Shumang Leela

Manipur’s traditional theatre form of Shumang Leela has continued to inform and entertain down the ages.

• Shumang Leela, translates to “courtyard performance”, is a traditional form of theatre in Manipur.
• In Shumang Leela, the roles of women are all played by men, called Nupi Shabis.
• In the case of women’s theatre groups, the roles of men are played by women.
• Often, the female roles are taken up by transgender actors.
• The tradition is believed to be descended from Lai Haraoba, a ritual of the Meitei community of Manipur.
• The plays serve as a medium to spread awareness among people of social, political and economic issues.
• Types - Shumang Leela is of two types
  • Nupa Shumang Leela - Performed only by men
  • Nupi Shumang Leela - Performed only by women

Lai Haraoba

• Lai Haraoba is a ritualistic festival observed by Manipuri meitei communities since ancient times.
• Lai Haraoba is celebrated through oral literature, music, dance and rituals.
• Cultural troupes will be performing various cultural and traditional musical skits including Manipuri martial arts, folk music and folk dances during the festival.

References

1. The Hindu – The art of gender-bending
2. Newson air – The traditional form of theatre celebrated in Manipur

All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2020-2021

The Union Ministry of Education recently released data from the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE), 2020-2021.

About AISHE

• The Ministry has been conducting AISHE since 2011.
• It covers all higher educational institutions located in Indian Territory and imparting higher education in the country.
• The survey collects detailed information on
  • Student enrolment
  • Teacher’s data
  • Infrastructural information, and
  • Financial information etc.
• For the first time, in AISHE 2020-21, HEIs have filled data using entirely online data collection platform through the Web Data Capture Format (DCF).
• The DCF was developed by the Department of Higher Education through the National Informatics Centre (NIC).

Key Findings

• Student Enrolment – The total enrolment in higher education has increased to nearly 4.14 crore in 2020-21 from 3.85 crore in 2019-20.
• The Female enrolment has increased to 2.01 crore from 1.88 crore in 2019-20.
• Notable increase of 1.9 points is observed in GER of ST students in 2020-21, as compared to 2019-20.
• Female GER has overtaken Male GER since 2017-18.
• Gender Parity Index (GPI), the ratio of female GER to male GER, has increased from 1 in 2017-18 to 1.05 in 2020-21.
• Number of Institutions – The Institutes of National Importance (INIs) have almost doubled from 75 in 2014-15 to 149 in 2020-21.
• Highest number of Universities is in Rajasthan (92), Uttar Pradesh (84) and Gujarat (83).
• Faculty – Out of the total number of faculty/teachers, about 57.1% are male and 42.9% are female.
• The female per 100 male faculty has improved to 75 in 2020-21 from 74 in 2019-20 and 63 in 2014-15.

References

1. The Hindu – Student enrolments went up by 7.5% in 2020-2021
2. PIB – Ministry of Education releases AISHE 2020-2021

Soliga Community

New genus of wasp was named after Soliga community in Karnataka, in recognition of their conservation of forests and biodiversity.

The Wasp

• The new genus of wasp was named as Soliga ecarinata.
• Specimens of the same species were collected from the secondary wet forest habitat of Nagaland.
• The species is named as ‘ecarinata’ denoting the absence of ridges in certain body regions.
• This new insect is strikingly colourful and distinct from all it relatives.
• This new wasp belongs to the subfamily Metopiinae of Darwin wasps’ family Ichneumonidae.
• The subfamily Metopiinae has 862 species in 27 genera including two fossil genera, most of those are seen only in Palaearctic region, Neotropical and Nearctic regions.

The Palearctic region encompasses Eurasia, including Europe, northern Africa, and Asia north of the Oriental region.

The Nearctic region consists of subtropical, tropical, temperate, and arctic North America.

The Neotropical region is here defined as Central America, the Caribbean, and South America.

• This is the second genus of this subfamily reported from India and the first from South India.

Soliga Community

• Soliga are the indigenous community of Biligiri Rangan Hills (B.R. Hills) in Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka.
• They are indigenous people of South India and are credited with being the first at many things:
• They are considered the first settlers of India.
• Their home, BR Hills, was among the first areas to be declared a wildlife sanctuary in India, in 1974.
• In 2011, when the region was declared a tiger reserve, the Soligas were the first community to win resident rights in a tiger reserve.

References

1. The Hindu – New genus of wasp named after Soliga community
2. Firstpost – The Soliga community struggles to save its old ways of living

Amrit Udyan

The Mughal Gardens at Rashtrapati Bhavan were renamed as ‘Amrit Udyan’, in keeping with the theme of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

History of Mughal Gardens

• The Mughal Gardens draw inspiration from the Mughal Gardens of Jammu & Kashmir, the gardens around the Taj Mahal and miniature paintings of India and Persia.
• Edwin Lutyens had finalised the designs of the Mughal Gardens in 1917, but it was only during the year 1928-1929 that plantings were done.
• There are three gardens in the Rashtrapati Bhavan inspired by Mughal and Persian gardens.
• The one inspired from the garden in Srinagar is known as Mughal Garden.
• However, the gardens were never officially named Mughal Gardens, they came to be known so owing to the style of architecture.
• The style was influenced by the Persian gardens, particularly the charbagh structure, which is intended to create a representation of harmony with the elements of nature.
• Typical features include pools, fountains and canals inside the gardens.
• Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan have a number of Mughal gardens.
• Babur had described his favourite type of garden as a charbagh.

Reference

1. The Indian Express – The different styles that came together to form Mughal Gardens, now Amrit Udyan

Short Selling

Short seller Hindenburg Research, disclosed short positions in Adani Group, alleging stock manipulation and accounting fraud.

• Buy low, sell high is the traditional investment strategy in which one buys a stock or security at a particular price and then sells it when the price is higher, thereby booking a profit.
• This is referred to as a long position, and is based on the view that the price of the stock or security will appreciate with time.
• Short selling or shorting is a trading strategy based on the expectation that the price of the security will fall.
• While fundamentally it is based on the buy low, sell high approach, the sequence of transactions is reversed in short selling, to sell high first and buy low later.
• Also, in short selling, the trader usually does not own the securities he sells, but merely borrows them.
• In the stock market, traders usually short stocks by selling shares they have borrowed from others through brokerages.
• When the price of the shares falls to the expected levels, the trader would purchase the shares at the lower price and return them to the owner, booking a profit in the process.
• If, however, the price of the shares appreciates instead of falling, the trader will be forced to buy shares at a higher price to return to the owner, thereby booking a loss.

References

1. The Indian Express – Hindenburg Research, which has accused the Adani Group of fraud, is a short seller
2. Business Standard – Sebi may probe short selling to hammer down Indian markets