumvirate'.
He organised ‘Deccan Education Society’ along with Gopal Ganesh Agarkar, Mahadev Ballal Namjoshi and Vishnushastri Chiplunkar.
It was set up to teach young Indians, the nationalist ideas through an emphasis on Indian culture.
He founded the ‘All India Home Rule League’ in 1916 along with Joseph Baptista, Annie Besant and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
He transformed the household worshipping of Ganesha into a grand public event ‘Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav’ in 1894.
Today, ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’, started by Tilak, is considered as the prime festival in Maharastra and adjacent states.
Tilak was the poineer for the celebration of "Shiv Jayanti", the birth anniversary of Chhatrapati Shivaji.
In 2007, the Government of India released a coin to commemorate Tilak on his 150th birth anniversary.
Swadesh Darshan Scheme
It is a flagship scheme of Ministry of Tourism.
It is for an integrated development of theme based tourist circuits in the country.
The following thematic circuits have been identified, for development namely,
Spiritual Circuit, Sufi circuit, Ramayana Circuit and Heritage Circuit.
Recently the sanctioned project in Andhra Pradesh, Kakinada Hope Island has been developed as a world Class Coastal & Eco Tourism Circuit.
The Buddhist Circuit of Shalihundam in A.P and the Coastal Circuit of Sri Potti Sriramalu, Nellore are at stage of completion.
The scheme would result in increased tourist inflow thereby creating employment opportunities for the local community.
It is different from "PRASAD" scheme of Ministry of Tourism.
PRASAD focus on holistic development, beautification and rejuvenation of the identified sites.
Sree Narayana Guru
Sree Narayana Guru was a great saint, scholar, philosopher, poet and the forerunner of social renaissance in Kerala.
He was born in 1856 in a peasant family of then untouchable Ezhava caste, in Thiruvananthapuram.
He led a reform movement in Kerala, against the injustice in the caste-ridden society in order to promote social equality.
He gave the universal message, “One caste, one religion, one God.”
‘Sahodaran Ayyappan’ (Pulaya Ayyappan), a social reformer from Kerala coined a rejoinder ‘No Caste, No Religion, No God for Mankind’.
‘Aravipuram Movement’ was launched by Narayana Guru.
He defied the religious restrictions traditionally placed on the Ezhava community and consecrated an idol of Shiva at Aravipuram.
He was a follower of Advaitha philosophy.
He translated Tamil works like "Thirukkural" into Malayalam.
He had written number of hymns to different gods and some of the notable ones are "Atmopadesa Sathakam" and "Darsanamala".
He lent his support to the ‘Vaikkom Satyagraha’. Mahatma Gandhi met him during this time.
‘Sivagiri pilgrimage’ was conceived by three of the disciples, Vallabhasseri Govindan Vaidyar, T. K. Kittan and Muloor S. Padmanabha Panicker.
The goal of the pilgrimage was the promotion of education, cleanliness, devotion to God.
Prevention and Management of Heat-Wave -Action Plan
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) issued Guidelines for ‘Preparation of Action Plan – Prevention and Management of Heat Wave’.
The ‘Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’ issued ‘Guidelines on Prevention and Management of Heat Related Illnesses’.
It provides insights into heat-related illness and the necessary mitigative and response actions to be undertaken.
Heat-wave is defined as the condition where maximum temperature at a grid point is 3˚C or more than the normal temperature, consecutively for 3 days or more.
WMO defines it as, maximum temperature at a grid point is 5˚C or more than the normal temperature, consecutively for 5 days or more.
This condition may leads to physiological stress, which sometimes can claim human life.
Ahmedabad was among the first city to prepare a Heat wave Action Plan in 2015.
It is expected that extreme heat waves will become more common worldwide because of climate change.
India is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.
More than 2400 people died in the heat wave of 2015.
Heat wave also caused death of cattle and wildlife besides affecting animals in various zoos in India.
The guidelines serve as a tool for developing risk management plans, early warning systems, preparedness for health-related problems.
Key strategies of the Plan –
Establish Early Warning System and Inter-Agency Coordination.
Capacity building and training programme.
Public Awareness and community outreach.
Collaboration with non government and civil society.
Roles and Responsibilities for Managing Heat Wave –
Preparation of Heat Wave Action Plan – NDMA
Early Warning – IMD
Mitigating Heat Wave - Ministry of Urban/Rural Department of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Ministry of Transport.
Monitoring and Response - Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Occupational Support and advisories - All Ministries.
Media campaign and IEC activities - Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
Documentation - Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
Long Term Measures - Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Environment Forests and Climate Change.
Heat wave is called as “Silent disaster” as it develops slowly and kills and injures humans and animals nationwide.
The adverse impact of heat wave are preventable by educating the public on the preventive actions.
