UPSC Daily Current Affairs | Prelim Bits 25-08-2020
iasparliament
August 25, 2020
National Strategy for Financial Education (NSFE)
RBI has released the National Strategy for Financial Education (NSFE): 2020-2025 document for creating a financially aware and empowered India.
It is the second NSFE, the first one being released in 2013.
It aims to strengthen the ecosystem for various modes of digital financial services in all Tier-II to Tier VI centers to create the necessary infrastructure to move towards a less-cash society by March 2022.
NSFE has been prepared by the National Centre for Financial Education (NCFE), under the aegis of the Technical Group on Financial Inclusion and Financial Literacy (TGFIFL).
NCFE is a Section 8 (Not for Profit) Company under the Companies Act, 2013 promoted by RBI, SEBI, IRDAI and PFRDA.
It has recommended a ‘5 C’ approach for dissemination of financial education in the country:
Content - Financial Literacy content for various sections of population.
Capacity - Develop the capacity and ‘Code of Conduct’ for financial education providers.
Community - Evolve community led approaches for disseminating financial literacy in a sustainable manner.
Communication - Use technology, media and innovative ways of communication for dissemination of financial education messages.
Collaboration - Streamline efforts of other stakeholders for financial literacy.
TGFIFL
Technical Group on Financial Inclusion and Financial Literacy (TGFIFL) was set up in November 2011 by the FSDC.
It is responsible for periodic monitoring and implementation of NSFE under the oversight of Financial Stability and Development Council (FSDC).
Nuakhai Juhar
Nuakhai Juhar is an agricultural festival, also called Nuakhai Parab or Nuakahi Bhetghat.
It is adopted from the tribal communities of western Odisha, which is celebrated to welcome the new crop of the season.
Nuakhai festival traces its origin to the Vedic period in Panchyajna.
One among them was Pralambana yajna which means the cutting of new crops and offering them to the mother goddess.
Oral tradition of this festival dates back to the 12th century A.D. when this festival was celebrated by Chauvan Raja Ramai Deo, Bolangir district of Odisha.
The festival is widely celebrated in Western Odisha, southern Chhattisgarh and adjoining areas of Simdega (Jharkhand).
Its coastal counterpart is Nabanna, observed in Coastal Odisha.
Festive activities include farmers offer the first produce from their lands to Goddess Samaleswari, the famous ‘Mother Goddess’ of Sambalpur district of Odisha.
Sambalpuri dance forms like Rasarkeli and Dalkhai can be witnessed during the festival.
Dalkhai Folk Dance
Dalkhai is the most popular folk dance of Odisha.
Mainly the theme of this dance is Radha and Krishna, Ramayana, Mahabharata, etc.
It is known as Dalkhai because in the beginning and end of every stanza men shout the word ‘Dalkhai Bo!, it is used as an address to a girlfriend.
It is performed in various festivals such as Bhaijiuntia, Phagun Puni, Nuakhai, etc.
Behrupiyas
Behrupiya festival is a traditional Indian style of street theatre and takes place every year in different locations-
Delhi,
Ahmedabad,
Udaipur,
Jaipur,
Kumbh,
Muzaffarnagar and others.
Behrupiyas are impersonators, mostly known to perform in villages and markets all over India.
They put on various costumes to play figures from mythology, folklore and traditional stories.
They assisted in circulating, transmitting and publicising the various knowledge forms in the popular domain of Samaj, the people.
The vibrant tradition of Ramlila can also be seen as an extension of this practice which continues even today.
Arthashastra makes a mention of religious processions in the Mauryan times where artistes dressed as gods and were taken out in tableaux all around the kingdom.
Behrupiyas are also said to have helped freedom fighters during the struggle for Independence.
Chora Museum
Chora Museum in Turkey was built initially as a church in 534 AD, during the early Byzantine period.
It is also known as Kariye in Turkish and the mediaeval Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora.
In the 11th century, its internal walls, pillars and domes were covered with mosaics and frescoes showing scenes from biblical stories.
After the conquest of Constantinople (capital city of the Roman Empire) by the Ottomans (1453), the church was seized and turned into a mosque in 1511.
In 1945, it was converted into a museum.
Recently, the Turkish President reconverted the Chora museum into a mosque.
This is the second museum after Hagia Sophia to be converted into a mosque.
Open API Service
‘Application Programming Interface’ (API) is an interface that can be used to program software that interacts with an existing application.
In practice, an API is “a set of functions and procedures” that allow one to access and build upon the data and functionality of an existing application.
An open source API, also called public API, is an application programming interface made publicly available to software developers.
Open APIs are published on the internet and shared freely, allowing the owner of a network-accessible service to give universal access to consumers.
Recently Union government has announced a new feature 'Open API Service' for its contact tracing app Aarogya Setu.
The Open API Service of Aarogya Setu addresses the fear/risk of Covid-19 infections and will help the people, businesses and the economy to return to normalcy.
It can be availed by organizations and business entities, with following conditions,
Entities who are registered in India.
Entities with more than 50 employees.
It will be used to get the health status of employees or any other Aarogya Setu User.
It enables organizations to check the status of Aarogya Setu and integrate it into its various Work from Home features.
It shall only provide the Aarogya Setu status and name of the Aarogya Setu User (strictly, with User's consent only), no other personal data shall be provided through the API.
